She laughed, spotting the twinkle in Bob’s eye. In some ways, she envied him. He was fine with his arrangement with the triad. It fulfilled what was missing most in his life, even if it didn’t include romance.
Skye needed the romance factor.
Axel unhooked his phone from the speaker and stopped the music. When they emerged from the pool house, they immediately spotted Landry and Cris in the shadows on the lanai, close to the house. Landry was stretched out in a chair, one foot propped on a hassock and one hand buried in Cris’ hair.
Cris knelt in front of him on the pool deck, hands clasped behind him, and most likely worshipping Landry’s cock.
No stranger to Landry doing things like this when it was just her and Bob around, she laced fingers with Axel and led him around the pool to talk to them.
Landry smiled up at them. “Ah, a successful evening, I take it?”
She bowed her head to him. “Thank you, Landry.”
“You’re quite welcome, girl, but I think it’s safe to say we can dispense with formalities between us now and transition back to friends, can we not?”
She stared up at Axel, his blue eyes, and squeezed his hand. “I think so.”
Axel turned, fisting her hair with his free hand, tipping her head back and staring down into her eyes. “You think so?”
“Yes, Sir! I-I mean, yes, Axel! I m-mean—”
Axel’s wide grin before he leaned in and kissed her into silence sent her spinning back down into subspace.
Landry’s warm chuckle settled around them. “And the world finally rights itself. What a beautiful sight.”
After Axel released her hair, Landry held his hand out to shake with Axel.
The entire time, Cris didn’t stop what he was doing, which was definitely worshipping the Dom’s cock.
She was honestly surprised that Axel shook with him, considering how she knew he had to be at least a little unnerved by what was going on right there.
When she reached out to shake Landry’s hand, he kissed the back of it instead of shaking. “If you are ever in need of advice, or a friendly ear, do not hesitate to call or stop in. Or if you wish to make use of our equipment. If we’re not home, we can arrange for Bob to meet you here and let you in and supervise.”
“Thanks,” Axel said. “And thank you for helping us.”
“Anytime. I’m glad we could contribute to your happy ending. Say good-bye, Cris.”
He reached up with one hand and waved, making Landry laugh and ruffle his hair. “My good boy. I’m looking forward to taking out a little tension on him once you’ve departed. Take care, and in all seriousness, our home is open to you. I’d rather you come here to play as you learn so you don’t have an unfortunate incident and it sets back your progress. I’ll even allow Bob to speak to you so he can offer coaching tips, as it were.”
“I’m not stubborn enough to turn down that offer,” Axel said as he draped an arm around her shoulders. “I’m not afraid anymore, but I’m not stupid enough to blunder along without a mentor.”
“Good man.”
Bob had emerged from the pool house while they were talking. By the time Skye and Axel made it to the front door, he stood waiting to let them out.
In the car on the way to Axel’s, she kept her hand on his thigh and he rested his hand on hers. She wondered if he’d want to talk, and he didn’t waste time.
“I can tell you now the whip is going to be something I can’t do. Not now. Maybe at some point in the future.”
“That’s fine, Sir.”
His thumb stroked hers. “If you could pick only one thing from all of what we did tonight—beside the orgasms—for me to do on our own, what would it be?”
“From what we did tonight, Sir?”
“Yeah.”
“Honestly?”
“Of course.”
She suspected this would get pushback, but he wanted honesty. “The knife play, Sir. I think it sends me deepest into subspace.”
She watched his face. He slowly nodded his head as a sexy smile curled his lips. “Cool,” he said.
Chapter Twenty-One
Axel and Skye danced on the far side of Cris and Landry’s pool as Hozier’s “Jackie and Wilson” filtered through the house’s sound system. The play party hadn’t started yet, but the men had invited them to arrive several hours early, if they wanted, to use the equipment and implements.
Axel had eagerly taken them up on that generous offer. In the four months since the big breakthrough night, Axel and Skye had played at the triad’s house several times.
Sometimes with only Bob in attendance.
Axel had grown more confident in his skills and had purchased a couple of paddles and canes from Cali, but he still didn’t want to scene at the club yet.
Skye was good with that.
Especially since Axel was becoming an expert in forced orgasm play, and their scenes nearly always ended with his cock buried in one of her holes, with a gag, vibrator, or butt plug in the others.
At home, however, he didn’t hesitate to do bare-handed spankings and knife play with her. He’d bought a Buck knife similar to the one Landry had, and even carried it with him in his pocket.
It proved really distracting to Skye when he’d randomly take it out on D&D nights and not look at her when he laid it on the table where he knew damn well she could see it.
That usually drenched her pussy and nearly always gave her a hard shove toward subspace.
And he’d become quite the sexual sadist in bed, definitely a Dominant who didn’t mind getting what he wanted from her and had become comfortable taking care both of her sexual needs, and her desires to be used by him. When they were alone at his house, it wasn’t unusual for him to bend her over a counter and fuck her while she was cooking dinner for him and then make her wait until bedtime to come.
It melted her every time.
