She gulped and cast her gaze down. “No, Sir.”
“Do what you’re supposed to do, Shelby.”
Quickly she lowered herself to her knees.
He walked over to her and crouched in front of her. With his finger, he lifted her chin. “You’re lovely, sub.”
She blinked. “Sir?”
He moved the pad of his thumb gently down her jawbone.
She could get lost in his eyes. Suddenly she wanted to stay. Unfortunately subs didn’t get to make that decision.
“Thank you for being my sub for the past week. It was a novel experience. I’m glad I got to know you.”
Her heart raced. She didn’t dare hope he’d say more, but desperately she wished he would. “Thank you, Sir.”
Abruptly he changed the subject. “Master David will be here shortly. Master Xavier may or may not pop in.”
She nodded, never wanting him to let her go.
“I will give you a symbolic beating before releasing you back to Master David.”
She stopped breathing.
“I expect you to take it with grace. Make me proud, little sub.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“I’m greedy. I won’t let anyone else touch you while you wear my collar. After that, it’s your choice.”
“Thank you.”
Their gazes were locked. It seemed as if a thousand things remained unspoken.
After several seconds of silence, he said, “I hope that sometime in the future we can—”
The door banged open.
“Good afternoon. Shelby’s actually kneeling? And she stayed there?”
Crap.
David’s arrival interrupted Master Trevor’s words…words she hoped she’d hear, promises of the future and, of course, his undying devotion.
If it had been possible to stamp her foot, she would have.
Instead, she stayed exactly where she was with Master Trevor’s hand holding her chin, despite the fact her friend and sometimes-dom was in the room, looking at her, studying her, maybe judging her.
After tenderly stroking her jawbone one last time, he released her and stood to greet Master David.
“I received the preliminary ideas for the law center,” David said. “I’m beyond impressed. Honored. We’ll do a fundraiser right away. Thank you.”
“I would have done it anyway,” Master Trevor said. “But Shelby’s involvement convinced me to do it immediately.”
Her heart pumped faster. Part of it had been about her.
“Stand, sub,” Master Trevor said.
Keeping her gaze on the floor, she rose with more grace than would have been possible a week ago. Practicing hundreds of times a day led to mastery.
She stood there quietly and waited for further instruction. She wanted to please Master Trevor. She knew that by focusing on him—and only him—she would stay grounded.
“I want you naked, and I want Master David to see how well you behave.”
She didn’t respond. She didn’t need to. It was a given that she’d do what he told her.
“Take off your blouse, then remove your skirt. Leave your shoes on,” he said.
He had told her previously that he had a thing for stilettos. She’d remembered and had worn them intentionally.
She took her time unfastening the buttons on her silk shirt. She was aware of Trevor watching appreciatively and David looking at her with an intrigued, raised eyebrow.
Trying not to allow her fingers to shake, she shrugged out of the silk shirt.
“Great tits, Shel,” David said.
She’d actually dated him?
Trevor extended his hand, and she draped the material over it.
She slowly unzipped her skirt and then shimmied out of it. The fabric pooled onto the floor. She waited for him to tell her to step out of it before she moved.
David sucked in a breath. “You taught her all this in a week?”
“She’s a fast learner,” Master Trevor said.
As she stood there, naked except for shoes and his collar, the men talked about her as if she wasn’t there. She really liked some parts of submission. Other pieces were much more difficult to handle…like them talking about her as if she weren’t there.
She supposed that submission was much like a number of other things. There were trade-offs. Like the fact she hated to exercise but enjoyed the results.
Hoping she was disguising her impatience, trying to be a good sub, she waited for further instruction.
“Climb up on the horse, sub, your ass facing us, just like last time.”
“Yes, Sir,” she said.
He swept the skirt from the floor, then hung it and her shirt on a peg on the wall.
She concentrated on her breathing as she climbed onto the horse.
Master Trevor grabbed restraints from the wall and walked over to her. “You’re doing well,” he said quietly. “I’m proud of you.”
He stroked her spine, and she relaxed. She forgot about everything except pleasing him.
She wriggled until she was as comfortable as possible, and she stuck out her ass in a way she knew he expected.
“Good girl,” he said against her ear as he bent to secure her first wrist in place.
She could do this. She would do this.
In only minutes, he had her tied to the horse.
“How many, sub?”
“Ten, Sir.”
Silence seemed to echo before he said, “With what implement?”
“Whatever Master chooses.”
“Jesus,” he muttered.
She grinned into the vinyl. She’d never used that term of respect before, and clearly he knew it. She liked shocking him.
She wondered what David thought of her new behavior. They’d played together for years, but nothing like this. She’d always talked, always told him what to do, always refused to let him tie her down, always made him stop.
“The flogger or my belt?” Master Trevor asked. “Choose.”
“The flogger, Sir.”
A good sub would give the answers he expected, but she wasn’t quite as good as he thought.
He trailed the twelve thick leather tips over her back, across her buttocks, and then allowed them to dance on the skin of her thighs.
Suddenly she wasn’t feeling so brave.
