Chapter 17 #3
“Actually, I’m in love with you,” he said softly. “And glad to have my Jessica back.”
“Oh.” How much more could she love him?
His kiss started gentle and turned forceful enough that she could see he really was holding himself back. And wasn’t that a rush? She pulled at his hands, wanting to touch him.
He released her but straightened out of her reach. Gripping her upper arms, he sat her up on the bed.
She looked at him, confused. “What’s wrong?”
Rather than answering, he opened his bedside stand and withdrew a…a mini flogger with seven-inch falls.
Oh no. Sure, the tiny flogger looked all innocuous, but it didn’t feel so innocent on tender bits…like a pussy.
“What’s that for? Am I being punished?” she protested.
“Before everything can flow smoothly, we have some clearing away to do—think of it like a blockage in a riverbed.” He handed her the flogger and rolled his right sleeve up past his elbow before holding his arm toward her, forearm bared.
“What are you doing?” She pulled back.
“Since I’m not going to let you anywhere near my cock with a flogger, I want you to hit my arm. You will continue until you’ve given me a nice set of welts.”
Her heart dropped right into her stomach, and not in a good way. “No.” No, no, no. “M-Master, I can’t.”
“You can and will. Hopefully, next time, I’ll hear the words you aren’t saying. Or you will trust me enough to say them. I failed you as your Master,” he said gravely.
“You didn’t,” she whispered.
In answer, he tapped his forearm. “Now, please.”
Her first attempt barely stroked his skin and earned her an unyielding look.
Her second wasn’t much better.
His lips curved slightly. “We’ll continue this all night, if need be, pet.”
The sense of his strength wrapping around her made her eyes fill. “I love you, Master.”
“I know, kitten.” He glanced at his arm and lifted his eyebrows.
She hit him. At the cruel sound of the strands slapping skin, she cringed.
“Harder.”
So to get it over, she did three more as forcefully as she could.
“More—just like that.”
By the time she’d struck him another three times, she was crying.
“Go on.”
Her eyes were blinded by tears, but nothing could shut out the slap of the strands against skin.
Finally, finally, he caught her wrist and tugged the flogger from her hand. His strong arms enfolded her as he pulled her to his rock-hard chest.
She turned into him, burying her face against his shoulder, crying so violently she almost couldn’t breathe. She’d hit him; hurt him.
“All done. You did well, little one.” He was wrapped around her, his cheek on her head, rocking her gently. Making her world right again.
Never, never make me do that again. And yet, even as she soaked his shirt with her tears, she realized her anger at how he’d listened to the doctor instead of her had dissolved.
Slowly, her crying eased into shuddering breaths.
He kissed the top of her head and straightened. But when he finger combed her hair out of her wet face, she saw the horrible red welts running up his forearm and started to cry again.
“Poor pet.” He pulled her back into his arms. After a minute, she noticed he was laughing…and fondling her breast.
She pushed him back. “Z!”
An eyebrow rose—unaccompanied by a smile.
She sputtered. “I mean, “Master, you-you—”
“That does sound nice. I think I’ll forego gagging you, so you may beg me freely.”
“Beg? For what?”
“For mercy. It’s your turn to be punished, kitten.”
Oh God, he was fully in Dom-space. Under his gray gaze, a dark desire seeped into her blood, and her nipples spiked into throbbing peaks.
His hands were merciless as he flattened her on her back and secured her wrists to the headboard.
He positioned a cushion under her hips and bound her knees widely apart, using the mid-bed straps.
Close to the end of the bed, her pussy was tilted up…
and open. Air touched her folds, emphasizing how damp she was.
As if to point that out, he bent and circled a finger around her entrance and over her clit, which still hummed from her orgasm.
“Nice and aroused. Unfortunately, being wet will make your punishment worse, I’m afraid,” he said in a serious tone.
“Punishment—there?” Using that damn flogger? “You wouldn’t.”
The set of his jaw said her protests would be ignored. He picked up the short leather flogger. “Jessica, look at me.” The caress in his deeply resonant voice overlaid a steely edge.
Her gaze lifted to his.
“I love you, my spitfire. I love you enough to give you the sex you want—and the control you need.”
And with that, he flicked the strands hard over the inside of her left leg and the right.
Her legs jerked as the burn bit into the delicate skin, and she yelped.
He ran his hand over the light red marks, his tender touch at odds with the pain. Cupping her chin with one hand, his eyes trapped hers. “Jessica, this is going to hurt. It’s punishment, not pleasure. I want you to accept the pain silently.”
