Unraveled

  was so desperate to move on at that point that I agreed to make sure Ronin and Naomi met. After three false starts, I finally made it happen and fucked up my brother’s life too.” That still ate at her, that her grandfather had manipulated her just as much as her ex-husband had.

  “As much as I hated Naomi, you didn’t force Ronin to ask her out.”

  “That’s cold comfort now when we discovered what a psycho she is.”

  “That’s on your grandfather more than you, since he’s the one who chose her, out of the millions of women in Japan.”

  She brushed her lips across his jaw. “Quit trying to make me feel better.”

  “The blame has never solely been yours.” He nuzzled her cheek. “Is there more to the story?”

  “Not much. We divorced; he left Japan and probably bought a small island with the divorce settlement. Mistress Keiko introduced me in her club as Mistress B, and that’s where the wig and mask come in.”

  Knox adjusted their positions and peered into her eyes. “Any long-term relationships with submissives?”

  She looked away.

  He touched her cheek to get her to look at him. “Please answer the question.”

  “You questioning my ability to satisfy submissives?”

  “Not at all. Part of me wants to know if tonight I’m just another one in a long line of many.”

  Her eyes searched his. “Would it be a deal killer if I said yes?”

  “It would make me sad that so many have failed to give you what you need, Mistress.”

  Too smooth an answer to be genuine. Or was it? “I ended up in a Dominant-submissive relationship for a year. It wasn’t exclusive for either of us.”

  “How can a relationship not be exclusive?” he demanded. “Then it’s not a relationship but just a regular hookup.” He caught himself and backtracked. “Shit. Sorry. That’s none of my business—”

  Shiori placed her fingers over his lips. “I want you to trust me, Knox. So I’m going to trust you with something I’ve never told anyone. It’s always felt like a dirty secret. The guy—my submissive—liked pain. He needed it. That’s not something most people understand. He couldn’t tell his wife he needed pain regularly, because she wouldn’t have understood. Anyway, I gave him the pain he craved.”

  “What did you get in return?” he asked softly.

  “I learned to use every whip, flogger, paddle, and cane he brought me.” She smiled sadly. “He started my Hello Kitty whip collection.”

  “Did giving him pain get you off?”

  She shook her head.

  “Did he ever get you off afterward?”

  “He had a code of honor. Plus he was married.”

  “Who was he to you?”

  “My bodyguard.” She’d had to cut all ties with Jenko after he’d returned to Japan. They’d both known the relationship wasn’t healthy.

  Knox tapped her ass. “I’ve got a cramp; I need to move.”

  She stood and walked toward the door, lost in thought.

  He spun her around. “Sex has to be part of this, Shiori. Otherwise—”

  “It is. Or it will be.” Tell him you’ve never been attracted to a man like you are with him. Tell him the idea of leashing him, the big alpha dog, to your will, gets you hot. Tell him you can give him what he’s always been looking for. “Come to me tonight.”

  “Will I get to fuck you?”

  “Pushy, aren’t you?”

  He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. “Yes. So I’m warning you I’ll probably be a terrible submissive.”

  Shiori grinned. “I have ways of dealing with that.”

  “I’ll bet you do.”

  “Show up at seven. The guy at the front desk will let you up.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  KNOX entered the lobby of Shiori’s apartment high-rise and headed to the security desk. “I’m Knox Lofgren to see Shiori Hirano. She’s expecting me.”

  The armed security guard held out his hand. “Two forms of ID please.”

  He opened his wallet and passed over his driver’s license and his military ID.

  The guard scanned them both and passed them back. “Follow me.” At the bank of elevators, the guard swiped a keycard to get the doors to open. He stepped inside, used his keycard again, and inserted a small key next to the highest number on the panel. “That will take you up to the penthouse level. If you hit any other floor number, the elevator will stop and bring you back down to the main level.”

  “Understood. Thank you.”

  “Have a good evening, sir.” He stepped out, the doors closed, and the elevator started going up.

  What was with the Black siblings and their need for such extreme measures with security? And their need to live on the top floor? Oh, right. Being Okada heirs gave them a dose of paranoia, thanks to their grandfather’s billions. Access to trust funds meant they didn’t have to compromise and live in a shitty fixer-upper. Ever.

  But that wasn’t entirely fair. Ronin had lived modestly for many years. Knox doubted Shiori had lived modestly a day in her adult life.

