by Blue Kincaid
Bas’s arms slid around her, his head bending to nuzzle her neck where it met her shoulder, sending waves of shivers washing through her body. “Alright?” he asked, voice quiet.
She leaned her head back against his shoulder. “Alright.”
She got a kiss to her cheek for that and then Bas straightened and began to slowly, carefully wind the rope around her torso, several loops above her breasts, several more below, and the feeling of compression almost felt as if he were hugging her. It was…comforting and instead of tensing more, she relaxed. Her eyes closed and she smiled. “It’s like a hug,” she murmured.
Bas chuckled softly beside her ear. “I like that description. Do you like it?”
“Yes.”
“Good girl.”
He kept saying that, soft little murmurs of approval as he wound and weaved the rope around her body, crisscrossed across her ribcage and her hips in a web design. And every time he said it, it made a swell of pleasure bubble inside her. She liked pleasing him, she realized. And the affirmation of doing so acted like some kind of happy drug in her system until by the time Bas slipped the rope between her thighs, a small knot fashioned to settle snug between the cheeks of her ass in…a very intimate place, she felt like she was floating. She held her breath as Bas finished by securing the ends to her bound arms and then…stopped.
She shivered, head spinning. “Are…are you done?” she asked, feeling a little light-headed.
“I am,” he said quietly, hands skimming down her arms and sides to her hips, fingers tracing the vivid pink rope. “How do you feel?”
She shook her head, unsure how to put it into words. “Fuzzy. But lovely, too.”
She could feel the smile on his lips against her neck. “Good. That’s perfectly right.” One hand slid around to splay on her stomach and then eased down between her thighs, where she could feel the rope sort of…framing her pussy. It made her blush and aroused her at the same time. She could imagine how it looked, sort of, but wished she could see.
Again, as if reading her mind, Bas slid out of the bed and went to the wall in front of the bed where a curtain hung and swept it aside – to reveal a full length mirror. She gasped, swaying a little on her knees as suddenly she was faced with the unexpected image of herself in the most beautiful, intricate rope bondage she’d ever seen. This was starting slow, easing into it? What kinds of elaborate things could Bas do if this was what he considered ‘slow and easy’?
He came back to kneel behind her, but Drew couldn’t look away from herself in the mirror, even though it was a little embarrassing, too. She looked so on display. Erotic. She’d never thought of herself that way before, but looking at what Bas had done, she couldn’t see herself any other way now.
“I’m beautiful,” she breathed, awed.
Sebastian’s hands came around to cup her breasts, fingers lightly rolling the nipples. “You are. Very much so.”
She leaned back against his broad chest, panting softly as he fondled her. It was like…like she was really his. His plaything. His to do whatever he pleased with. And she loved it. Her breaths were shallow, thanks to the slight constriction of the ropes around her chest, but not so much so that she couldn’t breathe well – just enough to make her aware of every breath, and to feel like Bas held those very breaths in his hands. Owning them. Owning her.
“I’m yours,” she whispered. It wasn’t a question, but more an awe-struck realization.
Bas nipped her jaw, tongue soothing the sting. “Yes, you are. Mine, sweetheart. Only mine.”
Any other man she would have bristled at that, but oh, when Bas said it she wanted to shout her agreement. It resonated within her, deep inside, vibrating along her spine and through the ropes that bound her, the truth of it embracing her as surely as he did. As surely as his ropes did. She’d never felt so free.
Chapter Six
Drew nibbled on the edge of her toast, one leg tucked up against her chest in the kitchen chair, one of Bas’s shirts drooping off her shoulder, sleeves rolled up half a dozen times. He was very big and she liked how it felt to be all sort of bundled up in his shirt. Like he was still holding her, or like the ropes were.
She’d never experienced anything like what’d happened earlier. Bas told her after that she’d probably slipped into what was called sub-space while she was bound, though she wasn’t sure what that meant. Rope-drunk was another term he’d used and that sounded more accurate. She could still taste the high on her tongue, somehow, and wondered when or if he’d do it again.
