Cherished

by Lauren Dane

  “You’re welcome.” She waited, nearly breathless for the kiss she knew was coming.

  “I like that you wait.” He brushed a kiss over her lips.

  She liked it too.

  “I don’t really want to eat anything right now. No offense to your tart. Unless that was a euphemism for your pussy, in which case I’d like to amend my answer.”

  Laughing, she threw her arms around his neck, tiptoeing up to kiss him quickly.

  “It wasn’t. But it can be. The other tart will be just as good with coffee tomorrow morning. My bed isn’t as big as yours, but it’s comfortable and I’m in it, which should hopefully serve as a draw.”

  He kissed the tip of her nose. “More than you know.”

  “Are you cold? I made a pot of tea so the water is still hot if you’d like.”

  He shook his head, flicking the strap of the chemise off one shoulder and kissing the bare spot, sending a shiver through her.

  “Okay then. I’d like you to be naked.”

  Something happened to her when they got like this. She didn’t understand the whole of it, only that he brought something out in her. A desire to serve and comfort.

  “You first, beautiful.” He pulled the other strap off and the fabric spilled to the floor, leaving her in her panties and nothing else. She’d changed out the bars in her nipples for hoops with beads and he noticed that right off.

  He took her breasts in his hands, weighing them, and then he tugged each hoop, flicking the bead and bringing a surprised gasp to her lips. He did things she didn’t expect. Things that thrilled her straight to her toes.

  He stepped back and she moved a step closer, wanting her hands on him, wanting him to be as naked as she was. He took her hands, clasping at her wrists and again with the shiver. She licked her lips, waiting for whatever he had in mind next.

  “You have no idea what it does to me when you submit like that.” He said it quietly, as if he wasn’t quite sure what it did to him either.

  Submit.

  Was that it?

  He let go of her wrists. “Bring me that bag, the one I left near the door. And be sure the door is locked and your windows are all covered.” He smiled and goose bumps broke out. Her pussy was wet and ready, her nipples throbbing, the faint ghost of his touch just moments before still lived on her skin.

  The bag was a gym bag of sorts and of course she’d already locked up, though no one would be bugging her at this time of night anyway. Not without a call first.

  She brought him the bag and he took it, kissing her quickly.

  “I want you to sit over there, on your bed.”

  She did it, excited at whatever he had planned.

  He unzipped the bag, and then looked up at her. “Do you trust me?”

  She thought about it. Did she? In the ways that counted, yes. So she nodded.

  He pulled out a blindfold. “Good.”

  When he’d arrived home, he’d stood in his closet, looking at the bag.

  He walked out to his car twice only to go back inside. He hadn’t used the contents in a few years, but a quick check had told him the rope was still sturdy and free of any burrs, the mask he’d use for a blindfold was still folded, wrapped in a scarf. A scarf he’d bought the last time he used the bag.

  Only he never used the scarf, or anything else in the bag. After the last time, he’d come home and put it in the closet and hadn’t really thought of using it.

  Until Daisy. That hit him as he sucked in a breath.

  He’d shoved it from his mind and grabbed the straps and headed out before he could overthink it any more.

  She looked at the mask he held and got into a kneeling position. Most likely to get a better look, she was curious that way. But it inflamed him, the way she got into position so automatically.

  He walked to her, each step feeling more right than the last. “I’m going to cover your eyes.”

  She nodded.

  When he slid it on and tightened the strap he didn’t fail to notice her gasp and then the gooseflesh. He bent to kiss her shoulder and then gave a featherlight touch to her nipple. He wanted something for them and as he pulled out the wrist cuffs, he gave himself permission to look the following week. She needed something hanging from them. Dangly. Sparkly. A little heavy so she’d remember him every time she moved.

  The cuffs went back into the bag and his fingertips brushed the rope. Need burst through him with such intensity his heart pounded and he felt light-headed. He pulled the coil out and brushed the end of it against the underside of her breasts, loving the way those lips of hers made an O of surprised pleasure.