They’d never played with a flogger, and she wasn’t sure what its intensity was like. She closed her eyes, quickly praying she wasn’t in too deep.
He shocked her by reaching between her legs and pressing a finger against her clit. She swallowed a gasp and curved her fingers into the horse.
“You’re wet, sub.”
“Master’s touch does that, Sir.”
He gently pinched her clit. “No orgasming.”
“Sir?”
“Do I need to repeat myself?”
“Sorry, Sir.”
He removed his hand and took away the flogger.
She didn’t even have time to tense her muscles in anticipation before the first dull blow landed. “Thank you, Sir. One.” He hadn’t told her to count or express gratitude, but she supposed that was a given.
The second thuddy stripe landed almost on top of the first. She breathed out and thanked him. “Two.”
By the third, they’d found a rhythm. “Three; thank you, Sir.”
He wielded the whip like a master. The differences between this kind of beating and punishment were vast. This was scripted for her enjoyment.
The fourth landed, and she moved with it, then brought her body back into position for the fifth.
Despite his warning, deep inside, an orgasm built. Her pussy was damp. “Four. Thank you, Sir.”
Now she had something else to worry about. If she orgasmed and others were in the room, he’d have no option but to turn this into a punishment.
He landed another stripe, this one blazingly hard. Most of the throngs curled around her thighs instead of her ass and bit into her skin. But one tip landed viciously between her legs a
nd caught the tender flesh of her pussy. She screamed.
Damn it! The single throng seared.
She yanked against her restraints, desperate to get away.
“Shelby?”
Panting, blinking back the sting of tears, she forced herself to say, “Five. Thank you, Sir.”
She expected the next stripe to come immediately, but it didn’t. Obviously he was giving her time to compose herself.
She exhaled shakily.
Shelby had dug her fingers into the horse’s vinyl padding, and as she managed to breathe again, she realized the pain had obliterated her need to come.
Her dom had been watching her carefully, reading her. Over the past week, he’d taken the time to learn about her and her responses. He knew her intimately and had apparently recognized that the rhythm of the beating was bringing her to orgasm.
There was huge emotional comfort in the fact that he was completely in tune with her.
Now that her physical responses were once again under control, she forced her rear out again and waited for him. She might not know what to expect, but she knew, totally, that she could trust him.
As if the sound were from somewhere far away, she heard the slight groan of the door opening.
“Good afternoon, Master Trevor. Master David.”
She recognized the sound of Master Xavier’s voice.
Shelby’s body went rigid.
Having David there watching her beating was bad enough, but having Master Xavier in attendance made it more intense.
“Destiny wanted me to check in,” Master Xavier said.
Shelby heard sounds, as if the men were shaking hands…shaking hands while she lay strapped to the horse, her ass sticking in the air, her pussy exposed.
“We’re halfway through the sub’s beating,” Master Trevor said.
“Please continue.”
She’d never get accustomed to being spoken about as if she weren’t there.
She uncurled her fingers, knowing the strokes wouldn’t feel as intense if her muscles were more relaxed.
He caught her upper thighs, in that tender spot just below her buttocks.
She gasped. She thought she’d been ready, but it seemed she was never completely ready for the first blow. As she wriggled back into the obscene position of exposing her female parts, she said, “Six, Sir. Thank you.”
“Good,” Master Xavier remarked. “Quite a change from last week. Turns out you don’t need a gag after all.”
She felt a flush of joy, not only for herself but for Master Trevor. His reputation, even with Destiny, had to go up a notch because of her behavior.
“I’d gag her just because I’d like the sight of a ball in her mouth,” David said.
As if he’d ever get that chance.
She liked playing with Master Trevor. In the future, she doubted she would want to play with anyone other than him.
The men were silent while he delivered the next few stripes. She concentrated on the rhythm, on her breathing, of the forward then backward sway of her hips as the flogger rose and fell against her skin.
The tenth and final stroke hit her like magic, a caress, a promise that would remain unfulfilled.
Tears stung her eyes, but it had nothing to do with pain. “Ten. Thank you, Sir.”
“Wow,” David said. “Impressive. And if she had a gag in her mouth, she wouldn’t be able to say thank you. Good choice on leaving her mouth available.”
She wasn’t sure what Master Trevor had almost said earlier, despite what she wanted to hear. Even if he did want to have a scene later, she wasn’t sure she could handle it emotionally. She was in love with the man. Since she was so emotionally invested, she couldn’t have a casual hookup on the rare occasions she was in San Francisco.
Even though she was desperate to see him again, it was probably better for her if she never did.
“Maybe I’ll send in Destiny to receive a beating,” Master Xavier said. “Well done, both of you.”
From her peripheral vision, she saw Master Trevor hang the flogger on the wall.
“I agree,” David said. “Well done, Master Trevor.”
Master Trevor returned to her. Gently he lifted her hair and unfastened the collar.
She was no longer aware of her physical exposure. Compared to her emotional fragility, being tied naked to a punishment horse seemed trivial. Bravely she tried to swallow the sudden knot in her throat.
