Endangered Hearts [Après-Ski 3] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic)

by Zara Chase

  “Pleasure and pain, baby,” he said in a raw tone. “The good part is a hell of a lot better if you have to suffer for it first.”

  Half a dozen strikes was enough for her first time around, Rick figured. He threw the paddle aside and picked up the lube, squirting it into the crack between her buttocks. She wriggled around, muttering incoherently.

  “Don’t move!”

  His stern voice had the desired effect and she immediately stilled. Rick lubed one of his fingers and ran it around her anus. She tensed up against it.

  “Gonna have to let me in sooner or later, babe,” he said softly. “Trust me to know what I’m doing. I’m not gonna fuck your ass, if that’s what worries you. I’m just introducing myself.”

  He lowered his head and gently sucked at one of her buttocks. It had to be sore from the paddling it had just received, and his cool lips would be soothing. She made gurgling sounds from beneath the curtain of her hair, and Rick knew that wasn’t because she was distressed in any way. He gauged the moment when she was at her most relaxed and slid his slick finger into her backside, forcing it past the tightly coiled muscle and moving it around once he was inside. He heard her gasp.

  “You like that, babe?”

  “God, yes! It’s astonishing.”

  Rick felt hugely vindicated. “Sure it is, and you haven’t felt anything yet.”

  He didn’t want to remove his finger and so awkwardly, with one hand, he lubed the butt plug he had extracted from his drawer. Quick as a flash he removed his digit and replaced it with the tip of the plug before she could close up on him. The plug slid into her like a silent promise and Rick gently agitated it all the way home.

  “There you go, darlin’.” He lifted her up and righted her on his knee. “That’s a butt plug you’ve got inside you now. How does it feel?”

  “Intrusive, but in a good way.”

  Her eyes were muddy with reckless desire. Rick knew she would let him do just about anything to her he wanted to when she was so aroused, but cautioned himself to take things slow. Slow? Hell, who was he kidding? He’d shown her the dungeon, paddled her ass, and then shoved a plug into it. Not exactly pacing himself, but she only had herself to blame for that. He was so desperate to make her feel good about being the person she was supposed to be that he lost all sense of perspective.

  “It’s full of oil, and your body will heat it up. Just wait and see what happens when it does. Now, come on, let me help you lay down.” Once he had done so, he leaned over her and claimed her lips. “You know I’m going to restrain your hands again, don’t you, sugar?”

  “If it pleases you, Master.”

  “Oh, it pleases me, darlin’, can’t you tell?” He gripped his throbbing erection, just in case she was in any doubt. “Then I’m gonna fill you with this guy while you have the plug in your backside.”

  “Is there room for both?”

  “Oh yeah.” He sent her a slow, lazy smile. “Trust me, you’re gonna be so full of cock you’ll think all your birthdays have come together.”

  He found the restraints and dealt with her hands. She watched him reach for a condom and shook her head. “No need,” she said. “I’m on the pill.”

  That surprised Rick. “You make a habit of unprotected sex?”

  “Hell no, I’m on the pill to regulate my periods. I’ve never had sex without a condom before, but that’s the way I want it with you.”

  “Oh, baby!”

  He leaned over her and feasted from her lush mouth, kissing her like it was an Olympic sport and he was a contender for the gold medal. Having Sabine here, willingly at his mercy, made him feel that way. Thoughts of keeping her out of harm’s way when the shit went down kept intruding on the moment, but he pushed them aside. Tomorrow would take care of itself. He fully intended to live for the moment.

  “You look fucking good enough to eat, wearing those clamps and that wicked smile. Gonna have to punish you for that at some point.”

  He climbed over her, covering her with his body as he pushed her legs apart and settled between them. He parted her slick folds and entered her with one swift, assured thrust, burying himself ball deep in her wet warmth.

  “Bring your legs up over my shoulders,” he said curtly. “I need to get deeper.”

  She did as he asked, groaning, moving with him.

  “You okay, darlin’?”

