Chapter 43
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Two weeks later, Jackson led Paula into Club Indigo on a crowded Saturday evening.
She looked stunning in a flaming-red corset with a heart-shaped opening between her breasts.
Satin straps crisscrossed her chest and shoulders and made him want to follow them with his fingers and dip into the fabric that pushed up her breasts.
Jackson groaned and adjusted himself to give his growing erection more space, happy that his leathers were well worn.
He was confident about himself and his mastery of the tools he would use tonight. Hours of practice with Kate had not only helped him understand the materials but also helped to lay down a routine. He could concentrate on his sub and her reactions while relying on muscle memory for the rest.
He wasn’t feeling as sure about his Melda.
Although Paula had been nothing but sweet to him since the accident, she was also withdrawn, and he was tired of her tiptoeing around him. His wounds were healed, and his leg was cooperating better every day. Paula kept trying to stay in control and it didn’t suit either of them.
Overhearing Will had only driven her further away. By walking out of the condo, she’d deprived herself of hearing the dressing down he’d given his partner and had stolen his opportunity to make things better for her. Hated even more that he hadn’t gone after her fast enough to fix it.
This imbalance between them and the quiet power struggle she likely didn’t even realize she was waging? That ended tonight.
He wasn’t angry with her. But he was ready to remind her what it felt like to let go. They were long past the point of her needing to take care of him, and it was due time for him to take the reins.
Jackson had arranged for the padded table from upstairs to be moved to the main room. He held out his hand to lead Paula to it. With the briefest of hesitations anyone else would have missed, she laid her hand in his.
“Relax, Melda. You’re a beautiful woman, and I want to have our friends witness our bond and love for each other,” Jackson said.
She didn’t look convinced, so he swooped in for a long, hot kiss. By the time he came up for air, she had a nice flush from her cheeks down to her breasts, and lust had replaced the wariness in her eyes. Good!
“Undress, please.”
Her color intensified, and she looked around. Jackson waited for her to decide. Would she protest or use her safeword?
After a brief hesitation, Paula started to undress.
“Good girl,” Jackson praised. “What’s your safeword, Melda?”
Paula answered with the police codes they’d decided on months ago, and he was pleased with her automatic response and the way her shoulders relaxed when they reviewed them. He wanted her a little unbalanced but not scared.
“Remember red, yellow, and green will always work, too.” Once she was undressed, he ordered, “Lie down on your belly on the table please.” Jackson raised his voice. “Kate, would you join us?”
Paula halted in her descent to the table, and he gave her a stern look. She obeyed, and he nodded in approval before turning to Kate.
“Thank you, Mistress, for your help.”
Kate inclined her head and stepped closer to Paula. She stroked Paula’s calf. “Paula, your Master has asked for my assistance in this scene because of my experience. I will touch you, but it doesn’t have to be sexual. What would you prefer?”
Paula stayed silent, and Jackson went to the table, squatting to be at eye level with her. “Melda, an answer is required. How far do you want Kate engaged in our scene?”
“Er, I don’t know, can— Can we play it by ear?”
Jackson looked over to Kate, and she shrugged. “Works for me.”
“Okay, Melda. For now, there are no limits on what you allow Kate, and it’s for me and her to decide what she can do with you and to you. However, if you use either ‘yellow’ or ‘ten seventy-five’ Kate will back off and only supervise and assist. Agreed?”
“Yes, Master.” She licked her bottom lip, and Jackson took her mouth in another passionate kiss.
“As a safety measure for this scene, I won’t bind you, but I need you to hold very still. Can you do that for me?”
Her eyes widened, but she answered “Yes, Master,” and he had to suppress a grin. Kate handed him the damp towel she’d prepared for them, and Jackson covered her hair with it, leaving her face free. He wanted her to see the flames.
“Can you warm her up, Mistress?”
“With pleasure,” was the swift answer. Jackson didn’t linger to watch but turned to the small side table where the spray bottle with rubbing alcohol, several batons, a utility lighter, and flash cotton were waiting for him.
He had a fire extinguisher next to the table as a safety precaution.
A moan from Paula had him almost turning, but he forced himself to go over the scene once more in his mind.
Jackson shoved the lighter in his back pocket, and with the spray bottle in one hand and two batons in the other turned back to the table.
Kate gave him a big grin as she ran her slender hand over Paula’s pussy and showed the glistening wetness of her arousal. “Lovely responsive submissive, Master Jackson.”
Now that was a pleasant surprise. Not only had Paula enjoyed the touch of another woman, but she’d relaxed enough to become aroused.
Jackson smiled and gave one of the batons and the spray bottle to the Mistress.
They’d rehearsed their performance until they didn’t have to think about what would come next.
Jackson lit the baton Kate was holding, and she sprayed alcohol on it to make bigger flames.
It was as much for the visual effect as it was to make sure the baton was soaked and would drip burning liquid on the skin.
