Instead, he kissed her as if he would devour her body and soul.
At the end of the kiss, he looked into Beth’s eyes—they were gentle and full of wonder and honesty…the eyes of an innocent he didn’t deserve, but wanted anyway. And the collar—maybe he’d have to revise his plans, because the ribbon looked as sexy as hell. “Come and sit with me.”
Once seated on the bed, he pulled her down onto his lap. “Open your legs, sweetheart.”
At the first touch between her thighs, her eyes closed and a delightful little whimper passed her lips. The arm around his shoulders tightened too. She was already wet and growing more so with each determined stroke of his fingers. “Look at me, beautiful.”
Her gaze meshed with his and he felt as if he were looking into her soul. No woman had ever looked at him quite like that—she was hiding nothing from him. Her arousal was a growing fire, consuming her from within. Alex altered the rhythm of his stroking, dipping a finger inside her. She cried out this time, bracing herself with a hand on his chest as her thighs started to close.
“Beth, keep your legs open.” The reminder was a little sterner than he intended and her response to it was instant.
“I…can’t.” she gasped, “I have…have to –”
“You don’t. You only have to please me. That’s all you have to do. Lean on me, Beth. Put your arms around me and lean on me.”
He gave an involuntary grunt; her breasts against his chest made his cock surge under his jeans again. Her curves were in all the right places, soft and feminine and voluptuous, the way a woman was supposed to be. If the sensation of holding her like this was a mere hint of what she would feel like when she was under him, then he was doomed.
Her clit was swelling beneath his touch. Not only that, he could feel her starting to fuck his hand. “Keep still, Beth,” he ordered. “Have you ever tasted yourself?”
When she answered by shaking her head, he took his hand away from her and used the same hand under her chin to force her to look at him. “Open your mouth. Now suck my finger as if it were my cock. You didn’t answer me properly, so this is your punishment.”
Shit, he was going to have to take her soon. If she were sucking his cock rather than his finger, it would be a supreme test of his self-control not to come like some out-of-control teenager who’d just discovered what his dick was for. Her tongue swirled around his finger, filling his head with thoughts of how her mouth would feel on his cock.
“Tell me how you taste.”
Colour rose to her cheeks, and again she shook her head—embarrassment, he guessed. He quickly swiped his fingers through her folds again, sweeping up her moisture, and then licked his own fingers. God, how the hell was he supposed to wait to go down on her? She was a perfect banquet and he was more than ready to gorge himself.
“Shall I tell you? Slightly salty, warm, delicious and all woman. Do you know how wet you are?” This time he scooped more of her juices and wiped his fingers over her cheek. “Does this tell you how sexy you are? How much you want to be fucked? I’m going to fuck you, Beth, but not before I put you over my knee and deliver on my promise. Stand up and lie face-down over my lap.”
Once she was in position, with one of his hands on her back to keep her safely in place, his other hand explored the soft curves of her bottom, weighing up the best places to paddle her backside. Half a dozen to begin with—that should get the message across nicely, and give her a nice warm feeling where it counted.
At the first smack, she jerked and cried out, no doubt startled by the sharp sting on her flesh. Already he didn’t think he’d ever get tired of seeing her skin acquire that radiance beneath his touch. As soon as he stroked the same area she quieted down, wriggling only slightly. “Keep still, Beth. Do not move, and above all, do not come.”
“No, Alex, I won’t.” Her voice was little more than a whisper, poised between pleasure and pain. “Thank you.”
Another smack landed. This time she flinched, her buttocks clenching beautifully before relaxing as he stroked her flesh again. “How many is that, Beth?”
“Two, Alex.”
“Good. You will now count out the remainder.”
He repeated the process four more times, the smack followed by the caress. She counted each stroke as he had ordered her to do, and at the end her bottom was glowing nicely.
“You’ve done well, Beth,” he approved, his voice a little more gentle as he lifted her to her feet. “Did you enjoy that? If you did, don’t be afraid to admit it—tell me properly.”
Her eyes were fixed on the floor. The admission, when it came, was quiet and honest. “Yes, Alex, I enjoyed it.”
An eyebrow rose in perfect accompaniment to the wry grin. “Which just proves that I can’t use spanking to discipline you, Miss Harrison. You’ve been a good girl.” He examined her face—there was something in her eyes that suggested something remained unsaid. “What else, Beth? Tell me.”
“Alex.” She knelt before him, hands clasped and resting on her thighs, eyes still lowered. “Please…I need…I don’t know how to ask.”
“Just ask, Beth. It’s only words, and words can’t hurt you. Tell me what you need. If you don’t tell me, how can I give it to you?”
She took his hands and pressed a kiss to each palm. “Please may I ask if you would consider…” She took a deep breath. “If you would consider further correction?”
“In what way?”
Alex knew he was pushing her, but she had to learn to finish what she started and become entirely comfortable with communicating her needs, as well as speaking plainly.
Her voice was barely above a whisper when she responded with a single word. “More. Or harder. I’m not sure which.”
“Good—not perfect, but we’re getting there. All you have to do is put the two ideas together, and find your confidence. You have nothing to be afraid of.”
