James (Doms of Club Indigo #1)

Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

“ From now until we leave this place, I am your Dom and you are my submissive… Safeword is red, yellow if you need to slow down .” James’s words echoed in Laura’s head. It couldn’t be true. She didn’t believe it. BDSM might be exciting and sensual in the books she loved, but they were just stories, fantasies. The reality was Jake. And she most certainly was not a submissive.

She had hated the way her ex-husband had treated her. He was bossy and blunt, with no regard for her feelings. He was always demanding more of her time and sometimes it seemed he would suck all the life from her. It had taken a long time to realize she was worth more than he told her she was, even longer to make and carry out the plan to leave him. No way would she ever let another man tell her what to do!

But a safeword… He told her she had a safeword, exactly like the Dominants in her favorite books where the submissives had the power. She could use the safeword and make things stop. Could it be true ?

James watched her face as if he could read her mind, but gave her a few moments to think things through.

“You’re really going to spank me?” Laura asked at last.

“If you don’t get yourself down here over my knee or say ‘red’ by the time I count to ten, I’ll take my belt to you after I’ve finished with my hand. One.” He paused, then went on with his count. “Two. Three.”

When he reached seven, Laura knelt down and leaned over to put herself over his knees. She braced her hands on the ground, as much to stop their trembling as to hold herself steady.

“Good girl,” he praised. “The first step is the hardest. It’s brave of you to submit and accept your punishment. Now. Do you know why you’re getting this spanking?”

She nodded.

“Tell me.”

“Because you’re mad at me for going back to the windows,” she said hoarsely, almost whispering.

“No. You’re getting this spanking because you willfully endangered yourself. You didn’t listen to me when I told you it wasn’t safe to stand in front of the windows.”

He pushed up her skirt so only one thin layer of fabric covered her buttocks. The skin on the back of her legs prickled, as if every nerve ending was exposed. She instinctively tried to pull her legs in under her, but the thickly-muscled thighs beneath her prevented the movement. She hung her head and allowed her hair to shield her face, creating a barrier between her and the world. Her breath quickened, shallow and uneven, and a bead of sweat trickled down her temple, leaving a trail of discomfort in its wake. With each passing moment, she became more and more aware of her vulnerable position.

“Do you understand why you’re being punished?” James stroked his huge, callused hand over her panty-covered bottom. The thin material doing nothing to shield her from his touch.

She managed a weak nod, despite her dazed condition.

“Laura, I expect a verbal answer,” he admonished her.

“Y-yes, sir”

He bent forwards and whispered in her ear “Good girl. I like it when you call me ‘Sir.’”

Even with his low tone, the smile was evident in his voice. Laura relaxed her tense muscles. She hadn’t been aware she had been afraid, but now she felt curious, too.

The sound of the slap was her first cue before the searing hot pain jolted through her. Oh God, it hurts like hell !

This wasn’t fun or sexy as it was in the books she read. Before she could react, he slapped both her buttocks in quick succession.

She couldn’t do this.

She started to push up, but James seemed to have anticipated her movement and he put a heavy hand between her shoulder blades. She squirmed on his lap, trying to kick back and crawl forward at the same time, but James continued spanking as if she hadn’t done a thing, never hitting the same place twice, spreading that fiery burn over her entire bottom. His hand felt like concrete; it fucking hurt.

“Stop, please,” she pleaded.

James waited a moment, but then he continued. She thrashed and sobbed, but James didn’t stop spanking her. Her mind spun. As the pain and humiliation of being spanked sank in, she realized he was right. She had been stupid and willful. She only stepped in front of those windows the second time to be contrary. It wasn’t like he’d ordered her away either, he’d simply told her it wasn’t safe and she’d… she’d argued with him! Because no one was going to tell her what to do. And that wasn’t a strong, independent woman’s attitude, that was just being a brat. At that realization, all the fight left Laura and she went slack over James’s knees.

“I’m sorry, Sir,” she sobbed. “I’m s-sorry!”

At her show of remorse, James immediately stopped. The world spun as he helped her sit up. Before she could move away, he pulled her onto his lap and cuddled her close against his chest.

“I’m so proud of you.” His voice rumbled in her ear from his chest, as if he was speaking directly from his heart. “That spanking took longer than I expected. You have a lot of iron and fire in you.” He stroked his hand over her back.

