Just like he did the first breast, Keys licked her nipple. He sucked it into his mouth, then twirled his tongue around it. With him licking and sucking her nipple, Eminence forgot about the clothespin dangling from her other nipple. Maybe Keys planned it that way.
Keys pulled back from her and attached a clothespin to her other nipple. Eminence couldn’t help herself. She peered down and saw the two pins dangling from her nipples. It didn’t take long for them to start to feel numb. She didn’t feel that much discomfort or pain. The dull sensation allowed her to think about why she did this. Why had she dared Keys to do this to her?
Maybe she wanted to see if she had been this accommodating back in high school. If Keys had approached her with clothespins back then, would she had run for the hills from him or been like Jordie and tried something new?
Keys lowered himself to his knees in front of her. “Spread your legs apart.”
Eminence took a step to the side.
“Wider.”
She tried stepping out further but had a fear of slipping on the hardwood floor.
“Let’s do this.” Keys stood and picked up Eminence. He carried her to the bed and sat her on the side. “Now spread your legs. Lie back.”
As she reclined, she opened her legs to him. She felt him sliding his fingers up and down her nether lips. As soon as she felt his tongue licking her clit, Eminence sat up.
“Lie back. Don’t make me punish you.” Keys’s deep voice rumbled over her until Eminence felt bowled over.
She reclined back again as he continued laving her labia. Just like with her nipples, she felt a slight pinch to each side. Again, she sucked air between her gritted teeth.
God, Keys knew how to push her body. With four clothespins affixed to her body, Eminence couldn’t concentrate on one sensation. Whenever she thought about her nipples, her clit would throb from the clothespins affixed to her intimate lips.
She heard the floor squeezing and Keys moving away from her. Still keeping her eyes closed, she heard him padding back to her.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
“Yellow.” Eminence could take this treatment, but it definitely pushed her.
She heard something that sounded like a wrapper being ripped open. In a beat after that, she felt something brushing over her body before she felt a hard smack against her pussy. Eminence cursed and gripped the comforter. The connection allowed her to not think about her nipples. Now her full concentration went to the whipping sensation and the clips still pinned to her lower region.
Tank continued flogging her clit and thighs, only stopping for a moment to release one of the clothespins.
“Shit!” Prickly needle-like sensations stung her nipple. Eminence wanted to touch it but stopped, waiting to hear Keys’s next command.
Keys removed the other clothespin from the other nipple, giving Eminence another stinging sensation. She longed to have Keys mouth on her now. The flogging to her pussy continued.
Beyond her expectation, Eminence’s belly tightened. Her clitoris continued throbbing as the flogging continued. Her body shook. She curved her feet around Keys’s legs.
“You want to come?” Keys asked.
Eminence nodded.
“Talk to me.”
The command in his voice forced Eminence to obey. “Yes, Sir!”
Keeping her eyes closed, she heard something hard drop to the floor. Then she felt Keys’s body between her thighs.
Keys gripped her hips and pulled her more to the edge of the bed. In a flash, he removed both clothespins from her pussy just before he plunged himself inside.
“Yes!” Eminence opened her eyes, sat up, and wrapped her arms around Keys’s shoulders.
She buried her face into the side of his neck as he pumped himself in and out of her. Eminence clawed his back as the climax lingered longer than she’d ever felt. Maybe it seemed that way because the stinging feeling that overtook her body continued sparking her sensitive flesh.
Keys stood and placed her back on the bed. With him on top of her body, Keys stared into her eyes. He slowed down his thrusting to concentrate on her.
“Feels so good.” Keys nodded.
One hand cupped her sensitive breast and the other cradled her ass. Keys had her captured, and Eminence loved it. She moved her hand up to the back of his head and pressed her lips against his.
She thought having sex in a cramped closet would have made her feel close to Keys. Knowing his secret, having him discipline her, and now making love, Eminence felt one with him. She didn’t know what went through Keys’s mind. She hoped the same thing. Considering they made a deal, she wondered if he would still let her go. Would she still leave?
Keys turned over so that he had Eminence positioned on top. “Do it, baby. Give it to me.”
Eminence swayed her body back and forth, slow at first to enjoy the feeling of feeling Keys inside of her, filling her. She rested her hands on his massive chest as she rode him.
“Open your eyes. Look at me.” Keys grabbed her hips.
Eminence opened her eyes and connected her stare to his. As soon as she did that, she moved her body faster.
“Easy. I’m not going anywhere.” Keys held onto her hips, but that didn’t matter.
Eminence kept her body moving, sliding him in and out of her slick channel until the orgasm built inside could no longer be contained. She pinched his nipples just as she came hard.
“I am going to have to teach you about orgasm control.” Keys pulled her down to the mattress, eased out of her, and brought her up to her hands and knees. Then he moved in behind her. “Until then, we’ll just enjoy each other.”
Keys slammed himself inside, and the feeling nearly broke Eminence. As he held onto her hips, he made hard, even thrusts. The man fucked like a god. She didn’t want any of this to stop. It seemed with Keys’s stamina, that he didn’t want it to end either.
