Subspace

by Sierra Cartwright

  Yes, yes, yes!

  With an effort, she kept herself in position and let him set the pace, but she wanted to shout, Faster! Harder! She nearly fainted with joy when he slid one hand around to find her clit and stroked it rhythmically. As he rubbed he pounded into her, each plunge harder than the one before. She gritted her teeth to control herself and wait for his words.

  “Now. Come now.”

  Oh, thank you.

  With a tremendous feeling of relief she let the orgasm take her, Diego’s cock flexing and throbbing inside her. Every muscle in her body shaking and shuddering with the force of the release. His fingers dug into her as he emptied himself, finally collapsing forward and placing a line of kisses along the length of her spine.

  It could have been a minute or an hour before he moved again, slowly withdrawing from her body.

  “Don’t move,” he ordered. “I’ll be right back.”

  She held her position, splayed on the coverlet, her breathing slower, satisfaction like a warm blanket over her. Then she heard Diego’s footsteps, felt him lifting her, turning her, sliding her beneath the coverlet. In seconds he was beside her, pulling her against him, wrapping his arms around her.

  He kissed the top of her head. “Sleep, my pet. Tomorrow night begins a new chapter in our relationship.”

  Her last thought as sleep embraced her was—but will it be enough?

  Diego studied the woman sleeping in his arm, his emotions a seething mass. The first time he’d met this leggy, graceful blonde with the startling green eyes and the alabaster skin his cock had stood up and saluted. Immediately he’d imagined her with her hands cuffed over her head, the cuffs fastened to a chain from the ceiling, her ankles separated by a spreader bar. His to pleasure in any way he chose.

  He’d taken her home and used them that first night. Tested her to see how well they fit. He was a demanding Dom, although only in the bedroom. The subs he chose were always smart and self-confident, but still with unrealised potential. Outside these four walls he encouraged them to stretch themselves. To develop their mental and artistic skills. He was very aware that he chose only those women who had untapped potential, whether in business or the arts or some skilled profession. It was part of the challenge, to dominate them in the bedroom yet watch them develop out in the world.

  Kaci was his best yet. Three years ago she’d been an unknown sculptor with raw talent. He paid for tutoring with the very best and had been rewarded with magnificent results. He smiled as he remembered her first show and how nervous she’d been, sure none of her pieces would sell. In fact, they’d all sold for a very good price. She was stupefied at the amount of money that filtered into her bank account.

  They’d celebrated with a long night of passion, his present to her a set of fleece-lined handcuffs, a new butt plug and a larger vibrator. Many times in the evening he’d had her walking around naked with the vibrator lodged inside her, the remote in his hands so that without warning he could set it off. He loved watching her try to sit quietly, forbidding her the release of an orgasm until he’d driven her so close to the edge he expected her to start screaming any minute.

  But Kaci was a good sub. She never allowed herself the satisfaction of release until he gave permission. Then he would have her sit cross-legged in one of the big leather armchairs and order her to play with her clit while her body spasmed over and over again. She had been well-trained by her previous Doms when she came to him, even the ones she refused to discuss, but after three years she was exquisite. As much a masterpiece as any of her sculptures.

  The one thing he’d been slightly uneasy about was the purchase of the house. After two more successful shows she was fat with cash and in a good position to use some of it.

  “I want a studio of my own,” she’d told him. “I’m spending money to rent space and you”—she’d grinned and poked him in the chest—“the big international businessman, should be furious that I’m basically throwing money away.”

  How could he tell her that having her own place gave her an independence he wasn’t sure he could deal with? Not that he was looking at something for the long run. That had never been his goal with any of his subs. Definitely. When he took the relationship to what he believed was its highest point, he signed them into a luxurious hotel suite for a month, provided them with the means to find whatever housing they chose within reason, and moved on with his life.

  So he should be glad Kaci had this little house, right? And that’s exactly what it was. A little house. And close by. In Austin, where tall buildings kept company with tiny houses, she was able to find a Craftsman bungalow just three blocks away. He had to smile despite himself, remembering how excited she’d been. Like a child with a new toy.

  “And I’ll take down this wall to make one big room,” she’d told him, laughing and dancing through the house. “And have one room where I can sleep if I get tired. Diego, I can sculpt all day and all night if I want to. Get limestone dust over everything!”

  “I think all day and all night might be a little much,” he’d told her indulgently.

  Her enthusiasm was hard to resist, even as he’d worried that she’d be the one to pull the plug before he did.

  Some nights she actually did work there until dawn, nights where he prowled the penthouse restlessly. He could demand that she not do it, but then he’d be doing something that he himself would object to. In the bedroom he ruled. Beyond that they were equals. He didn’t want to change that, create an unhappiness that would taint the whole relationship.

  Now he looked down at her, hair spread out like golden silk, soft body curled into his, and the realisation that she’d come to mean more to him than he’d expected frightened him to death. He couldn’t give a piece of himself away to another person. He just couldn’t. He’d done that once in his life and the result had been disastrous.

  He’d made a vow to himself that he would control the length of his relationships—and make that very clear at the beginning. If the sub did not agree then he’d break it off.