  “It’s so tight with that plug.”

  “Hmm, that’s the point. Stay with me, it gets better.”

  He was filled with a bewildering paradox of pleasure and longing as he picked up the pace, sliding in and out of her fluidly, pushing the butt plug a little deeper with the fingers of one hand. She gasped, her eyes wide with astonishment as he did so, but not because she was distressed in any way. Rick figured the oil would have done its job by now, ensuring she was firing on all synapses. She did that thing with the muscles inside her pussy, clenching his cock tightly, mumbling incoherently as she thrashed her head from side to side, pretty damned close to orgasm if he was any judge.

  “Remember, babe,” he said, not pausing with the hot, slick tempo he had going. “You don’t get to come until I say you can.”

  “Wh-what if I can’t hold it?”

  “You get punished. Remember how Leo dealt with his disobedient, ungrateful sub.”

  “I’m not…hell, I’m not ungrateful, just overloaded with cock. It’s too much, I can’t…”

  Triumph ripped through Rick as he watched her climax. He yanked on the nipple chain at what he figured would be the exact right moment to give her maximum pleasure, driving his cock harder and pushing in the plug at the same time.

  “Sorry, Master,” she said contritely when she stopped trembling.

  “You will be, honey.”

  He released her hands and, still buried inside her, rolled onto his back so she was on top of him. He wanted to play with her tits and watch them bounce around as he made her come for a second time.

  “Now you’ve got me at your mercy,” he said gruffly, grabbing her hips and controlling her movement. “Let’s see what you can do for me.”

  He knew the challenge would stir her competitive spirit. She fixed him with a smile filled with nascent awareness of the power she actually wielded over him as she slid up and down his thick length, sinking as low as she could each time she came down on him.

  “That’s it, sugar. Let’s fuck one another’s brains out. You need it and I sure as hell do as well.”

  His words caused another moan to slip past her lips. Rick started moving with her, pushing his hips up to meet her downward slides until he was hammering into her just as hard and deep as he could manage. Her needy little moans intensified as his cock swelled to even greater dimensions inside of her. He reached for the discarded paddle and used it on her ass each time she lifted it up. She cried out, her eyes sparkling, low animalistic sounds emerging from the back of her throat. The sexual magnetism between them, the pulsating warmth of her tight pussy as it grasped his cock, had all his pulse points throbbing and anticipatory shivers tingling down his spine.

  “Baby, this is wild.”

  He threw aside the paddle and yanked on the nipple chain, aware that he was about to shoot his load. Hanging on for a second longer was an impossibility, given her provocative determination to make him come for her.

  “I can’t give you any more than this, babe,” he said, yanking the nipple chain harder still. “You’ve got my cock, the plug and the clamps. Ain’t that enough for you?”

  “Yes, Rick this is crazy. I’m going to−”

  “Yeah, me, too.”

  Her pupils dilated and she threw her head back. He held her hips firmly, grunted twice and unleased his load, swearing and sweating as his heart kicked up another notch and they rode the ultimate high in perfect harmony.

  Chapter Nine

  By the time Sabine found the strength to open her eyes again, her limbs had finally stopped trembling from the aftershock of the mind-blowing orgasm Rick had
just given her. She was cradled in his strong arms, her head rested on his chest. No longer in the throes of passion, she waited for her fear of physical contact to return, and for her to wonder what the hell could have possessed her to put herself in this position. Intimacy did not include emotional investment. Sabine had made that decision a long time ago and it had become a hard and fast rule for her. It was safer that way, she reminded herself. Don’t get close to people, because people let you down.

  Her head knew it was true, but her heart was having none of it. With a what-the-hell shrug, she remained right where she was, feeling cossetted, protected and, damn it, safe. Rick had removed the clamps from her tits and the blood rushed back into them, tingling, painful. The butt plug had gone, too, and she found she missed it.

  “You okay, darlin’?” Rick asked, hoisting himself up onto one elbow and examining her face closely, presumably for signs of distress.

