Masters of the Castle: Witness Protection Program

by Maren Smith

  “Okay.”

  He didn’t give her time to change her mind, or to even second guess her decision. After he ordered her to put the skirt back on and remove her bra, they stopped by the bus depot to let the driver know she’d be returning to the Castle with him. Then he whisked her up to Wardrobe, picked out a red teddy that would push her breasts up and leave her nipples on display, and left her at her bedroom door with instructions to meet him down in the gardens in thirty minutes.

  Carlie watched Luke walk away again, clutching the red satin to her chest and holding the red heels in her other hand. The tight lingerie would cling to her curves and expose her round body to God knew how many guests when she traipsed downstairs. She suspected his motive in leaving her to make her way to the gardens alone, dressed in such a revealing outfit, was meant to put her off. While she cringed at the task, she refused to be deterred from the course she’d set. Not wanting to risk repercussions this early in the game, she slipped inside her room and hurried to don the new outfit, wincing when she saw herself in the mirror. She’d been right, the shiny material molded around her breasts, the lace trimmed under-wire that pushed them up a snug fit around her torso. Her nipples peeked over the cups, but the thin straps draped over her shoulders helped to hold everything up.

  Her mortification didn’t stop there. The satin emphasized the roundness of her waist and slid with a sensuous glide over her bare buttocks when she moved. The hem fell just below the tops of her thighs, skimming one scant inch below the minute thong. She stored a stash of sexy bikini panties in her dresser, scraps of material she wore on occasion to make her feel sexy, even though she knew she wasn’t. But she’d never worn a thong, not wanting the reminder of what a big butt she had when her clothes would brush against her naked globes, like now.

  After switching her glasses to a pair of fire engine red frames, she slipped her feet into the heels and read through the directions to the gardens, her body growing warm when she imagined parading around outside dressed as she was. She didn’t linger, worried she might get lost or, God forbid, change her mind. Ten minutes later, Carlie stepped outside, the heat staining her face and neck having nothing to do with the afternoon summer temperature and everything to do with the eyes that followed her across the marbled foyer and the smiles aimed her way during her trek through the Castle.

  Carlie paused a moment, admiring the lush green lawn and hedges, the flowery scent of blooming plants and erotic Greek statues dotting the landscape, noting there seemed to be as many people enjoying the outdoors as there were mingling inside. Ambling further into the gardens, she stopped to gape when she came upon a young man with his wrists bound to the breasts of one statue, his face resting against the hard concrete curve of the female’s neck, his legs anchored wide apart. The sub’s Master stood to his side and slashed a wicked looking crop across his quivering buttocks, leaving behind another rising welt to add to several already red, puffy stripes. She winced and took a step back only to come up against a hard, male body.

  “It looks like young Timmy has been acting up again,” Luke whispered in her ear, his arms coming around her. “Relax, little one,” he said when she stiffened with the next stroke and Timmy cried out in anguish. “It’s all consensual, and, for him, enjoyable. He gets himself in trouble on purpose, just for the reward of punishment. See for yourself.”

  Carlie braved a glance between the sub’s legs and saw Luke was right. Timmy’s rigid cock oozed pre-cum, jerking with the need to explode. Then Luke diverted her attention by rolling her nipples between his fingers, stopping when she gasped at the discomfort.

  “Come with me. I’m set up and ready for you behind that hedge.” He pointed to a neatly trimmed yew shrub.

  Praying he didn’t notice the nervous dampness coating her palm when he clasped her hand, Carlie followed him around the hedge. The shrubbery enclosing the small nook offered the illusion of privacy, but anyone who topped five-foot could easily see over the flat top. The first thing she noted was a black bag and small cooler on the grassy ground, sitting at the feet of another statue. This stone sculpture depicted a naked man in a seated position, the large cock and balls hanging down between his spread thighs. When she spied the restraints attached to the statue, her automatic response was to take a step back, but she checked herself before she gave Luke the satisfaction of balking already.

