He would help. With his hands, his mouth, his voice. With restraints and any type of whip she would allow, and finally with his cock in every permissible orifice, as many times as he was able. So helpful. A veritable humanitarian, that’s what he’d be.
When he reached for his door handle, Tess unbuckled her seat belt and started to open hers too.
“Nuh-uh. Stay there.”
Robbed of her words, she could only look at him, puzzled, then shrug and settle back in her seat.
He walked around, opened her door and offered a hand, because he was a gentleman in his own special way. And because he was already getting into the scene and he knew this treatment would throw her off, which he wanted to do. He wanted to put her off balance and keep her there, fuck with her mind as long and hard as he would eventually fuck her body.
He could hardly believe she had come home with him. That they were finally going to do this. The anticipation was killing him, and he felt transported back to his randy teenage days. At this rate he would be lucky to keep from coming in his pants.
* * * * *
After taking her jacket and indicating she should leave her shoes in the mudroom, Jake walked Tess to the middle of his living room and told her to stay there. He went off for a minute or two, and she could hear what sounded like his answering machine as he retrieved messages. She was still standing in that spot, anxious and self-conscious, when he returned and stepped in front of her.
“Okay, here’s how this is going to work.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. He raised one back, staring her down until she lowered her eyes. If she kept looking at him, she wouldn’t be able to resist making a snide remark. In a straight staring contest with no snappy comebacks allowed, Jake would always have the advantage. But if she seized the advantage of the snappy comeback, she’d fail at the dare. Tricky.
Determined, she kept her lips pressed together and her eyes averted.
“You’re not going to talk. We’ve already established that. You’ll have to rely on other ways to communicate, and you’ll have to trust me to pay attention and give you what you need. Can you do that, Tess?”
She shrugged, and he shook his head. “Maybe isn’t an acceptable answer. Either you’ll commit to this exercise or you won’t. The time for maybe ended when we got out of the truck. I’m not asking for perfection though. Just asking if you’re capable of trusting me to take care of you.”
Of course I trust you, dumbass. I wouldn’t be here otherwise. She wanted to say it out loud, but checked herself and nodded.
“Good. Moving along…I’m going to take your clothes off now. Once they’re off, they stay off until I tell you to get dressed again. You won’t try to cover yourself or hide from me. For the rest of the day, every part of your body is mine to look at, touch, play with. Do whatever I want with. My toy. My pet. Got it?”
Her nod was warier this time as she conceded a larger part of herself. She felt naked already under Jake’s scrutiny and she’d only taken her coat and boots off so far.
Jake took his own jacket off and slung it over the back of a chair; the leather creaked softly as it bent. “I take good care of my pets, and I’m not into anything very extreme. Bondage, whips and things, toys, yes. No needles or knives. I’ll never break the skin, at least not on purpose. It’s a risk, of course, but blood’s not really my thing. I’ll never deliberately leave a permanent mark, and I’ll do my best not to leave any bruises or welts in places that are hard to cover up when you go out in public. As long as you pay attention and do what I tell you, I’ll let you come.”
Let me? How do you plan to stop me?
“I do plan to restrain you—”
Oh.
“So if you have any circulation problems, bad back, trick knees, severe claustrophobia, latex allergy, anything like that, now would be the time to tell me. Or STDs, of course. Time-out from the dare for that. So…anything?” She shook her head. “Good. I’ll also be using a variety of implements of destruction on you. Sometimes because I think you need it, sometimes because I need it. I’m clean too, by the way. And…I’ll cover the rest as we go along.”
She wasn’t expecting the sudden shift from talk to action, and jumped when Jake reached up and touched her face. He pulled away for a second until she settled, then moved in more slowly. He traced her bottom lip with one fingertip, taking his time. When Tess swayed closer, he pulled his hand away.
“No. Don’t move or I’ll stop. Stay where I put you.”
She opened her mouth then clamped it shut, biting down on her lips to keep from responding.