  “Wonderful.” She reached up and touched his face for no other reason than that she wanted to. Touch him, that is. Amazing. She had travelled a lot of miles down the path of her own paranoia in a very short space of time. “A little sore, perhaps. Sitting down for long periods might be challenging for a day or two, but that’s a trade-off I’m happy to make because I feel alive like I didn’t realize was possible.”

  His uncertainty was replaced by a devastating smile. “Now you start to understand what we get from it.”

  “Hmm, seems like I do.”

  “Okay, sweet thing, we need to get cleaned up, then we both need to catch some sleep. You up to showering with me, or would you prefer to do it alone?”

  His consideration of her feelings confirmed her instincts had been right on the money as far as he was concerned and she was glad she had…well, trusted them. “No, with you is good.”

  He kissed the end of her nose. “I’m real glad you feel that way.”

  “I still find it hard to believe I do but, hey, go with the flow.” She tried to make light of it, but figured he wasn’t fooled.

  “I don’t want you to feel pressured in any way, darlin’. Never lose sight of that.”

  Rick stood up, leaned over and scooped her into his arms. He carried her through to the bathroom and set the shower running. She was disappointed when all he did was wash her thoroughly all over, sensual though that experience was. No one had ever attended to her personal hygiene before, nor was it something she would have even imagined allowing, much less enjoying. She had supposed touching her that way would reignite Rick’s lust. Well, it did. The evidence was difficult to ignore, but her tentative suggestion that they do something about it was met with a firm refusal.

  “We’re both beat, honey, and it’s getting late.”

  “Why do I get the impression you said that for my sake, not yours?”

  “Gotta learn to walk before you run, sweetheart.”

  She pouted at him. “Now you’re just being plain mean.”

  Rick chuckled and kissed the end of her nose. “You’re so damned cute when you put on that face.”

  “Hmm, no one’s ever called me cute before.”

  “Given your attitude, sweetheart, they probably wouldn’t have dared for fear of losing body parts.”

  “Yeah, there is that I suppose.”

  He switched off the water, reached for a towel and wrapped her in it, as though she was a small child and he was the parent. Not that she would know. None of her foster families had taken that sort of care of her, partly because she had discouraged them from getting too close. She had attached herself to her first family, thinking they were for life. Turned out they were for three months. That had been a hard knock to take, but Sabine learned from it and wasn’t prepared to get burned twice. She shut out the rest of the world from that day onward and had been looking out for herself, taking care of her own needs, ever since. She was unsure if she was ready to admit how good it felt to have someone else caring, really appearing to care, about her welfare. One step at a time, she told herself, aware that Rick had bigger problems than her hang-ups to worry about right now.

  Rick vigorously dried her body, making her hungry for more of his unique brand of loving. But she knew she was on a hiding to nothing and wasn’t ready for another rejection, so she didn’t suggest it. Rick, she was fast learning, had a will of iron when he made his mind up about something. Well, he wasn’t the only one who could be stubborn, as he would discover for himself sooner or later.

  If there was a later for the two of them.

  The thought made her blood, warmed by the shower and Rick’s capable hands, turn to ice in her veins. He had distracted her so well that she had pushed what awaited them the day after tomorrow to the recesses of her mind. He seemed disconcertingly sure he would come out on top, but that didn’t mean the two of them had any sort of future. Was that what she wanted? Was she ready to go from being a self-sufficient loner to part of a couple? Was Rick? He hadn’t said anything about it, and seemed quite happy to amble through life one sub at a time, no lasting commitment necessary. She shouldn’t read too much into the care and patience he had taken with her. He clearly liked challenges and would probably laugh himself silly if he knew she had fallen in love with him.

  Well, he never would know, she decided. A girl had her pride. It was her secret, her cross to bear. He had taught her one important lesson, for which she owed him big time. Well, a lot more than one, but the single most important thing she now grasped was that not everyone in this world was out for what they could get. Not everyone wanted to exploit her, and she ought to be a little less judgmental. Rick had had her at his mercy, ready to jump through fiery hoops for him, and yet she was the one who had orgasmed multiple times. He had gone out of his way to ensure she did, putting her interests ahead of his own.

