Letting Go 2: Stepping Stones [Awakenings 5] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Michele Zurlo

  She offered her bravest smile. “I do. Thank you.”

  The kiss he gave her this time ravaged her mouth and demanded much. The heat of the crowd, which had been an invasive thing, morphed to complement the fires Jonas set inside her soul and between her legs.

  He stood up and stepped back a pace. She let her head drop into a more comfortable position, and relaxed her neck muscles as much as she could. From the corner of her eye, she saw Mistress Hera standing next to Jonas. Never had another person been involved in their scene. It was disconcerting, but she trusted Jonas to have it all under control. They must have planned this, but other than when she showered, she couldn’t think of many moments when she and Jonas had been separated since their arrival.

  “This position is good for a lot of things. You can manipulate the harness to change the elevation of your submissive, make sure everything is accessible.”

  Titters of knowing and suggestive laughter sounded in all directions. Movement at Mistress Hera’s side caught Sabrina’s attention. The woman extracted the very crop that Sabrina had been drooling over ten minutes before and handed it to Jonas.

  Every part of Sabrina’s body seemed to grow instantly more sensitive, as if her nerve endings were reaching out and begging for the sting of that leather flap. Jonas ran it along her side and over her hip, teasing those nerves.

  He took his time, and she understood that his attention was completely on her. Yes, he was aware of the crowd. Their energy fed him like almost nothing else. But he was attuned to her every action and reaction.

  She tried to take a deep breath, but the quivering of her lungs made that a tremulous undertaking. He moved a little closer, angling the crop underneath to tease the sensitive skin of her stomach and breasts. He did this to her whole body. Mistress Hera’s voice became part of the drone of the crowd, and that all melted into the hiss and crackle of the fire and the swish of the waves as they lapped the beach.

  Peace wrapped around her, cocooning her in its arms. The trembling of her body ceased as she sank toward oblivion. A sharp crack brought her back. Stinging shot through her nipple, so close to the edge of fire she enjoyed. The blow had been more sound than force.

  More fell in rapid succession. He concentrated on her breasts, hitting the globes with a million taps before he let loose with one that brought tears to her eyes. She gasped aloud, a sound lost in the roar of the fire and waves.

  He kept at it, showing no mercy even though her cries grew louder. Stray hits wandered lower, peppering her stomach and mons, occasionally even striking her clit. Those hits she both loved and dreaded. They hurt like hell, but they brought her the sweetest bliss if only she was patient.

  Tied like this, she gave in to the urge to writhe and buck. She swayed a little, but his aim remained true. Heat and cold, pleasure and pain, desire and dread. Conflicting sensations stole her reason. She gave up trying to anticipate and rationalize, and surrendered to the inevitability of it all.

  Just when she thought she’d reached the maximum of her endurance, everything stopped. She heard her soft whimpers as she struggled not to beg for more. Beyond that, she heard countless moans and pleas all around her as submissives responded to her heavenly torment.

  A glance to the side revealed a man with his hand around his submissive’s hard cock. He squeezed, and the sub’s knees nearly buckled. To the other side, she spied a woman, her Master’s arms wrapped around her body as he held her to him and his fingers worked in and out of her pussy.

  Sabrina lifted her head, but Mistress Hera’s curvy hips blocked her view. The woman spoke to the crowd, describing what Jonas was doing and delivering tips of caution. In all the years since Jonas had introduced her to impact play, Sabrina hadn’t known much about it. She loved that Jonas knew what he was doing, that he knew when to push her and when to stop, exactly as he’d done tonight.

  She never once stopped to consider that he wasn’t operating on instinct alone. There were guidelines for safe play that Jonas followed, guidelines she knew nothing about. These were things she could probably find out with a rudimentary amount of research, but she didn’t want to. She liked the magic and the mystery, so she closed her ears to Mistress Hera’s lecture and concentrated on the sensations running riot over her skin.

