by Michelle Fox
“Good. Never forget you are mine.”
Her gaze locked with his. “I’ll never forget, Sir. I’ll always be yours.”
Her words struck him and she watched regret fill his eyes. “Don’t pine for me, Selena.”
“But you’re who I want to be with.” There, she’d said it. At least he would know how she really felt. Know someone cared at least about his curse.
“The curse--”
“Tell me how to break it and I will.”
He pursed his lips and shook his head. “I can’t. I’m bound only to serve a woman for three nights. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Tears filled the corners of her eyes. She ached for him, for the narrow constraints of his existence. “Tell me who did this to you. Tell me so I can find him.”
He shook his head again. “You can’t save me, Selena. No one can.” With that he resumed smacking her with the crop with such intensity it was as if he was heading off any further discussion. He started with her thighs and then alternated with strikes to her breasts, his aim precise enough that he struck a circle around her nipple before finally hitting the tip. The first time the crop landed square on the tips of her breasts, Selena screamed as pain exploded through her chest. Her reaction did not deter him, in fact, if anything it spurred him to bring down the pain even faster.
Her breasts on fire, Selena’s hips bounced on the bed, dancing under the crop and searching for the vibrator. She expelled a loud sigh when she found it, grateful for the reprieve it provided. Pure pleasure quivered over the bud between her legs and spread out over her body merging with the heat of the crop until she couldn’t tell the difference between pleasure and pain. Before she knew it, she was moaning, her hands twisting in their bonds as she gripped the rope.
“Don’t come, pet. My affection for you will spare you no discipline should you lose control.”
His use of the word affection made her smile, but then sensation swept her focus away. Her legs moved trying to spread wider to give the pleasure more room. The edge loomed, and soon she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from coming. “Oh please, Sir,” she begged.
“Clearly the crop doesn’t hurt enough. You don’t know what you beg for, pet. The whip will flay you alive. The crop is a pleasant massage by comparison.”
“But it hurts so good.” She couldn’t keep still, her whole body was a restless series of twitches, echoing the spasms in her core.
“If you think you can take the pain, then go ahead, come.” He crossed his arms, his biceps flexing impressively as he moved. The reminder of his strength cleared her head enough for her to let the vibrator go.
Again the crop rained down on her, but a strange thing happened. Her body didn’t register pain anymore, just pleasure. Sweet, surging pleasure that pulsed in her veins like a drum beat. With some trepidation she realized, her body had entered launch mode and there was no turning back.
“I’m going to come,” she said, her voice a desperate whine. She thrashed in the bed, glancing contact with the vibrator almost tossing her over the edge. She bit down on the inside of her cheek, fighting for control. “I can’t stop it.”
Khan paused for a moment and the sudden stillness gave her some breathing space. He moved to stand at the end of the bed, his gaze focused on her core. Hefting the crop against his palm, he contemplated her. Selena could only imagine how it looked from his perspective. Her legs were spread wide open in wanton invitation. Between them, her core seeped moisture while the rest of her was covered in a sheen of sweat. Her breasts were red with cherry tips from the rings and all the attention he’d given them. His gaze roamed her curves as if following a map to his favorite destination. Selena alternated between shame at her exposure and desire from the loss of control.
But when his eyes narrowed, zeroing in on the pink puffy flesh at her center, her stomach clenched in apprehension.
“Sir?”
“If you can’t stop yourself from coming, I’ll have to do it for you.” He raised the crop and gave the top of her pubic mound a smart slap.
Selena trembled in her bonds. “Sir?” Her voice held doubt and concern in equal measures.
“You don’t trust me?” He traced the outline of her nether lips with the crop, pushing it into her wet entrance.
“I do Sir, I do. It’s just--” She trailed off, unsure of what to say. She did trust him, knowing he would do nothing to truly hurt her. It was all he had done the last two nights, taking her to the edge of pain, turning it inside out until it became pleasure. However, the image of him wielding that flap of leather on her most delicate flesh gave her a mental block she didn’t know how to break.