Right then, Bas was out. He’d left to pick up a late lunch for them, after she’d discovered that his bachelor pad also included a bachelor fridge full of mostly old takeout and various forms of alcohol.
Drew wasn’t sure what to think about everything that’d happened. But as she sat there doing the thinking, she began to realize that she really probably ought to call Chad. She’d left him high and dry the night before and even if they weren’t exclusive or anything close, she had been on a date with him. It seemed only polite to offer some kind of apology. Plus, he might be worried.
Considering the obvious bad blood between him and Bas, she decided she’d better make the call while Bas was out. Then her conscience would be eased and she could enjoy the rest of their time together without any niggles of guilt.
She grabbed her phone and settled down on the couch with it, for a minute just staring at the screen before she shook off the silly nerves and swiped through her contacts list to find Chad and hit ‘Call’.
A handful of rings later, she let out the breath she hadn’t known she was holding when the call went through to voicemail. Thank goodness. Much less awkward.
“So…hi. It’s me. I’m calling to apologize for leaving so abruptly last night…” Drew wrinkled her nose, because she hadn’t just left, she’d left with someone else. “Um…yeah, so I’m fine and I guess I’ll talk to you later. If you’re not too mad. Okay, um…” She hung up, sighing and dropping the phone to the table with a groan. So much for ‘less awkward’.
Before she could really dwell on the levels of mortifying within that five second voicemail, she heard the door open and leaned forward to peer into the entryway, smiling when Bas appeared, laden down with an armful of bags. Drew slid out of the chair and darted toward him, hands out.
“Here, let me take some of those.”
Bas lifted a brow, as if to ask whether she thought he couldn’t handle carrying a few bags, but then just smiled and handed her a couple. “Thanks.” His gaze skimmed her and she felt it like a physical touch. “I like you in my shirt, little one.”
Her stomach pitched pleasantly and she set the bags on the kitchen counter, glancing over her shoulder at him. “I like when you call me ‘little one’. Which is weird because normally I hate being reminded of how short I am. But…” She shrugged. “I don’t think you mean it that way.”
“I don’t.” He reached out and took her hand after setting his bags down, tugging her closer as he leaned against the counter. “How do you think I mean it?”
It was really hard to think when he kept touching her in those casual, familiar sort of ways. Like right then with his fingers trailing along her thigh where the hem of his shirt stopped. It made her want to hop up on that counter, spread her legs wide and let him use those fingers elsewhere. Ohhh, that sounded fun.
But he’d asked her a question and she didn’t think a good submissive ignored questions from her Dom. Gosh, was he? Her Dom? Not really, but it was a nice fantasy. She pushed away the distracting thoughts for the moment.
“I…I think you mean it like not that I’m small, but that I’m…” She bit her lip, unsure how to put it. “I guess that I’m sort of…special.”
Bas slid his arm around her waist, fingers bunching in the material at her back. “Not ‘sort of’ special, Drew. Very special. And mine.”
Lord, he made her want to swoon. If swooning was a real thing and not just something made romantic by romance novels when
really it’d been caused by too-tight corsets. She blinked, yanking her mind back on track. “I’m not, really, though. It’s just…temporary.” Technically it’d ended that morning, according to the contract she’d signed.
Bas tilted his head. “Is it? You’re still here, Drusilla. Or have you changed your mind while I was gone and want to leave?”
She shook her head sharply, a little too adamantly, maybe. “No. No, I don’t want to go home. I just…last night it was different. There was the contract and it felt like I kind of didn’t have a choice, even though I did, but I liked knowing I’d given you the right to have me, to sort of…own me. It felt sexy.”
“And now it doesn’t?”
Drew shook her head again, frowning as she tried to phrase it right. “I don’t know how to explain it. Of course it’s still sexy, you’re sexy, it just…last night there were rules, it made sense and I knew what was what. Somewhat, anyway. Now I just…what are we doing? What am I doing? Why am I still here?”
