“Do you have the keys or something that’ll unlock them if you lose the keys?” I tilted my head.
He held up the keys and dangled them in front of the audience.
I nodded. “Then you have my permission.”
“Always reassure your partner you can free them at any time, and as we talked about earlier, make sure they have a safe word.” He turned to face me. “Harlow, your safe word or phrase?”
I smiled sweetly. “Blackmail.”
His eyes crinkled with amusement. “Sit down and hold your hands behind your back.”
Without complaint, I did as he asked. Sawyer stood behind me and stroked the cold metal over the pulse points on my neck, and even though I still wore my bustier, I was sure everyone could see my hardened nipples.
“It’s always good to build up a sense of anticipation.” His breath whispered over my ear, and my body responded by breaking out in goose bumps. This was hell. Getting turned on by my stepbrother in front of people I didn’t know made me want to lock myself in the nearest bathroom and cry, or masturbate, or both.
Sawyer stroked a finger down the side of my neck and arm. Jesus. If he touched me any more, I might fall at his feet and beg him to fuck me in front of these people. I might confess every dirty thought I still had about him…
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Mmmhmm.” I wasn’t okay. I was about to melt to the ground in a puddle of lust-infused goo.
“When I ask you a question, you will address me as Sir.”
“Um, that would be a ‘no’. Not in this lifetime or the next.”
The crowd chuckled and murmured, and someone called out, “Perhaps you need to demonstrate how to punish misbehaving subs.”
“If she were my sub, I would,” Sawyer replied.
“Good thing I’m not your sub, isn’t it?”
“Quite.”
He clicked a handcuff around one wrist and then the other. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the sensations flowing through me, not the hundred or so eyes observing Sawyer’s every move.
My breath began to leave my body in erratic pants; I couldn’t suck in enough air. Sawyer wrapped his strong hands around my forearms.
“Breathe deeply. You’re safe here. No one and nothing will hurt you. I can free you at any time. Trust me.”
I opened my eyes and concentrated on lowering my pulse and pulling air into my burning lungs.
“Watch every breath your partner takes. Watch for signs of anxiety and fear.” He placed a finger on the pulse point beneath my ear. “Harlow’s a little panicked right now. If this were a full-on scene, instead of moving forward, I would wait until her pulse leveled out.”
He stood right in front of me, his gaze trained on mine. In the state of arousal I was in, if he asked me to be his sub—even though I wasn’t entirely sure what that entailed—I would have said yes without hesitation.
After cuffing my hands, he depressed a button on the chair leg and lowered the height until my mouth was level with his crotch.
My lips were mere inches from him. If we were alone, I imagined he would unzip his trousers and have me pleasure him. I squirmed and swallowed hard. He placed a hand on my head and curled his fingers in my hair, tightening his grip. Rivulets of desire soaked my underwear, and the seam of my jeans pressed against my clit. If he kept manhandling me, I’d climax without any other help from him. To calm my body the hell down and to replace the oxygen levels in my lungs, I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth.
“As you can see, when your partner’s hands are behind their backs, you can position the chair as high or as low as needed.” He bent down and unzipped my boots, taking them off one at a time. His hands were so big they almost wrapped around my calf muscles. From his back pocket he produced two sets of cuffs and secured my ankles to the legs of the chair, rendering me helpless. “Even though most regular dining room chairs aren’t adjustable, they work well to restrain and control.”
An involuntary moan slipped from my lips, and I gasped with embarrassment. So much for pretending his touch did nothing to me. He glanced down, his eyes flashed, and his pupils dilated.
“I think,” he said, not taking his eyes from mine, “that it’s time everyone practiced. There are plenty of cuffs to use. Get started and I’ll walk around.”
Chairs scraped the floor, and enthusiastic chatter filled the room. Sawyer hunkered down in front of me.
“You like this.” It wasn’t a question.
I bit my lip and stared over his shoulder. I wouldn’t confess how I felt.
“Look at me,” he snapped.