  Diego realised his situation with Kaci had extended far beyond any of the others. Why? What was so different? Tomorrow night he was going to take their relationship to a whole new level of trust. Would he be able to let her go after that?

  He closed his eyes, searching for sleep, but it eluded him like smoke in the wind.

  Chapter Three

  “How’s the bubble bath?”

  Diego lounged in the doorway to the huge bathroom watching Kaci soak in the oversized tub. The froth of bubbles was so thick he could barely see her head above them. She’d spent most of the day at her studio, working on some secret project that she wouldn’t even discuss with him. Not that he went there anyway. It was her place. Off limits. That was one of the things he’d solemnly agreed to.

  But he had plans for tonight and wanted her to be free of the dust from the Hill Country limestone she worked with, perfumed and lotioned and ready for him to get inside her head and lead it to a new place.

  She lifted a hand and fluffed bubbles at him. “It’s wonderful. Thank you so much for this.”

  “My pleasure.”

  He always took very good care of his subs. Pampered them, even, because in his Dom role he was demanding.

  “I think you should get out before you are a prune,” he teased.

  “You just want to make use of my body,” she joked back.

  “That’s right.” He straightened, completely serious now. “In a way you’ve never experienced before.” He walked over to the tub, took a large towel from a heated rack and held it up. “So come, my pet. Let’s get you dried off and prepared.”

  She flipped the lever that would open the drain and rose from the bath like some sea nymph, rosy and glistening, bubbles still clinging to her nipples and the blonde curls guarding her pussy. Diego’s pulse kicked up a notch, and his cock flexed behind the fabric of his trousers. He held out one hand to her as she stepped from the tub then wrapped the towel around her and rubbed h
is hands over it to dry her.

  She smiled at him as he led her to the vanity bench at the counter and nudged her to sit down. That smile reached into him and grabbed him in a place he hadn’t even known existed. Deliberately pushing that feeling away, he unfastened the clip holding up her hair, picked up her brush and began to slowly drag it through her silken tresses.

  “I love when you brush my hair,” she told him. “It soothes me.”

  “I take care of what’s mine,” he told her.

  She looked at him in the mirror. “And am I yours, Diego?”

  “Of course, querida.” He kissed her shoulder. “Now just relax.”

  It was important to relax her and begin leading her into that place in her head where nothing existed except pleasure. Where the pain became a welcome companion. Before coming into the bathroom, he’d opened the armoire where he kept their toys and taken out what he expected to need for the evening. He had to push back the edge of nervousness that crept up out of nowhere. He was never nervous. He was the ultimate Dom, totally in command.

  Right. Keep telling yourself that.

  By the time he finished brushing her hair he could tell Kaci was relaxed, almost peaceful. He tossed the towel onto the ledge of the tub, lifted a bottle of lotion from the counter, poured some into his hands and began to rub it into her shoulders, her arms and her back.

  “Mmm.” She leant into his touch. “I think you’re a master at this.”

  “Of course.” He leaned down, licked the sensitive spot behind her ear and trailed his tongue along the line of her jaw. “I want you to do nothing but feel, amante. Just let yourself drift. You know how you get when you’re in your studio working? When you’re deep into the piece you’re creating? Nothing else exists for you.”

  “You’re right,” she agreed.

  “I want you to pretend you’re there now. Let everything here fall away. Bring up the image of whatever piece you’re working on now and focus only on that. On the immense feeling of satisfaction you get when a block of limestone turns into a living work of art. Can you do that?”

  She closed her eyes. “I can. My current piece is very emotional and takes me out of everything else when I’m at it with hammer and chisel. It’s as if nothing else in the world exists.”

  “That’s where I want you to go tonight. Think of the sketch you drew before you started and how the form of the sculpture begins to emerge from the limestone.” He slid his hands over her shoulders and down to her breasts, pinching her nipples with his fingers. Hard.

  Kaci jumped, then settled.

  “You like when I do that to your nipples. Right? And when I put the clamps on them? It makes you wet. Are you getting wet now, amada?”

  She nodded and squeezed her thighs together.

  “Think how it would feel for that pain to sweep through your entire body. Your ass will heat from the cane and the flogger, and that heat will rush right to that sweet, sweet pussy. When I finish you will be desperate for me to fuck you. I will have your ass and your cunt, and perhaps later, even your mouth. And you will beg for more because the new pain will take you to a stronger level of need.”

  She moaned softly.

  He shifted his hands to cup her elbow, urging her to rise.

  “Come. It is time.”

  Kaci felt as if she was having an out-of-body experience. The combination of the bath, Diego’s low voice and the stroke of the brush through her hair had smoothed away any lingering apprehension. Already she felt as if she was moving into a place beyond herself.

  But when they approached the bed she stopped, momentarily wondering if she really could do this. At one edge Diego had placed her favourite fleece-lined cuffs, a silk scarf, a long thin cane and a flogger with multiple lengths of leather attached to a thick handle. She also saw a large butt plug, a tube of gel, nipple clamps and a vibrator.

  His hand on her back steadied her.

  “We may not use all of them, my pet. We’ll begin and see how it goes. All right?”

