Another lash on my bottom.
Then the backs of my thighs.
Then between my legs.
A river of heat lit up from that delicious, tormenting blow. Pain and fire and pleasure and so many overwhelming sensations that I couldn’t even begin to describe.
One blow to my butt.
Thighs.
Between.
Again.
Again.
I started to shake, feeling the climax building inside me. I found myself pushing back towards him, wanting, needing...
And then he stopped.
I tensed, my breath locked in my lungs—was he…a test. He was testing me. Toying with me. A test of trust. My trust in him that he’d make this good for me.
Something landed on the bed in front of me, brushing against my thigh as it went by. I looked down and stared, dazed, at the flogger that lay on the mattress. Dammit! Frustrated need twisted in my gut, a fist there.
“Please,” I whispered.
He turned me around more easily than before by simply lifting me off the floor. No need to walk. Gentle hands cupped my face, lifted my lips for a kiss. His mouth was soft against mine, a surprising contrast to his prior ministrations. My body throbbed with need. The need to feel him, to feel the flogger, to feel those lashes between my thighs…something. Anything that would relieve the pressure inside me.
I felt a tug at my wrists as he broke the kiss. As he lowered my arms, I couldn’t suppress the groan of relief. Pins and needles rushed through my veins. He reached around me and when he straightened, I saw a bottle of lotion in his hand. He opened it and I smelled vanilla. Without a word, he massaged the cool liquid into my chafed skin. The sharp need inside me softened and spread. With just this gesture, he reminded me that I could trust him, not only for my pleasure, but to take care of me as well.
When he was finished, he tossed the bottle back where he’d gotten it, and shifted me so that I was standing a few feet further from the bed.
“What are you…?”
“Quiet.” It was a command, no matter how softly spoken.
I nodded my understanding. He helped me down onto my knees, then pressed on my back. I leaned forward until I was resting on my elbows. He still had the spreader bar in place and I caught my breath when I realized just what other purpose it served. I was face down on the floor, my butt high in the air, every part of me spread apart and ready for the taking.
Before I could even think, he was inside me and I screamed at the fullness of his invasion. Too much, too fast. He withdrew and surged back inside, bringing another raw, rough noise to my lips. I was wet, but not stretched and he was big, rubbing against every inch of me.
He brought his hand down hard on my ass and then—
I froze, every muscle in my body instantly tense. Waiting. Afraid. Not afraid.
He cursed as my pussy tightened around him, but he pressed his thumb against my asshole again. I twisted away, or tried to, but I was caught. He fisted his free hand in my hair and tugged me up, holding me in place. My palms were flat on the floor, taking most of my weight, but pain still radiated down from my scalp. Between the spreader bar, being impaled on his cock and the grip he had on my hair, I couldn’t move.
“I want you to be still for me now, Aleena,” he said, his voice even, as if he wasn’t buried balls deep inside me. “Do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir.” I couldn’t breathe.
He pressed harder and I could feel my muscles working to keep him out. “Do you remember the word you use if you want me to stop?”
I tried to nod, but couldn’t. The grip he had on my hair was too tight. Forcing the words out through my tight throat, I said, “Yes. I remember.”
“If you use it, I’ll stop and we’ll be done. But if you don’t…” He made a strange little twisting movement with his thumb, the tip of it popping past the ring of muscle.
I cried out, falling forward as he released my hair. Scrabbling at the floor, I tried again to pull away and I opened my mouth, ready to say it, ready to say the word that would make him stop.
“Does it hurt?” Dominic asked. His voice was calm, but I could hear the undercurrent of emotion in the question. Concern, but also desire. Need. Need not only to do this for his pleasure, but for mine. Need for me to trust him. “Aleena...”
I wanted to say yes. Yes, it hurt. But…it didn’t.
I could feel the top part of his thumb inside my ass, less than an inch, and it didn’t feel good, exactly. It was strange and tight and too intimate. Embarrassing and odd. But…it didn’t really hurt.