Paula stiffened when she noticed the big flames in her peripheral vision.
No way!
Was he thinking of setting her on fire? But now the setup made sense. The big fire extinguisher, the towel over her hair, Kate?—
Again, the swish of the spray bottle and roaring flames. Jackson took the burning mini torch from Kate and came closer.
What to do?
Safeword?
Run?
“How are you doing, Melda?”
Now isn’t that the question of the century?
The past weeks had been hard for her, first with all the responsibilities, then overhearing the conversation between Jackson and Will. It had driven home all her doubts and insecurities—she was too old for him, she wasn’t suitable for him, and she was being a complete idiot!
Jackson had clearly gone to great lengths to prepare this scene, and it showed how committed he was to her. What had he said at the beginning of the scene?
Show our bond and our love for each other.
She could show that by being honest.
“I-I’m worried, but I trust you know what you’re doing.” It was true, and she now knew what to say, what she wanted to say, and what he needed to hear. “I accept your decision to do this scene and submit to it.”
His smile told her she’d given the right answer. “Good girl.”
Something connected with her back, followed by a warm sensation over her skin, and a stroke of his hand. She closed her eyes and gave over to the sensations. A tapping on her back followed by liquid heat and a sweep of his hand over the area. Over and over. She melted into the table.
“I want you to turn over.”
“Huh?”
Jackson chuckled, and repeated his request. She felt sluggish as she complied. Jackson propped up her head on something sturdy and soft.
“For the next part, I want you to watch,” he told her.
She wasn’t fazed and felt wonderful and cared for.
He loved her; she loved him. And Kate? Kate was here, too.
Paula’s eyes slid closed, and she had to force them open.
Kate was handing Jackson thin strips of fluffy fabric.
Paula squinted as he placed them on her front.
He’d started on her breasts and ended near her shaven mound.
Paula blinked as she lifted her head and took a closer look at the pattern. At first, it seemed random to her, but when she got a better view, she asked, “Is that a word?”
“It says ‘MINE,’ and you are.”
As he produced the lighter once more, her eyes widened. “You can’t be serious? Are you going to burn the word ‘mine’ in my skin? I didn’t sign up for this.”
Kate chuckled next to her head. She’d all but forgotten about the Mistress.
“Don’t worry, Melda. It won’t leave a mark on you.” Jackson held up a hand for Kate, and she draped some of the gauzy material on his palm. Jackson switched on the utility lighter and held it to the end, so that it flamed up suddenly and was gone as quickly.
Jackson showed her his hand. “See, not even a light burn. It’s called flash cotton, and as long as you keep it thin enough, it’ll burn so fast it won’t damage the skin.” He held his hand closer. “Feel, not even warm.”
Paula reached out, stroked his palm, and nodded.
“Watch, Melda.” Jackson held the lighter close to the cotton on her left breast and she observed in fascinated wonder how the fabric burned and dissipated as the flame came closer and closer to the sensitive spot between her legs.
Paula seemed weightless when Jackson picked her up from the table.
He was still in Topspace and running on adrenaline.
A movement at the bar caught his attention, and he noticed Henry and Connor heading over.
As though prearranged, they took care of the clean-up, giving him and Kate the time and space to take care of Paula.
“Do you want me to stay with the two of you, Jackson?” Kate asked softly as she stroked the drowsy submissive in his lap over her cheek.
His submissive!
“I think that Paula would like for you to have a part in the aftercare.” Jackson felt happier and more settled than he had in weeks.
It was almost like the Domme had followed his thoughts, or maybe he’d spoken out loud because she said, “You’re going to be all right, Jackson. She’s yours, and she knows it.”
Jackson nodded and leaned back on the couch, happy to wait for Paula to come back to them and engage in aftercare with help from Kate. Jackson looked down into her relaxed face. Paula already didn’t look her age, but now she seemed at least ten years younger.
Her youthful appearance wouldn’t be a benefit in their field. Might that be the reason for the drab pantsuits she wore to work? She certainly downplayed her femininity at the department.
He couldn’t blame her for that.
Too many men were still the primitive hunters their forefathers had been. However, Paula was beautiful, and all woman, and their colleagues noticed that. Her inclination to keep them at arm’s length seemed to have backfired, and when cavemen didn’t get what they wanted they went to war.
After all the tension and pushback from his colleagues, Jackson knew one thing for sure: it was time to stop hiding how serious he was about Paula.
They’d fought over her, dismissed her, and treated her like a passing distraction. That ended now. She wasn’t a fling. She wasn’t a temporary fix.
She was his.
He’d given her a collar, but only people in the lifestyle knew what it meant. Now he wanted something visible and unmistakable, that the whole damn world would recognize.
He would find the right ring. And when he slid it onto her finger, there would be no doubt in anyone’s mind—especially their colleagues—just how permanent this was.