by E. M. Gayle
With his right hand, Alex grasped her shoulder and squeezed. Like it or not, they both just might have to accept that tonight his control had nearly deserted him.
As if sensing his conflicting thoughts, she shuddered underneath his hand.
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, that slight move brought his own responsibilities rushing back to the forefront. “What’s wrong, kitten?”
“I’m nervous. I don’t know what you want me to do.”
With a plan forming in his mind with every tremble she gave him, Alex leaned across her bed and picked up the crop. “And that’s exactly how I’ll want you sometimes. Nervous anticipation is half the fun and fear is the spice of life.”
He ran the leather rose along her spine from the base of her skull to the seam of her ass. She gasped. A harsh sound that he longed to hear repeatedly. He tapped the crop across her skin. Her back, sides and shoulders. Nothing painful at all, although she had no idea when or if that would change. He bit back another smile. At any moment he could and would decide to inflict more force.
Maybe too much force.
His will. Her pain. Their pleasure.
Those were the thoughts running through his mind when he struck her back with a fraction more pressure. Still nothing exceptionally painful.
Harder. He swung the crop through the air and brought it down on her ass with a sharp smack. That would leave a mark.
She gasped, which turned out to be the sweetest sound she could have made. He did it again and again, making sure each strike would deliver both a jolt of pain and a flush of heat.
“God, you’re fucking perfect, kitten.” He reached down to rub the red marks now striping her sweet ass and she rewarded him with a series of moans that dug deep into his balls, pulling him so taut he nearly doubled over. More. He wanted to take so much more from this sweet woman.
More pain. More pleasure.
No.
This game was turning too dangerous too fast.
He threw down the crop before he did something stupid and walked in front of her. “Open,” he commanded. Her mouth dropped open a fraction and he placed the tip of his dick along the silken slit her lips formed. Watching her closely he grabbed her chin and tilted her head until their gazes met. He squeezed, his fingers digging into her cheeks. Automatically, her mouth opened wide and he fed her the head of his cock.
“What a pretty picture you make, kitten with my dick in your mouth. Fucking hell, if my balls weren’t aching for more, I’d stay just like this for a while. See how long you could take it before you started begging for my come.”
She moaned against his flesh, her tongue swiping across the slit. He jerked at the contact. “Fuck yeah, baby. Lick me like that some more. It’s really fucking good when you show me how much you want it.”
It wouldn’t matter what he did. She’d take his come whether he wanted her to or not. That’s how close to his own edge he stood. All because of one curvy little temptress with the hottest fucking mouth and cunt he’d had the pleasure of tasting.
Staring into her eyes, he slowly pushed more of his dick between those gorgeous, lush lips. She began to lick and suck him with increased fervor. To stop from losing all control, he grabbed the sides of her head and controlled both their movements. Her eyes shuttered closed.
“No, keep your eyes on mine. I want to see everything.” For a few fleeting moments he wished he’d placed her on the bed and taken her pussy first. What he wouldn’t give to feel her inner walls flexing around him. Or her slickness coating him…
He groaned. Yeah, his control had definitely slipped.
She raised her lids and stared back at him, her green eyes shining with so much need it threatened to choke him up. “That’s more like it,” he coarsely whispered. His thumb brushed her top lip on the next slide, sinking him farther into her mouth.
From the moment he’d spied her across the room at the Kat he’d wanted her. Realizing who she was didn’t change that. He’d moved to approach her then when he’d noticed she wore a uniform and helped with serving the dessert. Even for someone as brash and used to getting what he wanted as he was, he recognized the inappropriateness of propositioning her at that time. He didn’t care much for rules, but there were a few he chose to follow. Sometimes.
So instead he’d begun formulating a plan to draw her into his world of dark desires based purely on her reactions to everything she’d witnessed. So far his plan had worked perfectly.
Almost too perfectly.
Alex ground his teeth each time her tongue lashed over him, leaving a trail of heat in its wake. Instead of taking complete control of her actions he eased his grip on her head and let her have her way with his cock. She seemed so eager to give him pleasure and he wanted her to feel good about this. The idea that she might have regrets later was something he wasn’t willing to risk. Not yet.
Harper tightened her lips around him and blood rushed through his veins. “Fuck yes. Just like that. You’re going to make me come.”
She must have liked that because she slid forward and increased the suction on his tip before she tilted her head back and urged him deeper with a low, vibrating moan. He jerked at the sudden sensation, losing control. Hot come flooded into her mouth on jerky pulses, one right after the other and she swallowed every last fucking drop. God damn she was perfect. And beautiful.
His head spun and his body ached to experience so much more, but it was the slight smile she gave him when he pulled free that honestly did him in.
Another thought that had already been threatening, crystalized in his mind. One, two or even three nights would never be enough.
“Jesus, Harper.” His meek little kitten hid a tigress underneath a sweet smile. One not only bold enough to meet a man she’d never met but strong enough to realize the power she held in the situation. Something a lot of women never understood. The power dynamic was not solely in the Dominant’s court. Quite the opposite.