  “Have you ever been tied up before, Daisy?” He unbuckled his belt, caressing his cock a moment as he did.

  “N-no.” She licked her lips. “I mean, I think once someone used a necktie on my wrists, but it was a cheap tie and it sort of burned if I pulled against it.”

  He shook his head, though she couldn’t see it. Amateurs.

  “For the record,” he said as he uncoiled the rope, letting it hit the floor, letting her wonder what he was doing, “all my neckties are silk. And I’m not an amateur. If I want you to burn, you’ll know it. But right now what I want is to bind you.”

  He didn’t ask. He just wanted her along with him on the journey.

  This fit him so well he would have been terrified if he wasn’t staring at a voluptuous, nearly naked woman with a blindfold on, offering herself up for his pleasure. This wasn’t a shoe he wanted to wear. Not for a long time. It was something so intimate he’d stopped doing it rather than waste all that raw, naked energy and intimacy on anyone he didn’t feel a deep connection to.

  He shook his head again to dislodge all that. Not the time.

  And then he began. “Stand up.” He put a hand on her upper arm to help her with balance as her eyes were covered. She was so damned small without her heels on. Small and naked and so feminine it drove him to distraction.

  Slowly, relishing every single moment, relishing the scent of the rope, the scent of the lotion she used and the heady, sticky sweet tang of her desire, he began to bind her. Around her shoulders and chest, keeping away from her neck, around her upper arms and then lower. Tight enough to leave a mark. Loose enough that the marks would fade in an hour or so once he untied her. Enough. Enough that he’d see them, remember them until the next time he could touch her.

  He guided her back to the bed, her muscles heavy, her breathing slower. “Just tell me to stop if that’s what you need.” He sat her on the edge, her feet on the floor.

  She was deep in, he realized. Her chemicals had flooded her body, leaving her drugged with pleasure. It was a gift and he’d make sure he treated it as such.

  He stepped from his pants and approached her again, tapping the head of his cock against her lips.

  She opened immediately and he shivered as she took him in.

  All she wanted was his cock. She strained against the rope to get more of him, but he controlled everything.

  When he pulled back on the ropes, she arched. The scratch was exquisite; it broke over her with bright shards of sensation, keeping her from falling away totally. Without her vision, it was all about how she felt. What she heard. What she smelled and tasted.

  He held her by the ropes as she strained harder to suck him deeper. A desperate, needy sound tore from her and he groaned in response.

  “Goddamn,” he snarled.

  She squeezed her thighs together and whimpered at the pulse of pleasure that followed. Not enough. Too much.

  And then he stepped back and she growled.

  A chuckle in her ear. “Patience.”

  He helped her stand again and then turned her, leaning her down so her feet were on the floor but her upper body rested against the mattress. She concentrated hard to hear what he was doing. Her skin was super-sensitized. Even the air around her was a caress. But it was the crinkle of a condom wrapper that made her want to burst into tears of happiness.

  He nudged her
thighs wider and brushed the head of his cock through her pussy.

  “So wet.”

  “Yes!”

  He teased around her clit with his cock, pushing her right to the edge and pulling back.

  “Why is your cunt so wet, Daisy?”

  “You. You make it wet.”

  “Yes. I’m bringing you your pleasure. It’s my responsibility.”

  The words sent a slice of longing through her belly. To be thought of that way by this man was overwhelming. But fleeting? It was hard to think on it that way when he was like this. This was intimate on a stunning, raw level. The idea that he’d shared this with someone else seemed incomprehensible. But had he?

  Enough of that.

  All her doubts flew away when he pressed in deep, holding her still with firm hands at her hips before he angled her, using her hips to fuck her cunt back onto his cock.

  She struggled for breath, struggled not to fall into the spell he’d been weaving since the first time she laid eyes on him. But it was impossible to hold out against all he presented to her life.

