by M. Q. Barber
“I know you ache to progress with speed. But in this you’ve set aside your competitive desire for victory and your insatiable craving for comprehensive knowledge.” Boxing her in, he laid the pouch and lube on the table. “And why have you done that?”
“Because I respect you.” For so many reasons. He’d given her proof after proof. “I trust your judgment.”
“And because you’ve shown your willingness to follow my direction”—he gripped her hips, and thin cotton slid south—“I’m inclined to grant you latitude.”
“I get to wear it again?” Halle-fucking-lujah.
“For a short time.” Stooping, he swept her pants off. “We’ll increase the time—and your comfort level—incrementally.”
The idea felt pretty damn comfortable now.
He skimmed the backs of her legs and kissed her ass cheeks. “Practicing your lessons ought to be pleasurable.” One-handed, he continued upward, beneath her shirt, and bent her forward. “Lean on your elbows for me. Back arched, please.”
She shoved her ass in the air and wiggled.
The suede pouch gave up its treasure to his slender, penetrating fingers. Swish and flip, the lube opened. Heavy breaths sounded behind her, deep and focused. A man blowing to start a fire. Or to warm metal in his cupped hand.
As he pressed the tip of her toy between her cheeks, lube flowed in a steady stream from above. With slow rotations, he stirred anticipation in sensitive flesh while the plug gained a protective coating, slick against her skin. Her shiver owed nothing to the modest chill.
“Good girl,” Henry murmured. “Be aware of your movement and the feelings, both physical and emotional, wearing your toy inspires.”
Sliding deeper, growing wider, the toy burned, but oh God, what a beautiful burn. “S’good. Makes me want it all.” She stretched in welcome, her muscles beginning a satisfying workout. The slick suction and gentle pop of full depth came with familiarity, the thrill without the fear. “Giddy and expectant.”
“Proud of yourself, are you?” He returned the lube to the table. Massaging her ass, he made her toy shift and bump. “You should be.”
“Are you going to fuck me now?” God, she hoped so. He’d gotten her wet and clenching without a single brush of her pussy or clit, and the far side of the table beckoned in memory. “Is that part of my reward, too?”
“No, Alice.” Growling, he spun her by her elbows and hoisted her onto the tablecloth.
Her thudding ass rattled the plates. Rocking into weighted fullness, she moaned.
He silenced her with a hard kiss. “Your reward is firmly lodged in place. This?” As he spread her knees wide, he dragged her to the edge. “This dessert is my reward.” Sinking to the rug, he buried his face between her legs and inhaled. “Shall we see if I might make you come for me as many times as I denied myself the pleasure of taking your ass these last eleven months?”
Chapter 7
The salon bustled with party-lured players eager to see and be seen. Not Alice yet, not until Henry commanded her. Moving through the crowd at his side, greeting a handful of familiar faces, she eased her fast-flowing currents of anxiety. No sign of jackass Cal, though she scanned for him in a relentless visual sweep. Henry wouldn’t let anything happen to her. But her first night had ended in disaster anyway. Not this time.
Men who’d taken Henry’s intro dominance class—“How Not to Be a Dick,” as she and Jay dubbed it—sauntered over and said hello as Henry circulated with consummate skill.
Henry acknowledged each with stern paternalism, an approving nod and a solid handshake. For those who kept their greeting to her brief and respectful, he made quiet, individual recommendations—“The lovely yellow-ribboned brunette in the floral stockings, do you see her near the rose settee? You ought to speak with her. Her play style would pair well with your own.” Those who stared too hard or ignored her presence had no such luck.
His no-hurry pace set her unstoppable adrenaline on a collision course with his immovable calm. She’d die—in comfortable shoes, at least—before they left the salon. Nearly an hour, and they hadn’t gone upstairs. Hadn’t flashed anything more alluring than her calves. Jay had better ones anyway. Muscular. Vivid and defined in their motion, a living machine with a deep tan, so fucking gorgeous walking naked to the shower—
“Ah, there we are.” Steeped in satisfaction, Henry ended their wandering.