He’d also moved her and Barksley in with him four weeks ago. It hadn’t been a request or an invitation, so much as it was her coming home from work one day to her parents’ house to find a rental truck parked in their driveway, and Axel and her dad loading her stuff.
She pretended she’d forgotten to tell her parents about it. She’d already been moving things into Axel’s a carload or suitcase at a time. She slept there so often it was easier to keep clothes and other things there.
As Axel had smiled his evil smile and kissed her in greeting, he’d leaned in and bit her ear lobe, hard, almost making her come right there.
Biting had become a big part of their sex life, and she loved looking at the marks in the mirror the next morning.
Her Dom was a fast learner, she was happy to see.
“Good girl,” he’d whispered before stepping back, that deliciously evil smile still on his face.
Yeeesss!
And since she had to drive almost past her parents’ house on her way to work, her mom insisted they’d do doggy day care for Barksley for free.
She couldn’t turn that down.
Skye had rituals and protocols, just a couple and very simple, but Axel was building this for them from the ground up, and she understood that. Methodical, careful.
And very, very calculating.
Also hotter than fuck.
Maybe it was still their new relationship energy, but when she walked through his door every night, even before he moved her in with him, her pussy was usually soaked well before she stripped just inside the door.
She wasn’t allowed clothes without asking first.
Just thinking about the low, quiet tone of his voice as he’d stated that rule made her shiver in good ways and sink toward subspace.
And he always kept her slightly off-center in good ways. Like the thing with moving her in. Usually nothing that big, but just when she’d start to think maybe he wasn’t paying attention, he’d do something subtle that never failed to drop her into subspace. Like grabbing her hair in the kitchen at Grant’s one night during a break in the game, and graz
ing his teeth along her throat as he walked through the kitchen, only to walk out again and leave her swaying on her feet and ready to beg to service him to earn an orgasm.
He wasn’t Landry, with lots of formal rules and protocols.
He didn’t have to be.
He was Axel, and he was quickly settling into his role and having fun tinkering with her brain to see what would mutually work in their dynamic. Sometimes he tried stuff that didn’t work. He didn’t hesitate to discard it and try something else.
Last Saturday, he’d collared her at the club, giving her an ankle bracelet to wear very similar to the one Mike had given Jenny.
She wore it right now.
Tonight, Skye also sported a very sore ass under her sundress. Remnants of subspace from their earlier scene still swirled through her brain. Axel hadn’t let her come yet and he had not, either. Beneath her bare feet, the concrete pool deck radiated some of the afternoon’s warmth even though the sun had set.
A perfect night.
In that light, Axel’s blue eyes appeared dark like midnight, as deep as the Milky Way and every bit as entrancing to her. Reflected light rippled off their bodies from the pool, their own personal dance club before the rest of the guests arrived for the play party.
He held her hand in his right, his left resting in the small of her back. That one he now slid down to her ass, no panties to interfere in his quest. He squeezed, fingers digging in hard through the fabric until she pressed her body against his and let out a soft, needy moan. She felt his cock, hard, pressing through his jeans.
That would be hers later, if she was his good girl.
She would have been riding him like a pony by now, if he’d let her.
It didn’t matter to her if he wanted to play with her in front of a room full of people, or alone.
He wanted to play with her.
The breakthrough and aftermath were a messy perfection she never wanted to end.
She was his, and he was hers.
She was a good girl—his good girl. He’d learned how to give her what she needed in the ways that he wanted, and it was fine, sweet, a little twisted, and very very hot.
Kelly, who?
The outer edges of his eyes narrowed slightly, amusement there. “What’s wrong, baby?” He delivered a hard, stinging swat to her ass and she nearly came.
“Nothing, Sir. Nothing’s wrong.” She rubbed against him but he shifted his hips slightly, denying her ability to tease him further, much less to get traction for herself.
“Are you suuure?”
“Everything’s perfect, Sir.”
Now the smile followed, the left corner of his mouth quirking slightly.
They heard the sliders open and when they looked, they spotted Bob emerging onto the lanai. He raised his hand in greeting but didn’t call out. He walked over to the pool house and entered, probably checking supplies for Landry and Cris ahead of the party.
When she looked up, she realized Axel had watched him. Then his gaze swiveled back down to her.
“Yeeesss?” The same drawl he gave someone in a game when he knew they were about to do something critically stupid but he was going to let them touch that damn stove with both hands just because it would amuse him.
Who said he wasn’t a sadist?
“Thank you,” she said, all serious now. “Really.”
His expression softened, sweetened. “I love you. I’m still not…comfortable with some things. But the more I watch, the more I learn. You’ll have to be satisfied doing this at my speed.”
“I am.”
He nodded, quiet for a moment. “I might have…bought something.”
She arched an eyebrow in curiosity, but didn’t reply.
“From Everett.”
She didn’t dare hope, but now both eyebrows had arched.
“Eliza showed me one she’d bought from him that he made, so I…ordered one, too. He’s bringing it tonight.”
A soft gasp escaped her, her stomach fluttering even as her clit throbbed anew.
“Care to guess?”
Pleasebeknifepleasebeknifepleasebeknife… “Does Sir want me to guess?”
