Bound and Unbroken

by Skye Callahan

  “Well, I figure it would be stupid of me to spend all of this time trying to get you to open up and then tell you to shut up, so unless I tell you differently, you’re free to talk to me.” He chuckled, “And unless you get on his bad side, I’m sure Cade will answer your questions, too.”

  Cade nodded an affirmation. “And unless you two want some time alone, I thought it might be easier for you to relax with an extra bodyguard.”

  “So, I get the falcon and the pit bull for the evening?”

  The edge of Cade’s lip twitched. “You sure your little subbie needs to talk?”

  Eric made a sound in his throat, even if he tried to act angry, his squinted eyes revealed his amusement. “First, I want to know which one I am.”

  “Falcon,” Lena said, “I figured that would have been obvious after the two weeks you spent flying around and stalking me.”

  Cade laughed so hard, a table of submissives turned to glare again. “Damned if for a while I didn’t think you were insane, Eric. I knew she’d give you a hell of a time, but I thought it’d be for a different reason.”

  “I never know what to expect myself.”

  Eric

  In a way, she was giving him what he wanted. Her unbridled thoughts and personality, but she was also good at playing the game, and if he encouraged her—as in the bar, she would egg him on all night with her banter.

  But, it would just be banter, fun—and that wouldn’t get her past that wall she’d built.

  “You wanted open and honest,” Lena reminded him, then bit the inside of her lip.

  “Quiet, little Loner, while I figure out what to do with you.” He cupped her breast, and she nearly kicked him, trying to sit up.

  “You still want my help?” Cade asked.

  “Help?” Lena squeaked, she tried again to squirm, but Eric pressed her back against the arm of the sofa. Her breath came in short huffs, but she finally returned her gaze to his eyes.

  “What do you say if you need a break?”

  “Yellow.”

  He felt her nipple through the fabric of her top, and she jumped as his thumb ran over it the first time. “Give me your right ankle.”

  Looking down at her own position, her eyes widened. If she obeyed, the short skirt would be relatively useless—and that was the point.

  “Now, Lena, stop thinking, unless you need to use a safeword.”

  She swallowed and closed her eyes before lifting her leg slowly to the couch. Any attempt at keeping her legs together or tucking the skirt between her legs was useless as he pulled her foot to the back of the couch.

  “Eyes on me,” he whispered.

  She glared for an instant, her eyes holding him in a heated stare, but he pinned her leg to the back of the couch with his elbow.

  “Relax your other leg. If you try to sit there like a statue, you're just going to exhaust yourself.”

  He could already see her fighting her body for control as it tried to relax and give in to his touch. Starting at her knee, he traced his fingers slowly up the inside of her thigh, stopping every few inches to move back and retrace the area. Her chest rose, then fell in a huff, and she relaxed her cheek against his shoulder.

  “You’re mine, little Loner. Here, you dress as I say. You’re mine to put on display and play with however I see fit.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He tipped up her face to take her mouth, then pressed his palm against her mound until she moaned, and her hips lifted against him.

  “Why?” he asked. The only way to get her to break was to keep her off balance. To keep her from retreating into her own mind.

  Her eyebrows drew together. “Because you’re my Dom?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I give you control.”

  “Good. I want you to slide off my lap, then put both of your feet in Cade’s lap. Her chest shook as she inhaled, but she slid into the empty seat between the two Doms and followed her orders, giving Eric the room to adjust behind her, putting his back against the arm of the couch, and then pulling her between his legs with just enough room to work.

  Her shoulder sagged when Cade began massaging her feet, and then Eric started on her lower back. After a few minutes, Eric decided she’d likely be pliable enough, and pulled her back against his front, moving his attention to her chest. She jumped as he undid the first button on her top, revealing even more of her supple breasts to play with. Then, for good measure, he reached farther down and flipped up her skirt, tracing his fingers over her outer lips, then returning his attention to her nipples.

  Certainly a massage wouldn’t have been what Lena expected for the night, and keeping her off guard was the first step in his plan to get her to surrender. First her body, then her mind. The only way he knew to figure out the reasons behind those roadblocks and eventually to get her past them.

