Her Master's Reckoning

by Lily White

  He rolled his neck over his shoulders, a drop of water dripping from the end of his dark hair to the floor. I watched the way his shoulders bunched, sleek muscle that my fingers itched to explore. Aiden stole my breath when dark lashes parted, his sapphire gaze locking to mine. “Come with me to the playroom and find out.”

  The heat that surged through me was almost painful, a need so deeply engrained, yet so neglected, rose to the surface of my skin on a scarlet blush I knew Aiden could clearly see.

  His appreciative gaze confirmed it, forcing that same heat to pool between my legs. So ready. Always so ready for a man that knew just the way to make every part of me sing.

  Forcing my voice not to waver with my desire, I continued to play the game. “I have a Courtesan to check on-“

  “He’s bound and waiting. Another hour or two won’t change that.” Sincerity filled his eyes, his deep voice a plea. “Come play with me, Pet. I haven’t truly had you in so long.”

  It took everything I had not to jump from the bed and run to him, every ounce of self control not to allow myself to fall back into the role of the good little Courtesan desperate to submit to her Master’s dominance.

  I had a new role to play now, despite how desperately I missed the old one.

  “Fine,” I relented, schooling my expression to one of idle curiosity rather than the smile that beamed in my heart. “I guess an hour or two wouldn’t hurt.”

  He smiled for the two of us, and dear God, I think I died a little inside. Not that I would let him know it.

  Toying with the edge of the blanket that covered my chest, I flicked a glance at him, a flirtation that I knew affected him even if he was stoic enough to appear unfazed. “I have one condition, though.”

  An arrogant brow arched over his sapphire eyes, his lips tilted at the corners.

  “I walk by your side instead of crawling.”

  “Are you sure you wouldn’t want me crawling instead? You’re a Master now.”

  Shocked by the question, the mask of strength I’d managed to hold since waking slipped. My brows drew together, a reaction occurring inside me that I didn’t want to name.

  But still that one word whispered.

  Disgust.

  Aiden grinned as if he could clearly read the word, as if the letters were printed in bold across my furrowed forehead. “It does nothing for you, does it, Rebecca? To see a man lower himself to your feet?”

  It annoyed me that he’d seen the reaction so easily, that he knew me so well he’d openly asked a question that would make the truth plain to me.

  Filling the silence between us, he watched me with knowing eyes, speaking a simple truth that echoed what Anthony had said. “To be a Master, you must be able to see inside the person you train. You must know them better than they know themselves. You must rip away the shroud built by their ego to discover the ugly places inside.” Eyes blinking, the fall of dark lashes once again lifting to reveal sapphire blue. “You must take that ugly place and show them how it’s also beautiful.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  His head fell back against the wall, his eyes closing as the hint of a smile graced his sculpted lips. “Because you haven’t yet seen the man you train.”

  Arrogant ass. Aiden still had no clue what I was doing to force Greyson to behave. “I see my Courtesan just fine.”

  He lifted his head to push away from the wall, his eyes opening to lock with mine. “I’m not talking about your Courtesan.” Hand extending without giving me time to consider his remark, “Come play with me, Pet.”

  My palm wrapped over his, and with a quiet strength that reminded me of how easily this man had once made me bend to his will, Aiden pulled me from the warm confines of the bed, his free hand taking possessive hold of my hip to balance me on my feet. The thin silk and lace of my red nightgown flowed down my legs to brush my ankles.

  “I should get dressed.”

  “I already picked out clothes for you to wear. They’re in the playroom for after we finish.”

  It was my turn to lift a questioning brow. “Still playing Master?”

  “A courtesy,” he grinned, mischief in those blue blue eyes, “I promise. I’m sure you’ll want to go straight to your Courtesan when we’re done.”

  Having my role acknowledged by Aiden both excited and disturbed me. I couldn’t put my finger precisely on the reason for the dichotomy of emotions, but at that moment I wasn’t concerned enough to ruin a rare glimpse at what it would feel like to be Aiden’s equal rather than a trinket for him to keep or toss away dependent on his mood.