“Eyes front. Just like that. Good girl,” he murmured as he walked behind her, and Tess shivered as a dark thrill coursed through her. She didn’t know what Jake was doing or why she was reacting to it, but she wanted him to keep going. More than anything. She craved it, that soothing voice, that casual praise. And she hated that she craved it. He was treating her like a pet, exactly like he’d said.
Good girl? I’m not a fucking dog. I don’t want a pat on the head from Jake fucking Hogan.
He wasn’t patting her on the head though. He was taking her shirt off and, god help her, she didn’t move a muscle. Not to stop, not to assist. It was as though he’d cast a spell on her. Tess told herself she wanted to move, that she didn’t want Jake to think he was actually in control here.
But she just…didn’t move. Maybe she’d move later. She would think about why later. Afterward. When she wasn’t quite so lightheaded with lust, and with how much she wanted this.
Her shirt came off, unbuttoned and pulled down her arms by unseen hands, leaving her standing there in a bra and jeans. And then in just the jeans. He moved around in front of her again, letting her black-lace demi-bra dangle from one finger and appraising her breasts frankly.
“Nice.”
Her moment of automatic vanity was short-lived, followed by faint consternation as his examination took a more practical turn. Pitching the bra to one side, Jake plumped both of her breasts and squeezed them together, viewing the resulting arrangement with what seemed to be approval.
“Just big enough.”
She frowned again. Jake gave her a quick, tight smile and dropped his hands to her jeans, unbuttoning and pushing them down her legs in a series of jerks, working his way around to her back as he went. Her thong went with them, and Tess’ pulse quickened as Jake felt his way back up her legs, ending with his hands lightly skimming the bottom curves of her cheeks.
Naked. In Jake Hogan’s living room. Being inspected. Whatever she’d imagined over the years, it had never looked quite like this.
“Kick them off the rest of the way, please.”
Once she had, she tried to bring her feet back together, only to find Jake’s much larger, booted foot blocking her from doing so. When she started to step away, his hand wrapped in her hair, holding her in place. Not pulling but not letting go. She stopped, shivering again. Words bubbled up and she clamped them down, determined not to break. She didn’t even realize how fast she was breathing until Jake spoke again, almost whispering in her ear.
“Easy, Tess. I’ve got you. You’re not going anywhere.”
His breath was a brushfire on her dry-tinder nerves, setting everything alight wherever it touched. Those few words melted her anxiety, replacing it with a different tension altogether, and despite his admonition not to move, Tess tilted her head into his hand, longing for more contact. Jake let her come to rest against his shoulder, releasing her hair and reaching around her. He stroked down her belly, pausing at the pubic hair she’d stopped bothering to have waxed. Then down again, one finger curling inside her and dipping in and out, in and out, in…and in.
He dropped a kiss on her shoulder, and Tess realized he hadn’t kissed her on the lips yet, had only touched her breasts once in a practical, almost perfunctory way. He had violated the time-honored order of things by jumping straight to the part where his finger was fucking in and out of her and she was letting him. Gone t
o third without bothering to round first and barely tagging second on the way. She should feel horrified, offended by his presumption. Shouldn’t she? Instead she felt soothed by the caress, even as it aroused her to the point of insanity.
With his free hand, Jake pointed to the bookcase next to the mantle. “You see the wildcat?” Tess noted the purple-and-white mascot, the familiar Northwestern logo on a giant foam finger that rested on one shelf in front of the books. She nodded, too distracted by what his hand was doing between her legs to wonder why he wanted to discuss his alma mater all of a sudden. “If you can’t take something I’m doing, if you need me to stop, if it hurts too much, you picture that and you say ‘Wildcats’. Everything will stop and we’ll talk. It won’t count against the dare either. Do you understand?”
She nodded. Wildcats. Got it. Keep doing that with your finger.