He brought the crop up her lips. “Hush. I am ending your punishment and instead will teach you a lesson.”
“Sir?” She raised her eyebrows, questioning.
“How the crop can make you come. How pain will make you sing. You have nothing to fear. Not from me or anything I choose to use on your flesh.” He snapped his fingers and the vibrator swung between her legs, nudging her inner lips apart to the sweet center beneath. Selena gave a soft gasp, the pleasure was strong and immediate.
Khan then brought the crop down on her inner thighs causing her to flinch. Her nervous system quavered with uncertainty, undecided as to which sensation was more prominent, pain or pleasure. Khan continued to strike her until the deluge of sensory input drove conscious thought from her mind. She became a twisting, thrashing exposed nerve. When the vibrator increased in speed she half sat up as her stomach involuntarily clenched.
“Oh, Sir,” she moaned.
“Should I stop?” He snapped his fingers again and the vibrator lifted up and the cropping stopped.
A sob rose in Selena’s throat. “No, Sir.”
The vibrator settled back into place and she bit her bottom lip as its vibration surged through her core. The crop returned as well, alternating between biting her thighs and stinging her stomach. Not even a minute later, the orgasm crested, pleasure finally winning out over the crop.
Her body bowed up off the bed and she moaned, dimly aware that the vibrator had disappeared. In its place came a harsh surprise, the crop on her clit. Pain burst in her core, chasing the orgasm and supplanting it with fiery sensation. Selena yelped and strained to close her legs as her arms pulled at their restraints.
The crop cracked down on her again and she shrieked. “Sir?” For a second she doubted him and wondered if perhaps she’d made a mistake, but then he struck her a third time and her body shifted gears. Instead of pain, she came again, the climax a twisted combination of agony and bliss. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t scream or think, she could only accept the sensation and open up to it, all the wider for it to pass through.
That wasn’t the end either, because the vibrator reappeared to growl at her center. A third climax slammed her body, twitching through her muscles like a deep tissue massage, squeezing then utterly releasing any tension.
After the third climax, he stopped. The vibrator disappeared along with the crop and he stood at the end of her bed watching her. Selena floated in an altered mental state, for how long she couldn’t say. The world was in soft focus and fuzzy around the edges. She rested limp on the bed, completely spent. I will never be the same again, she thought with wonder. Khan is the end of life as I know it.
He untied her and massaged her arms and legs to work out the stiffness of being held in one position for so long. Then he laid on top of her, a warm blanket of hard heat, and plied her lips with kisses. “The night is almost gone, pet. Come back to me.”
She blinked. “It’s that late already?” she asked. Hadn’t they just started an hour ago? Surely they had hours and hours to play before the final goodbye?
“Your punishment and lesson took more time than planned.” He nibbled at her lower lip, teeth nipping at the soft flesh. He always played the edge of pleasure and pain like that, she realized.
“How would you like to have me next, Sir?” She couldn’t stop herself
from sounding over eager.
“I want to make love to you one last time.” A raw hunger shone in his jet black eyes and Selena shivered as she stared down the abyss of a primal need he’d never shown her. His guard was down. For the first time she saw the demon trapped in the locket and existing by a set of rules that denied him a real life, a real love.
He kissed her again and she met his lips, eager to give him what she could.
“You have the sweetest flesh. I could kiss and lick you all day.” He moved down her neck, nuzzling the sensitive skin by her ear and then pressed his lips at the hollow of her throat before moving on to lave her nipples with his tongue.
Selena basked in the feel of his warm hands and mouth exploring her body. I should focus so I can remember him later. She didn’t want to forget any of their time together, but it was so hard to keep her mind on track when her nerves sang with bliss.
His cock brushed across her inner thigh and she spread her legs, opening for him without any qualms. Gone were the doubts she’d had earlier. He’d vanquished those with the multiple orgasms. He slid inside her and she marveled, once again, at the sheer size of him and the way he claimed her from the inside out.
