by Riley Murphy
He slipped a hand down, letting his fingers lightly skim the cords until he got between her legs. Just as he’d planned it, there was enough space between the patterns to find a nice patch of soft, pink flesh. “Damn, you’re wet.” He moved in and spoke in her ear. “But not wet enough. Maybe I should…”
“Oh fu—dar—ooh…Toledo.”
“Toledo? That’s a new one.” He smiled against her shoulder as he rubbed his curled knuckles over her drenched flesh. “No talking, remember?” Pinching her clit, he angled his head and watched her bite her bottom lip. The minute she squeezed her eyes closed, he wanted to push her more. Just knowing she was bearing the adrenaline rush for him without a word set his Dom mode on fire. The challenge of overcoming her will was like an aphrodisiac to him.
“Breathe and no coming. Remember that. There’s no letting go unless I tell you to.” He purposely tortured her. Holding her on the brink as he slid his bent knuckles up and down and round and round. Pressing and then retreating as he kissed her neck. Her shoulder. Taking the occasional bite before he eased the sting with a swipe of his tongue. Keeping her on the very edge, as minutes ticked by and the quiet in the room was only disrupted by the sound of her husky pants and the occasional sizzle and pop from the fire.
“Ted…”
She was drenched. He kept telling himself with one more flick, a brush or a press from him she’d explode and yet she didn’t. She was like a well-trained sub, but he knew she wasn’t, which meant one thing. There was a disconnect with her. Her mind was stronger than her body, but for all the wrong reasons. She was always in control. Even when he told her to come, it was her decision to do so. Stubbornness. That was how she’d managed to process her fears with logic that night at the resort. “You’re supposed to be silent but since you can’t seem to manage doing that tonight, when we’re like this, it’s Sir. Call me Sir.”
“Please…Sir.”
“Shhh.” He was careful to create some space between them. Not too much, Jo liked to be crowded. “I do please. Now that I have you in the right frame of mind and the perfect state to be agreeable, I want you to pay attention.”
He plucked one of the large clamps out of the bag of things he had for them and then gathered her hair. The silken mass was beautiful and thick, but right now it was in the way, because it kept sliding over parts of her and obstructing his view. Clipping the strands back, he smiled. “There, that’s better. Now.” He cupped a hand under her chin, and spotted the naked clarity in her eyes. His adrenaline was jacked. Her calm expression belied the soaking wet pussy between her legs. The idea that she thought she could control her body’s reaction to him got his cock hard. “I want to explain something to you. Clarify some misconceptions you have about exposure therapy. Hey,” he moved in closer until her pinched nipples grazed his chest, “don’t ever, ever turn from me when I’m talking to you.”
“Y-yes Sir.”
“Remember that, Jo, and you’ll stay out of trouble. Now I want you to listen. Are you listening?”
She nodded.
“Good.” He brought his arms up and placed the flat of his palms with fingers splayed on the wall on either side of her head as he leaned in. Almost forehead to forehead with her. “I want to talk about the pain you think you need to feel whole again. The kind of exposure therapy you think will help you. You thought you’d be all better in here,” He brought one hand down and slid it under her left breast through the ropes, “if you relived what happened to you, didn’t you?”
Her nod was curt.
“But don’t you know, princess? This,” he pressed against the warm skin over her heart, “is where you’re broken. You have to repair the damage on the inside before you can work on the outside.”
“But I…”
He saw her worry and confusion and continued to stroke her. “Shhh, I know. I know how confusing these things can be. People mean well, I’m sure Colin did when she discussed this option with you. Unfortunately, your friend isn’t in a position to understand the concept, because she doesn’t understand pain. Not the way pain should be understood. So before you make any more rash decisions about how to go about fixing yourself with me or anyone else, I want you to know the difference. I want to teach you the truth about pain and show you how healing the right kind of pain, administered the right way, can be for a person like you.”