“But if we stop for that safeword, we stop for the night, so make sure you’re absolutely certain before you go using it.” He slid his finger out again, and Tess sighed in mounting frustration as he stepped away. “On the other hand, if you keep going and take whatever I dish out, you’ll be rewarded for it.”
He was walking around behind her again. Tess resisted the urge to turn her head and watch when she heard him step out of the room. A few seconds later, the heater clicked on and Jake was back. He had taken his shirt off, revealing a body that was even better than it had been in high school. Harder, a little hairier—and nothing boyish about it. He looked finished. She could have spent hours gazing at the way his waist tapered, the symmetrical muscles with that arrow of hair dividing his abs, begging her to scan lower.
His fingers under her chin prevented that. She met his eyes instead. Those were like they’d always been. Fathomless blue, wiser than his years. I have a secret, they said. Are you finally ready to hear it?
Oh she was. She was more than ready.
There was a pause, thick with anticipation, and then Jake swept down and latched his mouth onto hers.
Any hint of hesitation Tess might have harbored was gone in an instant, wiped out by the intoxicating feel of Jake’s lips caressing hers, the strength in his body as he pulled her into a tighter embrace, settling her against his long frame from knee to shoulder.
Tess wasn’t sure at what point she’d wrapped her arms around his neck. Possibly about the time he started building the kiss, nibbling her lips open and slipping his tongue inside her mouth to explore more deeply. She couldn’t help but respond. She felt like she’d been waiting her whole life for this touch, this moment.
In the back of her mind the doubt tried to re-assert itself, reminding her that this was Jake. The same Jake she had known all her life. The Jake she had played touch football with in fourth grade, but avoided playing with once she was old enough to know what boys were for. Jake, who knew far too much about her to be safe. He could break her if he wanted to. But she couldn’t stop.
When he finally pulled back, her first instinct was to follow him, not let him re-create the distance between them even for a moment. Her knees shook as the world slowly righted itself, and her lips buzzed faintly from the brush of Jake’s afternoon stubble. Everything between those points burned for more.
Jake brought one hand up to her cheek, tracing her cheekbone from nose to temple before tenderly stroking a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. He carried the motion down the side of her neck, letting his thumb slide over so his fingers encircled her throat with a steady pressure. Not squeezing, not choking, but definitely enough that Tess couldn’t ignore it.
Claiming. Those fingers spoke volumes, simply resting against her windpipe. Give me everything. Trust me even with this. Put your life in my hands.
Tess panicked for a second, almost yanked her head away but forced herself to stay still. She took a deep breath and released it slowly, letting her shoulders relax, centering herself on the task of not resisting. An acute wave of arousal rewarded her, but threw her even further off guard. He was only touching her neck…and looking at her with obvious approval. As the anxious tightness eased from her upper body, it reassembled itself into a different kind of tension below, in the muscles of her lower abdomen and inner thighs.
When he spoke again it was so prosaic, so ordinary, she was startled. Then slightly amused.
“I just realized I need to call my dad and tell him I won’t be in to the paper this afternoon either. This headache is killing me. It’ll only take a minute.” He smiled then threw her for another loop. “Go upstairs and wait for me. The master bedroom is the door on the left. Use the restroom if you need to, then kneel on the floor next to the foot of the bed, facing the door, and don’t move. Do you understand?”
She nodded. It was simple enough, though it seemed like a big step. A test, maybe. Probably.
He lowered his hand to her breast, cupped it gently, brushing her nipple with his thumb. “Good girl. Go on up.”
Because he was clearly waiting for her to do so, she headed for the stairs, feeling ridiculous when she realized he hadn’t even kept watching her once she started moving. He’d gone back into the kitchen, leaving her to follow orders. Go upstairs and wait to be fucked. What did he think she was, a hooker?
No, not that. She didn’t feel like that. Curiously, she didn’t even feel particularly degraded or objectified, though she knew every women’s studies professor she’d ever had would probably tell her she should. That it simply was degrading and objectifying, whether she agreed with that assessment or not.