“I’ll miss you, Sir.” She kissed him as her arms hugged him close to her.
“I’ll miss you, Selena.”
“There’s nothing I can do to set you free? To see you again?”
He dropped his head low, pressing it into her neck and groaned. Inside her, his massive shaft twitched. “I can’t answer those questions. All I can say is, given a choice, I would tarry here with you for as long as I could.”
Tears pricked her eyes and she sniffed in an attempt to hold them back.
“Don’t cry, my pet.” He kissed her eyelids and smoothed her hair away from her face in a tender gesture. “I will carry you in my memory forever.”
“I’ll never forget you either,” she said, her voice thick with emotion.
He stared into her eyes as he pulled out of her and then slowly filled her again. The whole time his gaze was locked on hers as if to say ‘you are mine’ and she loved the feeling of being claimed. It made her feel safe and valued. Nick never made me feel like this. And with that thought the chains of regret that she’d wound around her heart since her fiancé left, shattered. With a new clarity, she realized she was better off without the guy. Of course, the question remained whether Khan’s departure would leave her reeling. The idea concerned her because she liked Khan more than she’d ever loved Nick. Life without him is going to hurt. But she wouldn’t take any of it back. She’d learned so much about herself and about what a relationship needed to be for her.
They kissed again and he pumped slowly in and out of her. She was too spent from the previous orgasms, but her body still responded to him with little swirls of pleasure that spun from her core to the rest of her body. They were like mini-orgasms, little pulses that faded and crested over and over again, rocking her body like a lullaby.
He came with a moan and bit the nape of her neck, marking her one last time. Then, to her horror, he began to fade.
“No!” She reached for him, but her hands slipped through him as if he was made of shadows.
“It’s dawn.” His voice was distorted as if he spoke underwater. He touched her face with a phantom hand, an expression of deep sadness on his face. “Goodbye, love.”
She couldn’t hold back the tears. “Goodbye, love.” The last she saw of him before he faded into nothingness was his face twisted in grief. That final glimpse of him and his naked emotions would haunt her, she knew it. Selena screamed into her pillow, the loss of Khan an unbearable physical pain.
***
On Monday she dragged herself into the gleaming steel building that housed Klas Enterprises, her shoulders slumped, the skin under her eyes red and puffy. With a sigh, she plopped down into her office chair and booted up her computer. There was only one email and the sender’s name made her stomach turn: Jason.
Grumbling under her breath, she opened the email and read it while biting her lip.
Hope you’re feeling better. Please see me immediately. We need to talk. -Jason
Her heart racing and her steps heavy with reluctance, she made her way to the elevator bank and up to the executive floor. A few co-workers waved as she passed and she forced herself to smile and reciprocate, acting as if nothing was wrong.
Jason sat behind his gleaming chrome and glass desk, eyebrows furrowed as he typed on his laptop. Selena hovered in the doorway, waiting for him to notice her arrival.
Without looking up he waved her in. “Come in and shut the door.”
Selena jumped as the door not only shut, but the lock slid home with a loud click.
Her reaction made him smile and there was a dangerous gleam in his blue eyes. “We don’t want anyone walking in on this meeting.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“We’ll be discussing some sensitive information.”
Trying to remain cool, she settled into a chair across from him. “You’re going to be the new CEO?”
“It looks like.” He came out from behind his desk to hover over her like he had the last time. “I’m just waiting for the board to make it official.” Folding his arms, he perched on the edge of his desk and his foot bumped her calf.
Selena grimaced and shifted to break contact, but he followed her, his gaze locked with hers making it obvious he was doing it on purpose. Her stomach sank. She had a feeling things were about to come to a head.
“I’m going to need a good team to bring up with me. But you,” He paused and smiled, showing too much teeth. “I need you to be more than a team player.”
Selena swallowed and refused to make eye contact. Ever so slowly his foot moved up and then down her calf in a forceful caress. It made her skin crawl.
