Ambrose shrugged, looking around the rough space. He’d signed the lease only this morning, and managed to get everything else in without help, but the desk was too heavy.
It was more of a warehouse than an apartment, but it was warm, and he liked the open feel to it. There was a lot of room to cook, too, especially now that his new stove, fridge, table, and chairs had been delivered. There was a TV and a couch, too, but he’d been careful to choose things that made it look like he had a modest income. The bed was tucked into a corner, and he’d been hard-pressed not to buy top-of-the-line linens for it. Maybe having money was starting to make him a little snobby about some things.
They moved the desk into a big, empty space in the center of the room, and Banner walked around it. “This might be too much of a message, having it front and center here, don’t you think? And did you bring anything to put in the drawers or in your closet?”
Ambrose gestured to a stack of boxes piled off to one side.
“It smells like new furniture in here.” Kate shook her head. “What are you going to do about that?” She laughed.
“Well, I’m cooking dinner, so hopefully that’ll disguise it.”
“Why don’t you just tell her the truth? This is crazy.”
Ambrose frowned, guilt niggling at his conscience. “I just can’t, Kate. Not yet. If she finds out now that I’ve got money, she’ll write me off in a heartbeat. I have to make sure it’s safe to tell her before I out myself.”
Banner grabbed a cardboard box and opened it, then peered inside. “Poor little guy, embarrassed to tell his girlfriend he’s rich. That must suck.” He pulled a couple of coats out of the box. “At least you didn’t have to go out and buy thrift-store clothes for this. Your stuff already looks like crap. What millionaire wears a coat that he sewed back together with fishing line?”
“Ambrose! I told you to throw that out like three months ago.” Kate tsked at him, but took the coats from Banner and hung them on the hooks by the stairs. “You need a woman to keep you in line.”
Ambrose arched a brow at Banner, but his friend only shrugged. “You’re not Kate’s Master. She doesn’t have to kiss your ass. You want respect, you’d better earn it from Beverly.”
“Everly,” Ambrose corrected.
“I knew that.” Banner waved his hand dismissively.
Boxes of cutlery and kitchen implements went into drawers, clothes were unpacked, books went on a shelf. A few files, a stapler, and some BDSM equipment went into the desk drawers. He put his laptop on top of the desk to make it look less like a porn prop. Mismatched throw pillows went on the couch, and he and Banner mounted the TV on the wall while Kate made up the bed.
“Don’t make it look too perfect, Kate,” he warned. “Make it look like a man made it.”
She snorted. “Well, I could throw the pillows on the floor and shove all the blankets off to one side. That would make it look more realistic.”
“I don’t want her to think I’m a slob either.”
“I’m sorry to have to let you in on this horrible secret, but you are a slob.” Banner clapped him on the shoulder.
“Fine. Make it so it looks like I’m a slob on my best behavior, then.” He sighed. “I told her I spent the morning cleaning.”
“When is she getting here?” Banner put the TV box with a stack of other boxes he’d agreed to take away with him.
“Two hours. I guess I’d better get the food in the oven soon.”
“What are you making?” Kate asked eagerly.
“I’m doing stuffed chicken breasts with a pesto cream sauce.”
Kate clapped her hands and grinned. “Let me know how it turns out! If it’s good, I want the recipe.”
“Oh dear God. They’re food nerding again,” Banner said to no one in particular. “Are you going to put anything on your walls? I mean, I know you’re going for this roughing-it look, but it doesn’t even look like you live here. No plaster lions out front, and now bare walls. Don’t you have an extra fluorescent beer sign you can put up?”
“There’s a mirror. I wasn’t sure where to put it.”
Banner found the big, ornately framed mirror, and, without asking Ambrose, he hung it on the wall over the bed.
“Classy,” Ambrose grumbled.
“Oh, like you would have hung it anywhere else. Unless on the ceiling above the bed was a possibility.”