“I think you know the answer to that. Do you want to know why I think you’re still here?”
She nodded.
He brought his hands between them, long fingers toying with the top button of the shirt she wore before popping it open with a wicked smile. “You’re here because you want to explore what’s inside you.”
Drew giggled. “Or you do,” she teased.
He laughed and shook his head. “Brat. But, no. I already know what’s inside you, Drew. A sensual, eager, curious woman with desires she hasn’t been able to give attention to before now. And now that you’ve had a taste…I think you want more.”
He was partially right. To be honest, she did want more, but she thought it had just as much to do with him being the one to give it to her as it did whatever exploration into her own submissiveness might happen. She was pretty sure if it’d been anyone else…she’d either have not gone with them the night before or would have left at first light.
“I think it’s you,” she whispered.
Bas smiled gently and slid one hand up to cup her cheek, thumb stroking lightly. “I love how honest you are. Most women might try to play coy.”
Drew rolled her eyes a little with a laugh. “I’m afraid I’m no good at coy. Just blurting out everything that passes through my head.”
Bas shook his head with a small frown. “Don’t do that. Don’t put yourself down and pass it off as a joke. You’re openness and honesty is something to be proud of. Do you have any idea how difficult it is as a Dom when a sub says things she doesn’t mean or hides what she feels? It turns a scene into a guessing game and a minefield of disaster waiting to happen.”
Drew hadn’t ever considered that. It made her lack of internal filter seem like a good thing. Like maybe he really didn’t think she was a complete social dunce. “Really? So a minute ago when I was wishing I could just hop up on the counter and beg you to touch me…I should have done that?”
Bas groaned, fingers tightening in her hair. “Jesus. Yes, little one, always follow those kinds of instincts.”
Well. Since he’d given permission… She eased out of his arms and backed up a few steps, reaching back to brace herself and hopped up onto the island top, never looking away from his smoldering blue eyes. She trembled inside as she spread her legs, just like she’d thought about, feet on the counter’s edge and Bas’s shirt the only thing preserving even a scrap of her modesty.
“Touch me, Bas. Please.”
He was across the kitchen in one and a half long-legged strides, his mouth on hers in an instant and his hands…oh yes, his hands were on her, whisking open the buttons of the shirt she wore, shoving it open, baring her to him.
He broke the kiss, moving his mouth down along her neck as Drew tilted her head back to grant him full access. She’d never felt so completely uninhibited. She wasn’t exactly a prude in everyday life, but Bas seemed to take that and turn it up to eleven. He looked at her and she wanted him to touch her. He touched her and she wanted him to fuck her. He fucked her and she wanted it again and again until she couldn’t move. Then she wanted more once she’d recovered. It was insane. And addictive.
His fingers skated down the center of her chest, between her breasts, down over her stomach and splayed there on her lower belly, his thumb settling itself snug against her clit as though it were made to live there, slowly driving her mad with pleasure. Holy god, she didn’t know how she managed to breathe when he began to rub and circle and flick it expertly. She owned a clit and even she didn’t know how to use it the way he did.
She whimpered as his mouth moved further down and closed on one nipple. One hand sank into his hair, loosening the hair tie there and letting it fall around his shoulders. She didn’t even normally like guys with long hair, but Sebastian’s suited him so perfectly – that hint of wild Northman that tugged at every feminine part of her. What girl didn’t want to capture herself a wild man and make him her own?
Sebastian’s mouth trailed lower, this time skimming along her ribs and down past her belly-button until he stilled, fingertips coming up to brush her skin high on the inside of her thigh. “Drew? What is this scar from?”
She flinched, wishing he hadn’t noticed. It was not a memory she liked to relive. “Um…an accident. Candle play gone awry, actually.”
Bas lifted his head and stared up at her, jaw tightening. “Candle play? Is this from him? From Chad?”