“What?” She eased up on her toes, but nothing popped in the crowd. “Where we are?” A knot of corseted Amazons on ungodly heels parted, revealing a blond-bearded gentleman in a fine suit. “Santa!”
Heads turned, because fuck, she’d clamored as loud as a kid on Christmas morning. Her cheeks flamed.
Rolling out a belly laugh, Will snatched the attention. “Now that’s the eager welcome a man longs to hear.”
He strolled straight to them and exchanged a half-hug with Henry. They shared the brand of affectionate masculinity proclaiming the two brothers in arms if not in blood. Confident in their territory, unconcerned with power plays and posturing, enjoying each other’s companionship.
“Will, you remember Alice, I’m certain.” Touch firm and steady, Henry stroked her back.
Her embarrassment faded in the shadow of their comfort. If she’d done wrong, Henry would’ve corrected her. Or covered for her and saved his corrections for at home. In private.
“With fondness.” Santa Will inclined his head toward her. “She’s lovelier each time I see her. Radiant with good health.” His gaze lingered on the canary yellow ribbon draped around her neck. “Are you well cared for, Alice?”
“More than I thought possible.” Every day, she woke astonished and grateful for her men—even when one went missing. Henry had more than made up for Jay’s weekend defection. That man kissed and tongue-fucked like nobody’s business. She’d lost count of the orgasms, her world narrowed to his mouth and fingers and the rippling pleasure with every clench of her ass. Long after she ceased begging him to stop—but not with her safeword, because what if he’d actually stopped?—he’d gathered her and carried her to bed. She’d napped the afternoon away until he’d fucked her awake to shower, dress, and discuss how the night would go.
“Henry has you all buttoned up.” Waving upward, Santa Will left a generous handspan between his gesture and her body. “Such a pity.”
Her navy outer dress mimicked a long jacket, boxy and lined from neck to knee-length hem with half-dome silver buttons.
“Appearances, Will.” As he’d done while twisting her hair up before dressing her, Henry kissed her neck and breathed across her earlobe.
The temperature rose ten degrees. Maybe fifteen. No one else in the salon took note, though Santa wore a broad smile.
Henry smoothed her dress across her collarbone, wrapping her in his embrace from behind. “Tell me your safeword, sweet girl.”
“Pistachio.” Her heart trotted into a faster rhythm.
“And if you need others’ assistance?”
“Red.” The solution she hadn’t thought of in time to protect Jay or herself. Henry had reinforced club-wide safewords in class, and Emma had reviewed guidelines with everyone on staff. “I’ll shout red until a play monitor helps me, sir.”
“Excellent.” Kissing her cheek, he filled her with his scent. Dark, commanding leather and crisp, cordial citrus snaked into her lungs.
“She’s learned well.” Santa winked at her with one merry blue eye beneath a fuzzy blond brow. “You must be proud.”
“I am. And delighted to show her off.” Henry fingered her top button and pushed her dress open. “Unwrap yourself, Alice.” Slipping away, he claimed a post beside Will.
Each button a new tease and thrill, she worked slowly while nearby players turned and watched. She held a captivated audience for her obedience. Shrugging free, she revealed her underdress.
Santa sucked in a whistling breath.
Henry held out his arm.
She
folded the overdress and laid it across his forearm. He’d chosen the play outfit beneath, too. No confining corset tonight. “The rest, sir?”
“My pocket is empty and waiting.”
Mmmf. His arch fucking tone and expectant eyes got her wet every damn time. Bending forward, pulses fluttering in her thighs and belly, she reached beneath the sides of her dress and pulled down the panties. Over the garters, over the hose, over her thin-soled shoes and off. Navy silk dangled from her fingers.
“Inside my jacket, dearest.” Clasping her wrist, Henry raised her outstretched arm to his face and inhaled. “Against my heart.”
She stepped into his orbit. Pressed to him full-length, with his fine suit and masculine breadth, she drew strength from his heat. Her own exothermic battery. Tucking her panties into his inner breast pocket earned her a forehead kiss.
“You’re stunning,” Henry murmured. “Give us the full effect.”
