by Cynthia Dane
“Wow.” Ethan had left his suit jacket in his office, probably draped across the back of his leather chair. The first two buttons on his white shirt were unbuttoned. Jasmine kissed the flower she held and let it hover above her cleavage. “Look at you.”
“You haven’t forgotten that you live with this, have you?” Jasmine tossed her hair back, letting her thighs slide together and catch Ethan’s attention. That’s right. Get hard in those pants. “Been a while since Mr. Cole has paid proper attention to the pretty girlfriend he keeps cooped up in his bedroom.”
“Indeed it has. Sometimes Mr. Cole forgets he’s got a life outside of work.” Ethan approached the bed, rolling up his sleeves and gazing down at the length of Jasmine’s curving body. “Hello. Come here often?”
“Only when Mr. Cole pays on time.”
Jasmine extended the flower to him, running it down the seam of his trousers and teasing his zipper with the precious petals. “You are a convincing lady when you put your mind to it.”
She scoffed. “And you are a domineering man when you put your mind to it.”
“You think my mind isn’t going there right now?”
“I should certainly hope so… sir.”
The flirtatious countenance Ethan sported quickly disappeared. “Is that what you want?” He leaned down, hands bracing against his knees. Nice five-o-clock shadow. Ethan was a meticulous shaver every morning, but by this time of night he was usually a little fuzzy on the cheek and chin. “Because I know what would look very nice with this skimpy nightgown you’re wearing.”
Jasmine rubbed the flower petals against his face. Ethan did not flinch. “What’s that?”
His fingers walked from her cleavage up to her throat, touching her skin lightly. Shivers rippled through Jasmine’s body. It’s been too long since he last touched me like this. To be fair, it had been too long since she welcomed this kind of touch. Yes, even a month was too long.
“You know what, my flower.”
That voice. So deep. So powerful. Jasmine could practically feel the virility emanating from her boyfriend. He may be recently declared infertile once more with feeling, but that didn’t stop Ethan Cole from being one of the most masculine, virile men Jasmine had ever met. Give him to me. She had missed him on top of her, owning her, possessing her. That was what she wanted now more than anything else. “Kiss me, Ethan.”
He did, his mouth shoving her down onto the bed while his hands touched whatever they pleased. Anything that had been asleep within Jasmine those past several weeks suddenly woke up again. Holy shit, do I love him. His grunts of rising need reverberated through her as he kissed, grabbed, and filled her mouth with everything he had. When he finally pulled off her, the flower was crushed against the bed.
“Look what you did,” Jasmine reprimanded. “How very dare you.”
Ethan stood, taking the crumpled flower petals and sprinkling them on his girlfriend. “How dare I indeed. Wait here, Jasmine. I’ll be right back. For you.”
She waited until he left the bedside before chomping on her lip and kicking her legs out behind her. It’s about damn time. Ethan wandered to his side of the room, tugging at his collar as he poured himself a drink at a small wet bar. He didn’t offer Jasmine any, but he often didn’t. She stole shots here and there when necessary, but for the most part, drinking a shot of hard liquor before sex was an Ethan thing, not a Jasmine thing. It’s damn hot, too. Especially the look he shot her through the corner of his eye, as if to say, I’m coming for you.
Ethan opened the top drawer of the bureau next to the bar. From it he withdrew a few things Jasmine couldn’t see, but she knew only good things came from that drawer. Just like the drawer next to his side of the bed, from which he withdrew her scarlet, ruby-studded collar.
