by Riley Murphy
“Are you going to behave? Or have you decided you don’t want to go through with this?”
She stilled. “Good. As I said, I’ll get things started and then tomorrow you might see things differently and not be such a bitch to the man who has the means to help you grow. Now…”
He eyed her, then the bed and finally the ropes. It was going to be a tricky proposition because he’d have to let go of her in order to do what he intended. He thought about explaining his plan to her before he tied her up, but then decided against it. This was going to be bad whether he was a nice guy about it or not. Either way she was going to be difficult. It was her nature and one of the reasons she appealed to him. If he threw her on the bed he’d get five seconds as it would take her that long to snap out of her shock then another two to yank the tie out of her mouth and three to scramble to the edge. So, the way he figured it? He had ten seconds to gain the rope and corral her. Yeehaw.
Jo landed with a bounce on the bed when he finally let go of her. She sat up, gave herself a shake and pulled the tie out of her mouth. She gained a huge breath of fortifying oxygen, getting ready to yell at him, but then she saw him turn toward her with a pile of rope in his hands and the air burst out of her. The guy was fucking crazy. That’s it, she was going to tell Ethan about this, but first she needed to get free so she could call him.
What’s Ethan going to say to you, Jo? You did it this time? Didn’t he already warn you not to push a man like Ted?
She made it as far as the edge of the bed when Ted lunged. Knowing there wasn’t going to be any way to get away from him, she focused. And when she did she felt the cinch of rope around one ankle and then other, so that made escape impossible. Instead she jammed her hand in her pocket and found her cellphone. So what if Ethan said, “I told you so”, at least she’d have some support. While Ted pulled her across the expanse of the bed she dialed. Seven…two—
“Hey, give it back.”
“No.”
Without her phone there was no cavalry coming to the rescue, she was on her own with him. Isn’t this what you wanted? Yeah, but not like this. Time to fake that black belt she said she had. She flipped over, snapped up in a seated position and karate chopped him right in the neck. “Ow!” That hurt her more than it did him. He didn’t even blink. He just grabbed her throbbing hand and lassoed it in a slip knot.
She still had one free limb left. If she were going to use it she better be smart about it. If she tried to slap him he’d probably duck aside. Strategy time. She’d feign a strike and when he ducked she’d connect with him. When it worked and the red imprint of her hand showed beneath the white scar on his cheek she was just about to congratulate herself…until she saw his eyes. Black and soulless.
“That was a mistake.”
“Yeah, so was bringing me up here. I demand you let me go.”
She continued to struggle as he pushed her down on the bed. There was no hesitation as he hooked the ropes secured on her wrist through the iron bars of the headboard. Steadily he pulled on them so her arms were forced up over her head. Not the most commanding position to be in when making demands. “You’re going to get in big trouble for this. I’m telling Ethan.”
“Quiet.”
“Me be quiet? Go fuck yourself.” With her arms no good to her she used her feet, trying to angle the spikes of her heels in such a way to make contact with a piece of him. So this is your plan? You finally get what you’ve wanted all along and now, because it’s not being delivered to you the way you always envisioned it, you’re going to fight him tooth and nail?
She connected and he swore, “Damn, you’re a calculating little witch. Calm and cool.” He threw himself over her legs, pinning them until he had them spread two feet apart and tied to the iron footboard. When he got up he was smiling.
“You won’t think this is so funny when your business partner hears about this.” He didn’t say a word. That smile slid into a grin as he reached out and undid a button on her blouse. “W-what are you doing?”
He undid another one. “Every time you open your mouth and talk I’m going to undo a button and when I run out of them on your blouse, I’ll move to the one on your belt, your pants and the clasp on your bra…everything I can find to undo on you. Everything except the ropes. So be a good little sub.”
Jo wasn’t even sure she was a sub. Her only goal since being introduced to this kind of lifestyle was to get an experienced Dom to consent to do to her what had already been done. But this time when it happened, the memory that stuck would be because she made it stick, not because that motherfucker forced himself on her. She wanted a new image to obliterate the old. The concept had seemed logical and easy enough until she’d fallen in lust with one of the Doms. Ted Basel. Him. The bastard. Suddenly nothing was easy because she was forced to spend time around him. And as for logic? Well, that went out the window the moment she confided her attraction to him to her BF. Before Jo knew it her friend had decided Ted was the Dom who should Top her. Only he refused. Double bastard.
And now that she’d gotten over that blow and accepted his rejection as a blessing in disguise, she found herself here? Hell no. She’d consciously chosen Ed because he was safe. Ed didn’t get her pulse racing with just a look. Ed’s presence in a room didn’t make her body heat and get her wet between her legs…but Ted’s did. That frightened the hell out of her. Especially now. “You can’t do this.”
“Actually, we both know this is what you asked for…or more precisely, me.”
The conceited… “Pig. You’re hurting me.”
His eyes twinkled. “The only thing smarting on you at the moment is your ego. So do us both a favor and keep that pretty mouth shut like I told you to.”
“Fuck you.”
Shit, he undid the third button. She only had one left on her blouse. The evil prick. Even though it killed her, abso-fucking-lutely killed her, she remained quiet and thought about the situation. Apparently he’d had a change of heart about her. Or had he? If only she knew for sure.