The smile returned. “I wouldn’t have said anything if I didn’t.”
She had to lick her lips. Around them, the opening bars of Hozier’s “Cherry Wine” started. “A knife?”
It was her favorite thing, knife play.
Well, after orgasms.
And after snuggling with him.
Even though he hadn’t brought up the subject of marriage, and she knew his opinion on it from the night he’d freaked out, she was okay with that.
They were together.
He wanted to be with her.
The hand on her ass dipped, catching the hem of her sundress and lifting it as his nails raked up, hard, through the fresh welts and bruises branding her flesh as his. A hiss of pleasure escaped her and she felt the insides of her thighs grow slick.
“Maaaybe.” The smile widened. He surprised her when he lifted her sundress all the way up, off and over her head, then reached out and discarded it on a nearby lounger. Both hands cupped her ass, nails digging in while she undulated against his denim-clad thigh.
Now she knew she wasn’t getting off any time soon. He would wait and dangle knife play over her head, a literal Sword of Damocles. If she got off now, no knife play.
If she let him tease and torment her until then, he would do that to her.
Now she understood why he hadn’t made her come when he’d paddled and caned her on the bench in the living room.
Bob emerged from the pool house, his arms full with a heavy-looking plastic tote, and headed back into the house.
Axel’s gaze had flicked his way before returning to her.
“How badly do you want it, baby?” he softly asked.
“Badly, Sir.”
He released her ass and pointed at the pool deck. “Show me.”
At first, she wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly, but there was no mistaking what he wanted.
Practically delirious with need and definitely sinking deep into subspace again, she dropped to her knees right there and unfastened his belt, his jeans, worked the zipper down.
Sought her target.
She swallowed his cock until her face was pressed against his jeans. Her hands slipped behind his thighs, holding on. She softly moaned when he buried his hands in her hair and actually fucked her face. Not a blow job, but a good, hard, deep face-fucking.
One long, continuous happy moan floated from her as she didn’t even try to keep up with him. Eagerly sucking and licking, she closed her eyes and thought maybe she’d died and gone to heaven. He was hard, too, like he always got just before he climaxed, meaning he’d been even hornier than she’d gauged earlier.
Way hornier.
“Take it, girl,” he whispered. A soft, happy squeal escaped her when his fingers dug into her scalp and he buried his cock deep down her throat. She swallowed, the salty-sweet taste of him filling her senses. His body tensed, Axel breathing heavy before he finally eased his grip and started stroking her hair.
His cock softened in her mouth but didn’t get completely soft. A fact she noted as she gently started sucking on him again. If she had even a snowball’s chance at getting a second one out of him, she’d eagerly take it.
“Good girl.” He let her do it for another minute before tapping her on the head. “Enough.”
Reluctantly, she released his cock from her mouth after one last, lingering kiss on the tip. Then she carefully tucked him back into his briefs and refastened his jeans and belt, kneeling, waiting.
* * * *
Axel hadn’t been sure he’d be able to go through with that, but with them virtually alone, he knew he had to try. It was on her list, for him to use her where and how he wanted, even at a party. He had the at-home using down pat, but now he needed to build his confidence away from home.
Baby steps.
Shallow end of the pool.
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Although looking back, it seemed like, somehow, he’d ended up way past the shallows and was now staring at deep open water ahead of him.
When she tipped her head up and back, he spotted how glazed her green eyes looked. Fully back down into subspace.
Happy.
He helped her up, pulling her body against his and leaning in for a kiss. “Thank you, baby.”
Kill or die for that smile? Sure. Absolutely.
Without hesitation or second thought.
“Thank you, Sir.”
He reached behind him and laid his hands over hers, sliding them down his ass until they were tucked into his back pockets.
Then he leaned forward and engulfed her in his arms again, waiting.
Didn’t take her long.
A soft gasp as her right fingers found and explored it, then her hand emerged holding it.
“If you think you can live with me, and be patient with me, then I’d like to make it official and not just with a collar.” He took it from her and slipped it onto her left ring finger. “Maybe we can do things right this time around, now that we’re older and wiser.”
“Yes!”
“Will I be enough for you like this? If I can’t push myself any farther?”
Now she was crying, but she nodded, eagerly. “Yes, Sir. More than enough.”
“Okay.” He leaned in for a long, sweet kiss, her arms draping around his neck, practically hanging from him now.
“What changed your mind?” she softly asked when he lifted his mouth from hers.
He had to think about it. It wasn’t any one thing. “Watching. Actually seeing. Listening. Tilly told me that when my fear of losing you grew stronger than my fear of what I was doing to you, then I’d really start making progress.” He shrugged. “She was right. I am more scared of you walking out of my life again than I am of walking forward with you through this.”
In the dim light, her curly red hair fell around her shoulders, messy, gorgeous.
His.
Only his.
“I know there are other guys out there who can give you this, who are better at it than me, but you want me. I don’t know why. I can keep trying to hold on to some arbitrary moral high ground that doesn’t really exist, or I can start living and leave the past behind me. If you’re my future, I think it’s worth trying.”