  She felt Jonas’s hands, cool and knowing, on the places he’d just tormented. He played with her tender breasts, stroked down her stomach, and lingered between her legs. Her pussy was slick with her juices. It throbbed with longing. He circled and rubbed her clit.

  She wanted to climax so badly, but the more attention he paid to her pussy, the more acutely she felt the gaze of the crowd on her exposed tissues. Because he stood at her side and not behind her, she was completely open for public viewing. Every quiver, every drop of cream that dripped from her wanton core was there for everyone to witness. The woman who used to close her eyes and wish it was over now displayed her desire for her husband for a hundred eyes, and she did it because it was what he wanted.

  More than naked, she felt stripped to the core, almost too exposed. The safe word hovered just behind her teeth and tongue. Only one thing stopped her from uttering it. She’d promised to trust him.

  Some of Mistress Hera’s words penetrated the fog of desire and anxiety clouding Sabrina’s mind. “Flogging in this situation presents some unique challenges. You must make sure the lines of the harness are out of the way, and you must have very good aim. Mind you, this isn’t for everyone. When some of your falls hit the lines, it can cause them to fall in an unpredictable and uneven manner, which isn’t safe. We’re extremely fortunate to have the world-renowned Master J here to demonstrate. He’s retired from the public circuit, so this is a special treat. Please enjoy, but pay careful attention to his technique.”

  Falls whistled through the air, a familiar and welcome sound, and landed on her ass in a sharp announcement of what was coming next. She didn’t have time to wonder where he found a cat to borrow because he didn’t pause between blows. They came steadily, and she recognized that he was using two instead of one.

  A shiver racked her whole body, causing her to sway in the air. Jonas backed off a bit until Mistress Hera stopped the motion by holding the lines on the opposite side of his target. He reestablished his rhythm.

  He’d done this to her several times, though usually he had her bound to a huge St. Andrew’s cross they kept in a room of their basement he’d remodeled and called a dungeon. Sabrina thought that, to the undiscerning eye, it just looked like a workout room with some odd equipment. Well they certainly worked out in there.

  The sting of the leather against her skin was nothing much. It was the steady and unrelenting pace that provided the real drama. Because she couldn’t process the sensations, they blended together and short-circuited her brain. Before she knew it, she was floating high above, looking down on the woman hanging from the bamboo tripod, the man expertly wielding twin floggers, the woman holding the lines steady, and the crowd, undulating as if they were going to break into a mass orgy as soon as the signal was given.

  One sting distinguished itself from the others, and it pulled her back into her body. Every few strokes, Jonas reversed his pattern. The falls would come from below and strike her exposed pussy. Then he would reverse again and concentrate on her ass and thighs. This new pattern threw her off. She realized she’d been demanding, expecting a certain something. Now she could only sit back and appreciate what she got.

  Before long, tension coiled, fed by the heat of her skin and the hiss of the bonfire. It broke suddenly, sweeping her to another reality. She cried out with the enormity of it, and the floggers fell away.

  His cock felt cool against her burning flesh. He pushed inside her quickly. She offered no resistance. The slick, pulsing walls of her vagina sucked at him with a welcoming rhythm. He took her up that cliff once more before he surrendered to passion.

  Chapter Five

  The next night, he took her dancing. They’d taken ballroom dancing lesson
s together in preparation for their second wedding. Since then, Jonas often swept her up in his arms when the music was right or the mood struck him. He didn’t usually take their surroundings into account. The first time he’d done it at a dinner party at her mother’s home, the always proper and severely uptight Melinda Morozov had watched in shocked amazement until Sabrina’s stepfather, Dmitri, had followed Jonas’s example. Her mother had immediately relaxed, following her husband’s lead. The evening had been fun and memorable.

  Elysium featured a formal dance hall in the Bacchanal Arbor. Jonas had chosen a short, white, strapless dress for Sabrina to wear. It tightened under her breasts in a wide, satiny band around her ribs. From there, it flowed over her hips and stopped just short of indecent. On her feet, he placed low-heeled white and wicker sandals. Under her dress, he allowed nothing.