Her underdress swayed with her as she retreated, at once hidden and revealed to the crowded salon with its low-voiced chatter. Even in her shimmering curtain of sheer fabric and no undergarments, she qualified as fully dressed relative to dozens of others. Wide, opaque stripes of shadowed evergreen swathed her hips and breasts, and the whole of the dress floated slip-like around her on spaghetti straps.
“Marvelous.” Santa scanned her, chignon to slippers. “Might I steal a kiss from this vision of beauty, old friend?”
“A choice she may make herself this evening.” Yellow ribbon coaxed from her neck, Henry affixed it to her dress in a floralesque knot. “But mind your manners, Will.”
Her second test. She’d passed the exposure level without flinching.
“In your company, Henry? Always.” Santa’s flourishing bow to her came off with handsome grace despite the rotund body his suit didn’t entirely mask. “What say you, lady?”
Jay would’ve presented the same extravagant playfulness at home to make her giggle and make Henry growl and claim him. The night Santa’d visited them provided inspiration. Curtseying to her admirer, she shot him a saucy smile. “An elbow kiss, Santa?”
He guffawed, sending their nearest neighbors back a step. “Bested by my own words. Yes, then, an elbow kiss.” He rose to his full height, a good eight inches on her. “Your sweet is a delight, Henry.”
As Henry hummed, she extended her arm.
Santa Will lifted her upturned wrist with two fingers, ran his nose along her inner forearm, inhaled, and pecked her elbow with a beard-bushy kiss.
No tingles, but fondness all the same. Her body didn’t consider him a threat. Interaction accomplished. Alice two, fears zip.
“This isn’t the same little Alice who waited on me last month.” Backing off, he released her wrist as he stood tall. “That girl carried nerves in her eyes.” He nodded to her with new respect. “You’ve brought a woman with you, Henry. A breathtaking one at that. With a yellow ribbon? Brave man.”
“Would you care to help me keep the jackals at bay, Will?” Henry smoothed the dress draped over his arm, but his gaze followed the line of her body instead. “I thought Alice and I might take in the sights. She has a lovely appetite for novel adventures.”
“No boy this evening?” Frowning, Will looked over their heads at the crowd in both directions. “Is he well?”
“Quite well. A family matter.”
“Ah. Distasteful things.”
Santa’s home life beat out Jay’s for complications. Rejection left simmering too long in Resentment Reservoir. Though she had Henry to purify her emotional wells, Santa went without.
“If you’d care to make it a foursome”—Henry floated a light, careless tone—“perhaps we might tempt Em away from hostessing for a spell.”
“I’ve tried, Henry.” Will exhaled with gusto. “She’s a stubborn one.”
“Stubborn can be managed.” Cupping her chin, Henry caressed her cheek. “With the proper incentives and care.”
She nuzzled into him. “Dominant can be managed.” Her smile peeked through without permission. “With the right incentives and care.”
Both men laughed, Henry flashing white teeth and Will’s red cheeks rounding.
Joining in, she snuggled beside Henry not out of a need for protection but because she wanted to. He’d been right about the body chemistry. She craved him like a drug. No—like a vitamin or mineral. Salt. Necessary for her survival and damn tasty.
Henry squeezed her ass. “Will, have you—”
Fuck, he kept his massage going, strong and possessive. If he’d let her wear the toy tonight, she’d be halfway to Climaxville. Focusing beyond her rolling arousal took effort.
“—Jacob’s seat?”
“If I can make myself appear respectable enough.” Squaring his shoulders, Santa almost managed an imposing presence. His wry smile softened the effect. “Em gave me the sharp side of her tongue for fighting.”
His friendly tone suggested admiration, and his blue eyes sparkled. He ought to—damn. Harpy wife.
“She also says you’ve been wrangling wannabes on Saturdays.” Will nodded, decisive and firm. “Those young ruffians could use a smack from the decorum stick.”
“Young ruffians and good girls.” With teasing gentleness, Henry smacked her ass.
As he propelled her forward, her laughter spilled out, loud and unexpected. Dropping a fancy dress over her head didn’t magically give her polite dom-sub society manners. The quiet obedience even Jay-the-comedian excelled at eluded her. Ribs heaving with suppressed chuckles, she slammed her lips together.
