Sub for a Week (16 page)

I whimpered when he brushed a finger over my lips. "It's okay, we don't have—"

"I won't hear any of that. You've been patient, and you've done very well in your training over the last few days."

I straightened my posture. "I know, but I just figured after a day like today, the last thing you'd want is to have a session."

He offered a weak smile. "I might be tired as hell, but I always have time for you."

"You're just saying that."

He opened his mouth and held a hand to his chest in mock surprise. "I'd do no such thing. Listen to me, if I was too tired for you, I wouldn't have offered. I'm used to wearing myself thin. I don't just work two jobs, you know. Being a Dom to my subs is as much a full-time job as overseeing things at Journeys is. And I'm not saying that so you think you're a job to me. You aren't. It's just..." He rubbed at the back of his neck and groaned. "So long as you promise not to judge me for not being coherent and maybe a little stupid with my words, I don't mind playing. I'd like it actually."

I pressed a finger to his lips. "How much did you drink?"

He backed away and breathed against his hand to check his breath. "Sorry.
Just one drink with Maddie."

"How is she?"

"She's a little shaken, but Chris is going to watch after her." He got a serious look on his face. "And before you ask, I never flog if I'm angry, upset or have had too much to drink. I went for a long drive this afternoon to clear my head."

My breath caught. "Flog?"

His smile from before widened. "What did you think I wanted to do tonight? It's the natural progression of things." He held out a hand and counted on his fingers. "Get a sub to enjoy
herself
and focus only on her—check. Take that sub out to dinner and introduce her to butt plugs. Also check. Then, take her to a demo and humiliate her until she almost comes."

"Check," I finished for him.

"So you see
,
the next thing we need to do is experiment with pain play. You've seen it done, and I could tell you were interested." He stood up and held out his hand. "Think you're ready to give it a go?"

I accepted his hand and got up with his help.
"Definitely."

Holding on to my collar,
her
drew me up against him, kissing me on the lips before guiding me down the hall to his private playroom. Everything was exactly as we left it. My mark was still resting on the floor, and aside from the floggers that hung on the rack, everything else had been put away.

After closing the door behind us, Daniel headed over to the rack, removing articles of clothing as he went. I followed behind him, picking up his dress
jacket,
shirt and whatever else fell to the floor before folding them and placing them on top of the dresser.

Daniel hit a riding crop against the side of it, inches away from my hand. "What are your limits?"

Uncertain as to where he put the butt plug, I said, "Anal."

He nodded, moved me away from the dresser and pointed to the towel on the floor. "Get on your mark."

Taking a breath, I walked over to the folded fabric, but I didn't kneel. I was still fully clothed. Daniel, on the other hand, was not. His abs rippled in the dim light as he removed his socks and drew his boxers over his hips. He was already hard, and we hadn't even done anything yet.
He really does get off on this stuff, doesn't he?

Not that it surprised me anymore. I knew exactly how it felt, especially after what we'd done at Journeys after Maddie's demo.

Facing me, Daniel locked his arms behind his back and squared his shoulders. "Tell me your safe words."

I bowed my head and held my arms behind me.
"Yellow to slow down.
Red to stop.
Master."

"If at any time during play you need to stop, be sure to use them. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Master."

"Good girl. You can remove your clothing now."

When he didn't specify if he wanted to go one article at a time or all at once, I glanced up at him. "Blouse first, Master?"

"All of it."

Clicking my tongue, I made short work of the clothing I had on, allowing it to fall around my feet. Daniel didn't move to pick it up, so I left it where it was. Unless he said otherwise, the clothes weren't important.

"Will you give me your sight tonight, or do you wish to keep it?" Daniel stepped around me.
To my side.
Circling.
Always circling.

"Whichever you prefer, Master."

I have to say, that was one of the things I liked most about D/s. While he may have asked me questions, the final decision was up to him. I didn't have to make up my mind. He had the control, and at the moment, that's just the way I wanted it.

"Turn around then. Face the cross."

Ice swept through my veins at his mention of the
Saint Andrews
cross. From behind me, he unlocked my arms, placing a cuff around each wrist. He trailed his fingertips over my spine, and I trembled.

"I want to cuff your arms to the cross for support. Is this okay?" Daniel squeezed one of my hands.

Staring down the cross, I found it just as intimidating as when I first saw it. The diagonal intersecting beams were over a foot taller than Daniel. Bits of chain hung from the ends of both beams, four in all.

"Julia?" Daniel called from behind me.

"Yes, Master. It..." I wet my lips. "It's okay."

Feeling the presence of his hand on the small of my back, I walked toward the cross. The beams loomed over me, and I shrunk beside them. I knew the bondage didn't bother me. I'd wanted this.
Waited for it.
But getting cuffed to the cross made the possibility of getting flogged even more real.

It was going to happen regardless. Cuffing me to the cross was just another step that came before it.

