by A. C. Melody
Curved panels of stamped cement made up three sections of the structure, divided by open space to allow floodwater through should it reach that far. The floor was tiled and sloped a little toward the drain in the center. Each curve of cement housed an equally curved bench of slatted wood, but the one to their right held a long pole that arced over the center of the stall, capped with a large, round shower-head and pull chain. Soap and shampoo dispensers were mounted on either side of the pole to further help swimmers wash away the sea salt and sand from their bodies.
After setting their drinks and extra pineapple on the bench to the left, they kicked their shoes off under it and Felix unclasped Tessa’s leash from her collar to leave there, as well. When he began removing her bikini, her skin ignited, already too sensitive from all the damage the beetle had caused. His smooth hands caressed her as he went, his body heat invading her pores. Every now and then, the soft fabric of his clothes brushed against her, inflaming the desire of her flesh even more. It was crazy to be so turned on by such a simple thing, but given the circumstances, she couldn’t stop it.
Once she was naked, Felix washed her thoroughly, the water growing colder and colder with each passing second. By the time he rinsed the suds away, Tessa didn’t feel like they were on a tropical island anymore.
“Master?” she pleaded, her teeth threatening to chatter.
She sucked in a sharp breath when his hand slipped between her thighs and cupped her. Tessa trembled from head to toe with the intense difference happening inside and out; the heat of his hand and her own internal temperature spiking to clash with the freezing water.
There was a menacing gleam of challenge in his eyes. “Yes, my pet?”
“I’m cold,” she stuttered.
“I can fix that right now, Tessa,” he promised, his voice dropping to a devastating octave as he stroked his fingers over her exposed slit. “All you have to do is give up.”
A violent shiver worked through her with the desire to do just that. The two extreme temperatures continued to collide inside of her, though Felix hadn’t pulled the chain on the shower again. When she held steady through sheer willpower, he withdrew his hand and grinned at her. He placed a soft kiss on her lips.
“Mmm, don’t move.”
She watched him climb the stairs and open the door to the bungalow, appreciating the way his ass looked from that vantage point. He grabbed a large towel from a narrow stack of shelves just inside the door and returned to wrap it around her. Tessa trembled for about ten seconds as her body got used to the warmth. Then her devious Master decided to take his sweet-ass time drying her off, using slow, tormenting strokes to drive her closer to madness. Finally, he flung the towel over the nearest cement wall and directed her to climb the steps into the bungalow. Just inside the door, he hooked his finger into the center ring of her collar and pulled downward, until she was on all fours.
“Stay.”
Tessa kept her gaze pinned to the dark teak and listened to him rummage through things deeper inside the hut. Minutes ticked by, filled with sounds from every direction. Metal clinked together from his location, along with the steady hum of another fat-bladed ceiling fan, while behind her came the distant ambiance of the crowded beach and ocean tide, the rustling of leaves and occasional birdsong. The hot breeze flowing through the open door had her body regaining its normal temperatures at last, despite the cool, air-conditioned interior. The scrape of a heavy piece of furniture being moved was followed by a few seconds of quiet.
“Crawl to me, little fox,” Felix ordered.
The moment she put her hand forward, a familiar drug seeped into her limbs and stroked her lustful need. There were different stages of submission and each brought its own unique kind of pleasure, all while fulfilling one of her incessant cravings. This particular stage—the one where she knew her Master would use her body however he wanted—was one of the higher forms of submission. Her clit pulsed with anticipation by the time she reached the space between his bare feet. Felix sat in an armchair—the heavy scraping she’d heard must have been from him moving it to face the end of the bed. She was happy to discover that it also sat on one of those impeccably soft area rugs.
He stroked over the top of her bowed head and down the side of her face to prompt her chin up. Tessa recognized the hungry beast staring down at her all too well. She was becoming quite familiar with him, and she had to admit she was desperate to provoke him further. There was an undeniable part of her that wanted to see just how ravenous that beast could really be; she sensed he was holding back. That was a dangerous thought to have, she knew. It seemed she was having a few of those lately.
As Felix continued to stare into her eyes, everything they’d already experienced together played through her mind. There was something heady about knowing what this man was capable of doing to her body. It was more damaging to her waning determination. The words that would guarantee her failure clogged at the base of her throat.
“Last chance, little fox,” he prompted. “Ask me.”
“Ask you what, Master?”
“Beg for your release, Tessa,” he commanded.
She wanted to, so badly, but she swallowed those damnable words and held on to the torch of her determination with both hands. The finish line was too close to give up now. When her lips remained pressed together for a good full minute, Felix gave her a menacing grin.
“Very well.” His approval shot through her, and it was more powerful than any release. Then his expression sobered. “I need to ask you an important question, Tessa. Do you trust me?”
Taken aback, she opened her mouth to respond, but the answer wasn’t so easy to come by. She knew he meant without reservation, and that was too impossible for less than twenty-four hours. Granted, she trusted him all the more after their turbulent morning, but even an entire week would never be enough time to forge the kind of trust he was referring to. Surely, he knew that. He wasn’t stupid or new to the lifestyle.
