Masters of the Castle: Witness Protection Program

by Maren Smith

  “I’m Master Jones, and I don’t want to come between anyone. She’s a nice girl, and I’d like to top her, so what’s going on?” A hint of censure bled through Jones’ otherwise affable mien.

  Luke ran an irritated hand through his hair and growled his frustration. “She’s the kid sister of a good friend, someone I promised to look out for.”

  “She’s also a grown woman. You have to do better than that,” he insisted, but his face showed a hint of understanding.

  Shit. Now what? He couldn’t let Carlie go off with this guy. She was his responsibility, a job he took seriously. He pointed out Daisy and asked, “Can I talk you into swapping? We can okay it with Marshall and I haven’t connected with her yet, so she doesn’t need to know. Please,” he added even though it grated to do so.

  “Well, here comes the big boss now, so if he’s good with it, and Cinderella is too, then I’ll step aside.”

  Chapter 3

  Clasping Carlie’s arm, Luke steered her out into the foyer and over to a corner, relieved Marshall had agreed to the switch in subs without fuss. “You need to go home,” he insisted without preamble, then winced when her widened eyes narrowed to angry slits behind her glasses. Seeing her here had thrown him for such a loop he couldn’t think straight. He knew a statement like that would yank on her obstinate nature and she’d dig her heels in.

  “What? Did you run off Master Jones just so you could tell me to go home?” Her incredulous tone emphasized his mishandling of this—and her. That damn stubborn streak of hers rivaled the most contrary jackass.

  He kept his voice low so he could use her given name. “Look, Carlie, this is no place for you, not to mention there are things at play I can’t discuss but don’t want you involved in. I promised…”

  “I swear, Luke, if you say you promised my brother you’d look after me one more time, I’ll kick you. I am not your little sister or your responsibility,” she snapped, jerking on her arm. He tightened his grip and she stomped her bare foot, emphasizing the pique of annoyance reflected in her voice. “I. Am. Not. Leaving.”

  It was his turn to narrow his eyes and let go with the irritation her surprise presence was responsible for. Dressed as she was in that sheer blouse, his first glimpse of her full breasts and pink nipples stirred not only his protective instincts, but his cock, the enticing view confirming what his imagination had been teasing him with. He not only needed to get her out of there for her sake, but for his as well. Suppressing his desire for her had been hard enough the past few years, seeing her in this sex-charged atmosphere only whetted his appetite for the forbidden fruit she represented.

  “When you took the tour of the Castle, didn’t you witness any scenes taking place, see what your Dom might want to put you through? Think you’d enjoy being tethered naked to a St. Andrew’s cross, tormented with a flogger or cane while others looked on? How about the Sybian? Did you happen to view a sub riding the vibrating dildo attached to that apparatus, maybe while her Master delivered stinging swats on her nipples?”

  Carlie’s face paled, then reddened as he spoke, but Luke couldn’t tell if he’d worried her or tweaked her interest even more. “I saw a few scenes, and I’m still here. I’ve researched this stuff, Luke, and I’ve wanted to check this place out for a long time. What’s the big deal? You’ve been a member for years, and I know Evan visited several times.”

  “That’s different,” he growled, his frustration with her stubbornness increasing. His mind urged him to act fast before his body overrode his good intentions. Maybe, instead of outlining what she would be subjected to, he should give her an example of what she was in for, what she’d be expected to submit to, if she stayed. Of course, there was the risk whatever he did would work against him, add to his craving to have her beneath him, to feel all that softness cradling his hard body as he pinned her down with the pummeling thrusts of his cock. But, what choice did he have? He had to get her to leave, to keep her safe from both Carmen and himself.

  “Not even if I do this?” With his eyes on hers, he reached up and lowered the right side of the elastic scooped peasant blouse to just underneath her plump breast. Cupping the soft, underside fullness, he let his gaze wander down while strumming his thumb over the turgid nipple. Watching as it puckered even tighter. His mouth went dry with the urge to nip at that tender tip, to work it with his teeth and lips until it went from pale pink to berry red.