Her eyes became instantly glassy and he didn’t like it. “What’s the matter? Isn’t this what you wanted? Didn’t you ask me to fix you?”
“Yes, but I—the only time I feel anything is when I’m with you and I don’t want that to go away.”
He slipped his hand out from between the ropes and whispered, “Even with me you don’t feel enough. And what you do feel?” He pushed his hand between her legs and skated bent knuckles through her heat. “Tells me your problem isn’t a physical one. Your body works just fine in that direction when you let go the little bit that you do.”
He played with her until she moaned.
“See?” Bringing his hand up, he ordered, “Open your mouth. That’s right. Suck on my fingers. Taste yourself.”
The more time he spent with her, the more he was convinced that this was what she needed. A slow and steady assault on her willpower. She was strong, so he was going to have to be stronger. He needed to build enough trust to do what he had in mind to do to her, if he hoped to take her out of her critical thinking mind. For once he wanted her to respond to him spontaneously and not because she’d planned to do what he wanted and just did it. It was almost as if her emotions and thoughts were completely separated from her body’s needs. Not that she was fully shut off from her feelings. He could read the signs, but they were buried deep. She’d been burying a lot of things deep for a long time, he suspected. And now it was time do some mining.
“All right, that’s enough.” He took his hand away. Glad when she made a protesting noise. “The kind of pain I’m going to introduce you to is erotic pain. I want you to repeat that phrase. Erotic pain.”
“Erotic pain,” she whispered.
“Good.” He moved in closer. Rubbing his chest against her nipples again until she shook and moaned. Those clamps were the best fucking investment he ever made. “Does this hurt?” He circled her one breast in an arc around the steel pincher. “Or has your body taken care of you? Does it feel numb yet, sensitive here?”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes and breathed in deep when he tugged on the chain. “You see, erotic pain is different than traditional pain because it has time to build. It gives the body a chance to explore it. It’s just another way to feel good in your skin. To enjoy the different miracles your body has to offer if you’re brave enough to test this kind of territory.”
She frowned. “B-but pain shouldn’t feel good.”
“True. Have you ever hit your funny bone?”
“Yes.”
“It wasn’t funny, was it?” He brushed his fingertips in the lightest touch over the mounds of her breasts.
“N-no,” she sighed.
“That’s because it happened in a flash. A split second of smarting before your brain could properly process the danger. You’re left rubbing the sting away with no end benefit to make the action worth the ensuing pain you’re enduring. Your mind reasons that it was bad and it wants to make sure that it avoids doing it again.” He bent forward and whispered in her ear, “But erotic pain is different. Properly doled out it takes time. Patience. And the reward for that? Is that the body copes with it. So well, in fact, that the mind doesn’t fight it. It gives up control and that’s when things get interesting. I’m going to make things interesting for you right now.”
He rimmed the shell of her ear with his tongue. “Would you like that?”
“I’m n-not sure.”
“Ah, but you promised to do what I wanted. Are you saying you can’t?”
“No.”
“Then you would like me to make things interesting for you.”
“Yes.”
He bit her lobe. “Yes what?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Good. Very good.”
He stepped away from her to pick up the bag. He’d chosen the metal clips, as they looked more ferocious than the wooden ones, but just the opposite was true. He figured if Jo were going to stay focused enough to try to keep control of things, he’d give her something to focus in on.
“We’re going to start off slow and I want you to watch what I do. I’m going to explain what I’m doing as I go. First, we’re going to take these off.”
He reached for one of the nipple clamps and she sighed, “Thank you.”
He stopped. “Thank you, Sir. I won’t tell you again, Jo.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
He undid the right one and she gasped.
“I think you were a little hasty with your thank you,” he chuckled. “It stings, doesn’t it?”
“Like a motherfu—”
He stared hard while one brow rose in warning. “Toledo?” he offered when she was at a loss to finish.
