The Fire in Her Eyes [In Her Eyes 2] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by K. R. Haynes

  Yes, he was going to have to play this out very carefully.

  Mick gazed down at Mary J while holding his beer to her lips for her to take another sip. A thought occurred to him then, of a way to get her to open up to him. He owed her a punishment for her brattiness this afternoon. If he delivered that reprimand hard enough to push her into subspace then she may open up to him about her past without thinking too much about the information she was giving up to him. It would be a risky move, especially if she found out later on what he did to make her divulge her past to him. Hell, there may even be a punishment in his near future and not just Mary J’s. Yes, a punishment for her and a punishment for him. He smirked to himself at that thought and took another sip of beer. It was definitely going to be an entertaining evening ahead.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Mary J knew she was in trouble as soon as she jumped into Mick’s overly large truck. The sight of a pair of leather cuffs dangling from the rearview mirror also told her she was in whole lot of trouble for showing her bratty side to him this afternoon. Hell, her bratty persona had been in full throttle mode all day long really. She had been pushing Mick at every chance she got. She didn’t really know why she acted the way she did, but she also couldn’t seem to control doing it either. Something inside her craved to feel his discipline and Mick seemed so determined to deign her that chance. Up and until now that was.

  Her eyes automatically shifted to the driver’s side when Mick slid into the seat beside her. She noticed that he seemed to have a darker side to him tonight, more so than any other time she had been in his presence. A shiver raced throughout her when he glanced her way and reached up for the cuffs. She gulped at hearing him ask for her wrists, “palms up,” he told her. Oh, god she really had pushed him too far. She knew it from the harsh tone echoing in his voice.

  Holding out her hands to him with her palms facing upward, Mary J watched as Mick fastened the leather cuffs around each wrist. She was surprised to find the cuffs were lined with fur on the inside and welcomed the bit of softness against her delicate skin. Her eyes widened when Mick lifted up both cuffed wrists and pressed a soft kiss to each upturned palm. She melted at the heat his kiss held and craved to feel those same lips of his ravishing her own. She wanted to taste him with a desperation that was unnerving to say the least. But he didn’t make a move to lean over and kiss her. All he did was place her hands down onto her lap, then started the truck up like it was no big deal to have a cuffed woman sitting beside him.

  Jealousy raised its ugly head at that thought.

  Mick probably had several women in his truck that had been bound in some way or form for him. Just knowing that there had been other women in the same position as her had her fighting against the need to keep the cuffs on and behave for him. She squirmed around on the seat, while her fingers dug into the leather of the cuffs in an effort to free herself from the restraints binding her to him.

  Her whole body went rigid then and tears welled in her eyes. She had been bound before for another male, one who was resolute in hurting her when she was in her most vulnerable state, when she was submitting to him. She couldn’t escape his pain back then and now she couldn’t escape the pain Mick would lash out on her. There was nowhere for her to go. She was stuck in a moving vehicle with her hands cuffed and somewhere along the line she had lost her shoes. She couldn’t run from Mick and she couldn’t run from her past in bare feet either. She needed her shoes for that.

  Mary J was frantic now.

  Her panic was building rapidly with every minute that passed by and there was no way to stop it or slow it down. Flashes of her past assaulted her. She tried hard not to focus on the disturbing images and attempted to instead concentrate on her breathing. She hadn’t even realised that Mick had pulled the truck over to the side of the road until he turned her to face him. The distress she could see shadowing his darkened features echoed what she was feeling on the inside. She had been stupid to enter into a relationship with Mick without telling him of her past and about her limits.

  Christ, she didn’t even have a safe word. Not that one ever stopped her ex from continuing on with whatever he was doing to her, while she screamed out her safe word to him over and over again until her voice was too hoarse to yell it out at him anymore. Then she was forced to endure his brutal use of her body because he refused to accept that she had uttered the one word that should have stopped him. Her ex thought he was a Dom but in reality he was just a brutal beast of a man. When she left her ex, her family and friends behind two years ago, Mary J had made a promise to herself that she would never let another man strip her of her power like her ex had done. That she would never let another man take for granted her submission to him. And look where she ended up, shackled in Mick’s truck with no way out.

