by Jamie Craig
It felt like her ears were red from the heat rising in her face. "How much you like being helpless. The pain. The biting, which I knew actually, but hearing him describe it was...not the same as what I thought." She took a deep breath, trying to steady her suddenly racing heart. "And he showed me what he keeps in that cabinet in his interrogation room. The chains and the whips and the knives. That's what we were doing before we came in here."
Jesse's eyes widened. "He didn't leave any room for surprise, did he? And you are okay with all of that?"
"He wanted me to know exactly what coming to you would mean. What I would be getting myself into. He said..." Emma struggled to remember Gideon's exact words. "He said you had too much room for love in you, and that if I got scared after telling you how I feel and took off, having that ripped away would destroy you. So I had to be sure."
"We'll have to show Gideon how much we appreciate his intervention," Jesse said, rolling over to cover his body with hers. "Later. After I show you what it means to me that you came here."
His hard cock nudged against her hip, and Emma smiled as she lifted her arms around Jesse's neck. "We're supposed to be talking. That's what Gideon said."
"He did." Jesse kissed her softly. "We talked." He kissed her neck. "Gideon also said I get to lick you clean."
Her lashes fluttered shut as he sucked gently at the pulse point in her throat. "Should I put the walls back up?" she asked, her voice breathless.
"Only if you want to," Jesse said, trailing his mouth down her throat. When he reached her chest, he looked up at her. "Do what makes you comfortable."
She stroked his cheek, knowing at the flare of his nostrils that he'd felt her love. "I want to try it like this, this time. I've never been open during sex with someone I cared about before."
"So are you saying you were never open during sex with Ethan, or you never cared about him?" Jesse grimaced. "Wait. I shouldn't have asked. It doesn't matter."
"Ethan said it would be too overwhelming for me if we were open like that," Emma said. "But I think he was wrong." Slipping a leg out from beneath him, she coiled it around the back of his thigh. "And anyway, you're right. It doesn't matter. What matters is where I am now, and aren't you supposed to be licking me clean?"
"Yes, I am."
Jesse moved down her body, trailing his mouth over her chest and stomach. He slid his tongue along her swollen lips, and teased her clit until her hips jerked forward. Looking up, he added, "If there's anything else I'm supposed to do, just let me know. It's been awhile since..."
His worry was starting to bleed through the connection between them, and though her heart was pounding and her thighs quivering in anticipation, Emma propped herself up on her elbows in order to look down at him.
"But I thought...Gideon said...if it's been that long, are you sure this is what you want?"
"Am I sure this is what I want?" Jesse gripped her thighs, his fingers curling into her flesh, before dipping his head again and brushing his tongue over her clit. She hissed sharply and he moved lower, gliding down her flesh to her passage. He plunged his tongue into her without further hesitation, rolling it as if to gather every drop of Gideon's come. She buried her fingers in his hair, but he lifted his head again. "What do you think?"
"I think I'm talking too much," she panted. "Don't stop. God, please don't stop."
His mouth slanted as he rubbed his rough cheek against her inner thigh. Without breaking eye contact, he flicked the tip of his tongue across her clit again, and when she bucked, his arm came up to clamp across her waist, pinning her down.
Jesse pulled her clit between his lips, holding it in place as he applied more and more pressure with his tongue. He alternately sucked and licked the swollen flesh, and each time she tried to lift her hips off the bed, he pushed back, using surprising strength to hold her down. He seemed to know exactly how to lick her, how to touch her, knew exactly how to leave her gasping and pleading for more. Just when she thought he was going to push her over the edge, he stopped, releasing her clit to move his mouth down her pussy.
"I don't think you're completely clean yet," he murmured, before spreading her lips to push his tongue into her hole.
