by Amy Love
And he had every intention of using her today. Nearly blind with rage and grief, he’d driven recklessly to campus. He had to be there. He had to keep working, but he needed to get all the emotions out of him before he started. When he was in a better state of mind, Gryff planned on turning his attention to the school administration. Sure, most were uptight fuckers in fancy suits and upturned noses, but they were among the last leads he had.
But first, he had needs to take care of.
Beth was waiting for him by the parking lot. All he’d said was that he was on his way to campus and she offered to meet him there. Submissive energy radiated from her, but he’d always known that, and just the sight of her made his cock stir. After shutting the car down, he slammed his door shut and stalked over to her, his vision clouding with lust. It had been smart to choose her to be his cover while he was at Blackwoods University. Now that she was pliant, she’d be able to help him in more ways than one.
“Hey,” she greeted brightly, dressed in a long blue jacket and nylon black tights. He figured she had a dress on under there, which would make what he planned to do easier. “How’s it going?”
“Come here,” Gryff ordered, the command a guttural growl. Her eyes widened when he grabbed her wrist and tugged her in the opposite direction to where they’d usually go. Away from the library, from the academic buildings. Away from the masses of student. Gryff walked her, half-dragged her, to the quieter side of the sprawling grounds, to where it was primarily an open field and wooded hills. Benches were scattered throughout for students to study at when the weather was nicer. While it was unseasonably warm for November, it was cool and cloudy enough to keep the majority of the student population away. He saw a few smokers on benches, briefly reminding him that he was itching for a cigarette, before pulling Beth deeper into the woods.
“Are you okay?” she asked, her breath heavy as she stumbled after him. “What’s wrong? Gryff?”
He clenched his jaw, remembering how she’d cried out his name while he fucked her on her kitchen counter the other night. Hearing her say it, cry it, was fucking ecstasy, but he would have preferred her to call him something else.
But he couldn’t let it go that far. She was just a temporary distraction. A gorgeous, pliable, submissive distraction, who’d look great with a gag and her arms tied to his bedposts…
Fuck.
Without a word, Gryff shoved her back against one of the thick tree trunks, enjoying the way she let out a little shocked puff of air. She was so accepting when he kissed her, his tongue easily parting her lips and delving into her mouth. It was a hard kiss, hard and fast and commanding, like his word was the law—and it was. His word was always law when it came to this kind of thing, and it surprised him just how easily Beth fell into his world.
Her small hands smoothed up his chest, cupping his face, stroking his stubble. He wanted to snatch them up and pin them above her head, but he already had dark enough plans for her. One step at a time, naturally.
While he rubbed her through her clothes, her nylon tights and plain boring underwear, he knew he’d find her wet and ready for him. She always was. Maybe it was the inexperience. Maybe she was just really hot for him. Whatever the reason was, Gryff found he didn’t have to work too hard to get Beth where he wanted her. It was a boost to his already sky-high confidence. If he actually kept this up, became a little more serious sexually with her, he’d run her through the full gauntlet of his foreplay arsenal. For now, toying with her sensitive bud at the helm of her sex was enough.
A part of him really wanted to force her on her knees so he could fuck her face. It’d be the perfect stress reliever, having her like that, using her like that, but she didn’t deserve to be handled like that. She wasn’t technically his by any means—which meant he’d go easier on her, but not by much.
He tore himself away with some difficulty, his body missing the way hers fit so neatly against him. While she breathed heavily, her face flushed and her eyes wide, he kept himself in control. Sure, his cock was all but chomping at the bit to get out of his pants, but the rest of his demeanor was collected, calm, aloof even.
“You see that bench,” he said, nodding to the small two-person bench. When she swallowed noticeably and nodded, he cocked his head to the side. “Bend yourself over it. Hips against the backrest, palms on the seat.”
For a moment, he wondered if she’d comply. Beth had been fine letting him guide her during their previous encounters, perhaps because she knew she was woefully out of her depth with him, but she’d been getting better. She was a fast learner.
Finally, she licked her lips and moved forward, her steps uncertain. He watched as she paused at the bench, then bent herself over it just as he instructed. Gryff swallowed his groan, and then he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and retrieved the condom.
“Stay just like that until I’m done with you,” he ordered, coming up behind her and running his hand over her arched back, then down her perky ass. She moaned softly when he delved between her legs again, rubbing her, and Gryff almost grinned as she ground her hips against his hand. Impatient little thing.
After sheathing himself in the condom, his jeans still on. Minimal exposure. He might have been fucking her in a semi-public place, but he wasn’t giving anyone a good look at him in the process. Her, on the other hand…
Without asking, he dragged her long coat up, along with the dress underneath, so that the fabric sat bunched on her hips. Gryff then yanked her tights down, careful not to rip the nylon, followed by her underwear. She gasped, fully exposed, and tried to stand up, but he held her in place with a firm hand on her back. She was here to fulfill a purpose, to get rid of all the fucking tension wound so tight in his body that he wanted to scream. Her comfort was important to him in some aspects, but he also wanted to fuck her as he saw fit.
