“I stand corrected. This one warrants further investigation. A fashion show may be needed for me to decide.”
Giggling, she shook her head as she watched him examine a skimpy red bikini and a teal number that had a halter-style top. Both actually had a thong bottom and went into the ‘maybe’ pile while the last two, although pretty, were deemed too conservative and went back in the drawer.
“That leaves four for consideration.” He carried them to her and pressed them into her hand before he swept up his coffee and reclined on her bed. “Let the show begin, baby. Start with the red one.”
In the end, she’d been put through her paces. She’d gotten into the game, strutting around like a runway model in each minuscule scrap of nothing, posing and turning on command. When he asked her to bend from the waist with her ass facing him, she’d finally protested.
“I must evaluate each piece from all angles,” he said as though the decision was as weighty as a peace treaty between warring nations. “Displaying an ass as hot as yours must be given careful consideration.”
That earned him a roll of her eyes and a rude remark under her breath. As soon as it left her lips, he bounded off the bed, bent her over his knee, and proceeded to swat her with ten of his best all the while lecturing on why calling her dom ‘a gawking pervert’ was not a good idea. When he was done and her bottom was tingling and warm, he announced his decision.
“The yellow is my favorite, but after that sassy tongue earned you a morning spanking, we’ll go with the green one. I want you in a thong that shows off that pink bottom. The red might detract from the lovely color I gave your cheeks and my hard work would be all for naught.”
Sydney gaped at him, keying in on one important point. “I’m expected to walk around with my red butt on display? Everyone will know.”
“Precisely. Now go change. My coffee cup is empty and I’m hungry.” To take the bite out of his orders, he wrapped a strong hand around her neck and pulled her toward him for a quick but thorough kiss. “Hurry, baby, I want pancakes.”
She rushed to the bathroom, changed, and came out a few minutes later wearing the teal—not green, did the man not know his colors?—bikini with a matching sarong. When he grinned and wrapped his arms around her, his hands sliding around to cup her rounded butt, she smiled against his shoulder, thinking she’d taken this small battle, but her celebration came too soon.
“I’ll allow it, subbie, for now, but don’t think you have won anything. When I say it comes off, this scrap of silk is history.”
Laughing at her thwarted expression, he pulled her along to breakfast.
After Jax got his tall stack of pancakes and she’d had yogurt and fruit, they headed to the beach, spreading their blanket on the white sugary sand. Then they walked hand in hand in the rolling surf for about an hour. When the sun peaked and the temperature rose, they ran laughing like children into the waves to cool off. They splashed and played, body surfing and floating with Sydney often on top of Jax, held in his strong arms for a salty kiss, or towed around on her back. When they were wrinkled and breathless, they collapsed onto their blanket for a short reprieve.
* * *
After a few minutes warming in the sun, Jax rolled his head to look at his beautiful weekend submissive. As she lay on her belly with her head pillowed on her arms, his gaze swept over her curves and the glistening beads of water that clung to her skin. Noticing how her round breast swelled softly beyond the confines of her bikini top, he watched with fascination as a droplet rolled off her back. He followed it as it traveled over her side, across her soft breast and disappeared beneath the material. A line of pink skin meeting pale white had him concerned. “Dry off and apply more sunscreen, baby,” he ordered. “You’re getting pink.”
“I will in a bit. I just want to lie here and doze for a few more minutes.”
“Now, Sydney. If you burn, you’ll spoil our weekend.”
“Mmmm…”
The little imp had no intention of getting up and doing as he ordered. She would learn soon enough that he had ways of correcting that type of behavior—enjoyable for him, but not so much for her. He planned to demonstrate one of his methods now. Digging inside her beach bag, he found what he was looking for—her hairbrush. Thank goodness, it was a paddle-style brush instead of one of those round ones with the bristles all around. In the next instant, he rolled toward her and pulled her up onto her hands and knees. With an arm around her waist, he began spanking her disobedient butt.
