by Lila Munro
“Anything new I should know about?” Simon asked, holding out one hand palm side up.
“I don’t think so,” she said, laying her left wrist in the hollow of his hand, a wave of tension unfurling and immediately easing out of her. “Nothing permanent, nothing I might have to explain at medical or to my command.”
“I understand. I won’t ask for penetration since I know Connor’s in the house, but I will make sure you’re well and thoroughly taken care of, darlin’.”
“Thank you, Simon,” she said, the effects of turning loose already washing over her.
“You’re most welcome,” he said, snapping the cuffs together then attaching them to the hook at the end of the chain before adjusting the height until Jodi stood on tiptoes, stretched out, taut. “And as always, it’s my pleasure. I’ve always adored this side of you.” Simon lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. “You’re safe with me, Jodi. You can let go now.”
He ran his fingertips over her forehead and down her cheeks, further over the swell of her breasts, stopping to cup them, feeling their weight. His palms skimmed her sides and a bit at a time, Jodi started to fall into a lull. A decadent, delicious place where she knew she didn’t have to worry about the numbers game, if her troops were getting where they were supposed to on time and in one piece, deciphering the chatter on the wires, or when the next time Connor would crop up, needing her but never fully taking, or giving for that matter. As her thoughts began to drift and her breathing found a regular pace, Simon came to stand behind her, administering the same treatment with his hands to her back as he had her front, only stopping when he reached her ass. There he began a rhythm of kneading and rubbing, drawing blood to the surface of her already heating flesh.
For a split second, Jodi missed his touch before the smooth wood of his paddle met the same skin he’d been touching. She took a deep breath and relished the moment, the first of many she knew Simon would spend communicating with her through touch and quiet words, coaxing her body to yield, give him everything…over and over and over. Simon was only one of two men in the world who fully understood her threshold and the only one who pushed it to the extent she craved.
“Beautiful,” Simon whispered against the shell of her ear as he rubbed the places his paddle had touched. “I already smell you, Jodi. You’re in true need. Yes?”
“Yes,” she agreed, reaching up to grasp the chain above her head as Simon traded the paddle for the crop.
He feathered the tip of it along her jaw ending at her parted lips where she snaked the tip of her tongue out to caress the worn black leather. Trailing further, he ran the instrument down her belly before drawing back and striking the outside of her right thigh sending a loud leather on leather pop into the air between them. When her nostrils flared, Simon drew closer and ran his fingertips between her legs, dipping into the already drenched space between.
“So eager,” he drawled, bringing his fingers to her lips and spreading her essence across them before pushing them in her mouth, forcing her to suck. “Shameful I can’t fuck that tonight.”
His words drew her deeper and a moan bubbled up and out of her as he withdrew his fingers and stepped behind her again, bringing the crop down on first one ass cheek then the other several times before stopping and assessing his work, his lips caressing the hollow of her back before finding the stinging bite marks left behind.
“Where are you, darlin’?” he asked, squeezing her nape and planting an open mouthed kiss along her collar bone.
“Green,” Jodi breathed, smiling at the first hints of endorphins racing through her.
“That’s good.”
Coming to face her, he peered into her eyes while his fingers once again found her pussy, caressing her ever tightening clit then pinching it. She pressed against him and he obliged by slipping his fingers inside her as his lips found her left nipple, drawing it between his teeth to clip it just enough she groaned. Keeping his mouth on her breast, Simon stroked his fingers along her hypersensitive flesh, joining the motion with his thumb circling her clit.
“Let go for me, Jodi,” he murmured over her puckered nipple. “We have a long way to go.”
With only a few more flicks of his thumb, Jodi arched toward him, starving for what she knew would be the first of many releases.
“Good girl,” he praised as her breath came out in puffy gasps and a trickle of sweat found its way down her temple. “Beautiful.”
While Jodi recovered a bit, Simon retrieved the flogger from the bench and flipped the tassels to and fro a couple of moments before lightly tapping them against the outsides of her legs. He chuckled at her attempt to drag the last of her orgasm out by rubbing her legs together then swatted her tight bare mound ending her self-gratification abruptly. He was right in doing so. Jodi needed to bottom at times, but always struggled to the end with complete surrender. Simon was the only man who stuck with her long enough to see it through. Connor struggled with not only his place in their relationship, but balked at assuming the dominant position when she needed him to take charge.
Breathing once again at leisure, Jodi blinked and watched Simon’s resolve harden as he disappeared behind her and without warning brought the flogger down against her right shoulder and without missing a beat administered the same blow to her left. A dozen singeing strokes later and the heat signaling the onset of stepping off a cliff into another dimension surged through her veins. Her entire body let go starting with her toes and moving upward until she hung nearly limp, arching into Simon’s onslaught, anticipating each blow. Just when her limbs started to disconnect from the rest of her frame, he stopped, bringing her back a fraction, just enough she was aware of his hand prying her legs apart and his fingers opening her folds. This time he sank three fingers in her and with her on the edge of another orgasm, Simon sucked her clit into his mouth and grazed it with his tongue. That was all it took to send her reeling again which only tipped her further into that space inside herself where all was silent.
