Commanded

by Stacey Kennedy

  Chloe followed his gaze, spotting a tall, hefty man flogging a thin blond woman. Each time the flogger hit flesh, the man smoothed his hand over where he’d hit. Chloe exhaled a long breath; this she could handle. In fact, the longer she watched, the more curious she became. “It appears more erotic.”

  “Precisely. It’s about a connection and building endorphins.” Porter paused as Kenzie returned with one beer and two glasses of wine. “Thanks, darling,” he said to Kenzie before adding to Chloe, “People in the BDSM lifestyle will have their own personal desires and fetishes. It so happens that those in our club prefer the D/s relationship mixed with a softer form of BDSM.”

  Chloe watched the man flogging the woman’s body, turning it a deep shade of red. She surmised that if a man wanted a flogging to be painful, it could be, but this woman wasn’t flinching in pain. In fact, she swirled her hips with each hit. Addressing Kenzie, Chloe asked, “How much does that hurt?”

  “For me, that would tickle and probably annoy me.” Kenzie grinned.

  Porter chuckled.

  With growing curiosity, Chloe examined the flogging again. She’d never thought about partaking in BDSM. She supposed she didn’t understand it. If she loved someone, she guessed she’d do it. But as she watched the man whack the woman’s bottom, she couldn’t see herself in that position. And, if she were being honest with herself, none of this aroused her.

  On the contrary, she’d never been drier.

  She heard sensual moans and slaps of skin against skin, and she wasn’t turned on. Not even a bit. No tingles between her thighs. No heat on her face. Nothing. And as the man stopped flogging the woman and began fucking her instead, Chloe’s blood ran cold.

  Sawyer hadn’t been wrong—she was too innocent. She’d never allow a man, any man, to fuck her in front of others.

  Suddenly she realized how ridiculous she must look. Wearing a short black shirt and tight blouse showing only a little cleavage, she didn’t fit in. Her palms grew sweaty and her fingers tightened around her wineglass.

  To her left, a woman dropped to her knees, while a man held her head and pumped his cock in between her lips, using her mouth for his enjoyment. Yes, this was all consensual, but it wasn’t Chloe.

  I can’t be this woman. Not for Sawyer. Not for anyone.

  Her heart thumped as she scanned the room, feeling as though a spotlight were shining on her. Did everyone here know she was an outsider? The room started to feel smaller and the noises sounded louder. Her attention drifted back to the man thrusting inside the woman who’d been flogged. The woman screamed her pleasure, but Chloe knew she didn’t want anyone else to hear her moans. Those noises belonged to the man she loved, only and always for him. The room seemed to spin around her. She picked up her wineglass and downed half of its contents.

  When she lowered her glass, Porter asked, “Are you all right, Chloe?”

  She glanced from Porter to Kenzie, who both were watching her closely. “I…”

  Porter frowned, then rose. “Not comfortable here. Let’s go.”

  Chloe stood up, but her mind spun with questions.

  What does this mean for Sawyer and me?

  She couldn’t be this woman for him.

  Should I end things with him?

  As the man pounding into the woman began grunting with his orgasm, Chloe’s heart raced. I need to get out of here. I have to think. She gulped, needing the air to be fresher. Turning on her heel, she strode toward the door…and that’s when she ran into a brick wall.

  A wall that happened to have strong arms and smelled a lot like Sawyer.

  —

  Sawyer had spent years training to control his emotions. He possessed the ability to slow his heartbeat in tense situations. But now? His training vanished as an upset and confused Chloe pressed herself against him. Yes, she’d accidentally walked into him, but within a second she realized who held her, and she sagged against him in relief. Anger burned through him, even if he was unsure whom to be angry at. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

  It took only a few seconds for her to straighten up and stand firmer, but those seconds mattered. To him. And to her.

  Well aware that Porter and Kenzie were watching them, he tucked a finger under Chloe’s chin. Her eyes, reflecting insecurity—an emotion he’d never seen from her before—stole the air from his lungs. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes.” She looked down. “Yes. I’m fine.”

