Chapter 16
“How long are you going to read the instructions?” Tara rattled the chain obnoxiously to underscore her question.
Nathan didn’t look up. “Until I’m sure the person who wrote them knows what they’re doing.”
“I looked at the specs. Even if you put both electrodes on the left side of my chest and turn it all the way, it wouldn’t cause a problem.”
“Unless you have a previously undiagnosed heart condition.”
“You do realize that those things—” Tara balanced on one foot, and used the toes of her other foot to point at the device on a small side table. “—were originally created for medical use.”
“Yes.”
“And creating medical devices is what I do.”
“And you remember I’m currently working on a cardiology implant, and regularly have to bring in electricians to explain stuff to the consultant cardiologists?”
Tara sighed, aggrieved, but it was exaggerated. Mostly. He was being thorough to the point of pedantic and she was standing here naked, wrists overhead, now chained rather than tied to the light fixture.
“I’ll be right back.” Nathan pushed up from the chair, the instruction manual still open in his hand.
Tara stiffened, not wanting him to leave but also not willing to say so. She didn’t hide her physical reaction because he wasn’t looking at her. At least she didn’t think he’d been looking at her. However, Nathan turned abruptly, studying her.
“You tensed up.” He scanned her up and down. “Why?”
Tara blinked, caught off guard.
“Tara.” His word was a command.
After the casual, almost normal, banter and conversation they’d been having, and despite her current situation—wearing nothing but a short silk robe, bound in leather and chain—she was startled by the dominant command.
“Clark used to leave in the middle of sex to go get something,” she blurted out. “Or go wash his hands. He washed his hands a lot. I hated it because I don’t like being alone when I’m restrained, and because… Because him leaving was a reminder that he hadn’t prepared. Hadn’t thought about or planned what he was going to do, and therefore didn’t have what he needed.”
Nathan took a moment to absorb and process her words, then walked over with quick, sure strides.
He kissed her, fast and hard, one arm around her ribs, a hand at the back of her head. “I’m sorry I went to get the stool last night. If I’d known, I would have just used a chair, or called someone to bring it.”
“It’s really not that big of a deal, this is a me issue?—”
Nathan touched his lips gently to hers until she stopped talking, then kept their foreheads together once she was quiet. “If you don’t like it, if it makes you feel undervalued, then it is a big deal. And an us issue.”
Tara swallowed. “Thank you. For saying that. But if you need something for the scene, please go get it.”
Nathan leaned back, and his grin made her narrow her eyes, even as her pussy throbbed. That was the devil’s own smile.
“I was going to go get a whiteboard.”
She blinked. “What?”
“A whiteboard. We’re working with a lot of variables. Contact type—pads versus insertable. Pad size and shape. Pad location. Insertable location—anal or vagina. Unit mode. Amplitude. Frequency of stimulation, and current pattern.”
That unique mix of trepidation and arousal roared through Tara, making her thigh muscles tremble.
“That’s a lot of variables to track,” he said in mock concern. “Hence, whiteboard.”
Despite the thick, warm arousal sliding along her bones, Tara mean-mugged him. “I’m not a test subject.”
Nathan pursed his lips. “No, in this scenario you’re more of a…practice dummy.”
Tara kicked him. Not hard—just tapped her foot against the outside of his calf—but the retaliatory spank was enough to push her up on her toes and make her breath hiss between her teeth. Heat and a prickling sting on her left ass cheek, and only that cheek, made her want to both rub away the sting, and kick him again to get a matching swat on the other side.
“Time to get serious.” Nathan returned to the TENS unit.
“I’m still a little confused that this is under T, not under E for electrical play.”
“Electrical play implies I could use jumper cables and a car battery.”
Tara almost choked on her own spit. “W-what?”
“Electrical play is really broad, and also very dangerous.” Nathan applied a couple electrode pads to his forearm and started testing. “Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation units are designed for use on the human body. Even better, this is a kink-specific tool. A TENS unit for muscle pain wouldn’t have a dildo. Or a plug.” He reached into the case and pulled out a short silver dildo and a fairly substantial plug.
Tara rubbed her tongue along the inside of her teeth, her body throbbing in response to the sight of the toys in his hands.