“I–I want to, Master,” she answered honestly, though she worried he might find that disappointing.
“I like that answer, Tessa,” he said, caressing his thumb over her cheek. “I want that, too. Which is why we’re going to scene now, where the only way to reach that mutual goal is through a more deliberate exchange of power. Do you understand?”
She understood power exchange, so was pretty sure he planned to put her in a position where she had to hand more control over to him. To prove she could trust him. It was so simple in black and white, but she knew all too well how difficult it could be in practice.
“I think so, Master.”
“Good, then start now by letting go of your doubts and trust me enough to follow my direction,” he said. “Lie on your stomach and wrap a hand around each ankle.”
Tessa did as she was told, and Felix touched her, keeping a physical connection with her just like he had when he’d strapped her to the bondage table during their wax play scene the night before. His fingers trailed down her spine to the small of her back and played at the shallow dimples above her ass cheeks. His other hand traced up her shin from her bent knee, over her hand to the top of her foot and toes. There was a slight pause, then he tickled the sole of her foot and Tessa not only laughed, but she let go of her ankle to get her foot away from him. His hand cracked down on her ass cheek with enough sting to have her choke back her laughter with a gasp.
“I didn’t tell you to let go, did I?” he admonished, and she grabbed her ankle again.
“No, Master.”
It was no surprise when he treated the sole of her other foot to the same test. Though, it was a struggle not to release her ankle, she couldn’t keep from laughing. She experienced a moment of fear that he might keep going, turn the tickling into torture, but Felix only seemed interested in touching her body wherever he wished.
“We don’t always need elaborate toys or equipment to get what we desire, pet. Often our greatest pleasures are found in the little moments of give and take,
don’t you think?”
“Yes, Master.”
His palm brushed over the crack of her ass, where his finger curled into the seam and made a slow journey back toward her spine. Tessa’s hips rose from the floor in offering, her pussy responding to a delicious shiver. It was a teasing promise of invasion, leaving her craving more.
“You may let go of your ankles now, but keep your legs bent and your hands behind your back.”
With her face turned toward the chair, she listened to him take something from the bed frame that had those metal clanks resounding in the room again, just like she’d heard from the doorway. Leather cuffs were secured around her ankles first, then her wrists. Felix checked the fit after connecting the two together.
“Are those too tight, pet?”
“No, Master.”
He lifted Tessa to her bent knees, turning her toward the chair and moving her closer to the foot of the bed. He knelt before her, allowing her body to slump into his chest as he wrapped leather braces right above her elbows. The immediate pull she felt let Tessa know they were already attached to the bed frame. After adjusting everything to his satisfaction, Felix took a moment to caress his fingers over her arms and the cuffs holding her there.
“The inability to use your hands is such a small thing, something we take for granted,” he said. “But when the body wants to save itself, those are the first things triggered to react.”
Save itself from what? Tessa’s pulse kicked up speed, her curiosity taking one dark turn too many.
“Master?” she dared to ask, hoping for some kind of reassurance, a clue, anything.
“Trust me, Tessa,” he whispered against her temple. “Relinquish all your control to me. I won’t let you fail.”
As soon as he stood, her body fell forward and jerked to a stop, yanking the chain between her arms and the bed frame taut. The instant fright proved his point. Her first reaction was to thrust her hands out to save herself from face-planting. It had been a split second, yet took much longer to work through the aftermath. Her heart galloped in the base of her throat, her eyes still wide on the rug below.
Felix walked past her. She listened to his footsteps head toward the same door they’d entered as she calmed herself. Momentary scare aside, she wasn’t afraid of any physical harm, merely worried about the details of his challenge. That wasn’t submissiveness so much as just plain old human nature. Everyone wanted to ace their exams, but they typically knew what to expect before taking them. In this case, not knowing was part of her test. She was expected to give her Master the control over her challenge and trust him to see her through to the end.
She already trusted him, though some of it was circumstantial—the initial trust she’d felt due to her previous, positive experiences with other members of Club Vitalz. But Felix had succeeded in proving himself even more trustworthy since collecting her from the parlor the night before. The way he’d handled her gross misunderstanding earlier was a prime example. That could have gone wrong in so many ways, but it hadn’t, because of him. And as much as it sucked, even his aptly chosen punishment proved that he could be trusted to make decisions that benefited them both, not just himself.
Yet, a definite line remained where blind faith faltered and once a situation crossed it, trust became the hardest thing in the world to give, because it went against every natural survival instinct a person was born with. And that’s what Felix would ask of her, she knew. In that other place and time—where he could draw her torment out to the point of cruelty—he would demand every ounce of her trust. Without reservation, hesitation or exception. Tessa could almost envy the subs he had in that place.
The sound of the door closing, of his footsteps returning, drew her from her thoughts. She felt him stop, his gaze plying her flesh like fingertips.
“Little fox,” Felix exhaled, and she’d have to be a mannequin to remain unaffected by the hints of awe and arousal in that one, breathy greeting.
