by Jayne Blue
Jack smiled and rolled his eyes. “I know exactly what you mean. He can make getting a paper cut sound like he took a shrapnel hit at Tora Bora.”
“Right. Good analogy. But I also have Miranda’s case file on my dad. Pagano’s isn’t there but I’ve been working on building an annotated timeline. Dates, places, witnesses. Everything that came out at trial that they used to convict him. I have the advantage of knowing he’s innocent. My dad is and was a lot of things but he was never a drug kingpin. He never even dealt. I’m not saying the Great Wolves M.C. were choir boys but they weren’t into that. There were bank deposits or a witness who lied or something that’s not right. I’m going to find it.”
Jack shook his head. There was tenderness in those brown eyes of his that melted me.
“Come here,” he said. I came up on my knees and shifted so I straddled his lap. Jack leaned back until he rested his head against the headboard. He smoothed his hands over my hips, making me shudder. I leaned down and kissed him. I worked the button of his trousers and unfastened his belt. He grew hard beneath my fingers. His engorged cock sprang free and I closed my hand around him, feeling his slow steady pulse.
“You said we had all night, don’t we?” I said. Jack let out a great sigh; his chest rose and fell.
“We do,” he answered, his voice husky with lust, his pupils widened.
“Then let’s talk more later,” I said. I still held his belt in my hands and I folded it in half, making the leather crack. Jack’s eyes flashed and the corners of his luscious mouth raised in a slow smile.
With catlike quickness, he flipped me to my back and hovered over me. He took the belt from my hands and held it flat against the bed a few inches from my ear.
“Don’t tempt me, Tora,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind putting you over my knee.”
Heat flared between my legs at the thought of it. In that moment, I knew that was exactly what I wanted him to do.
“Have I earned some type of punishment, Mr. Manning?”
Jack’s laugh was rich and sensual and he bent down to kiss me. “You have no idea what you do to me, Miss McLain.” I reached down and cupped his ass. The muscles there were hard and smooth. I hooked my fingers under the waistband of his pants and started to drag them down the rest of the way.
“Then show me,” I whispered, daring him.
Jack sat up. He held the belt in his hands. He regarded me with that sultry smile and my body answered instantly. Moisture pooled between my legs and I struggled to spread them wide beneath him. He folded the belt in half again and ran it down my chest, between my breasts, then rested it on my right nipple. I squirmed. Time seemed to stand still and everything I was became the sensation of the cool leather skittering across my nipple, puckering the flesh there.
Then Jack shifted his weight off me and stood at the side of the bed. His eyes were hooded and dark and my breath caught thinking of the plans he might be making for me. I pulled my legs up, bending at the knees. I spread wide for him. I’m yours, I told him with my body. I ran a finger down between my legs and parted my slick lips for him so he could see everything. So he would know just how wet and ready I was for anything he wanted to do to me.
“Please,” I gasped. And I meant it. “Make me yours again. I want you too. I want everything, Jack.”
He held the belt at his side, still looped in half and he slapped it gently against his leg as he regarded me, still making his plans. He kicked his pants away and tugged his boxers down. His great cock was fully erect and pointing straight at me. It took everything in me not to go to my knees before him and worship it with my mouth. Something in Jack’s eyes told me it wasn’t what he wanted. Not yet. For now, he wanted me like this, begging for him with spread legs and my swollen, gaping sex.
He cracked the belt against his thigh and his eyes raked over me. I tried to be still, just like he taught me the other night. He would bind me if I wasn’t. That dark part of me wanted him to but the thought of being tied down while he wielded that belt scared me as much as it thrilled me. I wasn’t sure I was ready for that just yet.
Jack stepped forward; he still held the belt in a folded loop. He ran it up the inside of my left thigh and flicked the hand I still held at my opening. I took his meaning and put my hand to my side. He ran the belt across my wet folds and I parted my legs even wider. This pleased him and he gave me that slow, dark smile that made my blood sing. He ran the belt down my right leg then brought it to his own side again, lightly slapping it against his leg.