  He slid his hand up to the nape of her neck and gently massaged the muscles there before smoothing down her spine and over the curve of her buttocks.

  She let out a sigh, already well into sub mode. “Yes. Of course. I want to please you.”

  “But this is for your pleasure, too.” He kissed her shoulder. “You’ll see. Everything will be so much more intense.”

  He stopped her just before she reached the bed and bent his head to take one nipple into his mouth. He sucked hard on it, swirling his tongue around the pebbled bud and grazing the surface with his teeth until Kaci felt the throb clear to her cunt. Then he worked on the other one, finally looking at them both with satisfaction.

  “Plump,” he murmured. “Just the way I like them.”

  Now came the nipple clamps. Tonight he used the ones that were miniature sets of thin bars. He guided the first nipple between the bars and turned the tiny screw on the side to tighten them. He did this so often he knew exactly when to stop. How tight to make them. Then he attached the other one and linked a chain between them. Kaci had learnt early on that one of the things Diego enjoyed most was being able to tug on a chain like that whenever he wished, increasing the pressure on her swollen buds. Now he gave it a firm yank, smiling when he heard her gasp of pain.

  “Excellent so far, querida.”

  He guided her to the foot of the bed and bent her over it. She stretched her arms out in her usual position, forcing herself to breathe evenly as he fastened first one cuff then the other to her wrists. Tonight he also linked them together, attaching a longer chain and clipping it to one of the slats in the headboard. Her upper body was basically immobilised, the mattress pressing hard into her clamped nipples.

  “I want you to think about the cloud again,” he told her, lifting the silk scarf and folding it lengthwise. “Just like before think about being there. I am going to blindfold you so that your sense of sight will be gone and every other one will be enhanced. Fall into a deep, dark place, lined with black velvet. A place that is soft and warm. Go there now, amante.”

  He pressed the blindfold across her eyes and tied it at the back of her head. He was still talking to her, crooning in his wonderful voice, and she actually felt herself falling into a different place. Different space. As if nothing else existed but her body floating on a cloud.

  “Remember,” Diego continued, “you are not here. Only your body is present. And it is mine to do with as I wish.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  He followed the curve and slope of her ass with his hands, trailing his fingers through the crevice. Delicious shivers skated over her. Diego had taught her just how much pleasure could be derived from anal sex and in just how many ways. She had always enjoyed it, but he had taken it to an entirely new level.

  Just as he’s taking things higher tonight.

  When he rubbed the tight muscle of her anus with the tips of two fingers, warmth surged through her and tremors rippled in her cunt. She spread her legs wider and rose on her tiptoes, lifting her ass to him.

  He chuckled low in his throat. “Yes, yes. I will pay special attention to your sweet ass tonight.”

  In a moment she felt the coolness of gel at her opening, felt his fingers smoothing it around the muscle before sliding slowly inside her rectum. She lifted to him again and he removed his fingers, applied more gel, and this time penetrated her with three fingers.

  Her clit was throbbing as much as her nipples, the edge of pain sending slow waves of heat washing through her. Diego scissored his fingers, spreading the lube everywhere and stretching her tissues. In a moment his hand was gone and then she felt the tip of the butt plug pushing against her.

  “Deep breaths, my pet,” he reminded her. “You know how good this makes you feel.”

  He was right. It did. She loved the feeling of fullness the plug gave her, the pressure to her internal tissues. And Diego’s warm voice continued to lull her. Direct her into a place almost outside herself.

  “
I love how wet you get.” His voice was husky as he probed her pussy with his fingers and discovered just how ready she was. “Now. Whatever happens, do not leave the place you’ve taken yourself to. There is nothing and no one but you and me and the most intense pleasure you will ever feel.”

  His voice was so calming, the citrus scent of his cologne so tantalising, the feel of his touch so erotic. She realised at once what he meant about all of her other senses coming to life in sharper relief.

  In the next second she was jolted from her reverie when one of his hands landed on one cheek of her ass with a resounding slap, the sting spreading over the surface of her skin. Then the other cheek. More slaps, one side then the other. As they increased in speed and intensity, Kaci gave herself over to the pleasure enveloping her. The heat spread down to her pussy and her thighs, stimulating every nerve. She had come to embrace the spankings and the soft edge of pain that came with them. Now she was deep into subspace, her head in a place where only pleasure awaited her.

  Which was a damn good thing because the spanking stopped and without warning she felt the slender width of the cane across her thighs.

  Ouch!

  But as quickly as it came the pain ebbed, leaving the same desire the slaps had brought but on a new level.

  Okay. Not so bad.

  Then the cane smacked her flesh again, this time on one globe of her buttocks. The knife-edge of the pain cut through her, almost jerking her away from her comfortable place. She sucked in a breath just as the next blow fell, and the next one. He didn’t set up a rhythm, so it was impossible to anticipate when the cane would strike next. Or where. Buttocks, thighs, buttocks again. Always careful to stay away from the plug lest he do real damage to her. Each stroke more biting than the one before. Each pain slightly more intense.

  Ouch! Ouch, ouch!

  She didn’t realise she’d said the words aloud until Diego stopped and bent close to her. “Ten more. Can you take it? I’m not even applying full force tonight.”