She nodded and he continued removing the other. “Not to worry. Remember what I said about the body. It,” he dropped the clamps into the bag and put both hands over her breast, “protects itself in the most wonderful ways possible. How’s this?”
She moaned.
“As the blood starts to race back to the area it will itch and then—”
She groaned again and pushed into his palms.
“Then it will feel good. Hot and tingly. Oversensitive and ready for the least little touch.”
“Yes…Sir.”
“Very good. Let’s get that mind of yours focused. I’m going to put these on you. They’re going to sting initially, but I want you to breathe through the fiery sensations.” He held up the metal clip so she could see it. “Nothing too scary. It looks like a metal bag clip, doesn’t it?”
“What are you doing?”
“Stay still. I’m only pinching your skin so I can clamp you with this.” He moved with precision, and when he’d gotten two on her, one on each arm, and she tensed, he stopped. “I don’t see you making the effort. You’re not breathing the way I told you to.” He waited until she relaxed. “Better. Stay relaxed like this and it will go easier for you.” He got four more on her. Two perfectly aligned on one side of her waist and two on the other. He was just bending to pinch the skin on her inner thigh when she lost it. That stubborn determination cracked.
“Are you fucking kidding me! Take them off.”
He didn’t do it. He wouldn’t. Instead he clipped the last two he had in his hands onto his belt loop and moved in to crowd her again. Only this time she wasn’t loving it. She was mad. Frustrated.
“Easy, you’re going to hurt yourself. Stop jerking.”
He pressed his weight against her as additional incentive and was glad when she settled. She still huffed and puffed from her earlier exertion, but he pretended that he didn’t know that was the cause. “That’s better. Breathe deep. Imagine the oxygen filling you up. Pushing away the stings.”
He brought his hands up to breasts and massaged them until she quivered. “Soon your whole body is going to feel this alive. Don’t fight it. I want you to bear it for me. I want you to accept this for me. Do it for me.”
She moaned and he curled in to kiss her cheek, the side of her hair and her ear. “That’s right. It feels good, doesn’t it?” To prove to her that it did, he slipped his hand down and felt between her legs. “Oh yeah, you like this. You’re swollen and wet. So wet. Relax and breathe. That’s my good girl. Take this next one for me. Bear it.”
She sucked in a breath when he clipped one of the clamps from his belt loop onto her inner thigh, but she didn’t tense, so that was encouraging.
“I’m so proud of you. Let me get the last one on. Keep breathing,” he kissed her shoulder and the rapidly beating pulse point at the base of her neck. “You’re doing so well.” He felt rather than heard her indrawn breath. It was deep and dragged some of his hair in the breeze of its wake. “All done. This will be your new hell. The fire and pain you’ll have to walk through to get to heaven. And there’ll be heaven at the end of this journey. I promise you. That’s right. Close your eyes and fall in with it. Let the sensations control your body because you can’t do anything about them. There’s nothing to fear. The worst has happened. The first bite of how bad they can be came and went and all that’s left is a paler version of the same thing you’ve already endured.”
Jo listened to his voice. The tone and the quiet confidence that radiated through his words. He was right. Once the initial pain-filled sting zapped through her with each clamp he used on her, a different kind of ache or maybe sensation flowed. In her mind’s eye she pictured it like waves against the shore after a violent storm. Each crest mimicked the first, but became smaller and smaller still, until the ebbing tide caressed the bright white sands with a lover-like stroke. A gentle embrace that soothed rather than pounded the senses.
“Very good, princess.”
This time when he put his hands on her breasts a jolt of pure lust shot through her. From her nipples to her womb. The exciting thrums so intense she had to swallow back a moan.
“Don’t fight it. Let it in. Breathe.”
Even though her eyes were closed, she imagined she could see his hand as it trailed down her body. Over the cord across her stomach where his touch made her muscles clench and caused her skin to prickle warmly as the clamps tightened with the pull.
“Mmm…hot silk. This is what I like to feel. Let’s see if we can get you hotter. What do I have?”
