Claimed (Vegas Nights Book 2)

by Rayanna Jamison

  “Indeed. Very good. And tell me, Ruby, did you enjoy your first taste of a wooden paddle?”

  “No, Sir,” she answered honestly. “I did not.”

  “A good wooden paddle has reduced many a naughty sub to repentant sobs very quickly,” Jase informed her. “It’s not a good implement for play, but very effective for punishment. Don’t you agree?”

  Dread rolled over her, as she wondered if she had earned a punishment. “Yes, Sir. I do.”

  She knew he was smiling as he answered. “Good thing for you then, that you haven’t done anything to earn a punishment as of yet. But let me be very clear. When you do, and you will, this is what I will use to mete out said punishment. Are we clear?”

  She gushed at the thought that he not only planned on punishing her, but believed without a doubt that she would earn it. “Yes, Sir,” she choked out, trying not to groan. “Crystal.”

  “Good. Now, what do you think I should use next? Is there anything my sweet little sub wants to experience?”

  She didn’t answer; a decision she regretted when the paddle once against cracked across her hot bottom, making its point without Jase having to say a word.

  “I don’t know!” she moaned, bracing herself for another blow. “Will you please choose, Sir?”

  “You want me to choose? Are you certain that’s what you want?” His voice had a mischievous tone, and Ruby squirmed, worrying for a second that he would choose something as bad, or worse than the paddle had been, if such a thing even existed. But tonight was about giving up control, and so far, while scary at times, it had been worth it.

  “I’m sure,” she confirmed, tacking on “Sir” at the last minute for good measure. Trust. Experience. Enjoy.

  To be given back the power, over even the smallest thing, once she had given it up was not a reward Jase took lightly. Such a generous gesture required a great deal of trust, and trust was something he always rewarded.

  As he opened the cabinet for the third time that evening, he didn’t hesitate. He knew just what he wanted. Opening the deepest drawer at the bottom of the cabinet, he reached in and withdrew the heavy implement without looking. He had planned on saving it for much later in the evening, but now would work. He didn’t know quite how much Ruby could take, and he didn’t want to leave out the experience he suspected she yearned for above the others.

  “Oh, my sweet sub. I’m very proud of the high level of trust it took for you to give the power back to me like that. Great faith will be greatly rewarded.”

  He eyed her, and the implement, gauging the range he would need to be methodical. “Push your bottom out towards me please.”

  She pleased him even farther, obeying without hesitation.

  “Your bottom is the most beautiful shade of pink,” he informed her. “And there will be no lasting marks if you continue to be a good girl.” His words left her whimpering and wanting for more, exactly as he had intended them to do.,

  “When we are finished here, I will touch you again. Would you like that? Do you want to come again, Ruby? Do you want to feel my fingers inside you, stroking your clit as you squirm against my hand? “

  Her reply was a gurgled moan, low and deep in her throat.

  “But first, you have to get through this spanking, baby. And it’s going to be a long one. I’m going to test your limits, and make you squirm with pleasure, and bring you to the brink of your pain tolerance, and you’re going to want to come. You’re going to want to come so hard. But you won’t, will you, because that would be very naughty, and you don’t want the naughty girl paddle, do you?”

  The shake of her head was emphatic, causing Jase to smile again. He did indeed have her right where he wanted her, and he took great pleasure in that fact.

  “Okay. Same as before. One chance to tell me what it is. If you guess correctly. You get more, and it’s something I think you’ll greatly enjoy. If you guess incorrectly, you’ll still get it, but you’ll get five with the naughty girl paddle first.”

  He didn’t wait for any indication or agreement that she understood. He knew she did, and he was as wired up as she was. Lord help him if he didn’t come before the night was over. Lifting his arms to chest level, he flicked his wrist slowly and deliberately, watching with satisfaction as the falls of the flogger spread in the air, landing on her bottom in a splayed fashion.

  “Flogger!” she exclaimed joyfully, not waiting for him to ask.