  To Luke’s surprise, Carlie leaned into his hand, her voice breathless with her answer. “N- no, not even if you do that.” Her eyes shifted behind him and she blushed when she saw how many people were watching them, but that stubborn streak remained firmly in place.

  “Then how about if I do this?” Lowering the other side of her blouse, he bared both fleshy mounds, leaving the sleeves right above her elbows, trapping her arms at her sides. Filling his hands with her creamy softness, he kneaded the abundant flesh before grasping both nipples between his thumbs and forefingers and twisting. Her eyes widened, and she bit her lower lip, but didn’t back down. “Christ, but you’re stubborn.”

  Desperate now, he tugged on her hand, yanking her over to a short bench. Taking a seat, he startled her by drawing her over his lap. “What if I do this?” He pushed on her shoulders until her torso dangled down with precarious balance, her dark brown hair falling to obscure her face.

  Carlie shook her head, but otherwise remained quiet as he palmed her trembling thigh under the black skirt, the flesh just as soft there as her breast. This is a fucking mistake. That rebuke didn’t stop him from raising the skirt and laying his hand over one, panty-covered round cheek. Imagining what Carlie looked like—felt like—had been hard enough to fight against the past few years. Seeing her pretty nipples, the full roundness of her breasts now hanging down like ripe melons against his leg and feeling the plump mounds of her buttocks clenching under his hand could prove too much, even for someone who prided himself on his control.

  “Change your mind yet?” He prayed she had, but her whispered, “No,” which accompanied another vigorous shake of her head, squelched his hopes they could end this before it went any further. “Fine,” he bit out. “Remember your safeword.” Luke inhaled a fortifying breath and tugged her panties to mid-thigh then delivered a sharp smack on her left cheek, hard enough to jiggle the plump globe. He tried keeping his eyes off her glistening slit, his imagination from fantasizing about sinking his cock into her slick heat, but that proved more difficult to do than looking down at the dead body of his informant after Carmen had finished with her.

  Another swat on her right buttock drew a gasp and automatic shift of her hips.

  “Not so sure now, are you?” he growled, lifting his leg to pin her calves in place and bracing his free arm across her waist.

  A quick volley of smacks covering her ass forced small whimpers from her, but she never uttered a word. Her buttocks bounced and turned red under his hand, her pussy dampened to the point it oozed with abundant cream, unable to contain it. That alone was such a fucking awesome sight, he was hard-pressed to keep from flipping her over and demanding she ride him until they both screamed. Did the tight grip she maintained on his legs mean she fought against giving in or against the arousal her body couldn’t hide?

  This is meant as a deterrent, not foreplay, Luke reminded himself. Aiming lower, he slapped the under curve of each cheek, then on down to her thighs. Her skin grew as warm as his palm, her buttocks still tightening with each smack and teasing him with the treasure she attempted to hide between them. It would definitely be unwise to travel that route, but that didn’t stop him from giving in to temptation and cupping his hand between her legs.

  “Everyone is looking at my handiwork, some nodding in approval,” he boasted. “Your ass is bright red and I can feel you quivering. Had enough, little one?”

  The soft, caring caress in Luke’s voice drew a shudder down Carlie’s spine. If only he really did care as his tone implied. The shock of hearing his angry voice over the other
people while she sat on Master Jones’ lap, of seeing him dressed in tight black pants and a billowing white pirate’s shirt open to reveal a sprinkling of black, curly chest hair and a peek of tight abs still hadn’t worn off. He’d moved so fast to take her over she hadn’t had time to adjust to the odd titillation of spotting a pair of cuffs attached to his waist at one hip and a short, wicked looking flogger on the opposite, as well as the betrayal of discovering he’d returned to town and come straight to the Castle without seeing her first.

  Her butt burned, throbbed from the abuse he’d heaped upon her, but that same pulsating heat had taken up residence in her sheath, and she couldn’t remember a time when she’d been so turned on, adding to her pained confusion. The sheer intimacy of his hand connecting with repeated precision on her naked, quivering flesh increased the mind-boggling pleasure stemming from the stinging discomfort slowly encompassing her buttocks.

