by Livia Grant
Her body obeyed, gasping for precious air as he continued on.
“That’s it. I feel you squirming against me. You’ve got an itch that needs to be scratched, don’t you? Well, I’m your man. Just so you know, if you leave now, you’ll be walking away from the best sex of your life.”
Khloe fought to think. Fear warred with curiosity, turning her into a jumbled mess. Who was this guy? So conceited. So sure of himself. So strong. He smelled amazing and his hard appendage grinding against her promised a one-way ride to heaven.
His hand against her stomach moved higher, molding against her right breast, massaging her. He squeezed so hard pain shot through her body, making her feel more alive than she’d possibly ever felt.
“Be brave.” He finally closed the deal with his promise. “Let me take care of you tonight, baby.”
No one was more surprised than her when he suddenly released her. She gasped for another breath, keeping her eye on the door in the distance.
She could leave. She’d never have to see anyone in this room ever again, including Chase Cartwright. She could chalk the whole night up to a failed experiment and drag herself back to New York and lick her wounds there until she had to leave for L.A. on Sunday.
A tanned hand came into view. He was offering the chance to choose him. To choose adventure. To pursue the nebulous desire draining her daily as she chased after something she couldn’t name.
She didn’t remember making the decision. All she knew was her hand reached for his, locking them together just before he gently pulled her back into motion, this time back towards the stage where the roulette wheel would decide how they would spend the next three hours.
Chapter 5
Ryder was stunned she’d followed him back to the stage. He hadn’t had nearly enough time yet to study her to understand what made her tick. He’d taken a hell of a chance, hoping to push the right buttons to make her want to stay. She could have just as easily screamed ‘red’ and be half way back to her hotel by now.
He’d wanted her from the moment he saw her in the small crowd of subs congregating near the stage. It wasn’t because she was famous. He could give a shit about that. It wasn’t even because she was easily the most beautiful woman in attendance that night, but she was.
No. What had caught his attention was her complete lack of protocol while she looked around the BDSM club, clearly out of her element. Most of the subs wore skimpy outfits he suspected lured in play partners on a normal basis. They fought to look cool, like they had things under control.
One look at Khloe Monroe, and he knew she was completely in over her head. He was curious how she’d found herself a participant in the night’s entertainment. She emanated fear mingled with an almost palpable desperation he found himself anxious to explore. Screw winning a month’s free membership. She was too sweet of a prize to turn down. He looked forward to playing hard with his trophy for the evening. As they walked back to the stage, he made it his personal challenge to push her as hard as possible without making her safeword.
Khloe wore a tight-fitted sweater dress, just modest enough to hide all of her best bits, but dipping low enough to show the ample swell of her breasts. She’d filled his palm perfectly when he’d clamped down to stop her from leaving. It had taken all of his self-control to keep from biting her neck as he’d held her stationary. There would be time for biting later.
Once on stage, she took the marble from the emcee, but then froze staring at the spinning wheel in a trance. He placed his hand at the small of her back with the lightest touch, urging her to drop the ball that would shape the next three hours. She responded beautifully. He stepped closer to watch the marble spin and fall into the absolute best slot he could hope for.
“Mr. Helms and his Princess will be starting at the medical play station this evening.” The crowd buzzed at the news as Khloe visibly shivered. Of course she had no way of knowing how much real life practice he’d had with the very activity they were about to play out. If she’d known, he had no doubt she’d be running for the door again.
They took their place waiting with the other couples. There were still many couples to be paired up, but Ryder didn’t waste time waiting to start his dominance over his prize. When she tried to shuffle away from him towards the stairs, he grabbed her by her hips and yanked her back against his chest. He felt her bones protruding, making sharp handles he used to subdue her. She was too thin.
If she were mine, I’d see that she put on some weight. I prefer soft handles to grab onto as I fuck.
Still, she molded to him as if they were puzzle pieces locking together. He felt her wobbling on her too-high heels, fighting to keep her distance from him, but falling helplessly against his chest instead. He spoke against her ear again. “Stay still. Eyes forward. Think about how I’m going to examine every inch of your body as soon as they get through assigning activities.”
Khloe released a distressed gurgle as she tried to pull away, but he easily held her stationary. He listened impatiently as couples were matched up and assigned their first sexual activity for the night, but the second the ceremony portion of the night was complete, he started pushing his captive ahead of him towards his bag of goodies waiting near the exit of the stage. She half-heartedly tried to pull away from him, but he held her tighter. Despite her lame protests, she trembled, no doubt in part due to fear, but he was equally sure she had a deep-seated need she was suppressing.
He released her hip to grab his leather duffle bag, but she took the opportunity to wrench away. He needed to nip her skittish behavior in the bud right away. They only had three hours and he didn’t want to spend it continuously convincing her to turn herself over to him. The sooner she realized he owned her for the next three hours, the better off they would both be.