A shudder ran through her as his stubble scraped across her sensitive inner lips. Unable to move the lower half of the body, Emma settled instead for stretching her arms above her head, grasping the rails of the headboard and holding on as tightly as she could. It pulled her breasts taut and made it easier to keep still, to keep from trying to fight him as he pushed deeper and deeper into her pussy. There was one stroke, which made her gasp. And then another, which made her burn. And then more, tumbling together until her moans were continuous, her flesh trembling with every touch and all she needed was that last little push to make it all explode.
It came when he suddenly bit her clit.
The sharp pain ripped the scream out of her, her back bowing away from the bed as her body spasmed from the force of her orgasm. Emma tilted her head back, desperate to breathe, desperate to make it last, but all too soon, it was fading, leaving her limp and boneless against the pillows.
Jesse stretched out beside her and claimed her mouth in a hard kiss while she was still gasping for breath. When he finally broke the contact, there was a bright glint in his eye. "Shh. We're supposed to be talking in here," he teased. "What's Gideon going to think with you shouting like that?"
"He better not interrupt," she said with a smile. "He promised me alone time with you."
"Hmm, he was in a very generous mood this morning." He cupped her breast, rolling his palm over her nipple. "You seemed to like it a lot when I bit you. Both times. Maybe I'm not the only one who likes a bit of pain?"
"I hadn't thought about it." And she hadn't. She even had to struggle to remember what the second time Jesse was referring to was. "I wouldn't have thought so, considering everything I've seen and felt. But when you were doing that, when Gideon was...I just knew I wanted it harder."
"Don't be shy about telling us what you want," Jesse said, wrapping his arm around her and flipping onto his back, pulling her with him. He smoothed his hands down her back and cupped her ass, his cock sliding against her thigh. "Are you...do I need to see if I have a condom in my wallet?"
For some reason, the question amused her, and Emma had to bite back her giggle. "Would it even still be good if you did?" she teased.
Jesse snorted. "No. I haven't had to worry about that in a long time."
She traced the line of his brow, her smile softening. "I've been on the pill since I was eighteen and could get my own prescriptions. I was never going to risk having a kid who might be unlucky enough to inherit my abilities. So no worries."
"Oh, good." He shifted beneath her, and his erection nudged her pussy. He hesitated, lifting his head to kiss her, his tongue gently probing her mouth as he guided her onto his cock. He moved into her slowly, almost hesitantly, his mouth never leaving hers. Once he was fully sheathed, he broke the kiss with a sharp gasp. The pleasure she was absorbing from him was undeniable, but it was accompanied by almost as much surprise, even shock.
"What's wrong?" Emma stilled, trying to sort through the emotions to figure out which was the most prevalent. Searching his bright eyes didn't help, and she slowly began to rock, hoping to ease whatever was rocketing through him.
Jesse shook his head quickly. "Nothing." His fingers dug into her ass, holding her closer to him. "Oh, God...nothing. Jesus...Emma...don't stop. Nothing's wrong."
She took him at his word, leaning back down to cover his mouth with her own. His response was instantaneous, a groan in the back of his throat, the tightening of his hands, and it encouraged Emma to lengthen the languorous strokes. I love you, she thought, over and over again, channeling the sentiment instead of saying it. She didn't want to abandon the kisses. It had taken too long to finally get them.
Jesse apparently didn't want to abandon the kisses either, because he didn't make an effort to pull away. Even when she needed t
o break for a breath, he didn't seem to want to let her go. He responded to each loving thought with one of his own, broadcasting his own strong feelings with each thrust, each beat of his heart, each exhale. He kept one hand on her ass, and the other moved up and down her spine, caressing her ribs, brushing against her upper thighs.
The sweat that had cooled while they'd talked returned to the surface of their skin, slicking their strokes until her nipples tingled from where they rubbed against his chest. Remembering how he'd reacted when she'd kissed his neck, Emma trailed her fingers up his arm and over his shoulder, finding the raised scars and lightly scratching her nails over them.
Jesse stiffened beneath her, his head dropping back. She scratched harder, prompting a shudder from him. He broke his kiss, resting his brow against hers and gasping for breath. "Emma...Emma..." Jesse thrust his hips forward, burying himself inside of her completely, and a warm blanket of bliss enveloped her as his cock jerked against her slick walls. But the bliss was almost immediately marred by an edge of embarrassment.