  Between finally experiencing the joy of Luke’s hands on her, the odd thrill the exhibitionism curled through her body and the even stranger excitement she never imagined she would get from a painful, humiliating spanking, she swore she could climax from one touch to her clit. But he removed his hand, leg and arm and rolled her until she felt his hard thighs beneath her sore butt instead of under her stomach. She lifted her arm to push her glasses up but the tug of her sleeves reminded her about her blouse still tucked under her breasts.

  “Here, let me.” Luke nudged them up then delivered a light pinch to each nipple, hard enough to set the tips to throbbing like her buttocks before he pulled her top back up. “I do like the costumes in this place,” he sighed.

  “When… when did you get into town?” Was she a glutton for more punishment? Why had she asked that?

  He hesitated, then replied, “Yesterday morning. Look Carlie, you don’t understand…”

  She pushed off his lap so fast he didn’t have time to stop her. The tight clutch around her chest was something she should be used to by now and only reaffirmed her decision to move on after this weekend. Heat enveloped her face when she took in how many people had witnessed her first spanking, but she held firm. “If you didn’t want to see me, why did you drag me away from Master Jones?”

  Luke stood, towering over her, but she refused to retreat like she wanted to. The pain of his deception cooled the arousal he’d induced, but the longing for more from him than he wanted to give remained. “This is no place for you. You don’t know what you’ll be subjecting yourself to. Go home, Carlie. We’ll talk when I finish what I need to do here.”

  Shoring up her resolve, she took a step back. “Sorry, Luke, but I’m here for the weekend. But don’t worry, I’ll stay out of your way.” She pivoted to stalk off, but he grabbed her arm, his palm burning her skin and sending another delightful shiver through her, damn it.

  His eyes spat green fire at her and she’d never seen him so frustrated. Somehow that made her feel better. “I can’t keep an eye on you and do my job. Why do you have to be so fucking stubborn?”

  Carlie scoffed. “I may be naïve about all this,” she waved her arm around the huge foyer, “but not dumb enough to believe you’re here to do a job.”

  He shook his head, his frustration evident in his tight jaw and the growl in his tone. “If you stay, you’ll be with me. Period. What I just did is only a sampling of the paces I’d put you through. Think you can handle being strung up, flogged—” his fingers caressed the narrow strands of the flogger at his waist, “—your nipples clamped as I force you to hold back your climax?”

  Little did he know spending a few days with Luke’s undivided attention and hands all over her would fulfill months of fantasies, but Carlie needed to think this through before she gave him a definitive answer. She could live without talking to him on a regular basis, with seeing him only so often, but she couldn’t survive if he walked out of her life for good, and that could very well be the outcome if anything dire went wrong in the next few days, like her heart getting irreversibly crushed.

  “I… I need to think. We can meet back up in a little while.”

  He released her arm and stepped back, relief softening his tense jaw. “Meet me down here.” He glanced around at the shops, nodding toward the candy store, and she knew he recalled her sweet tooth. “In front of Maybe’s Candies in an hour.”

  She watched him stalk off, fighting back the urge to go after him. Instead, she headed for the stairs, wanting the quiet of her room to contemplate her decision.

  Before she reached the stairs, she glanced down the hall and saw Jana coming out of a theme room, her face flushed, a sated, pleased glaze in her eyes that Carlie envied. Her body still hummed with the need for release, the warm burn still throbbed across her backside and fed constant fuel to the fire that humiliating pain ignited. Her stay here could end up being a dream come true, or her worst nightmare.

  “I think I hate you at this moment,” she told her friend when Jana reached her.

  Jana cocked her head, eyeing her with close scrutiny. “Why? Aren’t you having fun?”

  Fun? Not hardly. She rushed to explain what had transpired between her and Luke. “I need to think about this, Jana. I have to be sure I can walk away at the end of the weekend and know he’ll still be a part of my life, no matter how much it’ll hurt to have had him then know he’ll return here to be with someone else.”

