Chapter 22
ANNIE
Cipher pulled back and the warmth of his body left me, the ghost of his kiss tingling against the corner of my mouth.
“Time to unwrap my prize,” he murmured.
Metal touched my shoulder and I flinched. Whatever it was slid under the thin strap of my dress. There was a sharp snick, a release of tension, and the strap fell away. He moved to the other side. Another slice.
A knife. He was using a knife to cut off my dress.
Gravity took over and the silk whispered over my skin, cool air rushing in to replace it as the dress bunched around my ankles.
Cipher made a low appreciative sound in his throat.
“Pink lace,” he said, his voice dripping with amusement. “How sweet.”
I burned. I had worn my best set. The pale pink lace was delicate, barely there. And it was different enough from the set I’d worn to provoke him last night that I didn’t think it would piss him off.
“Did you wear this for me, Annie?” The question was a taunt.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Pink,” he mused, as his knuckles grazed the curve of my hip. “It makes that sweet pussy look even more tempting. Like candy waiting to be unwrapped. I’ve never had anyone wear pink for me before. Usually, they try to match the suit. Black. Leather. Boring.”
His hand slid lower, tracing the waist of my panties. He tugged the lace away from my skin, letting it snap back against me.
“I think it might be my new favorite color,” he whispered, his breath ghosting over my neck. “After blue, of course.”
Blue? But the thought was there and gone. I didn’t have any room to think about his color preferences when he was standing that close.
The blade returned. It pressed flat against the swell of my breast, just above the lace cup. My heart raced as he traced the curve of my breast, the pressure just enough to dent the skin but not break it.
“Don’t move,” he commanded. “I’d hate to ruin such pretty skin because you couldn’t stay still.”
I whimpered as he sliced through each bra strap then slid the knife down, slipping the tip under the center of the bra.
“You have no idea how badly I want to fuck you right now. I want to tear this off you and bury myself deep in that beautiful cunt of yours. But we’re going to take our time.”
Snap.
The front of the bra gave way under the blade.
The lace cups fell open, dragging against my hardened nipples as they went.
The knife trailed lower, over my ribs, circling my navel until the tip hooked the waistband of my panties.
He pulled the fabric away from my skin, the tension tight against my hips.
“You’re trembling,” he observed, sounding delighted. “Are you scared, Annie? Or are you just desperate for me to touch you?”
“Cipher—”
The fabric fell away as he sliced through the lace and the panties joined the dress on the floor.
I was naked and bound with a knife against my thigh. I should be terrified, I was terrified, but the terror was feeding the arousal, turning it into an ache.
He dragged the knife up the inside of my thigh, the sharp edge scraping against my skin.
It stung, a sharp, distinct line of pain that made me hiss.
He pressed the flat of the blade against my hip, then dragged the tip around to the small of my back.
He pressed harder there, dragging it down.
It felt like a thin line of fire that would leave a red welt.
“You’re soaking wet for me, aren’t you?” he taunted. “For a knife. You really are a little monster, aren’t you, Annie?”
The flat of the blade slid over my hip bone and I held my breath, my lungs burning with the effort to keep my chest still. The knife went lower. My thighs trembled and I wanted to clench them shut but I fought against it. I kept myself wide open for him. For his eyes. For his blade.
“Look at this,” he growled. “You’re dripping for a knife, Annie.”
He moved the knife inward and I flinched, expecting the bite of the edge, but he twisted his wrist. The flat, cold metal pressed directly against my pussy.
The sensation was electric and a gasping moan tore from my throat.
“Fuck,” Cipher hissed. The pressure vanished and I heard a wet, slick sound, followed by a low groan from him.
He’s licking it, I realized. He’s tasting me on the knife.
Then the tip of the knife returned.
It touched the hollow of my throat. I swallowed hard, feeling the sharp point bob against my skin. He dragged it down, tracing a line between my breasts, down the center of my stomach.
“Don’t move,” he commanded.
The blade moved lower, past my navel. He wasn’t using the flat anymore. This was the edge. The tip pressed into my skin, just enough to sting, just enough to remind me that he was dangerous. That this was dangerous.
“Cipher,” I breathed, panic finally clawing its way up through the haze of lust as I realized he was headed for my clit.
He didn’t stop. The knife slid lower, parting the curls between my thighs. My body went rigid. Every muscle coiled tight, waiting for the cut, waiting for the pain. My mind screamed at me to move, to kick, to fight, but I was paralyzed by the overwhelming force of his will.