  It was also the first test of her trust, since she wasn’t aware that Eric and Cade had planned this entire scenario earlier in the week. They had shared a few subs over the years. Enjoying the fun of tag teaming, to keep a sub off balance, or to appease her deeper desires. Cade wouldn’t be going that far with Lena, while Eric missed the old days, this time, he wasn’t willing to share that much. His friend knew where the lines were drawn, but his little Loner was flying blind, and would have to trust both of them to keep her safe.

  If not for the dreamy look already settling over her eyes, he might feel bad for trying to overwhelm her.

  But only a little.

  Cade worked his hands up Lena’s calves, then pinned her ankles against the arm of the couch, stretching her legs over him, so he could reach farther up her thighs. By the time he was halfway up, Lena’s stomach tightened. She wasn’t pulling away, but she did twist to look up at Eric’s face. He kissed her forehead and ran his own hand over her thigh, slipping it between her legs and running his thumb up her folds on the return trip.

  “Stand up,” he said, patting the back of her leg. She fidgeted with her clothing as she moved to stand, while Eric threw a blanket over the center of the couch. “Put you back to Cade and give me your legs.”

  Her bottom lip sucked in as she nibbled at it, but she didn’t object, returning quietly to her seat between them and lifting her legs into Eric’s lap. She was careful to keep them together, as if still worried about showing anything.

  Cade grabbed a pillow from the side of the couch, likely he’d stowed it there earlier in the day. He placed it across his lap so that Lena could sit back comfortably. “Lie back, subbie.”

  Lena’s stare didn’t break away from Eric’s face, so he nodded, and she followed Cade’s order. Cade already understood her limits—as far as this scene was concerned—and with her reclined back across his lap she could keep an eye on both men, for now.

  Eric lifted her legs, putting one foot behind him and resting the other on his knee. He began kissing the side of her knee, and up the inside of her leg, then reached down to his bag, pulling out a white cloth bag and laying it on the couch next to Lena’s hip. She smelled sweet, and he guessed that she was already wet, but his current plans didn’t include satisfying that desire just yet. But, her breaths came in short bursts, and from the lines marking her forehead, she wasn’t quite ready for what he had in mind.

  Cade drew her hair from around her shoulders, spreading it gently back on the pillow, his other hand tracing her collarbone and dipping toward her breasts. Her chest tightened, but as soon as Eric’s fingers touched her stomach, tracing along the waistline of her skirt, her breath turned shaky, then evened out.

  As the lines faded from her forehead, and her watchful gaze relaxed, Eric reached again for the white bag. Her eyes followed his movements, but he dropped the bag behind her thigh and out of her sight, and pulled out one clothespin. Brushing against the inside of her leg he prepared the skin, took a small pinch and attached the pin.

  Lena jumped, and bit back a yelp. “I thought—“

  Eric raised his eyebrows. “You have a choice of three words
, red, yellow, and green.”

  Lena took a couple of huffy breaths, her jaw twitching as if she didn’t know which to pick. Her eyes traveled down to the pin and then back to Eric’s eyes. “Yellow,” she whispered.

  Eric removed the pin and offered his hand. “Then, sit up so we can talk.”

  “I thought you didn’t like inflicting pain,” she said.

  Placing his palms against her cheeks, he kissed her forehead. “Those weren’t my exact words. Sometimes pain isn’t so straightforward, and I think if you give this a chance, you’ll get a lot out of it.”

  “And if it’s too much?”

  “Then, I stop, Sweetie. You know that. Give me five minutes, then, we’ll see if you want to continue.”

  She nodded, and he thought he’d have to remind her that he needed a verbal response, but her lip twitched into a half-smile. “Yes, Sir.”

  Eric snuck in one more kiss before letting her lie back, and although she was trying, the short timeout left her distracted and slightly worked-up. Her gaze darted toward the rest of the room, her hands clenched at her side, and her toes dug into his leg.