After a while, Keys finally grunted as he came. With his orgasm, he gave Eminence a hard spank to her ass.
Looking over her shoulder, Eminence said, “What was that for?”
“Did you like it?” Sweat poured down Keys’s body.
Although she tried looking hard, Eminence smiled. “Yes, Sir.” She nearly purred the response.
“That’s why I did it.”
Eminence wanted more from Keys and this new side. She just didn’t know if he would want the same thing.
Chapter Twelve
Tank kept his arms around Eminence as they lay in bed. He didn’t want to ruin the moment. He’d revealed a big part of himself and she didn’t run. That meant a lot to him.
“Does it freak you out that I’m a Dom?” Tank ran his fingertips over her arm.
“Yes. I can’t lie.” Eminence put her hand on his chest.
“Why would it bother you? I would always protect you. I would never intentionally hurt you. I guarantee you that it would always feel good.” He kissed her forehead.
That last promise he could only keep if she stayed with him. Since they made that stupid promise to part ways after tonight, he would have to make the most of it.
“You being a Dom isn’t the problem. It’s what me being you that concerns me. If you’re a Dom, what would that make me?” She curved her body next to his.
“Mine. It would make you mine.” Tank hugged her harder.
“No, I don’t mean that. You talked about submissives and slaves. Would I be a—”
“Submissive,” Tank said, cutting her off.
“What does that mean?”
“You have just as much power as your Dom.” Tank had almost said that she would have as much power as him, but he hadn’t established what she’d planned yet. “With safe words, you control what’s done. You want play to continue, you would say ‘green.’ If you want it to stop, you would say ‘red.’ Your Dom though would decide if you would play at all.”
He felt Eminence nodding. “Sounds good.”
“So, this new job. Is it still here in Virgin
ia Beach?” Tank had to get his mind off something else and see what she had planned.
“No, it’ll be in Maryland close to D.C.”
Tank jerked up and held Eminence’s shoulders. Blood pumped through his body. “You should definitely go for that job.”
“What? Why? It’s crazy. I won’t know anyone there. I would be leaving everyone here. It’s risky.”
Tank smiled before he let her know that he would be living up in that area, too. They could be together if she wanted to make this relationship work. “Take the risk.”
Just as Tank started to tell her the reason for her going for the job, Eminence stopped him with a statement of her own. “Yeah, says the man who’s moving and has no direction in life.” She laughed, but he found nothing funny in her proclamation.
The smile slipped down Tank’s face. “There you go again. You’re making assumptions. I think what it comes down to is the fact that, as usual, Eminence Dutton can’t commit to anything.”
She moved back away from him. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Tank jumped to his feet. “All of this time, I thought you didn’t trust me. I think you didn’t trust yourself.” He slipped on his underwear and continued standing across the room from her. “You always had an out plan when it came to me.”
“That’s ridiculous.” She pounded her hand on the mattress.
“It’s all so clear now. Every conversation we had, it was about what I needed to do in order for you not to leave me.”
Eminence’s bottom jaw unhinged. “That’s a lie!”
Tank changed his voice to something whiney. “Keys, have you picked a college? If you don’t go to college, we’re going to have to break up.” Tank folded his arms over his chest. “Keys, do you know what you want to do with your life? If you don’t, I can’t be with a man with no direction.”
She blinked, then chewed on her lower lip.
“Then when you found me hugging our friend, you got your easy-out pass, and you were gone. You didn’t want to hear the truth or even try repairing our relationship, which was not even broken.” He stormed toward her as she was started to look smaller and smaller on his bed. “So tell me. Did you care about me at all or was I just some experience for you to have so that you could continue to have your own pity party?”
Without a word, Eminence scooted to the edge of the bed while keeping her body covered.
“Nothing to say?” Tank goaded. “I’ve opened myself up to you, lady. Give me something.”
“You’re wrong about me. I wasn’t looking to push you away. I was looking to make you better.” She tightened the sheet around her body. “I think all great relationships should make the people in the couple better. I’ve told you that before and I told that to—uh, never mind.”
Tank cocked his head. “Told that to who?”
She stood. “I think I should be going.”
As he regarded her, the pieces started to fall together. “You’re in a relationship now, aren’t you?”
With her back to him, he watched her shoulders lower, but she wouldn’t look at him.
“Holy shit. Here you are, Miss High-and-Mighty, accusing me of sleeping with your best friend for years, and you’re cheating on your boyfriend with me. Unbelievable. Guess the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, right?”
Silence. Eminence didn’t even move for a moment. She waited a beat before she finally dropped the sheet and picked up her clothes.
Tank remained quiet as she got dressed. When she headed to the bedroom door, she stopped and turned back to him.
“Oh, no. I know your trick now.” Tank wagged his finger at her. “You’re expecting me to stop you like I’ve done most of my life and like I had been doing all night. Damn it, Eminence! I love you. I always have, and I always will. I would have done anything for you and Jordyna. I never asked you for anything. And the one thing I wanted from you was the one thing you could never give me: trust. You never trusted that I could be something more than a stupid jock. You didn’t trust that I would be okay even without a college education. And you didn’t trust me when I told you that nothing happened between me and Jordyna.” He approached her. “I hate to disappoint you, but I’ve started my own security company. I’ll be leaving—” he glanced at his watch, “—in three days for Washington, D.C. where my office will be based. So you can stop feeling sorry for poor Keys Tanksley.”