“Yeow! That hurts.” Struggling to turn over, she wiggled ineffectually beneath his arm.
The sand shifting beneath them had him spreading his knees and pulling her across one hard thigh for greater stability before resuming her spanking.
“No! Please, stop!”
Concentrating on the tender spot between her ass and thighs, he applied a half dozen more before he paused. “Are you ready to do as you’re told, baby girl?”
“Yes… anything.”
He chuckled. “Careful before you throw away that limit list. Don’t write checks your naughty butt isn’t ready to cash.”
Pulling her up against him, he hugged her close, his hand brushing against her red and chastened cheeks. “Get your sunscreen and I’ll spread it on your back.”
He kissed her temple before releasing her. She scrambled for her bag, but not before her hands flew to her backside.
“Uh-unh! No rubbing. That sting is there as a reminder not to misbehave again.”
“Yes, sir,” she said with much greater compliance as she found the tube and brought it back to him, turning her back.
“Take off your suit, Sydney.”
Wide-eyed, she looked back at him over her shoulder. “What?”
“You heard me. The second part of your punishment is that you forfeit your suit until you show me you can behave. This stalling that you’re doing right now is not quite what I had in mind.”
Her hands went hesitantly to the tie at the back of her bikini top. “Surely you can’t mean for me to walk around naked?”
“Surely I can,” he parroted back.
“Is it a nude beach?”
He broke out in a belly laugh. “Sydney, it’s a nude island if your dom says so. Everyone is an adult here so it’s not a big deal. Strip.”
She closed her mouth, a crease forming between her brows as it sunk in. This is what having a dominant male in charge really meant. He held out his hand and she relinquished her top.
“Now the bottoms. Then lie on your belly so I can do your back.”
Reluctantly, she peeled off the rest of her suit and handed that over too. With the cheeks of her face blushing to match the cheeks of her behind, she lay down on the blanket and sighed, seeming to be relieved to be mostly covered.
Silly little subbie; he had much more in store for her. Taking up the sunscreen, he squirted a dollop onto his palm and began to work it into every square inch of her skin. When he got to her bottom, he spread it gently into her pink globes.
“You have a gorgeous round bottom, Sydney. It’s perfect for a man’s hand; I’m surprised no one has spanked it before now.”
“I suppose I’ve been meeting a different kind of man.”
He swatted her bottom. “Okay, roll over and I’ll do your front.”
As she did, he heard a male voice calling his name. Looking up, he saw one of the security team heading down the trail from the cabana. Quick as a wink, a frantic Sydney scrambled up and around behind him. When he turned, she was trying to untangle the strings of her top and get it on over her head.
“Did I say you could dress?”
Her eyes flew to his. “But—” Panicking, her eyes switched to the man rapidly approaching behind him.
“I understand you’re shy, baby, but I gave an order that I expect you to obey.”
Breathless, she looked down at her top. He could see by her very expressive face that she was struggling with her decision. This was a pivotal point for her, to resist or su
bmit. C’mon, baby, he urged silently, be brave and choose submission.
He exhaled with relief, his chest swelling with pride as he watched Sydney struggle, reaching down deep and making the right decision for her. Submissives had more mettle than the vanilla world gave them credit for. It took balls to turn control over to another, and in her case, a near stranger. She proved her point now by dropping the teal-colored spandex to the blanket and moving back to her previous spot.
“That’s my girl.” Seeing the looming tears behind her long silky lashes as she lay stiffly on her back, with fisted hands and curled toes, he crumbled like a house of cards. If Vance or Dimitri found out what he was about to do, they’d cancel his membership in the badass dominants club, for sure. Ruefully shaking his head, he offered her a compromise of sorts.
“Tell you what. I’ll give you a choice. You can lie down and let me finish what I started while Joe tells me whatever he finds urgent enough to interrupt our time together…” Her frown told him she didn’t like option one. “Or,” he continued, “you can stand behind me and rub some of that SPF 30 on my back. Your penalty will be a second spanking, however.”
