The Discipline

by Jade A. Waters

  Dean plugged the tub and started the water while I stepped away to put my hair in a ponytail. I caught a view of him in the mirror, dropping his thick, white robe from his shoulders to the floor. I inhaled. It was ridiculous how sexy he looked naked, and how even after all the sex we’d had this weekend, I could eye him with this level of greedy lust. The flex of his chest and arms as he tested the water and stepped inside had me back at his side in an instant.

  “Water’s warm,” he said, sliding my robe away and directing me in with him. “But it’s cold without you.”

  “Ohh.”

  My teasing coo was met with a bite of my shoulder before Dean guided me down in front of him. Then we leaned back in the tub, me between his thighs as the water streamed in from the waterfall faucet at our feet. I rested my head on his shoulder. Positioned like this, I could see our reflection in the mirror with a small turn of my head. The image was sweet and sexy, and I settled farther back into him. He reached his arms around, running his fingers up my thighs, along my arms and across my waist in the time it took the tub to fill. When the water reached the bottom of my breasts, I sat forward to shut it off before resuming my serene recline against him.

  “This is nice,” I said.

  “I agree.” Dean caressed my forearms beneath the water, his massage such a delight with the press of his lips to my temple and the steady lift of his chest against my back. I luxuriated in the feel of him. “Do you feel older?”

  “Wiser. For sure.”

  “Is that so?”

  Out of the corner of my eyes, I caught the slightest hint of his grin behind me in the mirror. I raised a hand to trace the scar high up on his cheek, then trailed it over his jaw and lips. “Must’ve been the flogging. Or maybe the hairbrush. They both really drove it home.”

  Dean chuckled. “Did they?”

  My playful nod drew another kiss on the cheek from him before he wrapped his arms around me. Against my tender ass, his cock stirred.

  “Definitely.” I closed my eyes. “Curious...what else do you have in store for me?”

  “We’ll see. For now, I’m enjoying the feel of your skin and listening to your voice.” He shifted his head behind me. “How beautiful you look with me, here.”

  I had to be glowing. “It’s nice to get away, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. Both of us are way too busy.”

  “We are.” I took a peek of his face. “Hey, tell me more about L.A. You mentioned it again a few days ago, and I meant to ask.”

  “Okay.” I slipped my hand beneath the water, and Dean took it into his while he talked. “Sova hasn’t done a ton out of the area lately, but there’s an owner interested down there. He saw my work, started calling.”

  “Because your work is fantastic.”

  “You’re sweet.” Dean squeezed me tight. “Anyway, I guess he bought out this bank of condos he wants to completely redo, and he’s interested in my thoughts. He sent along specs and some photos, but it’s easier to go see it live.”

  “Think you’ll take the job?”

  “I don’t know. If I do, it’ll require a lot of flying down there, which would be tricky considering all that’s going on. I told him I’d head down in the next couple of weekends and consider it. I’m trying to work the trip around the jobs we have going here, but from what I’ve seen, it’d be a massive overhaul.” He reached up to brush a strand of hair I’d missed behind my ear, then trailed his fingers over my clavicle in a slow slide. “Too far away, I think.”

  “From?”

  “You.”

  God, how he could inject my heart with blissful warmth and lift butterflies in giddy circles through my stomach. I pressed into him, content in his arms. Dean’s finger continued its gentle trace between my breasts as I watched us in the mirror. We looked good together.

  “I like this,” I whispered.

  “The bath?”

  “Yes, the bath, but all of it, really. The time away with you. The sex, the flogger...” I dropped my voice low when I said the last piece, and he growled against my temple. “I like all the things we do as much as the romance. Even talking like this—I’m having such an incredible time, Dean. Thank you.”

  He flattened his hand on my chest, his touch soothing with the graze of his fingertips along the curves of my breasts. “I’m glad. Me too.”