Closing my eyes, I forced myself to answer. “No.”
He pulled his thumb out.
I breathed out a sigh of relief and focused on the rhythm of his hips. Slow swivels and shallow, lazy strokes that relaxed my body.
Too lazy, I realized a few moments later, as his hand returned to the narrow opening between my cheeks and his fingers were wet and slick. I could smell cinnamon mixing with the vanilla lotion on my wrists.
“I’ve got lubricant on my fingers,” he said as he rubbed them against my anus. “I’m going to touch you again and put my finger inside your ass. All the way this time.”
I shuddered. “Dominic…no. I don’t…” Panic fluttered in my stomach.
“Remember how you make me stop.”
I arched up in shock as he started to push his finger inside. It was too small and it burned, my muscles fighting against the intrusion. I cried out as he kept going, forcing my ass to open wide to accept his whole finger. Then he was in and I whimpered, my entire body trembling.
“Relax,” Dominic said. “You’re fighting me.”
No shit! I would have shouted it, except I was still having trouble breathing. My chest felt tight. My skin felt tight. Constricted. Then he started to move his finger inside me, slow, careful thrusts. As his hips began to move, he matched each stroke, neither one hurried or rough, but filling me more completely than I knew was possible. Before I realized it, the strange, peculiar sensations gave away to a pleasure that was almost more than I could handle. I gasped as something tight inside me relaxed.
Distantly, I heard Dominic murmur, “That’s it…take it, baby. Take it…”
I don’t know what he was talking about, but I found myself rocking back against him. Riding his cock. Riding his hand.
“I’m going to give you more,” he told me.
I swore as a second finger worked its way into me. The burn and pain was back, but it mixed with the pleasure more quickly this time. His cock moved faster and the hand on my hip tightened until I knew I was going to have bruises. Then he twisted his fingers and I cried out.
He drove into me.
Harder.
Faster.
I pushed back to meet his every thrust, the need for him, for release, overriding any embarrassment I might have felt otherwise. He stopped moving the fingers in my ass, keeping them buried inside me as he pounded into me. And then I was coming, my arms shaking so badly that I couldn’t hold myself up, but then I didn’t have to because his hand was in my hair again, twisting my head around so he could kiss me. I bit his bottom lip and he came.
It was hard and it was messy and I almost blacked out as he rode me from one orgasm into another.
***
We were curled up on the couch later when Dominic slid a hand down and cupped my ass. I hissed as my skin stung under his touch. He’d used the same vanilla lotion on every place he’d used the flogger and it soothed some of the burning, but I was still sensitive.
“Did you enjoy it?” The question sounded casual, but I could feel the tension in his body.
Immediately, blood rushed to my face as I thought about what we’d done. “Wasn’t that obvious?”
I stared hard at the TV. We’d spent several evenings together lately. We’d gone out. We’d gone to the movies. We’d made love in the kitchen on the floor while the food I’d been cooking burned. And we’d cuddled on the couch, content to just be
with each other.
It was as close to bliss as I’d ever been and I thought maybe, just maybe, things could work out. But I still didn’t know how to handle all these crazy, embarrassing questions he liked to ask. How was I supposed to say that I’d enjoyed the pain of the flogger? That I’d enjoyed having his fingers in my ass while he fucked me? Where I came from, those weren’t things good girls were supposed to like. I might’ve grown up a lot since coming here, but I still thought of myself as a good girl.
He turned his face into my hair and I shivered as he sought out my ear and nipped it, just hard enough to hurt.
“Answer the question.”
I had to swallow, then clear my throat—twice—before I could. “I’m not sure.” I did know I couldn’t answer while I was touching him.
Wiggling away, I sat on the edge of the couch and then flicked him a look. His gaze rested on me, his blue eyes steady. He always looked so unaffected while I felt like everything in me was in distress. I understood his need to be in control, but I sometimes wished that I could know for certain that I had some sort of effect on him.
