MasterinMelbourne (6 page)

There is one way.
She knelt on the hardwood floor and
looked down. She knew of no better way to show her intent to submit. It might
have felt better with a cushion, but she’d endured worse.

“Look up, Zoe. I don’t want to see how humble you are. I
want to see your face so I can read you and know what you’re thinking. Have the
courage to show it to me.”

She looked up into his gaze, and the warmth there eased her
heart. She’d never thought of it that way, that looking up at her Dom might be
a way of showing submission too. She wondered what he could read there, and if
he could read how strong she felt right then. She knew it couldn’t last. A
woman didn’t fall in love with a man she could know for only a few days. But he
was perfect. A gentleman, and a pushy Dom when he wanted to be. A tear formed
in her eye. Just for a few days. It was so unfair. But she knew he was helping
her find the courage to look for someone else someday, and that was a good
thing. Even if she didn’t want anyone else.

She didn’t know how much of that he managed to read from her
face, but he turned away to hand Garvin some money to complete the transaction.
Then he knelt down, whip handle in one hand, and scooped her up, the flogger
trapped between his hand and her butt. “Time to find a better place to play,
darlin’. I’ve got a St. Andrew’s reserved in ten minutes.”

She was startled by the ease with which he picked her up,
but she didn’t mind that. But one of the large X-frames was another matter.
“You promised me you wouldn’t tie me to anything.” She was panicking half
because he might do it, and the other half because she was almost willing to
let him. Bad things happened once she was tied up. Very bad things.

“No restraints, no ropes, no knots,” he agreed smoothly.
“Just something solid to lean against and hold on to.”

She let out the breath she was holding and snuggled against
his chest. “I think I already have something solid to lean against and hold on
to.”

He grinned at her. “Yeah, but it’s darn awkward if you use
me for that while I’m flogging you.” He glanced at his watch. “We’ve got five
minutes until I have the cross reserved. Go hit the ladies’ room and I’ll set
up.”

“But I don’t have to go.” Besides, there was something
decidedly awkward about walking into a public restroom with her clothes already
off.

“But you will, and I don’t want that happening during our
scene.” He pointed the cross out. “Meet me over there.”

She scrunched up her nose at him but she knew he was right.
“Yes Sir.” He’d had a drink too, and he wasn’t headed to the restroom. Or maybe
he was, confident he could make it in and out before her. He was probably
right. Men.

How did he have the cross reserved, anyway? He hadn’t been
out of her sight, except when she was walking to get drinks. Which meant he’d
planned the whole thing ahead of time, possibly before she’d even agreed to go.
Apparently he knew she’d say yes before she did. She allowed herself a smile.

When she got out, he was there at the St. Andrew’s Cross,
looking perfectly comfortable. It was nicer than the ones at the club in
Dallas, made of stained cherry wood instead of painted black, and with a
feature she’d never seen before. The front of it was actually upholstered in
leather, with a bit of cushioning. Sometimes spanking benches had a bit of
padding, but X-frames were usually bare wood. She walked over. A question gnawed
at her. He had an idea of her history. Why did he want to beat her with
anything, even a fairly lightweight flogger?

“Sir, permission to ask a question?”

He smiled. “Sure, darlin’. Fire away.”

“Why do you want to do this to me?”

“All sorts of reasons. It’s a power trip, for sure. I’d love
to tell you to take it for me as a form of service, but the truth is this time
it goes way beyond that. It involves facing what you’re scared of, and
remembering what it is you liked about it in the first place. And letting
yourself feel the endorphin rush that comes from stressing your body. BDSM can
be intense without being hurtful. You know that in your mind.” He tapped her
chest, to the left of center. “Now you need to know it here.”

“Thank you, Sir.” She let a breath out she’d been holding.
She had enjoyed floggings, once. When she had trusted that they wouldn’t go too
far. “Where do you want me, Sir?”

He took her waist and positioned her. He wrapped her arms
around the cross as if she was hugging it. He spread apart her legs until they
were a match for the cushioned lines of the X. Something solid to hold on to,
indeed. She gave a push with her legs and the cross didn’t move anywhere. She
heard him chuckle behind her.

“Solid enough?”

“Yes Sir.” She braced for a blow, remembering what it felt
like. “Why does that one sting less than the other one, even though the tails
are thinner? Were you swinging it differently?”