  For the hundredth time, he asked himself what he was doing. Did he really want to become a rich woman’s sexual plaything? Have her calling the shots? She said she wasn’t into humiliation, but what if her idea of humiliation and his were vastly different?

  A voice of reason intervened. This is Shiori. You like her. You respect her. You promised her you’d try it one night. If it doesn’t work, you can go back to the way things were.

  The elevator doors opened into an entryway. Off to the left was an elaborately carved wooden door. When he reached the door, he saw she’d taped a note:

  Welcome, Knox—inside please strip down to your underwear. Wait for me in the living room. I’ve placed two candles in the large window, stand between them in military rest position, looking out at the city view.

  No signature. Had that been intentional? She wasn’t Mistress B to him, and yet signing her name didn’t seem formal enough.

  He closed his eyes and inhaled, then let out his breath on a slow exhale before he opened the door. Once inside her lair—not cool that was the first word that’d popped into his head—he took stock of the entryway. Not the gilded crown molding and marble he’d expected, but it still screamed money.

  Quit gawking; start stripping.

  Knox yanked the long-sleeved Henley over his head and folded it, putting it on the bench. Next he ditched his socks and shoes. Last he removed his jeans and folded those too. The habits he’d picked up from his years in the army were hard to shake.

  Speaking of shaking. Jesus. He hadn’t been this nervous the first time he’d jumped out of an airplane.

  The wood floors were warm beneath his bare feet as he left the foyer and entered the main living area. He allowed a quick glance at the large space with a minimal amount of furniture before his gaze zoomed in on the candles flickering in the window.

  Wow. What a view. It was too dark to see the Rockies in the distance, but the lights of Denver spread out as far as the eye could see. He took another quick look off to his left. More windows. Another bunch of furniture in front of a fireplace.

  Then Knox faced forward and got into position: feet apart, shoulders back, hands clasped behind him. Normally his head would be up, but he suspected she’d want him looking at the ground.

  He tried to calm his mind using the Zen tactics Ronin had taught him, but the thoughts bouncing around in his brain refused to be contained.

  What are you doing here, almost naked and waiting for a woman to toy with you? No wonder you call her She-Cat. She’s the predator and you’re the prey.

  How long would she make him wait?

  Focus on breathing.

  That helped.

  She approached him from the side, so he saw her in his peripheral vision. He didn’t look at her, but the instant her hand caressed his biceps, his heart started to race.

&n
bsp; Shiori continued to touch him. From his wrist to the ball of his shoulder; then her fingertips trailed across his back. She detoured up the back of his neck, pushing her hand through his hair to the top of his scalp and then back down to sweep along the curve of his shoulder and caressing his other arm.

  Those simple, exploring touches brought his dick to full attention.

  Her arms circled his waist and she pressed her face into his spine below his shoulder blades. “Quite a sight you are in my living room, Knox. All these acres of muscles to pet and squeeze and tease. I’m a lucky woman tonight.”

  He closed his eyes, pleased by her praise.

  She scraped her fingernails down the backs of his arms and gooseflesh broke out. Then she threaded her fingers through his. “Come on.” She tugged on him and led him past the second living area.

  Knox couldn’t keep his eyes off Shiori’s ass, displayed in a tiny pair of skintight spandex shorts. Would she let him touch her tonight?

  She turned the corner, leading him into a bedroom. Candles gave the room a soft glow and filled it with the aroma of flowers and herbs. The bedding had been stripped.

  She flattened her palms on his chest and caught his eyes. “You all right? You haven’t said anything.”

  “I didn’t know if I was supposed to speak.”

  Her hands moved up to frame his face. “You can speak at will, as long as it’s respectful or unless I specifically say no talking. Understand?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Kiss me hello, Knox.”

  He knocked her hands free when he reached down and slipped his fingers beneath her jaw. He kissed her very, very softly at first. Letting the shape of her lips form to his as he gently glided side to side. Each pass she parted her lips a little more, so when he felt her breath, he pushed his tongue into her mouth. As he tasted her fully, he clamped his other hand on her butt and pulled her against his lower body.

  Shiori’s fingertips dug into his abs as she created distance between their bodies, reminding him she was in control.

  Knox couldn’t get enough of her mouth. He poured every ounce of passion he felt for her into the kiss; then he eased off, playfully nibbling on her upper and lower lip, sucking on her tongue. Between sweet, slow kisses, he murmured, “I could kiss you all damn night.”