  Then he bit her shoulder. Just above the ropes. It was a surprise. Nearly shocking—but when his teeth sank in nearly to the point of pain her entire body flushed with pleasure. Her cunt squeezed around his cock and her clit swelled, sliding against the slick flesh of the hood and her labia.

  “More. God, please more.”

  One-handed, he reached around his cock and found her clit and she sobbed out a joyous breath, rocking her hips to get more friction against his fingertips.

  He grunted and then the other hand slapped her ass, shocking a squeal from her. Bright pleasure/pain exploded behind her eyelids. The sound had been as good as the sensation. Until the heat of it spread. And she understood then why someone would want to be spanked.

  First, he wanted to. Which was important. His cock slammed home hard over and over. She knew he got off on whatever it was he was doing because he sped up his thrusts, deepening them.

  She made him feel that.

  She made him gasp and growl and lose his hold on his control.

  The victory of it sang through her veins and then orgasm hit so hard she screamed into her mattress.

  He pressed in deep, holding her there with a hand at her hip. Inside, she felt the jerk of his cock as he came.

  He pulled out. “Be right back.” Quickly he got rid of the condom and returned to her, still bent over, still tied up. He blew out a breath. “You’re beautiful like this.”

  She hummed her pleasure, her face turned toward him, the smile on her lips dreamy. He took the blindfold off and she blinked up at him, her eyes glossy. No fear. No judgment. No, she looked at him with acceptance and desire.

  That settled into his gut. Acceptance of this darker side of his life was something he told himself he didn’t need because it had just been a passing phase in his life. He’d been lying of course, but that smile on her lips and the sweet submission in his eyes only underlined it.

  And still.

  He untied her, his cock reviving at the sight of the marks in her skin. He kissed them gently, ministering to her as she curled into his side. He wanted to assure himself she was all right. But she was. She rested her head on his biceps, staring up at him as he kissed her forearm where the crisscross of marks was most visible.

  “I like the way it looks,” she said lazily.

  “I do too.”

  “You still have a shirt on.” She frowned and he pulled it off quickly so he could be touching her again.

  “You’re all right? I didn’t hurt you?”

  “Sure you did.” She shrugged. “In a good way,” she amended when he started to speak. “The rope burned a little when I struggled. But not in a bad pain way.” She ducked her chin a moment and he tipped it up to see her face better.

  “I need you to tell me. If this is going to work, you have to tell me.”

  “I like that it got you hot when you spanked me. I like the way your breath hitched when you were tying me up.”

  Heat flashed through him. “I like that too.” He kissed her and she sighed into him, her body seeming to melt into his.

  “Do you want something to eat or drink?” Her voice had gone sleepy and lazy. It was nearly two. He’d been up almost twenty-four hours and suddenly with her warmth in his arms, he had nothing more he wanted to do than sleep.

  “Mmm, no. Close your eyes and sleep. We’ll eat and drink in the morning. After I fuck you again.”

  She smiled against his chest.

  Chapter 10

  He woke up slow and then jerked quickly to full consciousness. Not his bed. Not his house. Not Kelsey.

  She opened her eyes sleepily and smiled. “Hello.”

  He relaxed. “Morning. Sorry to wake you.”

  “It’s after eleven anyway. I don’t normally sleep this late but I have a rare Saturday off. Would you like to go on a walkabout with me today?”

  He found himself smiling. “And what’s a walkabout then?”

  “When I wake up in a good mood on a day off with no plans at all, I just make up the perfect day in my head and then I do it. So, today I was thinking of going over to Seattle to hit SAM. A friend gave me two passes. You can be my plus one. And then, perhaps Top Pot and having too many doughnuts and some hot chocolate. Yes, that sounds appropriate.”

  It did.

  “First things first. We need to stop and get coffee and some pastry. Yes, I know we’ll be having doughnuts later. I may amend my choice to something savory if Jules has anything that catches my eye.”

  She pushed up from bed, naked and gorgeous, and headed toward the bathroom. “Well?”

  He took that as an invitation and followed her.

  Forty-five minutes later they were standing at the counter of a place in town he’d been wanting to try forever called Tart.