  “Only you can make that decision, but you know I’m here for you. Look, there’ll be a tour bus leaving soon. Why don’t you go back to town, go home for an hour, away from all this?” She swept her arm in an arc. “Then come back with a clearer mind. I remember only too well my first time over a Dom’s lap, and how overwhelming the shock of my response was.”

  “Yeah, I’m with you there. I’ll do that. Thanks, Jana.”

  Luke swore under his breath. Where the hell was she? He’d told her an hour, and that was almost two hours ago. He had better, more important things to do than chase her down, yet he couldn’t leave things the way they were. They had to iron this out now, so he could get his mind back on the reason for this visit in the first place. Taking the stairs to the second floor, he remembered her room number from her form and delivered a sharp rap on the door. Instead of Carlie opening the door, Jana, her best friend, emerged from the room one over.

  “She’s not there. I talked her into taking the tour bus into town.”

  “What the hell did you do that for?” he snapped, irritated at the delay.

  “Because you put her in a tough position.” Jana strolled by him, then tossed a warning over her shoulder, “Don’t hurt her, or you’ll answer to me.”

  While he admired and understood the bond of friendship, he didn’t appreciate a veiled threat from a sub. “Don’t threaten me, or you’ll answer to me,” he warned in a low tone. Her face paled and she nodded, walking away without another word. Now, if he could just get another girl to walk away, he could get back to the business at hand.

  Luke went to Marshall’s office and asked to borrow a car, ignoring his knowing smirk as he took the keys the Master of the Masters held out across the desk. “I won’t be gone long.”

  “See that you’re not.”

  The head Master had as much time and patience to deal with a stubborn sub this weekend as Luke did, and he vowed to get Carlie to listen to reason, one way or another. He found her at her house, kneeling in the front garden, that delectable ass perched high. She’d changed into shorts from the long skirt, but still wore the white blouse, only from the back strap he saw as he walked up to her, she’d donned a bra again. He remembered the perfect shape of her butt, the feel of her firm, but soft flesh warming under his hands, her soft cries and shift of her hips to embrace his next swat. Perfect responses he would’ve relished with any other woman.

  “If you were at the Castle and put your bra back on without permission, you would be punished.” Maybe he could scare her from returning, but when she swiveled on her knees and looked up at him with a calm expression, Luke figured just stating
what might happen wouldn’t work.

  “I’m not at the Castle. What are you doing here?”

  “I told you to meet me in an hour. Taking off without my permission is also a punishable offense.” He walked over to the steps and sat down, glaring at her with his strictest Dom look. “I don’t like my instructions being ignored.”

  “I told you I needed to think, and I couldn’t do it there.” She swiped her dirty palms over her thighs, their slight tremor a sign she wasn’t as unaffected by him, or his threats, as she appeared.

  He waved a hand toward her garden. “Does this mean you’re not coming back?”

  Carlie hadn’t decided until she heard the thread of relief in his voice just now. He may not want her, but that other Master had, and maybe someone else would too. “No.” Standing, she fisted her hands on her hips and ignored the sudden pounding of her heart, the rapid increase of her pulse when he rose to tower over her. “I’m going back.”

  Without further thought, Luke made the tough decision to give her exactly what she kept pushing for. Maybe, if she spent an uncomfortable night sleeping with unaccustomed aches, she’d change her mind come morning. He could only hope. “Make no mistake, little one. If you return to the Castle, you’ll do so with me, you’ll be my sub for the weekend, and you’ll do as I say, what I say and when I say it, or face the consequences. That’s how this’ll work.”

  That soft, menacing tone sent a shiver of trepidation slithering through her, but underlying the unease, she couldn’t deny a longing and desire to be his, even if just for a few days. Then he’d gone and made it easy for her with those dictates. Being under his control meant she wouldn’t have to make any decisions, would have no choice but to go along with what he wanted or face consequences, which might include the weekend ending before Sunday. If she was going to do this, risk her heart and their relationship, she wanted to milk the next few days for everything she could get, both from him and the lifestyle she’d been fantasizing about for far too long. Her answer came in the form of one simple word.