As if he read her mind he said, “I didn’t want to get involved. You know that, but with you signing the full release this evening? How could I leave you to the wolves? Mind you, my original plan was just to scare some sense into you, but now I’ve changed my mind. You respond too well to fear and work through it logically without emotion so that tells me I’d be wasting my time trying to punish you that way.”
“Punish me? W-what are you planning to do?”
Tsk, tsk. He undid the last button and spread her blouse wide open. She wanted to scream at him so bad she was biting the side of her mouth and compressing her lips so hard they hurt. Maybe she wasn’t good sub material after all because this not knowing what was going to happen when she clearly wanted something to happen was sheer hell. Jo, you’ve fantasized about a moment like this for weeks. Just relax and see where this goes.
“Very nice,” he whispered, dragging the back of his knuckles across her naked stomach. His touch made her muscles clench and when he saw that reaction he splayed his hand on her belly and intimately pressed in. “You have beautiful tone.”
With no verbal barbs to fire and consciously making the effort to relax, she was free to concentrate on other things. Namely the heat of his skin against hers. The pressure of his palm as he captured the rise and fall of her every breath.
“No smart mouth? Very good. That tells me you can be trained.”
She closed her eyes and swallowed, wanting to hate the sound of his voice as much as she hated his words, but she couldn’t. His gravelly tone warmed her inside out. All her anger was melting. What the fuck was happening here?
“Ah, I can see your confusion.” She cracked a lid. “I’m going to tell you something I know to be true about you. You liked to be tied and secured because someone else is in control for a change. More to the point, I’m in charge. You like that it’s me.”
That wasn’t true. It wasn’t. He could be anyone. She was over him. She was. “Fuck you.”<
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He shook his head as he undid her silver belt. “What’s with all the swearing? A simple no would have sufficed.”
“Bastard.”
He undid the button of her jeans. “I don’t let my woman swear, princess.”
“I’m not—”
Slowly he undid her zipper and she wanted to kill herself because now that she stopped mid-denial she couldn’t finish without him undoing something else and really, what was left? Just the clasp on her bra.
“For tonight you’re under my protection. You need someone with some sense looking after you since you signed that consent. Dangerous and reckless.” His gaze held hers. “Never, never do that again. Understood?”
Oh. My. God. She nodded. What the hell?
“Good, now I want to make this clear. I intend to be your Dom for the night. Only tonight and as such I don’t expect to uncover all your secrets, but I’ll be happy if we unearth at least one. Will you give me that much? Will you try?”
She closed her eyes and attempted to steady the erratic pace of her rapidly beating heart. After a moment she nodded.
“I’m going to take you somewhere you haven’t been. I wonder,” his one hand was still on her stomach while his other gently brushed the hair off her forehead, “if you know the difference between heaven and hell?”
She opened her eyes and looked at him. The red handprint was still visible and she felt a pang of remorse. Only for a moment and then when he spoke the moment was gone.
“If you do, you’ll understand when I say, for some women heaven is hell. With you, my prickly princess, I believe this to be the case. I’m going to take you to heaven so you can face your hell.”
Those words sank in. His voice was quiet and soft. Even his expression invited, so why was this the very first time tonight she was scared of him?
“Please…”
He reached under and undid her bra before he plucked the discarded tie off the bed and grasped her chin. Pulling, until she was forced to look at him.
“The next words I hear you say will be thank you.”
She opened her mouth to deny him, but couldn’t as he’d stuffed the tie between her lips. The last thing she saw before he blindfolded her was the knife he tossed on the mattress beside her. That was when she panicked.
Chapter Two
“Look at you, you’re trembling.” Ted was careful to keep his tone even. “I’m going to use the knife to cut off your bra and panties. That’s all. The blouse and pants can stay.”
He didn’t waste time with ceremony. He pulled down her jeans, admiring the flawless bronze skin on her thighs, and reached for the thin strip of lace stretched over her hip. “Easy,” he said. “Don’t move.”
She stilled and he purposely tugged hard before he sliced the blade through the material. He wanted her to feel the snap when it came. “There, that’s one side done.” When she attempted to move her other hip away from him, he chuckled. “You’re tied. Bound and blindfolded. Give up with the defiance and let the night unfold.”
He stood quietly beside the bed. Waiting and watching for several long moments until the tension in her body eased. “That’s right.” He stroked the curve of one hip. Over and over as she relaxed even more. “I plan to be patient and thorough. I want to show you it’s good to need.” He continued stroking. “You have beautiful hips. Curves a man appreciates as they give him something to hang onto while he anchors your sweet little pussy on his cock. Shhh.” She started to protest again. Clearly she didn’t like his plain speaking because she was also making noise beneath the tie. Hm.
“Let’s cut this side open so I can get a good look at that pussy of yours. I bet it’s tight. Really tight.” He reached across and in one fluid motion he cut the lace band over her other hip. “Perfect, now to unveil.”