The gift of submission was at its sweetest when given freely.
He knelt in front of her, kissing her hungrily. That beast of his still wanted to play. Now she tasted like sugar and him, making something a little darker and more possessive twist inside him.
Lips, teeth and tongues clashed violently as the frenzied need between them spun out of control. His hands grabbed her arms and pulled her close. Her legs went around his waist and clung.
Alex lifted her without releasing her mouth, loving the way their tongues tangled together with such need. Sweet. So fucking sweet. He groped for the mattress and settled her down first before blanketing her with his own frame. He grabbed the covers and shifted her into a spooning position.
“Don’t worry, kitten. I haven’t forgotten about you.” He smoothed his palms around her stomach and dipped one hand into the soft curls nestled between her thighs. Moisture coated his hand and he smiled when he pushed two fingers into her cunt. She parted her legs on a moan, giving him complete access.
Not that he needed much. His sweet little kitten needed him bad.
A couple of tight strokes across her clit later, an orgasm convulsed through her making him smile even more.
When the aftershocks passed he soothed the area with slow gentle glides of his fingers.
“You—I —oh my God.”
Alex chuckled softly. “Shh…” he whispered. “I know. It’s been one hell of a night. I hope you know how honored I am that you answered my initial invitation and even more that you agreed to a second date.”
When her body relaxed into him, his fingers slipped free from her body. He brought them to her mouth and she sucked them inside, licking him clean.
Fucking perfect.
Humbled, he placed a soft kiss to the back of her neck.
“What made you go that first night?” He paused to see if she would answer.
She shrugged, sounding sleepy. “My best friend dared me to.”
Alex’s laughter filled the room. Her answer came as a c
omplete surprise. “So you are a
daring little sub then?”
“I don’t know about that. But I guess everyone has to try something crazy at least once or twice, right?”
He hugged her tighter. “Indeed they do. Remind me to offer my thanks to your friend. It seems I owe her quite a debt of gratitude.”
“I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to hear that. But in all honesty, I’m happy I did it too.”
Alex relaxed. Her satisfaction pleased him and gave him hope for their future endeavors. For once he was about to set aside his most rigid rule and make sure this didn’t end here.
“Who are you, Alex?”
“Just a man who saw something in a woman that called to him.”
“Is that what you do? You like filling women’s fantasies?”
“I liked filling yours.” He nipped at her shoulder.
“I am feeling pretty fulfilled.” She wiggled her ass against his stirring crotch.
“And incorrigible too.” He gripped her hip and stilled her. “Go to sleep. You need some rest because in an hour or two I’ll be waking you for more. I’m far from done with you.”
He almost missed her quiet gasp. He’d definitely needed that reaction. And he needed to see her beyond tonight. There were too many things he wanted to do with her. Like making her scream over and over again. He liked pushing her to that edge.
But there were still some gaps in the story that she’d told him.
“I know you work at a trendy dessert bar in midtown with some catering on the side and that you are from the south but what about beyond that? Why New York City? There are plenty of big cities between here and home that could have fit the bill of getting lost.”
If he hadn’t been holding her against him he likely would have missed the slight stiffening of her spine at his question. A barely there move that piqued his curiosity beyond the one question.
She released a quiet sigh into the darkness as if realizing that she had to say something.
“I had sort of a list. Requirements for where I wanted to live, if you will. I wanted a big city and it had to be nearish the water. A place where the weather changed every season and I’d get to see snow. And New York City just sounded like fun. Lots of cool stuff happens here. Not to mention many famous chefs have restaurants here. Cooking and baking are pretty much the only bankable skills I have and the culinary options here are fairly endless.”
“You don’t love the work you do?” He’d sampled one of her tarts and he had a hard time believing the woman who made them didn’t put everything she had into them. They were fucking sensational.
“I do like to bake. It’s a lot harder work now than it ever used to be. But it is fun. Whether it’s what I want to do for the rest of my life or not is still questionable though.” She shrugged. “I came to New York because I want to try new things.”
“You certainly accomplished that lately.”
She laughed, a gentle rolling sound that quickly filled the room. “You made that happen, not me.”
He couldn’t take all the credit for that. Her bravery had been the crux of his success tonight whether she realized it or not.
“And what about men?” He held his breath. He wanted to know as much as he could about her, but he didn’t relish hearing any tales about other dominants she’d been spending time with.
“Nope. No time. I’ve spent the last year in culinary training. That’s insanely stressful work. And the instructors are all a bunch of control freak dicks.”
He laughed. He couldn’t claim to know everything about her, but he had a pretty good feeling she liked a good control freak dick. Speaking of which…
He shifted his position to make room for his because it was getting harder by the second.
“What about the club? You don’t strike me as someone unversed in the sexual proclivities of its members.” He’d seen too many subtle and obvious signs from her to think that she was not a complete novice to these kinds of scenes.