He waited.
“Please, would you consider extending my discipline by using a paddle, Alex?”
“And how many strokes do you feel that you deserve for your transgression?”
“Would ten be appropriate?”
Alex frowned; she had no idea what she was asking for. “No, ten would not be appropriate, Beth—not with a paddle. In conjunction with the spanking you’ve already received, I consider that four would be sufficient for you, as a novice. If you feel you should have ten strokes, then it’s ten strokes with the flogger.” There was more flexibility with a flogger—it could be manipulated in a pleasing variety of ways. Not only that—he happened to possess one that was ideal for a beginner. “So what’s it to be? Tell me what your disobedience deserves.”
Her stunned expression told him that she wasn’t expecting that response.
“The flogger, Alex.” Her voice was quiet but decisive.
“Face-down, on the bed.”
While she obeyed his instructions, Alex found what he sought in the toy chest. He stood beside the bed, swinging the implement in a figure of eight to get the feel of it again, while he weighed up where he would place the ten strokes.
With a gentle touch, he traced a path down Beth’s spine. The colour in her backside was fading now. In spite of his claim that this was a punishment, he had no intention of making it painful for her—it would be just enough to stimulate her and return that enticing glow to her skin.
Her body trembled in response to the first stroke, a common-enough reaction, but before he had the opportunity to deliver the next, Alex heard a soft moan of what could only be described as beatific contentment.
He followed the stroke with a tender caress, to take the sting away. This time he didn’t have her count out the strokes—he was more concerned with watching her reaction.
And all he saw was a blissed-out sub. She took the flogger well, and when it was done he stretched out beside her and kissed her cheek. “Well done, sweetheart,” he whispered, stroking her hair away from her damp face.
; “Thank you, Alex.”
Her somewhat whimsical smile reminded him of the previous evening, when she’d had a little too much to drink. A slightly tipsy Beth and one surfing the endorphin waves were both far removed from the woman who ran his office so efficiently. He let her rest for a few minutes, and then helped her to turn over.
From his box of toys, Alex produced brand-new ankle and wrist cuffs on chains, which he proceeded to attach to discreet eyebolts set into the wooden bed frame, before fastening the well-padded cuffs to Beth’s limbs, paying great attention to her injured ankle. “Does this one feel all right, love? If it starts to feel uncomfortable, tell me—use your safe words, if necessary.”
“It’s fine at the moment, thank you.”
Alex looked at her closely. There was something different in her voice, in her eyes too, and after a moment he recognised exactly what it was—trust. Until that moment he hadn’t realised just how much that would mean to him.
He sat on the edge of the bed. While he had every intention of burying his dick in her pussy before long, he wanted to start familiarising her with his touch.
“Your body belongs to me now, Beth,” he began, his voice low and sensuous. “Each of your toes, your feet,” he laid his palm on her instep, “you have beautiful feet, and I especially like your ankles, since one of them brought us to this wonderful place.”
He reached for that tantalising delta at the top of her thighs again, drawing the sweetest of moans from her soft lips. “You’ll get used to my touching you here, Beth, because I intend to touch you a lot. I’ll teach you to control your orgasms so that they serve my pleasure alone.
“And so there are no surprises in the future, I also intend to teach you to take my cock here.” With his fingertip he carefully stroked over her anus. From her reaction Alex guessed that he might be venturing into unexplored territory. “Don’t be afraid, Beth; I promise—I’ll only ever give you pleasure.”
His hand massaged her belly, savouring its soft curves. Any man who preferred skinny women with no breasts had to be out of his ever-loving mind, not when there were women like Beth around.
“Do you know how arousing it is to have a woman with a figure like yours? You have beautiful breasts.” He flicked his finger across her nipple, felt his body quicken at the way hers jerked in response, and then he pinched the bud between his thumb and forefinger, rolling the little nub of flesh, and watching the areola pucker in response. Jewelled clamps, he thought. She would look exquisite. He spread his hand, cupping her breast and squeezing it so that she arched off the bed. With her head thrown back, the temporary collar grabbed his attention.
His mark of ownership—just the sight of it was enough to stir feelings that he’d long since thought dead and gone. Primitive needs boiled in his blood. In one smooth movement, he stood and shed his jeans. From the nightstand drawer, he withdrew a foil packet and tossed it onto the bed where it would be within easy reach, and when he freed her wrists from the cuffs he used his own hands to pin hers to the pillows over her head.
He looked into Beth’s eyes, searching their emerald beauty for the secrets and shadows in her soul—he saw only honesty, gentleness and a little apprehension before she averted her gaze before her Dom.
He loved her. Dear God above, he loved her. Alex closed his eyes, letting the emotion wrap itself around him, flood every last part of his being. The fire of it consumed him. He’d wanted her forever, but loving her? When had that happened? When had she stopped simply being his assistant and become the woman he loved? It felt as if it had always been that way.
Alex went very still. It felt as if it had always been that way simply because it had always been that way, hidden away under the layers of fear and self-deception that had been his way of life for so long. He’d started to love Beth the day she started working for him. For an allegedly intelligent man, he’d been spectacularly dim-witted. And afraid.