  Red-hot rage soared through Sawyer’s veins at the sight of her shrunken posture, the insecurity visible on her face, and at her evident discomfort. This was exactly what he hadn’t fucking wanted. And it wasn’t that he didn’t understand, because he did. She didn’t belong in his lifestyle.

  Seeing her wide eyes begging him to take control of this situation, he wrapped his arm around her waist. “Let’s get you out of here.” He slid his glance to Porter, who was watching him. Sawyer narrowed his eyes at his pal. He planned to make Porter answer for this.

  Now, though, he stayed focused on Chloe and hurried her past the bouncers at the door. With Chloe tucked in next to him, he noticed her long intake of breath when they got outside, as if she’d been starved of air. His anger doubled. How fucking dare Porter do this?

  Within minutes Sawyer reached his truck, opened the passenger-side door, and helped her in. “Stay here,” he told her. “I’ll just be a minute.” He left the door open, hoping the fresh air would help take her mind off whatever thoughts were running through her head. He fisted his hands and approached Porter and Kenzie, who stood at the main entrance of Chains.

  “Tell me what the fuck you were thinking,” he demanded when he reached them.

  Kenzie’s brows rose. “That’s my cue to leave.” She released Porter’s hand. “I’ll be over here in the safe zone, saying goodbye to Chloe.”

  Sawyer didn’t glance over his shoulder as Kenzie went across the parking lot. He stayed focused on Porter, who in turn was glaring at him. Tension tightened his muscles, and adrenaline was rushing through Sawyer’s veins. Perhaps it wasn’t his finest moment, but his anger wanted to direct itself at Porter.

  “Chloe asked me to take her here, so I did.”

  Sawyer’s jaw clenched. “Did you know that I’m seeing her now?”

  “I did.”

  “Why didn’t you run it by me? You know better,” Sawyer growled, his fingernails biting into his palms.

  Porter squared his shoulders. “Chloe came to me and said it embarrassed her to ask you to take her. She wanted to understand the lifestyle.”

  Sawyer jabbed a finger toward the front door of Chains. “This is the place you thought would be a good example to show her?”

  “It’s the only place I could take her.” A muscle in Porter’s jaw twitched. “Would you have preferred that she come alone?”

  Sawyer knew deep down that Porter had a point, but his anger was too strong to acknowledge that. Not giving a shit if anybody walking by overheard him, Sawyer snapped at Porter, “You overstepped your bounds tonight.”

  “By being a supportive friend to Chloe?” Porter took a step forward. “I don’t know what’s crawled up your ass tonight. But I’m going to stop you now because this conversation won’t lead anywhere good.”

  “Chloe is not to come here again.” Another Dom had handled his woman, and that bothered him. It was unforgivable, in fact. “I don’t care if she asks you or even if she fucking begs you, she will not set foot in any club. Understand?”

  Porter nodded. Without another word, he strode over to Kenzie, took her hand, and led her off down the street, away from the club. Sawyer’s insides trembled with his wrath. He drew in a deep breath and returned to Chloe, who was staring at the dashboard of his truck.

  He placed himself between her and the door. “I did not want you here.”

  “But I wanted—”

  He arched an eyebrow sternly. “I did not want you here.”

  She sighed, and her eyes searched his for a long momen
t before her lips closed. A long tense couple of seconds passed before she whispered, “Why are you so angry at me for coming here?”

  Why, indeed?

  He gripped the door with his fingers so damn hard that they hurt. Her question bounced around in his mind. It pissed him off that he didn’t have an answer to give her. “I can’t do this right now, not when I’m this fucking mad.” He slammed her door shut, then strode around to the driver’s side.

  Only after he slid into his seat and started up the truck did Chloe speak. “I think we need to talk.”

  He glanced sideways at her, unsure what she meant by “talk.” Was she going to end things between them or straighten things out? Truth be told, he couldn’t handle either. “I don’t want to talk to you about this right now. Let me calm down. Please.”

