Provoked

by Riley Murphy

  Didn’t he know it. Butterscotch, chocolate, fucking black cherry surprise. She could put any flavor on herself she wanted to and she’d still be plain vanilla. She proved it every time she spoke to him that way. “Noted.”

  “Do you have two pieces of paper and two pens?”

  Interesting.

  He nodded and then went to get them. When he returned she was sitting on the floor, with legs crossed, at one end of the coffee table. “Here’s your paper, and I hope Sharpies are okay.”

  “Fine. And no worries about your puzzle, I’ll be careful around it. I even found a piece you dropped. Over there on the floor. See? Sky is all done.”

  “I take it one of these pages is for me along with the magic marker?”

  “Yup.” She uncapped hers with a flourish, jamming it on the top of the pen. “This is what we’re going to do. I’m going to make a list of the things I like and don’t like and so are you.”

  “Are you talking about a sexual profile sheet?”

  She stared up at him. There wasn’t a concern to be found in her serene expression. “Yes. You called it a risk sheet.” Again she flourished the pen. This time to write that phrase at the top of her page before she underlined it, pushing the paper sideways to show him when she was done. “I’m ready.”

  “I can see that.” He sat down in one of the chairs opposite the couch and beat his black marker against his page trying to decide what to say to her. She couldn’t actually believe that he was going to do a risk sheet. She couldn’t be that naïve, could she?

  He stopped tapping his pen and studied her. Maybe she was.

  “Yeah, I’m ready,” he said.

  And maybe she wasn’t. He spied her ‘well, this is a surprise’ reaction before she could hide it. What was she up to? Bending, he picked up the discarded box from the puzzle and placed his paper on it, but before he got his marker uncapped, he saw the beginning of her list and scowled. “I’m a little offended that you find the need to capitalize all the letters of the first item on your list.”

  She remained focused on the paper, answering, “I wanted to highlight how important that one was.”

  That made him chuckle. “I think the huge stars and the triple underlining would have sufficed.”

  “Hey, quit peeking.” She hunched forward and curled her arm around her page. The action was so…so…Charlie, he shook his head.

  After a few more seconds of watching her earnestly jot down her list, he realized this was the perfect opportunity to do some highlighting of his own. With that in mind, he settled back in the chair, crossed one leg over the other to better balance the box, and began writing.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  He was almost done when he heard Charlie sigh. “What are you penning? A Pulitzer? It was supposed to be a list.”

  He shifted nothing but his gaze to pin her with a ‘be good’ glare. That’s when he noticed she’d come up on her knees and was craning her neck to get a look at his paper. “Sit back down on your ass and no peeking.”

  “How long are you going to be?”

  He didn’t answer her, only continued writing.

  “You’re turning your paper over?”

  He ignored her pitiful groan and said, “Shush.”

  “Maybe I should add some things to my list.” He caught her page waving in his peripheral vision and did a mental harrumph which quickly manifested into a silent snort when she asked, “Do you have a sadomasochistic dictionary in the house? I think I need one.”

  With a flourish that rivaled her two previous ones, he dotted the period to his finished sentence and frowned, rereading it. This wasn’t how his dissertation on a dominant male was supposed to end.

  “Finally.” She snatched the paper out of his hand so fast, he was instantly reminded of the first day he’d met her at Cat’s house when she took the invoice from him without asking. “Here’s mine.”

  One look at her messy list with several red underlines, a plethora of stars, and scratched out mistakes and he wondered how she’d react to his paper. For now he’d concentrate on hers. “You spelled fellatio wrong, there’s two ‘l’s in the word. And I don’t think drawing a heart around the word cunnilingus is a good way to let me know you enjoy it. This is supposed to be a risk sheet, so,” he turned the paper over and asked, “where are they? I only see three things under your hard limits.” He looked at her.

  “That’s all there is. I told you I needed a dictionary.”

  “Anal, water sports, and public exposure?”

  She nodded.

  He knew he was going to regret this before he said it. This wasn’t about coming to an agreement on certain things with her. “What about your soft limits? Things like orgasm denial, abduction fantasies, eye contact restrictions, bondage, spanking, to include caning, paddling, strapping? What about pet-play? Humiliation or breath play?”

  Her eyes widened until they nearly popped out of her head by the time he finished. “You like all that stuff?”

  “Damn straight. So, the Dom in me is more than a little concerned reading your…your…” he looked down at the candy stripes she’d made in some of the block letters she used and attempted to tamp down his frustration, “high school love letter here. I’m surprised you didn’t draw boxes beside: I love receiving cunnilingus, do you like giving it? Yes or no. I love sucking cock, do you love getting your cock sucked? Yes or no.”

  “I didn’t write—”

  “Cock? Well you should have since you couldn’t spell fellatio correctly.”

  “Give it back. I can add bondage to my list. Spanking too.”

  “You don’t understand, butterscotch. It isn’t about adding one item or two. I want it all. Not all at once, but all of it just the same.”

  “I’m sure we can cross those bridges when we need to.”

  And he was sure they couldn’t.