Once I was within reach, Daniel took one of my hands and attached the end of the cuff to one of the chains. He did the same thing with my other arm. The chains allowed my arms to hang so my elbows bent the slightest bit, but they also kept me upright. And knowing how my knees wanted to buckle just by seeing Daniel in a suit of leather, I figured support from the cross wouldn't hurt.

Touching my fingers, Daniel asked, "Is this too tight?"

"No, Master."

"Try to get out of them for me."

Unable to reach over with one hand to undo the Velcro, getting out of the cuffs was impossible. Not even when I scrunched my fingers together and tried to get out of them that way.

"Okay, good." Daniel stepped to my side, walked behind the cross, and finally somewhere outside my line of vision. "If at any time you feel your fingers going numb, tell me."

I bowed my head and closed my eyes. Moments later, Daniel put the blindfold over my eyes, leaving me in total darkness. The chains on the cross jingled when I shifted my weight, but like before, they held me upright. My skin warmed under the lights, which probably meant Daniel had turned them up. But with the blindfold in place, I couldn't be sure.

Daniel dragged his fingertips across my spine, tracing under my shoulder blades, down my sides.
My hips.
Lost in the moment, I whimpered when his hands wrapped around me, carefully outlining where my panties would be if I'd been wearing any.

Kissing the back of my neck, he paid close attention to one breast, pulling at the nipple until it was hard. He did the same to the other side, and when I arched my back, he licked behind my ear.

"Like that," he asked, and I could've sworn he was smiling.

"Yes, Master."

No matter where he touched me, I wanted more. Tease me, lick me, kiss me ... I didn't care.
Just so long as it was physical and hot.
Which with Daniel (and from personal experience), it almost always was.

Opening my fingers, Daniel gave me something to hold on to.

"In case you can't find the words," he explained. "Let it fall if you want me to stop."

I tightened my grip on what felt like a stress ball and focused on it. It gave me something to think about.
A task that had to be done.
Don't let go.
Never let it drop.

"Legs apart."

Opening my legs, I counted the seconds as my heart skipped a beat.
Another.
One more.

Something trailed over my back.
Down my sides.
Fuck.
Between my legs.
I arched my back and pulled against my cuffs, leaning into whatever it was Daniel was doing. He made a sound of approval and moved the item again, barely grazing my clit before pulling whatever it was back behind me.

"We'll start slow," he murmured.

Slow with
wh
—

Smack.
The sound came from behind me, but it never made contact with my skin. Something hissed across skin, and it was then I realized that Daniel was playing with the flogger. I tensed and wrapped my free hand around the chain to my cuff to make sure I wouldn't fall.

The flogger came down again.
Louder this time.
And yet, I still didn't feel anything. Exhaling, I waited for the deerskin tails to strike my skin, but like before, they hit something else.
Something—
or someone—
that wasn't me.

The next time the flogger came down I could feel the wind coming off of it. It was getting closer, and as it did, my muscles tightened a little more.

"Relax," Daniel said from behind me.

"It would help if you weren't teasing me," I snapped, immediately sucking on my top lip. "Sorry, Master."

"It's all right. You're still new to this."

And that was it. He didn't say anything else. No "you've been a bad girl" or "that's it for tonight." Just silence. He didn't move, and neither did the flogger.

For a long time, all I could hear was the beat of my heart, the steady breaths passing through Daniel's lips and the buzz of light coming somewhere from above me.

I could sense Daniel shifting behind me and did what I could to track him. But before I could get an idea of where he was, the tails of the flogger stung my skin. I cried out.
Relaxed.
The flogger came down again, this time on the other side of my back, avoiding my spine. I jumped again.

Is it supposed to hurt?
By the way Maddie and Daniel explained it, I was supposed to lean into it, but instead, I kept flinching anytime the tails kissed my skin. And it wasn't that they hit that hard either. I knew they could hurt even more than that. I'd done it to myself completely by accident with the flogger Daniel had delivered to my apartment.

Squeezing my hands, I remembered the stress ball, but I wasn't ready to drop it. I took a breath.
Held it.

Whoosh.
The flogger came down.

Smack!
It bit my skin.

Every time the flogger came down, Daniel switched sides, never hitting the same place one right after the other. I'd just get used to the sting of one strike when Daniel would accompany it with another.

After a while, he picked up the pace, and as the heat radiated all over my back, the room started to spin. The noises around me were muffled. The pain was even more absent. I could vaguely pick up when the flogger hit me again, but I felt nothing. No pain. Not even a tickle.

It was then I realized somewhere in the back of my mind that I was crying out.
Screaming.
Not a safe word. Not even a call for help.
Just delirious vocalizations.

Whimpering, I arched my back.
Leaned into Daniel's flogging.
By now I was panting and as bent over as I could get with the cuffs still attached to my arms. I wanted more.
Harder.
Faster.
And not just the flogging either.

Each time those tails came down, they sent a jolt right to my clit. I kept trying to catch my breath. I'd get as far as sucking it in, but the flogger would just push it out again.