ARROGANT MASTER

by Winter Renshaw

  “Wait. What?”

  “It’s not a big deal.”

  “It’s something that needs to be discussed before you’re about to have sex with someone.” His jaw clenches. “When were you planning on telling me? Before or after you were about to bleed all over my sheets?”

  “I’m sorry.” There’s nothing more I can say.

  “Get up,” he says. “Unless you have anything else you need to confess to. If there’s anything else I should know, say it now.”

  “There’s nothing else.” I shake my head. “That’s everything.”

  “I’m going to help you, Bellamy.” He reaches for my hand, helping me up. “But you cannot lie to me again. About anything. Do you understand that?”

  “I do.”

  “I will not give you another chance. This is it.”

  “Understood.”

  My hands feel small in his, and it’s only then I realize he’s still holding them. I don’t know why he wants to help me all of a sudden. I don’t deserve it, but I’m not in a place to turn it down.

  “Where do we go from here?” I hold my hands still in his, wanting him to keep me there just a moment longer.

  “Not sure yet, but we can’t pick up where we left off.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m not going to force you to sleep with me, Bellamy, knowing you’re only doing it to free yourself from a life of oppression.”

  “That’s noble of you.” My voice drops. “But I’m fine with the arrangement we had. I was starting to enjoy it. The thrill. The shiny and new. It’s a nice distraction from…everything else.”

  I’d give anything to brush my cheek against his suit and breathe him in one more time. All those times I’d imagined his weight pressing me into a plush mattress covered in thousand thread count sheets were for nothing.

  Forever a fantasy.

  “You understand our dynamic has shifted,” he says.

  I shake my head. “It hasn’t. You’re still in control of this situation. Of everything.”

  “I can’t take your virginity, Bellamy.”

  “Why not? It’s just sex. And I’d rather my first time be with a man who knows what he’s doing and not some awkward, virginal husband on my wedding night.” I fold my arms, then add a quick disclaimer. “Not that I intended on waiting until my wedding night.”

  “If I take your virginity, and I’m not saying I will, it’s not going to mean anything. You know that, right?”

  “You’re afraid I’m going to get attached. Believe me, I’m not looking for love or fireworks or anything meaningful.”

  “You think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard that?”

  “I’m not going to beg. If you don’t want me, you don’t want me.”

  A wolfish smile claims his lips. “Who said anything about not wanting you, Bellamy? I want you. Fuck, do I want you. I want you on all fours. I want you spread eagle. I want you on your knees. I want you tied up. I want your ass so red and raw you can’t sit for days. I want you screaming my name and surrendering to me every hour of every day until you forget there was ever a time we were strangers.”

  I’ve stopped breathing for a moment, and Dane releases me from his grasp.

  “And you will beg, Bellamy. You’ll beg every minute of every hour of every day in my presence. And you’ll continue to do so until I’ve decided what I’m going to do with you.” He cups my chin, leaning in and angling my lips in his direction. “Consider yourself in punishment. Redemption is possible, but it won’t be easy.”

  A large lump presses against my throat. “Okay. Yes.”

  So he’s not done with me.

  Thank God.

  Dane leans in even closer, the heat of his lips radiating against mine. “You’re going to be begging for a sweet release by the time I’m done with you, and I’m going to love every fucking moment of it.”

  I nod once before licking my lips. I want him to kiss me like he did last week, by the window in his office. A toe-curling, panty-melting, lip-smashing kiss.

  But he releases me and backs away, causing my heart to sputter and cough. We were so close.

  “I need to be punished,” I say. “I fully accept that.”

  “Never lie to me again, Bellamy,” he says heading toward the door. “I want to help you. I’m going to help you. But you need to be honest with me about everything, even if it terrifies you. Or else we’re done. And that’s a promise.”

  “Yes, Master.” I struggle against the smile that tugs on my lips, my relief threatening to shine from every atom in my exhausted body. If this is going to work, I have to take it seriously. I need to do everything he says because every part of me believes his promise.

