“Barney. Or red. Okay.” Good. Fine. She could stop everything if she wanted. As she stared into his intense eyes and felt the sheer power radiating from him, somehow that little safe word didn’t decrease her anxiety. Or her arousal.
“Now the rules.” He moved closer, so big that he loomed over her, like her Maine coon cat with its six-toed paw on a mouse. Even the marrow of her bones seemed to quiver.
A flicker of a smile touched his lips, creased his left cheek, and faded. “You have only one thing you may control tonight-whether to use your safe word or not. Otherwise, all the decisions, all the choices, are mine. Everything is in my hands.”
She nodded. Why did that sound so wrong and yet feel oddly like freedom?
“You will do what I say. Immediately. No backtalk, no questions, no argument. I want to hear only, ‘Yes, Jake,’ or ‘Yes, Sir.’ from you. Am I clear?”
When she nodded silently, his eyes hardened. She hurriedly said, “Uh, right. Yes, Jake.”
“Much better.” He released her. Stepped back. “Strip.”
“Excuse me?”
He didn’t answer, but when he raised his chin an infinitesimal amount, heat curled through her and melted her insides into compliance. Her shirt dropped onto the floor.
He nodded, and she could breathe again. She unlaced her boots and toed them off, added her socks, sheathed knife, and jeans to the pile. Hesitating, she stood in her cheap white bra and cotton panties, knowing there were others around, but unable to look away from his face. Almost naked, her body there for him to see-or reject. Anxiety made her fingers curl.
“You are consistent in your choice of attire, at least,” he murmured. “Come here.”
She took two steps forward. He ran his hand over her underwear, and the noise he made sounded very much like disgust. And then he pulled her panties down.
Oh Lord. Trying to keep the unease off her face, she stepped out of them. He reached around her, undid her bra, and slid it off her arms.
She was naked. In a roomful of people. This was absolutely insane-and she wanted him to touch her so badly she almost screamed.
When his big hands engulfed her breasts, fire liquefied her lower half. “Under all those clothes, you’re definitely a girl. And these feel as pretty as they look,” he commented. He rubbed his thumbs over her nipples, and her knees almost buckled with the searing need.
“I’m little,” she whispered. He dated C-cups, not-
He pinched one peak, a startling bite of pain, and a cry escaped her. Her clit throbbed as if he’d pinched her down there too.
“You have gorgeous breasts, sprite, and I’ll take responsiveness over size any day.”
He walked over to the couch and, from a big leather bag on the floor, pulled out a set of wrist cuffs. “Turn around, little sub.”
Her heart started pounding again. Surely all these changes in speed weren’t good for it. Very unhealthy. She stared at the restraints. “But…”
“Your answer to me is what?” He didn’t wait for her response but turned her so her back was to him, and fastened a cuff snugly around her left wrist. He ran a finger under it. “Kallie?”
“Yes, Sir.” It came out sounding as if she were a strangled cat, and he chuckled.
“Relax, sweetheart.”
The second cuff went on. Then she heard a
Jake walked in front of her and looked down at her naked body. The knowledge that she couldn’t protect herself, that he-anyone-could touch her, could handle her bare breasts, sent a quiver through her. And yet her nipples bunched into aching nubs.
With a faint smile, he did exactly what she’d been worrying about. Watching her face, he ran his hand over her breasts, one then the other, the slight scrape of his calloused hands intensely erotic. When his finger circled one nipple, she jumped and her arms jerked…and got nowhere. The floor seemed to roll under her, and she swayed. Even as her breathing sped up, she tugged harder, each tug emphasizing her helplessness. And how totally arousing it was.
How could that be? And why in the world had she agreed to this: handcuffs, naked, sex.
He ruffled her short hair, then grasped it and pulled her head back to kiss her. Teasingly, brushing his lips across hers until her mouth opened, and then sweeping inside. She wanted to hold him, to run her fingers through his thick brown hair, to… She couldn’t raise her hands. That rolling floor dropped right out from under her, and then he took possession of her mouth, deep and thorough, permitting no withdrawal.
With one hand on Kallie’s shoulder, Jake felt her try to move and her quivering, excited response when she couldn’t. The instinctive submission from her ripped right through his long-held detachment and brought a strong dominant’s needs roaring to the surface.
He’d enjoyed submissive women in the two years since Mimi’s death but had kept the interactions to light play, not trying to breach a sub’s deeper defenses or reach any emotional core. Serious play-mental play-exposed a dom’s soul as fully as his submissive’s and created a tie between them.
He didn’t want a bond with anyone. Considering how badly he’d misread Mimi, he didn’t deserve or trust himself with more.
Yet Kallie pulled at him. Vulnerable. Challenging.
And very, very female without those ugly clothes serving as a barrier. Just as well this was for only one night. He pulled back to tease her soft lips and moved his thumb to cover the racing pulse in her neck. She was definitely aroused and excited and probably expecting him to start beating on her pretty ass. He hardened at the thought of those round cheeks under his hand. The slap and quivering response…
But a submissive’s expectations were met at a dom’s inclination. He was inclined to take her for a walk. At the moment, she saw only him. What would happen when she remembered everyone else in the room?
He smiled at the thought. Although watching a submissive’s face turn pink with embarrassment was one of a dom’s small pleasures, he also must determine how public he should make the upcoming scene.
“Come, pet; let’s take a tour.” She’d learn about the types of play, and he’d observe her reactions. In his first few years as a sexual dominant, he’d learned that many subs hid fears, old land mines buried until something triggered them. Sometimes the sub didn’t even realize they were there. Honest communication and their body language revealed most of them.
Not all. Mimi had taught him that. With an effort, he pushed aside his guilt. He grasped Kallie’s upper arm, enjoying her toned muscles underneath the soft female padding. Tough little sub.
About five feet out of the small sitting area, she halted as if running into a wall. Jake smothered a laugh as he noted what had stopped her.
Rebecca and Rona had been manacled side by side to the log wall, both clad in corsets and garter belts. Both with their legs held open by spreader bars. Standing in front of them, their doms, Logan and Simon, turned to smile at Kallie.
And Kallie obviously remembered she was naked in a room filled with people. She