  Breathe, damn it, breathe, she told herself. She could get through this. If Mick was going to hit her or hurt her, she would survive and endure it. She had done it several times before with her ex. She could damn well do it again if she had to.

  Anger became her best friend in that moment and Mary J welcomed it with open arms. At least with anger, it pushed aside her panic. It was only at hearing Mick’s alarmed voice ringing in her ears that she was able to then focus her attention on him.

  “Mary J? Look at me, sugar.” On their own accord her eyes lifted up to his. “That’s it, good girl. Now tell me what’s wrong, sugar?”

  Mary J couldn’t find her voice. She had no words to say, even though she was desperate to speak to him so she could voice her concerns to him. But, no words would come to her. So she held up her cuffed hands to him instead and hoped that Mick would figure out that she wanted the damn things off. Right fucking now!

  His fingers stroked over the leather and the skin surrounding the cuffs. His touch was soothing and that panicked side of her retreated somewhat. This was Mick, the man she loved. He wasn’t her enemy and he sure the hell wasn’t her ex-boyfriend either. It was Mick Huon. She needed to remember that it was Mick with her, and not her nasty-ass ex.

  “Do you want me to take these off of you, Mary J?”

  Mary J closed her eyes and allowed his voice to whisper over her, calming her nerves even more, and shook her head “no” to answer him. She could do this. Hell, Mick had chosen fur-lined cuffs for her. He had pulled the damn truck over to find out what was wrong with her to. He was giving her his full focus. The tears that had threatened to fall a few minutes ago began leaking from her eyes. She tried to bat them away but it was hard with her hands shackled together.

  “Oh, sugar, don’t cry. You break my heart when I see your tears. Hush, little one.” He pulled her into his arms then and held her tightly. “I’ve got you, sugar, I’ve got you.”

  Mary J melted into his embrace. She was wrapped securely to him, surrounded by his warmth and love. She had been a fool she realised then to have such a meltdown in front of him. She knew then she would have to tell Mick about her past. She couldn’t move forward with him if she hid part of herself from him.

  But if she shared her hurt with him would he then turn it around and use that information against her?

  Trust, she had to put her faith in his hands and hope that Mick turned out to be a better man than her abusive ex had been. It was a hard thing to do though. She had only given her submission to one other man and that was her ex. Hell, at the time Mary J hadn’t even known she had a submissive nature in her until she began to serve to please him. It thrilled her when she did things right for him and he rewarded her for it. It was just that those times were very few and far between. She had gotten into more trouble with her ex than she had thought possible. She had tried her best to make sure she catered to his every need. All she wanted to do was to please him and make him happy. But somewhere along the road she got lost and he abused the power he had over her submissive nature.

  Looking back on that time now, Mary J came to the conclusion that Myke Dillon had never really loved her. He just used her. He never truly respect
ed her or her submission to him. He most certainly wasn’t a man that protected her from the evils of the world as he was one of those damned evils himself. Mick, however, would make every effort to protect her from the evils in the world. She was sure of it. In fact, Mary J was absolutely positive that Mick would do everything he could to love her and cherish her with or without her surrendering up her body and soul to him. She didn’t need to surrender her heart to him as he had already made a claim on that, a claim that couldn’t be denied.

  The need to submit to Mick was a need that was rapidly mounting within her to give to him, one she could not overlook any longer. Mary J just hoped that at the end of the day when she gave herself over to him that he wouldn’t take her for granted. That he wouldn’t abuse his power as her Dominant like her ex had done.

