“Well, you’d better think accommodating thoughts because as soon as this is done, it’s my turn.” She opened her mouth to complain, but when he grabbed her throat she fell silent. “Do I make myself clear?”
“Maybe you could try just the tip?” She laughed nervously. “Just – oh fuck. You have to go slow, okay?”
“So you’re asking me to trust you, and yet you don’t trust me?”
“I trust you!” She made a sound of frustration, then another of terror. “Okay. Just – don’t hurt me there on purpose. Not the first time.”
“Understood.”
She got off his lap, one of her nipples grazing his cheek as she rose. Her intake of breath insinuated it was accidental.
Muscles in his shoulders bunched again as she walked behind him. He stared into the fire, willing himself not to overreact when her hands came back to him.
“I’m going to put my hands on you again. On your shoulders. Ready?”
He nodded tightly, holding his breath.
Her fingers came down gently, skimming along his skin and drawing goose bumps up in their wake. He fought panic.
Minnow. Her hands. Her scent.
She started to massage his shoulders with long, sensual strokes, and he focused on pretending he was normal for her. It usually worked, more or less. He could manage with this too.
Her thumbs found knots she’d created and warmed them, then worked at easing them away.
“So no one ever did this for you before?”
“No. Rodrigo has tried setting me up with friends of his a few times, but –” He broke off as she got too close to his neck. He gave an irritated jerk of his head, but she was already moving away from the spot. Minnow. It was Minnow, not some stranger. He owned her. She was his. She knew him better than anyone. He could ask her to stop, and she would stop. She knew he was fucked up, so there was no pressure to hide it.
Bit by bit he forced himself to relax back into the chair, and into her hands.
“I’m sorry you didn’t feel like you could trust someone enough to do this for you before now. Touch is so important for a person’s soul.” She worked for a few more minutes, and every time he was about to tell her to stop, she somehow knew and would move away from whatever was making him uncomfortable. “It makes me wonder how you managed when you were small. There’ve been all sorts of studies showing that babies who don’t get enough touch will fail to thrive. Someone must have taken care of you before you came here. You didn’t give up and die. You’ve been through a lot, but you’ve come so far.”
He thought of the smiling face he dreamed about sometimes. A servant, maybe? It was hard to say.
“There was a woman.”
“Your mother, do you think?”
“No. I remember them both.”
She made a sound of acknowledgement.
“Can I try your neck now?”
“Yes.” He braced himself.
“Is it too much right now?”
“Just do it.”
Her caressing thumbs skimmed lightly up the back of his neck, and he gasped, clutching the arms of the chair. A violent shudder wracked him, and his cock twitched. He couldn’t figure out if he wanted to shove her away or fuck her.
“Whoa now. You okay?” Her hands stilled, and he was grateful for the moment to collect himself.
“It’s...intense.”
“Good or bad?”
“I don’t know.”
“Fair enough.” She sounded amused, and that made him feel like it wasn’t a big deal either way. She tried again.
He hissed out a breath and shivered, but tolerated it for a few minutes before he started to enjoy it.
“Can I run my fingers through your hair?”
He was used to the brush at least. “Yes,” he said confidently.
“When was the last time you had a haircut?”
“I don’t remember.”
She petted his hair, smoothing it back from his face, as though she was going to put it in a ponytail. When that didn’t faze him, she got bolder, running her fingers through it but careful not to tug at the tangles he’d picked up during the day. He hadn’t braided it this morning, but they hadn’t gone anywhere, so it was its usual shaggy mess. She didn’t seem to mind it. Her nails gently running over his scalp made him groan.
“Should I cut my hair?”
“Maybe a trim, but if you cut it short, I’d be forced to kill you.” Her tone suggested she wasn’t joking. She sighed happily and buried both hands in his hair. “I’ve wanted to do this since the day I met you. Do you have any idea how fucking hot you are?”
Clearly, she was delusional.
“I’m not a handsome man, Miss Korsgaard,” he said. “There’s no need to stroke my ego by lying to me.”
“I didn’t say handsome – I said hot. You make the la bestia look work for you. Masculine. Brutish. Muscles and glares and that mean jaw.” She sighed, and ran her nails over his scalp again, which was far more pleasurable than it should have been. “I was a little terrified you’d get me pregnant just from eye fucking me.”
He snorted, but he wondered what that would be like – to join with her like that. To watch her growing round with his baby. It would have turned him on if it didn’t come with the actual child to take care of. They could have children together, make a real family, but he didn’t know anything about being a father at all, other than what he’d seen on television. He had vague shadows of memory of a man sitting with him and eating ice cream, but where had that kind face been when he’d been banished here? Why hadn’t he ever come to visit, at least? Maybe the man had been a servant. Or maybe he’d been one of his abusers.
With parenting genes like Severin had, he had no business bringing children into the world. And again, the blackouts.
“It’s a good thing that can’t happen,” he finally said. “I’m the last person in the world who should be a father.”
“I don’t think that’s true. You’re gentle when you want to be, and I have a hard time imagining you being cruel to a child.”
True. He liked Church’s kids, but couldn’t imagine having to remember to feed someone, or keep an eye on them. And his genetics?
