by Lexi Blake
He pressed down, his thumb finding her clit and rotating in a way that was bound to please her. Control was the most important thing. Control and restraint. It was his job to send her carefully over the edge and hers to let go and go wild.
Her hips started to pump as though she couldn’t help herself, little thrusts against his thumb. A low moan came from her throat, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted more from her. Needed it. Very carefully, he licked the shell of her ear before giving it a hard nip.
She screamed out, her whole body tense. Every muscle stiffened and she cried out again. Breath panted from her lips and he felt her heartbeat hammering in her chest. Her arousal coated his fingers.
All in all a perfectly satisfactory experience. She responded beautifully. She was hot as hell.
His cock throbbed and he wanted nothing more than to turn her around, open his slacks, and thrust deep inside her. She would bounce on his cock until she screamed again and he would empty himself into her.
In about ten seconds. No. He was in control. In control of her, and definitely in control of himself. He would come tonight, but his dick would wait until he’d proven his point.
“Excellent, pet.” He helped her sit up. “Now I would like for you to stand.”
A throaty laugh came from her mouth. Her ass wiggled against his cock, teasing and tempting and damn near sending him over the edge. “Are you sure about that?”
A mistake. Excellent because he’d been almost ready to give in, and he never fucking gave in. He took his hands away, bringing them up and leaving her without balance. It forced her to stand awkwardly.
“Okay, that was my bad,” she said, not turning his way. She leaned over the table, her palms down as though she needed a moment. “I promised not to question you.”
At least she understood what she’d done wrong. “Go to the dungeon, sweetheart. I need a moment. I want you naked and kneeling to greet me when I come in.”
She turned. “I’m sorry, Joshua.”
He knew he should be cold, should withhold, but he was sick of the chill. He found himself giving her a small smile. “We’ll find our way. Now go and give your poor Master a moment so he can properly discipline you.”
She stared down at him. “You’re different than I thought you would be. Should I take these plates down?”
He reached for her wrist, dragging her close again. “You are not a maid. I’ll handle it. And that was questioning me when I’d given you a clear order. It’s not going to go well for you.”
He leaned in and brushed his hand over hers, sending a jolt of electricity through his system.
Fuck, she played hell with his discipline. It was because it had been a long time. Yes, it was because she was gorgeous and new and submissive. She flipped his switch in all the right ways, but it would go away eventually.
“Go.”
She turned and walked back into the house, not bothering to smooth her skirt back down or to rearrange her shirt so her breast wasn’t exposed.
He hadn’t told her to therefore she hadn’t done it.
His cock practically wept.
Josh took a long breath and stood, looking out over the water. Control. He had to find it before he could touch her again.
The waves pounded in and he took another breath.
Control. He could never lose it again.
Chapter Four
Kayla’s hands were shaking as she pulled the last two buttons of her blouse free. Not that she wasn’t already hanging out there for all to see, but Joshua wanted her naked and she didn’t intend to piss him off further.
It was her job to please the Master. Please the Master. Make the Master value her, crave her. Convince the Master to do her will.
Yeah, she hadn’t been thinking about her will when she’d sat in his lap and spread her legs wide. Not thinking about the operation when his fingers had strummed her body like a master guitarist.
What the hell had just happened?
She needed to find some control. The dungeon was nothing more than a second master bedroom that had been redone into a fancy playroom. It was the only room in the house that wasn’t white. It was done in shades of scarlet and black. A bit reminiscent of The Reef. He’d briefly shown her the room as they’d walked through the house before dinner. There was a St. Andrew’s Cross on the wall, a lushly done spanking bench, a massage table that would likely second as a bed. The ceiling had hard points for suspension play. There was a closet full of toys with all manner of ways to torture a poor sub.
She closed the door and shoved out of her skirt, hanging up her clothes on the hook he’d indicated belonged to her now.
I’m going to enjoy showing you off, letting everyone see how lovely my submissive is, but I won’t share you.
His whispered words rang through her head. That whiskey-deep voice of his had been every bit as seductive as his big hands on her body. Every word that came from his throat had rumbled along her skin and shown her that no matter how long she’d spent playing at The Garden, it was utterly and completely different when the Master playing with her belonged to her.
As she sank down to the floor, the chill of the hardwoods beneath her knees was a welcome distraction to the heat still racing through her.
Maybe she didn’t have enough experience to handle him since one little orgasm in and she was ready to do anything he wished.
Perhaps because he’d said the one thing guaranteed to make her spine melt.
I don’t like. I won’t like, so if that’s a sweet kink of yours, the dry spell is going to continue.
He wouldn’t share her. He wanted her all for himself. It would be stupid to see those words as some sort of declaration of commitment since they’d met earlier today. She’d only signed a contract a few minutes before. Those words only meant what he’d said to her when he’d caught her with Declan. Joshua Hunt was a boy who didn’t like sharing his toys.
She would be wise to remember that. She was a toy to him, and one that came with a high price tag, nothing more.
And she was a tool for the Agency. A well-trained, well-paid tool.