  “Lena,” Cade whispered, drawing his fingers through her hair again. “Nothing beyond this couch matters. Just remember to breathe, slow breaths. Let everything else go.”

  Eric rubbed the inside of her thigh, until her body relaxed into the couch again, but that beautiful serenity, wouldn’t last long, and he could still see it around her eyes. He attached the first clothespin again, and gave her a few seconds to adjust to the bite. After a few short massaging strokes along her legs and stomach, he attached a second pin to her other leg and she jumped again.

  He kissed the inside of her leg, and watched her take a long breath at Cade’s command. Then, Cade ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “I doubt Eric would like it if you bit that off.”

  She released her lip from her teeth and kept her eyes on Cade, who slid a hand down her top and pinched a nipple. Her body twitched, but she no longer seemed tense as if she wanted to jump off the couch and run away, so Eric clipped on another pin, alternating between gentle massaging motions and adding clothespins.

  By the time Eric had reached the end of his five minutes, she had four pins on the inside of each thigh, but her hands were flat against the couch as she teetered on the edge of pain and pleasure, with both men caressing her skin.

  “Give me a color,” Eric said.

  Lena’s gaze fluttered down to the clothespins, then back up to him and she licked her lips before speaking. “Green.”

  “Another round, then.” Nipping the inside of her knee with his teeth, he slowly laid eight more clothespins across her stomach.

  He rubbed down the outside of her thighs then slid his hands under to cup her smooth ass, watching her eyes widen as Cade reached down to pluck one of the clothespins from her stomach.

  Cade dragged the tip of the pin across her collar bone, then left it to lie across her chest as he unbuttoned the last few buttons of the bustier.

  Lena’s eyes darted between Eric’s face and Cade’s hands as he pinched a piece of skin about two inches from her nipple and applied the first pin. She jerked, pressing her feet into the couch.

  Pressing a hand against her hot mound, Eric rubbed, until her eyes fluttered and her head dropped back. Then, as Cade attached a pin to the opposite breast, Eric pinched her clit.

  Lena moaned, squeezing her eyes closed. Her breath was coming faster now, but her breaths still appeared deep and controlled. Ride the pain, Sweetie, he silently urged.

  Lena

  Every pinch of the clothespins slowly turned into a burn that sank into her core. Her skin stretched tighter to accommodate each new addition, and her muscles shuddered as Cade took one final pinch, attaching a fifth pin to her left breast, and moments later the right.

  Lena drew in a deep breath, feeling the pins shift with her movement. She tried to concentrate on Eric and his soft caressing motions as they moved up her calves then across her hips and stomach. With each deep breath she took, and every soft touch, the pain receded to a dull roar in the background.

  Cade traced her hairline, and she opened her eyes to look up at him, and blinked—somehow the dimly lit room seemed brighter than she remembered.

  “Hands above your head,” Cade whispered. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a voice questioned what would happen next if she listened, but she lifted her arms and let Cade gather her wrists in his palm without hesitating.

  “Give me a color,” Eric said.

  It wasn’t as if she enjoyed the pain, she’d crawl off the couch in a second to get away from it. But as the initial shock receded, the pain penetrated, unfurling her muscles and impulses. She wanted to be pushed, to see just how far Eric could push her and how this was going to end. “Green.”

  Eric’s lips twitched into a smile, his eyes relaxing as they floated over her. He looked calm, each action a deliberate mixture of gentle and firm. The air of control suited him, and watching him wield it suited her.

  Cade lifted her wrists and kissed her forearm while his other hand brushed the tips of the clothespins biting at her breasts.

  A grunt escaped before Lena could hold it back, but even with the increasing stimulation of her skin, her body’s reactions were lessening with each round.

  She felt Eric move again, and she let her legs part allowing him access, until she realized what that meant. He lifted another clothespin from the bag, and her eyes widened as she followed its path, between her legs where it bit into her outer lip. Lena bit back a cry and swallowed it, taking a deep breath instead, and laying her head back so she couldn’t see the rest. Her eyes snapped shut as the second bit in. She wanted to wiggle her hips and move away, but she planted them into the couch and refused.

