Mine

14. Salt

FOURTEEN

SALT

Pre-cum dripped from my cock onto my lower stomach as I watched Pepper obey. She was stiff, fighting every step of the way, but I was starting to understand why.

Her bedroom lights made her body glow against her cream blankets, her dark hair tumbling over her shoulders. I drank in the sight of her, from her breasts to her thighs to her pussy. Her nails gleamed as she moved her hand down tentatively to touch herself.

“Close your eyes,” I murmured. Her lashes fluttered and I felt a stroke of satisfaction. “Good. Forget about everything else around you. Focus on my voice.”

“I like your voice,” she whispered.

God, this woman. I needed her in my bed. I needed to fuck her for hours and show her everything she’d been missing out on in her marriage. I wanted to spank her, fuck her, make her beg for me to breed her. And the list was only growing with every moment.

Knowing that she read about BDSM over the weekend pleased me. It also made me wonder—what sort of kinks lay under the surface? What could I help her discover?

“You’re doing very well for me,” I praised, watching the way she preened under my compliment.

She definitely had a praise kink. It made sense, given that I doubted anyone regularly told her just how amazing she was. It didn’t matter how competent someone was, sometimes hearing it was more important than anything else.

“I want you to slide your fingers inside yourself… Very good…” My mouth watered as two fingers disappeared inside her.

“I’m so wet,” she gasped in surprise. “I didn’t realize how wet I was.”

“Is it because you felt humiliated?”

She scowled, but didn’t immediately respond. I knew she was thinking about it.

“Maybe? Is that bad?”

“Not at all,” I said. “It’s just something we can explore more at another time. Degradation can be fun, well—fun for me . But we’d need to talk through it more.”

She nodded, her eyes still firmly closed. “I like it when you say nice things to me, too.”

“Oh, I know. I enjoy praising you.”

“I can’t believe I’m doing this…”

There were those pesky self-doubts again. “Pepper. Focus on me. On obeying me . Nothing else. Whatever little voice inside your head is telling you things, don’t listen to it. Its opinion doesn’t fucking matter, because I am here. You obey me and me alone. Understood?”

“Yes.” Her shoulders softened.

“Yes what ?”

“Sir?”

“Good. I like it when you call me Sir.” Fuck, my cock was killing me. I closed my eyes for a moment and then opened them, refocusing on her. “Show me how you touch yourself. I want to watch you make yourself come. Do whatever you normally do in order to get there.”

Her eyes started to open.

“Do not open your eyes,” I commanded.

“Yes… Sir.”

“Someone’s a quick learner.”

Once again, she relaxed. Her fingers moved to her clit, alternating between moving in slow circles and sliding inside herself. Her other hand moved up to her breasts, teasing her nipples.

I couldn’t help myself now. I held my phone in one hand and gripped my cock with the other, huffing out as I watched her.

“I’m going to get off on watching you,” I whispered.

Her blush deepened. “I like that.”

I groaned as I stroked myself. I’d been unbearably hard since she started to strip and was in need of relief.

“Fuck,” she whimpered.

Something snapped. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I saw the moment in real time. The second her body gave in to her hunger for an orgasm, the moment that voice in her head fell silent.

“Good girl,” I praised. “You make me so hard, baby girl. I’m dripping all over myself watching you touch your needy cunt. How long has it been since you orgasmed?”

“Yesterday,” she panted, her movements becoming hurried.

“Aww, poor thing,” I purred, stroking my cock faster. “You deserve one after working so hard today. Don’t you?”

“ Yes, Sir, ” she cried, her expression melting as she got closer and closer.

“I’m so close,” I groaned. “You’re the reason I’m about to come. Seeing you touch yourself and become my slut is going to make me come.”

“Yes,” she gasped. “Fuck. Fuck .”

“Keep going,” I urged. “Keep pleasing that pussy for me. Keep going. Good girl. You’re such a good girl for me. I can’t wait to watch you come for me. Because you like pleasing me, don’t you?”