Jasmine had only worn it a few times that year, all in the beginning, and never since the wedding over a month ago. Her relationship with her submissive’s collar was complicated, starting when she begrudgingly wore it to please Ethan and get the money he promised her. Back then, Jasmine was resisting so much – most of all her love for the scenes they created in the bedroom, and the love she harbored for a man like Ethan Cole. I didn’t like the scenes much at first because I thought he was using me. Over their weeks together, however, she realized how much the man loved her in turn. Their scenes weren’t just about him exerting dominance over her, or her kowtowing to him to inflate his ego and lower her own standards. It was far from that. It was about them giving and taking. Sometimes it went more one way than the other, but it always ended with them closer than they were before. Sometimes? It was the only way they could communicate how much they meant to one another, especially when Ethan was as busy as he was, and Jasmine was as closed off as she had been recently.
“Come here.”
Although his voice was low and soft, Jasmine heard the need lining it. It’s been a long time for him too. As composed as Ethan appeared right now, inside he was probably bursting at the thought of doing whatever he wanted to her. “I’m here,” Jasmine announced, once she had pulled herself to the other side of the bed and knelt before him. Her eyes did not leave his as he looped the collar around her throat and clasped it beneath her hair. “I’m here for you, sir.”
He didn’t tell her to be quiet. He usually did, when the collar was on. He’s a man of little words. Wants to use the movement of our bodies to communicate. Screw talking. Just screwing. Sometimes Jasmine wanted more. Tonight? She had other plans – and needs.
“You’re always here for me.” That wasn’t an expectation he muttered, as he caressed her hair and lightly touched her skin. “Since day one you’ve never wavered from me, my flower, even when I’ve been less than…”
“I’m here because I love you, sir.” When the collar was on, Jasmine couldn’t help but call him that. It was an expectation, yes, but it was also something she deeply came to appreciate. There was something powerful in giving herself over to a man like Ethan. Cool, calm, collected. Powerful, sharp, and intelligent. A woman couldn’t help but tear off her clothes and jump into his arms. Or, more likely, sink beneath his body and engage in a mixture of whimpering and calling out vulgar words. Plus, Ethan worked harder than any other person Jasmine ever met. He didn’t do anything halfway. He didn’t cut corners or get out of things he didn’t want to do. How else had he managed to build his business to its maximum potential in so few years? Sure, investors helped, but Ethan had to prove himself to those investors when he was a relative nobody. Those same people often still didn’t take him seriously enough, because he was self-taught – and taught by a little place called Harvard, but that was beside the point once people found out the circumstances of his birth and childhood.
When Jasmine thought about that, her heart filled with more admiration for the man who swept her off her feet not so long ago. Will I always feel this way? She certainly hoped so.
“And I love you.” Ethan’s fingers curled in her hair as he gazed into her eyes. “I’ve never been with a woman who continuously makes me feel like you do.”
Jasmine did her best to remain upright and not slouched over in embarrassment. “You flatter me, as always.”
Both hands were in her hair now. Jasmine pushed herself higher on her knees, struggling to meet Ethan’s lowering mouth. “Will you always be here for me, Jasmine?”
“I will.”
“Tonight and always?”
“Always.”
He kissed her, lightly, a far cry from what she expected after the collar was wrapped around her throat. His hands spoke on his behalf, roaming down her arms and clutching her as if she would run away from him. Never. Jasmine had run from men before, but not from Ethan. Even when he was his roughest, he still respected her wishes and treated her as the human being so few other men did. Even when we play at me being his object, I still feel the humanity in it. Before meeting Ethan, Jasmine never thought such a thing was possible.
“Will you always be here for me?” she asked, meekly at fi
rst, because it was something she started to say without thinking. “I know you’re busy a lot, but…”
“Even when I’m busy, my heart is with you. It belongs to you and no other.”
Jasmine wrapped her hands around his muscular forearms. The fine, dark hairs there tickled her skin, but she pretended to not notice. “I want to feel like I am yours.”
“You are mine. I don’t need to see a collar on you to know that.”
“I don’t need to feel it to know it, either.”
“But you must agree that it sets a certain mood.”
“A mood we haven’t indulged in for too long now.”
“You are definitely right about that.”
