“It’s always going to ultimately be your call,” he said softly. “But putting a ring on your finger doesn’t mean I stop pushing your boundaries. What if I want to see how loud you come when I’m deep in your ass while you fuck someone else? I know your mind went there when you saw Jace, Evan, and Andre together.”
She moaned at both the fantasy he was conjuring and the way he curled his fingers inside her. “You’re a filthy, filthy man, sir.”
His laugh was dark and low against his ear. “And you love it.”
“I do, sir. I love you.”
“And I will wake up and thank the heavens every day for that.” He kissed her neck and traced his tongue along her pulse point. “My beautiful, smart, brave girl. My future wife. And my dirty little slave.”
She smiled, warmth blooming in her chest, and lowered her head. Never would she have believed that word could be an endearment. But Kade had proved it to her. She would not be his angelic, proper wife. She would not be that insecure, people-pleasing girl. She would be Tessa for him. A woman who wasn’t afraid to give in to her desires. A woman who would do things with him just because they were fun, because they felt good, because she loved him and he loved her. Because the ultimate trust was there. A woman who could stand on her own two feet but who could also get on her knees at night for her man and not feel wrong about it.
Kade brought her close to orgasm with his fingers then pulled back, dragging his hand up her abdomen and painting her with her arousal. His hand cupped her breast then slid up to capture her nipple.
“Ready for a little sting?” He gave her nipple a firm pinch and tug.
She arched into the touch and moaned. Somehow just that little dart of pain made every nerve ending stand up and pay attention, her body craving that dose of sharpness mixed in with the pleasure.
“Mmm,” Kade said, rolling her other nipple between his fingers and pinching it hard. She gasped and she could hear the smile in his voice when he spoke again. “I love how you respond to any hint of roughness. I think my girl craves pain more than she realizes. I can’t wait to see how deep that wiring runs.”
He stepped back and his hand came down on her backside with a hard slap. The sound was like a gunshot in the small airplane. But the stinging heat that raced outward made her forget to worry about all the noise they were making. His hand whacked her on the other side and then again across her thigh. She wiggled in her bindings, but he didn’t pause. The spanking was harder and longer than he’d done in the past and no spot on her thighs, hips, ass, or pussy remained untouched.
Her skin burned and ached, everything was tightening. And the resulting heat curling through her was making her so wet, she could barely concentrate. But even with all that, the voice inside her was silently begging him for more of that violence. She needed to be touched, she needed to be hurt, she needed the two together. She didn’t know why, and she no longer cared. Words slipped past her lips, and she couldn’t decipher what she was saying anymore.
But apparently Kade did. He coasted his hands over her fiery skin. “You need more, huh? I love to hear you begging for it. I can see you sinking, baby. Your body’s giving over to it. Let it take you and I’ll give you what you need.”
Her mind was buzzing, her vision making the windows blur together, but she sensed him moving behind her. She mourned the loss of his hands on her.
“I’m glad I travel prepared,” he said from somewhere to her left. Another bin was opened and closed. Then he was touching her hip with light fingers, letting her know he was back with her. “I think it’s time to punish you for leaving town without telling me and for shutting me out instead of asking for help.”
Her already racing heart stuttered in her chest. “Punish?”
“You know how worried I was when I found your house empty, your car still in the driveway.”
“I was—”
He pressed his hand over her mouth. “Shh, no more talking unless it’s to safe out. You said you need more. You may regret what you asked for.”
He lowered his hand and dragged what looked to be a thin reed of wood across her breasts. She swallowed hard. “May I ask what that is, sir?”
“You may,” he said, dragging the tip of it over her shoulder and down her back. “It’s a rattan cane. One of the most intensely painful tools I have.”
She stiffened, fear instantly taking root.
“In the wrong hands, it can injure.” He traced the notches of her spine with the end of the dreadful thing. “In the right hands, it hurts like a sonofabitch and leaves the prettiest marks.”
Her breath quickened. “Sir . . .”
He stepped up behind her and dragged her backside along his erection. Her sex clenched, desperate for him. “I need to see how deep your masochism streak runs. But more than that I want to mark you, Tess. I want to wake up tomorrow with my ring on your finger and my marks on your skin.”
She shivered in his hold, a combination of fear and desperate need coalescing. The idea of him marking her spoke to some part inside her she hadn’t even known existed. “I’m a little scared.”
“I know, baby,” he said, kissing the shell of her ear. “And that’s okay. I won’t force this on you. In fact, I’m not going to do it until you ask for my cane.”
Her throat was so dry she had trouble speaking. “What do you mean?”
His breath was hot on her skin as he lowered his hand and teased her clit again. “I won’t do it until you tell me you want my marks.”
“And if I say no?” she asked, breathless from what he was doing with his fingers.
“I put it away,” he said simply.
She closed her eyes and took a long breath as he continued to tease her to the edge of orgasm. Intense pain didn’t seem like something she would ever ask for. But the burning warmth from the spanking was starting to fade and all her senses had gone edgy, hungry for something more, something else. Like if she could just have whatever that little extra was, it would send her over into orgasm.