“I’ll take the spanking, sir.”
Lightning quick, she snatched up the tube from the towel and hid behind him. The gentle sway of tits and ass as she scrambled for cover was quite entertaining. Still grinning when Joe walked up, he wasn’t able to conjure up sufficient anger over the interruption.
“I’m on dom duty this weekend, bud. This had better be good.”
“Sorry, Jax,” Joe offered as his eyes flicked to the other man’s shoulders, where Sydney’s hands had begun to apply the lotion. Joe quirked a questioning brow at Jax, but only got a grinning response. “Vance needs a word with you sometime today at your convenience, something about an alert from back home.”
Jaxon nodded. He and Vance owned a commercial security firm that served large corporations throughout the U.S. They were on call 24/7, but had excellent regional managers and local directors capable of handling almost any situation, which meant something was up. “Tell him I’ll find him after lunch. I assume he is finished with his assignment?”
“Yeah, evidently any concerns D had are resolved now.” Joe’s knowing grin told Jax the abduction fantasy had gone off without a hitch as expected. Still, it never hurt to be cautious. Joe tipped his head to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of Sydney, who was doing an excellent job of staying hidden. “I’ll leave you to your sub, then. I hear she’s a beauty. Don’t suppose I get to meet her, huh?”
Jaxon twisted enough to look over his shoulder. Sydney latched onto him and gave a squeal of alarm, plastering herself to his back like a second skin. “Want to say hello to Joe, baby?”
“No, thank you. No offense to Joe.”
Jax grinned. For such a beautiful woman, he found her lack of self-confidence surprising, and her genuineness refreshing. “Sorry, Sydney’s feeling a bit shy at the moment.”
Joe chuckled. “I’m sure it has nothing to do with the bikini lying at her feet.”
A groan of mortification resonated from behind his back just before her face planted between his shoulder blades. She was so freakin’ cute. As such, he was having a hard time keeping the goofy grin off his face.
An experienced dom himself, Joe shook his head and laughed unabashedly as he made his way back up the path.
* * *
Twenty hand spanks later and a naked stroll down the beach with her dom had her duly chastised and submissive. All of this was interspersed with kisses and cuddles, and a plethora of intimate touches. It was a perfect morning. Sydney realized how absurd that sounded, but she was learning that she was pretty much bent and kinky, so what could she say.
After spending an idyllic morning together, Sydney would have happily stayed longer if not for Jaxon’s growling belly and his concern over the color of her nose, breasts, and shoulders. During a third application of Coppertone-30, he’d inspected her skin—virgin skin he’d called it—after she’d admitted her breasts and other intimate parts had never seen the light of day before. He’d tsk-tsked over her tender bottom while he slathered on the lotion, commenting that he couldn’t tell what pink was from spank and from sun any more.
They’d dropped off their beach paraphernalia, and then strolled hand in hand toward the main house for a late lunch. Jaxon, who Sydney was beginning to think was an easy touch, had allowed her to dress, including her sarong.
Mariah was in the dining room when they arrived and greeted them warmly. “Hello, you two. I missed you at breakfast.”
“We did continental on Sydney’s porch and spent the morning on the beach.” His arm at her waist squeezed as he looked at her. “You enjoyed it, didn’t you, baby.”
More of a statement than a question, she treated it as such and nodded. “We swam and strolled in the surf. It was wonderful.”
“I’m so glad you’re enjoying yourself, Sydney. You acquired a tinge of pink on the beach, though. You’ll have to be careful with all that milky fair skin. Redheads color up quicker than most, I’ve noticed.”
Beside her, Jaxon stirred, but didn’t say a word. Thank goodness for that. Her flaming cheeks were probably enough to alert Mariah that she had a tinge of pink from more than the sun. Their charming hostess’ blue eyes just glimmered delightedly as she looked between the two of them.
