At His Mercy (11 page)

He kissed her neck and shoulders. Caressed a breast through the thin, satiny cloth of her dress. The other reached around her back, fingers splayed against the small of her back, just above her buttocks.

The man was the worst kind of tease. He taunted her nipple, nipped her neck until goose bumps tingled and prickled her skin. Skimmed the outer shell of her ear until she shivered and begged for him to stop.

She was going to die. Long before they reached his house.

Finally, he eased her off him. She now sat on the seat, her legs spread. His hungry gaze dropped to her lace-covered pussy, to the center of her pulsing agony.

He bent over her sodden panties. “
Thank you. For giving me this little bit of trust. I promise I won’t take it for granted.”

She believed him. She wanted to tell him as much, but she was too overwhelmed and desperate to speak. Instead, she simply nodded.

He inhaled and the corners of his mouth pulled into a sexy half-smile
.
“
You smell so damn good. I have to taste you.”

Oh God, yes.

His hands skimmed up her thighs, and he caught the sides of her panties, pulled them down. She drew her legs together and lifted her feet, until he had them completely off.

He positioned her on the seat, next to him, facing him. He hooked one of her knees over his shoulder, and the other leg slowly lowered to the floor. The cool air eased the burning in her wet flesh, until he lowered his head to taste her.

Oh God.

He parted her folds with his fingers. His tongue swept up and down along her crest, stopping for a moment to torment her clit and then moving down to thrust into her vagina. Then, adding to the sweet agony, he pressed two fingers into her tight canal, filling her.

When he suckled her sensitive clit, she soared to an instantaneous climax. All the tension that had built in her body from the moment he’d
arrived at her house tonight
snapped, and pulse after pulse of wet heat pounded through her body.

She was still wobbly when they pulled up in front of Kyler’s house. The skirt of her dress fell to the ground when she stood up. The material caressed her
bottom
as she walked, a naughty, sexy sensation. She leaned against Kyler as they climbed the front stairs and entered his ho
me
. She curled her fingers around his hand as they
walked up to
the dungeon.

He paused just inside the door. “In this room, I am your Dom and you are my submissive.” He turned to face her, gently slid a hand up her arm and around to the back of her neck. “My sole focus is you. Your pleasure. Your pain. Are you
still
scared?”

“A little.”

He nodded. “W
ith our history, i
t’s hard to trust.
I understand.
But over time, it’ll be easier.
I’ll make it easier, earn your trust.
” He walked around her back, tugged the zipper of her dress down. The garment skimmed down her body, landing in a puddle of black satin and glittering jewels at her feet. “
I need
you
to
kneel
now, Elena
.” He held her hand as she stepped out of the gown and then lowered to her knees. He guided her body into the right position, buttocks up, head down, spine arched.

“Good. Now wait here.
Eyes down, bottom up. It’ll feel best if you completely turn yourself over. Let go of your fears and reservations.
”

She lifted her head the second she heard Kyler leave the room. She checked out every piece of furniture she could see from her position. The swing in the corner. The bench she’d sat in when he’d discovered her snooping.

So embarrassing.

Ironic, maybe tonight she’d be on that bench again, this time with Kyler kneeling before her, his thick cock gliding in and out of her pussy.

Her back was to the door but she knew when he’d returned. A whoosh of heat swept up her spine. Her back tightened as he approached.

This was it, she was about to experience her first time
—
and maybe her last
—
in a dungeon with a real, honest-to-God Dom.

When he walked around and stopped before her, she couldn’t help stealing a quick peek.

Leather. Oh yum. She stared. He narrowed his eyes a smidge, but the sparkle never left them. “Eyes down, Elena.”

“Sorry.”

He stood before her, his booted feet planted wide, “There are as many varieties of Domination and submission as there are people who participate in them. Whether it’s a lifestyle, as full-time Master and slave, or something much more transient, is up to each person to decide. You need to determine what you’re looking for. I want to help you.” He stooped in front of her. “Have you ever been inside a dungeon?”

“No. Never.”

“Come with me.” He helped her to her feet, showed her every piece of equipment, explained each one. Then
he asked, “Do you have any questions?”

She sure did. One big qu
estion. “What if I don’t like what you’re doing
?”

“Then we stop.”

“And then what?
What if I discov
er that none of this is for me?
”

“We talk.”

Could it be so simple? She tells him it isn’t for her, and he says that’s okay, that he doesn’t need it. She doubted it.

Clearly, this bondage stuff had been a part of Kyler’s life for a long time, a significant part. He had invested in the furniture, was a member of some kind of group. Gosh, it wasn’t just a part of his life. It was a part of him.

He
’d already told her he
wasn’t going to just walk away from it, not for any woman. Not for her. Besides, she couldn’t ask him to do that. Any more than she’d expect him to ask her to quit reading or stop loving art.

She’d have to walk away. Call him a good friend, but accept the fact that they weren’t m
eant
for each other
, regardless of the chemistry they had
.

It had been such a short time. What this was between them was still very new, and she completely understood the risks of taking things too fast. Yet just the thought of saying goodbye to Kyler again
made her insides ache. In a very bad way.

Maybe it wouldn’t be necessary.

She sensed a lot rode on this first time in his dungeon. Perhaps, even, a chance for love.

Kyler had said he’d sensed she was a natural submissive. How he knew that, she had no clue. She could admit her fantasies had always been about powerful men, surrendering to their control. Being stolen away by a time-traveling Viking or hauled from a burning building by a burly firefighter.