“I won’t hurt you,” he said, his voice rich with emotion.
“I know,” I said. “But I wouldn’t mind if you did ... I mean, just a little.”
Jack smiled but there was something so sinful behind his eyes. “Are you still going to let him touch you?”
My heart stopped beating for a fraction of a second. “Jack, don’t.”
“I need to know. I can bear it if I know you’re still mine.”
“Yes,” I gasped. “God, yes. Jack. You’re in my head. You’re the only one who makes me feel like this ... that makes me feel anything. I’ll do anything to prove it to you. Anything.”
That wicked smile of his widened. “Anything is a lot to a man like me, Tora. Are you sure you mean it?”
I nodded; my heart pounded so fast my words left me.
“Good,” he said. “Now, I need you to feel it. It drives me crazy, Tora. Do you know how much it has tortured me this week to be so close to you but not able to touch you? To see you with him?”
I nodded. “I’m sorry. Oh Jack.”
With each word he spoke, he punctuated it by the slow slapping of his belt against the side of his leg. He was dangerous like this. His eyes smoldered with lust and possession and slowly, his need and meaning took shape in my mind. He wanted to deliver sweet punishment. Make me feel how much it tore at him to know it was Seth’s bed I went to every night. Even if Seth was barely able to touch me. He did though. Sometimes. While it wasn’t a real betrayal of Jack, not yet, it caused him pain. And he wanted me to pay for it. And, oh, I wanted it too. I wanted Jack to mark me and make me the best kind of sore.
Somehow, I knew what he wanted without him saying the words. I knew what I’d earned from him and the way my body responded to just the thought of it shocked me. Each sharp snap of the belt against his thigh made my body tremble and fresh moisture pool between my legs. I was so hot there and dripping for him. And he wasn’t even touching me.
“Yes,” I said. “I think I need it.”
Jack narrowed his eyes at me, unsure maybe that I truly knew what he intended. I sat up and a slow smile lifted the corner of my own mouth. Heat and desire coursed through my veins. My breath hitched in my throat. I turned and crawled to the center of the bed, presenting myself to Jack on my hands and knees. I lowered myself down so I rested my chin against my folded arms but kept my ass high in the air, exposed to him. I felt the slow trickle of moisture coat the inside of my thighs and shuddered when I heard him slap the belt again.
“I think you need it too,” Jack said. The air shifted behind me as Jack stepped closer. I felt the cool leather of the belt run up the inside of my right leg then down the other. Jack reached for me, probing my slick folds with his fingers. “God,” he said. “You’re so wet.”
And I was. I was soaked and I quivered where he touched me.
“Please,” I gasped. “Please do it. Punish me, Jack. I’ve earned it.”
“You have,” he said. “Over and over again.”
The first lash landed square across my ass and I squealed from the shock of it. It didn’t hurt, not really. There was just a quick initial sting and then my flesh blossomed in delicious warmth. He put a hand against my skin, smoothing away the sting. He gave me a moment to settle in to the sensation but then he spanked me again. This time, the belt landed lower, just above my exposed sex. Oh God. Would he spank me there? My legs trembled and I struggled to keep myself in position for it.
The blows started t
o come in a regular rhythm then. He slapped the belt on each cheek, up high, lower down, square across my ass. Each time, I quivered beneath it. Fresh warmth spread across my flesh and each time, I grew even more wet from the sensation. I was aroused beyond anything I’d ever experienced. My sex pulsed with desire and I felt myself spreading open with each successive blow. Jack was an expert. He knew just how hard to strike me, keeping me on the edge of pleasure and pain. Knowing exactly how much I could take. When it became too intense, he would back off and either caress my sensitive flesh with his hand or lean down to feather me with light kisses. Or he would work my engorged clit between his thumb and forefinger, coaxing me even closer to a powerful orgasm that hovered just beneath the surface.
“You’re mine,” he said between lashes.
“Yes,” I would answer.
