Lily and the Beast (Lily and the Beast #1) (6 page)

Even though he’d definitely satisfied me, I couldn’t help but feel a small wave of disappointment that things hadn’t ended as they should’ve.  Aidan was right, I wanted more than his finger inside me, even two.  He’d woken up a hunger I’d never felt before, made more desperate because the only way I could know him was through touch. 

I wanted him to touch me in
every
way.  I wanted to feel that cock buried inside me up to the hilt.  And even though I’d sworn my clit couldn’t bear another touch, I found myself rubbing it harder and faster, trying to figure out what he’d done to make it feel so incredible.  In the end I’d come, as I usually did, but it felt hollow and disappointing after his mastery.  Damn.  He’d ruined me for my own touch and we hadn’t even fucked yet. 

Aidan Pierce was a man with a plan, that much was evident.  As I slipped off to sleep, I wondered what the next step might be, and I hope like hell it had to do with his cock.   

I slept in later the next morning, giving a luxurious stretch from head to toe.  My curtains were closed, though I hadn’t remembered shutting them, and that wasn’t the only change in my room.  Sitting up, I noticed a ripe peach on my bedside table, a folded piece of paper propped up next to it.  Inside, in a masculine scrawl, read,
just as juicy as you are
. 

Smiling, I picked up the peach and held it to my nose, inhaling the sweet, fresh scent.  Had Aidan been in my room?  Watched me while I slept?  That sort of thing should probably weird me out, but all it did was make me smile as I bit into the ripe fruit.  Definitely juicy – and it made me think of the night before.  He’d definitely devoured me with delight.  Michael hadn’t been shy about going down on me either, but I’d always got the sense he was only doing it to get me to reciprocate.  And he’d never done it with such passion before.  It made me wonder what other kinds of passion Aidan had in store for me. 

I was in a good mood for most of the day, but boredom struck around mid afternoon.  After years of working toward
some
kind of a goal, the leisure time got to me, and I returned to my project with re-organizing the library.  Maybe if I pleased him, Aidan would let me take some online courses?  He’d given me back my laptop, after all. 

The busywork in the library was enough to engage me, but it left my mind free to wander.  My thoughts inevitably took me back to
him
.  Would I ever be allowed to visit him without the blindfold?  I wished I had a copy of the contract, so I could take a look at the fine print.  From what I could tell, his body was a gorgeous work of art, it was almost a crime not to be allowed to see it.  Was there something wrong with his face?  Why else would he be so upset when I tried to touch it?  Maybe he was self conscious about a big nose or something?  That old saying about a man’s nose relating to the size of his package came back to me – his dick was definitely big enough for that to be a concern. 

Smiling over that silly thought, I finished up the row I was working on, and then went back to my room to take a long, hot bath and deep condition my hair.  For some reason, it was really important to me to please him, and I wanted my skin soft, and my hair silky. 

The room elves were hard at work (I swear, there must be an alarm somewhere in the house that sounded whenever I slipped into the bathroom), and when I emerged, there was a new gift waiting for me on top of the bed.  A frilly corset and panty set, purple and black, lay atop the covers, a matching purple blindfold in the shape of a butterfly lying next to it.  Slutty black stilettos sat next to them, in my size.  He was getting better at this. 

It was definitely an ordeal to get the thing on by myself, but I didn’t want to call Mrs. Fisk to help wrangle me into it, it would’ve been too embarrassing.  Instead, I struggled into it, making adjustments until all my parts were in the right place.  Once I had the corset and panties on, I added a deep plum lip color, I thought went pretty well with it.  I spent some time on my hair, adding volume and curling the ends until I had what I liked to call sex-kitten hair.  You know, you’ve seen it before on Victoria’s Secret models, prancing around on the catwalk.  Because that’s what I felt like in my corset and stilettos.  Not like a real person, not like me.  Like I was a stage version of myself. 

Mrs. Fisk’s knock came on the door and I slipped my blindfold on, not bothering to add any other clothes over the corset.  I was proud of how hot I looked, and I wanted to hear his reaction. 

It was showtime. 

My ears strained to hear him react when he saw me.  A few words of praise, a sharp intake of breath – something.  But the silence grew uncomfortable as I stood there in front of the fireplace.  He was in the room, I could feel his eyes on me, but my unease started to grow with each second that ticked by.