“Don’t talk to me like that. I’m not your sub, remember.”
“So you don’t want me to fuck you? You don’t want me to handcuff you to a bed and torture your luscious body until you’re begging me to stop?”
I blew out a shaky breath. “No.”
“You never were a good liar, Harlow.” He gave me a knowing smile and stood.
“Aren’t you going to release me?” Panic tinged my voice.
He reached down and unlocked the cuffs, flooding me with disappointment. It wasn’t like I wanted him to take me in front of these strangers, and whatever he was into wasn’t something I wanted to explore—pain and spanking and whipping weren’t things I’d ever consider doing, and yet…
“You can leave now.” He motioned his head toward the exit. Heath, the elevator protector, materialized from the shadows.
“What? That’s it?”
“Yes, that’s it.” Sawyer’s sweet ass strode away, and he didn’t turn back to look at me.
“This way, Miss,” Heath said, gesturing towards the exit.
I shoved on my boots, grabbed my jacket, and without waiting for Heath, I stormed out of the club. Sawyer Elliot had humiliated me for the last time.
Chapter Five
Three endless weeks had passed since the incident at the club. And even though I was tempted to return Sawyer’s phone calls and listen to his voicemails, I resisted the urge. Not having him in my life was better for my sanity.
During the day, I threw myself into work. At night, I binge-watched TV, ate chocolate and drank wine. Yeah, I was pathetic and wallowing in misery, but I didn’t care. My nightly pity-parties for one brought me untold comfort…and about ten extra pounds.
Sighing, I picked up my wine glass and flipped to a show about cats attacking their owners. That would definitely help blot out images of Sawyer handcuffing my naked body to the spindles of my bed.
An unwelcome knock on my apartment door startled me, and I sloshed wine over my t-shirt. Alma, my next-door neighbor, was forever coming over to borrow something—most things I never got back. Before answering the door, I pressed my eye to the peephole, and my lungs decided to stop working. Sawyer! Why was he here and how did he know where I lived? He knocked again.
“Harlow, I can hear you moving around. Open the door.”
I took a few steps back to make it seem as if I wasn’t standing on the other side of the door.
“Be right there.” In an attempt to stop a threatened panic attack, I sucked in several deep breaths. And in an attempt to look less like a slob, I pulled the elastic band from my messy bun and tied my hair into a high ponytail. There was nothing I could do about the wine stain or that I wasn’t wearing a bra.
“What do you want?” I asked as soon as I opened the door.
“Nice to see you, too. Can I come in?”
I swept my hand in a come-on-in gesture. He strode in and the spicy cologne wafting in his wake rendered me speechless.
I slammed the door then crossed my arms over my breasts to hide my now-hard nipples. “I asked a question. Why are you here?”
He tucked his hands into the pockets of his navy suit trousers and scanned me up and down. Dark stubble covered his jaw, lending him a disheveled look.
“For one thing, you’ve been ignoring my calls. And for another, we need to talk about what happened at the club.”
> I raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been ignoring you because I don’t appreciate the way you treated me. And I didn’t appreciate being handcuffed to a chair in the middle of a room in front of strangers.”
“Did you enjoy it?”
“Of course not.” Lies. The more I read about the lifestyle he led, the more intrigued I became. “I’m not the kind of woman who gets off on men telling me what to do. I don’t want someone to dominate me, order me around, spank me. Pain is not something that turns me on.”
“I think you’re lying. I saw the glazed look in your eyes when you were helpless and handcuffed.”
“Are you on drugs?” I shook my head. I wasn’t going to get into an argument with him. “Can you please leave? I have work to do.”
He glanced at the coffee table covered with chocolate wrappers and an open bottle of wine. “Obviously.”
Blowing out an explosive breath, I threw my hands up. “Now I know why we didn’t stay in contact. Why I ever had a crush on an ass like you, I’ll never know.”
He lowered his lips to my ear. Stepping away would be so easy but my feet forgot how to work. “Your hard nipples tell me you’re either cold or turned on. I’m guessing the latter. I know your secrets, and I know you enjoyed having me handcuff you.”