  “Very good,” he purred. “Do you want to be flogged, my little sub? I’m going to need to lift your dress. I’ll need a larger canvas for my masterpiece.”

  “Yes, please,” she mewled happily, settling into the headrest with a sigh, as she pushed her bottom towards him once more.

  Newbies were so predictable, he thought with a grin. They always loved a good flogging.

  Chapter 6

  The strands of the flogger danced across her skin, the sensations making her feel floaty. The sting was instant, but short lived. She could feel tiny welts raising across her body with each stroke of its soft strands, and she hummed to herself, wondering if they would leave lasting marks, half hoping that they did.

  Jase was indeed working her over like an artist did a blank canvas, and for the first time ever, she didn’t feel self-conscious about her freckled body. Under his scrutinizing gaze, she felt only sexy and beautiful in a way she had never imagined she would feel. He moved all around her, in no particular pattern, flicking his wrist, and letting the strands fall where they may in no particular design or pattern.

  There was pain, but it was an enjoyable pain. The quickest of stings consistently replaced with an all over tingle that left her floating on air.

  She didn’t even realize he had finished, when he leaned over and removed her blindfold, and she saw his sexy face next to hers for the first time in what seemed like hours.

  Completely outside her own inhibitions, she giggled, reaching out to stroke his cheek with two fingers. “Well, hello there, handsome.”

  His grin was everything. She didn’t think she had ever seen a sexier smile on a man. His laugh was so muted, and reserved, but it was there, and god, but it made him sexy as hell.

  “Hello, doll,” he responded sweetly, as he bent down to unhook her restraints. “I’m going to untie you now, and I want you to listen carefully. Don’t make any sudden movements. You’re going to be stiff and very shaky, and you need to let me take care of you now, do you hear me?”

  “Yes, Sir,” she giggled happily, stroking his face with her whole hand. “You’re pretty.”

  “Just what every Dom wants to hear.” He moved quickly, making short work of the ties that had held her in place throughout, and before she had a chance to move, he gently lowered her dress back over her hips, and scooped her into his arms.

  As she floated through the room cradled in his arms, she had two thoughts. The first was that she had just had what was without a doubt, the sexiest, most empowering night of her life, and the second was that she wasn’t ready for it to be over.

  She wanted to voice her thoughts, but her lips didn’t have the energy it would take to form them aloud. And she was cold. Shaking. Jase seemed aware, and in control as he walked to the leather couch in the corner of the room and sat, pulling her into his lap. There was a blanket carefully folded over the arm of the couch, and he grabbed it, wrapping it around her. She frowned at him accusingly. “Why am I so cold?”

  “Subspace. I’ll explain later.” His reply was all business as he wrapped the blanket carefully around her, covering every inch of exposed skin on the upper half of her body. And then he just wrapped his arms around her and held her, tighter than anyone had ever held her in her life.

  Slowly, the tremors began to subside, and when she could speak without her teeth chattering, she glared at him. “You said you were going to make me come again.” She pouted.

  “And I fully intend to. But your body needed a break. You took quite a long flogging, my dear. And while I wasn’t going too hard,
it was enough. Your body had reached its limit, and it let me know, even if you weren’t able to see it. And in that moment, the most important job I had was taking care of your physical needs. Those always come first. Speaking of which,” he began, lifting her carefully out of his lap, and plunking her down onto the couch beside him, “I’ll be right back. If you want to play some more, we both need to hydrate.”

  Before she could argue, he left the room and returned quickly with two bottles of water, holding one out to her.

  She declined shaking her head no, and the change in his countenance was instantaneous. His eyes went to angry little slits and his jaw hardened, giving his whole face a dark and dangerous aura. She shivered inwardly, but didn’t take the water.

  “Do not forget,” he said, advancing on her quickly, “that I am your Dom tonight. What I say is law, and laws that aren’t obeyed are swiftly punished. So you have a choice to make. You can thank me for the water, and drink it, so we can continue our play, or you can continue to refuse, and I can pull you over my knee for a nice long meeting with the naughty girl paddle before I take you back to your room for the night with a hot bottom and an aching pussy. What’s it going to be?”