“What’s all this?” he said finally, breaking the silence.

My hands flew to my waist, fingers sliding over the satiny corset in dismay.  “You don’t like it?”  Had I somehow managed to put it on wrong?  It’d looked fine to me.

“It’s not you.”

“It’s definitely all me,” I mumbled, hands skimming over the top of the corset where my boobs threatened to spill out.

“No, I mean this.”  He batted the hair away from my shoulder, sending a puff of air over my neck.  “The big hair and the hooker lips.”

“You think I have hooker lips?”  They dropped open as I gaped at him before pressing them together tightly, my cheeks heating over the insult.  I was going for sexy, not whorish. 

“I’m saying you don’t need it,” he said flatly.  “You’re sexy without it, and it doesn’t seem to be your style.”  He had me there.  “What’s with playing dress up?”

My brows drew together under the mask.  “You’re the one who sent the corset.” If he hadn’t wanted me to play dress-up then why send the costume?  “I just wanted to make you happy.”

“Don’t begin to think you know how to make me happy just because you made me come,” he snapped, and I shrank away from the harsh tone, my confidence pretty much shot.  

“O-okay.” 

“I don’t want you being something you’re not.”  He didn’t sound angry, just… disappointed maybe?  It was hard to tell.  It was obvious I didn’t know him at all.   

“Then why did you send me this getup?”

“Because I wanted to see you in it.” 

“I don’t understand…” 

“I wanted to see
you
in it, not some plastic version of you.”

“Oh.  I get it, I think.”   

“Take it off.”  He pressed a square of fabric into my hand, and I wiped the lipstick off, hoping I got most of it.  “That’s better.”  The words were grudgingly given, and I wasn’t sure whether to relax or brace myself for the next insult.  The next thing that came wasn’t a word though, but his hot hand on my ass, and I froze, more than a little off balance by the way he was treating me. 

“What’s the matter??  Aidan didn’t remove his hand.  In fact, he squeezed my ass roughly. 

“Nothing,” I squeaked, fighting to relax, but losing the battle.

Now his hand came off my ass.  “Why are you acting all stiff and scared?  Do you think I’m going to hurt you?”

I swallowed, keeping my voice as even as possible.  “I honestly have no idea.”  I wasn’t sure if he was playing mind games with me, or if he really just ran that hot and cold.  As he was eager to remind me, he owned me, and if he wanted to hurt me, he could at any time and I couldn’t say dick about it.  And how messed up was it that the thought sent a deep throb of anticipation straight to my pussy?

Aidan let out a long breath.  “Fair enough.  You don’t know me.”  He stepped away and I heard the sounds of glass touching glass as he poured himself a drink.  After a few swallows, he poured again and pressed the glass into my hand.  I drank obediently, ready for the burn this time.  When I was done, he took the glass and pulled me to sit on the couch beside him, our knees touching.   

His tone was gentler when he spoke again.  Not quite that lover’s voice, but without the sting.  “Lily, I’m going to give you a gift.”

“You’ve already given me gifts before…”

“Not like this one.”  His fingers traced a circle on the top of my knee, trailing wider and wider, dipping across my inner thigh, moving north.  It was soothing, and I relaxed, my thighs popping open to give him better access.  This was the part I liked.  “I own you, and I mean to have you,” he said, and I stiffened at the need in his voice, preparing myself for his invasion, but he continued that lazy stroke.  “But I won’t force you before you’re ready.”

“Really?”  It seemed too good to be true.  So far he’d seemed to have no trouble pushing me past my comfort zone on every occasion.

“I’ll push your boundaries, but nothing you’re not able to handle.”  His hand left my thigh and drifted up the front of the corset to cup my breast.  “There are some things I might want to do that might even hurt.”  He pinched my nipple roughly to make his point, but the sharp stab was instantly replaced by the soothing massage of his fingers.  “But I promise you, Lily, when I take you, you’ll be begging me for it.”  There it was – that intimate tone that sent a shiver of delight up my spine – and my back arched, pressing my breast deeper into his hand. 

I licked my lips, trying not to sound too eager.  “Is that what you’re giving me, a promise?”

“I’m giving you an out.  A safeword.”

