She tugged at the dress and slowly pulled it over her head, revealing little by little the smooth expanse of skin underneath. She had been captivating through the computer screen. In person she was stunning.
She lifted her head, and when their eyes met, the look of longing, desire, and excitement took his breath away. At that moment, he hoped his eyes reflected the same to her.
“Go face the cross,” he said in a rough voice.
She moved without hesitation, and he couldn’t keep his eyes off her ass. In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that there was another practice session after theirs, he would have spent more time simply watching her. But, unfortunately, he couldn’t take as much time as he would like to.
“Lift your arms up,” he said. “Show me that you’re willingly putting yourself in my control. That you accept what I’m going to do to you.”
She lifted her arms, and he couldn’t help but notice they were trembling. The small show of nerves fed the beast within him.
“Oh, Faye,” he said, walking slowly toward her. “Do you know how long I’ve waited to have you like this?”
As he talked, he secured each wrist to padded leather straps above her head. He did the same with her ankles and then he took a step back.
“Holy fuck, Faye,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so hot in my entire life. The sight of you, submitting to me this way. You have no idea what it does to me.” He shook his head. Maybe tonight in their room, they could do more, and then he would take his time. He took a bell out of his bag and pressed it into her right hand. “Since your voice is gone, drop this to safeword. Nod if you understand.”
She nodded.
He ran a hand down her back, feeling the skin he was getting ready to mark. “I’m only stopping when you drop it.”
She sucked in a breath, but nodded.
He took a flogger and began to warm her up, falling into a ritual he hadn’t performed in far too long. The mutual give-and-take never failed to turn him on. The dance of submissive and Dominant. Faye felt it, too. He could tell by the way her body swayed and the way she took each stroke he gave.
After warming her up with the flogger for several minutes, he put it to the side and picked up his bullwhip. Sometimes he’d make it crack in the air before using it, but it appeared Faye was already in subspace, and he wanted her to stay there for the moment.
“We don’t have the time here,” he said. “But after I get you down from there and back in our rooms, I’m going to put you facedown on my bed so I can fuck you while I look at the stripes I’m getting ready to put on you.”
She gave a lazy nod.
He studied her as he brought the whip down across her back. Her head fell back and she moaned. The sound was so unexpected, he stopped for a second. Warning bells sounded inside his head, but although it was so familiar, he couldn’t figure out why. He whipped her again.
She giggled, and he froze.
Why the hell did it sound familiar? He was torn between bringing the single tail down again and trying to put his finger on exactly where he’d heard that laugh before.
“Finally figured it out, didn’t you?” someone whispered from behind him. Another familiar voice.
He spun around. Anna Beth?
She was naked and wore only a victorious grin. “Yes. I’m a bit late. Somehow my practice session got scheduled before yours, and that wouldn’t do. I couldn’t risk the two of you seeing me before you started.”
Their commotion must have ripped Faye out of subspace, because she started pulling at her bonds. Her body jerked at the sound of Anna Beth’s voice.
“If you saw me, you would have run away. Isn’t that right, Lynne?” Anna Beth spoke with evil sweetness.
“No,” the woman he knew as Faye wailed from her position.
“Lynne?” he questioned, but even as his mouth spoke the word, his head recognized the truth.
Holy shit. What have I done?
She dropped the bell and sobbed.
“Serves you right, bitch,” Anna Beth spat. “Don’t you know not to lie to your Dom?”
A dungeon monitor stepped up beside him. “What’s going on?”
Simon didn’t know how to answer. Dammit all, this was a mess. He ran a hand through his hair. “You take care of that one.” He pointed at Anna Beth. “She disrupted my scene and harassed my sub. See to it that she’s punished appropriately. I’ll take care of my sub.”
My sub. Fuck. The truth was, she wasn’t his sub. She was a liar who had played him. Without talking, he stepped around the cross and jerked the mask off Faye. Faye who was really Lynne. She pleaded with tear-filled eyes, but they didn’t move him. All he felt was anger.
“I don’t know what kind of game you think you’re playing, but I’m going to get you down and then we’re going to the room, where we’re going to talk.” He cupped her chin, hard. “You can talk, can’t you?”
“Yes, Sir,” she replied miserably.
He unbuckled her, his movements nowhere near as gentle as he’d been when he’d bound her. She sniffled the entire time, but if she thought he was going to fall apart because of a few tears, she was sorely mistaken.