“I-I-I appreciate your interest, but I’ve just had a bad break-up.”
“And I am just the man to mend your heart.” He leaned down and placed a hand on her shoulder, his thumb reaching under her collar to touch the skin of her neck.
Selena flinched and then froze. “No, thank you, Jason.”
He shook her by the shoulder. “Come on, Selena. Make the right move for your career.”
Her back stiffened. “I make the right move every day. My productivity is the highest in the department and I wrote all the database code that restructured the entire system.”
He dropped his hand and went back behind his desk. “About that--I did some checking up on you.” He typed for a bit and then turned his laptop around so she could see the screen. “Look what I found.”
Selena leaned forward with a frown. The screen was a bank website logged into someone’s account. With a start, she realized her name was on the account, but it wasn’t her bank and the balance made her eyes widen. “Five hundred thousand dollars?” She shook her head. “That’s not me.”
“But it has your name on it.” He picked up a stack of papers on his desk and handed them to her.
She took it and scanned it over. “This is the code I did for you. I don’t see anything wrong.”
“Yes, this is the code you wrote for me.” He came back to stand over her, leaning too close as he pointed to a series of numbers. “And here’s your bank account number. You’ve been skimming off our bank transfers.”
“I didn’t do this. I don’t have an account at that bank. That money isn’t mine.” Her voice became high-pitched and strident as her hands gripped the arm rests of her chair.
“You can make this go away if you want.” He sat in the chair next to her, scooting close to put an arm around her shoulders.
“What do you want?”
He leaned in close, his breath hot on her cheek. “Be in my office tonight at six.”
She closed her eyes, trying to shut it all out.
“Oh, and be naked. In fact, I’d like you naked and bent over my desk.” He patted the top of his desk as he spoke.
“And you’ll fix the account?” sh
e asked, her voice dull.
He reached over to smooth her hair and tuck it behind her ear, his hand lingering on her neck. “Eventually. I think we’ll need more than one night together.”
“What if I say no?”
He gripped her shoulder with enough force to bruise. “Am I really that bad, Selena? I’m a charming, handsome man about to become a very wealthy CEO of a large corporation. Most girls would cream their panties to fuck me, but you, you’re always so cold.” He released her suddenly and went back to his chair. “I sure hope you’re worth the bother. To answer your question, it’s me or the police, sweetie. It’s either naked for me or naked for the jail lice check. Your choice.” He smiled and pointed to the door. “So that’s my offer. Think about it and I’m sure we’ll have a really good time later tonight.”
Selena stood on shaky legs and crossed the room to the door. She must’ve been moving slower than she realized because Jason came up behind her. Catching her wrist he spun her around and back up against the wall. He kissed her roughly, his tongue worming its way into her mouth.
She pushed against him trying to escape from his embrace, but he just shoved her harder into the wall, pinning her there with a hand on each shoulder. In the end, she could only stand there and let him have his way with her. When he finally broke contact, he took her hand and pressed it against his cock. “Lucky for you, I like a girl who plays hard to get. Makes it more fun for me when I bend her to my will.”
Tears formed in Selena’s eyes and she blinked, willing them to dry up.
“Don’t cry.” He sneered at her. “This is nothing compared to what will happen if you aren’t worth my while.” He opened the door and stepped back. “See you tonight.”
***
Selena fumed at her desk the rest of the day, shaking with both anger and fear. She ran every scenario she could think of through her head and none of them ended well. One thing she did know for sure: There was no way in hell she was going back to Jason’s office.
I need a lawyer.
And a really large bottle of wine.
She left work early and started making calls, but none of the law offices she contacted had time to meet with her on such short notice. Justice was elusive and cagey, at least on the phone. She considered the police but discarded the idea, afraid they would arrest based on the evidence. A lawyer was better than a cop in her case. Exasperated, she turned to plan B, but wine brought her no comfort. Instead, it enhanced her melancholy until she was certain she would end up in prison.