“I trust you,” she said softly.
Kade pressed another kiss to her hair but seemed to relax behind her. “You trust me to what, baby?”
She was so close to coming it was hard to focus. “Trust that you won’t give me more than you think I can handle. Give me your cane, sir. Please. I want to wear your marks.”
Kade groaned, the pleased sound reward enough, and he stepped in between her and the couch. He was on his knees in a flash and spreading her open with his thumbs. His tongue and mouth enveloped her clit before she could even catch her breath.
She let out a gasp of surprise and her fists curled in her bindings.
“Come for me, Tess,” he said, pulling back for a moment. “I want you flying high first.”
He went back to licking her with hungry enthusiasm, and he pushed the leather-wrapped handle of the cane inside her. Her body clasped around the invasion and she made a desperate sound. Oh, God.
It was all too much at once. He pumped the unyielding handle inside her with slow, insanity-inducing strokes and his lips and tongue paid homage to every delicate, aching part of her. She had no hope to hold off. The orgasm steamrolled over her, crushing any last resistance and tearing a cry from her throat.
Kade lapped at her, letting her ride the wave of sensation for as long as possible, then he slid the handle from her and was climbing to his feet. Her body was still contracting, pleasure steadily pulsing through her, when he put a hand on her shoulder to steady her and flicked the cane across her ass.
Holy. Fucking. Shit. Pain exploded over her with breath-stealing impact. She opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. No, no, no, she couldn’t take this much. But before she could suck in air to call her safeword, the reverberating pain radiated outward through her body and mixed in with the tail end of her orgasm, morphing into some
hybrid sensation that made her pant and on the verge of coming again.
“God, look how beautiful you are,” Kade said, his voice holding awe. He pressed fingers against her clit and circled with firmer pressure than she would’ve guessed could feel good. “Two more, love.”
He flicked the cane again, right below where the first hit had been, and she saw stars. But his fingers kept circling, and the stimulation was just what she needed. Her body was tightening all over again, preparing for another explosion.
“Last one,” he whispered.
The intensity was no less than the first two, but the gasping sobs she made had nothing to do with the pain. The sensations were making her dizzy and desperate. She didn’t know how to hold it all in. She felt lost. She felt found. She felt . . . high.
Kade tossed the cane onto the couch and rained praise on her as he shucked his clothes. Then he untied her from her restraints with the swiftness of a man on a mission. She couldn’t keep up with his movements, her brain spinning. When he released the last belt, she sagged in his arms, unable to hold herself upright, and he walked them over to the couch. He sat down, his cock jutting proudly upward and she wanted to sink to her knees and worship it—something, anything to thank him for the way she was feeling in this moment. But Kade shook his head when she tried. He had other ideas. He guided her down to straddle his lap.
“I want to see you while I fuck you, Tess,” he said, positioning himself at her entrance. “Want to watch you take me inside you and fall apart.”
He pushed into her without resistance, her body so slick and ready for him that her eyes nearly rolled back when he sunk deep.
“Fuck,” he groaned, grasping her hips and seating himself fully inside her. “You feel so good, baby. So damn perfect.”
All she could do was murmur in response, her executive functioning shorting out and giving over to all the sensations.
“Ride me, Tess. Make me come.”
Even through the haze in her mind, she knew at the very least she could accomplish that. She braced her hands on his shoulders, met his eyes, and undulated her hips, taking him almost all the way out and then plunging back down.
His eyes were pale in the near darkness but she could see him going into that place with her. That place where all that existed was the two of them and the way their bodies felt joined together. She didn’t know how long she fucked him. Time slowed and stretched, but when he grabbed her head and brought her mouth down to his, she lost all sense of everything.
They kissed long and deep, their tongues intertwining, as she took him into her body over and over. Everything they’d ever wanted to say to each other poured into that kiss. Every emotion, any word left unspoken, all the love, it was all there.
Without breaking the kiss, he tilted her hips just right and rubbed his cock along that perfect spot inside her and the world went Technicolor behind her eyelids. She broke from the kiss, sucking in air and crying out. His groan joined hers and the warmth of his release spilled inside her, marking her on the inside just like she wore his marks on the outside.
And as the lights of Vegas came into view through the windows behind him, glittering in the distance like some far-off kingdom, Tessa knew she’d finally found her place in the world. This was it. The little girl who once believed in fairy tales had finally found her prince.
Her deliciously evil prince.
EPILOGUE
Three months later
Kade leaned back in his chair, sipping a glass of champagne and smiling over the rim as he enjoyed the view.
“I’d hate to be that guy,” Colby observed, reaching for one of the crab and avocado toasts off the platter at the center of the table.
Gibson made a grunt of agreement. “You ain’t lying. Soon he’ll be saying, Yes, Mistress. May I kiss your shoes?”
Kade chuckled. He couldn’t hear what was being said, but Tessa was giving the manager of the venue quite a firm talking to—probably something to do with the fact that there were not enough chairs for everyone and the tables had been set up too far away from the stage. He wasn’t worried, though. There was still an hour before the band came on and everyone was happy to be milling around and mingling. He had no doubt Tessa would have the issue fixed before anyone even noticed.
