Chapter 27 #2
The next hour passed in uncomfortable silence, and I couldn’t help but wonder about his past, about the woman who’d stolen his heart.
What had happened to her? Did he hold himself responsible for her death?
I shrugged off the tense silence and the questions as we began to descend.
Peering out the window, I spied a neon expanse below, and the closer we got, the bigger the buildings appeared.
He’d taken me to Las Vegas. I’d never been, but I recognized the infamous strip, and I’d heard how spectacular Vegas was on New Years Eve.
What the hell was he up to?
After the jet came to a stop, he rose and held out his hand. The next half-hour sped by in a blur. People opened doors as if we were royalty, and during the limo ride down the strip, the bustling atmosphere called to me, called to the flutters of excitement in my stomach.
Him bringing me here…it was beginning to make sense.
He wanted to show me how good it could be at his side, but what he hadn’t stopped to think about was how he’d already shown me the worst of him.
No amount of seduction, sexual or otherwise, would erase that, though I had to admit I was being lured in for a weekend of the best of Gage Channing…
at least I hoped he’d left the sadist at home.
After arriving at the hotel, we bypassed the registration desk and went straight to the bank of elevators off the lobby.
I watched the numbers light up as we climbed upward.
Of course, we didn’t exit until we reached the top floor.
He placed his hand on the small of my back, a touch so light that outsiders would think nothing of it.
I knew better. His every touch signified ownership.
“I want to blindfold you,” he said once we’d stopped in front of the door to our room.
My heart galloped ahead of me for a moment. “Why?”
“Trust me.”
“You think you’ve earned my trust?”
“No, but I think you’re going to give it to me anyway.” He produced a blindfold from his pocket and reached for me.
I opened my mouth to protest, but he was already slipping it over my eyes.
I felt silly standing in the hall, blindfolded while he opened the door.
No one else was around to witness my compliance, but that didn’t stop me from wondering about surveillance cameras.
After a few moments I heard a beep, and he guided me inside.
“Watch your step,” he murmured. The floor dipped, and he walked me further into the room, his hands on my hips guiding me the whole way. “Stop here.”
I halted and waited, holding my breath, wondering what he’d do. I’d agreed to the blindfold but nothing else…and he hadn’t mentioned anything else. I reminded myself that I wasn’t under his control any longer. He’d promised no contract.
So why did I feel like this whole trip was a sham?
Like I had even less freedom than I’d had before?
I drew in a quick breath, and something deep inside me called to him, something craving the unknown—that tingle of anticipation mixed with fear.
The part of me that fell back into the dynamic of submissive too easily.
The word “Master” was on my tongue, begging to be spoken.
“Will you whip me if I call you by your name?”
“Yes.”
“Will you stop if I tell you to?”
A few seconds went by, and I heard him inhale. “Yes, but I don’t think you want to.”
He was only partly right. I wanted to tell him to stop, but I felt as if I couldn’t.
“Lift your arms,” he instructed, and clearly, that line of questioning was over. Whatever he had in mind, he was ready to begin.
“Gage—” I broke off, cringing as I lifted my arms above my head. Had I slipped up on purpose? Did I want to test the new perimeters of our agreement?
He chuckled…the bastard actually chuckled.
He dragged the zipper of my dress down, his fingers lighting a fire down my back.
My breath hitched when he bent and placed his hands on my thighs.
His fingers were close to the wetness between my legs, tantalizingly close, and I bit back a moan as the ache spread.
I couldn’t hold it in when his hands glided upward, palms caressing my stomach and breasts as he pushed the dress up my body and over my head.
Gooseflesh broke out on my arms and traveled down my legs, and as he walked me forward a few more feet, I couldn’t stop shaking.
“Cold?”
“A little.”
“Brace yourself,” he said, and I was clueless about what he meant until he pushed me against the cold, hard surface of what I assumed was a window.
I gasped at the contact, and my nipples pebbled against the glass.
I was probably visible to God knew who, naked except for a thong and heels, but I didn’t care.
All that mattered was the next moment…and whether he planned to unleash his sadistic or sensual side.
He grabbed my hands and placed them flat against the glass, and something soft and silky encircled my wrists. “I’m going to whip you,” he said, voice gentle as the bindings tightened.
His words elicited a deep freeze in my bones, much colder than the chill on my skin, and I replayed the agony of being struck for hours in my head.
I tried to jerk away from the glass, but he’d tethered my hands to something.