  For a while, we didn’t speak, both of us relaxing in the warmth of the water. We were in our own little bubble here, shielded from the world. I strummed my fingers on his thigh beneath the water, loving how his skin looked against mine. I’d never had this kind of affection with Charlie, and though I’d had a lot of romance in some of the short-lived relationships I’d had before Dean, this felt worlds better. Somehow, the fantasies we shared and things we tried made me feel closer to him.

  I wondered about Dean—had it felt like this with Kendra? “Dean?”

  “Yeah?”

  Tentatively, I asked, “Will you tell me about her?”

  I didn’t need to say her name. His body tightened behind me before he relaxed at the gentle squeeze I gave his thigh. I met his eyes in the mirror, hoping he saw he was safe to talk. He let me grab onto his hand, but he hardly moved as he began.

  “She was twenty-seven. A few years younger than me. I met her at a bar, at the hotel she managed. She was extremely successful, and beautiful in a pristine way—always done up, with makeup, hair, heels. Fancy clothes. We’d had this wild, tipsy fling one night, which I’d thought would be the end of it. There was no way we’d get serious. We didn’t match. At least, I didn’t think we did.”

  I waited, stroking his fingers in encouragement.

  “She was very...together, you know? Everything had to be perfect. I think that crossed over from her work, since appearances meant everything there. But she was traditional in many ways. She wanted marriage, kids, the works.”

  “Did you?”

  “I wanted to believe I did. I wanted to make her happy.”

  I stayed quiet, trying to envision this woman and what Dean was like back then. We’d talked about kids and marriage, though neither of us was in a rush. We had time to grow.

  Dean said, “We were together almost a year when...” The end of that sentence hovered, stagnant in the air.

  I laced my fingers with his, not sure how to imagine that kind of hurt. “It’s terrible.”

  “Yes.”

  “But you loved her?”

  “I did.”

  “It was a good love?”

  “Yes. Different, though.” He sounded like he was thinking, the words calculated and slow.

  “What do you mean?”

  Dean shifted behind me, adjusting us lower in the water, and it swished against my collarbone. “She didn’t like a lot of what I did, for starters.”

  I curled our hands in a ball. “Are we talking hobbies?”

  “No.”

  “Kinks?”

  Dean nodded his head behind me, his lips skimming the hair above my ponytail. “She wasn’t into them. That was a tough spot for us. She didn’t think it was normal. We tried different things, but in the end, it always bothered her. She didn’t like this play.” A good dose of unease trickled through his voice and I clasped his hand tighter.

  “I do.”

  “I know.” Dean brushed my arm with his free hand, the tips of his fingers tickling the side of my breast. “That’s one of the many reasons I think we do fit.” He kissed my temple. “Why I love you.”

  “I like knowing more about you. About your past. Things you’ve done, too.” His fingers glided up and down my arm, then crept underneath my breast. He gave it a subtle lift before he ran his finger along the crease beneath. This sharing felt open, honest. “All the little tidbits you’ve shared—I want to know more. I want you to know you can tell me. Eve
n...like the threesomes. I like knowing that happened.”

  The path of his finger slowed the tiniest amount. “Does that turn you on?”

  “Yes.” I didn’t want to hold back. Not with Dean, or with him opening up. Our own failed threesome hadn’t disappeared from my memory, and though in some ways the idea made me nervous after how it’d gone down, it hadn’t ceased to intrigue me. As did the awareness that Dean had experience with one beyond what we’d tried.

  “Tell me more.” He swirled his fingertip around my nipple in a seductive tease, the stroke noticeably hotter while I framed my words.

  “I like the idea of two men with a woman. I’ve always thought it was sexy.” Under the water, my skin tingled. “Men are sexy and strong, and powerful. I like the thought of being overpowered.” I gulped. “Do you remember how we tried?”

  “Of course I do. I remember how it excited you.”

