“Hands,” he ordered.
She presented both hands, palms up, side by side. Once he fastened the wrist cuffs, he knelt and wrapped her ankles as well. She remained still and watchful until he said, “Now, princessa, we will begin. What is your safe word?”
“Red, Sir.”
Offering her a hand up, he helped her to her feet. Giving in to an impulse he had never had with any other submissive he played with, Dom pulled her forward until her naked body pressed against his clothed on, wrapped both arms around her lush figure, and kissed her.
Chapter Four
Gia froze as Dom took the kiss impossibly deeper than the last one, which was saying something. Off balance since the moment they had met, Gia gave in to the need to cling. Lifting her hands to the waistband of his jeans, she slid them around until her arms were full of hot, sexy male.
When he finally broke the kiss, her knees had turned to overcooked spaghetti and the only thing keeping her from melting into a puddle of goo at his feet was her arms wrapped around his middle.
“You taste good,” he murmured as his hands ran over her shoulders then down her back to her ass. “And you feel good, too.”
“Mmm hmm,” was all she managed in response.
Never before had a man sent her flying with just a kiss. But then, she was learning that Dominic Zaccaro was not a mere mortal. He seemed to be so much, much more. She swayed like a dandelion in a high wind when he pulled her arms from around him. After turning her to face the wall, hands on her hips propelled her forward until she had the wooden cross to lean against. Then, her arms were raised and cuffs clipped to the cross. A moment later he pulled her left leg out and secured it before doing the same with her right.
Moving in until his clothes brushed her back, he kissed the spot where her shoulder and neck joined. “Where are we, princessa?”
“Green, Sir,” she said softly.
“Good girl. Now, you may scream and cry, but you will not come until I say. Do you understand?”
Since she was already two-thirds the way to an orgasm already, she took a breath before answering. “I’ll try, Sir.”
A sharp swat to her left ass cheek accompanied his stern, “You’ll do, or I’ll pull out some of those toys you didn’t and you won’t be able to sit comfortably for a week.”
His soft words and intense tone send more heat and tingling to Gia’s clit though she refused to show him exactly how close she was. Somehow, some way, she would show this man that she could be the kind of sub he needed, would be the woman he needed, and help Silk in her pursuit of his buying the club.
The last thing she wanted was to disappoint the woman who had remained her friend when everyone else backed away. Even her family wouldn’t take her phone calls these days, no doubt afraid Gia would ask for money, or a place to stay. But her pride would not allow her to make such a phone call. Besides, she and her sister were like oil and water, so different they barely talked at family gatherings, and then only because it was the polite thing to do.
The soft flogger with many strands began at her shoulders and worked its way down her back, over her ass and all the way to her knees, the blows landing soft enough to be a massage. Gia took several deep breaths as it traveled back up and then down again, slowly heating the rest of her skin to the same warmth as her ass. With each exhalation she relaxed a little more. By the time he changed to the second flogger with its fewer, stiff laces, she was soaring headfirst into subspace.
She barely felt the crop as it landed a dozen blows all over her ass and upper thighs, but her orgasm was closing in and she had a hard time holding still during the last few blows. Her clit needed a single touch to send her rocketing over the edge into orgasmic nirvana.
“Sir, please,” she whimpered when instead of stroking her clit, his hands stroked up and down her back, sending the warmth and edgy pain deeper into her body.
“Not yet, princessa. Five kisses of my whip and then I’ll fuck you so good.” His promise was accompanied by a long, thick erection pressing against her lower back.
And then he was gone and cool air washed over her heated skin once more.
Breathing deep once more, she focused on pushing away the orgasm that was so close her pussy was pulsing and clit was throbbing with need. She barely acknowledged the pinpoint pains as the whip left its marks on the fullness of her ass, though she hear someone crying out with each touch. Whoever it was seemed far away, like someone across the room was crying.
She was so relaxed, she could not help when Dom released her from the cross. She hissed but was too brain-befuddled and physically uncoordinated to do more than that when he swept her up in his arms.
“Too heavy,” she protested weakly.
He didn’t answer, just carried her to the spanking bench and laid her on it, facedown. She felt fingers slid in and out of her pussy, and then his cock, pressed for entrance. She moaned as his long, thick length slid in slowly, filling her like she was made just for him.
She made a sound when he lowered over her, his warm, hairy chest brushing the hot tender skin of her back. “This is going to be fast, princessa. You’ve got me too wound up.”
As she puzzled over his words, he began to slide in and out, each thrust sending her closer and closer to her own edge. She was so close, so very close. But she didn’t want to disappoint him by coming too soon. Then a hand slipped around her hip and found its way to her pussy lips.
“Come for me, princessa. Come now,” he ordered as his fingers slid down either side of her clit before pressing together, trapping the puffed up nub of flesh between them.
Gia could not help but scream as her orgasm exploded out from that tiny nerve center. She jolted and flailed, unable to stop the convulsions that ran through her body. Dom moved in and out in a hard, fast rhythm, until he shoved deep and froze. Then she felt his cock jerk and the heat as he came, a thin sheath of latex separating them. And then her thoughts splintered further as he rubbed her clit harder, pulling another, small but just as intense orgasm from her and sending her completely into orbit, both mind and body.