  “It doesn’t look it, but I’m told this piece is surprisingly comfortable to sit on. You can tell me your opinion after I remove this.” Luke stripped her of the teddy, thong and shoes before guiding her down in an awkward crouched position. “Hold on to my shoulders until I get these straps around you. You won’t fall, I promise.”

  Her heart turned over at the twinkle in his green eyes, the first sign of Luke, her friend and neighbor, she’d caught since seeing him at the Castle. Drawing wide black straps around her thighs, he secured them on top of the statue’s quads, leaving her legs spread just as wide and her entire crotch, front and back, suspended between the gap, her orifices now open and on display. Carlie’s breath caught when he raised her arms and shackled her wrists in cuffs, connecting them together before he looped her hands behind the curly head above her. She jerked, and a frisson of fear snaked through her at the helplessness of her position.

  “Luke, I… ow!” The hard slap he delivered on the inside of one thigh left behind a vivid red mark and soft throb that jumped right over to her gaping pussy. Her agitation over being bound disappeared as soon as she looked up into his rugged, dark face stamped with lust as he frowned at her. “What’d you do that for?”

  “For not addressing me with my proper title. It’s Master M. I’m sure that rule was brought up in orientation, as well as the consequences for revealing real names in public.”

  It had been, but she’d forgotten. This was Luke after all. “I forgot, sorry.”

  His lips twitched, likely because her response to that slap made it difficult to sound contrite. “You’re forgiven. Have you ever experimented with anal play, butt plugs?” he asked as he bent and rummaged through the black bag.

  She eyed him with a wary glance at the objects he pulled out. “No, am I about to?”

  “You catch on quick, little one.” After opening one package, he held up a purple plug, each of the three round bulbs slightly wider than the one above it. “This one isn’t too long or wide and has a little something extra to it.”

  Carlie didn’t have the nerve to ask what that might be. He bent his coal-black head and drew his hand beneath her, prodding her anus with the lubed end. “Deep breath, then blow out as I push in.”

  A small whimper exhaled with her breath when the toy breached her rectum and tiny pricks of painful discomfort followed its slow insertion. But the twinges subsided within seconds of it being fully embedded, replaced with tickles of pleasure along sensitive nerve endings she’d never experienced before when the bulb began to vibrate. “Oh!”

  “Like that, do you?” he murmured, the approval on his face warming her as much as the new toy.

  “It’s… different.”

  Luke pulled a few more items out of the bag and her throat went dry when he held up a black collar with a silver ring in the front, along with two nipple clamps attached to long chains. “Can’t let these babies go unattended, can we?” He strummed a finger over each nipple before drawing the right one into his mouth, elongating the bud with strong suctions that made her toes curl into the soft grass and her breath come in pants.

  Warm air wafted over the dampened tip with his release, drawing it into an even tighter nub that allowed the small loop to fit around it just right. With a pinch that forced a curse and made her eyes water, he tightened the clamp and moved over to her other nipple to prepare it for the same snap of pain.

  “I never knew you had such a devious streak, Master M,” she whispered before sucking in a deep breath.

  He looked up, nailing her with that enigmatic green gaze. “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me.”
>
  Yes, but as the clamp snapped around her nipple, drawing a spurt of cream from her gaping labia, Carlie was discovering a lot of things about herself, as well. Luke reached behind her nape and attached the collar then lifted the chains to hook them to the D ring, pulling her nipples up and exposing the full undersides of her breasts. Another foray into his bag produced a black silk blindfold and a narrow rod with a square, silicone flap on one end and a short clump of feathers at the other, one hinting at delivering stinging pain, the other, tantalizing pleasure.

  “Trust me, it’ll be easier if you can’t see what I’m doing,” he said before removing her glasses and wrapping the blindfold around her head, plunging her into darkness. “Now, you’re ready for me to begin.”