  Offering his arm, he waited for me to wrap mine around it before leading me from the bedroom, through the house and to the playroom at the end of the Courtesan wing. A few steps farther and I could have turned the corner to go to Greyson, but he wasn’t a concern important enough to compare to the man leading me into sensual temptation.

  As soon as we stepped foot into the room, a black cloth on the far wall caught my attention, the ends hanging limply from a large flat surface beneath it. “What is -“

  His finger pressed against my lips, his other hand guiding my face back so he was the one to hold my attention. “You’re here with me.”

  A photograph. It had to be. The shape and size matching those displayed in the dining room. When had he snapped it of me? What image did he capture?

  My curiosity would have been my undoing it not for the force of his fingers gripping my cheeks, forcing my lips to part so he could lean in and remind me what I’d missed. Slanting his mouth over mine, he took his sweet time licking and tasting, nipping and exploring the shape of my mouth with his own. I thought to force him to hasten the maddeningly slow pace by wrapping my hands over his shoulder and tugging close, but he smiled against my lips and pulled away.

  “I am not one to be directed, Rebecca. Do not mistake me for a man who can be forced to his knees.” His fingers tangled in the thickness of my hair just above my nape, one tug pulling my head back so far that my full neckline was exposed to him. “See me for who I really am,” he murmured against my skin, his lips running a teasing trail down to my shoulder, “and decide what it is you want.”

  Teeth locked over the bruise I knew was bloomed a mottled red, a bruise started by Aiden and claimed as his own by my Courtesan. Instead of the bite becoming a punishment, it was a warning, a caress of teeth before lips pressed against it with a soft kiss.

  The pad of his thumb rubbing over skin nicked by a razor, anger darkened his eyes, his deep voice reaching beneath my heated skin to stroke the contours of my heart. “If he marks you again, I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep from killing him.”

  Fingertips trailed a line down my spine, sprawling over the small of my back to tug my body against his. Despite the way I wanted to purr to feel his heat, I glanced up. “He’s not yours to kill. There are rules-“

  “Fuck the rules.”

  “No, Aiden, it’s my right and I won’t give that up.”

  Challenge was the curl to his cruel lips. “I haven’t given you permission to use that name, not in this room, not now when it’s just the two of us.”

  Toe to toe, I refused to be outmatched when it came to a game of Masters. “Bring up my Courtesan, and I’ll call you Aiden. Make me scream with your tongue and your cock, and I might remember the other title you prefer.”

  The wicked glimmer in his eye made me shiver. “I’m not here to discuss boundaries between Masters,” I said breathlessly, “I’m here because you promised me we would play.”

  “And play, we will. But I will also warn you that if your Courtesan puts one more mark on the canvas of your perfect body, I’ll have no choice but to protect what’s mine. I won’t allow another man to harm you. It’s not within me to sit back and watch.”

  My eyes drifted up to the camera, its small light beaming red since the man who was often a lurking presence behind it had no use for spying at the moment. “Then stop watching. Plus, it’s not like you haven’
t marked me all over already.”

  He grinned, his fingers bunching the silk of my nightgown, over and over, to gather the cloth and pull it up the backs of my legs. “My marks serve a purpose, Pet, and never leave scars. I would never permanently damage you.”

  My ass now bare to his hand, the skirt of my nightgown bunched around my hips and over his forearm, Aiden gripped that which had always belonged to him, molten heat pooling between my legs.

  “Not on the outside, maybe. But you’ve damaged me in many ways inside.”

  A curious grin, eyes sparkling. “Have I?” Fingers sliding down the crease of flesh, his large body directing me backwards until I was standing against a leather bench, the padding preventing his hand from sliding lower on my behind.

  Giving ground to the object that obstructed his reach, he slid his fingers over my left hip, his free hand taking hold on the right, strong arms lifting me until I was seated with my legs spread just enough to hold his body between. Tipping a finger beneath my chin, he lifted my gaze to his. “And here I thought I’d kept you all these years because you’d never let me damage you as permanently as I’ve damaged so many others.”