As soon as she was freed, she fell to his feet. “I’m sorry, Sir. I was going to tell you tonight. I promise. I just wanted to do the practice. To prove—”
“Quiet. I didn’t give you permission to speak. And stand up. You look ridiculous.”
She sniffled again and stood up, reaching for her clothes. Simon snatched them before she could get them.
“Wrong. You don’t deserve clothes.” He nodded toward the door, dismayed by the number of people watching the train wreck his practice session had become. “Go.”
“I get that you don’t want me. I’m so sorry. I’ll leave—”
He struck her backside once.
“Ow.”
“I don’t recall giving you permission to talk.” He pushed her out the door and into the hall.
“I know, Sir. It’s just—”
“Lynne?”
“Yes, Sir?”
“Shut the fuck up,” he said, and then instantly regretted doing so. If they were going to have a serious discussion, he needed to prove that he had his temper under control. Yes, he was mad as hell at having been played, but he needed to be in control of his emotions.
He forced himself to take deep breaths, and by the time they made it to the room, he felt calmer. Granted, he was still angry, but all things considered, he was in a much better place.
He pointed to the middle of the floor. “Kneel.”
Lynne’s head was bowed. She hadn’t looked at him since they’d left the practice room. He would let her escape his stare for now.
“Tell me what the hell you were thinking, pretending to be someone else,” he said.
Her face flushed. “I wanted to get back into the lifestyle, so I went online. I saw you and I wanted . . .” She took a deep breath. “I wanted to prove to you that I was submissive, Sir. That I could be what you need.”
“You think I need a liar?”
She winced as though he’d struck her. It didn’t make him happy and it didn’t make him proud. Yes, he identified as a sadist, but any pain he dealt out had to be mutually agreed upon.
“You might,” she said. “You did play with Anna Beth, Sir.”
She had him there.
“True, but I stopped as soon as I saw her for what she is.” Her shoulders slumped at his words. “What you’ve done is played me, acting like a spoiled child who would do anything to get what she wants, no matter the cost. Trust is one of the cornerstones of BDSM. How did you expect to have any sort of relationship when everything between us is built on a lie?”
She lifted her head at that. “I didn’t plan on having a relationship. I just wanted to prove myself.”
“Which you failed at, because, again, lies and untrustworthiness mean there was no partnership here.”
“I’ll just get my things and go.” She
made a move to stand up.
“Don’t move,” he said. His voice must have been menacing enough because she dropped back to her knees. “You aren’t going anywhere because I agreed to do the single-tail demo tomorrow and I’m in need of a sub.”
“I’m sure there are plenty of submissives here who would jump at the chance to do the demo with you.”
“Probably.” He nodded, not missing the flash of jealousy that crossed her face. “But not one of them signed up to do the demo with me, I haven’t practiced with any of them, and outside of Anna Beth, I don’t know of any of them in need of correction.”
He watched as understanding crossed her face. “I didn’t think you were demoing the single tail as a punishment, Sir.”
“Semantics.”
“I could just leave, you know. You can’t keep me here against my will.”
“Of course not.” That she would think he would do something without her consent rekindled his rage. She was trying to goad him, and she would learn real quick that he didn’t play those sorts of games. “You’re free to leave anytime you want. But you’re the one going on and on about how submissive you are. Here’s a chance to back it up with more than words. Stay and face the consequences of your actions. Or leave and prove that I was right about you the first time.”
Chapter Eight
Lynne swore she could feel the anger radiate off Simon. One glance at him standing there, arms crossed over his chest and the irate expression on his face, was almost enough to send her out the door and into her car. He was mad as hell. But she knew he’d never touch her in anger. Though, apparently, he wasn’t above mental play.
“You’re trying to manipulate me,” she said. “I’m not into playing mind games.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she could tell they were the wrong ones to say. He walked to stand in front of her, and since she was still on her knees, he towered over her.
“Let’s get one thing straight,” he said. “What we are discussing at the moment is in no way any sort of game for me. I live by a set of rules, and if you play with me, I expect you to do the same. When those rules are broken, there are ramifications. So, are you going to stay and accept my discipline, or should I help you pack?”
“I’ll stay,” she whispered.
“If you stay, you should know that I’ll expect you to be my submissive for the entire weekend and you are to take what I give you.”
“But I’ll have my safe words, right?”