Kayla took a deep breath in, settling into the familiar position. There was something meditative about finding the perfect submissive pose. Shoulders straight and proud, spine centered. Hips back and knees splayed wide, allowing cool air to caress her. Palms up in offering. Her body was his for the duration of the session.
Finally, she lowered her head, letting her neck relax even as the rest of her body remained in position, almost a symbol that it was time for the body to rule and the brain to rest.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Kay let her body’s rhythms take over so time seemed to flow differently and space became a softer place. Her mind wandered, breathing and heart rate slowing, giving over to the meditative state.
She had no idea how long he left her there, but it was certainly more than a few moments. When she heard the door open, she felt calm and centered again. This was a job. She could do her job. She was good at her job.
His bare feet came into view. Naturally, even his feet were sexy. How the hell were feet sexy?
Just like that, she was off center again.
“You look beautiful like this.”
She didn’t respond because they were in the dungeon. She wasn’t sure of all the protocols he would use. Some Doms preferred their subs remain silent in the dungeon.
A big hand touched her head, palm covering her scalp. “Naturally you have perfect form. Did you learn this at The Garden? I’ve heard of it, you know. It’s so exclusive even I can’t get in. I was jealous of Jared when he got a membership to Sanctum. I don’t like being left out.”
He was an interesting combination of strong Dom and wayward boy. There were major gaps in his history, long periods of time that remained unaccounted for, and that couldn’t mean anything good. A good life tended to be documented carefully. What had happened to him between the time he left his foster home and the moment he showed up on Hollywood’s radar? Wh
at had happened that made him forever need to belong, even if it meant buying his way in?
“You can talk, pet. Unless I give you specific instructions, I never mean to silence your voice.”
“If we go to London or Dallas, I can get you into both,” she offered. “They’re wonderful clubs. Completely different experiences, but both amazing. The Doms in charge are private bastards.”
“I belong to a club in Dallas.” His hand came off her head and his feet disappeared. “It’s very nice.”
She knew the one he was talking about. “Well, then if we’re in Dallas, you can take me someplace new. I’ve heard The Club is lovely and that Julian Lodge knows how to treat his clients. It’s probably better than Ian Taggart. Ian treats everyone like we’re still in the Army and he’s the general in charge.”
“Lodge is polite, but I still feel like I’m on the outside any place other than The Reef.”
She heard the door to the closet open and took a long breath. “It’s good to have a place where you belong.”
She couldn’t see what he was doing. It was part of the glorious mind fuck that got her adrenaline going.
“You seem to belong a lot of places.”
“I have a membership to The Garden and Sanctum, but only because of my work status. I feel weird in Sanctum. For a long time I was on the opposite side of Ian Taggart—well, he thought I was on the opposite side. No one was allowed to know my true identity except my handler and his boss. It’s the curse of the double agent. Sometimes you feel like no one believes you at all because you’ve become such a master at lying.”
She was surprised that came out as easily as it had. Her former career wasn’t something she liked to talk about, but something about being in the dungeon always made her vulnerable. In many ways, the dungeon was the only place she did talk about what had happened to her. It was her confessional, the one place she could be vulnerable because she knew there would be absolution.
“Do you still lie?”
“I try not to. In my daily life, I don’t lie at all. I don’t care enough to lie. I can be too harsh at times because I gave all my fucks up a long time ago.” Except that I’ll lie to you. I’ll lie because my job and my friends are all I really care about anymore.
Yeah, she didn’t say that part out loud.
“I like honesty,” he said. “No, I require it. I can’t stand people blowing sunshine up my ass. I have far too much of that every day. It makes you wonder who to trust. It’s why I like Jared. I don’t think he’s smart enough to lie.”
“That feels rough.”
“I guess I gave away all my fucks, too. Eyes up.”
She brought her eyes to meet his gaze and couldn’t help the shiver of desire that went through her body. He’d shed his shirt and every bit of dietary restraint showed in his perfectly cut body. Wearing nothing but a pair of low-slung jeans, he stared down at her. There was no way to miss the bulge in his denims. Joshua Hunt was built on long, lean lines, but that erection was anything but lean. It was a massive beast restrained by denim.
He held a crop in his hand, looking every inch the dark, decadent Dom. He reached out and touched the scar under her right clavicle. His lips quirked up. “Dare I ask where you got this?”
It wasn’t her biggest scar but it was probably the most noticeable. She had one on her back, long and close to her spine. A small circular scar above her hipbone from a gun shot. But he was staring at the candy cane shaped one. “That was where I got caught by the bad guys and they started to play around with me. It was a scalpel. Unlucky for them, I had managed to get my hands free. They didn’t play for long.”
He traced the scar. “Maybe I should call you Little Miss Muffett. It reminds me of a Sheppard’s crook.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Or you could call me Buffy because it’s more like a scythe. We share a last name, you know.” She straightened up. “Do the scars make me less attractive to you?”
