Breathe

by Lauren Jameson

  “Push back.” Samantha felt helpless as she felt the head of Elijah’s cock press against her impossibly tight back opening.

  She screamed around Luca’s erection as Elijah slowly worked his way inside her. The burn was hotter than when she touched her sculptures before they’d cooled, but entwined with the unfamiliar pain was an overwhelming pleasure.

  She found her mouth slowly closing, her teeth nipping at Luca’s flesh. He grunted out a warning, wrapping his fingers in the ropes of her hair and tugging to get her attention.

  Then . . . finally Elijah was all the way in. He stilled for a moment, giving her time to adjust to his size. She wiggled as much as she was able to, trying to find some relief, a moment’s respite from the wicked burn.

  Then Elijah began to move inside her tight flesh in motions that were slow but steady, and all she could do was take it.

  At the same time Luca thrust in and out of her mouth, hitting the back of her throat with every firm thrust. She felt saliva pool against her tongue, felt sweat trickle down her back, knew she must look horrible, but the look on Luca’s face told her that he thought she looked just fine.

  And though she couldn’t see Elijah—she wished she could—she could picture his face as clearly as if he was standing in front of her. She knew he was watching her, reading her body language, taking in every detail of her response with that eagle-eyed stare of his.

  He would be looking at her like she was the only woman in the world.

  She wanted to be the only woman in his world.

  She barely noticed when his hand slid from her hip to splay over the gentle curve of her belly and lower. But when he slid his hand between her legs and started the vibrator again, pressing it to the hard nub of her clit, she felt her nerves go off like a series of rockets.

  “Beautiful.” Elijah spoke softly to her, his voice low and thick with need. Samantha’s body tensed, tried to arch, to move away from the onslaught of sensation. The pleasure didn’t dissipate, instead marching relentlessly onward until mentally she checked out, her mind unable to deal with the ecstasy.

  The men continued to play her body like an instrument, pulling sensation after incredible sensation from her flesh until she was as limp as a ragdoll.

  Behind her, Elijah’s thrusts increased. Centering the vibrator directly over her clit as he stroked harder inside her, he spoke through the thick silence that had fallen over all three of them.

  “Now, Samantha.” Quickly his thrusts became harder, more urgent. “Come for me now.”

  The next time he circled the vibrator around her clit, she felt the shuddering waves again begin to build. In front of her, Luca’s grip on her hair loosened, and he thrust fully into her mouth as the waves of sensation washed over her.

  Luca came with a shout, and Elijah with a silent, hard press of his hips against her ass. Through it all, Samantha rode out the bliss that racked her flesh.

  Minutes passed, or it might have been an hour, before Samantha felt her thoughts begin to gather into some semblance of clarity. Luca pulled his still semierect but softening cock from between her lips, and Samantha watched idly as he tugged the condom off and disposed of it. Tucking himself back into his leather pants, he signaled to a plump young woman wearing nothing but a spiked collar, a thong, and thigh-high boots. After speaking a few words to her, the young submissive scurried off, returning with a blanket, a soft cloth, and a bottle of water.

  Samantha felt Elijah begin to trace his fingers over the small of her back, the tender sensation making her shiver after the onslaught of pleasure. He stayed joined with her as Luca gently wiped her lips, then knelt down and unfastened the cuffs that bound her wrists and ankles.

  “Thank you.” Samantha stretched out her mouth—her jaw was going to be sore the next day. Not that she’d mind—it had been worth it. Elijah’s friend looked down at her with apparent satisfaction.

  “Thank you, little sub.” Luca tapped her under the chin, his expression a bit wistful. The look seemed out of place on the big, powerful man, but Samantha couldn’t find the strength to think on it any further.

  Opening the fuzzy blanket and laying it across her back, Luca handed the bottle of water to Elijah with a nod. “You’re a lucky man, E.” With one more smile at Samantha, he left, a sheen of sweat making his muscles shine in the dim light.

