by Laura Kaye
Put that together with learning that Cass loved motorcycles and race cars, and he was well beyond intrigued.
Which was maybe a problem, given what he’d proposed and she’d accepted.
No strings attached. That makes the most sense for me right now….I want that, too.
The memory of her words kept him grounded in reality, and that was a good thing. He didn’t need promises of forever to have a good time, and never had. The thought had Quinton thinking about the fun he’d have tonight. He surveyed his preparations in the sensory deprivation room. He’d been debating trying out two different scenes tonight, but had finally come down on the side of overwhelming Cassia’s senses.
He hadn’t tried anything quite like this before, and he was looking forward to it.
Just like last time, he found Cassia sitting at the bar waiting for him. Master Leo was slinging drinks and smiling at Cass in a way that made Quinton feel possessive. Maybe even a little territorial. Especially when she laughed so freely in response to whatever it was he was saying, no doubt charming her with those unique eyes, one blue and one green. More than a few subs had gone crazy for the guy’s look, but not nearly as many were into his darker brand of play.
And, damn, Leo wasn’t the only one who’d noticed Cassia.
Because Master Wolf was sitting at the bar next to her. Master Wolf, who got off on voyeurism and exhibitionism and whose actions had inspired the scene that Quinton had shared with Cass on the dance floor.
Quinton came up between them, his arm around the back of her chair. “Hello, Cassia. You’re looking lovely,” he said, drinking in the flowy white halter dress that tied behind her neck and left the entirety of her back bare.
Though she’d already been smiling at whatever the other men had said, her whole face lit up when she looked at him, and damn if that didn’t make him feel good. “Hey, there you are, Master Quinton. And thank you.”
Wolf turned on his stool and they clasped hands. “Q, how the hell are ya?”
“I can’t complain,” he said, his gaze cutting to Cassia. “In fact, I think tonight is going to be fucking awesome.”
When she spoke, Cassia’s voice had a huskiness that hadn’t been there just a moment before. “Master Wolf and I were just talking about Sweden.”
The other Dom nodded. “Turns out Cassia and I have a friend in common. How random is that?”
“Oh yeah?” Master Quinton asked, the possessiveness easing off a little so that he could relax, especially as he clocked the just-friendly vibe between them.
Cassia nodded, her expression excited. “A couple of years ago, I got to go on this incredible research trip to the Coral Cave in Sweden. It was only discovered in the 1980s, so there’s a lot of uncharted territory down there. Researchers from all over the world have led expeditions exploring it. While I was in Sweden, I also visited the country’s largest cave, which is open to the public. And Master Wolf is friends with a geologist who works there.” Wolf nodded as she spoke.
Quinton couldn’t help smiling at her enthusiasm. “Can I just say how much I love a woman who gets excited over uncharted territory?” He arched a brow.
She laughed, just like he hoped he would. “Is that so, Sir?”
“Uh huh,” he said, grinning like an idiot now.
Shaking his head, Master Wolf clapped him on the shoulder. “On that note, I’m off to do…something. Or someone.” He winked, and then his expression went mischievous. “Maybe I’ll see you two on the dance floor again later.”
Quinton slipped into the other Dom’s seat as Cass gasped. “Wait. Was he…I mean…did you…”
“Yup.” He grinned as she squirmed in her seat and her cheeks pinked.
“Well. Okay, then,” she said, her eyes wide. “Is it hot in here or is it just me?”
“Oh, it’s definitely you,” he said, allowing his gaze to wander. Over the deep V of her neckline, over the way the short skirt revealed the soft expanse of her upper thighs…
She finished the last sip of her drink and turned to him until her knees touched his thigh. “Can I tell you something, Master Quinton?”
“Always.”
Those pretty hazel eyes were full of heat as they met his. “It’s interesting knowing that what you described to me that night was real. But I…”
“What?” Hanging on her words, he tucked a strand of silky bronze behind her ear.
“I still think the image is hotter if I imagine the man…was you.”