  He pointed to his page and sighed. “Sex should be the easiest part of a D/s relationship to figure out and yet here we are…” He dragged a hand through his hair and then sighed again. “I want you to read what I’ve written out loud. Maybe it will clarify a few things for both of us.”

  “Okay.” She sat up straighter and held his paper out as if she was getting ready to read a speech.

  “A dominant man does not have a risk sheet even though he’s expected to live by them. He is the epitome of self-control to the point it drives his woman crazy. He will always make sure his woman’s opinions matter, but that doesn’t mean that he’ll continually side with her on them.

  “A dominant never boasts that he knows everything about his woman because if he’s committed to her and he’s doing his job, she’s changing. Evolving. Growing into a better version of what she was before she was living under his influence and rules.

  “He has reasons to every rule he puts in place and although she may not always know what those reasons are, she should trust him enough to understand that they are there to protect her. To shield her from the outside world that puts external stress on her, and the internal one that she puts on herself.

  “A dominant man respects his woman’s limits, so there’s no need for her to underline or heavily star her fears…” She hesitated and then looked up. Those blue/green eyes penetrated deep. Right to his soul before she dropped her gaze and continued reading, “He lives and breathes them with her until they are as much a part him as they are of her.

  “A dominant man understands that a D/s relationship succeeds because the people in the relationship choose to make it succeed. The couple holds each other to their combined ideals of honesty, integrity, and mutual respect.

  “And now I’ll talk about the sex in such a relationship.

  “A dominant will always make sure his woman is taken care of before, during, and after a sexual encounter with him that has stripped her down emotionally and tested her limits. He is her lover, her friend, her partner, but especially the man who took the infinite care and time to build the framework a relationship like this requires
in order for it to thrive. When that happens the sex is phenomenal because these two people have reached a place where they can experience their darkest, dirtiest fantasies without being judged by them.

  “And now I’ll talk about why…”

  Her gaze shot up and he indicated with a nod toward the paper for her to finish that sentence. He wanted her to reach the end, but he couldn’t sit there through the rest of this. He knew what words were coming so he got up and walked to the fireplace. He kept his back to her and gripped the mantle with outstretched arms, waiting for the inevitable.

  She began again. “And now I’ll talk about why we have…” she faltered and her tone dropped an octave or two, “no future together. As a dominant I’ve made a personal commitment to live by the ideals I’ve just described. I’ve worked hard over the years to improve myself and mentor others who needed additional strength. Right now, I find it’s me who needs the strength to differentiate between what I want and what I need. I want you, tiger, but what kind of hypocrite would I be if I turned a blind-eye to everything I believed in just to have you? I need to be able to respect myself and trust that I’ll make the correct decision about you for the right reasons.

  “A good Dom is honest and humble. He sees his flaws and he’s not ashamed of them.

  “I’m a good Dom. I constantly strive to better myself and correct the flaws I can’t live with.”

  Neil closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. His heart had melted. He knew because he’d just fucking poured it on the page for her.

  “When it comes to you, inflexibility is a flaw I find I can’t live with for one simple reason. How can anyone improve without trying and how can a person try without facing failure? You failed, tiger, it’s true. But what kind of Dom would I be if I never gave you the opportunity to pick yourself up and try again?”

  He hadn’t meant to come full circle with his decision. Up until he saw that last sentence written on the page he had no idea that they might have a chance at a future together.

  “Oh, Neil. That was beautiful. So eloquent. Thank you.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed herself into his back, whispering, “You and I will be great together. I know it. If you’d had a dictionary, I’m sure there would have been more stuff on my list. I’ll try anything once. I mean it. Anything. You didn’t see me fall apart when you were brandishing the plug. We will be great together.”

  That made him smile. He turned around and she refused to let go of him. Not that he minded. Her face snuggled against his chest felt right. “You sound so sure. We’ve never really dealt honestly together, have we?”

  “What do you mean?” He really wished he could see her eyes, but she had them closed. “Of course we have.”

  “No, you and your sister played me, remember?”

  Her eyes were open now. “Is that what you think? We had no plan. There was no discussion about playing anyone. You showed up and I had to adjust. I did things…said things…that were my own. Oh sure, I tried to think about what Cat would do, but every time I did I wound up overdoing it so I eventually stopped. And then there was…”

  “What?” He was beginning to feel better about caving on this. She was right. How could the twins have planned for his intervention in any measure? It had happened so unexpectedly.

  “I don’t want to bring it up. It will only remind you of it. But then if I don’t bring it up I can’t thank you for it.”

  He knew what she was talking about. Their time in the pool together. He took hold of her chin, angling it to better study her. “That was beyond foolish.”

  “No. How could it be? It caused you to recreate a moment in my life I will never, ever, forget. You gave me back something special I’d thought I’d lost for good. I—”

  He didn’t let her finish. He couldn’t. She was warm and soft. The color of her eyes shifting from blue to green to a stunning mix of both that drove him crazy.

  He wanted her.

  He needed her.

  “Neil!”