“Because there are so many of them, they get in each other’s
way. I think they compress the air in front of the flogger too, giving it more
wind resistance. Fewer tails, and they’d go faster and sting more. Don’t take
my word for it though, darlin’, I’m not a physicist. I know that it’s true,
that if you put a lot more tails on a flogger it gets thuddier.” Again a
chuckle. “You’re full of questions.”

Even though she could hear the amusement in his voice, she
took the last comment as a rebuke. She didn’t want to fail him, but she was
probably going to anyway. At least the fact that she had only a little while meant
that she could fail him only so many times. “Sorry, Sir.”

“No worries, Zoe. Just an observation. Do you have any
more?”

“Is it really okay?”

He kissed her back, right between the shoulder blades. “Yes,
it’s really okay.”

“How long are you going to beat me with the flogger?”

“As long as it takes.”

Oh, that’s clear.
“And are you going to hit me harder
than you did when we were testing?”

“Probably.”

The answer should have bothered her, but it didn’t. He
thought she could take it, and if he thought that, then she probably could. She
wanted to surrender everything to his judgment, let him do whatever he wanted
to her.

No.
Her hands clenched tight.

He tapped her tense shoulders with his hand. “Easy, darlin’.
I’ll start out nice and soft.”

“Just the flogger, right?”

“Just the flogger. I don’t have any other toys with me,
because I didn’t want to cart them around the zoo.”

She nodded. “Okay. I can do this.” She pressed her weight up
against the X-frame. It was designed to accommodate even the biggest subs, and
her boobs protruded through the upper crotch of the X. The rest of the thing
towered above her, but with her arms wrapped around it she had enough of her
torso at the center point to hold her steady.

The first blow was just a pat. The leather was soft against
her skin as he dragged it slowly away. It felt like a hundred fingers
feathering across her back. He laid a few more on, same as the first. It was
enough to warm her skin, but it definitely wasn’t pain. A loofah would hurt
more.

She heard him take a step back, and the tails came up to
strike her bottom, once on each cheek, as if to remind her that he might target
her there as well. He put a little more sting in it, but they were still light,
little pinpricks of sensation from the tips of the tails that quickly faded.

The next dozen were heavier, increasing in intensity, making
her hug the frame tighter. Still, nothing she couldn’t handle. She closed her
eyes, blotting out the scenes of people playing beyond her. She didn’t care
about them. Just her and Nick.

Then he landed a blow that jolted her. It would have caused
her to lose her balance if she hadn’t had something to hold on to. That hurt.
But it faded before she had a chance to turn around angrily, and she kept her
place, feeling the warmth. She tensed for the next heavy one, and it didn’t
come. Instead, he went back to the lighter strokes and she relaxed, only to
receive a heavier one.

“Don’t brace for them, darlin’, it’ll only make it harder.
Scrunching all your muscles up doesn’t help you.”

She knew he was right. She tried to relax. When the next
hard one came, she didn’t tense up. Soon it was almost all hard ones. He landed
them on both sides of her back, and both cheeks of her ass. The few light ones
wrapped around the posts to strike her breasts, or between her legs to tickle
her rapidly moistening pussy. Her nipples turned into hard nubs, extra
sensitive to each sting of the flogger. Yet somehow it all only relaxed her
more. Something inside her let go. She floated on a natural high, the hardest strokes
no longer painful. She found herself trusting him completely, and this time she
didn’t recoil from that thought in fear. She’d stopped analyzing it. It simply
was. Each stroke, even those that landed on her back, sent a charge that mixed
with the sensations from everywhere else deep in her core.

Her pleasure built on itself, but it couldn’t quite cross
over into ecstasy. Her release was hauntingly close, and her euphoria stopped
her from achieving it. The sensations had become too soft, even though she
could hear him grunt with each blow and knew he was putting his back into it.
“More.” She didn’t yell it, she didn’t have the strength, but he heard even her
soft voice.

He moved closer to her, his body up against her left side,
and she felt the stinging slap of his hand on her bottom. First on one side,
then on the other, then, softer, in the middle. He thrust his fingers into her
wet and waiting pussy, which grasped them eagerly in an instinctive convulsion.
He pulled them almost out, and then drove them in again, the palm of his hand
striking hard against her already sensitive behind.