“A safeword?”  I’d thought they only used those in the movies.  Didn’t normal people just stop when the other person wanted them to?  “Like I’ll say apples and you’ll stop doing whatever it is you’re doing if I don’t like it?”

“If that’s the word you pick, yes.”

“Even if you’re in the middle of…” 

“Of what?”  He sounded amused.   

“You know…”  I couldn’t say it, I didn’t want to give him any ideas.

“What is it you think I want to do to you?”  His voice was very near my ear now, little more than a throaty whisper that made all the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention, and liquid fire pooled between my legs. 

“Honestly?  I can’t even imagine,” I said, wishing I could see the look in his eyes. 

“That’s probably true.”  His hot breath sent a shiver across my neck as he chuckled.  “I want to fuck you, Lily.  There’s no shame in saying it aloud.  Say it.”

I almost said –
I want to fuck you
, but at the last second I clued in that he hadn’t been asking me for that at all.  “You want to fuck me.”

“That’s right.”  His lips traced over the back of my neck, his voice a caress.  “I want to bury my cock inside your hot little pussy and feel it quiver and shake when you come all around me.  I want to bend you over and take you from behind until I’m balls deep, and I want to grind your ass into the carpet until it’s covered in rug burns.  I want to watch your tits bounce as you ride my face and I want to fuck you up against the wall in my shower.  I want to spread that tight ass and fuck you where you’ve never been fucked before.  I want to take you everywhere in
every
way.  I want to make you come again and again until your bones turn to water and you can’t walk for a fucking week.  That’s what I want to do to you.”

Holy fucking Christ, what was I supposed to say to that?  “Oh.”  I swallowed, my mouth having gone dry and my pussy dripping wet.  “Good, that’s, um… good.” And as much as I wanted all of those things, they also scared the hell out of me, because how could I want them with a man I didn’t even know?
 
“But not now, right?  Not unless I want you to?” 

“Not until you beg.”  His teeth caught at my ear lobe and I let out a whimper. 

Fuck, I was almost ready to fall to my knees and beg, but I was afraid of what I’d unleash.  “What If I want to, but change my mind if you do something I don’t like?”

“You just have to say the word.”   

“You’ll really stop if I say it?”   His offer of a gift seemed more of a tease to get me to say yes – something I might come to regret. 

“On my honor, I will.  This is about consensual sex, Lily.  That’s what you agreed to when you signed that contract.  Not rape.”

“I know I signed it but…”

“Do you see what I’m giving you?  I’m giving you control.”

Me?  The one in the corset?  Was this some kind of a trick?  He’d been more than clear about him being the one with all the power.  I bit my bottom lip, trying to figure out how he wanted me to respond.  “You’re the one in control.”

“Am I?”  His finger brushed across my lips, tracing the outer line and then deeper inside.  My lips parted to give him whatever access he needed, the tip of my tongue brushing against him.  He groaned at that touch, but didn’t delve any farther.  “Do you know what you do to me?  Do you know what kind of power you have over me with the simplest lick of your lips?”

Do you know what you’re doing to me with your voice alone?
  I wanted to ask him, my panties getting more soaked by the minute.  But still, I couldn’t trust him.  Aidan could be cruel if he wanted to be – what if it was all an act?  What if he wanted me to beg and then turned it into something dark and ugly?  Then he could throw it in my face again about how he owned me – all of me.  “And if I were to say the word right now?”

“I would stop.”  He pulled his hand away.  Seconds later, he parted my knees, kneeling between them, and I felt the rough denim of his jeans between my thighs as he pressed closer.  “But do you really want me to?  Have I touched you unkindly?”

There had been that threat the first night, but no… not really, I admitted to myself.

His hands skimmed over the tops of my breasts, branding me with his heat.  Nimble fingers plucked my nipples free of the corset, setting them atop the lacy ruffles, on display. 

“Have I?” he prompted, tracing the peaks until they hardened almost painfully in anticipation of the pinch I was sure to come, but he only brought the gentlest of touches.

“No…”

“Consensual,” he reminded softly, his head bending to take a nipple into his hot mouth, and I leaned back to suck in a breath, almost losing my balance in the stiff corset.  Aidan noted the shift and splayed a hand across my back, supporting me as he gently urged me back against the couch.  “I’m not a monster,” he rumbled against my skin, using a flare of teeth before the soothing lave of his tongue.