  She folded her arms and stayed silent, and he leaned forward and turned up the radio. He understood why she was angry at him for not discussing this now, but sometimes taking control of a situation to ensure it didn’t get worse was the lesser of two evils.

  Chapter 11

  Under normal circumstances, Chloe would’ve knocked Sawyer a good one for shutting down the conversation. But after glancing his way a few times during the drive back to his house, she changed her mind. From the way his brows were drawn together and his jaw was firmly set, she could tell he was thinking…hard. Which was why she stayed silent as they reached his house. She exited the truck and said nothing to him as they approached the door. She didn’t even look at him when he unlocked it and they went inside. As soon as she took off her shoes, she went toward the bathroom on the main floor.

  Now alone, she sank down onto the closed toilet and dropped her head into her hands. Good Lord, her life had dramatically changed. She didn’t live such a straight and narrow life anymore. Her parents would’ve been proud, she mused. Then she blew out a long breath, trying to shed the tension.

  She lifted her head, stood up, and moved toward the sink. She stared at herself in the mirror, seeing the paleness of her skin and the darkness in her eyes. She looked like shit.

  Knowing she needed to get this over with, she splashed some water on her face, then left the bathroom. A light was on in the living room, so she headed there. Sawyer was standing near the bay window, staring out into the dark night, arms folded.

  A thousand things rushed through her mind. Yet all that came out was “I don’t understand what’s going on here.”

  He turned to her. “Come here.”

  She went over to him, feeling a lump forming in her throat. The warmth of his body embraced her as he gathered her in his arms. He tilted his head, drawing his knuckles gently across her cheek, while his other hand rested on her lower back. “Chloe,” he began, a muscle flexing in his jaw. “I told you not to go there. If only you’d listened—”

  She rolled her eyes and stepped out of his hold. “That’s not the way to begin this conversation.”

  A frown pulled at his mouth as he crossed his arms again. “Tell me how to begin this conversation.”

  “I don’t know.” She began to pace the room. “But being angry at me for going there isn’t going to fix anything. First, I’ve done nothing wrong. Second, you have no right to be mad at me.”

  “Fine. You wanna play that game?” He raised a finger. “First, you should have asked me to take you.” He raised another finger. “Second, as your reaction showed, it’s not the place for you. Which I told you.”

  She stopped by the entrance to the living room, mirroring his posture by squaring her shoulders and folding her arms. “I’m not going to apologize because I wanted to see something for myself.”

  “I don’t expect you to apologize. But let me ask you this: what you saw tonight, did you like it?” He took a powerful step toward her, eyes ablaze. “Did it bring us closer together? Or did it put distance between us? Are you now worried that I want you to be the type of submissive you saw tonight?”

  She shivered as he closed in on her, the air shifting with each step he took, growing hotter and thicker. “Should I be worried about that?”

  “No.” He kept on walking forward, which sent her backing out of the living room into the dining room. When her back hit the wall, she gasped. He pressed his warm, hard body against hers. “Why did you go there tonight?”

  Flames of fire burned in his eyes. She gulped. “I wanted to understand.”

  “What did you need to understand?”

  Her breath hitched. “What it is exactly that you’ll want me to do.”

  One side of his mouth rose, and not in a way she’d call friendly. It was more the look of a predator knowing he’d trapped his prey. “Then let me enlighten you.”

  His mouth dropped to hers and he kissed her feverishly. With his hands on either side of her face, each rough press of his lips and harsh swipe of his tongue branded her, marking her as his.

  And Chloe melted into him.

  —

  When Sawyer sensed Chloe becoming putty in his hands, he pressed her up against the wall in his dining room and thrust his fingers into her hair, pinning her right where he wanted her.

  His teeth caught her bottom lip, and Sawyer kissed her once more, hot and hard, for the sheer pleasure of knowing that right at this moment that sexy mouth belonged to him. Then he took a step back and set out to explain everything he’d been thinking on the drive back to his house.