She leaned over his shoulder, brushing her mouth across his cheek to his lips. He kissed her even though she was upside down, and the slide of her mouth on his, her tongue in his mouth from this position was strangely erotic. He slid his hands into her hair, controlling the kiss, and didn’t let her go again until she was moaning into his mouth.
“Quit distracting me,” she accused.
“Quit letting yourself be distracted.” He reached back and palmed her breasts, loving the feel of the mounds in his hands.
“Stop that!” she backed away and he lurched out of the chair, advancing on her as she shook her head and kept retreating, a gleam of mischief in her eyes.
“Don’t run. You know what happens when you run.”
Her breaths went shallow, and he could see her pulse fluttering in her neck. “I know what happens. You chase me. It scares me, but it gives me a major girl boner.”
He charged and she squeaked, then turned and fled, her bare feet silent on the floor. The dogs lifted their heads as he blew past them, but they were too tired from their earlier walk to bother following.
This was more his element than gentleness and massages. Stalking the girl was his nature.
He chased her through the house, down the main floor corridor, up a side staircase, down an upper hall, then down the main staircase. Her breathing almost drowned out his. He wasn’t winded, but the excitement of the chase flooded his body with adrenaline while her terrified shrieks had his cock throbbing. He let his booted footfalls sound heavily against the stone and wood flooring, and to toy with her he lunged and grunted, touching but not grabbing, but only because he wasn’t ready for the game to end. When he caught her he was going to hurt her. Claim her. Fill every fucking hole with come.
“I’m going to catch you, Minnow.
”
She whimpered and dodged.
He caught at her arm and let her slip through his grip, tits bouncing as she bolted away.
“Fuck...I’m going to catch you and shove my dick in your ass,” he reminded her, following her hasty retreat.
“No!”
He lunged and grabbed her hair, then pressed her against a wall, grinding against her ass. “Caught you, you little cunt, and here I was hoping you’d get away.”
“Let me go!”
“I’m going to hurt you so bad.”
“Oh fuck! Stop saying that!” She squealed, ducking out from under his arm to run again as soon as he let go of her hair.
“Are you going to cry for me?” he called after her. “You’re so pretty when you cry.”
As he rounded the corner downstairs, she disappeared. He skidded to a halt, his boots sliding in the silent hallway before he came to a full stop. Listening past the sound of his rapid heartbeat, he thought he heard something from the direction of the ballroom.
Quietly, he went to his study, which was almost directly across from the room she was hiding in. Out of his bottom drawer, he grabbed a few things and shoved them in the pockets of his jeans. He approached the double doors to the ballroom, grabbing one of the burnished brass handles and yanking the door wide. He strolled in, waiting for it to shut behind him. The room was darker than a blindfold.
“In the ballroom?” he whispered into the darkness. “Rodrigo never should have filled your head with romantic nonsense.” He could hear her hectic breathing, but it echoed, and he wasn’t completely sure what direction she was in. “Did you lure me in here hoping I’d transform into a prince, Miss Korsgaard?”
“If you did, it would ruin my fairytale, Mister Leduc,” she admitted, voice shaking. Off to his left? He moved that way, hoping she would say something else. “It was the beast I fell in love with. The prince would bore the fuck out of me.”
He could swear he was very close to where her voice had come from, but when he reached out, he touched nothing.
“You won’t get romantic moments in ballrooms with me. You’ll get taken down and fucked in the ass like a little whore.”
“Only if you can catch me, Leduc,” she mocked quietly.
Her words drew a snarl of aggression from his lips. She knew what challenging him made him do, and yet she persisted in doing it.
“You like baiting me.”
“Smart boy”.
So brave, in the dark. So stupid to think it would stop him from finding her.
“You’re bratty for a girl who can’t see her dominant’s expression.”
“It’s easier to be bratty when I can’t see you.”
“So my face scares you?”
“Your face scares everybody. Are you glaring at me really ferociously right now?” Her voice hitched on the word ferocious.
He narrowed his eyes, scanning the unrelenting blackness. She was moving.
“You think this is funny, but when I catch you, you’re going to be a very...very sorry little girl.”
He could hear her unsteady breaths nearer now, even though he’d stopped moving to listen. She could hear where he was and was approaching anyway.
“How sorry?” she asked from right behind him.
He whirled and grabbed for her, but she fled to what sounded like the far side of the hall again, giggling quietly.
“I’m going to catch you sooner or later, my little bitch, so why don’t you come kiss my boots and ask for leniency?”
“Why don’t you make me?”
Aroused aggression spiked harder through him and he strode across the room, feeling where she was even in the dark.
Her whispered, “Oh my god, oh my god,” was beautiful in his ears.
“For that,” he growled, “you’d better hope there’s still lube in your ass from when I plugged you this morning, because that’s all you’re going to get.”
“Dry? My first time?” she blurted. “You can’t!”
“Are you going to cry when I shove my cock in your tight little virgin hole? Are you going to beg me to stop?”
“Cry? What kind of monster would enjoy making his poor submissive cry?” she said, her voice faint, but she was close. She just couldn’t stop running her mouth.