  The beautiful blonde lit up when she caught sight of Daisy, coming out from behind the counter to gather her into a hug. “Hello, hot stuff. I’m so happy to see you.”

  “Heya, gorgeous. We need coffees.” She turned back to Levi. “Levi Warner, this is Jules Lamprey. She’s the goddess of pastry and this is her place.”

  Jules gave him a careful looking at as she took his hand to shake. “It’s nice to meet you, Levi. Do you want coffee or something fancy like a latte?”

  She bustled back behind the counter and pointed to a tray in the case. “Daze, bacon scones made this morning.”

  “Fuck yeah. I want two, please.” She turned to Levi. “One of those is for you. I promise you’ll love me for it.”

  “If it has bacon in it, I generally accept that I’ll be pleased with it. I’d like a coffee with room for cream, please.”

  Jules filled cups for both of them and then bagged up the scones. He tried to pay but Daisy gave him a look that had him rethinking that.

  Then Jules snorted and swatted Daisy’s hand away. “You work in here so much you’ve earned freebies forever and ever.” She looked to Levi. “Daisy has saved my life behind this counter so many times it’s not funny. She’s that awesome. Just so you know that.”

  Daisy blushed. “Hush up. It’s what friends do.”

  Ah, but not all friends. Levi understood that as well as he understood the don’t-you-hurt-my-friend look and warning he just received from Jules.

  “Where you off to today?”

  Daisy poured sugar in her cup and then looked to Levi. “Two sugars, right?”

  He nodded, dumbstruck by her once again. A small thing, knowing how much sugar he took. But she knew it. She noticed.

  She finished the coffee prep and he took the bags. “We’re off to the museum, and then hot chocolate and doughnuts. Maybe a movie if we’re feeling especially fancy-free.”

  “Awesome. I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

  “Indeed you will. Thanks for the coffee and scones. Love you.” She waved and Jules blew her a kiss on the way out.

  He liked to see her around other people. She had an open, easy manner
and was clearly well loved by her friends. He’d always cringed away from women who had a lot of people they knew but no actual friends. Daisy seemed to have a smile and a kind word for everyone she recognized and they all seemed to have one in return. It was genuine, not affected.

  He drove and she curled into the seat, facing him as she spoke. He normally hated really animated people. But Daisy, as per usual, was different. Her energy recharged him. She was intelligent and creative. Inquisitive. Passionate about the things she believed in so they had a fabulous debate about gas taxes.

  He even found a decent parking space near the museum and they walked the few blocks, her hand tucked in his.

  She looked at art the way he did, he noted. Her gaze went intent as she took it in and then she sort of went away if she liked the piece.

  They spent hours there. He’d never actually spent hours at a museum on a date. Especially not with a woman who loved art as much as he did. She asked questions and took notes. Sometimes she made a quick sketch on a pad she kept tucked in her pocket.

  He liked Daisy Huerta. In that like-her, like-her sort of way. It was as sweet as it was hot, the way she made him feel. She was remarkably old-fashioned in some ways. At the same time, she was confident in a way he found incredibly attractive. Beauty never hurt and she had it in spades. She had a quick wit and an ability to hear other people’s perspectives missing in so many.

  They’d come back down to the south lobby and they’d paused and looked at the statues.

  “I was here a few weeks ago for a fund-raising gala. I like what they do here,” he said as they went down the stairs.

  “Me too. My friend, the one who gave me the passes, he has a season thingy so when he gets close to renewing and has any passes left, he gives them to me.”

  He resolved right then to buy her a membership when he got home.

  “I like that you enjoy art. Makes you even sexier. Have you ever taken one of the docent tours? Really amazing.” Her eyes lit and he found himself smiling.

  “My great-aunt has vision problems, she’s clinically blind. They have a program, amazing really. I came with her when she went on a special tour here. Specially trained docents present the art through description and there were some things they could touch to get an idea of brushstroke and all that stuff. Marvelous.”