  “I didn’t want you there so soon, because I don’t want a club to desensitize you.” He paused and pressed his hard cock against her lush body, feeling a desperate need to have her. “I want to desensitize you. I want to be the one who breaks that innocence that I find so beautiful. I want to be the one to introduce you to kink. Me. Only me. I know you don’t fully understand why this is important to me, but you will.”

  Her cheeks turned pink. “I—”

  He sealed his lips over hers, not allowing her to get a word in. Yes, they could sit and talk about this. But her body would understand his desires better than her mind could. Reaching for her shirt, he lifted his mouth from hers and yanked the piece of clothing over her head. He left her bra in place and reached for her skirt, raising it up above her hips. Using both hands, he ripped the lace panties she wore, tearing them off her. Her pupils enlarged, and he knew if he touched her sweet cunt now she’d soak his fingers. Women who enjoyed their men being men also enjoyed being handled like they wouldn’t break.

  He regarded her hooded eyes, which were begging him to take her. Intending to do exactly that, he gathered her in his arms and bent her over his dining room table. “What you saw tonight, I don’t want to do with you. Not yet. Maybe never. What I want to do is spank you.” He slapped her ass and she gasped, glancing over her shoulder with huge eyes. “I want to use my hand, not leather.” He gave her three slaps one right after the other, leaving her ass bright red before he smoothed away the burning. “That is what I would’ve told you if you asked me to take you to a club.” Another two hits left her squirming and moaning. “Instead, you went there and doubted us, when a simple conversation could’ve prevented it.” Running his hand over her hot bottom, he relished her eager moans. He leaned over her back and said in her ear, “That is why you made me angry.” He thrust his fingers into her hair, angling her head back. “I do not want to share you.”

  “Then don’t,” she gasped, eyes dark with arousal. “Fuck me.”

  A growl ripped from his throat as he freed his aching cock from his pants. He took a condom out of his wallet and continued to spank her. Each swat he offered while he ripped open the condom wrapper made her arch her back and offer her bottom.

  Whether she knew it or not, Chloe liked rough sex, and it turned Sawyer on. Perhaps she’d been handled with kid gloves before. In general Sawyer agreed that a woman needed to be handled with care, but right now he needed to fuck Chloe, and she needed to be fucked.

  As his pants dropped to his ankles, he placed his hands between her thighs, finding her folds soaking wet. He slid his fingers up and o
ver her clit before dragging them through her wet lower lips. The view she offered made his cock throb even more. With her reddened ass, creamy skin, and long dark hair; she stunned him with her beauty.

  That’s when he realized what most bothered him about tonight. With Chloe, the Dom and sub relationship was natural. Letting him take control wasn’t something learned or taught; she held an innate instinct to be aroused when he dominated her. He didn’t want to fuck with the purity of that.

  Consumed by the desire to own her, he dragged his fingernails down her back, watching her squirm on top of his dining room table. He shamelessly wanted her all to himself. Only for his eyes. Only for his touch. Only for his enjoyment and pleasure.

  Chloe had gone to Porter, not him.

  Sawyer didn’t like that.

  Possessive thoughts made him hurry to apply the condom. Once he had, he didn’t hesitate any longer: he grabbed her hips and entered her. She screamed out as he began thrusting, not slow and gentle, but hard and forceful, showing her who was in control now.

  He gripped her hips and pumped harder, until her euphoric screams echoed in his ears. Each thrust caused her inner walls to squeeze his greedy cock, making him nearly cross-eyed with pleasure. Every time he withdrew, he heard her gasp, begging him to return.

  Mine! he roared inwardly.

  Needing to see her and stare into her soul, he flipped her over, placing her back against the table and dragging her toward him. With her bottom on the table’s edge, he entered her again in one swift stroke and grunted with the pleasure.

  Overwhelmed by emotion, he ran his hands under her head, cupping the nape of her neck. “Never go to another man for help again.” When her only reply was a moan, he froze for a second and growled, “Chloe.”

  Her expression cleared. “Yes?”

  “Never go to another man for help.” He narrowed his eyes at her, letting his anger show. “You only come to me now.”