All three of them looked up, but the roof was a long way off.
“No blackboard?” Kate asked innocently.
“Mmm . . . I really should get a blackboard,” Ambrose agreed.
“Don’t encourage him, woman!” Banner narrowed his eyes at Kate. “He doesn’t want to fuck this up. Let the poor girl get to know him a bit before she finds out how much of a pervert he is.”
“If she isn’t a pervert, she doesn’t deserve him.” Kate stuck her tongue out at Banner, and Ambrose politely turned away to prep dinner while Banner dealt with her. The giggling and gasping coming from behind him sounded like she didn’t mind the funishment in the slightest.
“Just fuck her over there somewhere.” He waved them toward the living room area. “I need the table to get dinner ready. There’s always the basement, but there’s no furniture down there.”
“I should find a piece of cardboard to throw down on the basement floor and remind her of what happens when slaves sass their Masters.” Banner growled.
The sound of Kate’s whine reminded Ambrose of the noises Everly made for him at the restaurant earlier, and of the way she’d melted against him when he’d kissed her outside her shop. He glanced at his watch. Had it been two hours yet? Could he order her here sooner?
“I think we’re going to go now,” Banner murmured. “Before this gets out of hand.”
“I’m going to have to get a spray bottle to squirt you with when you start groping her in front of people. You’re married now. Isn’t the sex supposed to stop?” When he looked up, Kate was wearing her leather collar and looking up at Banner contritely. He must have had her play collar in his coat pocket.
For the first time in a long time, Ambrose wasn’t envious of what they had together. Instead, he imagined what Everly would look like in that style of collar. Brattier, he guessed.
And so fucking hot.
He’d been up late the night before, browsing collars on Etsy instead of working, but he kept having to take breaks because the idea of her wearing his collar was making him crazy. She would never be a good girl for him—not without him catching her off guard or blowing her mind—but that suited him just fine. Girls that were chronically good were boring.
“We’re leaving. Unless you need help with something else?” Banner’s eyes were gleaming, as though Kate was still all new and shiny and he couldn’t keep his hands off her.
“No, if you get rid of those boxes for me, I’m all set. Go get your fuck on.”
Banner nodded to him cordially and grabbed Kate by the hair. “We might even make it out of the parking lot first.”
* * *
The candles he’d lit around the space, as well as turning off the lights, did wonders for his new apartment. He’d fed her, and now they were relaxing on the couch, watching a movie. It was possibly the most relaxed but ready for action he’d ever been on a date.
“You have to quit feeding me so much,” Everly groaned.
“Food is all I have going for me.” He smiled and switched to massaging her other foot.
She sighed and melted against the armrest. “And massages. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you were trying to get me into your bed. Or would that be too inappropriate for one of your students, Professor?” She gave him an innocent smile and buttoned her blouse up, as though flaunting her cleavage throughout dinner had been an accident.
The hem of her skirt had ridden up, and she tugged it down modestly, just as he was starting to think he was going to get a glimpse of what she was wearing underneath. Sexy, sweet, or nothing at all—he couldn’t decide which woul
d be more of a turn-on. Even her smoothing her skirt down was doing it for him.
“I don’t think it’s that odd for a professor to want to get to know his students,” he said, playing along. “We’re all adults, after all. There’s no reason to treat you like a child.”
“No, Sir.” Everly pulled her foot away and slipped her black flats back on. “Actually, I needed to ask you something.” She slid the tip of her finger between her lips and sucked on it, and for a painful moment his dick seized his full attention and he forgot to answer her.
“Uh . . . yes?”
“Well, as you know, my grades on your assignments haven’t been very good. I’m not sure why, Sir. I seem to be doing pretty well in my other classes. I was just wondering if . . .”
He cleared his throat because he was pretty sure his heart was beating in it. “If what?”
“If there was anything I could do for extra credit?” She twirled her finger in her hair and blinked at him.