  He hauled her up, knowing his intensity probably frightened her, but he was ready to calm her fears. He’d waited far too long to feel her in his arms again. And now that he’d decided to commit he was all in.

  Charlie clung to him when he lifted her. She had no idea where they were going until they got there. His room. Landing in his bed and she wanted everything all at once. Her clothes off, his clothes off, him inside her, but when she tried to accomplish all that he held her down.

  “Not so fast, tiger. We have time.”

  Time she didn’t want to waste on words.

  “Damn, you bit me.”

  He sounded so utterly shocked she fought the urge to smile. Poor baby. She’d been dreaming about his gorgeous cock for weeks and he was going to give it to her. “I want you inside me.”

  He nuzzled her neck and pressed his lips against her ear. “Then behave.”

  Those were the last words spoken between them because suddenly the moment became intense, quiet as their bodies moved against one another. He stripped off her top, she unbuttoned his pants. He undid her bra and she pulled up his shirt. In no time at all they were naked and she wanted to dive all over him. He was hot power, radiating a confidence that seduced her better than any aphrodisiac could.

  When he reached toward the drawer for a foil, she stretched with him. Kissing any part of him her lips could reach. His chest, neck, shoulder—oh God, his shoulders where so incredibly hard she needed another bite.

  Smack!

  “I told you to behave.”

  But the sting from his spank only made her hotter. She pressed her body into his and moaned. He was the journey she wanted to take. The landscape she wanted to walk. There wasn’t a part of him she didn’t want to roam.

  “Stop.”

  “What?” She let go of him and came up on elbow. “Why?”

  “Because,” he gave her a smile that completely undid her, “this way is so much nicer. Come here, let me show you.”

  He was right of course. Taking things slow and steady was much more effective. This uncomplicated embrace heightened the moment, and she remembered what he’d said about her being the sheets in his bed. She wanted to wrap herself around him. To touch every part of him with every part of her and when he shifted so that the thick length of him was braced at her entrance, she closed her eyes and moaned.

  “It drives me crazy when you do that.”

  And opened her legs.

  Time ticked by so slowly as they breathed in sync. The feel of him sliding into her while they—kissed seemed like such an inadequate word to describe this…this unexpected kind of magic that wound around her drawing her further in.

  She used his hair as her anchor so she wouldn’t fall completely apart while he rocked into her. Over and over with long, slow, strokes that took her to the edge and back too many times to count. He was a Master and she was anything he wanted her to be.

  Her body hummed with pent up need. She wanted to let go, but a part of her wanted to push for more and see where this would lead her. “Oh yeah.”

  “Open your eyes, tiger. Look at me.”

  When she did, he slipped a hand between them and pressed it against her. In a strange spot, not so high as to be on her belly, but not so low as to be at the apex of her legs. It was somewhere in between. He shifted his hand once, twice, and then she felt the zinging twinge of desire and gasped. “Whatever that is it’s there. Right there.”

  He held her gaze as he pumped, pressing that spot, deeply massaging it as he moved into her. The familiar sensations she usually experienced turned into something different. They became more intense, climbing faster and higher. She had to go with them or they’d go without her. It was such a strange occurrence. Inside her body her pulse raced and her heart beat in time with the endorphin driven adrenaline racing through her veins, waking up the smallest nerve endings, but outside there was nothing but infinite calm as she focused solely on him.

  “Neil,” she whispered, plac
ing a hand on his cheek. He had the bluest eyes she’d ever seen, and she couldn’t help but drown in them. Neither of them blinked, and what happened next was surreal because it was the first time in her life she’d ever come staring into a man’s eyes.

  She thought she was sharing something special with him. A moment that had always been her own, but that’s not the way he saw it. She could tell by the intensity of his stare, by the way he tightly held her and wouldn’t let her turn away. He wasn’t sharing, he was taking, claiming, owning.

  And she let him.

  “Are you doing okay?” He twined his hand in her hair and tugged her head to one side so he had access to her neck. When he sucked on the most sensitive part there, she shivered and clasped him tighter.

  “Neil.”

  “You’ve got a wicked little body. Now that you’ve calmed down some, what do you say we have some fun with it.” He let go of her hair and shoved his hands under her ass. “Roll with me. I want you on top. Ride me and I promise I’ll make you scream loud enough to shatter glass. I want to get you wetter than wet and then maybe I’ll kiss you like I did the night on my car, only on your other lips. With soft, long strokes of my tongue.”

  “Yes…”

  “That’s right, tiger. Slide down on me. All the way. Take it in.”

  “Oh God.”

  Charlie could have died right then and been a happy woman. He had a gorgeous cock that fit so beautifully inside her. All she wanted to do was fuck him, ride him, enjoy him.

  “Reach back and grab a hold of your ankles.”

  This new position forced her to undulate rather than move up and down. At first she wasn’t sure she liked it, but then she found her rhythm and he found everything else. She nearly lost it when he pinched her nipples hard for a few seconds before letting them go. And holy hell, when he did the same to her clit, she almost came. Almost, but then when she got close, and was right on the edge, he spoke to her in a very low but firm voice.