  It was so tempting. So tempting. A true punishment was at the top of her list of things to experience, but she hadn’t exactly imagined that it would be over something trivial like not drinking a bottle of water. Still, this might be her only chance. She glared at him, and the offending bottle that he still held in front of her. Lord help her, she was going for it. She was about to spit out a nasty retort, something sure to piss off even the sweetest of Doms, when her body betrayed her. Her pussy screamed and throbbed in agony at the possibility of being forgotten for the night, begging her for release. Dammit. Scowling, she took the water.

  “Good choice,” he said with a wink that told her he knew every single detail of the inner struggle that had just taken place. “Now, drink it.”

  Damn that man. Damn him and his water, and his stupid rules, and that evil paddle, and those magic fingers, and that sexy smile. She drank the water. Guzzled it actually—not having realized that it was just what her body needed. Damn him all to hell.

  When she was done, he smiled knowingly, and plucking the empty bottle from her grasp, plunked it unceremoniously into a nearby trash can. “Good girl.” His voice was soft and full of promises. “You know what naughty girls get, but do you want to find out what good girls get?”

  He sank to his knees on the floor in front of her, and wrapped a hand around each ankle.

  “Yes, please.” The words came out in a squeak as his head disappeared underneath the fabric of her dress, a moment before his hot mouth closed over her most private place. Her eyes rolled back in her head as he went to work, and she realized that his fingers were nothing compared to what he could do with his tongue. She had definitely made the right choice.

  “Happy birthday, sleepyhead!”

  Ruby’s eyes opened on the morning of her twenty-fifth birthday to find her sister Diamond standing over her, fully dressed, looking way too perky and awake for this time of morning. She groaned, and rolled over, squeezing her eyes shut. “How did you even get in here?”

  “Duh. I kind of own the hotel.”

  Ruby sat up with an exaggerated moan, and glared at her sister in annoyance. “That’s kind of rude, and presumptuous, don’t you think? What if I had been with someone?”

  Diamond giggled, and quickly dismissed Ruby’s protests with a toss of her hair. “Well that might have been a little awkward,” she admitted with a grin. “But I knew you weren’t. Because Jase is already with Pax this morning. They have a lot to do today.”

  Ruby’s eyes widened in protest. “Jase! Why would I? How? You…” she stuttered out, leaving a wake of non-coherent thought process in her pre-caffeinated, orgasm hung-over state.

  “Because I know you both well. You were feeling overwhelmed and needing a safe play partner, and Jase has a thing for making sure newbies have a good first experience, and a master key. It was bound to happen. Now,” Diamond said, sitting next to Ruby on the bed, grabbing a pillow and leaning in conspiratorially, “tell me what happened.”

  “No. No way.” Ruby shook her head emphatically, glaring daggers at her sister, who remained oblivious. “You break into my room, in the early hours of the morning, on my birthday, demanding details, and you couldn’t even be bothered to make me coffee first? And how long have we been sisters? Surely you should know better by now,” Ruby joked, becoming more awake and giddier by the second. She was serious about the coffee though. What was that about? Rude!

  “Fine!” Di giggled, jumping off the bed, with an exaggerated sigh. “Is there anything else you would like for your birthday breakfast, your highness? Mimosas? Chocolate covered strawberries? Caviar? Bellini? A rare steak perhaps?”

  “Yes!” Ruby agreed, suddenly both ravenous and fully aware that her sister was footing the bill for the weekend. “All of those things. And make it snappy. I’m suddenly starved.”

  Diamond thrust a coffee at her with one hand and pulled her phone out to dial room service with the other. As Ruby sipped the sweet morning nectar, allowing its warmth to seep into her veins and pry her eyes open, she had to admit, her twenty-fifth birthday had barely started and it was already shaping up to be one that would go down in the history books.