Ryder dropped his bag and moved into action. They were only a few feet from the back wall of the stage. She was wafer-thin. Despite her trying to dig her heels in, it was too easy to propel forward until her chest pressed against the unforgiving wall. He applied all his weight to her body to sandwich her as he delivered his message. “If you came here for a polite Dom who would baby you, Princess, and check in on you every thirty seconds, you’re going to be disappointed. You might as well safeword now.” He stepped back, spinning her before pushing her back against the wall so he could look into her wide doe-like eyes. She was drowning in fear. Had he been undercover, he’d have congratulated himself on a job well done, but tonight he was playing a delicate game of cat and mouse. He didn’t want to lose his prey just yet. He needed to sweeten the deal.
He towered over her by at least six inches, despite her stupidly tall heels. Her pupils were dilated. Her breathing uneven. She opened and closed her mouth like a guppy; unable to speak the word he suspected was on her tongue.
He took action. His mouth crashed over hers in a passionate kiss meant to steal the word ‘red.’ It worked like a charm. Maybe too well. As his sub-for-the-night melted into his arms, he found himself equally affected by her responsive body. Even the taste of her cherry lipstick and minty breath turned him on until he lost sight of his end goal.
When she broke the kiss to gasp for air, he moved lower. His mouth sought out the tender spot where her neck met her shoulder blade, using his tongue to first taste her before biting down just hard enough to seal his possession further. He felt her collapse against him when he started sucking her neck, hopefully leaving his mark while turning Khloe into a pile of putty in his hands. He could smell the evidence of her arousal wafting up between them.
Yes, Miss Monroe is in desperate need of a good hard fuck. Lucky for her, I’m just the man for the job.
Time was wasting, but before he moved them towards the medical section, he wanted to seal her cooperation. Ryder cupped her flushed face, holding her stationary so she couldn’t look away. “I want you to trust me, Princess. I know it’s hard since we just met, but I promise you a few things.” He paused to make sure she was listening. “If you submit to m
e, you’ll be rewarded. Obey and I’ll deliver more pleasure than you even thought possible.” He pressed against her harder to deliver the remainder of his promise. “But fight me, and you’ll find I know how to deliver pain equally well. Defiance will be punished. Swiftly and thoroughly. Understand?”
She tried to turn her head away, but he was too strong. She resorted to slamming her eyes closed to shut him out while her breathing became ragged. He gave her a few long seconds to contemplate before pressing her again.
“One final promise.” He waited until she opened her expressive eyes. They drew him in. He could lose himself in them if he let it happen. “I hope you’ll turn yourself over to me for the next three hours. I’ll help you explore parts of yourself you’ve never confronted before, and push you to do things you never dreamed possible. But I promise to honor your safeword. You say red and it all stops. You believe me, don’t you, Khloe?”
Her eyes widened at his use of her real name. He got the feeling few people took the time to see the real woman who was Khloe Monroe, instead choosing to see just another public persona.
Her words were so soft he almost missed them. “What if you scare me?”
Ryder chuckled, genuinely surprised at her question. “Baby, I’d be disappointed if you weren’t at least a little afraid. I’ll let you in on a little secret. That’s part of the turn on for me.”
“But, what if I can’t handle it? I’ve never… I mean… I’m not… shit.” She was flustered.
It must be the club setting. There was no other explanation for his sudden urge to hug her closer and comfort her until she calmed. That wouldn’t help with their first scene at all. Instead, Ryder settled on reassuring her verbally. “You’ve never scened before. I know. Do you have any experience at all in the lifestyle?”
She shook her head from side to side slowly.
“How the hell did you end up in the Roulette event?”
She glanced around as if she’d just remembered something, finally returning her gaze to him. “I’m an old friend of Chase and Jaxson’s.”
That explained a lot. “Well then, you should be able to trust they won’t let anything too bad happen to you, now would they?” She didn’t look very convinced, telling him they hadn’t been that close of friends after all. “Are you ready to turn yourself over?”
He waited almost a full minute for her answer. “Don’t do any damage to my face or my hair. I have to be on camera in less than a week.”
He’d take it as her consent. “Deal.”
Only when he turned to head down the stairs towards their first scene did he realize they’d had a large audience waiting for the outcome of their private conversation. As they moved away from the stage, he could see pockets of observers spread out throughout the club floor, congregating around scenes getting underway. The group following behind him and Khloe was substantially larger, he was sure due to her star power. The crowd would work to his favor, adding a deeper level of embarrassed humiliation for his novice submissive.
Ryder had admired the medical setup the weekend before when his friend Spencer had given him a short tour of the club. He’d been impressed that Black Light had purchased all the right equipment and then some. He was no expert on the BDSM club scene, but to him, they’d earned their enormous fees and reputation as the place to play for discriminating dominants and submissives.
He led her by the hand to the medical room where an ominous padded table waited for them. He doubted an inexperienced sub like Khloe picked up on the hidden amenities of the setting, but to the trained operative, he couldn’t wait to get started.
First things first. He reached into his bag and pulled out a bottle of water, thrusting it into her trembling hands. “Drink. All of it.”
“Excuse me?” She looked disoriented, exactly how he wanted her.