  “I don’t need to ask if you’ve ever slept all night with another person before?” he said, his voice intruding on her introspective thoughts. “If you’re not good with that, I’m happy to take the couch.”

  “That’s thoughtful, but I want you with me.” She smiled to hide her own astonishment at just how badly she wanted to share his bed with him, solely for the purpose of sleeping. “Provided you don’t snore, of course.”

  “Well, I don’t think I do, but Ruben has been known to chase a few zzzz’s while dreaming his doggy dreams.”

  Sabine blew a kiss in Ruben’s direction. “Ruben can do no wrong.”

  “Ah, does that mean I can?”

  “I haven’t made my mind up about you yet.”

  He tweaked her nose. “Then there’s still time to bend you to my kinky ways.”

  She canted her head and sent him a sizzling smile. “I don’t react well to bribery, Dwyer.”

  “Ah-ha, but I already know what does rock your world.”

  “That is so not fair!”

  “All’s fair in love and lust, babe.”

  “Okay, I’ll remember that.”

  “Warning duly noted.” He pulled back the covers and deposited her between crisp linen sheets. “Seriously, hon, I don’t want to freak you out, so if you wake up and decide you’d rather I wasn’t next to you, just say the word.”

  “You’ve had your fun, Sir,” she replied sweetly. “Now you have to be honorable.”

  Rick chuckled as he pulled on a T-shirt, his jeans and thrust his bare feet into boots. “You already know I prefer dishonorable.”

  “Where are you going?” she asked, sitting up in a panic. He’d just said that he would stay with her, hadn’t he?

  “Ruben needs to lift his leg. I’ll only be a minute.”

  “Oh yes, of course.” She fell back against the pillows. “I forgot about him, the poor baby. He must be bursting.”

  Hearing his name, Ruben uncurled himself, stood up and had a good shake. Then he trotted toward the door and stood there, looking up expectantly at Rick. Sabine watched them go, Rick tickling the dog’s ears and chatting to him, Ruben responding by licking his hand. Sabine felt irrationally jealous of their close bond. She w
anted to be the one licking Rick, and not just his hand.

  “Get a grip,” she told herself, smiling inanely. She had never been jealous of another person, or dog for that matter, before. It was another first that ought to have scared the shit out of her. She was letting her independence go way too easily, and it would end in tears.

  Her tears.

  Ah well, crying was something she hadn’t done either since she’d been in first grade. She was getting soft, but it seemed that was what being in love did to a girl.

  True to his word, Rick returned in less than five minutes. Ruben settled back on his bed, Rick threw off his clothes and climbed in beside her. “Get some sleep, witchy lady,” he said, pulling her into his arms and kissing her chastely. Well, almost. That wicked tongue of his didn’t know how to behave chastely. “We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow, getting the eagle watch going.”

  “The eagle watch?”

  She had a lot to learn about the way his mind worked. She had just undergone a life-changing experience on his watch, he had assassins on his tail, and he was worried about his eagles.

  “Sure. I care about them, babe, and no one’s gonna get hold of their eggs if I can stop them.”

  Sabine rolled her eyes, snuggled down into a more comfortable position and yawned. She wouldn’t sleep, but didn’t want to tell Rick that was another of her problems. He probably already thought she was a bit of a fruitcake, but the fact of the matter was that sleep never came easily to her. She put it down to having to be constantly on her guard in so many of the places where she had lived. When trouble came calling it was almost always in the dead of night, and she had trained herself to be ready for it. It didn’t matter. She would enjoy watching Rick sleeping. It would give her a chance to drink in the sight of him without his being aware. She wanted to commit every nuance of his appearance to memory, just in case it was one of the last chances she got.

  “Hey, wake up, sleepyhead.”