“Are you still okay?” Simon said directly in her ear.
He sounded far off, but so did she when she answered.
“Yes. I’m good,” she conceded.
He brushed her lips with his own then she heard the unmistakable whir of a short-tail flying by her ear.
Jodi had no concept of time or space when Simon finally unhooked her and helped her sit in a nearby chair wrapped in a light, cotton blanket while he cleaned up the play area and put away all his toys before stuffing her clothes into her duffle. With both their bags slung across his back, he tilted her face until she looked up.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“Yes,” she rasped, her throat raw from screaming through her last two climaxes. “Thirsty and tired.”
“We’ll fix that, darlin’,” he answered, leaning to lift her into his arms. “I’ll take care of you before I see you to bed.”
“I know you will, Simon,” she whispered into his collar a few tears trickling down her cheeks. “Thank you so much. I…”
“I know, Jodi. I know.”
Chapter Three
Slowly coming to the realization of the world around her, Jodi winced and took a breath, acknowledging the hard dick pressing into her lower back. Connor’s dick. She had no idea how or why the man had been naked when Simon had escorted her to her room, applied some salve to her back where he’d barely broken the skin in a couple of places, and tucked her in next to her ex. With a parting kiss, he’d told her for at least the hundredth time he loved her and if there was ever room in her life for him beyond the servicing relationship they shared she only need say the word. Jodi knew, but the reality of it was it would never work between them. She was a dominant leaning switch and Simon was all Dom through and through. She’d never convince him to let her tie him to a spanking bench and blacken his ass. Connor on the other hand…
“I didn’t do that did I?” his gravelly voice mumbled from behind her as his fingertips skimmed the tender flesh of her sho
ulders.
“No, don’t worry yourself with it.” Jodi turned and fell into the comfortable familiarity of Connor’s embrace. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“Simon…” Connor rolled his eyes and flopped to his back.
“Yes, Simon. Answer the question.”
“When did you get here?” he asked, clearly avoiding admitting he needed her as much as she needed him at times.
“Last night. Micah called.”
“Figures. Little asshole. I thought maybe he had enough on his plate with Ani and he’d stay out of my business. Guess I was wrong.”
“Asshole he may be, but he’s your friend and he cares.” Missing the warmth of his contact, Jodi rolled to her feet and went to the closet where she knew she’d find a robe and some slippers. “So, shall we hang out here all weekend or go to your place? I don’t have to leave until Monday noon.”
“What do you want to do?” Connor said, sitting and scrubbing his face with his palms.
“This weekend isn’t about me,” she answered, looking in the mirror which ran the full length of one wall and running her fingers through her disheveled hair.
“Oh Christ, Jodi, why does it always have to be that way? About one or the other, but not both, together? Why the fuck can’t we just compromise for once and agree it’s about us?” Connor groveled, standing and making his way to the adjoining bathroom.
Jodi walked to the door and watched as Connor leaned on one hand against the wall over the toilet. “Because it’s never about us, Connor, and you damn well know it. It’s always about one or the other, mostly you and never fully that. When has it ever been an easy path right up the middle?”
“Never,” he said, shaking the tip of his still partially erect dick before flushing. “Ever wonder what it’d be like?”
“Plenty. So what’s it going to be?” she said, following him back to the bedroom. “Here or your house? I’m hungry and I want to shower and eat. I need to know how to dress and if I should pack back up or settle in here.”
“Settle in,” he grumbled, pulling his jeans on and walking away bare-chested and bare-footed headed for the door.
“Take one step outside this room toward the bar and you’ll come back to find me gone,” she said before slipping back in the bathroom, closing the door, and sinking against the back of it. Why the hell did being involved with Connor Sandoval have to be so damn difficult?
Jodi tossed the robe on the vanity and left the slippers beside the sink then reached in and started the shower. When it was warm enough, she stepped in the frosted glass enclosure and stood directly under the spray, leaning her head against the still cool, red tile.
“I’m sorry.” Connor’s voice caressed the back of her neck as he wrapped his arms around her middle. “I’m glad you came. I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too.” She absorbed his attention for a moment before putting on her Domme mask and turning to face him. “Tell me what you need,” she said sternly, digging deep, knowing he needed her to take charge and allow his mind to go blank for a couple of days. He needed to forget whatever it was he’d not shared with her yet, might not ever share for that matter.
“I need you, Mistress,” he said, falling to his knees and clinging to her middle, water cascading over his closely clipped hair and down his face. “I want you to hurt me until the hurt goes away.”
“Get up,” Jodi instructed. “Go put my bag on the bed then bend over it and wait for me.”
“Yes, Mistress.” Connor stood and left the room still dripping, drawing the door nearly shut behind him.
Taking her time, Jodi washed her hair and finished her shower. When she stepped out, she turned and looked in the mirror as she dried her front. The damage was minimal, but it would have been nice to have her back tended to. Connor was in no condition to think for himself, let alone help her though and asking for something from him just seemed wrong right now. After drying off and pulling her hair back, she clipped it at her nape and donned the robe leaving the bathroom to find him doing exactly as she’d told him. His palms dented the mattress where his weight pressed down, his legs were spread, his balls and dick hanging heavy between them, and her bag sat open at the foot of the bed.