Aw, hell, yeah. He leaned in, knowing she liked his voice in her ear, his breath on her skin. “And that, little sub, makes you my new favorite person. My new favorite person who I just might like to reward for offering such a nice fucking compliment.” He pulled back just enough to meet her gaze again, and the need there rushed heat over his skin. “But I gotta ask you something first.”
“Yes, Sir?”
“Did you touch yourself, Cassia? Did you make yourself come since we were last together?” He wasn’t sure whether he wanted her to have broken down or held out.
A fast shake of her head. “No, Sir. Even though it was hard as hell,” she said with a laugh.
“Mmm, then you definitely deserve a reward. Let’s go.”
~~~
The adrenaline rush had Cassia shivering, and they hadn’t even started yet. Naked, she stood in the center of the room, feet apart, hands at her side, head down. And waited.
Finally, Master Quinton came to her, his feet bare again under the ragged hem of the worn blue jeans. His voice was soft, soothing. “Look at me, please.”
She lifted her gaze, struck all over again by how freaking sexy this man was.
“Sensory deprivation is the ultimate mindfuck, Cassia. Which is why I love it.” His grin was pure seductive confidence. “And it can be achieved in all kinds of ways. By depriving your senses, as we did the other night. Or by overwhelming them. And that’s what we’re going to try tonight. Both the lack of stimulus and the overstimulation of the senses can make it difficult for your brain to process what it’s experiencing. And that’s what we want, to trip up your brain’s current way of thinking.”
She nodded, appreciating how thoughtful he was about all this. It didn’t sound like this was just a kink to him, though it was definitely that. But it also sounded like he enjoyed the challenge. “Yes, Sir. That makes sense.”
“Good.” Slowly, he walked around her, just the tip of one finger dragging against her skin. Her stomach, her ribs, her spine. “I want to push you a little further tonight, Cassia. In every way. What do you think of that?” He came to stand in front of her again.
Cassia shivered again, her imagination running wild. Would he fuck her tonight? She’d dreamed of nothing but that in the three days since she’d last been here. “I want to try, Sir.”
“Brave girl.” Gently, he pressed a kiss to her mouth. “Pretty girl.”
Her heart did a little flip. She knew they were just having fun together, just doing scenes, but she couldn’t help but think that whoever got to have this man as their own would be one lucky sub.
Why couldn’t it be me?
He didn’t give her time to debate the thought, because just then he said, “The only time you’re allowed to speak is if you need to use your safeword. Otherwise, no talking. Understood?” She nodded. “Then let’s begin.”
Silently, he guided her to a huge piece of dungeon furniture that took up much of one wall. The St. Andrew’s cross was shaped like an X, and Master Quinton helped her step up onto the short, elevated platform at the bottom of it. He secured her feet there with cushioned cuffs that held her securely in place even though she barely felt them. Pressing himself to her back, he secured her hands to the top of the X next, so that she stood spread-eagled, her back to the room, her face towards the wall.
A thrill of anticipation raced through her.
A thrill he ratcheted up when he blindfolded her just like he had the other night, with the room-darkening double layer of lace. And she foun
d herself glad he hadn’t folded it over like he had on the dance floor because, next, a pair of heavy headphones settled over her ears, deadening the world around her. Little sight. No hearing.
Tingles cascaded over her skin, and her heart tripped into a sprint. Those same warring reactions erupted inside her. The threatening panic and the equally strong excitement. Like being held at the crest of a roller coaster’s highest hill but knowing any second you were going to fall down, down, down.
And then Master Quinton began his true assault.
Dragging something light and soft down her spine, over her ass, and up her arms, her whole body shuddered. He teased and tickled her on and on, until she thought she couldn’t stand it anymore. Until she was hypersensitive and squirming. Having lost two of her senses, Cassia’s sense of touch was absolutely alive.