Her eyes filled with tears—and relief. No anger showed in his expression, just determination. He wouldn’t let anyone or anything break what they had together.
If he’d let her provoke him into behaving as she wanted, she’d be in control. And she didn’t want that any more than he did. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“I know, little one. As am I.” After kissing her tenderly, he stepped back.
When he lifted the flogger, she saw the welts she’d left on him. She gritted her teeth. She’d be silent and take her part of the punishment that they both shared.
And then, he continued. With infinite care, he flogged her inner thighs, moving in painful increments from above the knee straps toward her groin.
Ouch, ouch, ouch.
He’d pause long enough for the sting to register, for her to pull in a breath through her nose, and…for her to anticipate the next blow.
Her hands were clenched and a few tears slid down her cheeks. But she hadn’t made a sound.
He set the flogger down. “You did very well, kitten, for this part. I’m proud of you.” The approval in his voice started to loosen the knot of guilt.
As he sat on the end of the bed between her burning thighs, he examined the marks. “Nice and pink. We should make sure your pussy matches your legs, shouldn’t we?”
“God, no. No, no, no.” Her throat clogged with a mix of lust and utter fear. Her legs tried to close—but no one did bondage better than Master Z. She couldn’t move an inch.
The bone-deep knowledge that he could do what he wanted turned her to jelly.
The finger exploring her folds slid inside with a betrayingly wet sound. The sheer pleasure of his intimate touch made her moan.
He didn’t smile—but the corners of his eyes crinkled. Then, oh God, he bent and he teased his tongue over her clit. Already sensitive, the nub of nerves flared to life as his tongue flicked it, then rubbed lightly…in direct contrast to how he’d wielded the flogger.
His finger inside her increased to two, moving in slowly rotating thrusts.
Her muscles started to tighten as the need to come amplified. She whimpered, tried to move, couldn’t.
Pulling back, he rose. “Since your punishment isn’t over, you should have a diversion for the next round.” Opening the drawer, he pulled out the toy she loved and hated in equal parts—the vibrating anal plug.
“Nooooo.”
Ignoring her, he lubed it and set the plug at her back entrance. When her rim puckered in refusal, he lightly slapped her sore thigh. “Push back, Jessica.”
She’d never been able to defy him when he used that low, commanding tone. Not ever. Her muscles loosened.
The plug slid into place with a slight plop, and her anus closed around the narrow part before the wide flange. His warm palm pressed against her buttocks. “Your body is mine, Jessica. Is it not?”
His.
And he’d deliberately taken possession of her most private area to reinforce that reality. His gray eyes held hers with the inflexibility of forged iron.
The melting sensation in her belly wasn’t new, but somehow the entire bed seemed to be sinking into the floor. She was his. Forever. “Yes, Master,” she whispered.
“Very good.”
He flicked the switch and rose.
Vibrations started, exciting her asshole and pussy, sending sparkling desire all along her nerve endings. Her hips tried to lift again, and she moaned when nothing moved.
As he observed her, his lips curved in a faint smile. “You’re so beautiful.”
When he looked at her with such warmth in his eyes, she felt beautiful. And cherished. Staring up at him, vulnerable and open, she smiled her love back.
“That’s my submissive,” he murmured. He bent and fondled her breasts into aching mounds…and how wonderful was it to have his hands on her again. Gripping her hair with his free hand, he kissed her, long and slow.
When he lifted his head, she was ready for—
“Let’s finish this. Brace yourself, pet.” He picked up the pussy flogger.
Oh God, no. Her body squirmed as if she could wiggle off the top of the bed—and his lips twitched.
To her dismay, he started at her knees again, delivering stinging hits to the inside of her thighs. The blows weren’t as powerful this time, but oh, she was already sore. The strikes inched up her legs.
She knew he wouldn’t stop when he reached the apex.
Her muscles clenched when the flogger neared her pussy. Yet, somehow, her clit was throbbing with need. And that stupid anal plug kept vibrating, sending her arousal higher.
The falls hit barely below her pussy on one side, then the other. Then he flicked the strands upward against her left labia. The sudden nipping shock made her gasp. She struggled to bring her knees together even as he delivered the next blow to the right folds.
Her arms were completely tied, her legs open, there was no way to avoid whatever he wanted to do. His compassionate…unyielding…gaze met hers as she jerked at the restraints.
The flogger struck her folds, avoiding her clit. Again and again, the merciless leather strands flicked her until the entire area burned. The pain was bearable and yet too, too much.