Oh, he could go cold fast. “You’re gorgeous and you know it. Don’t ever question that in front of me again and don’t pretend like that was anything about me. You can easily tell how much I want you. This is our first session, so I’ll go easy on the discipline until I can read your body better. I’ll leave your mouth open, but in the future, if you question me while we’re playing, you’ll find I have a lovely ball gag purchased just for you.”
“I doubt it was just for me. You didn’t know you were going to hire me until this afternoon.”
His jaw tightened and she realized she was totally out of practice. All the Doms she’d bottomed for in the last few years were “play” Doms. She took them on for a night or they served her when she needed a session. They didn’t take it as seriously as Josh obviously did.
“Hands and knees.”
She shifted position, leaning forward and finding her balance. Her skin hummed with anticipation as he moved around her body. This was part of the play, the uncertainty of what he would do or when he would begin and how hard it would go. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been sarcastic.”
“You apologize a lot, pet. We’re going to have to do something to correct the behavior.”
She heard the strike before she felt it. A whoosh and then a hard crack as the crop hit her backside. Pain, like a lightning strike, boomed over her. It took everything she had not to lose her position.
If that was easy, it would be very interesting to see what he considered hardcore.
As it always did, the pain flashed through, turning into heat and making her skin come to life.
She knew it didn’t work this way for everyone. A person had to be wired a certain way. And it wasn’t as though she enjoyed all pain. She’d had plenty that had done nothing for her. Nothing but eat away at her soul. Nothing but show her how futile and useless she could be.
But this, oh, this set her free.
Another hard smack and then she felt the soft leather tip of the crop running down her spine.
“As a matter of fact, I did buy the ball gag specifically for you. I stopped at a discreet toy store before I came home this afternoon. Everything I purchased was with you in mind. I bought the ball gag and some nice nipple clamps.”
Her body tightened and that was when he struck again.
She hissed at the sensation. He said he wasn’t a sadist? He sure knew how and when to strike.
“Do you like the idea of playing out some heavy scenes with me?”
“Yes, Joshua,” she admitted. “I enjoy scenes. I like how a good Dom can make me work for an orgasm.”
“You seem to come quite easily.”
And wasn’t that a revelation? “That was not normal for me.”
“And what is normal for you?” Joshua asked.
“Being too much in my head to enjoy myself. Struggling to stay focused on my body. I’ve practiced meditation for years and it all flies out when a man puts hands on me.”
“Why do you think that is?”
For good reasons. For bad reasons. “I think I often allow too much time to pass without affection. It’s not merely about sex, though the need for sex is in there. It’s about all the years I went without a kind hand on my body, without trusting touch. I’m damaged, but I can hold myself together. Sometimes when the right person touches me, I forget I’m damaged at all.”
Another hard thwack to her ass had her groaning.
“You’re very open with me right now. Why were you shut down earlier? Is this some kind of play for you? Are you changing tactics to achieve a desired result?”
“Only if the result I wanted was my ass on fire.” She groaned because that brought the crop down again. “I didn’t know what you liked. I thought perhaps you were the type of man who required peace in his life. I wanted to seem tranquil. I’m not, Joshua. I’m trouble, and a whole lot of it.”
“Now see, I know an honest answer when I hear one.” He stepped back. “Let me help you up. You owe me thirty over my lap for the disrespectful questions.”
She opened h
er mouth to ask what the hell he called the last five minutes if not discipline, but carefully closed it again.
“Excellent. We’re already learning each other’s habits. And that was a warm-up,” he said, practically reading her mind. “That was what it took to get you to a place where you could tell me the unadulterated truth. Now I’ll tell you some of mine.”
His hand came out, helping her to stand. She brushed back her hair, feeling it all over her body. Every strand tickled from the back of her neck down to her aching backside. Sometimes she forgot how much hair she had. But then sometimes she forgot she had a body that needed, craved and wanted.
He sank down onto the spanking bench, patting his lap.
It seemed he liked to talk as he worked. Some Doms never once spoke unless it was to give orders. But Joshua was turning out to be a chatty Dom, the kind who talked more when he found his top space.
He might be the kind who was far easier to manipulate when he was comfortable.
He held his hand out, helping to ease her over his lap. She could feel that big erection and the way his whole body seemed to sigh as he relaxed.
She wasn’t relaxed. She was on the edge, but then that was kind of the point. His hand ran over her skin, brushing her hair to the side.
“You’re beautiful, Kayla. You have a gorgeous body and a lovely face. I happen to like damaged. Perhaps like is the wrong word. I understand damaged. I don’t get perfectly happy people. I don’t understand nice. Polite is fine, but polite is a construct, learned behavior. I do understand that. I like rules. I like knowing how to behave, and I want to know how my submissive is going to behave.”
Like Riley had said, though maybe he’d used the wrong words. “You want peace?”
“I want consistency. I want dependability. Can you give that to me, Kayla?”
“I can try.”
“Excellent. That’s all I ask. Take care of your job and I’ll take care of you. I like having a woman to take care of. I don’t think a vanilla relationship would ever work for me. I believe I said thirty.”
“You did.” Her voice was even but inside she was shaking a bit. This wasn’t mere play for him, and that heightened the experience for her.