“You came here to tell me that? You could have called instead of this drama.”
“If you’d answered my calls, I would have.” He sat down, his tall frame much too big for my tiny sofa. “Why not track me down sooner? If you wanted to see me, you could have called my office. I’m easy to find.”
“I hadn’t planned on ever seeing you again. But when McKenna told me you were at the club, I was curious.”
“Has your curiosity been sated?”
I wanted to say no. You didn’t say you missed me. You didn’t kiss me. You didn’t declare how much you loved me. “I don’t know what I wanted to see. I guess I just wanted to see you.” Tears flooded my eyes, threatening to spill down my cheeks. “I wanted to prove I was over you. That I didn’t feel the way I did when I was a kid.”
He stood and pulled me into his arms. “And are you over me?”
I remained quiet and pressed my nose against his rock-hard chest and inhaled his musky scent.
“Answer me, Harlow.”
“No,” I whispered.
He placed his hands on my scalp and held me at arm’s length. Loosening my ponytail, he wrapped my hair around his fingers. “The second I saw you outside the club, I knew I had to fuck you, make love to you. Make up for lost time. Ever since I read your diary, there hasn’t been a day when I haven’t thought about you. Thought about what would have happened if I’d acted on your fantasies. Understand you can always walk away. If you want me to leave, simply say so.” He brushed the edge of his thumb over the seam of my lips.
“What? How? I… This isn’t happening.”
“I was afraid and young,” he said. “Afraid of the overwhelming, mixed-up emotions I had toward you.” His grip in my hair tightened, stinging my follicles. “For God’s sake, we grew up together. My head told me I shouldn’t want you. My heart told me I should.”
“You broke my heart.”
“Give me the chance to heal it.”
Asking him to stay would mean we’d cross that line. It was my decision. But once crossed there was no way back. Did I truly want this? What if my fantasies were better left unfulfilled? Could I expose my innermost secret self to him? Allow him to introduce me to a world I otherwise would never know?
I cleared my throat and looked away from his penetrating gaze. “What if it doesn’t live up to everything we’ve built up in our minds? It could be terrible. I don’t know anything about the lifestyle you’re a part of.”
“We’re not going to explore that tonight. When you’re ready, then it’ll happen.” He cupped my cheeks in his hands and guided my face up until our eyes met. “Right now the only thing that matters is how we both feel. Do you want me to stay?”
A voice in my mind screamed no, this is a mistake, but my body cried yes, yes, yes, smothering all remaining doubt. Finally, I was going to experience everything I’d imagined, everything I’d desired. “I—I want you to stay.”
Chapter Six
The way his pupils dilated showed me how he was feeling and told me he was going to kiss me. I closed my eyes and focused on what was about to happen so I could commit it to memory. For too many years, I’d imagined this moment, and now it was here I didn’t want to forget a single second. When his lips brushed mine, pleasure poured through my body, capturing my soul. When he ran the tip of his tongue over mine, fire engulfed my body. When he pulled me into a deep kiss, scorching desire beaded my nipples. His lips were everything I’d imagined—rough yet soft and oh so warm.
He slid one hand to the small of my back and pulled me closer. My pussy pulsed, demanding attention, and I was sure the evidence of my arousal had soaked through the crotch of my yoga pants. If one kiss from Sawyer affected me like this, I might combust when more than his lips touched me.
He lifted his lips a hairsbreadth from mine, and I moaned in protest—I wanted him to kiss me forever. “We’ve started something we can’t stop, you know that?” His usually blue eyes were the color of the sky right before a thunderstorm. Everything about him was dark and dangerous and mine.
“I want this. I’ve always wanted this.”
Taking his hand, leaving no doubt in his mind, I led him to my bedroom.
****
The room was dark, but I didn’t switch on the light. My bedroom, with its cream walls and honey-colored hardwoods wasn’t anything special, but it was tidy and big enough to fit a queen-sized bed.