“Yes, yes, yes,” she chanted.

Pepper touching herself without any reservations was the most beautiful thing I’d seen in my entire life.

“Come,” I growled. “I need you to come for me. Now .”

Her voice pitched, her head tossing back as she orgasmed, her fingers working her clit relentlessly through it. I grunted as cum spurted from my cock and I jerked myself, my whole attention on everything Pepper .

“Oh my god,” she rasped, sinking back.

“Open your eyes,” I demanded. “Take the phone and show me your pussy.”

“But… I haven’t shaved, I haven’t?—”

“Pepper. I do not give a fuck. It’s your body, and regardless of if you’ve shaved or not, I’m going to worship you just the same. Do as I say and show me your pussy.”

Her breaths steadied as she grabbed the phone, but then she hesitated. “I don’t know how to do this.”

“That’s what I’m here for. Lay it flat between your thighs,” I instructed.

“Yes, Sir.” She did exactly that.

“Good. Show me how wet you are.”

She spread her labia, her essence glistening against the deep pink of her pussy. Even though I’d just come, my cock remained hard in my grip.

“Like this?” she whispered.

“Yes. Exactly like that. Fuck.” I stroked my cock again, moaning unapologetically as I jerked off to the sight of her. “I can’t wait to fuck you tomorrow.”

“You shouldn’t,” she said.

“ Yes , I should.”

“Are you going to come just from seeing me?”

She sounded so shocked. I grunted, making a mental note to remind her tomorrow in person just how much she turned me on. “I already fucking came once, Pepper,” I growled, stroking myself faster. “And I’m about to come again thinking about being inside you tomorrow.”

The sound of her breath catching was what sent me over the edge. I groaned as I came again, cum splashing over my body. The euphoric rush of my orgasm made me moan, but I never closed my eyes. I was focused solely on her.

Fuck. “Show me your face.”

The phone lifted and she held it up, looking at me with wide hazel eyes. I angled mine down, showing her the mess. “Look at what you did to me.”

She licked her lips. “That’s a lot.”

“It is.” My muscles melted into my bed. I gave her a satisfied smile. “Thank you.”

Pepper grinned and fell to the side, sprawling over her bed. “Thank you . That was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Which seems to be something you excel at.”

I chuckled and leaned over, grabbing a tissue from the box on my side table and cleaning myself off. I rolled over and tossed it into the trash, settling on my stomach.

Pepper had pulled a blanket around herself. “What are we doing?” she asked.

“Breaking all your rules,” I said, settling on my side as well. With a dash of delusion, I could imagine us laying next to each other like this. “I like you.”

She wrinkled her nose. “We can’t date.”

“Why not?” I asked. “I could take you on a real date, you know. I know a good brunch spot with mimosas.”

She sighed. “You have a meeting with Tommy on Friday. Salt, I’m going to be honest, we want you. I want to own your music.”

And I want to own your heart.

“I don’t even know if I want that,” I said. “I haven’t decided. I’m going to hear him out, and that’s it.”

She frowned. “Regardless, we can’t keep doing this.”

“We could keep it a secret,” I said. “No one has to know. I’ll sign a NDA if that’s what it takes for you to trust me.”

“It’s not just that. I’m obligated to inform my company that I’m seeing a client if… If we continue. I have to tell them. Why don’t you go out with someone else?”

I groaned dramatically. “Who do you think I am?”

“Well—”

“Truly,” I said. “What do you imagine I do every day?”

“Post selfies, play music, and brood.”

“ Brood ?” I scoffed. Although she wasn’t wrong.

“You’re ridiculously handsome,” she said. “You’re talented. And you apparently build sex furniture. Why aren’t you in a serious relationship?”

Because I’m damaged and any one who gets close to me discovers that and leaves.

“Maybe I’m a lone wolf,” I said lightly.