"What're you embarrassed about?"
The question popped out before she could stop it, because it was probably one of the most perplexing reactions she would have expected after everything. It was only after it was already hanging between them that it dawned on her what might be bothering him.
"Hey," she murmured, leaning down to rain soft kisses along his face--over his chin, along his jaw, outlining his brow. "Stop that. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. That was wonderful."
Jesse relaxed under the assault of her mouth. "I think Gideon has given me unreasonable expectations."
Emma smiled. "Those pesky vampire constitutions."
"Yeah, but I generally can't complain." He gave her a lop-sided grin. "On the plus side, I've been conditioned for the past year to keep up with him."
Pushing herself up, she looked at Jesse more closely, noting the laugh lines at the corner of his eyes, the angular planes of his features that made her want to run her tongue over each and every surface. "And you still want me?" she asked softly. "I know you said you could never be disappointed, but I must seem awfully boring compared to having Gideon as a lover. Some of the things he does to you, I don't think I could ever hurt you like that. And I've never even heard of some of the words he used."
She expected him to laugh, but he regarded her seriously. "Yes, I still want you. I love you. I'm sure Gideon stressed all of the things we do that's out of the ordinary. But it's not like that all of the time. Sometimes, I need to be...tied up, at his mercy, and sometimes he needs to tie me up. But sometimes, the big bad vampire doesn't want to do anything except cuddle." His lips thinned and he paused, almost visibly collecting his thoughts. "It's the way we express ourselves to each other, Emma. And the way you and I express ourselves...or the three of us together...or even you and Gideon together...it's going to be different, but that doesn't mean it's going to be better or worse."
There were moments even now, even after being privy to his most private feelings, after spending so much time with him, that Jesse found a way to erase the slate, to make her forget about everything she'd learned about him and stun her with the power of his intelligence, or his acuity, or his compassion. It was one of the things she loved most about him. It was one of the things that had nurtured what she'd considered just a crush for so many months. It was why it had flourished.
"Do you know why I never told you how I felt?" When he shook his head, she glanced at the bite marks. "Because I knew how you and Gideon felt about each other. What I saw was so devoted, so whole already, that I couldn't imagine there ever being a place for me in it. I didn't want a place in it, because I didn't want to ruin what you had. I needed for you two to be happy more than I needed anything else, which..." She snorted. "...is part of the argument Gideon used on me to get me here." Emma eased off and rolled to the side, flopping onto her back to stare up at the ceiling. "I never even thought about the possibility of creating something new. It just didn't seem possible."
"I know what you mean," Jesse murmured. "I think I thought if I loved you, it would necessarily be taking away from my feelings for Gideon. But it didn't." He rolled to his side, propping himself up on his elbow. "I'm glad you're willing to create something new."
She cast him a crooked smile. "So what's the reward system around here like? Because I've seen the punishment one, and I think this is the talking Gideon wanted us to do."
"Well, in a lot of ways, this is the reward system. Anything you want, anything that'll make you happy. If it's in his power, he'll do it. He may be a big fan of delayed gratification, but the gratification is always worth it."
"And are you gratified yet?"
Jesse smiled. "Not at all."
His cock was soft against her thigh, but Emma reached down anyway and stroked the sticky skin. "Please tell me we're going to do something about that."
"I think we can," Jesse said. "I've been told that I'm resourceful." He took her wrist and held it above her head, then bent to trace a path around one tight nipple. "Would you like to get a taste of some of the things Gideon told you about?"
A shiver ran through her. She had known the subject would probably get broached at one point, and she had been wondering what she would say. Though pleasurable and satisfying, her sexual experiences to this point had definitely been limiting; the most adventurous Ethan had ever gotten was letting her be on top, and the occasional fuck from college before she'd sworn off physical contact if she could avoid it were so fleeting in her memory as to be nonexistent. Other circumstances or another man might have made her automatically say no. This was Jesse. She trusted him with her life.