“Henry, your lovely little one is having a veritable attack.” Will’s false concern upped the difficulty level on regaining control. “Don’t you let the poor dear laugh?” Ducking his head level with hers, he mimed a severe frown. “So dour you are. It’s no wonder she needs Santa’s jolliness to brighten her day.”
Henry snorted. “My girl has a fine playmate to give her plenty of jollies.” He stroked her hair as she quieted. “But she’s trying exceptionally hard tonight to be a model of submission.”
“Head of the class?” Clapping Henry on the shoulder, Will rocked them both. “I’d say she has the teacher’s pet position all sewn up.”
By default. Her favorite competitor had conceded the field, leaving her to play for both of them tonight. If she lost her shit in front of Henry’s best friend, Jay’d never get his chance.
“It’s not only me she wishes to impress.” Confidence filled Henry’s declaration, though she hadn’t told him her intention. He knew her well enough without asking. “My Alice has a kind heart, and you’ve rather found a place in it after your valiant defense.”
“An easy decision. The man’s a jackass, and your Alice is—” Sighing, Will stared past her, somewhere over Henry’s shoulder. “A lively, spirited darling, and an innocent in the scene before she met you, I’d say. Her first explorations, finding her legs and taking those tentative steps? It’s lovely to watch. If we can’t protect that, we may as well go out fighting.” He stiffened. “And we may yet tonight.” Leaning closer, he dropped into a deep whisper. “He’s here, watching you.”
Cal. As her heart tripped into overdrive and her throat tightened, a phantom hand slipped into her own. Jay. Hot and trembling and gone when she tried to squeeze back.
Will smirked. “He seems more irked than usual.”
No walls or corners waited to trap her, just people and fancy furnishings. She sidled away from the chairs grouped around a low table.
“The classes and Em’s outreach are making waves.” Henry, curling his arm around her, pulled her in front of him. “Perhaps he’s having trouble finding a partner.”
Widening his stance beside them, Will flexed his hand. “Coming this way.”
She hadn’t caught sight of Jay’s tormenter, and her protective escorts had likely cut off any line he had on her without a word.
Henry transferred the overdress to her arms. “If you want to avoid th
is, sweet girl, simply tell me.”
Temptation tasted like fear, thick and chalky.
He rubbed warmth into her hands. “He’ll skirt the line. Give offense but stop short of a threat I can point to as such. Deliberate unpleasantness is his stock-in-trade.”
“He’ll be prodding to see if he can hurt me.” Because tears and pain aroused Cal, and he didn’t care about obtaining consent.
“Precisely.”
His moral shortcomings made him unsafe. Not the pain, the games, or the toys—the person wielding them who didn’t respect limits but pretended to long enough to steal trust. Jay’s trust.
“It’s fine, sir.” She emphasized the title Henry earned with his caring leadership, the one the pompous ass demanded like a defiant child. “Every word out of his mouth is worthless bullshit.” She blew out a breath. Her blood sought vengeance for Jay beyond the campaign to cut off Calvin Gardner’s supply of naïve novices and not-my-problem dominants. “I’m ready for this.”
“Yes, you are.” Forceful, possessive, Henry growled low and claimed her mouth.
As her tension flowed out, she turned pliant and submissive in his arms. A moment worth living in forever. Pure freedom from everything but pleasure.
Will gave a slight cough.
“I see the cuddler-in-chief”—the fucking sneer Cal embedded in his voice tensed her right back to fight status—“has returned with his crying cunt. No little bitch tonight?”
Ignoring the intrusion, Henry gentled his kiss to a slow devouring as he cradled her.
His unconcern restored her to reason. Satisfying as kneeing Cal in the balls would be, she’d only set back their cause. And Jay wouldn’t get to enjoy the sight anyway.
“Funny, I could’ve sworn I just saw a whiny little bitch,” Will mused. “Wherever did he go? Oh, Cal, I didn’t see you there.”
Inarticulate scoffing served as a reply. Weeks of rejections might’ve knocked Cal off his game.
Henry kissed her forehead. Leaving one arm around her, he faced the jackass. “Cal.”
“Henry.” Cal dragged out his name. “You’re one short tonight, aren’t you?”