“I…well, it felt good.” My cheeks blazed even hotter. I forced myself to be completely honest. I understood that my role as Sub was not only to obey, but to make sure he knew how I felt. “It did hurt. A little. Then it felt really good.” I made myself meet his eyes. “But I’m getting the feeling you want to put something a lot bigger than your finger in my ass.”
“Yes,” he said. “I do.” He held out a hand.
Slowly, I put mine in his and he gave me a reassuring squeeze. When he tugged, I went to him, kneeling at his side so that I could face him more easily. I knew if he wanted me to move, he’d let me know.
He ran his fingers through my hair, rubbed his thumb over my lips. The mask he wore so often was slipping away and I could see the real him beneath. His voice was rough. “I want to have every part of you. I want to know every part of you.”
His thumb pressed against my lips and I opened my mouth, darting my tongue out to lick the pad of his thumb. He made a sound low in his throat and I knew I was getting what I wanted. He was showing me, telling me, how much I affected him.
His hand slid down my neck, fingers wrapping around my throat. Not squeezing, just there, the simple weight of them a reminder of his strength. “I want to feel my cock in your throat and I want to feel you come against my mouth. I want to feel your nails tearing the skin of my back and I want to hear you sobbing my name as I fill every part of you with my cock.” He bent forward, his body surrounding mine. I shivered as he slid a hand down my back and palmed my ass. “I want you to mark me with your teeth and mouth.” He nipped at the side of my neck. “And I want to leave my mark on you so everyone knows that you’re mine.”
I closed my eyes. Fuck. He pulled back enough so that he could raise my face to look at him. I didn’t need the command to open my eyes. His eyes were blazing as he continued, burning with desire so strong I didn’t know if I could stand it.
“I want to fill every last part of you. I want to see you shaking as you fight to take me. And I want to see your eyes widen as the pain gives way to pleasure and I want to feel you break for me when you finally come.”
I was practically panting by the time he finished.
“So,” I asked weakly. “When do we start?”
Chapter 3
Dominic
When do we start?
She’d asked me that question more than fourteen hours ago and although logically I knew it wasn’t the case, I still felt like I was still sporting the hardest damn erection in the history of the world.
I could have been a real bastard and taken her right then.
It didn’t matter that she was untried for what I wanted from her. I could have made her ready and I could have made her want it.
Fuck that.
She already wanted it.
I could have made her beg for it.
But I wanted her ready. Really ready so that there were no doubts, no second-guessing and no regrets. More than that, I wanted to do the right thing for her.
Still, I would have her yielding everything to me when the time came.
I’d have her bound and bent over, vulnerable and begging.
And I’d fill her so slowly, she’d be squirming and sobbing before I even pushed my head through that tight ring of muscles.
Then I’d have her twisting and writhing around me, coming from my cock in her ass.
But not yet.
Definitely not right now.
Brooding, I stared at the name that flashed up on my agenda and then moved to the door, sincerely hoping that my thoughts weren’t making themselves known on my body.
Aleena and Amber were talking quietly as they went over some of the information for the interviews they had lined up this week. One of the interviews was a woman from Devoted. Joely had worked for the match making company for nearly a decade, and both Aleena and Amber had come to the same conclusion as I had. Joely was underutilized, underpaid, and she either needed to transfer out or find a job where she could put her skill-set to use.
I personally preferred to keep the talent for myself, so she was on the schedule for an interview later in the day. She wasn’t my current appointment, however, and she definitely wasn’t the reason I was pissed off.
So far, the little shit was five minutes late. That didn’t bode well for him. Not that this would be pleasant for him to begin with.
“Aleena.” She looked up and I had to force myself to keep my voice professional. Every time I looked at her, desire hit me hard. I couldn’t show it here though. “When he gets here, I want you to bring him back.”