He held the collar in his left hand and smoothed back her bangs with his right hand.
“Buy you a drink?” Master Xavier asked, the question obviously directed toward Master Trevor.
“Thanks,” Master Trevor said, moving away from her without a backward glance.
Then, suddenly, the room was silent.
Just like that, it was over with Master Trevor.
“Damn. You took that well, Shel. I’m impressed. Never knew you had it in you,” David said, crouching next to her to release her restraints. “I guess I wasn’t the right dom for you.”
She barely heard him, and she wasn’t capable of responding. She wanted to be back home, where she could be alone with her fragile emotions.
Like a good friend, David helped her from the horse and into her coat once she’d managed to dress.
Thankfully he had no need to run his mouth.
He draped an arm around her shoulder as he walked her to the club’s exit door.
She kept her gaze down, not because it was the respectful thing to do but because she wasn’t sure she could keep it together if she saw Master Trevor on her way out.
Chapter Seven
“Jesus.”
Trevor looked up from the papers he’d been staring at. He’d vaguely been aware of the overhead bell jangling as the front door had opened. But it hadn’t been enough to galvanize him into action.
He’d arrived at David’s law offices long before dawn, telling himself he wanted to get a jump on the day. But the truth was that seeing his company’s progress, studying the checklists, verifying things were on track gave him something to do and got him out of his godforsakenly lonely home.
David stood in front of him, holding a cup of to-go coffee from the local place down the street.
“How long have you been here? It’s not even six yet.”
“Just got here. Maybe ten minutes?” Probably more like an hour, but he’d sound pathetic if he admitted that.
“Are you sleeping at all?” David asked.
“If that’s your way of saying I look like shit, it wasn’t very subtle.”
“I save subtle for court,” he said. “You haven’t shaved, maybe in a week. So, yeah,” he said easily, “you look like shit.” He offered the cup to Trevor. “You need this more than I do.”
As a testament to how tired he really was, Trevor accepted the offering without even asking what the beverage was.
He took a sip and gagged. “Christ! What the hell is this? Caramel something-or-other?” Figures the man would order a froufrou drink. “What the fuck happened to real men drinking real coffee?”
“I just gave you a five dollar latte. My five dollar latte. With whipped cream. Show a little gratitude.”
“Gratitude for something that tastes like dessert at six o’clock in the morning?”
“It’s Shelby’s favorite.”
Fuck.
Just what he needed, a reminder of the woman he’d let walk out of Dark Haven and California. But what real choice did he have? She had a life and successful career in Denver. He loved San Francisco with its moody weather and sometimes-nasty ocean. He couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
He’d enjoyed his week with her, but it had been little more than a diversion for either of them, albeit a diversion that still knocked him around emotionally.
He’d been to Dark Haven once in the month since she left. There had been a few subs at the club who were curious and indicated they were available for him. Since they didn’t have the protection of a dom, he could have played with an
y of them. But it turned out he hadn’t wanted to. He only wanted a particular olive-skinned, dark-haired, green-eyed beauty with a very round, sexy little butt.
He’d had a drink with Master Xavier, exchanged glares with Destiny—one day he really was going to have to beat her—and then returned home. He’d showered and masturbated to memories of Shelby.
He’d learned, in the week they’d shared, that he no longer wanted a meaningless relationship, no quick fucks.
He wanted someone like Shelby, in his bed, in his collar, twenty-four hours a day. She was more of an I’ll-be-a-sub-when-it’s-convenient-for-me type of woman. Playing in the scene on weekend visits to Dark Haven wasn’t going to work for him.
“She’s as miserable as you are,” David said casually as he moved toward the office coffeemaker. He measured grounds into the basket, then turned on the tap and filled the carafe.
“Excuse me?” Trevor asked.
“She says she won’t play with me ever again. Seems she only wants to play with one dom, and I’m not him.”
David’s statement shouldn’t have mattered. There were numerous reasons a relationship between him and Shelby wouldn’t work.
“I tried to call her last week to check up on her. I couldn’t reach her by cell phone.”
Trevor told himself he wasn’t interested in how many times David called her or talked to her. He liked the man, but the sudden feeling of jealousy made him want to catch the other man with an uppercut to the jaw. Nothing serious. But laying him out for several minutes would feel good.
David poured the water into the coffeemaker. “The secretary told me Shelby took a few days off work last week. I guess she went backwoods camping. Said she needed to get away.”
“Alone?”
“In the Rocky Mountains, yes. It was evidently just her, a backpack, some food and water, and a tent. I think she had a flashlight.”
Trevor’s jaw tightened. The woman needed a keeper. Hell, she needed more than a keeper. She needed a Master.
“She’d told me she was thinking of going away. I asked her not to go, especially not alone,” David said. “But she wouldn’t listen to me. She never listens to me about anything. I kept trying to call, but she either had her phone off or it wasn’t getting reception. Are there grizzlies in the Rockies? I forget.”
Grizzlies?
Doms of Dark Haven 2: Western Night Page 10