Nathan rose from the chair, dragging the side table with him to the open area where she was restrained. Next, he brought over both the bar-height stool from last night and the mission-style ladder-backed chair from the desk.
Nathan placed the chair in front of her and sat, leaning back casually as his gazed raked her up and down. That was all it took for the mood to shift, sliding along one of those complex angles, to a place where she was both helpless and safe. Where she could, perhaps for the first time, submit without reservation.
If it had been anyone but Nathan sitting there with an electrosex toy, she would have been anxious, prepped, and ready with her safe word. If she did ask him to stop, it wouldn’t be because she felt unsafe.
Nathan sat forward, looking over her again, but more slowly. He’d been the one to hand her the robe, but now, the fact that she wasn’t naked felt almost disobedient. As if she were trying to hide what was rightfully his.
Wide, warm palms cupped her breasts, the heat from his hands sinking through the whisper-thin satin of the robe. He thumbed her nipples until they hardened, then flicked them gently with his nails. Tara gasped at the sharp pleasure, her elbows coming down as she instinctively went to cover the sensitive tips of her breasts.
“No,” he said gently. “Elbows back.”
Slowly, she repositioned her arms, raising her hands and tangling her fingers around the thin chain.
Nathan spread open the robe, carefully tucking it to expose her breasts, but keeping the bottom closed.
He’d inspected her breasts when they woke up, worrying over the few faint bruises, but he’d also been pleased. She’d seen it in the possessive way he looked at the marks, and had called him on it. He’d admitted to enjoying the site of his marks on her, then hauled her into the shower. After a shower and breakfast, they’d crawled back into bed. Tara had been ready and more than willing for sex—kinky or otherwise—but she’d been full and warm, and they ended up napping for several hours instead.
He hadn’t touched her intimately since they woke up from the nap.
She hadn’t come since last night, because while they’d fooled around in the shower, neither had orgasmed.
“Still tender?” he asked, rubbing his palms over her so that the very tip of her nipple just barely brushed his hand.
“Yes, but I don’t think it’s from last night.” It took everything she had not to thrust her chest against his hands. The contact was maddeningly faint, and yet pleasure and need zinged through her, sharp and maddening.
“Oh?”
“I’m aroused.” She tried for a matter-of-fact tone, but her words came out both breathy and needy. Submissive.
“Of course you are.” He moved to her back, pressing their bodies together. Tara leaned into him, letting her head fall back as he reached around to keep playing with her tits.
His lips touched her hair, her temple, soft and gentle to match the way his fingers rolled her nipples.
“Technically,” he whispered, “I could add some electrode clamps to these pretty things.” He tugged her nipples softly. “They have them, and if you plug in the clamps, the unit automatically reduces the max settings to a safe level.”
“Are you going to, Nathan?”
There was a slight pause, then he cupped her breasts, lifting them in his hands. “No. Because no matter what they said, I can’t bring myself to run a current through your chest, near your heart.”
He flicked her nipples with his thumbs, the hard of his nail catching her on the upstroke, the softer pad of his thumb caressing on the down swoop. The touch was casually possessive in the best possible way but at odds with the kiss he placed on her head.
The kiss was reverent, almost devotional. No one looked at the couple in The Meeting on the Turret Stairs, and thought “Oh, I bet he treats her like his personal sex toy.”
Yet with Nathan, it was both. The kiss felt like devotion from a knight, while his hands on her breasts felt like the confidently propriety touch of a Master.
Those two things weren’t as different as most people believed.
Her thoughts had turned almost philosophical as her lower body tensed in anticipation, while her neck and shoulders relaxed in submission.
That morphed into a different kind of tension when he moved away, leaving her back cold after the heat of his body.
Nathan dropped down into the chair facing her. Holding her by the hips, he squeezed until she looked at him.
“I tested it on myself, yes including on my dick, when I went to get it this morning. It’s an odd sensation, a buzz, sometimes a tingle, and maybe a little pain, but even on the highest setting, it wasn’t all that painful. If you feel anything that isn’t one of the things I just described, you need to tell me immediately.”
“Yes, Nathan.”
“I’m speaking directly to your masochistic side.”
Tara smiled, then fixed her face in a serious expression. “I understand.”