  “I am, indeed,” Elijah murmured from behind her as he pressed a kiss to the base of her spine.

  “Mmm,” Samantha groaned softly as, with a hand flat on her back, Elijah slowly pulled out of her tight flesh. She wiggled, tried to stand as he moved forward to toss his condom in the trash, and found that without the spanking bench beneath her, her legs refused to support her.

  “Don’t try to move.” Though the expectation that she would listen and obey was clear in Elijah’s voice, the tone had mellowed from the urgency that it had carried before they’d come into Veritas.

  She murmured a sleepy affirmation as Elijah wrapped the blanket around her, then lifted her up. Carrying her across the playroom floor to a soft couch, he sank down onto an overstuffed cushion with her on his lap. Tucking the ends of the blanket around her, he opened the bottle of water and held it up to her dry lips.

  “Thank you.” With thirsty gulps, Samantha drained the bottle, then settled back into the comfortable cradle of Elijah’s arms. She allowed herself to relax for one long moment before her thoughts began to turn around in her head again.

  “That boy—Danny—you . . . he . . .” Samantha hid her face against Elijah’s chest as she tried to find the right words. “His Mistress gave him to you to do whatever you wanted.”

  “And you’re wondering if I will ever give you away in the same way.” Elijah stroked a hand through her hair, damp with sweat. Unable to speak, she nodded her head against his chest.

  “Being temporarily given away to another Dom or Domme just happens to be one of Danny’s favorite kinks,” Elijah said matter-of-factly, startling Samantha enough that she looked right into his face.

  “Seriously?” But there was something tickling at her memory . . .

  The questionnaire she’d filled out at Pecado. One of the questions had asked if she was interested in being given to another Dom, either temporarily or permanently. At the time she had been certain that no sane person would do such a thing.

  She was beginning to see, to understand. People in the BDSM community may have had different kinks, but there was no judgment. Just because she couldn’t conceive of doing something didn’t mean that it didn’t turn on another submissive.

  And it was all okay, so long as it was . . . What had that sheet said again? Right at the top, there had been a logo.

  Right.

  Safe, sane, and consensual.

  “I’d love to hear the thoughts buzzing around that brain of yours.” Elijah slid a hand inside the blanket, past the thin silk of her dress to cup a breast. “These girls were woefully neglected tonight. I’ll have to make amends later.”

  “Can I have a bit of time to recover first?” Samantha knew she sounded apprehensive—and she was. Her body felt like mush, and her brain wasn’t far behind. Elijah and Luca had used her well.

  Elijah chuckled, and she looked up to find his lips curled in a smirk. “Too much man for you to handle?”

  She tried to scowl at him, though she wasn’t really upset. “Actually . . . I was wondering if there was someone I could talk to, to ask some questions. A girl someone,” she added, just to be clear.

  “Remember what I said about trust, Sammie Cat?” Elijah’s expression was neutral, but Samantha blanched, not wanting to give him the wrong idea.

  “It has nothing to do with trust, Elijah. It’s more about perspective. Since you are neither female nor submissive, you can’t give me the perspective I want.” Sitting up tall in Elijah’s lap, Samantha craned her neck and looked around the playroom. “Is Maddy still here?”

  “Maddy went home to be bedded by her fiancé.” Samantha felt a wash of heat and str
uggled to contain it. She couldn’t possibly handle round two—not right now, and probably not even tonight.

  “Oh.” Samantha was disappointed. She had liked Maddy, and Kylie too, though she’d gotten the impression that the other redhead didn’t know much more about the BDSM lifestyle than Samantha did herself.

  “But there is someone who appears free at the moment. She’s a nice girl, and she’s been in the lifestyle for a couple of years now.” Setting Samantha on her feet, Elijah tugged the blanket from around her shoulders and gave her a nudge toward the sitting area, where it seemed that the single submissives tended to congregate.

  The only woman there at the moment was about Samantha’s height, with curling hair and the most gorgeous cappuccino-colored skin that Samantha had ever seen.