“The monster you chose.” He lunged, capturing a handful of her silken hair. She gasped and lashed out. Blows landed harmlessly on his shoulders and chest, but he used his grip on lovely hair to force her slowly to the floor.
“No, no. I’m sorry! Please, Master. I shouldn’t have said what I did. It was the adrenaline talking.”
When he had her down, he forced her head to the floor then stepped on her hair to keep her where he wanted her before pulling her ass up. The sound of his belt coming off made her whine.
“But you can’t see!”
“No, but I can feel. I’d suggest you stay very still.”
Roughly, he groped her ass, then choked up on his belt and started to lay into her. After each yelp of pain, he’d landmark with his free hand, seeking out the hot welt, then give her another.
When she was writhing and sweating, he shifted his foot off her hair and grabbed the bondage tape from his pocket while keeping a hand on her back. She tried to rise to scramble away, but he caught her around the waist and pulled her over his lap, spanking her already burning-to-the-touch ass.
“Are you done?” he growled.
“Never!” She fought like a little hell cat, scratching and biting, and basically just going out of her way to wriggle all over his throbbing dick and make him eager to master her yet again. She loved to fight him, and he loved to force her to submit to his control.
He shoved her off his lap to the floor. As she struggled to break his hold, he jerked the bondage tape out of his pocket and secured her wrist to ankle on each side, leaving her ass exposed and vulnerable.
“You’re going to fight while I fuck your ass? Good. It’ll hurt more.”
“No please, Mister Leduc! Don’t!”
“I told you what was going to happen.”
“You said you’d be gentle because it was my first time.”
He positioned her twice more as she tried to roll to the side, but he managed to get his jeans unzipped. His cock was so relieved to be out it was almost as good as sex. Not really, but close.
“I said I’d be gentle when you were being a good girl and cooperating. Bad girls don’t get treated like pretty dolls – they get treated like the spoils of war.”
“You’re going to take me by force?”
“Force?” He laughed cruelly. “Yes, but you like that.”
“Let me go!”
“Never.”
Chapter Seventeen
“No, no – please don’t hurt me!” he mocked, his voice chilling her. “But you like to be hurt, Miss Korsgaard. So much so that you’ve never used your safeword with me. I bet you could take a lot more than I dish out. I bet I’m nowhere near as frightening as some of the other men you’ve been with.”
Fear and adrenaline throbbed through her body. She was so scared she felt as if she had to pee. She’d seen him lose control the other day, but he was okay now. Wasn’t he? He was talking. Playing. Kind of.
In the dark she couldn’t see his expression. She could only strain to hear his intonation and to feel the tension in his body.
“No, Mister Leduc. I’ve never submitted to a man as thoroughly as I have to you. I played at clubs a few times and had bedroom only kink relationships, but never like this. Never like you. You scare me more than any of them ever did.”
He went still. “Because you don’t trust me?”
Did she trust him? Mostly. She hadn’t doubted him – much – until he’d blacked out. And Rodrigo wasn’t here as back-up. She shouldn’t have pushed him so hard tonight without Ro nearby.
“I trust you to hurt me, but only the way I like it.”
He exhaled. “Maybe you shouldn’t trust me, because sometimes I get urges to do things
you wouldn’t like.”
“I’m open to negotiation.”
His wordless snarl echoed through the cavernous room.
There was a click, and she felt the tips of his fingers slide up and down the divide of her ass, far too slick for a man who’d just threatened her with lubeless anal. He really did like her. She had to force herself not to laugh in relief, but as he worked first one finger, and then two into her ass she realized her relief would be short lived. Two fingers – Severin-sized fingers – was the most she’d ever taken. It was bigger than the biggest plug he’d used and his dick was far bigger.
“Please, Mister Leduc!” she begged.
“Please what?” His voice was thick with lust.
She shuddered. “Please don’t.”
“You’re so fucking tight.”
He withdrew his fingers and although she’d thought it would be a relief, she was uncomfortable and empty.
“Maybe we could wait?” she begged, hopeful for a reprieve, but also really wanting him to ignore her pleading.
“We could.”
“We could?”
“No.” The tip of his cock brushed her anus, and she shivered.
“You’re going to take my ass for the first time in the dark, on the floor, while you have me bound?”
“Were you expecting roses? Wooing?”
He lowered himself over her, surrounding her with his muscular body. The position made her feel diminutive and fragile.
“Don’t move.”
He pressed the tip of his cock against her ass and started to push, coaxing her body to open to him, slowly, slowly, until she felt stretched mind-bogglingly wide.
“Please tell me that’s all of it,” she gasped.
“All of the tip.” He grunted.
Fuck.
Despite the fear and discomfort – or maybe because of it – her arousal dripped down her thigh, making her feel even dirtier. She wriggled, helping him slowly impale her on his iron-hard shaft, until both of them were panting. Goose bumps spread, sending prickling chills coursing over her overheated skin. She was keening beneath him, so quietly it sounded like a rogue mosquito had invaded the far side of the room.
He made a strange guttural noise that made her shudder with need.
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