He’d intended to tease her a little. Talk his way through what he saw, but what he saw took his breath away. “Did you do this yourself, princess?” He splayed his hand on her belly and pressed her into the mattress so she couldn’t move and he could get a better look. “So beautiful.” He took in the light trail of ebony herringbone silk that went from the top of her slit to the bottom. She was exquisite so before he was tempted to touch her he tore his gaze from there and examined. “Is it henna?”
She nodded and he was captivated.
The beautiful henna design was stained on her smooth-as-glass mound in a deep red-brown color. The pattern was similar to a Spanish coin he’d seen once, except instead of a profile picture of a man in the center, there was one elegantly presented phrase. “This is my gift to give,” he read it out loud and frowned. The fact that she’d temporarily turned this part of herself into a symbolic shrine made him uneasy.
Could be someone tried to force her to give more of herself than she was prepared to give and this was a reminder. Or maybe her family was old school and wanted to barter her gift to a man of their choosing? But he’d been told Jo’s mother was all American and raised Jo that way. Only her father adhered to his East Indian heritage. Either way, the sign pointed to her being a virgin, not that it mattered to him. He’d already determined he wasn’t going to fuck her. But just the thought that possibly this beauty—he ran his index finger lightly down her center—hadn’t been explored? Got his juices flowing and blood pooling heavily, weighing his cock to settle like a baseball bat against his thigh.
He took his time with this treasure. Trailing his finger up and down that silk-covered line. Over and over. Slow and steady until she eased and it opened. Just a bit. A scant parting but the little spread was enough for him to use to his advantage as his broad fingertip slipped in and touched hot, wet flesh. It was barely a press, more like a rub that he gave her clit to make her shiver and moan. And when she slickened even more and his finger swirled through the gathering pool he knew he needed a taste.
Bending, he spread her silky lips wide and licked her only once, but it was good for both of them. She was trying to get some leverage on the bed, unfortunately the ropes wouldn’t allow it. Did she attempt to flex her hips for more of his mouth or less of it? He didn’t know. All he knew was that she tasted good. Like those apples he loved, bathed in fresh spring rain.
“You taste sweet.” He eyed the intricate henna design. “My little Indian princess. Have you ever sampled your own honey? If you haven’t before, you will tonight, I promise, but first let’s see what other surprises you have for me to uncover.”
He pushed her blouse away then cut the lacy straps of her bra and pulled it off her. Tossing it to the floor, he examined her perfectly round breasts. They were a good size but… “Why are you wearing these, I wonder?” He ran a finger over the nude-colored film that was like a large rounded-off X directly in the center of each breast. “What are you hiding?”
As gently as he could he peeled first one and then the other latex shield off, tossing them in the same direction as the bra. No wonder she strapped these down. Once the tape was gone her nipples spiked up. Hard. Solid and tempting. The dusky shade of them nearly matched the red-brown henna. He could barely make out where the areola stopped and the henna began because here too she was decorated. No words, just the same intricate patterned design that looked exotic and sexy as all fuck.
“You are spectacular.” He dragged the back of his knuckles across her left nipple. Although why he bothered was a mystery. She was already stiff enough to play with. “I wonder how sensitive your breasts are.” He leaned over and opened the night table drawer. Spying the various equipment within, he smiled. All new and never used. She was a lucky girl. No matter which kind he chose they were going to pinch.
He almost selected the Japanese clamps, but then he saw the barrel clamps with the brass chain and changed his mind. The metal would go perfectly against her burnished skin.
“Don’t move,” he whispered as he threaded her plump flesh through the eyelet and turned the barrel three full turns until he got the squeeze he was looking for. “Very good.”
He kept an eye on h
er. Her breathing was deep and slow. It was obvious she was a woman who bore pain well. That thought got his dick dry heaving. God, she was a sight. Tied, yet half dressed with that henna… “Now the other one.” She groaned into the tie as he tightened it. Not too much. Just a little pinch to know it was there. “All done. All right, it’s time for some answers. All you have to do is nod yes or shake your head no, do you understand?”
She nodded that she did.
“Good.” He sat on the bed and slowly traced the circle henna stenciled on her mound. Around and around, as he asked, “Has your pussy been fucked?” When she remained still with her blindfold facing the ceiling he grabbed a small section of silky hair. A patch just at the top of her slit and tugged. “Jo.”
Her shake “no” was unsteady and so was his hand as he returned to draw those circles. A little Indian princess who hadn’t been explored? Tempting.
Fuck.
“What about with something other than a cock. Has your pussy been fucked with a dildo?”
He actually saw her blushing between the tie and the blindfold before she shook again.
“Do you get yourself off with your hands?”
Again no.
“Are there religious reasons why you haven’t done these things?”
He was relieved when this too was a no. For a minute there he was getting worried.
“What about anal? Have you ever been fucked in the ass?”
His hand stilled and he peered at her when she nodded, her body tensed up and her breathing pattern changed.
“Did you like it?”
The vehement way she shook her head told him many things. It probably explained why her pussy was a shrine. Someone had stolen a part of her body before she was ready to give it and no one was going to be stealing from her again without being put on notice.
“Did it hurt?”
When she answered affirmatively, he scowled. “Were you physically injured?”
Her response was slow, but negative.