“I don’t see Dimitri anywhere; will you join us, Mariah?” Jaxon offered politely. Syd could tell he didn’t really want her to though. Nice guy that he was, he made the gesture all the same.
“He’s off on an errand, so I’d love to.” Mariah’s smile quickly faded in an instant as her eyes locked on something across the dining room. “Uh, I just remembered something I need to do. You two enjoy your privacy.” She turned and then dashed away.
“Mariah!” A deep, impatient voice called from behind them. Sydney and Jax turned as one and saw the island owner hurrying toward where they stood by the door—irritation clear in his features. As he came abreast of them, he muttered a hushed curse. “Merda!”
“Problems?” Jax inquired.
“Nothing that the flat of my hand won’t cure.” His eyes fell on Sydney and he nodded politely. “Sydney, are things going well?”
Intimidated by the tall, powerful man, she inclined her head and answered simply, “Yes, sir.”
“Excellent, I knew Jaxon would take care of you. If you’ll excuse me.” He took a step, before turning back to add, “By the way, Jaxon, Vance needs a word with you this afternoon; something about a problem back home.”
“I’ll find him right after lunch, D.”
He nodded and then took his leave, a petite blonde obviously the center of his attention.
“If you need to take care of that problem now, I’ll understand. I hope it’s nothing serious.”
“It will keep until after lunch, Sydney, but thank you.”
“Master D seemed distracted. What was that he said in Italian?”
“Nothing socially appropriate for you. The equivalent in English would earn you a spanking.”
“Seems like everything could earn me a spanking.”
“And the problem with that is what?”
Darn her blushes, because as her face heated involuntarily, she answered Jax’s question without a word.
“Mm-hmm, I rest my case.”
A change of subject was in order. “I don’t blame Mariah for running. Dimitri is kind of scary.”
“More so than me?”
She studied him closely as he moved around the table after seating her. He’d given her the chair with the best view of the bay—such a gentleman. Looking around the picturesque dining room, surrounded on all sides by large open windows, she acknowledged that all the seats had great views of the bay. Still, it was a gallant thing to do.
“Baby?”
Distracted, she’d forgotten the question and he had to repeat it. Was she scared of him? The paddling with the brush had hurt. The second round with his hand
not as much, but it still burned like fire, especially on an already well-spanked booty. As she studied him, she decided that what she felt was a healthy bit of respect for his authority, not fear.
Smiling, she arched a brow at him. “Better the devil you know, as they say.”
“But last night, I was the devil you didn’t know. Were you afraid then?”
“I don’t know if I’d say afraid as much as cautious.”
“And now? Have I won your trust?”
“You have, although it was questionable when you paddled my behind with my own hairbrush.”
Chapter Ten
Lunch for Sydney was an out-of-this-world shrimp salad with some kind of light Asian dressing on a bed of lettuce and other crisp vegetables served with melt-in-your-mouth hot buttered croissants. Jax opted for a man-sized New York strip instead, joking that all the fresh air, swimming, and spanking had worked up an appetite.
Afterward, Sydney headed back to her cabana alone while he went to find Vance about the problem at home. He promised to meet up with her again shortly. She was happy for the brief reprieve, which gave her a chance to think without his distracting presence. She’d been truthful when she told Mariah she was having a good time. A more perfect partner, she couldn’t have hand-picked for herself. In fact, she hadn’t. Her track record as a frustrated, unfulfilled single woman who was rapidly approaching her thirties was proof that she’d been picking the wrong men.
She wanted to thank whoever had matched her with Jaxon. Mariah, she would bet, but couldn’t say for sure. He was the ideal man for her. Charming, witty, with a good sense of humor, he was also confident, delightfully masculine and commanding when necessary, particularly in the bedroom. He was also trustworthy. Jaxon was certainly sticking to the letter of her contract and limit list. In the sex category, other than the manually induced orgasm of the night before—as she politely began to think of it—there had been kisses, cuddles, and intimate touches, but nothing more.
Pleasure Bay Page 13