“Did you let him touch you?”
“Yes,” I would cry out. And then he would deliver a new volley of lashes. When one finally fell across my sensitive bud, I screamed from the pleasure. It made a wet smacking sound that made me throb and pulse. It was a reckoning. My penance. And God help me, I deserved it. Each fresh lash seemed to chip away at whatever guilt I felt for every lie I’d told. And as much as it ignited my desires, it felt like absolution.
“God, you loved that,” Jack said, stopping to examine the new wetness and my swollen, gaping sex. I couldn’t deny it even if I tried. He had the evidence right in front of him.
“Yes,” I whispered against my arm. Then he smacked me there again.
“Stop!” I cried out. “Oh ... it’s too much. Baby, I need a break.”
Then Jack was on me. He threw the belt to the side and straddled me, driving his cock deep inside me. As much as he’d aroused me, he was even more so. He was huge and hard, like steel, and he filled me completely, stretching my walls wide. He rooted himself in me to the hilt and held himself there.
“Do you feel that?” he said.
“Yes,” I whimpered. My skin was on fire from the blows he’d delivered and now the pulsing girth of his dick buried so deep.
“That’s what you do to me. We fit, Tora ... so perfect.”
“Yes,” I was almost in tears from the assault to my senses.
“I know you’re tired,” he said against my ear. “Your little clit must feel so raw. It’s beautiful. I wish you could see it.”
“Please,” I said. My arms and legs were numb and I shook from the strain of keeping myself on all fours for him.
“Not just yet, honey,” he said. “I need you to bear it for just a little longer. I’m going to fuck you and I can’t hold back. You can grip the bed to brace yourself but you’re going to take it. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” My voice was muffled against the bed sheet but I understood. I found some reserve of strength and wound my hands into the sheet and managed to bring my ass back up.
Jack took me then. He rode me hard and deep and I did bear it, just like he commanded. His thrust rocked me to my core, making my teeth rattle and my body tremble. He filled me and claimed me, taking everything I had to give. This too felt like an absolution as Jack battered me with all of the pent-up hurt I may have caused him. I was only too glad to take it.
When he finally came, he exploded in me, coating me with his thick, hot cum. He grunted and ground himself in me, making me take every drop until he was good and finished. Even after that, he kept pounding himself into me until I knew I would barely be able to walk in the morning let alone sit without a constant reminder of what he’d done to me. What I knew I’d earned.
When he finally sated himself, Jack held me in place; my legs shook with the effort of keeping my ass up in the air for him. He kept himself rooted in me, leaning forward probably on his tip toes, making me take every inch of him and hold it there. As he pinned me, he reached around and found my sensitive little sex with his index finger. I was raw, just like he said, and this fresh assault on my already swollen bud again brought me to the knife’s edge of pleasure and pain. And he worked me there, sliding his finger over the sensitive tip drawing me out. I was helpless beneath him. From this position, I couldn’t move my hips or set my own rhythm, I could only ride the pleasure he chose to give me. He worked his finger in a relentless, circular motion and I gasped and shuddered, my body trying to contain the building sensation. Just when I didn’t think I could take another second of his sweet, expert torture, the most powerful orgasm I’d ever experienced seized me. It started deep in my core and spread out in waves of electrified sensations that made me moan, shake and struggle to get my legs wider, take even more of his massive cock into me.
When it crested, I crumpled under Jack, finally bringing my stomach flat against the bed. The last slow swipe of Jack’s finger across my engorged sex made me quake and cry out. It was almost too much to bear. Then Jack slid out of me, and I felt a flush of heat between my legs. I couldn’t move. If he hadn’t folded me into his arms and brought me across his lap I might have lain face down on his bed until morning.
Jack worshipped me with slow kisses and tender caresses. He whispered my name as I rested my head against his chest, listening to the steady sound of his heartbeat. And I never wanted to be anywhere else.
***
A half hour before daybreak, Jack and I finally broke apart.