  She also looked familiar, and Samantha found herself glaring before she could stop it.

  “She’s friends with that other woman—that nasty one who hit on you in front of me.” Placing fisted hands on her hips, Samantha glared at Elijah, upset that he would suggest such a thing. “No way.”

  “Angie is nothing like Charlotte.” The reprimand was clear in his voice: Don’t question me. “And though I do like this guard kitty side of you, I’m asking you to give her a chance. She’s friendly, she can be trusted, and I think she’ll be happy to answer any questions you have.”

  “How do you know she can be trusted? If I’m allowed to ask.” Samantha bit her lip as jealousy washed over her. It was no business of hers what Elijah had done before her—just as, to her mind, she didn’t need to tell him anything about her own past.

  But the sudden thought that Elijah could have been—probably had been—with other women who were in this room right now didn’t sit well. Hell, maybe he had been with Kylie. With Maddy. They were both beautiful women—what was to stop him?

  “I’ve never done a scene with Angie.” Elijah’s lips curved into a grin as he spoke, and Samantha felt her cheeks flush. He knew, the bastard—he knew exactly what thoughts were running through her head. Knew that she was jealous.

  What’s more, he appeared to like it.

  Mortified, Samantha allowed herself to be gently pushed in the direction of the gorgeous raven-haired submissive.

  “Go. Talk to her. I’ll have one of the serving subbies bring you a drink.” Elijah gently pushed her away.

  Samantha froze. “I—I don’t—I mean—”

  “I’ll stay close.”

  Damn it. How had he known what she was going to say? It was uncanny, the way he seemed to pluck thoughts right out of her mind before they had crystallized.

  “Go,” he said again, and Samantha found herself walking toward Angie. When she was nearly to the sitting area, she looked back over her shoulder. She had assumed that Elijah would have already moved to the bar, would be engaging in a chat with Luca, who was again polishing glasses, or with one of the other regulars who crowded close, eager for one of their limited allowance of drinks.

  But instead Elijah was standing right where she’d left him. The blanket he had just pulled from around her shoulders was clutched loosely in his hands, and his feet were planted shoulder width apart.

  The expression on his face was one of . . . possession. Sheer ownership. There was no other way to put it.

  It frightened her, and at the same time excited her. Turning away from the ferocious gaze, she scurried the rest of the way to Angie, though her mind kept trying to decipher that look.

  She knew one thing—that was for sure.

  She was in way over her head. But somehow that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Elijah took a seat on one of the high stools at the bar as he watched Samantha make her way across the play area to Angie. He could see by her body language that she wasn’t eager to talk to her.

  He supposed he could have waited, could have let her talk to Maddy as she’d requested. But Maddy didn’t know much about the world of BDSM beyond what she and Alex did—she’d been a neophyte who’d never had even a thought of submission before Alex had scooped her up.

  No, Angie was a better choice. Despite her deplorable taste in friends, the woman was a good person.

  “Another one bites the dust, huh?” Grinning, Luca slid a tall glass of ice water down the polished surface of the bar. Turning to the rack that held the owners’ private supply, he selected a bottle and held it up for Elijah’s approval.

  “Vintage Romanée-Conti. Nice choice.” Elijah nodded his approval, and with the ease of long practice, Luca uncorked the expensive red from Burgundy, France.

  “Send a glass to Samantha, will you?” Elijah signaled for Rani, the pretty brunette submissive who was on serving duty that evening. She had been the one to bring the blanket and water over to them after their scene earlier.

  “Sir,” Rani said as she approached, keeping her eyes on the ground. Elijah handed her the first glass that Luca filled, and was about to send her on her way when Luca handed over a second one.

  “One each for the two ladies in the subbie area.” The bigger man poured two more glasses and passed one over to Elijah before lifting his own for a taste.

  Elijah eyed his friend thoughtfully. He’d long ago gotten over the visual paradox of the big, rough-looking man sipping fancy wine; beer might have seemed a more appropriate beverage for him. But he’d never seen Luca share that fancy wine with a sub, let alone someone he’d never—at least to Elijah’s knowledge—scened with.