  I tried to keep the flutter of my stomach in check as our discussion grew more erotic. “It did. I mean, it didn’t go down well, that time. I think in some ways I might be gun-shy, but it still does excite me.” I snuggled into him, lifting up my arms to hug his neck behind me. The arch of my back allowed an easier gaze in the mirror. We’d been doing our thing for so long since, exploring bondage and our own intense dynamic, the prospect of another person hadn’t been mentioned for one reason or another. Dean took a lazy pinch of my nipple before his fingertips found their way down to my thigh, sliding back and forth underneath the water. The graze turned me on more now that the subject had come up again.

  “Does it?” Dean asked.

  “Yes. A lot.” Whatever fantasy you want, Maya, it’s yours. I took a breath. “Is it okay to say that I think I’d...still like to try it?”

  The trail of Dean’s fingers stalled an almost imperceptible amount, and the steady lift of his chest paused.

  I untangled myself from his arms and spun on the tub floor, the water splashing around us when I reached for his hands. “Maybe that was too much. Never mind—”

  “No,” he said, taking my wrists. His mouth was firm a moment, but he guided me around and lowered me back to him, weighting my chest with the lock of his arms. His mouth rested on the top of my ear, his lips soft. “I like knowing your fantasies. You know that. I think that this one, if we were going to do it...we’d have to be careful. I need you to feel safe with whomever we pick. I’m not sure how we do that, but it has to happen if you want to try it again.”

  I nodded, hypnotized by his low, gruff voice that reassured and taunted all at once. Were we talking about this with intent? My throat felt thick, my heart on fire. I folded my knees to cool off some, and Dean glided one hand down my belly. His finger resumed its pendulous course across the top of my mound, the occasional drip of water from the faucet heightening the big, open echo of the room.

  “You’re quiet,” he said.

  “I’m not sure what to say.”

  “Say what you want.”

  The air between us felt dense and charged. Dean hooked his forefinger under my chin, angling my face to see him better.

  “This weekend is about your fantasies. Not just having them, but talking about them.” My wavering breath was the only sound between us, and Dean’s eyes shadowed as he watched me, his lips tight like he was thinking in that provocative way he did. Always thinking. Always plotting. Prickles raced over my skin. Right when I thought the silence would drive me mad, Dean continued, “I think I know the perfect test for you now.”

  “What’s that?”

  He drew his fingers away from me and patted my hip. “Up.”

  “What?”

  “Get up. Dry off and go lay back on the bed.”

  “But—”

  “Now, Maya.”

  I stood fast, the water dripping off my body and splashing around his thighs. When I turned, his smirk raised the heat in my cheeks before he tapped my calf. I kicked into motion, grabbing a towel off the hook of the archway and drying myself off, and a chill blared through me having left the water. It was almost as sharp as the curiosity tripping from my head to my toes. I stepped out and padded across the carpet to the bed, where I spun to face Dean. I made a show of leisurely slipping the towel off my body and tossing it to the floor, but he stayed unfazed and motionless in the water.

  Fine, tough guy.

  But who was I kidding?

  I loved this.

  Eager for the game to commence, I lay back on the bed, my toes barely touching the floor and an uncanny ripple of excitement shooting through my limbs. At Dean’s rise from the tub, I saw how hard he’d grown. The bulbous head of his cock stuck out from his pelvis, those beautiful dark veins running from root to tip. He dried off, the view forming a heavy cloud in my lungs, and I lifted my hands to my stomach to spread them over my goose bumped flesh.

  How the hell had the mere act of walking over here and seeing him watch me get me this aroused?

  Dean discarded his towel. He bent to dig his fingers into the pile of my robe on the floor, and I tried to make out what he was doing. It wasn’t until he stood upright and held the tie in his hand that I clenched my knees together. He curled the fabric around both his palms and walked in my direction at an excruciating pace, then stood against my knees, naked and hard before me. He smelled of the lavender salt we’d sprinkled in the tub, and him. Sexy, masculine him.

  “Give me your hands,” he said.

  I stretched them out. Dean wound the fabric around my wrists, close to my skin but not too tight. My groin flexed at the scent of his body and the swell of his cock not quite reaching my needy flesh.