Just as he thought, her pussy practically glistened for him, so fucking wet that he could probably ram himself into her with no problems. Still, he tested her first with his fingers, just to be sure. When he pulled back, two fingers coated in her juices, he stroked himself a few times then thrust into her. Slowly. He would have liked to fuck her hard and fast from the get-go, but she was still new to all this. Beth gave a cry, then probably remembered where she was and quieted down. Her legs shifted open a little wider as he took her, his cock filling her tight hole, right until his hips touched the backs of her thighs.
Perfection. This was exactly what he needed. One hand on her hip, the other on her delicate shoulder, he took her slowly at first, not pulling out as much as he would have liked until she relaxed a little. It was their first time fucking like this, and he didn’t want it to be their last because he hurt her. When she seemed to settle a little, he finally let himself go, let himself fuck the emotion out of his brain. To her credit, she made very little noise, probably scared the groups they’d passed on their way along the trail would hear her, and Gryff took that as a personal challenge.
His thrusts became harder, both hands on her hips as he slammed into her. All his frustration, his anger, his sadness…he put it all into that moment, using her sweet, little body as the perfect release. He didn’t give a fuck that she might be missing class time, study time, library time. In that moment, she truly was his, mind and body, and he made use of that right until the very end.
Not wanting to be a totally selfish asshole, he reached around her at one point to play with her clit, sending her body crashing over the edge with ease. She clenched around him, her legs trembling, and he added the sting of a light smack to her pleasure. This time she cried out, and he grinned, feeling successful, as if he’d accomplished something.
As her body sagged over the bench, her elbows buckling and face going down, Gryff’s pace quickened, his thrusts growing sharper and harder as he climbed to the peak of his climax. Clinching his jaw, he spilled himself into the condom, grinding against her ass as he rode out the last of his pleasure. For one blissful moment, everything went blank. His mind
was empty, his worries about the club and his dead friends and the stolen coke gone. Only for a moment, but it was a pretty fucking great moment.
When the moment disappeared and reality came hurdling back toward him, he eased out of Beth and tugged off the condom. She stayed bent over the bench, much to his surprise, until he gently told her to stand up. That little moment actually made his cock start to stir again, but he suppressed the urge, too spent to even consider another round.
“You want to grab a bite to eat?” he asked once she’d finished sorting her clothing out, her hands moving shakily across her body to make sure everything was where it should be. Beth looked to him with raised eyebrows, her expression shocked. He shrugged, pleased to have such an effect on her. “I could go for a burger. You busy? Do you have class?”
She hesitated again, but for a shorter moment. Blinking fast, she shook her head and readjusted her coat one last time, the sweetest of grins etched across her lips. “No…a burger sounds great, actually.”
“My treat,” he offered. After all, she had just let him fuck her where everyone could see. She deserved a little reward for being so brave.
Brave Beth.
What an interesting turn of events.
Chapter 7
“Beth?” She heard Gryff calling from in the shower, and she tossed the remote aside before hurrying in.
“Everything okay?”
“You’re out of shampoo,” he told her, poking that gorgeous face of his out from behind her shower curtain. Her cheeks prickled with embarrassment, and she ducked down to grab the new bottle from under her sink.
“Just forgot to replace it,” she admitted somewhat sheepishly. He grinned and thanked her before diving back behind the curtain, and she wandered out, a little too warm in the steamy bathroom. Which was ridiculous. The thought of him using her shower, naked, shouldn’t get her flustered anymore. They’d been having fantastic sex for the better part of three weeks now, almost every other day, and a day didn’t go by when she wasn’t thinking about having sex with Gryff.
Because it was amazing. Better than she could have ever imagined, and she sometimes wondered why she’d bothered to hold off for so many years. Sex was a fantastic stress-reliever, and it had been a huge boost to her confidence to be desired by a man as ridiculously sexy as Gryff. Now that she’d started, she hadn’t wanted to stop, and more than once she’d found herself sitting through an entire two-hour lecture and only having notes for the first fifteen minutes, because the rest of the time was dedicated to sex daydreaming. She’d leave wet with anticipation, barely able to contain herself until she saw him again.
Others might think it was a problem, that her reaction to Gryff was unhealthy, but she had years of sex to catch up on, and damn it she was going to enjoy herself!