With a heavy breath, Jodi dug through it and retrieved a flogger, a bottle of lube, and a glass dildo. There was never any easing into anything with Connor. When she topped him, he liked it hard and immediate. She laid the items down and for a split second contemplated packing up and leaving. This awkward dance they’d shared together for so long had become old and tedious. Resolving she’d make her feelings known and clearly, and they would reach some sort of agreement before Monday about the way things would be in the future, she steeled herself to finish what she’d started.
“I won’t make you wait,” she said, laying her things within reach. “But, Connor Sandoval, you and I need to talk.”
“I know,” he answered, staying the formality with which they always seemed to fall in and leaning his forehead against the mattress with a heavy sigh.
With Simon it was so much easier. No bullshit, no tiptoeing or playing games. Just two people seeing to their needs, cut and dry. He knew what she needed and delivered. She knew what he needed and delivered. She’d never referred to him in any sort of formal way aside from jokingly and he’d never expected her to.
“Good.” Jodi ran her fingertips across his lower back. “For now just relax. Let whatever happened go and let me take care of you.”
He didn’t make a single sound when she brought the flogger down across his ass as hard as her arm would allow leaving a bright red stripe. Obviously he was in a bad place and it would take a while for him to loosen up and let go. Jodi had her work cut out for her. She drew back and struck him again, marveling at the power which filled her each and every time she took control and commanded another being yield to her, give her all of what they had to give. And that power had never been so great as when she was with Connor.
“Breathe, thumper,” she soothed, swatting the backs of his legs and remembering with a smile the night she’d nicknamed him that. It seemed when he climaxed, his left leg did a little dance all its own. When she came up between his legs and tapped his balls, his dick twitched and a gush of air flew out of him. “Good, baby. Relax. Let it go.”
Falling into an irregular rhythm designed to keep him guessing, Jodi let the sound of leather whispering across his skin take her down with him. His breaths became hers. His pulse directed the actions of her heart. When his arms relaxed and gave way and his forearms touched the mattress she stopped and ran her hands over her handiwork. Crimson crisscrossed his ass, legs, and back while his dick stood hard and throbbing.
“Where are you, thumper?” she asked softly, not wanting to bring him out of his space and enjoying the rush of her own.
“Green,” he breathed after a moment’s thought.
“Good,” she praised as she squirted a healthy dollop of lube onto her fingers. She ran them between his ass cheeks then worked them inside him, his contracting flesh balking at the intrusion then yielding to welcome her. “That’s it, thumper. Let me in.”
She bent and kissed the heated flesh across his hips then blew out slowly and he turned loose, allowing her to breach him, stretching and finding his prostrate. As she massaged the sensitive knot, Connor’s breathing became erratic and his left leg started to jump.
“Not yet, thumper,” she said firmly, withdrawing and picking up the dildo, lubricating it well before easing in an inch at a time.
“Please,” Connor groaned, fisting the sheet with both hands.
Jodi twisted the dildo as she retreated knowing the ridges carved into it would rake his every nerve ending and drive him over the edge. With just a few strokes, he came up on his toes, left leg jiggling, and shot white ropes of semen along the side of the bed, a stark contrast to the black sheets. An almost desperate groan exploded out of him dying only when his dick slacked and hung depleted.
Once s
he’d helped him onto the bed, she took her toys to the bathroom and tossed them in the sink for him to clean up later. She dampened a cloth with warm water and went back to him, cleaning him up before stripping her robe off and climbing in beside him, turning him to his side and curling her frame around his.
“Thank you,” he managed, his voice ragged.
“You’re welcome,” she whispered, stroking his head and kissing his temple.
“I love you, Jodi.”
“I know, thumper.”
Chapter Four
It was closer to noon than morning before they managed to get out of bed. Jodi stood at the mirror and carefully applied her make-up while Connor finished his shower. He’d wanted to shower with her, but she’d denied him knowing it would only make her want things she couldn’t ask for right now. Not until she knew his head was in a better place. She glanced at his foggy reflection flickering in the mirror beside her head and admired his physique. One thing she could say for special ops, it made for hard men with hard bodies and age wielded no hold over it. Every one she’d encountered and or played with over the years had proven that to be true.
“Still like what you see,” Connor mused, bringing her back to reality as he stepped from the shower and draped a towel around his waist.
“I’ve always loved the way you look,” she answered, going back to dabbing her lipstick into a perfect line. “Physical attraction has never been an issue between us.”
“Have I told you lately you’re beautiful,” he asked, brushing his knuckles along her jaw.
“No, but you’ve not exactly had the chance. Our schedules…” She drifted off, remembering what an issue it really was. “You have all weekend to remind me,” she said, smiling and leaning into his touch. It’d be so easy to submit to him when the switch in her reared her head, but that required two willing parties.