“So…” Jasmine batted her eyelashes. “Knowing that I am yours, sir…” She hooked her thumbs beneath the straps of the lacy lingerie and lowered them. Ethan’s eyes went straight where she wanted. “Knowing how stressed we’ve both been lately… why don’t we put that all to rest and have ourselves a purge.”
“I like the way you think.”
“And I like the way you use me, sir.”
“Use you, huh?”
The more he spoke like this, the more Jasmine’s body responded. She shook, not from the cold, but from the excitement of what he could do to her. Her blood ran too hot for her to be cold, even chilly. The rest of her body strove to respond – tingling, hardening, peaking, readying for him and his intimate, erotic touch. “Yes, sir,” she whispered. “I want you to use me however you want. I trust you. And…” She dared to cut him off before he could say anything. “I want to forget anything bad that’s happened recently. I want you to help me forget.”
She didn’t mean to sound so desperate, but when she was locked in his hold like this, looking into his hungry eyes and seeing the pit of eternity, all she could think about was using him to turn her world around and become someone else for a little while. Part roleplay, part new identity. Jasmine wanted – and needed – this scene just as much as he probably did.
“Please, Ethan.”
His hand tightened behind her neck. “I’ll go easy on you tonight.”
That could mean any number of things. Sounds like something I don’t need, but who knows. With Ethan, every scene was an adventure, depending on their moods.
“Drop to your hands.”
Jasmine did so, her fingers rounding the edge of the bed while her face came precariously close to his waist. I could undo his belt right here. Not until he asked. Jasmine knew better.
“Where did you get this thing?” Ethan plucked the lace from her back, bunching it between his fingers before releasing it again. Whenever he pulled on it, the lace in turn pulled against her skin, particularly her thighs and mound. You tease. Ethan must not be feeling too tired if he was going to let this drag on. “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before. It looks good on you. Taking every bit of decorum I have to not turn into a monster and rip it off you… because I’m sure it was expensive.”
Jasmine kept her head down. “Miami. I bought it when I went to Miami.”
“And I’m sure you were thinking of me when you bought it.”
“I was, sir.”
“When you were in Miami…” He yanked on the lace, inches of it rubbing against Jasmine’s slit. She gasped, rocking with the movements of Ethan’s hand. “I’m sure there were some men involved. It was a bachelorette party, after all.”
Jasmine waited for the fog to lift from her brain before she responded. “What are you trying to imply, Mr. Cole? I was nothing but faithful to you. I didn’t even think of another man.”
“So you admit that things went on?”
“Well, I would never lie to you.”
She expected it, but she still cried out in surprise when Ethan smacked her ass through her crimson lace. Her flesh would soon be as red as the material.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Jasmine said, head lowering even farther. “I shouldn’t have gone.”
“Oh, that’s not for going to a party and having a good time, my flower. That’s for not thinking of me for even one second.”
“But I…”
Another smack. This time, it was harder, making Jasmine’s knees shake. “I know how it works. Don’t think I’m a fool. That’s for taunting another man with what belongs to me.”
“I never did… not on purpose…”
His hand hovered over her ass. “So you admit it happened. Another man tried to steal you away from me.”
“No! I mean…”
She braced herself, and was not disappointed when Ethan spanked her right on the ass.
“If another man ever tries to seduce you, know that I’m over here waiting to punish you.”
“Yes, sir.”
Ethan pulled aside her negligee and felt her slit with his fingertips. Jasmine moaned into the comforter, her boyfriend’s fingers sinking into her and feeling how wet she was already. I’ve been thinking about him ever since we left the club. How much she wanted him… how much he should touch her, feel her, kiss her, make love to her. Not just that. He should fuck me too. Hard. Rough. Unlike ever before.
“This is for me, is it?”
“Yes!”
“What do you expect me to do about it? Fuck you?”
“Yes, please!”