“Well, I doubt that. I’m a bachelor, so I don’t have much that needs doing. What do you have in mind?”
There was a hint of mischief in her eye, but she masked it. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I could . . . polish your silverware?” She bit her lip and he struggled to squelch the laugh that threatened to escape.
“My silverware? Do I look like I have silverware?”
“Maybe not, Sir. But what else could I do for you? I’d do almost anything.”
“Almost?”
She stood and moved to stand in front of him. The flash of bare thigh he saw past the sway of her skirt fascinated him. He wanted to put his mouth there, taste her, and maybe mark her.
“Yes, Sir. There are some things good girls like me won’t do.”
He’d see about that.
“Come with me.” He took her hand, and she hesitated before letting him lead her to the desk.
“You want me to do paperwork for you, Sir? Filing?”
He moved his laptop onto the counter. “Lean over the desk.”
She gasped, then swallowed hard. “But why?”
Inside him, something sinister sat up and growled.
“When I saw you at lunch, you had quite the sassy mouth on you.”
She hung her head. “I’m sorry, Sir. I was so upset about my grade that I kept saying the wrong thing. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?” Her expression turned hopeful.
“Lean over the desk, Everly. That’s two. If I need to ask again, you’ll just be making things worse for yourself.”
Something clicked. He could see it behind her eyes.
“Well, what if I don’t want to lean over your desk?” She tilted her head in challenge.
“I don’t recall giving you the option of disobeying me.” He wrapped his hand around her arm.
“Heyyy! Let go!”
He spun her around and shoved her down over the desk. She tried to rise, but he pinned her down with one hand and lifted the back of her skirt with the other.
“Spoiled little girls like you need to learn to mind their manners.”
“No!” She tried to hide her simple white panties with her hands.
He groaned aloud. Between the modest underwear and the feigned reluctance, his pants were getting uncomfortable. That and the fact that Everly had the sweetest fucking ass he’d ever seen.
He grabbed her wrists and fought her hands down until they were wrapped around the opposite side of the desk. “Hang on like this, Everly, or you’re not going to like what happens.”
“I’m not?” she asked anxiously.
“No.”
He let go of her hands and her fingers stayed obediently where he’d placed them.
With no need to hold her down, he lifted the back of her skirt again, draped it up on her back, and stood there staring for a moment. Would it be horribly rude to gawk at her and jerk off on her ass? Probably.
He hooked his fingers into her panties and slid them down slowly, inch by painful inch.
She whispered something he couldn’t hear, but the tone sounded embarrassed and aroused.
“What are you doing?” she whined.
“You’ve been a naughty girl, so you need to be punished.”
“Nooo. I won’t do it again. I promise.” She squirmed but didn’t let go of the desk.
Ambrose opened the drawer and took out the strap he’d made to use on her. Fuck the store-bought shit. He preferred his own handiwork.
She was studying him, and when she caught sight of the strap she grimaced. “Aw, fuck.”
“Language, young lady.” He tapped her luscious ass with the leather, and she froze in place. “For your sass earlier today, you’re going to get twenty. Understood?”
The drone of the television in the background would have covered most noise she made, but they were in the middle of nowhere and she could scream her head off without anyone else hearing a thing. Was it creepy that it turned him on?
“Twenty? But I won’t have any skin left!”
“Then maybe you should have thought about that beforehand.” The sadist in him was wondering how much he could punish her before she begged for mercy. He imagined her sweet round ass rosy and her voice high and pleading. He had to close his eyes and calm his breathing. Going into a punishment too excited was a novice mistake.
Ambrose put the strap in front of her face. “Kiss it.”
She glared at him, and he grabbed her by the hair and shoved the strap in front of her mouth. For a moment she melted, kissed the strap, and whimpered. His adrenaline spiked, and he readjusted his dick, which was urging him to forget this punishment business and fuck her already.
Patience.