  For himself, he’d selected a white cambric shirt, which he paired with dark green shorts. He wasn’t as dressed up as she was, a fact she pointed out.

  He smiled patiently and held out his arm for her to take. “I’m not the eye candy, honey. You are. It doesn’t matter what I walk in there wearing, everybody’s going to be looking at you.”

  She wondered if anyone would recognize her from the bonfire. Probably, if she showed them her pussy. She wasn’t sure anyone had gotten a good look at her face. The memory made her blush.

  Jonas chuckled. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing you do that. It makes you look even lovelier.”

  Sabrina grasped his arm and followed him to the Bacchanal Arbor.

  A small orchestra was set up near one side of the dance floor. Surrounded by trees, the pavilion was open on four sides. Glass panels retracted into the many columns, ready to be pulled out if the need for a more fortified shelter arose. Island greenery and explosions of tropical color formed the backdrop for this incredible location.

  They sat at a small table, just large enough for the two of them, and ordered drinks. One thing about being on an island, all the girly drinks with the decorative umbrellas that Sabrina loved were readily available, albeit in virgin forms.

  Jonas grinned fondly when the server delivered the pink, frothy drink. He leaned forward and captured her left hand. “The first time I saw you, I knew you were the type of woman who would drink something pink.”

  She lifted an eyebrow at his soft appraisal. “Are you sure about that? I thought your mind went immediately to sex.”

  That grin grew. “I’m capable of thinking about two things at once. Maybe it was a prop in my fantasy, something soft and feminine with a straw for you to wrap those luscious lips around.”

  She laughed at his audacity. When they’d met, she’d been an executive in the company, and he’d been a new hire. He had been in awe of her, and so he’d been shocked when she’d asked him to marry her. They had never spoken before, but she’d needed a husband in order to gain an inheritance, and he’d been sitting right there. “So you first imagined me as a tease?”

  “You teased me just by walking into a room.” He played with her wedding ring, moving the band back and forth with the flick of his thumb against the diamond. It had been his grandmother’s. “You tease me by wearing that sexy, micro-dress with nothing underneath.”

  It had been a while since she’d had the opportunity to flirt with her husband outside of a scene. Even though she felt soft heat rising to her cheeks, she loved the banter. “You’re the one who picked out my clothes.”

  “But you’re the one giving me that come-hither look.” He turned her hand over and ran his fingertips over her palm. The lightness of his touch tickled, but she didn’t pull away.

  “It’s been four whole hours since you’ve made love to me.” She pretended to pout, but really she had nothing to complain about. He’d scheduled a trail-riding excursion. A guide had taken a group of them on horseback to explore the dense tropical forest that made up the interior of the island. Their destination had been a secluded waterfall surrounded by magnificent natural rock formations where a picnic lunch awaited them.

  Jonas had made the most of the occasion, and she had found out firsthand how soft moss could be on her naked backside.

  He released her hand and swirled his glass with the sparkling cider the server had brought when they’d been seated. “I do love you, you know.”

  She blinked at the sudden sobriety of his tone. “I know. I still like hearing you say the words.”

  “Five years ago, you made me the luckiest man alive. I may not have appreciated it for the right reasons at the time, and it took me a while to learn, and so I thank you for your patience and forgiveness.”

  Sabrina blinked. Thinking about parts of that first year still tore her up inside and left her feeling vulnerable. She opened her mouth to utter the appropriate response, but he wasn’t finished.

  “Four years ago, you made me the happiest man alive by agreeing to marry me after you found out how messed up I was. Three years ago, you gave me the most precious gift in the world, our daughter. One year ago, you did it again, making our family complete with a son.”

  The pang she’d swallowed at the beginning of his speech grew undeniably strong, and salty tears wet her eyes. Jonas had given her life purpose. He’d shown her what it was like to feel pleasure and pain, desire so intense it crippled her will, and a love she’d never imagined possible.

  “I love you, Sabrina. I love you with every piece of my soul and every inch of my body. I would marry you again every single day for the rest of my life.”