“I’m not even telling you to beg, and you’re doing it anyway.” His wet fingers abandoned her and pulled on her hair until she looked up into his face once more. Oh my God. That commanding visage would be the end of her before the night could end first. “I’ve trained you well since we first met, haven’t I?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Yes, yes, yes. That’s all she says. Music to my ears.” Ethan crossed his arms, his eyes never leaving the top of her head. “What if I asked you to do something? Would you say yes?”
She nodded beneath his gaze. “Yes.”
“More yesses. I like it.” His knee pushed into the bed. “Pleasure me.”
She didn’t have to ask what he meant by that. Ethan could be unpredictable, but he was also a man of habit, and he had his favorite things. One of those things was having Jasmine put her mouth all over him. Swallowing him. Ethan always made a point of telling her that she was the best he ever had in that department. Every department. As a man who had an endless line of women willing to do it for him, he must have experienced the best to the not-so-satisfying. For him to proclaim her the best… well, Jasmine didn’t want to think that was one of the first ways he fell in love with her, but it probably was. Men are simple. Ethan is simple. So she thought when she pulled his belt apart and grabbed his zipper.
“Yes, sir.”
Even if they weren’t in a scene, she would still act the way she subsequently did – because it was natural to her, and one thing she learned over the past year was that anything she did when in a Dom/sub scene with Ethan should feel natural as well, even if it was new. The most natural thing for her to do right now was look up into those stern eyes as she pulled his cock from his trousers and pleasured him the best way she knew how.
He continued to stand, arms crossed, almost unaffected. Yet Jasmine knew that he was on the verge of coming undone. She could feel it in his skin, hot, almost on fire with a burning desire that only she could put out. When her fingers traced the underside of his cock, feeling it slowly harden and become erect, Ethan flinched, the battle inside him to come across as the most in controlled man in the world almost lost to the feral animal who wanted to fuck every one of her holes. Jasmine quivered enough for the both of them as she parted her lips and kissed his tip. She could already taste him, and they had barely begun.
“Is this what you wanted?” Jasmine asked, her demure demeanor carefully constructed so it was neither too sweet nor too flippant. Ethan should feel like he was with his most trusted confidant. Not the paid mistress she used to be. “I could give you more.”
Ethan grunted. “Do so.”
Jasmine tried not to show her eagerness when she pulled him into her
mouth, doing something she had done a hundred times before. Maybe more. By now, she knew exactly what a man like Ethan Cole wanted from her when they were like this.
He wanted her to start off slowly, holding him by his base while her lips caressed his shaft and her tongue kissed his tip. He wanted her to hold onto his hips while she gradually took him down her throat, prepping him for the hum that was to come. And he wanted – although he rarely asked – her to look up into his eyes while she serviced him. Sometimes it was impossible, like when he finally closed his eyes, grabbed her head and gave himself over to their motions, but it created a connection that they couldn’t get elsewhere. It’s me saying that I hope he enjoys himself, and him saying that he appreciates what I’m doing. She loved the feel of him in her mouth, the taste of his masculinity and the scent of his musk. Almost as much as she loved the feeling of being in his arms, kissing his lips, and either riding his hips or falling beneath his strength and comfort as they made love. It was all the same, just in different ways.
“You never disappoint me.” Ethan finished unbuttoning his shirt while Jasmine continued to bring him to the edge. “It’s almost criminal. How could one woman be so perfect?” He pulled his shirt off and tossed it onto a nearby chair. Jasmine nearly wept at how perfect he looked. One hand traveled up his abs, feeling his muscles, the strength he held inside in between jogs in the garden early in the morning and stints in the company gym in the afternoon. “You need to stop before I waste myself in your mouth.”
Jasmine obeyed, but not because she didn’t want him all over her mouth, her throat, deep, deep inside her. Use me, Ethan. If you want me like this, then I am all yours. Jasmine the obedient sub was better than Jasmine the stressed out wonder. Not that she had much to be stressed out about right now… especially right now.
“Sit back and let me see you.”