He crossed her line of vision and sat on the very edge of the chair, his legs framing the open space between them. The sound of his fingers digging into a plastic cup preceded the chill of pineapple gliding down the center of her chest, between her breasts, making her skin quiver. He circled her navel, then followed the same path back up to her cleavage, before popping the piece of fruit into his mouth.
“Mmm, little fox. Pineapple is one of my favorite fruits,” he said. “So much so, that I was half tempted to cover you with this whole bunch and enjoy the feast.”
“It’s never too late to change your mind, Master,” she commented, liking the sound of that far better than a test of trust.
He chuckled, smug pleasure like a warning that trembled down to her belly with that damnable mixture of lust and dread. The next piece was trailed over her left breast and used to tease her nipple into hardness. Pineapple juice trickled down her ribs, adding an annoying sensation to the pleasure. She wanted to wipe the wetness away, but couldn’t, nor was Felix going to. She had to wonder if that was deliberate or just an unfortunate side-affect.
To her surprise, he pressed the small piece of fruit to her lips.
“Eat.”
The tangy flavor exploded on her tongue when she obeyed, and the pineapple seduction continued. Her body grew hotter and needier as piece after piece was used to paint her body with sticky fruit juice. Felix alternated between them on who got to eat which piece, though he seemed to take some kind of pleasure from making her eat the pieces smeared with her naughtiest places. The final piece started at her mound, trailed over both nipples, coated her lips and entire tongue, then he popped it into his own mouth.
“You have to share, little fox,” he teased.
“Yes, Master.” She smiled.
She enjoyed the way his playful side accentuated his sensuality, rather than being separate. Right under her line of sight, he shook several more pineapple chunks into his palm and held them to her mouth.
“Chew, but do not swallow.”
Tessa lowered her mouth to the fruit and tentatively took the small pile into her mouth. In the end, there was nothing graceful about it. The zingy tartness was too much, kicking her saliva glands into overdrive. Once she was done, Felix abandoned her for a moment to wash his hands. When he returned, he pulled the chair closer before reclaiming it. Heat flooded her system, her curiosity over what their scene might entail was abruptly sated, when she found herself face-to-face with the bulging erection straining the material of his shorts. Concern bled into the lustful images that sprang to life. Did he mean to take her mouth, while it was already full?
Felix was still, and the longer he remained that way, the fuller Tessa’s mouth became. The pineapple kept her saliva running like a broken tap. Which, along with being his favorite, had probably been why he’d chosen it over the papaya. Her Master’s deviousness was proving limitless. Tessa made a questioning sound, realizing he might be waiting for her to finish chewing.
“Good girl. Do not swallow,” he repeated.
She would’ve understood the need for the reminder, had he been getting ready to fit his cock into her mouth, but he’d yet to even unfasten his shorts. Her answer came with the abrupt, jolting shock of the beetle waking with a vengeance against her clit. It was all Tessa could do not to spit the tangy mush of pineapple all over Felix’s lap. A narrow save, which had her cheeks billowing out like a puffer fish to keep everything contained. Drool trickled from the corner of her mouth and ran down her chin, heating her face with embarrassment.
“Don’t spit, either,” he admonished so calmly, that had she the range, she’d have glared at him.
She would’ve regretted it, of course, but it would’ve happened.
Tessa fought against both areas of her body at once, and she was losing. Her eyes watered from the increasing need to swallow, while all her muscles tightened with the need to come. Her heavy breath rushed in and out of her nostrils. The moment she felt the dangerous point of impending climax, she screamed inside her full mouth a
nd the vibrations ceased at once.
“What’s that, little fox?” Felix asked. Her next muffled emission was pure, desperate longing. “You’re ready to come?”
Tessa's nod was vigorous, as she managed an affirmative sound in her throat. An ache had started in her cheeks, but she couldn’t deflate them without swallowing.
“I’m going to give you two choices. I can fuck your mouth with the pineapple in it and let you come during our scene,” he said. “Or you can swallow now, and I’ll let you come later. Which would you prefer?”
Seriously? How the hell was she supposed to decide when she wanted one just as much as the other? She was already experienced with orgasm denial, but had no idea what it would be like to have her mouth fucked with food in it. On one hand, it might not be as bad as she feared and then she’d not only have another new experience to pick apart later, she’d be allowed to come a lot sooner. On the other hand, it could be far worse, and she’d not only be denied the orgasm she’d spent all morning working toward, but have a horrible, traumatizing experience to recover from.
Tessa reminded herself that the entire scene was supposed to be about trust through power exchange. If she truly trusted Felix, then she had to give him the chance to keep her safe and believe in his promise not to let her fail.
She felt the same pull from her submissiveness, which had turned an uncertainty into an easy decision the night before with the cage. This scene was something her Master wanted, for his own pleasure, as much as to gain her trust, and Tessa wanted to give him both. Decided, she made a short grunting sound in her throat.
“Swallow?”
She shook her head. When he cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing over her skin, Tessa’s eyes closed and a delectable shiver worked through her body. The gesture felt like praise, confirming she’d made the right decision.
“You would let me fuck your mouth with pineapple in it, Tessa?” he asked.