  I couldn’t respond, not with Aiden’s mouth claiming mine on a possessive kiss, the dance of our tongues a seduction filling me with his taste. He bit my bottom lip before breaking the kiss to step away, his voice a tone that expected obedience. “Don’t move from that spot.”

  “And if I do?”

  He turned before I could confirm if it was a true smile that brightened his face, before I could know if I’d only imagined the corners of his lips curling in amusement. “I’ll put you back.”

  There. That right there. Everything I needed despite my desire to rebel. My thoughts drifted to the tub where I’d first fucked Greyson, to an orgasm that had been forced rather than so easily torn from my body by the skills of a dominant man.

  I was two people, Aiden had always claimed, and while giving in to the demands of a submissive body, I feared I’d forgotten a mind that would never allow me to fully be constrained.

  He turned back to me with scarf in hand, a deep blood red that bordered on black. His favorite, I realized, although why he favored one over another I could never be sure. “Mouth or eyes?” I asked, emboldened by the earlier conversation.

  “I’d give you the choice,” he murmured, walking a slow pace until standing behind me, “but I prefer your mouth be available to me.”

  His fingertips brushed my nape as he gathered my hair to fall over one shoulder, his mouth a gentle caress on the exposed skin of my neck, the strap of my nightgown slipping down to drape over my arm. Sliding my hair to fall over the opposite shoulder, he repeated the same action on the opposite side, a slow sensuality that burned me. I held the nightgown to my chest, refusing to let it fall.

  He trailed the side of his finger down the line of my neck, his path continuing across my shoulder as his voice stroked me just as gently. “Show yourself to me, Rebecca. Now is not the time to be shy.”

  Releasing the silk to pool at my waist, I watched as Aiden flicked the end of the silk blindfold over my shoulder, the end dangling down between my legs, sliding up against my skin as he covered my eyes to steal my sight. A dangerous caress, a tempting promise.

  My skin prickled to lose his heat at my back, my body squirming over the bench in wonder of where he’d so silently snuck to stand.

  “Beautiful.”

  The sound came from in front of me, my breasts suddenly heavy, needy for touch. Taking advantage, he stepped between my legs, his knuckles sliding up my stomach slowly, his hand cupping my breast. “You’ll want to suck in a breath, release it slowly.”

  I did as he told me, the sting of a clamp pinching the taut nipple of my breast alerting me to the game he intended to play. Lips kicking up into a grin, I hissed in sensual pain when he attached the second clip. A flick of his thumb over the left nipple, a warm slide of his tongue on the right. Just those two points of quick contact shot an electric path of desire down to my core. He met that path by lifting my skirt to reveal my pussy, attaching a third clip on a bundle of ultra sensitive nerves.

  “Aiden...” A whispered prayer as my body arched back, his arm a steel band behind me to prevent me from falling.

  Wrapping a finger beneath the chains connecting all three clips, he tugged. Sensation burst inside me, such pleasurable pain. “What did you just call me?”

  It was a teasing question. One I answered with my own. “I haven’t come yet. I recall that being the deal.”

  Soft, deep laughter as my body was directed to lie back on the leather padded bench, the scent masculine and intoxicating when weaved through the notes of Aiden’s cologne. His hands guided my arms to extend above my head, strong fingers gripping my wrists to bring them together. I was familiar with the pose he was guiding me into, one that could be sweet as honey or the most bitter of torment, every part of me exposed.

  Aiden clutched my hips to slide me to the end of the bench, allowing my head and arms to fall back. It was instinct to move for fear of tumbling over the edge, but his hands held me in place, his words a promise, “I’ve got you, Pet. Stop struggling.”

  Within seconds, blood rushed to my head, my heart a pounding drum beneath my ribs. The arch of my body tugged the chains taut, the sensation of the clips becoming too much to bear. I wiggled in place, desperate to relieve the tension only for Aiden’s hand to splay over my stomach and the chain, forcing it to become tighter, the clips to pull even more.