“Do you think he ever came to?” Jack asked as I gathered the remnants of my dress. It just now dawned on me that I was in for an old-school Walk of Shame through the resort lobby if I was going to make it back to the Mountain Suit before sunrise. I’d been so eager to get away from Seth and alone with Jack, I hadn’t packed a bag.
“Probably not,” I said. “After nights like that, he tends to sleep past nine or even later. There’s a good chance he won’t even remember you being in the suite or how the hole got in the wall.”
“Tora,” Jack said, turning me to help me tie the straps of my dress. “I know I said it last night but I’m concerned about you being around him when he’s like that. I’m not convinced he’s all bark and no bite.”
“I know.” I turned back and reached up to take Jack’s face in my hands. “And I’m glad to know you’re trying to have my back. I won’t do anything stupid. I’m not planning to provoke him too far. I want my dad out of prison, but not at the expense of my own safety. I know where the lines are.”
Jack reached down and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. Then he crossed the room and grabbed his phone. “I’m coming back to Chicago for an extended stay,” he said. “I just need to tie up a few loose ends in Arlington.”
My breath hitched. This was the first time Jack had really hinted at any kind of permanent arrangement. I wasn’t sure what it meant.
“Put your number in here.” He handed me his phone and I punched my information into his contacts. “Two or three days and I’m going to be back at The Drake.”
“Suite 814?” I gave him a slow smile. That room was always going to hold a special place in my thoughts.
“I think I might actually upgrade to a penthouse this time,” he said. “Like I said, this is going to be a more long-term stay.”
I nodded. “Are you sure?” We were treading into uncharted waters here. My focus had been so firmly trained on finding what I needed to help my father, I rarely thought beyond it.
“I’m always sure,” he said. “This matters to me.” He made a motion with his hand in the space between us when he said the word “this.”
I took a deep breath, afraid to move, afraid to say anything that might be the wrong thing. Where Jack was concerned, I didn’t know what I wanted beyond just him.
“Mr. Manning,” I finally said. “I’m getting the impression that this,” I made the same motion with my hand in the space between us, “is getting harder and harder to define.”
He nodded. “That’s why I’m not asking for a definition. But I’m at a point in my life where I get to do what I want and be where I want. Right now, I want to be near you. Do you have a problem with that?”
&
nbsp; He took my breath away. Since the second I’d laid eyes on Jack Manning, he had a confident air about him that was unlike anyone I’d ever known except my father before life had beaten him down. He was right. He did exactly that. He did what he wanted and took what he wanted. I was growing accustomed to the idea that I might just be what he wanted and it scared and thrilled me all at the same time.
“Don’t freak out on me,” Jack said as planted his foot on the edge of the bed to tie his shoe. “I’m not making you a proposal. But I care about what happens to you. I want to be there when you finish what you started with Seth. Is that okay with you?” He put his foot down and rose to his full height. I had to look up to meet his eyes.
“Yes,” I said simply.
“We’ll talk more later,” he said. “Take the west corridor through the Ruby Suite. You can avoid the main lobby that way. It’s early enough you won’t run into anyone who matters. Pagano’s still in his room and so is Seth. I already talked to the concierge while you were still sleeping.”
“Okay,” I said, feeling a building warmth in my heart as Jack snapped the sleeves of his jacket so they lay straight. It was probably dangerous to think he could take care of everything. Dangerous to let him. I’d been on my own for so long it was a novel feeling and one I knew would take some time to trust. For now though, I put a hand on Jack’s upper arm and rose on my tip toes to kiss him one last time before I walked out the door.
Chapter Fourteen
Jack
My assistant Vince took the news of my plans to leave Virginia indefinitely a hell of a lot better than I expected. With my sporadic presence lately, it couldn’t have come as a complete shock to him. Still, as we sat across from each other at my regular table at the Bangkok 54, Vince was chipper and all smiles. My proposal probably helped.
“Are you going to sit there and stare at me with your mouth hanging open or are you going to talk again sometime before the next millennium?”