“Try again.” He lightly slapped her breast.
“I understand, Nathan.”
“Better.” He studied her with exaggerated displeasure, but she managed to suppress her smile.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out…
Nipple clamps.
I thought he wasn’t…
Nathan cupped the clamps in his palm and jiggled them, making the metal clink. “Just because I’m not going to use the clamp electrodes, or even the pads made especially for breasts, doesn’t mean I won’t play with these pretty things.”
He held the clamps up for her to see.
The spring-loaded clamps were made of a circle of metal with two flat bars inside the circle. Pulling back on small rods separated the flat bars, creating space inside the circle for the nipple. Release the rods, and the bars snapped together, pinching anything unlucky enough to be positioned between them.
Anything like her sensitive nipples.
Tara watched, not breathing, and he applied the first clamp. He was gentle with it, slowly releasing the rods, his knuckles pressed into the meat of her breasts as he guided the metal to first grip, then pinch her nipple. The clamp was heavy enough that it pulled at her, weighing down her breast.
He was crueler to the second breast, releasing quickly so the bars snapped down onto her nipple. Tara whimpered, back arching.
“Shit, you’re so sexy when you make that noise,” he rumbled, leaning in to lick at the very tips of her captured nipples.
Her tits throbbed, nipples burning, and she wanted more.
“Spread your legs. Wider.”
Tara watched him through heavy lids as she obeyed, her arms now stretched high above her, thanks to the new position. She was helpless, vulnerable, and he was about to do unspeakable things to her. She should have been scared, or at least wary.
She wasn’t. She was aroused…and impatient.
She needed. Needed him to touch her. Abuse her. Needed him to use her for his own pleasure. Needed to live in this fantasy moment where she was helpless, with no power of her own. Totally at the mercy of her Master. His to pleasure and hurt.
Nathan took a soft cloth and carefully wiped her pussy lips, removing the thin layer of arousal fluid that coated her hairless labia. Spreading her legs had parted her labia, exposing her core. The cloth brushed her clit and she sucked in air, back arching.
“Are you trying to sneak in an orgasm?” In contrast to the words, his tone wasn’t teasing but low with warning.
“No, Nathan.”
He hummed doubtfully, then dropped to one knee, his face level with her pussy.
Two fingers spread the top of her labia wider apart, and her breath caught in anticipation of pleasure.
Nathan scrubbed her clit with the corner of the cloth, the touch rough, almost impersonal. The soft fabric felt like sandpaper against her arousal-sensitive clit. Tara screamed in both shock and pain, instinctively closing her legs.
Nathan pinched her clit with the cloth, his knee and opposite shoulder braced against the inside of her legs, keeping her spread wide for him.
He rolled her clit, and it felt like he’d touched a live electrical wire to her nerves. What she felt wasn’t pleasure or pain, but something deeper, something base and raw.
She was panting, a hint of a whimper threaded through each exhale.
“Please, Nathan,” she pleaded.
“Please fuck you?” His other hand braced against her inner thigh, thumb touching her entrance. “Pinch your clit harder?” He tugged gently on her clit. She screamed, going still. Her head felt heavy, her body flushed and needy. She took a jerky breath, and the heavy clamps on her nipples bobbed, tugging on the tips of her breasts.
“Please do things to me no man has done before,” she breathed, any verbal filters and checks she had stripped away. “Prove that I belong to you, body and soul.”
Nathan stilled, then exhaled heavily.
There was a brief flash of embarrassment as she played back her words, but there wasn’t time to dwell on or regret what she’d said.
Nathan released her clit, and she rocked back. He made one more pass over her sex with the cloth, drying her skin, before pushing up off the floor and dropping onto the chair.
Nathan picked up a long oval electrode pad. “Close your legs.”
She had only a second to wonder if he’d changed his mind, before Nathan hooked a hand behind her left knee, lifting her leg until her foot was braced on his knee. He spread her leg open, exposing her pussy as she balanced on her right leg.
Peeling the backing off the electrode, he leaned in close to her sex and carefully applied the sticky pad to her labia. When she put her foot down, the shot lead tapped on the inside of her thigh.
He applied a matching electrode to her other pussy lip, the sticky gel pad cold as he pressed hard to make it adhere.