  Now tears fell in earnest. She wiped carefully under her eyes, dabbing with the edged of her napkin. He never ceased to amaze her. She wasn’t nearly as gifted with words as him, so she settled for a simple response. “I love you, too, Jonas.”

  After dinner, they danced slowly to the romantic strains of music they didn’t need to hear. Sabrina was so lost in the feel of his arms around her and the clean, masculine scent that was uniquely Jonas filling her senses that she didn’t notice anyone around them. She forgot everything. Though she noticed that Jonas had guided her outside to the patio, the change of scenery didn’t register until he stopped dancing.

  The breeze had turned cooler and the clear sky showcased the multitude of stars, making it a perfect night. She held Jonas’s hand and followed him to the lawn. It didn’t take long for her to realize it was made up of semiprivate areas, most of which were filled with couples. Dim lights glowed from strategic locations, providing just enough light to make out shapes but not much else.

  Jonas led her to an empty place and pulled her back into his arms. Strains of music barely beat out the moans and whispers surrounding them. Sabrina smiled up at her husband. She couldn’t see his face clearly, so she ran her fingertips up his chest and over the planes and angles of his cheeks and lips. He let her explore for a bit, then he captured her lips in a searing kiss.

  He pushed her dress down and over her hips before undressing and thoughtfully spreading his shirt and shorts for them to lie on. She welcomed his weight and the forceful thrust of his hips as he buried his cock in her body.

  * * * *

  They helped each other dress, fumbling in the dim light to find buttons and orient their clothing. Sabrina giggled when they made it back to the patio to find that Jonas’s shorts were on inside out.

  The satisfied smile didn’t dim from his lips. He shrugged. “One of the hazards of eschewing beds.”

  A pair of hands clapped together, not the kind of sound that heralded applause, but the kind that announced somebody was about to get down to business. Hopeful of an erotic public display, Sabrina whipped her head around. She was a little disappointed to find Mistress Hera standing nearby, and her attention was on them.

  “Master J, do you have a moment?”

  The question was also misleading. Sabrina read the undertones. This was the kind of minute that took hours. It was the kind of minute one would find at a staff meeting, the kind that sucked valuable time into the corporate vacuum. This was her vac
ation. Meetings were prohibited.

  Jonas seemed to sense Sabrina’s unease. He put his arm around Sabrina’s waist, drawing her closer. “Heather, now isn’t a good time. And please call me Jonas. Master J has retired.”

  Heather? He knew her real name. Sabrina had suspected before that they knew each other. Now she knew for certain, and that fact didn’t settle well on her shoulders. The “Master J” thing didn’t rankle as much. Before she’d met him, he’d earned a good living punishing the sass out of submissives who’d paid for the privilege at Ellen’s exclusive club.

  “Please? Jonas, it’s important.”

  A little bit of desperation crept in, enough to tug at Sabrina’s heartstrings. Otherwise, Mistress Hera didn’t appear distressed. Her regal bearing screamed “Don’t mess with me,” and her expression remained impassive.

  Jonas looked down at Sabrina, the question in his eyes letting her know he’d walk away if she wanted.

  “Okay, but I’m coming with you.” She hoped to hell it didn’t take long.

  Mistress Hera nodded. “That would be best.”

  * * * *

  Heather’s office was massive. Moveable floor-to-ceiling windows looked out onto a huge balcony. The furniture inside showed no small amount of opulence. Jonas noted the high-end leather furnishings and the upscale art. It was the kind of stuffy, overbearing room he’d find at his father-in-law’s mansion, not one he expected to see at a resort.

  As Heather closed everything up tightly and turned on the air conditioning, Jonas watched Sabrina, noting her reactions. She was patient now, but he had a hunch that was only because her curiosity had been piqued. No doubt she suspected last night had been a setup. It hadn’t been. He knew Heather chose him because he guaranteed a good show and he knew how to use the equipment. Choosing from among unknown, untested guests could present a number of challenges. He’d simply made her job easier.