by Maren Smith
He wanted to strangle her. To strangle her and spank her, and yell at her, and take out all of the fear and frustration he had experienced over the past few hours on her, in any and every way possible.
Most of all, he wanted to fuck her, he realized as he glared down at her with her tear stained face, and her sexy lips that were parted into the most beautiful pout. The moment he had spotted her in the main hall with Champ by her side, he had let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding and crossed the room in two long strides.
“Stand up!” he commanded, grabbing a handful of her hair and using it to pull her into a standing position before she had an opportunity to obey willingly.
Her eyes widened, and the squeal of surprise that escaped her lips was delicious. He found himself overcome with a need that raged inside him, powerless to control his most animalistic urges. He pulled her along with him, shoving her flat and hard against the wall, and ripping the front of her Little Maid’s dress down the middle, exposing the tops of her breasts above the black lace undergarments.
Her mouth fell open in surprise, and she started to protest this superfluous show of unflinching dominance, but he didn’t want to hear it. His mouth closed over hers, silencing her with a kiss that was punishing yet tender, and all-consuming as he pressed his body into hers, grinding his erection into the thin fabric of her black lace panties through the thin fabric of his tuxedo pants.
“God damn penguin suit,” he muttered against her lips.
Under any other circumstances, she might have giggled, but she had been stunned into silence. Holding one hand tight against the base of her throat he pinned her in place, while using the other to shed his pants. The belt holding them up served a dual purpose, and he quickly pulled her hands high above her head, fastening them together with the thin leather.
Neither of them spoke, communicating only with their eyes. Hers conveyed trust and acceptance with the smallest glimmer of fear that served to arouse him more than cause him to pause.
Tightening the belt, he stepped back, surveying her before he made his next move. One simple rip was all it took to destroy the remaining fabric of her maid’s costume and send it falling to the floor, exposing the rest of her for his enjoyment.
The sight of her nearly naked body, clad in the skimpiest of black lace undergarments, far sexier than any he had ever seen her wear, stole away any last shred of control he had been hanging onto. Clamping one hand over her mouth, he grabbed her left breast and squeezed. This wasn’t about being sexy or feeling good. This was about satisfying the urge that had been burning for days and taking what was his. Terri was his, and if she didn’t know it now, she would before the night was over.
There was no time for soft caresses or teasing kisses. He was a man on a mission and that mission was sexual gratification. To fuck his woman good and hard. His hands were rough on her soft skin: squeezing, clawing, smacking, claiming.
From her navel to her neck, no inch of skin was left untouched. Her breathing was heavy and ragged, her chest heaved with every breath as she watched him have his way, and when she began to squirm against the belt restraining her hands, that was when he took her. One swift thrust had her rising onto her tiptoes. No lube or foreplay, but she was still wet and ready for his engorged cock. He took her up against the wall, thrusting into her like his life depended on it, grinning as her ass thumped against the stone castle wall.
There was a tightness in his chest that he couldn’t explain as he pounded into her, thinking only of himself and his pleasure. This was so wrong, but damn, it felt so right.
“You deserve to be fucked like a bad girl for making me worry,” he grunted, grabbing her with both hands under the curve of her buttocks and lifting her into his arms, while managing to still keep his cock nestled inside her. It was time to move this to the bed.
He lowered her gently onto her back, with a tenderness that belied the rest of their exchange or the way he was feeling, and covered her body with his own, reaching up to unfasten the belt that restrained her hands. She touched him then, raking her nails down the length of his back. With each powerful thrust he made, they created a rhythm of their own, riding the cacophony of pleasure until their bodies revolted with orgasms that left them breathless and panting, spent and exhausted.
When they were each able to catch their breath, Nick rolled onto his side, and frowned at Terri. With an impish smile, she leaned forward as if to kiss him, but he quickly pulled into a sitting position and she nose-dived into his pillows.
With a grunt, she rolled onto her back and frowned up at him. “God, Nick,” she muttered, before he could put a hand up to stop her.
Fucking her had been the only thing he had been able to do in the moment, the honest to goodness safest outlet for his frustration, but he still had lots to say and, whether she liked it or not, she was going to listen. “Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? Do you have any clue what was going through my mind when I couldn’t find or contact you for hours?”
Still caught up in the afterglow of their sexual escapades, Terri shrugged. “The stupid, archaic, no cell phone outside your room rule is not my fault,” she countered, stubbornly.
“God, T,” he grunted, his voice heavy with exasperation. “Are you forgetting there is a madman murderer on the loose?”
She had the audacity to roll her eyes, and he all but shook with anger.
Raking his hand through his hair, he continued, “So many possibilities for disaster, T. You could have been made. Do you understand what a criminal would want to do to an undercover police officer? You could have put yourself and everyone else here in danger,” he lectured.
“Oh, come off it, Nick,” she spat. “Stop acting like I am any less qualified to gallivant around this place alone than you are. We are partners, equals, and regardless of whatever arrangement you think we have right now, you are not my Dominant, and I am not your submissive.”
She was at least half wrong, but he didn’t bother to correct her. She was off on one of her fiery tangents, and he couldn’t have gotten an argument in if he’d wanted to.