Eh. Whatever. Screw them. They aren’t here.
Chapter Five
Tess had showered that morning in Jake’s guest bathroom, downstairs in his lavishly finished basement, so she hadn’t seen the master bedroom. She half-expected to see a dungeon scene when she entered Jake’s room. Instead she walked into an airy space with large windows that let in plenty of afternoon sunlight. The bed was a big, modern four-poster with industrial-looking metal canopy rails but no canopy. Jake had left the covers in disarray, which made Tess smile. He obviously hadn’t been expecting company.
The nefarious cabinet was also there, looking like an innocent piece of storage furniture against one wall, only the hasp and padlock giving it away. Not wanting to dwell too much on that, she moved along to the open bathroom door.
Jake had mentioned he was working his way up with the restoration, and he hadn’t reached the top floor yet. His bathroom was so-so, not decrepit but not as sleek as the kitchen or basement. It sported its original claw-foot tub, small white hexagonal tiles on the floor, uninspired pale-yellow paint on the walls. But it was clean and fairly tidy. Unobjectionable. It smelled of Jake’s aftershave.
Tess shivered when she returned to the bedroom. From cold, maybe, although the upstairs seemed warmer than the downstairs had and the heater was clearly already working. Maybe it was anticipation, she wasn’t sure. The idea of kneeling at the foot of the bed fired her up, and it bugged her that she couldn’t figure out why. Why she was so turned-on in general by this weird dynamic. But she was, and if she was going to give in and admit that to herself, try exploring it instead of denying it, she supposed she should give it her all. Half measures had never been her thing.
There was a thick rug under the bed that extended enough to cover the hardwood floor for a few feet all around. Tess picked a spot by the corner nearest the door, stared down at it for a minute then knelt.
She could hear a faint murmur from downstairs, then a laugh. Jake talking to his father, she supposed. Other than that it was silent as the grave. The room seemed very, very well lit. Tess was okay with her body, but reasoned that anybody would feel self-conscious in all that daylight. She was suddenly hyperaware of her posture and its effect on her boobs.
Sitting up straighter changed the pressure on her knees, drawing her attention there and making her wonder whether she was doing it right. Was there a special way to kneel for kinky guys? Recalling how Jake had gone straight for her pussy, she tried spreading her knees a little. Then a l
ittle more. Showing off the goods.
Now I look like a big old ho. And what do I do with my hands?
Footsteps sounded on the stair. Tess scooted her knees back in, then out again quickly before she lost her nerve. Eyes down, because she was too freaked out to meet Jake’s gaze. She slid her fingers under her feet, feeling subversive for hiding even that much of herself.
He walked right past her as though she weren’t even there. Strolled into the bathroom, closed the door. A few seconds later she could hear him peeing. A flush. Then the water running, splashing into the sink.
What the fuck? But his seeming disregard made her hotter, which prompted a different and more agonizing moment of what the fuck before Tess reminded herself she was committed to giving this an honest effort. Perhaps she should stop trying to analyze so much, be in the moment. Worry about the why of it all later on, when she wasn’t quite so naked and horny.
So. In the moment, being treated like a cross between a sex doll and the family dog seemed to be a huge turn-on.
Duly noted.
The running water made the old pipes groan, then Jake came out of the bathroom. He walked over to stand in front of her, still not saying a word.
She wished she’d kept her knees together. She was wet again, wanting his attention so badly she was almost ready to beg for it, embarrassed to be so exposed. But damned if she’d move while he was looking, when he’d told her not to move unless he said so. So she waited, and when he ran his fingertips over the top of her head before he stepped away again, she stifled a whimper.
This time he headed to the closet. He unlaced his boots quickly and tossed them in, along with his socks, then closed the door and headed back to stand in that same spot. Tess shivered again. Definitely anticipation this time. Sex was somewhere nearby, she could feel it in the air.
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