She shrugged. “I’ve always been curious about everything. Maybe a little too curious. I found things I wasn’t supposed to and they fascinated me. I also read a lot. You might be surprised to know all you can learn spending your formative years in a library. People tend to hide their porn videos and their toys, not so much their reading material. And I may have been a little ahead of my time even back in my teens. So I studied some, even dabbled a little, met a guy and one thing led to another and then I didn’t dabble anymore. Now I’m here.”
Alex raised an eyebrow, utterly skeptical of her casual words. There were a whole lot of missing details from her story and he had a hunch they were all important.
If they were critical knowledge he needed to move forward with her, he would have to paddle her all over again.
Alex shuttered his eyes, barely restraining from reaching up for them to pinch them together. Why did she make him think such things? He’d had his one night. Then a second. Now it was time to go. He could move on to something else.
Except he knew he wouldn’t.
He was often considered too curious for his own good as well.
“My best friend, Zia got involved with a Dominant once. She and I were in school together when I first moved here and under the stress and pressure of cooking school, we bonded. That led to a lot of information sharing when it came to relieving said stress. She’s had a tumultuous journey these last few years.”
He worried over the resentment in her voice. “I take it that didn’t work out too well for her.”
She shook her head. “I’d like to think I’ve learned a lot from that.” Harper took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “So here I am. A fledgling baker/caterer, southern girl transplant and a novice submissive.”
“And don’t forget risk taker,” he said with a smile despite the reservations he still harbored that sounded eerily like an emergency alert warning in his head.
She scoffed. “If you knew me better, you’d know how ridiculous that sounds.”
“Yet, here you are.”
“Mmhmm,” she murmured as she settled back against his chest.
Figuring they’d been through enough chit chat for one night he let the conversation drift off from there. They had time tomorrow to discuss more of their differences and similarities then.
However, she’d brought him back to life with her incessant wiggling and there was one more thing he wanted from her before their night ended.
“On your knees, kitten. I’d like a view of this gorgeous red ass while I fuck you.”
Again he felt that slight stiffen and was about to open his mouth and question her when on a stifled giggle she mumbled a response and then scrambled into position.
“Yes, Sir.”
Chapter Twelve
Harper
I set down the spatula and leaned over the counter. Air. I needed air. The normal peace I’d always derived from working in a kitchen had abandoned me today. Oh who was I kidding? It had abandoned me days ago.
When I’d awoken the morning after my date with Alex to find an empty bed except for a sweet note thanking me for a perfect night underneath my new rose crop, I’d started to rebuild the walls Alex had torn down. Two nights of bliss didn’t make a lifetime of happiness. I of all people knew better than to believe in those kind of fairy tales.
If only I could get the clawing hunger deep inside me to settle back down. Alex had apparently awoken a monster inside me and I didn’t know how to make it go away short of giving in to him again.
Not that I’d received any kind of official invitation or anything…
Although there was the option to return to the Glass Kat. I wasn’t a member, but I’d been granted a thirty-day temporary membership on behalf of my date that night. I could go…
Fortunately, I’d been strapped with several last minute catering jobs that had me working late into the night since then. My choice had been made for me courtesy of my job. So much for getting a life.
So instead I’d
thought long and hard over everything Alex had said to me that night (agonized really) and when I searched my soul it always came back to the fact that despite our night alone, my Valentine fantasy had only been that. A fantasy. Two men was not something I wanted to live out on a regular basis.
Maybe one day I’d search for a dominant man who understood my particular limits.
I wanted to be a one-dominant woman. Two was more than a simple girl like me could handle. I just didn’t have it in me to be the kind of woman that Alex and Jeremy clearly needed.
Unfortunately, knowing it and living it were two very different things. Every time I closed my eyes or took a breath for that matter, I was reminded of Alex. The impossible dream. Zia had been on my case to answer his calls but I’d adamantly refused.
Even seeing him one more time would make things worse. Once my decision was made I had to treat the situation like a band-aid. Just rip it off or in this case, simply not communicate. Eventually he’d get the message and move on to someone more to his tastes and someday I’d get over him too.
Right?
Tears leaked from my eyes. God I hoped so but today it felt impossible. How in the hell did this happen? One week and I’d fallen into what? Lust? Love?
With it plaguing my every waking moment and even the dreams when I slept, it felt more like an addiction. I wasn’t a lovesick schoolgirl. I’d learned my lesson the last time.
I picked up a knife and started chopping apples for a new tart. I stabbed at the poor fruit like a woman too close to the edge.
If it wasn’t for the work, I’d have probably stayed in bed long enough for the pain to ease. As it was, I’d gone to work mere hours after Alex’s departure with a deliciously sore ass and some incredible memories and been here since.
“Harper, there’s someone here to see you.” Jesse’s voice shook me from my thoughts.
I stared up at the girl that ran the front counter as if looking at something I couldn’t comprehend.
“What? Who?” Suspicion and fear consumed me. If Alex had come to see me I doubted I could deny him in person. Everything was still too fresh. The memories, the pleasure, the pain…Need gripped my stomach and made it twist into a painful knot.