Gia settled back into her body slowly. Her thoughts cleared at an even slower pace. By the time she was fully aware of what was going on around her, they were back in that private corner again. She was wrapped in a blanket and curled up on Dom’s lap and he was stroking her gently while whispering the same sort of positive affirmations every dominant had used with her. How she was a good girl, and he was proud of her.
Somehow, those words didn’t assure her that all was right in the world. Instead, they sent a chill through her, making her feel cheap. Though she had agreed to the scene, to the evening, his words, the words she had heard from every other dominant she had ever been with, hurt. She couldn’t explain why, didn’t want to understand it. All of the sudden, she just wanted to go home.
When he kissed the top of her head and began the litany of praise again, she had had enough. Lifting her head from where it nestled perfectly under his chin, she tried to move from his lap. Only problem was, he wouldn’t release her.
Looking him in the eye, she ordered, “Please release me, Sir.”
Though she had used all the correct words, the tone was one of an order and not a request.
He looked deep in her eyes before slowly pulling his hands from her. “We need to talk, princessa,” he said as she slid from his lap.
“No, I don’t think we do. Thanks for the evening,” she said, trying to maintain some dignity while wearing nothing but a soft, fuzzy pink blanket.
After retrieving her clothes from where they sat atop his toy bag, she turned and headed to the women’s restroom, just around the corner. Once in there, she dressed quickly, only then realizing he still had her thong. But it didn’t matter. She had to leave now, before her heart was crushed by falling for a man who only needed a play partner for the evening.
If cornered, she would never be able to explain why, but all of the sudden she had to get away from him, escape before s
he did something completely insane and fall in love with him. He was a rich, successful entrepreneur and she was on the verge of begging Taurus and Jenna for a job that may or may not last through the spring.
“Gia, are you okay?” Silk bounced into the room, looking worried. “Did something happen?”
Gia shook her head. “No, and it’s not going to. Do me a favor and take your brother upstairs to see the private rooms so I can get out of here without talking to him again.”
“But you looked like you had a great scene. What happened? Do I have to hurt him for you?” In that instant, Silk grew as fierce and protective as a mama bear.
Gia blinked back the tears that pressed for release. “I’m not sure. I just need to go home without seeing him again. Please, Silk.”
“All right, but I want you to call me tomorrow so we can talk, okay? If I don’t hear from you by noon, I’m coming over.”
Gia nodded, praying she could make that call before noon. Silk had not been in her apartment in more than a month and didn’t know exactly how bad things had gotten. “I’ll call.”
Gia slowly counted to a hundred once Silk left. Then, after folding the blanket up, she slipped out and dropped in on the now empty couch where she and Dom had been sitting. Moving quickly, she worked her way around the room and out to the lobby without anyone yelling for her to stop. Ignoring Ryan’s questions, she slipped on her shoes, pulled on her cloak and hurried from the club. She didn’t stop her race for freedom until she pulled into an empty parking space at her apartment complex. She grumbled because it wasn’t the space she usually parked in right outside her door, but was three doors down and on the opposite side of the lot.
Once there, she parked, turned off the lights and the engine, and then just sat there. Why had she run? She agreed with Silk, it had been a great scene. She and Dom seemed to be in tune with one another and everything clicked.
So why had she run like a scared rabbit once it was over?
* * * *
Dom watched from the balcony as the woman who had captured him, heart and imagination, slipped through the curtains to the lobby. Then he turned to his sister who looked as worried as he felt. “What happened? Did she say anything?”
“Just to keep you busy while she left,” Silk said, looking concerned. “But I have to say she looked spooked. Like you had reached past her defenses and touched something she keeps sacred.”
As usual with his sister, he didn’t understand what she was talking about. With a frown, he said, “She didn’t safe word. If I hurt her, why didn’t she say so? In my experience, we had the perfect scene…at least until she recovered. Then she couldn’t get away from me fast enough.”
“That’s what it looked like to me, too. You two were so in sync it was almost painful to watch because that’s the kind of connection I want.”
“So if it wasn’t during the scene, it was afterward,” Dom said, trying to think of what could have possibly set Gia to running like she had.
“She’s going to call me tomorrow. I’ll try to find out.”
Dom nodded, lost in thought as he checked out the open rooms, impressed at the expense that had been taken in decorating each one. He had been in several clubs up and down the East Coast, and these rooms rivaled any he had seen, even in the bigger cities. “Try to talk her into calling me, please. Preferably before Monday morning.”
“I’ll try,” Silk said as she took her brother’s hand. “Come on, you need a drink before I take you home.”
Dom allowed his sister to guide him through the next half hour of a drink and being quietly social with the other club members as he tried to puzzle out what had sent Gia running long before he was ready to let her go. Even as he drove them home, he had no answers. Though he knew little about the woman, he did know where she was going to be Monday morning, and after another short conversation with Taurus about buying the club, he decided that if Silk couldn’t get any answers from the woman before then, he would be present at her job interview Monday morning and get them then.