Aleena’s eyes flashed, but her voice was polite. “Sir?”
Shit. “Hear me out.” I put my hands in my pockets to keep from making a gesture of surrender. I’d put her in a terrible place without realizing it, but I had to maintain my position in front of Amber. What I really wanted to do was take the man who’d insulted her—who’d put his fucking hands on her—and break every bone in said hands. But I had to be a businessman first, play it smart.
First.
And once he fucked up again?
I’d rip his balls off and have them for breakfast.
“Bring him back,” I said again as she crossed her arms over her chest in a gesture I recognized all too well. She drew her head back, a haughty look on her face. That look made me want to bite her. It made me want to pull up her skirt and bury my cock inside her. Take her hard and fast until she was screaming my name.
She must have seen something of what I felt because her chest rose sharply and the pupils in her eyes dilated. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and I wondered if her panties were wet.
Fuck.
If we’d been alone…
But we weren’t.
“I sent him a standard contract last night.” I studied her face as I explained and saw understanding immediately dawn in her eyes. Those contracts contained standard clauses on sexual harassment and issues on gender and racial equality, among other matters. “I received confirmation of its delivery, so I’ll ask him if he did, and naturally, I’ll ask him if he read it. I’m going to have him sign off. Then…” I blew out a breath and tucked my hands into my pockets. “I’m transferring him here. I want him out, but I can’t keep an eye on him when he’s in Philly and I’m here.”
“You want me to be, what, bait?”
I could tell by the look on her face exactly what she thought of that, but she at least looked like she was going to let me explain.
“No. Not bait. I’m not setting him up or trying to catch him. I couldn’t legally do that.” My smile was small and tight. “But he’s going to act how he’s going to act. I’d prefer him to do it in a place where nobody will make allowances for him and cover for him. And where I could take swift and immediate action.”
Aleena considered this for a moment and then gave a curt nod. “All right. But if he touches me one mor
e time, I might just break his hand.”
That wouldn’t be an issue. If Mitchell Pence touched her one more time, he might not have any hands left to break. I hated men like him to begin with, ones who thought their position and power meant they could touch anyone they wanted, do whatever they wanted, no matter whom they hurt. I would’ve fired him no matter who’d been on the receiving end. That it had been Aleena just made it more personal.
Before she could move away, I tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. She’d started wearing it down when she worked and, while I loved how it looked, I found it terribly distracting, remembering what it looked like spread on my pillow. “Thank you,” I said quietly. “For understanding.”
When she looked back up at me, she was smiling. It wasn’t her usual bright, wide smile, but it was genuine.
I started to move closer, but suddenly realized that Amber was still in the room. I looked up, but she was already heading for the door.
“Smoke break,” she called over her shoulder.
I was pretty sure she was grinning, but I didn’t really care at the moment. I closed the distance between Aleena and I until we were closer than was workplace appropriate—but I didn’t touch her. I knew if I did, I couldn’t guarantee I’d be able to control myself. And with Mitchell Pence overdue, being caught kissing Aleena wouldn’t be good. I could, however, say one of the things that had been on my mind all morning.
“You were already up and in the shower when I woke up. I’d thought about joining you in your bed.”
A shiver ran through her.
With the exception of occasionally passing out for an hour or two after sex, we still didn’t sleep together. Either she went to her bed or we both went our separate ways, depending on where we’d had sex. She never asked to stay and I never told her I wanted her to. I wasn’t sure if I did, or even if she wanted to sleep in the same bed. And I had absolutely no clue how to broach the subject, even if I decided I wanted to.
But I did know that there was nothing quite so pleasurable as crawling into bed with Aleena in the morning and waking her up degree by slow degree—or perhaps I should say, inch by slow inch—when I came inside her and watched her wake up as she took me in. Or when I took advantage of her not being in her submissive role and woke her by bringing her to orgasm with my mouth and fingers before sliding into that tight, wet heat...