“I can’t believe there are this many people here,” Colby said. “This looks like a way bigger crowd than last year.”
Kade nodded. “My woman’s relentless. She’s probably going to pull in enough cash on her own to send all those kids at Bluebonnet to college on full scholarship. I haven’t even told her yet that all the money we raised at the slave auction was real and that there’s a big check to add to the pile.”
“Yeah,” Colby said. “She covered every angle. I saw that she even has the kids selling artwork they created to contribute to their individual college funds. One of the paintings just sold for a grand. Twelve-year-old kid was the artist. I thought his eyes were going to fall out of his head.”
“Hell, at that age, I would’ve lost it, too,” Gib said, taking a pull of his beer. “I remember saving up three hundred bucks in middle school after a summer of cutting grass. I thought I was rich.”
Kade snorted. “Then you spent it all on comic books and Playboys.”
“That was money well spent, my friend. I was all set for a long winter.”
Colby laughed and looked to Gibson. “So where did your date go off to? She’d probably appreciate hearing your embarrassing childhood stories.”
Kade set his glass down. “Rosalie dragged Sam off to the kid’s area. One of the restaurants is giving a little cooking demo for the kiddos.”
Gibson shrugged. “Sam’s not my date. I’m just helping her out with her training, and she thought it’d be fun to come together tonight.”
“I always prefer coming together,” Kade said with a smirk. “Fun for all.”
Gibson gave him a droll look. “Seriously, you’re still fourteen under that shirt and tie.”
Kade raised his glass in cheers.
“Seems very self-sacrificing of you,” Colby said with mock seriousness. “Going above and beyond and taking your trainee out for the night.”
“Drop it,” Gib warned.
“What? We’re not ribbing you. I, for one, am happy to see you embracing your inner switch and subbing.”
“I’m not subbing. I’m bottoming to train her as a domme. I’m still in control.”
“Nothing to be ashamed of, dude,” Colby said with a shrug. “She’s taking a few classes at one of the clubs I help out at sometimes. I’ve seen her in her bitch boots. She wears them well. I’m sure many men wouldn’t mind getting a beating and a pegging from her.”
“Keep away from her, farm boy,” Gib said, pointing his beer at Colby.
Colby grinned as he took another swig off his beer, obviously enjoying this way too much. “Lucky for you, she’s not my type.”
“What are y’all smiling about?”
Kade turned to see Tess standing there, clipboard in hand and eyebrow arched—all business and looking hotter than ever in her little blue dress. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into his lap, unable to resist. “Just torturing your former boss.”
“I was about to use my safeword,” Gibson said, leaning back in his chair and hooking his ankle over his knee. “Thanks for saving me. Hey, wait a second, what do you mean former?”
Tessa made an uh-oh face as she leaned into Kade. “Sorry, Gib. I was going to talk to you on Monday, but my husband has a big mouth.”
“Tessa’s going to take over as co-director of Bluebonnet Place,” Kade said, pride swelling in him.
Gibson’s disappointment quickly morphed into a broad smile. “That’s fantastic. I’ll be sad to lose you, but no one will run your charity better than you. Those kids will be lucky to have you at the
helm.”
Tessa let out a breath, her worry lifting. “Thanks, Gib. I still have a lot to learn from Iris, the current director, but I’m looking forward to it.”
“You’re going to do great,” Kade said, giving her a quick kiss. “Did you get everything worked out with the manager over there? I saw you two talking.”
“Yes, I think he’s probably wishing he had a safeword, but we’re good now. And Darkfall is all set to go.” She nodded at the tray of appetizers. “How’s the food?”
He frowned. “You haven’t eaten yet?”
“Didn’t have time.”
He met her eyes, broadcasting exactly what he thought of that excuse. “Sit down in this chair and eat.”
She waved a hand. “I will. I just need to go make rounds and thank everyone who came.”
He lifted her up and deposited her in the chair next to him. “Everyone will still be here for at least two more hours. I won’t have you passing out in the middle of this thing. Eat. Have a drink. I’ll go shake hands and make nice.”
“Kade—”
He cupped her chin and planted a kiss on her mouth. “Nonnegotiable, baby. Sorry.”
“You’re a bossy bastard, Mr. Vandergriff,” she said, but her eyes went soft in that way that made him wish he had a private room to take her to and an hour of her time.
“Always. Good thing you love that about me.” He kissed her forehead and then patted Colby on the shoulder as he walked by him. “You guys make sure my girl eats. I’m going to find my other date.”
Kade watched Rosalie from the back of the tent as she dumped a cup of flour into a bowl with such force that all of it blew back up on her, dusting her sequined purple dress in white. He chuckled when she tried to make it better and ended up adding white handprints to the mix. The instructor attempted to dust her off, but it was no use. The little girl next to her was looking at the mess with a wrinkled nose, but Rosalie just shrugged and grabbed a bowl of spices to dump in and continue mixing.