She laughed. “No one chooses to be a lone wolf . Ask me how I know.”

“How do you know?”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “I’m too old for that kind of ploy. You can’t distract me when I want to know something. It’s your turn to feel uncomfortable,” she teased.

I gave her a dirty look, but she had a point. “I’ll tell you one thing, and you can tell me one thing.”

“Fine. Go on.”

“I’ve dated,” I said. “Most of my relationships are casual hookups. I’ve attempted to date people more seriously over the years. But, usually, we would hit the three-month point and things would implode.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Usually my fault,” I said. “I’d get too serious too fast. Or my sexual appetite was too much.”

“I doubt that.”

I raised a brow. “Sex every single day? Sometimes a few times a day?”

“Sounds like heaven to me.”

“And yet you’ve been resisting me sooo hard.”

“Okay, well , I have reasons for that. Reasons that make a whole lot of sense given the context.”

“You’re not wrong, but I still stand by what I said earlier. Which is that we can make this work.”

She sighed. “You’ve known me for a few days.”

“And?”

“This is wild, Salt. It’s wild.”

I shrugged. “I’ve done wilder, I’m sure.” Which wasn’t a lie. Although, the way Pepper made me feel was definitely borderline crazy. The obsession was rooting deep, which meant it had the potential to become unhealthy.

But I wanted her. It was that, plain and simple. I wanted her to be mine.

“Well, I haven’t.”

“Always the good girl, hmm?” I asked.

That struck a nerve. Her expression pinched into a glare and she rolled over onto her back, her hair sprawling across the pillow. “I don’t like it, but it’s true.”

“Tell me,” I said. “Since I told you something about me.”

“You already know so much about me,” she said. “Way more than I know about you. But, fine. It was how I was raised. I grew up in a very small, conservative town outside of Nashville. My parents got married young, had me young, and I was expected to turn into something I wasn’t. Music is what saved me.”

My heart skipped a beat. “You too, huh?”

She paused, but then hummed. “Yeah,” she whispered. “Me too.”

“It’s the only reason I’m still here,” I said. “It means everything to me. I don’t even know if I’m good at it.”

“You are. You can’t doubt yourself like that. And even if you weren’t, you just said that it saved you. Why would you ever doubt its place in your life?”

My chest tightened and I stared at her for a moment. “Is this how you talk artists down?”

She gave a ruthless smile. “Yes. But I mean it. If I didn’t mean it, I wouldn’t be so concerned about dating you, because I wouldn’t feel like you belonged to Rosethorn. Which is a massive conflict of interest.”

I pressed my lips together. It made sense logically, although I still had a hard time accepting that I was good at music. I wasn’t sure that doubt would ever truly go away.

But, she was right, of course.

Music had saved me. I loved it. Regardless, I belonged to the mysterious internal melody that not only bound me to music, but to Pepper in a way, too.

“One day, I’ll write you a song,” I decided.

She shook her head and stifled a laugh. “About what? A bitter woman who’s missed out on everything?’

“No,” I said. “That’s not how I see you.”

“How do you see me?”

I raked my fingers through my hair. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

“I suppose,” she said. “Although who knows. Maybe one day you'll write a song about how I ruined your life. And how you wish you never would've met me.”

“I don't think so,” I said. “I think, if anything, it could be the other way around. That you’ll hate me.”

I would never regret what happened between us over the last few days. Even if it had been a whirlwind, and my obsession was already spiraling out of control, I would cherish the moments we had together.

But, I knew what I was. I knew why my relationships always failed, and why everyone in my life always disappeared. Nancy and Beth were the only exceptions, although there was a very small voice inside my head that told me they would eventually leave one day, too.

Was that the curse my father had given me? The one I never seemed to be able to break? To just be nothing more than a cursed beast, bound to music and sex? To always hurt the ones I loved the most?

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “I don’t know if I could ever hate you.”

Just give me time , that little voice said.