“Master…” The name tumbled out, a plea for mercy I knew didn’t exist within him.
“Please, I can’t take another beating like that. ”
“Shhh…” He swept my hair aside and placed the heat of his mouth on my neck.
“I’m not going to hurt you…much.” He left a wet trail down my back, and by the time he cupped my mound and slipped his fingers inside, I was dripping wet.
He owned me there, with the simplicity of his touch, with the way he made my insides pulse around his fingers.
Forgetting that I should be scared, I opened up for him and moaned.
“I won’t lose control like I did last time.” He increased his strokes. In and out…in again, slowly caressing, dipping deeper until I started humming. Sweet tension spread from my belly to my limbs, and my breasts heated against the glass, no longer cold.
I was on fire.
Holy hell…
I held my breath, knowing I was about to come, but he stopped.
“Master—”
Without warning, he shoved a gag into my mouth.
“Quiet.” That single word, spoken calmly but with enough warning to let me know he meant business, silenced me more effectively than the gag.
I wanted to beg and plead, but I didn’t dare, even though one important question screamed in my head; how could I say no if he wouldn’t allow it?
“I want you to trust me,” he said, as if he heard the turmoil of my thoughts.
“I know I’ve given you no reason to, but I’m going to change that.
I won’t hurt you like I did last time, but I am going to punish you, and if you make a sound I’ll extend the punishment.
” He ran his hands over my bottom. “Can you behave yourself?”
I nodded.
“Can you remain quiet?”
I nodded again but doubted my ability to obey.
“I’m giving you the chance to say no now, but once this moment passes, you’re mine.” He squeezed my ass, and I bit back another moan. “Shake your head if you want to say no.”
Part of me pleaded with me to do it—the more logical, level-headed, self-respecting part. Just a simple shake of my head would stop this. I had power now. But what if I did…and he stopped…everything? God, I was pathetic. I wanted him so badly, I ached.
My moment of escape passed, and he stepped away.
The sound of him removing his belt made me cringe, and the whoosh of that familiar strip of leather reached my ears an instant before it hit my ass.
I bit down on the gag to keep silent, though the pain wasn’t bad.
Yet. It’d get worse; it always did. I jerked each time he struck my tender bottom and counted the lashes in my head. Fourteen…fifteen…sixteen…seventeen…
My eyes flooded with unshed tears at twenty, and by twenty-five the first drop fell.
I felt dirty and worthless—much worse then ever before, because I’d allowed this to happen this time.
He’d given me a choice, and I was still restrained, trapped by my body’s need for him, helpless and at the mercy of his belt.
Why hadn’t I stopped this? This was insane.
A whimper escaped my throat, and he stopped. “Naughty girl.”
I jumped when he pulled the thong aside and inserted a small vibrator between my damp folds.
“Close your legs to hold it there. If you drop it, you won’t be allowed to orgasm tonight. And you won’t have my permission until I’m deep inside your ass.” He swatted my bottom to make his point. “Not a sound, Kayla.”
He was the devil.
I scratched at the window as he continued the lashes. In the back of my mind I realized he wasn’t putting all his strength behind them. I knew how unbearable a real whipping was at his hands, and this wasn’t it. But it stung like hell, and I held onto the sensation to keep from climaxing.
I wanted him. Inside me, in my mouth. I didn’t care—I just wanted him, and fooling myself otherwise was a waste of time.
“Your ass is such a sexy shade of red.”
Smack!
Unforgiving leather delivered punishment for several more minutes, and just when he was about to stop, I’d moan or whimper and it’d start all over again.
The pain was harder to handle, more intense, as were the vibrations going through my body.
Tears and sweat drenched my face, and I stood straight as a pillar, clenching my thighs to keep the vibrator in place.
Orgasm teased from the outskirts, there… but just out of reach.
The pain overshadowed the pleasure.
I bit hard on the gag as the last few minutes drove me to my limits. Finally, he dropped the belt. “Keep that vibrator where it belongs.” He bent me over and pushed into my ass, inch by inch, and I didn’t even consider protesting.
A loud boom sounded outside, followed by another, and another…
he slid in further, removed the blindfold and gag, and a guttural scream tore from my throat.
I arched my spine as an orgasm washed over me—swift in the onslaught, but deliciously long in duration.
The Las Vegas strip exploded in a dizzying whirl of color, and I knew the fireworks outside couldn’t begin to compete with the ones between Gage and me.