“I don’t want you dehydrated. I’m gonna push you hard. Don’t move. Just drink.”
He waited for her to unscrew the top and take a tentative first swig before he turned, returning to his bag of goodies and pulling out a few items he would be using soon. He looked back to nod silent encouragement for her to keep drinking while he went to a rolling cabinet against the back wall of the room. He found everything he’d hoped they would stock.
When he returned to his Princess, she had only drank half the bottle. “You don’t listen very well. I said all of it.”
“I don’t want…”
“I don’t give a shit what you want, Khloe. I give orders. You follow them or are punished. Understand?”
Her eyes flared, anger and fear warring. He reached out to grab her upper arms and shake her slightly. “Answer me. Understood?”
She whispered, “Yes.”
“Yes, sir. Repeat again, properly,” he coached sternly.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good girl. We’ll get you trained yet. Drink.”
This time he let his hands fall lower to grab around her waist, holding her, watching her while she struggled to drink the last half of the bottle of water. She was wasting precious time, but he did have a method to his madness. He knew she’d be protesting harder if she had any clue of his plans.
He took the empty bottle and tossed it towards his own bag of goodies when she finished.
“Hair and face, right?” He pressed her.
“Yes, but…”
He pulled the small set of scissors from his pocket and before she could pull away, cut a one-inch slit in the low-cut bodice of her sweater dress. He grabbed each half of the opening and yanked hard, ripping the fabric all the way down to her navel in one pull. As tempting as it was to get his first glimpse of her nude flesh, Ryder kept his eyes trained on her eyes, enjoying first her surprise and then anger finishing on fear shining back at him.
While she stood in shock, he ripped the remaining fabric, using the scissors again to cut where the hem of her dress refused to tear. He spread the material wide, finally glancing down for his first peek at her perfect body.
Christ, she had fucking Barbie-doll proportions; ample breasts, a wafer thin waist spreading to wide hips. An hourglass of perfection for those who liked that sort of thing. He’d personally prefer a bit more flesh to hold on to, but that was just him.
“You can’t do this,” she protested lamely.
“I just did.”
“I mean, there have to be some rules…”
His hands clamped down on her bare waist to hold her immobile before cutting her off. “There are only a few rules I give a shit about. One, I’m your Dom. You’re my submissive for the next few hours and that means I can do whatever the hell I want with you, when I want and how I want. You obey, you’ll be rewarded in ways you never even knew were possible. You don’t, you’ll regret it. It’s that simple.”
She snorted a nervous chuckle, but he watched her body language carefully, using his extensive training to read her as if she were spouting out her inner most desires. He briefly remembered she was an actress by trade and wondered if perhaps she was playing him, but for three hours, he honestly didn’t care. He was having the most fun he’d had in years.
Her eyes spoke volumes. It was almost too easy. “It’s okay. I know why you’re here, Princess.”
She had a bit of fight left in her and he adored her all the more for it. “That’s rich, since I don’t have the first fucking clue on that myself.”
He knew she told the truth and something he didn’t want to name pulled at his conscience. “Then let me help you.” When she didn’t protest, he pushed on. “You’re desperate for someone to actually look inside you. Not at you. Not like all your fans do, barely scratching the surface. No, what you want more than anything is to be the center of someone’s entire universe.”
Her eyes widened, sparking with a longing he’d seen many times on women over the years. A longing he normally fed just long enough to get what he wanted out of them before moving on. He felt obliged to warn her. “I’m going to be that person for the next three hours. You’ll be the
center of my universe, but be warned. I’ll give you a taste, but that’s all I have to give.”
She broke their visual connection to look around wildly. He suspected he’d struck a chord and she was panicking at his direct hit. Not for the first time, he sensed she was lost. Floundering. His methods may be unconventional, but he knew he could help her, if only she’d turn herself over to him. It was a positive sign that she’d held off calling red.
His thumb caressed her flat stomach as he pulled her closer again, moving one hand to her hair, yanking her head back so she had no choice but to look him in the eyes. “Ready, Princess?”
Her nod was minuscule, but was enough to move him back into action. His hands moved to her dress, pushing the now two pieces over her shoulders, letting the heavy winter fabric fall to a pool at her feet.
“Have you ever been a Victoria’s Secret model?” He saw a slight shake of her head. “Too bad.” His hand cupped her mounds camouflaged by the lacy black bra, letting his thumbs tease the peaks. “I’ll get a closer look in a minute. For now, let’s get you up on the examination table.”
He grabbed the fabric at the valley of her breasts, yanking her to follow behind him as he moved to the center of the room. She almost ran to keep up with him in her spiked heels. As soon as they were close enough, he turned to scoop her up, his arms under her knees and back to lift her so she lay prone on the leather padded top.
Before she could protest, he moved to the head of the table, pulling the leather wrist cuffs from under the table and making quick work of securing her arms above her head. By the time she understood she was now his captive, he had already pulled the two-inch wide leather strap from under the table and was buckling it across her tummy. The water hadn’t made it through her system yet, but soon enough, the strap would be pressing her, demanding she expel the excess liquid.