  “Is there something I should know?” Elijah asked, looking over to Angie, who by now was sitting next to Samantha on a low couch. It would have been impossible to miss the spark of possession in the other man’s eyes, even if Elijah hadn’t been feeling the exact same thing for another woman. “I saw that she tried a scene with Levi earlier, but I don’t think it worked out. Why don’t you go play once they’re done talking? Julien can come inside and man the bar.”

  Luca snorted, then returned to polishing glasses. “I’m not fixing to hook up with a woman who’s barely legal.”

  Elijah narrowed his eyes at the women. “Angie is twenty-four.” Not experienced enough for his liking, but certainly not a child.

  “Too young for me,” Luca said flatly, then charged the subject. “Are you fixing to keep this one, then? You’ve never brought a sub from outside to Veritas before.”

  Elijah let his eyes trace over the classic profile of his redhead. The first time he’d laid eyes on her he’d thought she looked like a goddess, and that impression hadn’t changed.

  “I want to.” It felt good to finally admit it out loud. “She offered me a month of submission in return for introducing her to the lifestyle. I didn’t think she’d really be able to submit, but she does, beautifully—at least, in the bedroom and at the club.”

  Luca leaned over on the counter, propping his weight on his elbows. His stare followed Elijah’s intent gaze at the two beautiful women.

  “And after Tara, you’re worried that if you try to keep a sub who isn’t submissive in every way, you’ll wind up getting hurt and, worse, hurting her.”

  “True enough.” Elijah winced and chugged at his wine. It sounded so blunt, when put like that. But as always, Luca had put his finger right on the heart of the problem. “She has a secret in her past that she refuses to tell me. And in total honesty, I’m not sure that I can get it out of her without damaging something inside of her.”

  Luca studied the women for another long moment, then tipped back his head and swallowed down the rest of his wine.

  “There are a lot of rules,” he said as he set his glass on the back counter of the bar, next to the other dirty glasses. “But there’s nothing to say that you have to hold hard and fast to each and every one if they’re not working for you.”

  Those simple words cleared a fog in Elijah’s head.

  “If you want her, if it’s working between you, then go for it. She’s nothing like your ex.” Luca nodded, then turned away from Elijah to take a drink order from
Rani. Elijah reached for the bottle of Romanée-Conti and refilled his glass. He usually limited himself to one drink while in the playroom, but he was done playing there for the night and was feeling the need to loosen up.

  If you want her, if it’s working, then go for it.

  He would wait for Samantha to finish her conversation with Angie, though he wanted nothing more than to stride across the room, sweep her into his arms, and take her mouth with rough possession.

  Once she was done . . .

  Once she was done, he would take her back upstairs to his home. It was time they had a serious chat, rather than circling each other like wary dogs. He was fully aware that it was usually the fairer sex who wanted to have talks about emotions and the future of relationships, but Samantha was a skittish little cat.

  His skittish little cat. And fully submissive or not, he’d be damned if he was going to let her go.

  • • •

  Samantha could feel Elijah’s stare burning into the back of her neck from all the way across the room. Knowing that his attention was firmly fixed on her, even as he spoke to Luca, made her feel as though his hands were still on her skin.

  She couldn’t help but feel ridiculous, approaching a woman she didn’t know to ask her some very intimate questions. She wished that Elijah had at least introduced them, though she understood why he hadn’t.

  It was his way of pushing her boundaries, of making her more comfortable with this lifestyle.

  Knowing that didn’t make it any easier.

  To her relief, Angie smiled easily at her and offered a hand. Samantha stared at it for a moment, a bit startled that people observed such normal niceties as handshakes here, in what felt like a different world. It seemed there should have been a secret way of greeting one another perhaps.

  It was just another reminder that people from all walks of life were practicing BDSM—teachers, doctors, businesspeople, artists . . .