  Chapter 4

  When had the pesky kid next door, Evan’s little sister, become every Dom’s fantasy, his fucking fantasy? This was not going as Luke had planned, but then, when had Carlie’s behavior ever been predictable? He’d expected her to bail after that walk through the Castle with her nipples leading the way. But even from where he’d stood several yards away, watching for her, there’d been no mistaking the telltale sign of those puckered buds. He needed to end this before he got in too deep, before he couldn’t do his job and betrayed his best friend’s trust. How many times had Evan turned all maudlin after a few beers and demanded Luke watch out for his sister, protect her if he couldn’t? He knew damned good and well this wasn’t what Evan had in mind.

  Now, looking at her bound, realizing she wouldn’t even let the discomfort of her clamped, lifted nipples force her to say the safeword, he knew he’d have to up the ante, and prayed he wasn’t making an irreversible mistake. With a flick of his wrist, he snapped the small spanker on the fleshy underside of her upraised breast, her sharp inhale lifting her chest up another fraction. Flipping the wand around with a practiced, deft twist of his fingers, he soothed and tantalized the red spot with a brush of the short feathers. A noticeable ripple went through her body when he followed with another swat on her other breast, the lily-white skin turning pink as he worked with slow, methodical precision to cover the fleshy mounds. Snap and brush, snap and brush, over and over until her breathing turned labored, and he waited to hear her cry ‘onion.’ Calling down security on his head would be one way to end his dilemma over what to do with the problem her presence at the Castle had caused him.

  Instead, she pushed her breasts forward, a silent plea for more that brought forth a low curse, the move dashing his hopes for a quick end to this torture. “You want more, little one? Hasn’t anyone told you to be careful what you wish for?” Sucking in a fortifying breath, praying he wasn’t making yet another irreversible mistake, he struck again, this time aiming for the already tortured tip of one clamped nipple. Carlie’s startled cry rent the air, drawing several heads their way with smiles. Luke took a moment to scan the gardens over the hedge for a sign of Carmen, irritated with trying to split his focus between his sub and his job of watching for the assassin.

  “M-Master M, please.”

  Her whispered, soft plea regained his attention, and he delivered a harder swat to her other nipple, the stroke of the feathers pulling a low moan from her throat that shot straight to his cock. As if he needed any more incentive to ache with a growing need he was hell bent on ignoring. He’d already crossed too many lines, made too many mistakes regarding Carlie to compound his errors by succumbing to the fantasy he’d been having for several years now of fucking her.

  Luke had no problem admitting he cared deeply for Carlie, and in the past few years, those feelings included a strong desire to take her to his bed. Evan’s face popped into his head, his best friend’s eyes filled with betrayal and accusation. Yeah, that and his dominant preferences had kept him at arm’s length all this time. Never, in his wildest imaginings, had he envisioned Carlie as submissive.

  “You continue to surprise me, little one.” He worked his way down her quivering abdomen with tempered strikes then smacked harder on the inside of her soft thigh. “So responsive to pain, who would’ve guessed?”

  “Not me,” she gasped when he struck her other thigh.

  He was glad he couldn’t see her eyes, Luke admitted as he inched higher up her leg with the next slaps. If they shone with lust the way her damp, gaping pussy and brown curls revealed her arousal, he doubted his ability to resist her. Reaching between her spread legs, he turned the butt plug up a notch, increasing the vibrations in her rectum before flipping his wrist and landing several blistering swats on her buttocks, withholding the pleasure of soothing the stings with the feathers this time.

  “Still want more?” he whispered in her ear before nipping the small lobe.

  She hesitated then nodded. “Yes,” she replied, her voice stronger than before.

  Luke stepped back and glared down at her even though she couldn’t see him. Why did she continue to be so stubborn? “Okay, but remember, you asked for it.” He swatted right between her legs, smacking the tender flesh of her swollen labia, then used his other hand to spread those slick folds even wider and delivered a lighter but still painful strike on her puffy, engorged clit.

  “Crap!” she exclaimed, her body tensing with the sting.

  He couldn’t help it, he chuckled and brushed the feathers over the abused bud while reaching up and whipping off the blindfold. She blinked in rapid succession, either to contain the unshed tears hovering or from the sudden brightness, but he could still detect the shocked arousal in those whiskey depths, just as he’d suspected.