Chapter Five
When her phone rang at twenty to twelve the next morning, Gia still had no answers she could share with her friend. What she did have was a clearer head, thanks to an impromptu trip to the beach. Forty miles wasn’t much to most people, but when you were stretching pennies until they squeaked, it was a trip to the moon. But a walk on the cold, empty beach with the breeze blowing made Gia feel better. She was already heading back to her car when her phone rang.
Once seated, she answered, not surprised to see Silk on the caller ID screen. “I’m fine, but I’m not home so don’t bother coming over.”
Dom’s bass voice came through the phone instead of Silk’s sexy contralto. “Where are you? I’ll come to you because we still need to talk about last night.”
“Um, I’m out of town,” she answered even as a shiver worked through her.
“And here I was hoping to talk you into joining me for lunch. How about dinner instead?”
Gia took a deep breath. “I’m not sure I’ll be home tonight. Please, tell Silk I’m fine and she can stop worrying.”
“I’ll tell her, but I doubt she’ll believe me because I know you’re lying. Something happened last night and we need to discuss it, princessa.”
Dom’s low-pitched voice dropped further, as it gained in power. Gia began to tremble as she fought her submissive’s ingrained need to please. She was her own woman and giving in would only hurt her more in the long run.
“No, we don’t. We had a good scene at the club but it’s over. Today is a new day and I prefer not to look back.” Gia tried to keep an upbeat, confident note in her voice, but Dom’s chuckle at the other end of the phone told her she had failed miserably.
“We had a spectacular scene, princessa. One I cannot wait to repeat. Only next time, I’m going to hogtie you so you can’t run away afterward,” Dom said.
“And that’s supposed to entice me to scene with you again?”
“How about if I let you top me? Would that get you to come to the club tonight?”
Gia thought about his offer, but in the end, she couldn’t. Not until she figured out what had wigged her out while she lay in his arms while he murmured to her. “Not tonight. Maybe, if I get a job, we can play next weekend.”
“Don’t worry, sweet Gia, you will get one, and sooner than you think,” Dom assured her before the line went dead in her ear.
Pulling her phone from her ear, she saw that the battery was dead. After plugging it in to her car charger, she started the engine and headed home. Though she had told a pack of lies about staying away for the weekend, she couldn’t. She had no money for a hotel room, or food, and she was getting hungry.
Instead, she would spend the rest of the weekend preparing for her interview at Club Esoteria, and applying for every other job she could find that sounded even remotely interesting. She would also go through her meager belongings and see if there wasn’t something else of value she had overlooked.
* * * *
The loud sound of a buzzer cut Taurus off as he discussed the club’s utility usage Monday morning. “That must be our new manager,” he said as he pushed from the barstool he was sitting on.
Dom nodded and stood as well. “I think I’ll go upstairs and check the private rooms while you interview her.”
“You don’t want to sit in?” Jenna said as she gathered the files they had gone through regarding the current loan on the building, and the profit and loss sheet.
Dom shook his head as he headed for the stairs to the second floor balcony. “Gia Rogers will be the perfect club manager, but she won’t consider it if she thinks I’m buying the club. Just assure her the new owner has already agreed to abide by whatever terms you decide on, including her having an apartment upstairs, if she wants it.”
He was upstairs and standing in the doorway of the last room down the balcony when Gia followed Taurus into the room. Her black pants and ruby red sweater looked casual yet professiona
l. She had somehow tamed her curls into a bun at the base of her skull, and carried a black leather purse that matched her shoes. She looked put together, professional, and in control.
He slowly walked the balcony, spending a few minutes looking over each room as he eavesdropped on the interview. Without the music, moans, groans, screams of pleasure and general conversation when the club was open, he was able to hear everything clearly.
Toward the end, Jenna looked up and found him. They exchanged a look before Dom nodded his approval. Jenna and Taurus spoke for a moment and then offered Gia the job. Dom held his breath for the ten seconds it took for her to nod and say yes.
His heart and cock both filled at that one simple word. He made his way back to the stairs as they went over the contract he and Taurus had put together yesterday. She agreed to all his terms, and, though he knew she and Silk had talked, she made no demands of her own. She agreed to move into Taurus and Whitney’s old apartment that afternoon, and begin her training with Jenna on the office paperwork the next morning.
“Congratulations, princessa,” Dom said once she signed and returned all copies of the contract back to Jenna.
Gia spun like a top as one hand went to cover her chest in shock. “Sir, um, Mas…uh, what are you doing here?”
“It’s Dominic, or Dom, when we’re not in a scene. I’m here to take you to lunch and celebrate your new job.” Without hesitation, he wrapped an arm around her back and gave her a one-armed hug before pulling her to his side.
“Oh, but—” she started before he cut her off.
“No arguing. We’re going out to celebrate. Then we’ll move on to planning our future together,” he said, working to keep his tone light and easy. Then he turned to Jenna. “Give me a call once the paperwork is ready.”
At Jenna’s nod, he guided Gia out the back door of the club and into the parking lot where her car was parked next to his SUV. “We’ll take my truck. That way we can start moving your stuff after we eat.”
Blackmailing Dom [Club Esoteria 17] (Siren Publishing Allure) Page 4