The tip was just above my clit.
“Please,” I whimpered but the knife continued down.
I screamed, the sound raw and terrified, expecting the steel to slice into me, but Cipher’s tongue replaced the blade.
The shock of it, the switch from the icy threat of steel to the searing heat of his mouth, broke me.
My knees gave out, and I would have collapsed to the floor if the chains hadn’t held me up, leaving me dangling and helpless.
Cipher’s tongue was a weapon in itself, lapping at my pussy. He moved up, abandoning my clit to drag his open mouth over me and up to the soft flesh of my waist. A sharp, bright spot of pain exploded as he bit me and I cried out with a moan as the pain only fed the desire.
A thud crashed through the haze of sensation. Then another one, this one sounding heavier.
It took my brain a second to process what I was hearing over the ragged sound of my own breathing. It was the sound of Cipher’s armor hitting the floor.
The heat of his body hit my back as he pressed against me, skin to skin, and the difference in our sizes became brutally apparent. He was massive. His chest was a wall of muscle against my shoulder blades, his thighs bracketing mine, and his cock—
Oh god, his cock.
It was pressed into the small of my back. My breath hitched as his arm banded around my waist, locking me against him.
“You like the knife,” he murmured. “Let’s see how much.”
Something hard and smooth, the handle, I realized with a jolt, traced a line down my side. I shuddered, jumping at the contact of the cool metal against my skin.
He pressed closer and slid the handle down, parting my thighs with his knee to widen my stance. He dragged the cool material through the slickness between my legs, coating it in my arousal before he pressed the blunt end against my entrance.
I gasped and tensed.
“Relax,” he commanded. “Take it.”
I gave a half sob, half moan, shocked as he slid the handle inside my pussy. It was hard and unyielding, but my body clamped around it like it was starving.
He withdrew the handle almost completely, leaving me aching and empty for a split second, before sliding it back in. With every thrust of the knife handle inside me, he ground himself against my lower back. I could feel the wetness there increasing, his precum coating my skin.
“You like being fucked with a weapon, don’t you?” he growled. He twisted the handle inside me, the shape of it catching and dragging in a way that made my toes curl.
I couldn’t answer. I could only whimper, my head falling back against his shoulder as the pleasure spiked. I was drowning in it, in the scent of him and the feeling of being possessed.
Cipher’s free hand pinched my clit between his thumb and forefinger, rolling it and I screamed. My hips jerked back against him as my orgasm crested, a wave ready to crash through my body.
Then he stopped.
He ripped the handle out and released my clit in the exact same moment.
“No!” I shouted, thrashing against the restraints.
I felt the curve of his smile press into the skin of my shoulder right before his teeth sank in. He bit down hard enough to leave a mark, a sharp nip that made me whimper.
“You ran from me, Annie. Did you forget you’re being punished? You don’t get to come tonight until you beg for it properly. I want you sobbing for it.”
He didn’t give me time to argue before the handle was shoved back inside me, while his fingers returned to pinch and twist my clit. He established a brutal, relentless rhythm. He drove me up the steep incline of climax, only to snatch it all away right at the precipice.
Again and again, he ruined my release.
“Fuck you,” I railed at him, screaming as the emptiness swallowed me again. “Damn it, Cipher!”
I was furious, but the safeword remained locked in my throat. I didn’t want a truce. I wanted the punishment. I hated the denial, but the dark, twisted part of my brain thrived on his control. This is exactly what I had wanted when I agreed to be his.
A metallic clatter echoed through the room as he tossed the knife to the floor.
His arm banded around my waist and Cipher hoisted me up, pulling my back flush against his chest and taking the agonizing slack off my suspended arms. His other hand clamped down on my hip, locking me in place.
The broad head of his cock pressed against my entrance right before he drove inside me.
I cried out at the invasion, my body stretching to accommodate the thick, hot length of him. He fucked me hard and fast. His arm held me suspended, turning me into a weightless toy for him to use. Every thrust drove him deeper, sparking a wild, uncontrollable fire in my blood.
The tension coiled tight between my legs. I chased the rhythm, throwing my head back against his shoulder, my breath coming in ragged pants. I was right there. I was going to shatter.
Cipher pulled his cock out and I wailed, a pathetic sound of pure frustration.