He released his hold on her wrists.
“Keep your hands where they are, Beth.” His voice was steadier than he could have hoped for, in the circumstances. “I’m going to touch you, every part of you. While I touch you, I want you to lie perfectly still. You will make no sound, unless you need to use a safe word. Nod if you understand. Good—now close your eyes.”
He began with the touch of two fingers, laying the back of the index and middle fingers of his left hand on her chest, over her breastbone—she quivered for a heartbeat and then quietened again.
His fingers resumed their journey, moving through the scented valley between her breasts, rising and falling with each measured breath she took. He paused there, close to her heart, taking in her calmness and serenity—attributes that reached out to soothe the darkest, most tormented parts of his soul, the way they always had, right from the start, when she first became special to him.
I wish I’d realised how special.
She gasped when he captured her nipple in his mouth, holding it lightly between his teeth while his tongue teased the sensitive flesh. That gasp set his achingly hard shaft twitching to bury itself in her sweetness. Not yet. He wanted to savour her body as he would a fine wine, before he took her, slowly and deliberately…before his cock slid deeply into her slick, tight pussy and made her fully his.
His hands curved possessively around her breasts, gently measuring and squeezing their softness. In spite of his command for her to lie still, she arched into his touch. To have her respond so willingly to his touch…it was more than he could have hoped for. Way more than he deserved.
“Beth.” He growled her name. “What did I tell you? If you disobey me again, you won’t be sharing this bed with me tonight.” It was an empty threat he had absolutely no intention of carrying out.
Tremors rippled through her body as she strove to regain control, teeth biting down hard on her lower lip.
“Don’t do that, sweetheart, you’ll hurt yourself.” He pressed his thumb to her mouth, framing her cheek with his palm and fingers.
A man less observant than Alex would have missed the way she pursed her lips to place a tiny whisper of a kiss to the pad of his thumb. If he hadn’t already been in love with her, he would have fallen for her in that moment. The emotion sang through his veins.
His tactile investigation of her body continued—her ribcage, her navel, her belly and hips, all soft skin and alluring curves. She was a delight to explore; each movement of his fingers elicited the tiniest shiver of reaction, over which she had no control. When he dipped his fingertip in her navel, her belly trembled.
“My sweet, sweet Beth,” he began, his finger tracing a pattern over her abdomen. “What am I going to do with you? Let me think…”
His touch was sending her to heaven.
Beth’s sense of self-consciousness had gone off the scale when Alex shackled her to the bed. She’d felt silly and vulnerable, and after the spanking, she could add confused to the list. Part of her mind had told her that she shouldn’t like or want this, yet something stronger and more primal, something that dwelled deep inside her, had soared towards freedom the first time his hand dealt out the discipline she craved. It was that primitive hunger that had compelled her to ask for more. What she had received was more than she could have imagined.
It was easier with her eyes closed, and with Alex talking to her. She was able to give herself up to the sheer joy of knowing that she was pleasing him. His voice was hypnotic, leading her to a place she’d never been before, where all that existed was the sound of his words, the touch of his hand, and the way her body was responding to both.
When her Dom’s attention returned to her pussy, Beth felt her legs go weak again. His hand was less gentle this time, more demanding; it was so hard not to writhe with the bliss he was bestowing upon her, but she couldn’t move, she couldn’t cry out, and she wasn’t even aware of the tears that began to run down her cheeks.
And then his hand was gone, leaving her with emptiness and a raging hunger radiating from
her core like a supernova.
“Open your eyes, Beth. Look at me.”
The command was compelling. Even so, she was hesitant to look at Alex for fear of what she might see. What she did see was a man gazing down at her with desire of such intensity that it stopped her ability to breathe. His touch on her cheek was gentle as he wiped away her tears. “If you’re ready to stop, use your safe word.”
She shook her head. “No, Alex.” Her eyes connected with his. “Green.”
Was that relief she saw on his face? “Then it’s time. I’m going to take you, Beth. You have you permission to speak—use it wisely—but you are not yet allowed to come. You may move your arms, but your legs remain bound. I want you open and available.”
She watched him position himself between her legs, a dark, primitive force kneeling over her. This wasn’t the civilised man who worked all the hours God sent—this was a raw male animal who wanted her as badly as she wanted him. She ached for him.
If he’d been handsome in formal attire at the restaurant last night, he was devastatingly masculine wearing nothing but a formidable erection. She devoured the sight of his broad shoulders; the sculpted, muscular chest above rock-hard abs; the carved obliques that begged to be caressed; the strong arms, powerful thighs—and the long, thick cock she desperately wanted inside her. She longed for him to fill her hard and fast.
Alex reached for the condom, ripped the pack open and rolled the sheath onto his rigid shaft. Then his hands were on her hips, sliding under her back to support her while he lifted her to straddle his hips. She held onto him as if he were the only fixed point in the universe. His arms tightened around her, and between them lay the solid length of his rock-hard cock. Beth wanted to rub herself against him like a cat in heat. Her hips pushed urgently against him and –
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