  “Clean yourself up,” he says, pulling the door open. “Come to my office in two hours. No sooner, no later. I have some work to finish.”

  TWENTY-ONE

  DANE

  A clear glass dildo is centered on my desk.

  I end my call with a Midwest wind turbine supplier just in time to hear a knock at my door.

  “Come in.”

  Bellamy slips in and shuts the door behind her.

  “I appreciate that you remembered to knock.” I stand up and make my way to her, cupping her face in my hand and examining her flawless makeup. The mascara streaks are gone. The disheveled hair is combed into place. A fresh spritz of perfume wafts from her warm body. “You clean up well.”

  “All the better to please you.” Her gaze travels past me and lands on the glass cock.

  “Yes, Bellamy. That’s for you.”

  “May I?”

  I nod, watching as she reaches for the nub-covered wand.

  “It’s freezing,” she says, trailing her fingertips across the varying bumps and swirls that cover the exterior of the seven-inch dildo.

  “You don’t miss a thing.” I smirk. “And it’s not frozen. It’s lightly chilled. I believe it makes for more of an intense experience.”

  She warms it in the palm of her hand.

  “Don’t do that.” I take it from her. “You’re going to be warming it up a different way.”

  Her mouth curls up on one side.

  “Do you think this is funny?”

  Her expression ashens, and her lips form a straight line. “No.”

  “Disrobe.” I step around her.

  Bellamy chews on her bottom lip as she slips her blouse over her head. With delicate fingers unsnapping the back of her bra, she lets it fall. My fingers graze the side of her left breast, skimming across her nipple until it comes to a hard point. She works her pants, letting those fall to the ground as well. Two fingers slip beneath the waistband of her pink lace thong, wiggling it down her hips and kicking them across the room. When she’s all finished, she wears nothing but the look of a woman who’s confident she’s just pleased her master.

  That’s where you’re wrong, my sweet Bellamy. Redemption isn’t going to be that easy for you.

  I drag a finger down her stomach, past her hips, and veer to the delicious warmth emanating from between her thighs. Her stance widens, and perhaps it’s her silent way of inviting me in, but today isn’t about her pleasure.

  Well, it is, and it isn’t.

  My hand jerks from her the second she releases a soft sigh in response to the grazing of my thumb across her clit.

  “Closet door.” I lead her to the doorjamb restraints, the ones I haven’t touched since the day I gave her a little sample. She assumes the position, lifting her wrists high and waiting patiently as I restrain them. I’m sure she’s thinking this is too easy, that she’s got this in the bag.

  But that’s where she’s wrong.

  “Spread,” I command, grabbing the cool glass. “You’re to keep this inside you until I say you can release it.”

  “But…how?”

  “You’ll figure it out.” I grab the base of the graduated dildo and press the narrow end against her clit but only once. She releases a distant moan and her chest rises and falls
. “Ninety-one lashes, and if this glass cock slips out of you one time, we start over.”

  The mushroom tip of the dildo presses between her seam, and I push the first of the seven inches inside followed by the second inch. Judging by the ease in which it’s going in, she’s already wet. It’s going to be a challenge for her to keep this in, and I’m going to love every fucking minute of it.

  “Why ninety-one?” she asks, her breath rushed as her eyes squeeze. Her fists clench against the restraints as I glide two more inches in with little resistance.

  “Because we met thirteen days ago,” I say, pressing the final three inches in with one fluid insertion. “And because seven is my lucky number.”

  She releases a guttural moan through pursed lips, and her thighs squeeze together before her feet cross at the ankles.

  “Ninety-one gentle reminders that lying to me will only get you so far,” I say, reaching for the leather paddle hanging in the back of the opened closet. “Turn around and bend.”

  I realize I’m asking her to do something damn near physically impossible, but I know it can be done, and if she desires to please me as much as she purports, then she’ll do it.