  Di managed to hang up at the exact second Ruby drained the last little bit of coffee from the oversized cup Di had given her.

  “Tell me everything.”

  “I…” Ruby closed her eyes, as the events of the night came to her in flashes, beautiful memories that now, in the light of day, seemed private and bittersweet. It was the hottest night of her life, and it was just one night with a wonderful man who was ten times the man that her soon to be ex-fiancé was. A man who after this weekend, she would probably never see again. She burst into tears.

  “I’m going to fucking kill him.” She heard her sister mutter, but she was crying too hard to correct her.

  Pax eyeballed his friend suspiciously over the breakfast table in Pax’s favorite café at Rojo, the one place he hadn’t been willing to change over to the new theme. It was after all, the first place he had ever shared a meal with Diamond after their first fateful morning together, when Jase, who had a short fuse where business was concerned and wasn’t one too much for second chances when it came to his showgirls, had fired her.

  And he, for reasons that defied all logic had hired her instead. It was hands down, the riskiest, most harebrained thing he had ever done. It was also the best. So the café stayed. His girls and he still needed to conform to a high level of healthy eating and exercise, and this café was the cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle.

  “I trust,” he growled, over his coffee cup, not feeling very trusting at all, “that you were a perfect gentleman last night.”

  Jase grinned his Cheshire cat grin, the one the ladies ate up, and Pax hated. “Always.”

  “It would appear that our opinions of the word’s definition greatly differ.”

  “You can drop the scary Dom act, my friend. It doesn’t work with me. If you were really so worried about leaving me alone with Ruby, then why did you?”

  “It was an emergency. I didn’t have a choice. And I left you alone with Ruby and my wife.”

  “And your wife took off at the first opportunity. Looks like she didn’t have the same worries. Maybe you, my friend, should take a chill pill. And if you really have a problem, take it up with Diamond, because I did nothing wrong.”

  “Oh, believe me,” Pax murmured, memories of the night before tightening his groin. “I already have.”

  “Then we have nothing further to discuss. Ruby wants to play this weekend but she’s scared. And she should be. There are some major assholes out there.”

  “Yes, and I’m having breakfast with one of them.”

  Jase’s hand flew to his chest and he gasped in mock outrage. “Your words wound me. Truly,” he deadpanned. “
But c’mon, Pax, for real. I made sure she had a good and private first experience, setting her up with a high standard to hold other Doms to in the future. Nothing more, nothing less. So get your panties out of a wad and recognize that your wife’s sister is a smart and beautiful young woman with a sound mind capable of making her own decisions, and that’s what she did.”

  “Fine. But I still don’t like it.”

  “And you don’t have to.” Jase turned his attention to his food, obliterating a pile of turkey bacon, the only thing he had ordered besides coffee, before saying anything else.

  “What about tonight? You still want me to give her a birthday spanking at the club?”

  “As far as I know,” Pax grumbled. He was having a hard time. Pax thrived on rules, structure, order and schedules. He liked his life to be somewhat predictable, and the people in it to be the same. But from the moment he met him, Jase had been predictably unpredictable. He hated that. The friendship they had developed over the years kept him on his toes, and most days he was thankful for it. Today was not one of those days. Diamond said he was stressed out because of the hotel renovation, which was also anything but ordinary, throwing his life into a chaotic jumble every single day. The fact that his life had been thrown into mayhem was not Jase’s fault, and although he didn’t want to admit it, he did realize that. With a deep sigh, he conceded. “Unless I hear otherwise, that’s still the plan.”

  “Okay then.” Jase smiled, and there was a look to him that Pax didn’t like. He realized that he had absolutely no right or reason for what he was about to ask, but it didn’t stop him. “You were a gentleman last night weren’t you?” he asked again, trading out his phrasing at the last possible moment.

  “Why don’t you ask what you want to know, Pax? Say what you mean.”

  “Did you sleep with her?”