  Her mind was made up, and she could endure this, even if only for the satisfied look on Eric’s face when it ended.

  The third and fourth bites came in quick succession, far less painful than the first two. Her mind shut the walls against the sounds in the rest of the club, and with the next two pins, her eyes drifted closed.

  “Lena.” A finger trailed up the back of her leg, and she pushed her eyelids up to see Eric with one eyebrow cocked. He leaned over her, kissing her stomach and brushing against the pins on her thighs as he moved. She tensed for a second, but it all faded just as quickly as the wave of sensation fell over her like the heat of a sunny day.

  Eric removed one pin from her leg, sending a burning rush of blood to the abused area as Eric continued removing the rest of the pins from that leg. His cool fingers touched the area sending relief mixed with sensations that overwhelmed her nerves.

  The burning began in her other thigh and chest simultaneously, as both Eric and Cade worked at removing pins. Her body sank deeper—mind buzzing as if she’d had a few too many drinks. Each pulse of pain, pulling at her consciousness and then pushing her deeper.

  “Lena.”

  Her eyes fluttered and closed again. She had no desire to leave her soft space.

  “Open your eyes, little Loner.”

  When she finally obeyed, she saw Eric hovering over her chest. She tried to say green, but by the time it came out of her mouth, it was nearly incomprehensible.

  Eric bent his neck to kiss her chest. “If I threatened to use a whip on you right now, you’d probably still say green.”

  Lena moaned, the only response she could muster—she couldn’t quite decide whether he was right or wrong, and she didn’t want to try.

  “Should we interrogate her now?” another voice asked.

  Eric’s gaze shifted up, looking at the dark-haired man next to Lena’s shoulder. She had to stumble through the buzz in her mind to find a name—Cade. Too much effort. Her eyes drifted closed again. Fingers touched her hair, then tipped her head up. “I think it’s time you curl up with your Master.”

  That sounded nice.

  Cade brought her hands forward, then Eric’s strong arms wrapped her into the blanket below her a
nd pulled her across the couch to settle in his lap. Lena buried her head in his neck and inhaled his scent—once again forgetting about everything beyond her.

  Eventually the sounds of the club broke through Lena’s trance. With a moan, she readjusted, trying to escape the noises.

  A hand nudged her shoulder. “Drink this, Sweetie.”

  She took the bottle of water, and managed a few drinks before settling back again. Eric didn’t take the bottle but put his hand around hers to steady it.

  “How do you feel?” he whispered.

  “Good. Fuzzy. Did you drug me?”

  Eric chuckled, and the sensation felt strangely over-stimulating against her side. “No drugs. That was all you.”

  “You meant for this to happen?”

  “I did. It got you to stop thinking.” He tapped his fingers against the back of her hand. “Keep drinking.”

  The water felt fantastic in her throat, but the effort it took to lift the bottle to her lips seemed like enough to move the couch. She dropped the empty bottle into Eric’s hand and snuggled back down into the blanket.

  “It’s too easy to be comfortable with you,” she whispered, about to fall to fall asleep on his shoulder again. “How long have we been sitting here?”

  “You were out of it for about fifteen minutes.”

  Definitely too comfortable. But when she reassessed it all, she realized that wasn’t quite accurate. It seemed too easy to relax around him, but all he’d done was make her smile, and make her feel more pleasure than she thought possible. “You’re going to ruin me for all other men.”

  Eric took her chin, playing with her bottom lip for a moment before he spoke. “Who says I’d let go long enough to even consider another man?”

  Lena smiled. Things were going too fast—and her brain was too muddled—to be reasonable. For once, she didn’t care about rationalizing the situation, about breaking it down and acting responsibly. All that control was overrated.

  The reality of the club continued milling deeper into Lena’s consciousness, so she lifted her head to look around. Across the room, she spotted Adrienne standing over a muscular man who could’ve made Jeremiah look like a stick. “Is that’ Adrienne’s sub?”