  With her creamy white ass at my hip level, I smooth the palm of my hand across her soft hide. It’s flawless. Pale. Unmarked.

  Whack!

  Until now.

  Whack!

  “Count, Bellamy,” I remind her. “And don’t let it fall.”

  Whack!

  A blush of redness spreads across her left cheek, so I give it a rest and smack the other. Three more on the right cheek and then I alternate. Back and forth. Back and forth. Faster. Quick zings. Brusque blows that surely sting.

  Whack!

  She doesn’t complain. She doesn’t utter her safeword. I keep going, resisting the urge to run my hand along the red welts to offer a temporary moment of relief. That’s not what this is about, and she’s yet to earn such a privilege.

  Her bent position allows for her skin to stretch slightly, making it all the more sensitive against the swift spankings.

  “…forty-five….forty-six…” she says through clenched teeth.

  An inch of graduated base of the glass cock slips out of her.

  I cease the paddling for just a moment. “It’s falling out, Bellamy. You’re not holding it in tight enough. Clench tighter.”

  “I’m trying,” she heaves, her face winced. “Keep going, keep going.”

  “We’re only halfway there. You think you can keep it in?” I drag my hand lightly down the curve of her spine before grazing her warm ass and cupping my hand over the base of the dildo. “I could push this in for you if you wanted…”

  “Please,” she begs. “Please push it in.”

  “And why should I do that?”

  “Because I want to please you.” She tugs against the restraints. “And because it feels so good. I want all of it inside me.”

  Her thighs shake and unclench for a second. The cock falls out another inch.

  “Oh, Bellamy.” I tsk, tsk her. “What are we going to do?”

  I breathe in her sweet arousal, and my cock swells.

  “Please, please push it in,” she begs, sucking in a breath and refusing to let it go. She’s stuck anticipating my next move, and even I don’t know yet what I’m going to do.

  I hook my hand around her neck, gripping it just enough to let her know every part of her is in my hands. I pull back against her soft flesh and lean into her ear, nibbling the lobe.

  “As much as I’d love to help you out right now,” I whisper. “I’m a man of my word, and I wouldn’t be doing either of us any favors.”

  I release her neck, and she tucks her chin against her chest, gasping for air. My hand snakes around her stomach, reaching between her legs and flicking the dildo just enough that she feels it move inside her. Her inner thighs are slicked, coated with wetness.

  “Are you ready to continue?” I ask.

  She nods vehemently, her blonde hair curtaining her face. With white knuckles, she juts her ass out toward me again, her legs buckling and squeezing like her life depends on it.

  Whack!

  “Breathe,” I remind her. “Breathe and count.”

  The paddle slaps her skin with quick, fluid movements, and she counts through gritted teeth.

  “Eighty…seven…” she says. “Eighty-eight, eighty-nine, ninety…ninety-one.”

  She collapses against the wall, and the dildo falls to the ground. I retrieve it, rolling the hot, slick glass in my palm.

  “You did well.” I set it aside and untie her wrists, and she heads toward her crumpled clothes on the floor. “What are you doing?”

  “Oh.” She freezes. “I thought you were done?”

  “I’ll tell you when I’m done.”

  My gaze falls on her pink, pert nipples, and I drag the palm of my hand across each one until her eyes squeeze tight. Two perfect peaks. I step into her space, backing her up against a nearby wall and pushing my knee between her thighs until her stance is widened. Her knees shake, whether she’s fatigued or aroused or both, I don’t particularly care. My hand glides up her thigh and curves between her center until my fingers find her arousal. I slick a finger between her folds, feeling her stomach contract against me, and then I bring it to my mouth, tasting what my power does to her.

  I guaran-fucking-tee she’s waiting for me to part her legs and run my tongue along her cleft, offering her a sweet release.

  But that’s the whole point.

  I’m not going to do that.

  She has to earn her release.