His voice was low. Husky. Almost hypnotic and she had to strain to hear it. She didn’t want to open her eyes. She was too worried that if she did the languid and comfortable feeling gripping her would go away. It was like nothing she’d ever experienced before. A lulling kind of limbo where she didn’t want to go back because what came before hurt, but to go forward was to venture into the unknown. The present was the best place to be right now.
“I don’t want you to come, Jo, and you’re to do what I want, remember?” He gripped her hair where it was gathered and pulled. She went with it. She didn’t fight the tug. It felt good not fighting it. “Say yes Sir.”
“Yes Sir.” Every time she referred to him this way she went deeper into herself, experiencing a titillating thrill from his dominance. Should she tell him that?
“Stop thinking and feel.”
She opened her mouth to explain, because surely this would make him happy, but then he put a vibrator directly on her clit and her whole world exploded in sensations. Every fiber in her being woke up. The flesh between her legs, the nerve endings there flared to life in a white-hot crest that was more startling than pain. As excruciating, but completely different. A tender torture as integral as it was intoxicating.
“Breathe, Jo. Let it in. Give it room to grow.”
She heard his orders with vivid clarity, which was odd because she felt as if she’d been set on fire. She should be squirming, screaming or begging and instead, just as she’d done a minute ago when he wrenched her hair, she gave in and went with it. Yes, it felt good not to fight.
“Very good. I’m taking these off, one by one. I want you,” she heard the thunks as he dropped the clips into the bag, “to concentrate on what I have between your legs. Focus on this.”
He pushed it more firmly against her and the second she did as he’d told her, she had an overwhelming urge to come. She gasped and tried to find the will to fight it.
“No.”
He spread her flesh open wider and slid the smooth thrumming device higher and even harder against her. Intensifying the speed. It was almost impossible to breathe through.
“Please, Sir, I can’t hold on. I can’t make it stop.”
His warm hand brushed over all the parts of her that had been clamped. Her arms, her sides and finally inner thighs. She was shaking and panting by the time he got there and mercilessly teased her quivering
flesh. She didn’t think things could get any more intense until he leaned down and added soft bites on her aching nipples to his tempting repertoire. That was when Jo knew her trip through hell was at an end. Now there was only heaven and she embraced the climb. Reason and sanity deserted her and she was happy for it.
Adrenaline shot through her veins, making her dizzy and breathless. Her heart raced and shivers that quickly turned to quakes started at her knees and roiled upward. Squeezing and stroking every nerve ending. “Oh God, I’m trying…”
He bit harder and then sucked her nipple into his mouth. Swirling his tongue over it in such a hungry way that—
“Ahhhh…!”
Ted dropped the vibrator and slipped two fingers into her just in time to be greeted by the explosion of hot, creamy wetness that poured out of her. “Mmm. Very good,” he whispered against her breast as he pumped. Easing the heavy contractions while she moaned and finally went limp against him.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come. You told me not to, but I couldn’t help it.”
He eased out of her, still marveling over her heat, and said, “Sometimes orders need to be broken. With you in this instance?” He undid her hands and slowly brought them down to her sides. “A bona fide spontaneous reaction was more important to me.”
“W-why?”
“Aww, you’re shaking.” He grabbed her arm and rubbed from shoulder to wrist and back again. “Tell me how you feel.”
“I f-feel l-like a…a…s-stranger.”
He let go of her arm and tilted her chin. When he kissed her, he committed himself to it, giving her his full and undivided attention. That was all she needed, because with one soul-cleansing sigh, she responded to it. For many long moments he let her get lost in the embrace until she no longer shook, then he pulled back and rested his forehead on hers. “You’re not a stranger to me.” She closed her eyes and he smiled. “Now let’s get you loose.”
“Go slow.”
“Of course. God, I love,” he undid the last of the cords and caught her when she slid out of them, “your scent. You smell like apples.”