Still, there was a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach. Every time they went their separate ways, either after having mind-blowing sex like they’d had tonight, Beth bent over the armrest of her loveseat for most of it, or after spending an evening cramming for exam season, she found herself wanting more. It wasn’t the sex she wanted more of though. Instead, it was the closeness. Tonight, they’d planned to watch an episode of some crime show on TV before he left, using the forty minutes plus commercial time to come down and recuperate after the sex marathon.
But Beth didn’t want to just sit on opposite ends of the loveseat, barely touching, some of their spark missing, while she counted down the minutes and wishing time would move slower. She wanted to curl up on his lap, in his arms, and feel like time had stopped without even realizing it.
At this point, she figured it was safe to say they were friends with benefits.
Beth wanted more.
She wanted a relationship. A real one. With dates and talking and laughing, and maybe a little less physical intimacy and a little more emotional intimacy. Looking at Gryff, she could envision it already, but he hadn’t made a move to take the relationship to the next level. Typical guy.
So, once he’d showered and rejoined her in front of the TV, Beth swallowed hard and decided it was finally time to put her newfound confidence to the test. Christmas was only a few weeks away, and she didn’t want to leave to visit family in Connecticut without knowing that she and Gryff were actually headed somewhere. She wasn’t looking for a marriage proposal by any means—but something more substantial than where they were now would work just fine.
“So, hey,” she started once the first commercial break hit, shifting on the spot so that she faced him, “can I ask you something?”
Gryff took a quick sip of his beer, the kind she now kept stocked in her fridge, and then he glanced her way. “Sure.”
“I know this is kind of the question everyone dreads,” Beth continued, fidgeting with her fingers, “but…what are we?”
He kept his focus on the TV for a long moment, and then he cleared his throat. “What do you mean?”
She bit back her frown, not wanting to seem disappointed at how obviously dumb he was pretending to be with her. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. Maybe she should have just kept her mouth shut.
No. She wanted this, and if her sexual awakening—if one could call it that—had taught her anything, Beth had to start taking what she wanted when she had the chance.
“I mean, we’ve been hanging out for a few months,” she continued, trying to keep her tone as casual as possible. “The sex is…amazing—”
“You’re not so bad yourself, kiddo,” he teased, which earned him a light swat on the arm. He grinned though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Look, I know what you’re going to say, but I just…I’m sorry, Beth, but I don’t do relationships.”
“I’m not asking you to marry me.” She straightened, a hand resting on his knee. “We spend all this time together anyway. We get along well. Our chemistry seems to be there. Why don’t we just, I don’t know, put a label on it? Nothing has to change.”
“Labels change everything.” He took another long swig of his drink, and then he crushed the can in his hand. “Not sure if you know that, but they do.”
“Well…” Nibbling her lower lip for a moment, Beth let out a long sigh as her stomach knotted and churned. “If we don’t move things along, then…I’m sorry, but I can’t keep hooking up with you. It’s making things complicated.”
Gryff lifted an eyebrow. “But you said the sex is amazing.”
“And it is,” she argued, resisting the urge to roll her eyes and ignore the slight tremor in her hand, “and that’s why I want to take things to the next level. Like I said, I’m not asking for a commitment to grow old with me, but I need something…more, or I’m going to have to spend less time with you, because it’s getting difficult for me.”
His dark eyes swept over her before looking away, his jaw clenched. There was a masked anger lurking, an expression she’d never seen before, and Beth bit her lip, studying him. She turned back toward the TV, however, when the commercial break ended, and the two sat in an uncomfortable silence for the duration of the show. Every so often she’d glanced his way, wondering if he was paying as little attention as she was to what was happening on the screen. Her worry worsened at the look on his face, the way his jaw stayed clenched, his eyes almost narrowed.
This was a mistake. She shouldn’t have pushed him, but she deserved to be happy, too. When her world revolved around nothing but books and lectures and defenses, working her way through a degree that her dad had pressured her into years earlier, Beth thought her happiness was warranted. If he wouldn’t move forward with her, she’d only dig herself into a more stressful pit than the one she was in now.
She had to be strong.
For once in her life, she needed an actual backbone.
When the commercials flashed back on, obnoxious and colorful and totally ruining the mood, Beth shifted back to face him again and took a deep breath. However, Gryff spoke before she could get even the first word out.
“Look,” he said tersely, “I can understand w
hy you might want to move things into a more…relationship direction. I get it, but I’m not…I don’t do relationships—”
Her eyes widened, heart hammering in her chest. “But—”
“—in the traditional sense,” he finished pointedly, holding her somewhat panicked gaze. There was something in that moment, a shift in the dynamic, either imagined or real, that seemed to calm her. The knots in her stomach ceased their ache, her heart stopped pounding. She swallowed hard and simply drew in a deep breath, calmed by the look in his eye.
“Oh?”
“If you want to…move forward with our…relationship,” he said slowly, as if with some difficulty, “then we’ll do so by you calling me ‘Master.’”