“Congratulations,” she said almost in a defeated tone. “I wish you lots of success.”
“Yeah, good luck with that relationship. I’m sure you two will have lots to talk about.” He held the bedroom door open for her. “You want me to drive you home?”
She shook her head. “I’ll be fine.”
Before he could say anything else, Eminence ran downstairs. After a few seconds, he heard his front door slam.
“Shit!” With one swing, he punched a box off of a pile of boxes to the floor.
Contents from the opened box tumbled onto the hardwood floor. The item that rolled to his feet kept him cemented in his spot. The ring.
Why the hell had he kept that damn ring he’d bought for Eminence back when he was in high school? He knew back then that she wouldn’t have married him, and from the way she slinked out of his life just now, he had no future with her, especially after figuring out that she had a boyfriend. Knowing that hurt him the most. Without trust and honesty, they could have nothing between them.
Chapter Thirteen
Sitting at the bottom of the tub under the streaming showerhead helped Eminence. She couldn’t discern if the water droplets going down her face came from the water or had been her tears.
After Keys’s angry tongue-lashing, she understood how he must have felt all of those years when she’d accused him of being unfaithful. She should have told him about Les. Sleeping with him or not, it didn’t matter. Eminence had a committed relationship with Les. Although she had plans to break up with him, she hadn’t yet. Until that happened, she knew she shouldn’t have slept with Keys. Now her heart suffered.
“Oh, God!” She crumbled into a heavy sob.
Through her cries and the overpowering sounds from the shower, she heard her phone ringing. The sound forced her to finally confront herself. Eminence turned off the shower and stood.
After the fourth ring, her answering machine engaged. Eminence dried herself and had planned on tuning out whoever would speak when a voice caught her attention.
“Eminence, it’s me. Well, you know me.” A nervous giggle then a trademark snort had her stopping in her motion as though Les stood before her and could see right through her. “I know you had plans to come over to the library for lunch to see me. Just be sure to come here after twelve. Um, I’ll be busy up to that point. Okay, so I’ll see you later. Um, bye.”
No, Eminence had some things to get off her chest, mainly her infidelity.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Keys’s words cut her to the core, but he had been right. She fell right into the same pattern as her father, only she hadn’t been caught. Her own admission revealed her dishonesty.
Eminence had to get dressed. She had a couple of stops to make. First one had to be with Les. She had to tell him about Keys. Then she had to be honest and tell him what she should have told him weeks ago. Their relationship had been a mistake. Although she cared for him deeply, she would never love him, not the way she loved Keys.
Even if Keys never spoke to her again and breaking up with Les meant she would be alone, Eminence could live with that. Having integrity meant more to her than getting her man. It took a good wake-up call like this to remind her of that.
An hour later and dressed in jeans, flats, and a plain, white t-shirt, Eminence bounded up the stairs to the Main Street Library. She trotted to the main desk where Les normally sat. Instead she found a young woman looking bored and busying herself by texting.
“I’m looking for Les.” The underlying meaning behind her statement gave Eminence a gentle reminder th
at Les the Librarian would never be able to fulfill her needs. She needed more. She had Les. “Is he here?”
The young girl, who never broke her gaze from her electronic device, tilted her head towards the reference section. Make-out section was what she and her friends used to call it. No one went to that darkened area of the library unless you wanted to have some alone time with a special someone.
As she got closer to the stacks, Eminence suspected that other people were using the area for the same purposes. She heard a moan and some serious lip action. She smiled. At least someone got their priorities right.
Eminence rounded the corner and saw the back of her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend, only Les wasn’t alone. Judging from the hands that went up her man’s back to the back of his neck, looked like Les cheated on Eminence with a white woman. Not that she had the right to say anything. The sting of his betrayal hurt. At least the breakup wouldn’t be as difficult as she thought it would be.
Eminence cleared her throat, which got Les’ attention, apparent from the way he straightened up and stiffened his back. When he turned around, Eminence had to fight hard not to look overly shocked at who her man had just been swapping spit with moments ago.
“I told you not to come here until after twelve.” Les glanced at his watch. “It’s only ten.”
“Is this her?”
Eminence stared at the slight, delicate, and annoyingly cute young man with shaggy brown hair and a set of green eyes that looked like he’d plucked them out of a kewpie doll’s head.
“I couldn’t wait.” She volleyed her attention between Les and the lover who hid behind him. “There’s something I needed to tell you.”
Les held up his hand. “I know what you’re going to say. I don’t want to talk about your career anymore. I’m sick and tired of hearing about it, and, quite frankly, I get the impression that you don’t want to talk about it either.”
Eminence bit the inside of her cheek. As much as she wanted to argue with Les about that point, he had nailed it on the head. Considering she just caught him cheating on her with another man, her potential promotion shouldn’t have even registered as something to discuss.
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