  I step aside, heading to the bathroom to run her a hot shower in my office en suite. I’m not particularly in a touchy-feely mood, and I’m not sure I have the strength not to fuck the shit out of her mouth or pussy if her naked body presses against me for too long.

  When I return, she’s fallen to the floor again. Her hair covering her face and her thighs squeezing and releasing.

  “Uncomfortable?” I ask.

  She bites her lip. “Yes. I though there’d be more.”

  “Oh.” I take her hand and pull her up, trying not to smile. “Yeah, no. Not today.”

  “Not…today? Not even later today?”

  “No.” I escort her into the bathroom, pulling a warm gray towel from the warming drawer and placing it on the counter. “Clean yourself up. And absolutely, under no circumstances, are you allowed to touch yourself. Understand?”

  Her throat bobs and her lips press into a straight line. “Yes.”

  “Yes, what?”

  “Yes, Master.”

  I leave her to shower, intentionally keeping the door open while I return to my desk in hopes of actually getting some real fucking work done.

  My desk phone rings before I have a chance to finish typing the email I’m in the middle of.

  “Yes, Marlene.”

  “Um, I’m so sorry to bother you.” Her tone is hushed. “There’s a gentleman here asking to see Bellamy. Is she in there with you, by chance?”

  “Send him to her office.” I hang up.

  ***

  “Can I help you?” My question startles a man with sandy blond hair who’s helping himself through Bellamy’s closet, examining her wardrobe with a tight clench in his jaw.

  He hangs a dress up and backs away, surrendering his hands in the air.

  “This is my girlfriend’s office,” he says, as if it could excuse his snooping.

  “No. It’s not.”

  The asshole clears his throat and hooks his hands on his hips like he’s the one who should be annoyed with me.

  “Bellamy Miller,” he says. “Her name’s on the door.”

  “Right.”

  “She’s…my girlfriend.”

  “No. She’s not.” My neck stiffens, and my fists ache with an urge to smack him across his smug little face.

  “Look, man, I don’t know who you are, but I think you’re confused.” This royal douche, Cortland I believe his name is, f
lashes a smile like we’re all of a sudden a couple of chums. “We’re getting married this year.”

  “You’re not.”

  Cortland laughs.

  “You find humor in this?” I ask, clearly not laughing.

  “I think you need help, buddy.”

  I close the space between us, striding toward him until it’s abundantly clear I’ve got several inches on him, and I glance down my nose.

  “Here’s the deal,” I say. “You and Bellamy are over. She doesn’t want to be with you. She’s not going to marry you. And you’re not going to tell her father a fucking thing because just like you were so easy to threaten her reputation, I’m about to threaten yours. McGregor, right?”

  He scratches above his temple. “Yeah.”

  “Dad is Walter?”

  His brows furrow.

  “You’re AUB, like Bellamy’s family. Your father is a medical equipment distributor.”

  “What the hell?”

  The day this bastard dropped her off, I had security nab the footage and zoom in on the plates, which I promptly forwarded to my guy. Everything about this asshole came up clean, but I’ll be damned if I don’t use what little information I have to bend him into submission.

  “Your father’s biggest client is Premier Care Systems, a medical corporation that runs several metro area clinics and the largest teaching hospital in the state.” I brush a speck of lint from my sleeve. “Premier Care Systems is headed by Micah Bergmann, who’s a heavy supporter of every piece of anti-polygamy legislation and every anti-polygamy bill that crosses the desks on Capitol Hill, state and federal. He has deep pockets, vast connections, and he happens to be a very good friend of mine.”

  “What’s your point?”

  “One phone call, Cortland. One phone call is all it would take for your father’s little empire to come crumbling down.” I fold my arms. “There goes your father’s business, your job, your brothers’ jobs, and your family’s livelihood.”

  “You’re crazy.”

  “Am I, Cortland? Because I have to ask, are you crazy enough to destroy everything your father has ever worked for because you’re a spoiled lap dog refusing to release his toy?”