Drew blinked, shocked. How could he possibly have known that? “How do you know about that? Bas, why would you know that?”
He didn’t say anything for a few seconds, thumb still against her clit. Finally, he sighed. “Because I’d seen you before. Last night wasn’t the first time.”
Drew froze, blinking at him. He seemed to sense the mood had completely shifted and slowly let go of her, watching as she gathered his shirt back around herself. She processed that statement for a minute. “When?” Out around town? Had he followed her or something? Or had he –
“At the club. A few months ago.”
Embarrassment flooded her and she slid down off the counter, hand over her face. “Oh god. You were there?”
“Yes. I’m sorry, I should have said so earlier, I just thought…”
“That I’d want the ground to open up and swallow me knowing you saw what happened. Oh god, I am so embarrassed.”
Bas caught her wrist then, tugging her hand away from her face and frowned down at her in confusion. “What? Why would you be embarrassed? Is…fuck. He said it was your fault, didn’t he? He let you blame yourself.”
Drew glanced up at him, barely able to meet his eyes. “I was the one who panicked and lost my nerve and nearly had a meltdown in front of a room full of strangers.”
It’d been nearly four months earlier, when she’d first started seeing Chad. She hadn’t realized he wasn’t exactly long term material then, so she’d been eager to be open and make him like her and when he’d mentioned the club…well, she’d jumped at the chance.
And then he’d brought her to Twisted & Tied, and she’d been anxious to prove she wasn’t this little vanilla nobody so when Chad had suggested a bit of wax play, it sounded hot. Too hot, it turned out. She’d been bound and at first it’d felt good – sort of dark and sexy and she’d been turned on. But then it’d started to hurt, really hurt, the wax splashing in too-large amounts, burning her skin. She’d tried to tell Chad so, to stop him when he’d pulled her thighs apart to get at the tender skin, but he hadn’t given her a safeword like Bas did and it’d been sort of loud – he hadn’t seemed to hear her at first. It wasn’t until she started really crying that he noticed and untied her and she’d just…bolted, barely taking the time to get her clothes back on.
Chad had been so mad, said she’d embarrassed him and that she wasn’t a good enough submissive to handle the lifestyle and that he should have known better than to take her there. She’d tried, not wanting to embarrass him or herself, but in the end he was right, she couldn’t handle it. It’d taken a lot to
work up the courage to go back last night. And now she knew Sebastian had been there, maybe even in the room – though she thought she would have noticed him, even then – and she wanted to die of mortification.
“God, why would you pick me last night, then, if you knew what a bad sub I was?”
Bas shook his head, tugging her closer and his big, long-fingered hands coming up to cup her face, making her look up at him when what she really wanted to do was go home and hide and maybe move to a whole other city before she ever tried to dip her toe into the BDSM world again.
“You are not a bad submissive. You are responsive and sensual and incredibly beautiful in the way you give yourself. You just needed the right person to give yourself to.”
Drew had to smile at that, peeking up at him. “And that’s you, huh?”
Bas smiled back, tilting his head with a slight shrug. “What do you think?”
She didn’t know. Maybe. He certainly made her feel things and want things she’d never felt or wanted before. It was a little scary, how much she wanted to please him. She might let him do just about anything he wanted and that was a frightening thought. At the same time, it made her knees weak with arousal to imagine the kinds of things he might do with that kind of free reign. Dirty things. Filthy things. Things she’d love.
“I think I don’t know. But…I kinda want to find out.” That was as much as she was willing to give him right then. She hardly knew him and even though her heart fluttered wildly in her chest in eagerness to fly into his strong hands, she locked it down and refused to be that foolish. You can’t go falling head over heels for the guy you met fourteen hours ago, she kept telling herself.
“Good. Then stay. Stay until you know. Let me teach you what you wanted to learn four months ago. You’re not a bad sub, Drew. You just had a very bad teacher.”