He moved toward the light switch and pushed the dimmer up a few notches, brightening the room.
“No lights.” No one had seen my naked body and that was how I wanted it to stay. I reached up to turn the light off, but he held my wrist, stilling my movements.
With his free hand, he traced his fingertips down the line of my throat, which did nothing to stop my thundering pulse. “What don’t you want me to see?”
I stared over his shoulder at the dressing table, focusing on a photo of a fifteen-year-old me. “It’s just…my body…it’s…”
“Your body’s what?”
My shoulders slouched and I stared at my feet. “You know how big I used to be. My skin bore the brunt. It’s a patchwork of my teenage years.”
“Do you think that matters to me?” There was a gentle understanding in his words that caressed my heart.
“I’m afraid my body will turn you off.”
“Nothing about you could ever turn me off. When I jerk off, I imagine your face.” He brushed his fingers over my chest, puckering my already hard nipples into painful points. “I imagine your heavy breasts, how they’d feel in my hands.” He moved his hands to the curve of my backside and squeezed. “I imagine your ass pressing back as I fuck you from behind.” He flicked his tongue over my lips, taking my breath. “I imagine you screaming my name when you come on my dick.”
“You say that now…” I whispered.
Sawyer cupped my chin and lifted my face up until our eyes locked. “Enough, Harlow. I want you. All of you.”
Before I could protest or say any more, he yanked my t-shirt over my head and threw it to one side. I closed my eyes, afraid of seeing his reaction.
“Fucking beautiful.” Sawyer cupped my breasts, his thumbs caressing and circling my hard nipples. “Open your eyes, Harlow. Watch me while I taste you.”
Quivering, I opened my eyes and watched as he secured his lips over one of my tight nipples. Tingles of ecstasy rushed to my pussy, drawing more liquid excitement from my body. The nipple in his mouth throbbed and pulsed. Reaching up, he caught my other nipple between his fingers and pinched, pulling pleasure to the surface of my skin.
“Just as I thought,” he said, raising his lips from my nipple, “you’re delectable.” He ran his stubbled chin back and forth over the sensitive bu
d.
I gazed into his eyes, desperate to know if he was lying. If he was, I would know. His blue eyes glistened in the low light, and every ounce of me knew that he desired me as much as he said.
Sawyer lowered his head again, nipping my flesh, pulling sounds I didn’t know I could make from deep inside me.
“Take the rest of your clothes off,” Sawyer rasped. “I want to see every last part of you.” He lowered his hand and ran his fingers inside the waistband of my yoga pants, skimming them over my skin. “Right now.”
I bit my lip and hesitated. “I—I…”
“I see I’m going to have to do it for you.” He slid his fingers lower, and before I even realized it, my yoga pants and panties were lying by my feet. I crossed my arms over my belly. I didn’t have enough hands or arms to cover myself. Sawyer, sensing my embarrassment, showered my face with kisses and murmured sweet words of encouragement.
Within a few seconds, he stood naked, and every time he moved, his large cock bobbed against his belly, hard and ready for me. He kissed down the column of my neck, his hands never leaving my many curves. His lips heated my skin and when his mouth reached my nipples, he sucked them into his mouth one at a time, closing his teeth around each beaded tip, flicking back and forth with the tip of his tongue.
He kissed even lower, tracing his tongue around my belly button. Static electricity bounced off my skin to his, sizzling the air. When he placed his hands on my inner thighs and widened my stance, I thought I would die from the pleasure.
He slid his thumbs along my sopping folds, leaving me a shaking mess of need and want. Never in my life had I been this primed, this turned on. Using his thumb and forefinger, he pulled back the hood of my clit and traced small circles around my exposed bud.
He lowered his head and slid his tongue over me. I hissed out a breath. My legs buckled, and I grabbed onto his shoulders, digging my fingernails in to stop from crumpling to the floor. Nothing in the world would ever top this wanton feeling of bliss.
Nine Steamy Step Stories Page 21