Laura burrowed deeper into his chest and allowed the tears to fall until they ran dry. It amazed her a little that she didn’t feel sick to her stomach and miserable, the way she usually did after a crying jag. Instead, she felt light and – despite the mess she must have made of herself with all that sobbing -- clean. But her back was beginning to hurt from huddling like this. In the process of wiggling herself into a more comfortable position, she rubbed up against something hard.

She froze, knowing what it was, but not what to do about it. “Um.”

James chuckled and his arms around her tightened as he squeezed her closer. “It’s all right, honey. A man can survive a stinging hand and a throbbing erection.” He shifted her on his lap a bit. “These snug jeans sure aren’t made to accommodate a hard-on, though. ”

Despite her tears, Laura chuckled. “But your ass looks mighty fine in them.” Whoops, where’s my filter? “Um… sir,” she hastily added.

He chuckled again, relaxed as he held her, despite the tension down below.

She bit her lip, then decided she’d gone this far, why not go all the way? “Do you want to do something about that?” she asked, dropping her gaze to his bulge.

“Honey, I would like nothing better than to make love to you, but tonight isn’t about sex and most definitely not about me. For now, I’m completely content with holding an armful of beautiful woman.”

Oh, okay. Ignoring her smarting bottom and his obvious discomfort, Laura allowed herself to go soft against him and rested her cheek on his chest again, the slow lub-dub of his heartbeat soon lulling her into a trancelike state.

She didn’t know how long they sat like that, but finally her mind started to engage, and Laura stirred on his lap.

James stroked her back and upper arms in slow strokes. “I am so proud you trusted me with your discipline. How do you feel?”

Laura blinked. “Do you really want to talk about this?”

With the thumb of his free hand, he wiped away the last tears from her cheek, “Yes, honey. Communication is important in every relationship, but it is essential in BDSM. You strike me as a person who spends a lot of time in her head. I want you to listen to your feelings for a change.”

Laura narrowed her eyes. Perceptive bastard, isn’t he ?

She sighed. “Look, I don’t feel comfortable talking about my feelings. I don’t want anyone holding them against me.”

It was his turn to narrow his eyes. “Did someone do that to you?”

Oh, damn, what have I blurted out now? Normally, she wasn’t this uncontrolled around others. She tried to look away from him, feeling raw and naked under his scrutiny, but the hand that had touched her so tenderly tightened at once around her chin. His grip wasn’t painful, but it was unyielding.

“Don’t retreat, honey, talk to me,” he coaxed.

She couldn’t look away and she didn’t want to look away. “Jake, my ex-husband. H-he was nasty and mean. He said a lot of hurtful things.” And did hurtful things, she thought, but didn’t voice. He’d hurt her often and sometimes badly. Now look at her, cuddled up on a man who had spanked her. Hurt her. What am I doing?

Without thinking, she scrambled off his lap, stumbling in her hurry to get away and hitting her back on a shelf. She let out a cry of pain and James surged to his feet right away. Laura held both her hands up, warding him off. “Please, don’t. I’m okay. I just… I…” have to get away ! But according to the sounds outside, they weren’t going anywhere soon. Rats!

After a pause to calm herself, at least a little, she asked, “Are we done?”

“No.”

“What is there left to say?”

“That’s up to you, honey.”

A mix of frustration and disappointment welled up within her. She had let her guard down, allowing herself to be vulnerable in his presence, and for a moment, sure, it had been just like something from her books. But if she looked at it another way, what had she really done? Showed a man whose name she’d known less than an hour her almost naked ass and let him spank it solely because he knew who Cherise Sinclair was. Now she was going to have to find a new laundromat because she’d never be able to look him in the eye again and that meant walking four more blocks out of her way in the summer heat and the winter cold, and why, why had she done it?

It was the weather, she decided, listening to the storm fill up the stifling silence in the storage room. Crazy weather made people do crazy things, but the crazy had passed, even if the storm hadn’t. Laura crossed her arms over her chest, a shield against further emotional damage. She felt the familiar urge to retreat into the safety of her guarded world, but his silence was deafening and she had to risk a peek.

One look at him made her wish the tornado would tear off the roof and sweep her away. It wasn’t anger she saw in his unflinching brown eyes. She knew how to take anger. But not this. No, he wasn’t going to yell at her. He was just going to wait. Oh, Lord!