“Of course. I would never think about playing without safe words. You should know me better.”
She started to speak, but he interrupted.
“Of course, I expect you to use them appropriately and not just because you don’t feel like doing something.”
She didn’t understand why he’d want her to be his submissive for the weekend when he was obviously so angry with her and planned to punish her the next day. Lord help her, she was mad to even think about staying. But his words about staying and putting meaning behind her claim to submission made sense.
It was possible that was what he wanted, a chance to see if she was who she said she was. Or maybe he just wanted to use her hard before dumping her like yesterday’s trash.
“Why?” she couldn’t stop from asking.
“Why what?”
“Why do you want me to be your sub this weekend? Why not just punish me and be done with it?”
“Because I’ve been jerking off to fantasies of both Faye and Lynne for the past month, and since it turns out you’re one and the same, it only makes sense to act out some of those fantasies. Don’t you think?”
She didn’t know what to think. She wanted Simon, but not like this. Not this angry, almost vindictive man before her.
“Don’t tell me you haven’t imagined it, too,” he said, cutting through to the truth and heart of the matter with one swoop. “Tell me you haven’t pictured yourself in the exact position you’re in now—on your knees, at my feet and waiting for my command.”
“Yes, but . . .” In her fantasies there had always been at least affection between them. Not this simmering stew of unresolved feelings and barely contained anger.
Yet, it was only for the weekend. She should do it and get Simon out of her system once and for all. If he could use her to play out his fantasies, she could do the same thing to him. When it was over and she was back in New York and later, in Wilmington, she could get serious about finding the right man, her one true Dom.
Above her, he waited.
“Are you going to tell Nathaniel?” she asked.
He raised an eyebrow. “Hell to the fucking no. Do I look like I have a death wish? He doesn’t know you’re here, does he?”
“He knows I’m doing a demo, but not anything else.” She debated telling him more, but then decided now was as good a time as any to come completely clean. “Abby knows.”
Simon muttered something under his breath and ran a hand over his face. “Abby knows? Fuck, Lynne, why would you tell her?”
“Because she’s my boss and a good friend. Plus, she’s been a submissive for a long time. I wanted her advice.” She bit her lip, hoping the next part was true. “I don’t think she’ll tell Nathaniel. She’s kept it from him this long, and I can’t imagine he’d be pleased to know she knew all this time and didn’t say anything.”
“You’re probably right.” He cocked his head. “Have you decided, then?”
She took a deep breath. It was time to put away the mask. Time to bare all for him. To be who she knew she was meant to be. “Yes, Sir. I’ll stay.”
If he was surprised, it didn’t show. “That’s the first thing you’ve said that’s pleased me all day.”
She didn’t have time to bask in his praise, because he fisted her hair and pulled her head up.
“Tell me what you saw in the courtyard before we went to practice,” he said.
So, he hadn’t missed that, had he?
“Anna Beth, Sir.”
“I see,” he said, but he didn’t release her hair. “I suppose you didn’t expect her to do what she did.”
She wasn’t sure if that was a question or a statement, so she remained quiet. Looking back, she probably should have expected her to do something like what she did. Luke had warned her, hadn’t he?
The snack she’d shared with Simon before the disastrous practice suddenly threatened to make an appearance. Her computer had been hacked. That was the only possible way Anna Beth would have known not only about her being Faye, but also where she was this weekend and what time she was practicing.
The hand on her chin tightened. “What was that look for?”
“I think Anna Beth hacked into my computer. That’s how she knew everything. Master DeVaan had warned me, but . . . Oh my God. She has access to everything.”
His expression softened for the first time since he discovered who she was. “I’m sorry, Lynne. I know that’s a tough blow. Do you know anyone who works with computer security?”
“I don’t know. Maybe Jeff Parks, Dena’s husband.”
“I know him. Let me give him a call. You stay right here.”
“Yes, Sir.”
He didn’t have to tell her to remain where she was. Between the drive, the practice session, Anna Beth, and Simon, she was exhausted. Even though she was still naked and on her knees, she closed her eyes. Just for a moment, she told herself. It was unclear how long he was gone, but she jerked when she heard him step into the room, and she realized she must have dozed a little bit.
“Were you sleeping?” he asked.
“I think I might have dozed off for a moment, Sir.” But she was wide-awake now. Wide-awake and very much aware of the man standing before her.