Ambrose delivered the first five before she finally went up on her toes. Admittedly, he was starting off light, but he was deeply enjoying the way her ass jiggled and the way she gasped with each stroke, trying not to get more turned on, even though he could see her arousal glistening along her slit.
“Flat on your feet, young lady.”
“Sorry, Sir,” Everly whispered. She looked over her shoulder at him, and her sultry expression came close to making him forget what he was in the middle of doing.
She was getting cocky because he was being nice. Of course. Brat.
That was the end of her warm-up.
The next two were hard. She gasped in surprise and wriggled for him, but moaned and leaned into him when he ran his hand over the welts. Not good enough.
He picked up his pace and increased his force. Eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve.
Everly was screeching and writhing now.
“Ow, ow! Please, Sir. I’m sorry. I’ll be good!”
Thirteen, fourteen.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she babbled.
Fifteen.
“I doubt you’re sorry enough to satisfy me.”
Sixteen.
“Please, Master. I won’t sass you anymore!”
Seventeen.
“This one is for lying.”
Eighteen was especially hard. She shrieked, dancing up on her toes.
“Fuck!”
“Tsk, tsk. Such obscene language from such a wholesome girl.”
Nineteen. Twenty.
“Please, no more.” She sobbed. “Please, no more, Master.”
Her ass was fiery red and hot to the touch. Poor baby. As for Ambrose, he had a raging hard-on, and he was really hoping she’d sass him and give him a reason to keep going. He paced for a moment, unable to calm himself down. He felt like he could run a marathon and have energy left to fuck her senseless. There was something about her reactions that provoked his natural sexual aggression. Good thing she liked that. Yet another reason he couldn’t mess around with vanilla girls.
She stayed where he’d placed her. Was she waiting for a command from him, or just recovering? Unable to resist, he dropped to his knees and kissed her welts, loving the way it made her pant and nervously clench her ass.
“What’s the matter?” He bit a welt and she squeaked
in dismay.
“I just . . . I’m not comfortable with that.”
“With what? Me playing with your ass?” He grabbed some lotion out of the drawer. And sat down in the desk chair, then coaxed her, belly-down, over his lap. “We’ll work on that. First, though, I’m going to take care of your poor bottom. If you weren’t such a bad girl, I wouldn’t have to be so rough with you.”
“That wasn’t fun. Well, not the end of it, anyway.”
Ambrose made a soothing noise, then poured lotion into his palm, warmed it between his hands.
She sighed and relaxed against his lap just as he pinned her mid-back with one hand and smeared the lotion over her ass cheeks with the other. If she thought he was being nice, she didn’t know him very well.
He rubbed it in more thoroughly, and a second later she hissed and started to squirm.
“Stop, stop! It’s making it sting worse!”
“Yes, I know, little girl. Just because the strapping is done doesn’t mean your punishment is over.”
“But it stings!” Her bottom turned redder, if that was possible. He ran gentle fingers over the redness. Everly squirmed and bucked, pressing her legs together and trying to get away from the sensation.
“You’re a jerk!” she hollered at him, wriggling and glaring at him over her shoulder.
“Usually,” he agreed.
He held her there and watched her process the sting, pleased by every plaintive whine and movement. Her panties had slid all the way off, and he coaxed her to spread her legs so he would have a more interesting view of her pretty pussy and the little pucker of her asshole.
“Come on, princess. Get up on my desk, and we’ll see if there’s something you can do to improve your grade.”
Chapter Nine
“That punishment wasn’t enough?” Heart sinking, she climbed off his lap and winced.
He helped her up onto the desk, but sitting right now was the last thing she wanted to do. Her ass was on fire and she didn’t like the wolfish grin on his face.
“No, no. That was your punishment for what happened before. Now you need to pay up.”
Everly tried to read his expression, but came up blank. The man had a good poker face. She just hoped there wasn’t more of that evil lotion. “What do you have in mind, Sir?”
Playing Hard to Master Page 13