"All right," she replied. Her voice sounded breathless, and she realized her heart was pounding again. Nervousness? Anticipation? Excitement? Emma wasn't sure which it was.
Jesse didn't seem to have the same doubts, and with a sly smile, he pulled her arm even further away, angling it toward the corner of the bed. Emma turned her head in time to see him slip the heavy cuff around her slim wrist, and her mouth went dry. By the time he had bound her ankles and other wrist, her heart was lodged somewhere in her throat, and her skin was scorching to the touch. Each slight movement of air across her tight nipples or between her legs was enough to send a fresh tremor through her body, but she concentrated on where Jesse stood at the foot of the bed, using his familiarity and the love pouring off him to keep focused.
"What now?" she breathed.
"Now..." He pulled a dresser drawer open and rummaged around until he found what he was looking for. He held it up for her to study. It was a short flogger with a dozen or more strands. She had never let anybody touch her with a whip, but this looked almost child-like compared to some of the things Gideon kept upstairs. He sat on the edge of the bed and dragged the tip of the strands up her leg and over her thigh. "Does this make you nervous?"
The sight had caused a momentary twinge of panic, but the soft leather strands brushing over her skin made her feel silly about it. Emma shook her head, relaxing more into the mattress. "It kind of tickles."
"It does." He rotated his wrist, twirling the strands above her stomach. The tips brushed and circled her belly button. He moved higher and did the same to her nipple. There was just enough contact to make her shiver before he pulled away. "Gideon can get me quivering and begging with this, without ever actually hitting me."
"Begging for what? To come?"
"Sometimes." Jesse's hand never stopped moving. "Sometimes I just want him to use it properly and stop teasing me." He dragged the soft leather over her face and down her neck.
Without thinking, Emma tilted her head back, allowing Jesse more room to graze over her skin with the flogger. Her jaw trembled as he drew it back up again, and her lips parted to let the soft exhalation escape. She kept expecting it to hurt, or maybe sting, or really anything other than these light caresses, but none of it ever came. If she closed her eyes, it might as well have been a dozen fingers exploring her skin
.
Jesse straddled her thighs, his cock still soft against her mound, his weight resting on his knees. He brushed the whip over her breast, his fingers gliding over the other nipple. The leather distracted her from his hand as he massaged and caressed her. She gasped as sudden, brief pain flared through her as he squeezed the tip of her nipple between his finger and thumb.
"Do you do this to Gideon?" Emma asked, desperate for something else to focus on, something that would combat the raging sensations threatening to overwhelm her. "He didn't say. He just said--" The sudden slap of the leather, harder than before, across her other breast made her arch away from the bed, her wet pussy grinding into Jesse's thighs as he pushed her back down.
"No, never," Jesse said, bending to soothe the sting of the whip with his tongue. He licked her until a very different sensation spread through her chest, then sat back up, leaving her pink skin glistening. A quick jerk of his wrist brought the leather down again on her aching nipple. Before she could cry out, he was bent double once again to pull her flesh between his lips.
She wanted to curl her fingers into his hair and hold his head there while his tongue and teeth turned her flesh to flame. She wanted to lift her legs and wrap them around his hips, ride him until he was hard again and then have him bury his cock in her. Emma wanted a lot of things right at that moment, and not one of them was within her reach because of the cuffs that bound her to the bed.
"Let me go, Jess," she pleaded. She pulled at the cuffs though all that accomplished was to have them chafe against her wrists. "I need to touch you."
He gave her a distracted smile. "It's maddening, isn't it? That need to touch, to do more than touch. You don't even know how much you want it until you realize asking, even begging, isn't going to do any good."
There was a bright gleam in his eye that sent a shiver of anticipation down her spine. "But...you said you don't do this to Gideon. Which doesn't make sense. Those things I heard you say to him last winter, about what you wanted to--"