“Leg down, and spread yourself again for me.”
She took a minute to adjust to the odd feel of the sticky pads, then obediently spread her legs.
“To complete the circuit, the electricity will travel through your body.” His fingers traced a path from one electrode, across the inside of her labia just below her clit, to gently tap the second pad.
“You may come from this, you may not. Once I start it, I want you talking the whole time. Tell me what you’re feeling, and where you’re feeling it.”
She nodded, but that wasn’t good enough. He tweaked one of the clamps, and she yelped before quickly saying, “Yes, Nathan.”
“Good girl.” He plugged the short wires from the electrodes into the pin leads. She’d thought the black box on the table was the TENS unit, but it turned out to just be a case for the unit itself, which was much smaller than anticipated—a wireless handheld box.
The screen lit up as he turned it on. She braced, but nothing happened.
Tara opened her eyes, glancing at Nathan, and then blushing when she realized he was leaning back in his chair watching her, the control box cradled nonchalantly in one hand.
“I hope you come.” His gaze raked down her. “I like the idea of making you orgasm for me without ever touching you.”
Tara wet her lower lip, holding his gaze.
“Helpless and coming. Putting on a show just for me.” He leaned forward, gaze intense.
Still looking into those familiar eyes, she didn’t notice his hand move. Didn’t see him activate the current.
A deep buzzing feeling started in her pussy. It was faint, and felt just out of reach, though it was quite literally coursing through her body.
“Tara,” he warned, and she remembered his instructions.
“It tingles, almost a buzz. It doesn’t hurt, but it’s not exactly pleasurable either.”
A pause, and then the sensation changed, a sharper buzz, almost like the pins and needles from having feeling returning to skin that had gone numb, pulsed through her in waves.
“Nathan,” she hissed, head falling back between her raised arms.
“I need more information than that.”
“It’s sharper. Doesn’t hurt, not really, but it’s in the…wrong place. It’s not on my clit, but not in my vagina either.” She blew out air, lifting her head. “It’s frustrating.”
A slow grin spread across his face.
“I knew I shouldn’t have admitted that,” she sighed.
“But you did, because you’re a good girl.” He looked down, and the sensation changed again, becoming stronger. Enough to make her gasp and whimper.
“It hurts,” she breathed.
“How much.”
“Not enough.”
“I do love a good girl masochist,” he murmured.
The pattern of sensation changed, as did the intensity. Eyes half closed, Tara stopped trying to analyze the sensation. She stopped trying to figure out precisely what he was adjusting—amplitude versus pattern versus current—each time the sensation changed. Instead, she submitted to the sensation as she’d submitted to him, words tumbling from her mouth as she narrated what she felt. The constant buzzing and tingling passed through her sex but not her clit. The sensation was right there, so close, but not where she needed it.
It didn’t take long for her to grow restless, her hips thrusting and tilting, as if she could move the current up half an inch. Move it to her clit, where she needed it.
Slowly, the feeling faded, and she opened her eyes, staring at Nathan as he clicked down the controls until it was off.
Two thick fingers thrust into her, the invasion sudden and shocking. Tara gasped even as her back bowed, her muscles fluttering and clenching around him. She was close, so close.
He pulled his fingers out, reaching up to smear them against her lips, then rising to kiss her, driving her own flavor between her lips with sweeps of his tongue.
“You stopped talking to me,” he murmured.
Anxiety pinched her. “I’m sorry, Nathan.”
“We can’t keep going if you don’t talk to me.”
“I was concentrating.”
“On what? On the pleasure? The pain?”
Tara met his familiar gaze, though the look in his eyes, the dominant, possessive tint, was still new. New but…right.
“I was trying to will the current to move,” she admitted.
His brows rose before his mouth tipped in a grin. “Will it?”
“I couldn’t feel it in my clit.”
“And you wanted to.”
Tara just stared at him.
“Right, of course you want electricity coursing through your clit.”
“Obviously,” she agreed, deadpan.
Nathan chucked, then kissed her head before dropping back into the chair.
Carefully, he removed the two electrode pads. The sticky gel pulled, but didn’t really hurt, especially because he was gentle.
He looked up. “We’re going to try a different placement.”