  * * * *

  Mick didn’t know what had just happened with Mary J. One minute she was fine but as soon as he cuffed her wrists together a change came over her. At first he thought she was just brooding because she had to be bound and didn’t want to. But then she started shaking like a leaf and muttering incoherent words to herself. All he could make out was she was fighting for control against her damn past. Enough was enough. He was sick and tired of not knowing what had happened to her in the past that would cause such a dramatic reaction from her when he placed his cuffs around her wrists.

  He understood the moment she held her shackled hands up to him that she didn’t like having the cuffs on, but she was refusing to let him remove them for her. Damn stubborn woman. If she needed to keep the leather cuffs on to prove something to herself, then he would allow her to keep them on until they got back to his place. Then he would remove them as planned. Checking once again that she was all right and had recovered from her panic attack, Mick threw the truck into first gear and drove back onto the highway, with her nestled protectively against his side.

  Within minutes he hit the unsealed road that led up to his place. The silence in the cab of the truck was deafening and unnerving to say the least. He needed to get Mary J back to her normal mischievous self again. This mummified version of her was unacceptable to him. He wanted her the way she was before she went into panic mode. Mick knew what he needed to do in order to get her back. He had to go back to basics with her, starting with her presenting herself to him for her punishment. Panic attack or no panic attack, he need to show Mary J that he wasn’t going to back out of anything he promised her, and he had promised her some discipline tonight and he planned on going ahead with it.

  Parking his truck outside the front entrance to his house, Mick switched the engine off and jumped out of the truck, then went around to help Mary J down. Once she was standing on her own two feet, he released the cuffs from around her wrists and then brought each of her freed palms up to his lips and kissed each one softly. Releasing her hands, he tilted her chin upward and stared into her eyes. He was pleased to see a hint of determination glistening in her sea-green orbs.

  “Come with me, sugar.”

  Mick didn’t wait for her to answer him and tugged on her hand and guided her up to the front door. After ushering her into the front room, he checked that it was safe for her to stay in while he checked out the rest of the house for any traces of disturbance. Noting nothing suspicious, he made his way back to the front room where Mary J was waiting for him. What he hadn’t expected was to find her naked and in a submissive pose. God, it was a beautiful sight. He would have to thank Chloe the next time he saw her for advising Mary J on how to present herself to him. Well, he sure hoped it was Chloe he had to thank for it and not some old boyfriend of hers.

  Stepping into the room, Mick moved slowly and silently toward her. He allowed his eyes to roam freely over her nude form until he stood in front of her. With one hand he gripped her chin and raised her head up to meet his lips. He couldn’t resist bending down and taking her soft lips with his harder, more masculine ones. She tasted like beer and peanuts and he loved it. He lapped up her flavoursome taste with his tongue, allowing it to slither across the seam of her lips to gather up more of the beer and peanut flavour before diving into her mouth. Mick groaned long and loud in the back of his throat as the flavour intensified inside her mouth.

  Was it even possible for him to ever get enough of her on him and in him? No, probably not. He was a greedy man for her. His hunger for her was one that couldn’t be satisfied with one feasting alone, it needed several before it could be remotely tamed. What it really needed was a lifetime with her, then and only then could he satiate the hunger that rose swiftly within him for her.

  Swiping his tongue one last time along her full bottom lip, Mick released her lips from his invasion of them and then whispered against her tear-stained cheek before kissing a dry tear away. “Sugar, I am truly honoured that you present your body to me tonight. Your punishment will begin shortly. So I want you to go into the bedroom and wait for me by kneeling beside the bed, facing the doorway. You have exactly five minutes to be ready, so if you need to use the bathroom I suggest you use those five minutes wisely to do so.” Stepping away from her, Mick crossed his arms over his chest in a nonthreatening way. “Rise, sugar, and come to me.”

  Mick watched Mary J rise to her feet and cross the short distance to him. He didn’t dare make a move to touch her. He had to keep himself in check because if he reached out for her, then all thoughts of using the new leather crop he had bought especially for her and that fine ass of hers would be thrown out the window in less than two seconds flat. She was getting her count of twenty, end of story. Then he could take that sweet, juicy pussy of hers with his hard and unrelenting cock and hammer home until he made her come at least twice before he would succumb to the pleasure and come himself.