  “I haven’t yet started and already you’re misbehaving.” There was a teasing note to his voice, edged with a sharp warning. “I can stop.”

  Hell no. I hadn’t felt this needy in months, the anticipation driving me to a point where breathing had become difficult. “No...”

  “No what?”

  “Please,” I begged.

  Fuck! I needed more.

  His hand slipped beneath my thigh just above the knee, directing it to bend up and to the side of my body. My nightgown was still a soft warmth of fabric pooling over my hips, yet below that every part of me was being exposed to the cool air of the room.

  Slipping a stirrup over the leg, he slid the tether up my calf, beneath my knee, replacing the loop where his hand had been to hold my leg in place. The asshole took his time to round the bench and do the same on the other side. I knew he was enjoying how he could keep me waiting.

  I was completely exposed to him now, my body primed by slow progression, every inch of my skin so ultra sensitive that just the tip of his finger sliding against it would set me off.

  Expecting his touch between my legs, I was surprised to hear his voice above my head, his question so casual, it was jarring. “Is this the same as telling a man what to do?”

  “What?”

  A soft gust of wind as he crouched by my head, his scent, his strong presence, flooding my senses. The sides of his biceps barely touching each cheek, he braced his hands on either side of me. I couldn’t see him, couldn’t move, but somehow I still knew exactly how he positioned himself near me.

  “Telling a man what to do,” he commented, his tone inquisitive, unrushed. “Did you enjoy it?”

  “I-“

  I couldn’t think, not in the position he’d left me. Not with my body primed for a release. Not with this man hovering near me, observing me at my most vulnerable.

  Squirming over the surface of the bench did me no good, it only managed to tug at the clips, my nipples and clit so fucking sensitive now that just a brush of air was too much sensation. “Aiden, just-“

  Another soft laugh, his amusement obvious. “I’m sorry. I don’t answer to Aiden when you’re like this.” He paused, body unmoving where he crouched at my head. “Answer my question, Pet. Would you like to tell me what to do? Are you even sure that you can?”

  Arms sliding against me, he cupped my cheeks between his warm palms to angle my head farther back. My wrists were bound, fingers just barely touching the ground as his mout
h covered mine on a kiss that forced my lips to part. He was tasting me again, licking and biting, his tongue sweeping in on long, sure strokes that seduced me into compliance. Just another tool for his pleasure. Just a body lying there without the need for thought.

  “No,” was my instant answer when he pulled his mouth from mine, “no, I just want you to use me. I don’t want to have to think, I just want -“

  “To feel,” he finished my thought for me. “To exist for one thing alone.”

  “You,” I answered, such honesty tied in that one whispered word that it shocked me.

  “Yes, Pet. You exist for me. I’d forgotten that simple truth over the past few months. As did you.”

  Even though tears slipped from the corners of my eyes, I couldn’t help my smile. “Remind me.”

  “Your wish, my command.”

  The statement made me laugh. I was the one bound and vulnerable, my most intimate parts exposed. Aiden couldn’t even begin to pretend that I had a say in anything he planned to do to me.

  I was perfectly fine with that.

  I wanted that.

  I wanted him.

  Air brushed against my face as he stood to his feet, the carpet in the room cushioning his steps, making it impossible to know where he stood watching me. A tug on the chain and my body rode a wave of anxious desire, one clip removed and my nipple was a point of unbearable pleasure as his hot mouth covered it. With a single flick of his tongue, Aiden shattered me into a million tiny pieces, pulling me back together again as he sucked the taut flesh deeper into his mouth.

  “Oh!” I bit my bottom lip, my thoughts crashing into oblivion, short circuited by that simple point of contact between us.

  Fingertips trailed softly down the inside of my thigh and my hips bucked, my body begging him to drive them inside me. He was careful to keep from touching me where I needed him, his path tracing the outer edges of my sex before he pulled both his hand and his mouth from me.