  After he tied a loose knot, he gave my wrists a shove to indicate I should lay them above my head. “Spread your legs.”

  I did. Dean stared down at my sex, his eyes glazed. His mouth formed that O I adored, and I couldn’t believe how much I was shaking, how fucking riled I’d gotten before he started stroking my slit. I could hear how wet I was in the gentle slicks of his finger. “Oh, fuck.”

  “You’re so excited. Wetter than I imagined. I love how our conversation has done this to you.”

  I closed my eyes at the slide of his fingers inside my entrance, pulsing in and out to tease the rim of my pussy. Once I rocked my hips up for more, Dean withdrew his touch, resting one hand above each of my knees.

  My eyelids popped open and I pouted, tortured by his naked body between my legs and his faint touch across my thighs.

  “Are you ready to hear your test?” That devil of a grin played on his face when he pitched forward to lick one of my nipples, and every fiber of my being screamed for satisfaction.

  “Yes. Please.”

  “If we’re going to live that fantasy,” Dean said, inching one finger along the inside of my thigh in a dare, “then we’ll need it to be perfect. Safe. I need you to tell me what you want from it. How you want it to happen. What you want to happen.” His finger returned to my cunt, but his stroke was there and gone before he held back. “And if you tell me well, I’ll touch you more.”

  Oh, yes.

  I tongued my lip. “Why are you such a tease?”

  Dean slipped his finger inside enough to make me whimper, then he took it away. “Because you crave it.” He sucked his finger into his mouth, and I groaned before he dropped it back to my thigh with a smack. I gasped and jerked on the bed. “Start talking, sexy.”

  “Okay,” I said. He didn’t move, the outside of his thighs against the inside of mine, his cock fucking hard and tempting. I was going to lose my mind. “We start in a room after we’ve made sure all are on board.” To this, Dean curved both hands around my thighs and held them in place. My pulse hammered as I tried to envision how it might go. I rolled my head against my arm, keeping my wrists high above my head. “But we’ll be at a hotel, because it has to be neutral ground.”

  Dean
slid his hands higher and stopped. “What are you wearing?”

  “Something sexy. Dressy. We both are.”

  Dean shifted higher. “I know you like dressing up. Feeling sexy, though you always are.” He shifted higher still, his fingers almost reaching the creases between my sex and my thighs. “But get to the good parts.”

  I giggled. “Fine. You’ll overwhelm me. He’ll overwhelm me.”

  “That’s all you have to say?” He took another swat of my thigh. “No, no. Be explicit.”

  I shivered as his thumbs resumed their sway across my skin. “You’ll strip me down for him. I’m yours, but you’re letting him in...” The grip of Dean’s hands crept up. “I’m not sure of everything that will happen.” Dean shook his head, dissatisfied and smacking the inside of my other thigh. My eyelids fluttered and I spoke swiftly. “There will be kissing. Touching.”

  “And? What do you really desire with us? You’ll have two men. What is it about the idea that truly revs you up? How do you want us to overpower you?” He ticked his fingers back and forth, his use of my word making me blush. When Dean crouched to the floor and breathed hot air over my sex, I jumped. “What’s in that head of yours that’s got you glistening right now? Because you are...” He shoved my legs farther apart and leaned closer until I gasped.

  Opening my mouth, I tasted the words, and when I spoke, I nearly purred. “I want to kiss him while you watch. But while you touch me.” Speaking it amplified the crash of my pulse and shot a bolt of arousal out to my toes. The image alone had me wet, but saying it to the promise of Dean’s fingers? Yes.

  “There we go,” he said, strumming me with his fingers, parting my pussy lips with his thumbs. I moaned, and he tongued my hole for one enticing moment. “You taste delicious. Keep talking, naughty girl.”

  My legs trembled, but I let the fantasy run wild in my head. Two men, all mine... “He might taste me first...”

  “He should.” Dean tongued my clit, easing one finger inside in a slow, slow slide. When I growled, he drew back, waiting with darkened eyes.