  Dropping the spanker, he settled the glasses back on her face then slid his fingers down her neck to her nipples. “Another deep breath, little one,” he warned before removing the clamps at the same time, allowing her breasts to drop with an unceremonious plop. He’d experienced metal loops on his own nipples before and knew how much the instant rush of blood to the puffy tips inflamed them with stabbing needle-pinpricks of pain.

  “Ow, ow, ow!” she screeched. Her hands clenching into fists above her and the visible tightening of her muscles were signs of her distress.

  “Poor baby. Still want to continue?” he taunted.

  Her jaw tightened, and she bit out, “Yes.”

  Shaking his head, he opened the small cooler. “You’ve worked up a sweat in this heat. I believe a little cooling off is in order.”

  Those expressive eyes widened when Luke scooped up an ice cube and rubbed the frigid block over Carlie’s nipple. She bit her lower lip, he suspected in an effort to keep from cursing at him. Too bad. He would’ve liked to punish any insolence by withholding her climax, the one he could see she craved with a desperation born from the torment he’d heaped upon her. “What’s wrong? Doesn’t that feel good? You looked so hot.” In more ways than one, he mused, running the dripping cube all over her breasts then on down her waist to her thighs, tracing over the lingering redness left behind from the spanker.

  “It’s different, is all,” Carlie admitted, biting her lower lip when he neared her pussy.

  Luke reached under her and turned off the butt plug before pushing the cube between her folds. “There, that should help calm you down a bit.”

  “God! You’re… you’re…”

  “What? Diabolical? Mean? You can say the safeword any time.” He delivered that reminder with a smirk.

  “You’re kidding, right? I’ve never been…” She stopped short of admitting how excited she was, how much she needed to come. But he could see it in the cream seeping from her pussy along with the melting ice, in the glaze of her dilated eyes and the short pants lifting her breasts.

  He looked away from the beauty of her responses, from the need reflected on her face that pulled at him. His gaze locked on a man across the gardens, dressed like a Greek warrior, leaning with insolent negligence against a tree. Something about him seemed familiar. Not the hair, or even the thinner, lanky build. It was the way he held himself that tugged at his memory. He’d never seen him at the Castle before, but there were always new
faces and with over a hundred guests visiting daily, more on weekends, there was no way to get to know everyone. The man turned his head toward Luke and their eyes locked, but he showed no sign of recognizing Luke either. Still, the urge to investigate tugged at him, to at least stroll that way and strike up a conversation to appease the unease slithering like an insidious snake crawling under his skin.

  Being a master of disguise, Carmen could be anyone, even a woman, and Luke never discounted his sixth sense that hinted something was off. Without concrete proof this man was Carmen, he couldn’t act, which added to his frustration over this whole clusterfuck of a weekend that started when he saw Carlie at the meet and greet. A soft mewl from her reminded him of his current obligation. Even if he would never break one of the cardinal rules of BDSM by leaving a bound sub unattended, one glance at the raw need reflected on her face and he knew he couldn’t leave her hanging.

  A quick look back showed the man slipping inside the Castle and he fought back another wave of impotency at losing the opportunity to check him out. It wasn’t Carlie’s fault that son-of-a-bitch assassin put everyone on edge with his talent for getting past tight security as well as disguising himself, or her fault he’d been too weak to leave her in her first Dom’s hands.

  “Come for me, Carlie,” he ordered in a low, guttural tone he knew revealed his own raging, frustrated need. “Now.” He plunged three fingers deep inside her slick heat and her warm, wet walls clamped around them followed by a gush of cream heralding her climax. She cried out when he grasped her clit and milked the small bud, then closed her eyes and rode his hand as she convulsed around his pummeling fingers. Her breasts shook with her exertions, her arms straining, her thighs tensing. She was so tight, the muscles of her pussy threatened to cut off his circulation and made him wonder how long it had been since she’d had sex.