Which she felt even more acutely when the sensations changed. Now, something icy hot slid down the backs of her thighs, then slowly, lazily up the insides. And then his tongue was on her back, licking up her spine and leaving its own trail of wetness behind. Gasping, she tried to go up onto her toes when the ice met the heat of her core just as his teeth nipped at the tendon along her shoulder. It was so much, it was almost too much. But damn if the overload of sensation wasn’t keeping her from focusing on the blackness against her eyes.
And, oh God, he didn’t let up.
Because just as she started to get used to the sting of the ice, it changed again. Flaps of leather landed against her ass, biting her skin with warmth and surprise. A flogger, if she had to guess. But what kept her so off kilter was that he alternated his strokes with the ticklish drags of what felt like a feather, delivering the blows of both at irregular, unpredictable intervals so that she couldn’t anticipate, couldn’t expect, couldn’t brace or prepare or breathe.
She was just sensation, and it was like her skin was a live wire, flush with a hot, pulsing energy. Cassia shivered nonstop. Her nipples were hard points. And her clit ached for the attention he was delivering everywhere else.
Sound flooded her ears. A rainstorm against a lonely violin. Together with the physical sensations, she totally understood what he meant by overwhelmed. All at once, her brain swam in an attempt to make sense of the physical, the visual, the aural until she was nothing but those competing sensations.
For just a moment, the violin quieted, amplifying the rain shower in her ears.
And out of nowhere, her mind conjured the blackness of the cave, and the dripping, splashing, flowing sounds of the water that were her constant companions while she’d been trapped…
The sound sucked her into memories she tried to forget, and the scene fed into her growing disorientation. The cuffs were the rocks that caught one of her ankles. The soft blows of the flogger were the outcroppings of rock she stumbled into in the darkness. And the rain was the dripping dripping dripping water…
Red red red red red red... “Red!”
Light and sound sucked her out of that cave, out of the memory.
“Hang on, Cass. I’ve got you,” came a voice. Master Quinton. Oh, God, he was here. And then he had her in his arms, wrapped in a blanket and pressed against all his heat.
“I…I…where…”
“It’s okay. Just take a minute,” he said. His hand stroked over her hair.
Blinking away the last vestiges of the darkness, Cassia struggled to get her bearings. They sat in a heap on the floor in front of the cross, and he held her in the cradle of his lap. Finally, she focused on his face, and it was his eyes that grounded her. Blazing with emotion and regret. She struggled to swallow, to slow her breathing, to reorient her brain against the confusion. “I’m…sorry.”
“Please don’t be,” he said, pressing his forehead to hers. “Never apologize for something that’s not your fault, especially when it’s my fault. Damnit, I pushed you too hard, Cassia. Are you okay?”
“No.” She shook her head, struggling to think, to speak. “I mean, yes, I’m okay. But you didn’t push me too hard,” she said a little breathlessly. Cassia forced a deep inhale and exhale. “It was the rain. It was just the rain.”
For a moment he frowned, and then his eyes went wide. “Aw, hell. There’s water in caves. I’m an idiot.”
There was something about the sarcasm in his self-deprecating words that eked a smile out of her. Maybe because it was clear that he was so upset and she wanted to make him feel better, even though she was the one lying in his arms and trying to shake off the last tendrils of the panic attack. “An exceedingly hot one, though,” she managed.
He froze, and a million emotions seemed to flash across his expression, like he didn’t know which part of what she said to react to first. “Did you just agree that I’m an idiot?”
She bit back a smile. “Did you just ignore that I called you hot?”
Finally, he grinned too, and gave a little reluctant chuckle. “I totally did not miss that, cheeky little sub.” The smile faded again. “I really am, sorry, Cassia. I should’ve known—”
“No, Sir. Really.” She grasped his hand and pressed a kiss to his palm. “And I was just teasing. You are not an idiot, and this was no one’s fault. I’m not sure I would’ve known the sound of the running water would impact me that way. I loved the scene you did with the hose—that didn’t bother me at all. And I’ve never freaked out during a storm. I was enjoying myself until it just suddenly became too much.”
On a not fully believing sigh, he nodded.