  Tonight, he would find out once and for all if Mary J could truly be his sub by taking his discipline. The real test for her though, would be if she allowed him to know what frightened her. Mick was desperate to know. He wanted to hold her and care for her. The need to protect her from any further hurt was a need that could not be overlooked any longer. She will disclose her past to him by the end of this night and if she didn’t then what was between would have to end. And that was something he prayed didn’t happen. Just the idea of not being able to love and hold Mary J anytime he wanted to, or never being able to top her ever again, well, that was a life and a future he didn’t want to even contemplate. He needed her in his life just as much as he suspected she needed him in hers.

  He needed her submission to his Dominance, and he also knew that Mary J craved him to sexually dominate her.

  At the end of the night though, if she couldn’t let him in and refused to open up about her past and disclose her whole self to him, Mick knew he would have to let her go. He couldn’t be in a relationship where his lover and partner of his heart didn’t trust him with every aspect of her life. It just wouldn’t work and history had already proven that to him. He just hoped with everything he had in him and all the love he held in his heart for her that Mary J could find it within herself to trust him not only with just her life, but also with her past. He would respect anything she told him and he would do everything he could to help her relinquish the heavy burden her past seemed to be for her.

  The one thing Mick knew for certain was that at some point in her life his girl had been shackled. And going by her panic attack after he bound her wrists with his cuffs, he would bet his own life on the fact that Mary J had a horrific experience, one she had never truly dealt with. Now, it was time for him to set her free from that past of hers and free her of those memories that pained her so greatly.

  If he could do that for her, then she could move forward instead of remaining stuck in the past. In his opinion, the past was only good for reflection of happier times. It wasn’t a place one should be living in day in day out, which was exactly what he suspected Mary J had been doing for some time now.

  After ordering his little sub-to-be to head into the bedroom so she could get herself ready for him, Mick race
d back outside to his truck and parked it in the garage out back. On the walk back up to the house the cold night air stirred around him and had a calming effect on his nerves. It had been a long time since he had disciplined a sub and an even longer time since he cared for one as deeply as he did for Mary J.

  Tonight would prove once and for all if his heart and head had made the right choice in falling for her. If they were both proven wrong, however, come tomorrow morning not only would he be nursing a sore head from drowning his sorrows in whiskey. He would also be the brand new owner of a broken heart too.

  Chapter Sixteen

  With just the bedside lamp switched on, Mary J waited quietly in the position Mick had asked of her. Her five minutes were close to being up and her heart was pounding rapidly at the unknown discipline he had in store for her. Her whole body trembled with anticipation and with nerves. Her eyes were closed in an effort to calm her racing mind down. The minute she heard the sound of his heavy footfalls echoing off the timber floor lining the hallway, her eyes flew open. She held her breath at hearing the bedroom door creak open.

  She wanted to look up. She wanted to see him.

  However, she had learnt from Chloe that when she was in the presentation position, whether for discipline or not, never make eye contact with your Dom until he requests it. It was something her ex had never taught her. So Mary J knelt beside the bed, facing the doorway with her knees spread apart and her palms facing upwards on her thighs. Her head was lowered and her eyes were looking directly at the floor. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see the tips of his boots when he stepped up closer to her.

  She sucked in a breath when not only his black steel-capped boots came into her line of sight, but also something that looked suspiciously like a leather crop dangling from his hand. Oh holy mother of god, he was going to take a crop to her ass. Just knowing that was what Mick had planned for her had an undeniable longing building within her to feel the heat of his crop on the cheeks of her bare ass. The demand to feel it overrode all thoughts of her past and made her focus fully on him. Tonight, Mick Huon wasn’t just her Dom. He was also turning out to be her saviour as well.