But how many fantasies were better left to the imagination?

“We’ll start slow and easy. I’ll explain everything beforehand. And if you want me to stop, say rose petal.”

“Rose petal. Got it.”

He took her to the one wall that didn’t have a piece of furniture affixed to it. Instead, two long shelves stretched the entire length of the wall. Arranged neatly on the shelves was a wide array of wrapped sex toys. Some she could identify. Some she couldn’t. Beneath the bottom shelf hung a variety of whips, leather restraints, feathers, and paddles.

“I want to let you know that your safety is my primary concern. Only new, sterile toys are kept in my dungeon, and my whips, restraints and paddles are sanitized after every use. I am regularly tested for sexually transmitted disease, even though I have not had intercourse with anyone in over two years. During play parties, I act as a Dom or Master only. There is no sex during play. I want you to understand, I only have intercourse when I am in a committed relationship.”

Wow,
what
did that mean?
Did he want to have intercourse with her?
Did he consider them
“
in a relationship
”
?
Maybe he was
ready to be vulnerable again.
Trust her
.

She felt genuinely honored.

“You understand now, don’t you?” He took her hands in hers. “Regardless of what I said, it’s never ‘just a fuck’. Not for me.”

She thought she might cry, hearing those words.

“Especially with you.”

“Why me?”

“I can’t say for sure. It’s not one thing, I guess. It’s lots of things. The chemistry between us is a part of it, for sure. But there’s more.” He hesitated for a moment.
“Maybe it’s crazy to say this, to feel it. But the truth is, it hurt when things we
ren’t right between us.”

She knew the feeling.

The
y
were
both crazy, going this fast
.
Letting their emotions carry them away like this
and i
ndulging in what might be a d
angerous game with their hearts.

Once again, she felt like her back was against the wall, although not literally. Kyler was asking her to dive in
to the deep end
, take a chance, let go of all her fears
…
with him.

She combed her fingers through the leather strands of a whip, letting them slide through her fingers.

“A whip’s bite can sting, but its caress is very gentle. This is a cat-o-nine tails.” He lifted the whip from its hook on the wall. “
I know I have no right to ask this, but t
rust me.”

She nodded.

Kyler walked around to Elena’s back, slid a hand around her side, and pressed his entire length against her backside. Little tingles and zingy miniblazes swept up and down her body. “Kneel down, Elena.”

Supported from behind, eyes closed, she slowly sank to her knees, settling into the position Kyler had placed her in earlier.

She was so nervous and scared it felt
as though
her heart was trying to beat its way out of her chest and the air in the room had suddenly been depleted of all oxygen. She gulped in each breath, shaking hands resting on her thighs. She instinctively flinched when the leather strips cascaded over her shoulder. The sensation was sensual, erotic, soft, like fat droplets of water striking her skin. Her body reacted. Her shoulders relaxed. The tightness in her chest eased. But the heat between her legs spiked higher.

It was sexy, this anticipation, not knowing what would happen next. More thrilling than she’d ever imagined.

Then it was gone, the teasing c
aress. And the next instant the thongs
struck her back again, this time higher and a tiny bit harder. It didn’t hurt, not really. But it did catch her by surprise. She gasped and her back arched away from the whip’s stinging nip. A shudder of heat quaked up her spine.

“How’s that feel, Elena?”

How did it feel? Awful? No,
not at all. It felt
good. The skin of her back was warm, the sensation adding to an already confusing and intoxicating mix of erotic scents and sounds and feelings.

“I-I like it.” She could hardly believe she was saying that. “I want more. Not harder. But more.”

“This way.” Once again, he helped her to her feet, led her to the wall with a big cross-like structure affixed to it. He positioned her so she was facing the wall, arms out to the sides, legs spread wide. He fastened leather cuffs around her wrists and ankles and then hooked chains to each cuff, basically binding her spread-eagle
d
. “
You’ll enjoy it even more if you’re restrained.
Remember, rose petal.”

She nodded and gulped several times. Her mouth was as dry as sandpaper. Her heart was racing so fast she was dizzy. And she was sure her knees had melted. What was she doing here?

So terrifying. So thrilling.

The whip’s thongs cascaded down her back again, tickling her skin, down to her
buttocks.
The muscles in the small of her back clenched. Her sex clenched. And then every muscle in her body clenched.

She was one tight ball of jangling nerves.

When the teasing touch of the whip vanished, she grimaced and leaned forward, ready for the strike.

Once again, it wasn’t as painful as she expected. A million little stinging nips, followed by a million more. She didn’t count the number of times he struck her, just closed her eyes and let the anticipation and wicked pleasure swirl through her, carry her away to a quiet place. She nearly wept when he stopped.

“Please, more. Oh God, that feels wonderful.” She’d never felt so alive. Energy was coursing through her body in superheated surges. She felt
as if
she w
ere
ten times stronger than normal, and ten times happier. “I don’t want it to end.”

“I knew you were a natural.” He smoothed his hands down her stinging skin. “Although I had no idea you would take to it so quickly.” He unfastened her ankles first, then her wrists. “Come here, my pretty little submissive.” She clung to him as he led her to the bench she’d been cau
ght trying on for size the first time she’d entered this room
. He helped her get positioned, fastened her wrists and ankles in the restraints and then knelt before her, just as she’d imagined.