“We’re done for tonight, aren’t we?” she asked, suspecting the answer, then seeing it in his expression. She hated that she might’ve disappointed him. She’d certainly disappointed herself. Cassia wanted to be stronger than this. She should be stronger than this.
“With that scene, yes. I don’t think either of us are in the right head space for mind-fucking right now.”
“You have quite the way with words, Sir.” She grinned, remembering the way just his words had made her so hot. “But I guess you’re right.”
Wearing a crooked smile, he winked. “Always a safe assumption.”
“Is that right?” His humor was infectious.
“Mmhmm. Besides, there are plenty of other ways to make you come.” Her mouth dropped open at the promise of his words, and he leaned in and kissed her cheek, then nuzzled her there. “Dirty talk works for you, doesn’t it?”
Heat bloomed over her body. There was no sense denying it, not after the other night. “Yes, Sir.”
“I like that. I like that that your body is so responsive to having your senses heightened.” He made a low hum of approval as he kissed her throat. “Do you still trust me?” he asked, the echo of that hesitance still plain on his face.
The question reached inside her heart. “Aw, Master Quinton. Of course I do. Honestly, during the time we’ve spent together, I’ve handled darkness better than at any point in the past two years. You didn’t mess up with me, I swear.”
Gently, slowly, he cupped her face in his hand, and then he drew her in. The kiss was languid and deep, soft but exploring. And hot. It was freaking hot. “Your bravery is a fucking turn-on for me, you know that?”
Cassia liked that. She liked it a lot. It made her feel strong, and she adored that he could give her that feeling with just a few words. And after everything else that’d happened tonight. “If you say so, Sir.”
“I do.” He arched a stern brow, which slowly slid into a grin. “And I’d still like to make you feel good, if you’re up for it.”
“I am.”
He smiled, and man, she really dug that about him, how freely and often he smiled and laughed. He could turn on the stern Dom in an instant, but his normal operating mode seemed to set to light-hearted and easy-going. “Good. Because I have an idea.”
“You do?”
“Mmhmm.”
She couldn’t begin to imagine the universe of this man’s idea, but she was definitely game to explore them. “Then lead the way.”
Chapter Six
&nb
sp; Quinton was going to make this night up to Cassia. And he was going to make it up bigtime.
For fuck’s sake. He’d been caving before—twice. Once in a rock cave with a club in college a million years ago, and once he’d swam and snorkeled in an underground cenote while on vacation in Mexico.
He should’ve anticipated this problem. He should’ve taken better care of Cass. But at least now he knew that building a positive association for her with water was even more important, because it was clearly a trigger for her fear of the dark.
Regret weighing on him, he retrieved a cream-colored robe and slippers from a cabinet. “Wear these,” he said. As she slid it on, he gathered up their clothes.
Cassia hugged herself and ran her hands over the plush chenille. “I hope you don’t mind, Sir, but you’re never getting this back.”
He laughed, enjoying that she took pleasure in such a simple thing, and making note of it, too. “Is that right?” He joined her where she stood by the couch.
“Yup. Would it help if I licked it?”
Quinton froze. “Excuse me?”
Grinning, she tilted her head and peered up at him. “You know, people say when you lick something you’ve claimed it.”
Oh, he was going to enjoy the hell out of what he had planned, all right. He crossed his arms. “And just how widely do these people apply this licking-equals-ownership principle, Miss Locke?”
Cass gave a coy shrug. “Personally, I take it on a case-by-case basis.”
“Oh, girl,” Quinton said, grinning now, and really appreciating how her good humor helped him shake off how badly he’d felt moments before. He’d probably never forgot the terror that had warped her voice when she’d called out her safeword over and over. “You are in so much trouble.”
“I am, Sir?”
“Uh huh,” he said, lowering his voice as he stalked toward her.
Laughing, she backed up until he had her pinned against the door. And damn she was pretty, vibrant and full of interesting layers he increasingly wanted to expose one by one by one. For a long moment, he just stared—and then he sprang, hoisting her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry that had her screaming and guffawing and grabbing him in all sorts of fun places.