  She laughed softly and that ended the kiss. “But I do have other plans for us.” She stepped back and ran her finger along the elastic band of his boxer briefs, outlining the tip of his cock, which had escaped the confines of his underwear. When he glanced down to watch her touching him, she said, “Look at me.”

  His eyes met hers.

  “How’s your orgasm control?”

  Jesus. “Meaning can I last a long time when I’m fucking? Yes.”

  “Good to know,” she murmured. “But I’m talking about when I’ve got you facedown on the bed and I’m touching you all over. With my hands. With my body. With my mouth. Can you control yourself?” She swept the pad of her thumb across the ridge of his cock head. Over and over.

  Everything in him tightened, and he felt like a teenager getting his first hand job. “I, ah, don’t know as I’ve never been in that situation where I have to hold back.”

  “I appreciate your honesty. But I think I’d better put a cock ring on you.” She kept stroking him. “Ever worn one before?”

  “No.”

  “No, what?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  Shiori stepped back. “Take off your underwear and return to rest position while I grab your cock ring.”

  He shoved his briefs down and folded them in half before draping them on the end of the bed. This time when she sauntered back, he didn’t bother keeping his gaze lowered.

  “This is a silicone cock ring.” She held his dick with both hands and rolled the black ring down his shaft. Then she rubbed her face in the patch of chest hair between his pecs and sighed. “I love the way you smell. I love chest hair. There’s just something so primal and male about it.”

  Knox stared down at the top of her head, completely off balance. She said nothing about his cock. And yeah, he was a guy, so he knew his dick was bigger than average and he’d never gotten a complaint on how he used it.

  After another nuzzle and a kiss, Shiori retreated and looked at him.

  For the first time tonight he felt the power in her. It flowed over him and blew his fucking mind. He had the overwhelming desire to do anything she asked . . . But on the heels of that came his skepticism.

  “Tonight is about us getting to know each other outside of the roles we’re familiar with. So when I ask you a question, I want an honest answer. Now I want you on the mattress in a spread-eagle pose, not painfully stretched out, but comfortable.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He eyed the bottle on the nightstand warily—lube?—before he did her bidding.

  Shiori straddled his hips and sat on his butt. “I didn’t literally mean facedown. Turn your head to the side so you don’t suffocate or get a pain in your neck.”

  He turned to the left.

  She placed one hand at the base of his neck and the other played with his hair. In the last few months he’d kept it longer than a military buzz cut. When she started to scratch his scalp, he couldn’t help but expel a soft sigh.

  “You like getting head . . . massages. So noted.”

  “Is that what you’re doing? Giving me a massage? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”

  “I’m touching you, Knox. Learning what you like. What drives you wild.”

  “I could just tell you.”

  “And deny myself the pleasure of touching every inch of this hot, hard body of yours? This is about my pleasure, and it pleases me very much to pet, stroke, and taste”—she dragged her hot little tongue across the nape of his neck—“whatever part of you I please.”

  “You’re gonna torture me, aren’t you?”

  “Mmm-hmm. I bet I’ll find spots on your skin that even you didn’t know would make you buck and moan.”

  He doubted that.

  And in the next two minutes she totally proved him wrong.

  Shiori began kissing the back of his neck and along his shoulders. His skin tingled and tightened, and he couldn’t deny it felt great. He expected she’d move her mouth down his spine and kiss other sections of his back. But no. She kept kissing and sucking and biting on the same area without pause. Oh, she’d let the ends of her hair tease his skin, but then she’d be back at it until he started to rock his pelvis into the mattress. Goddamn, he was gonna come just from her kissing his back.

  She leaned back and latched on to both butt cheeks, digging her fingers in deep so it surpassed pleasure straight into pain. “Stop dry humping the mattress.”

  “Fuck. Ow.”

  More pressure on his ass. “What did you say?”

  Knox went still and said, “Yes, ma’am.”

  She released the death claws and resumed the erotic torture. Licking down his sides. Then she tucked her knees by his ribs and gyrated her hips, rubbing her pussy against his back while that wicked mouth started in on his arms.

  Jesus. Who knew the muscles in his biceps and triceps could quiver more from the teasing touch of her wet mouth than when he bench-pressed two hundred pounds?

  By the time she’d exhausted every inch of the rear side of his body, including using her teeth and tongue on the bottom curve of his butt cheeks—how the fuck hadn’t he known that was one of his