“Where the hell was all your concern when you ditched me with some random interloper and went off to a law enforcement meeting without me? This is our mission, Nick, yours and mine. Not yours and your precious Master Marshall’s!” She ended on a scowl, before continuing, “God, it’s like you have some sort of dirty man-crush on him!”
“First of all,” Nick scoffed, unable to keep the laughter from bubbling over as he spoke, “For whatever you may think of the man for whatever reasons, Master Marshall is a nice guy, a professional, who has bent over backwards to accommodate us in every way possible since we got here. And second,” he huffed, leveling her with a pointed glare, “a secret law enforcement meeting? Really, T? You’re just going to take the word of, what did you call her, some random interloper, over me, your partner and best friend? Did I meet with Marshall? Yes, I did. You know what I was doing? Cleaning up the ridiculous mess you made with your stunt this morning.”
Unease crossed her features as she gazed sheepishly up at him.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, finally showing an inkling of remorse. “It’s just, you’re so different here, I feel like I don’t even know you sometimes. And, after what happened this morning, and what you said, I felt like you might have just lost faith and given up on me. When Eden said you were off at some law enforcement meeting, I just kind of lost my head.”
“I guess so,” he grunted. Many thoughts and arguments sat paused on the tip of his tongue, but there was no time to get into them, and he had very little desire to talk beyond reading her the riot act for her disappearance.
“I’m sorry you were upset, T, but Jesus, didn’t you think to let someone, anyone, know that you were leaving the Castle?”
“We didn’t really leave,” she half-heartedly protested. Finally, they were getting somewhere.
“Really? So, you were exactly where you were supposed to
be?”
“Well, no, but—”
“Dammit, Terri, there are no buts here. We split up to do different parts of the same job. Do you have any idea how I felt when I got back here and you weren’t here? When you didn’t show up for hours? I was about to call out a search party!”
In the wake of his outburst, Terri finally fell quiet. Her eyes softened and her anger seemed to subside. She wouldn’t look at him, but he didn’t mind. He was finally getting his point across and with words, which was good because he was trying to save all his action for the Master’s Supper and Show tonight. Although, he did have a new bag of toys to choose from, some of which might come in handy prior to the actual event.
Chapter 11
Terri felt like a teenager who missed curfew by days instead of an officer who had missed meeting with her partner by a few hours. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been scolded this way, but it was a good reminder of why she was a rule follower. Being scolded sucked, and it sucked badly. She would do almost anything to get rid of the tight ball of unease that was coiled in her stomach. She clutched her middle and grimaced.
Frowning at her soft gasp of pain, Nick shook his head. “Have you eaten anything today?”
“No,” she admitted with a sigh. “You can just add that to the list of all the ways I’ve fucked up today.”
“I’ll do that,” Nick retorted, obviously finding no sympathy for her plight, but his face did soften and the annoyance faded from his features. “You need to eat, Terri. You always forget to take care of yourself. Go take a shower and I will order up some room service.”
“No more life lessons wrapped up in a sandwich, please,” Terri grumbled good-naturedly. “I’m in the mood for a big stack of pancakes with fresh maple syrup, and a pile of bacon, oh, and some hash browns too, please.” She tossed her order over her shoulder while heading toward the large, opulent bathroom.
Nick grinned. “You know, some people like to eat breakfast in the morning.”
“And those people are boring,” she teased, knowing full well Nick was one of those people. The man despised the concept of breakfast for dinner.
She heard his gentle laugh as he picked up the phone to dial room service just as she shut the bathroom door behind her and turned on the water, quickly jumping under the hot spray. She did her best thinking in the shower, and a quiet place to think and process was just what she needed right now. Well, that and food.
The hot water did nothing to calm her nerves, and try as she might, she couldn’t help but linger on the words Nick had spoken earlier that morning. “From here on out, you act as my sub. I don’t care if we are in public or the privacy of our own room. You do what I say, when I say and how I say. I will give the orders and, if they aren’t followed, I will punish you as I see fit.” What did it mean, exactly, and just how far did he mean to take it?
If this was any other situation she would know exactly what he meant, no matter what he said or how he said it. She knew him that well, but normal had stopped in Captain’s office Wednesday afternoon. The Nick who had walked out of that room and the one who had come to the Castle with her was not the man she called her best friend, her confidant, her partner. This new version of Nick was one she didn’t recognize at all, but he seemed to have an ease that was seamless. Whoever this new version was, it was truer than the one she had always known. That knowledge was equal bits excruciatingly terrifying and wonderfully arousing. A shiver ran down her spine, her nipples hardened into stiff peaks, and arousal shot through her belly and into her nether regions like a lightning bolt.
It was just the sex, she told herself. Though different than any sexual experience she had ever had, it had been hot as fuck. Her body was just reacting to the memory of that, she told herself. Her wet pussy certainly had nothing to do with the threats he had been making or the plans he claimed to have for her. She hated that stuff. She hated the Castle and everything it stood for. The kink, the humiliation, the idea of a dominant and submissive lifestyle where one person ruled over another. She hated it all. But, Nick certainly didn’t seem to. He was thriving here, showing a side of himself that she had never seen before. And as much as she wanted to, she didn’t hate that. Not even a little bit.
“T?” Nick’s voice carried through the door and into the bathroom, interrupting her mess of thoughts, and ceasing any chance she might have had to seek relief from the pressure building in her core. “Your food is here. Come eat.”
“Ugh. Fine. I’ll be out in a minute,” she grumbled, more than a bit put out. This place was unreal. Whoever heard of room service showing up that quickly?
She finished rinsing the conditioner from her hair, ran a razor haphazardly over her lower legs, and rinsed the soap off her body before wrapping herself in a thick, fluffy towel, and stepping out into the main suite.
Making a grab for the oversized tee she had crammed into her toiletry bag so she would have something to lounge in, she started to pull it over her head, but Nick’s gruff voice stopped her short.
“Keep it off,” he growled. “You won’t need it for what I have planned.”
“I… what?” She couldn’t keep her voice from cracking as she gaped at him with wide eyes. “I-I was going to eat. You said my food is here.”
“And it is,” Nick nodded firmly, crossing the room to close the space between them and cupping the back of her neck as he pulled her close. “Do you remember what I promised you this morning, brat?”
Terri gulped. She remembered, all right. “I… um… you really meant all that stuff you said?” she questioned. “I hoped that by now you had some time to cool off…”
“That’s not how this works, T. I made promises, and I intend to keep them. And even if I’d had time to cool down, as you put it, I had an equal amount of time to heat up again after you went missing for hours and scared the shit out of me.”
“Oh.” She had almost forgotten about that. “What… what are you going to do?” Her voice was a thick whisper, and she couldn’t keep her chin from trembling as she gazed up at him, her eyes full of unspoken questions.
“For starters, this.” He gave the slightest flick of his wrist, and the towel she had worn around her body pooled on the floor at her feet.
“Oh.” She stared down at her own naked, water-kissed form, as if seeing it for the first time.
“Bend over the bed.” Nick’s voice was void of laughter or nonsense, and her heart leapt into her throat at his instruction, but she obeyed, knowing that if she didn’t he would simply force her to, and it would be that much worse for her. She may not recognize her Nick, but she knew him well enough to know that.
As she lay prostrate across the bed, with her head buried in the comforter, her ass positioned right at the edge of the bed, her legs dangling over the side, and her cheeks tinged with humiliation, she waited for the first stinging blow to fall. Seconds felt like minutes as she waited to feel his hand upon her ass, and when she finally did, it wasn’t a hard smack, or a soft caress. To her utter shock and confusion, he gripped a cheek with each hand and pulled them apart, so he had a clear view of and access to her most private hole.
Her cheeks burned and she made to jump up, but he must have been expecting that reaction. He stilled her with a firm hand upon the middle of her back.
“Do not move.” His voice was hard and firm, but there was an underlying kindness in his tone, and she clung to it.
Biting her lip and clenching her fists into balls, she gripped the soft bed covers beneath her and tried not to let her fear or anger show in her voice. “I thought you were going to spank me!”
“And I am. Later. I don’t want your food to get cold.”
“Oh really? Then why aren’t you letting me eat?” The last word came out in a shriek as something cold and hard pressed against her tight anal hole, and slowly intruded past the tender barrier it found there.
“I will in just a minute.” He spoke slowly as he concentrated on pushing the foreign object inside o
f her.
“Oh God!” she cried, shuddering as he gave one final push and a tap for good measure. “What the hell is that?” she asked, though she had a feeling she knew.
“It’s just a metal butt plug.”
“Oh, is that all?”
“Quiet, brat.” He silenced her sarcasm with a hard slap to her left ass cheek. “You may eat your dinner now. Naked. While you sit with this metal plug in your ass and your body fully exposed and on display for me, you can think about what’s to come tonight, because darlin’, this is only the beginning.”
“Oh, fabulous,” she drawled. “Can I get up now?”
He slapped her one more time, on the opposite cheek. “Go for it.”
The metal chafed a bit as she walked, or maybe it was just the unfamiliar fullness? It didn’t quite hurt, but it was certainly an unpleasant distraction. Just knowing it was there and that Nick had put it there, having full access to her ass for those brief moments, made her cheeks burn. She sat gingerly, shifting uneasily in her seat and forcing a smile when Nick served up her order. The first bite sat like lead in her stomach. The doughy goodness that had been the subject of intense cravings only a short time before held no appeal.
With a smirk, Nick sat across from her, his own plate piled high with steak and salad.
“Eat up.” He smiled easily, and why wouldn’t he? He wasn’t the one forced to sit with a foreign object shoved up his butthole, knowing this was just the beginning.
Knowing that he wouldn’t be satisfied until she had eaten at least half of the hearty platter of food in front of her, she choked down a few bites, first of the pancake, and then the hash browns.
She hated not knowing what he had planned, hated sitting here naked and plugged while he sat across from her fully clothed. If he really thought she wasn’t going to pepper him with questions about the rest of their day, he had another think coming.