She wiggled down, thrusting her backside out for him, urging
him on. He slid his other hand along her waist and dipped down until it touched
her clit, and a few rubs and thrusts later her body convulsed of its own
accord. She moaned, undulating against him, fucking his fingers while her pussy
squeezed and released them, her vision filled with white light despite her
closed eyelids. “Oh my god, Sir.” She rocked against him, loving the feel of
his fingers totally inside her. The only thing better would be his cock.

She let go of the cross and slumped into his arms, totally
spent. He held her without so much as a heavy breath. “Oh my god,” she
repeated, not feeling very imaginative with her words. She could barely speak
intelligibly at all. A contented purr seemed more appropriate. She tried, and
it came out more like a moan, but hopefully her satisfaction was clear enough.

He sat down with her, cradling her in his arms. “Easy, darlin’.”

She didn’t want to open her eyes. If she kept them closed,
maybe the moment would go on forever. She could stay in his arms and never
leave, never have to worry about making ends meet or dodging her crazy ex.

Chapter Six

“Zoe, if you get this, I’d love to get together this
evening. Give me a call.” Nick pressed the off button on the phone and sighed.
He’d left three messages, which was probably bordering on stalking. That was
the last thing Zoe needed. He wanted to swing by her hotel after work and talk
to her in person, but that was right out. Zoe needed to know she could be with
a man safely without him getting obsessed.

The only problem was that obsessed was precisely how he
felt. He’d had a hard time keeping his mind on work all day. He missed the old
days, when he’d get out and kick the ball with the lads more often, although
training camps were closed for January anyway. It was too bloody hot. Now his
company ran three camps around Melbourne and one each in Sydney and Perth, and
someone had to mind the business side of things full-time. He could hire people
for all sorts of things, but there wasn’t any sense in hiring someone to be in
charge unless he wanted to retire. He liked being his own boss too much. Still,
with some office help, he could at least get out one or two days a week for
some hands-on training, and away from the world of figures and paychecks.

Nothing, however, would get his mind away from Zoe. He
missed her innocent, vulnerable smile that belied the fact that she was no
novice. In some things, she was probably more experienced than he was. She’d
gone deep into the world of submission, and he’d played around the edges, never
letting things get too intense with any one woman. He never found the right
woman. And now that he had, he was going to lose her, and there wasn’t a bloody
thing he could do about it.

He missed her body too. He wasn’t used to getting hard-ons
in the middle of the day, and it had happened three times already.
Maybe I’m
mistaking that for some deeper attraction. I’m in lust, not love, surely. I’ve
only known her for a few days.
There was another factor at play, he knew,
one he was a sucker for—Zoe seemed to need protecting, and he wanted to be the
man to provide that. In the end though, Zoe was going to need to protect
herself, emotionally and physically. Once she was in Texas, he couldn’t do
anything, except maybe provide someone to talk to over email.

Hell, if she’s not going to return my phone calls while
she’s here, she sure isn’t going to be emailing me back and forth. But she’s
probably out of the hotel, sightseeing and the like. Maybe once she gets back,
she’ll call.

She didn’t though. Reluctantly he went home rather than to
her hotel, after telling his onsite managers that he might be taking tomorrow
off. Maybe it wouldn’t amount to anything, but it was Zoe’s last day, and
January was the time the business needed him least anyway. If it was possible
to see her, he wanted to be able to.

He thought Zoe had enough courage to do more than ignore
him. If she didn’t want to see him, she’d give him a call. And he knew she’d
had a good time Sunday night. After they played, they cuddled in the corner for
a long time, and then ended up talking. They talked about basketball and lake
fishing, their favorite fantasy novels and the differences between Australian
and American plumbing, and time passed very quickly. It seemed that they could
talk about anything and have a good time. Was he imagining all that?

He shook his head. It was too late tonight. But he’d be at
her hotel early in the morning. If she told him to go away, fine. But something
had gone wrong. Maybe she didn’t check her messages. He set his alarm and
groaned at the time. Who the hell set an alarm for seven on a day off?
I
must be crazy. Or in love.
The two were probably pretty much the same.

She didn’t come out until nine twenty. He was waiting for
her, leaning against the hotel building. She was wearing shorts and a T-shirt,
which was about right for the weather. She wasn’t worrying about her scars,
apparently. Good on her. Her legs were damn sexy. “Morning,” he said.

“Mor— Nick!” Her eyes lit up. She ran forward and flung
herself at him. He barely got his arms open in time to catch her. He held her
tightly, enjoying the way her breasts squished against him. The offer he
intended to make, to get lost if he wasn’t wanted, was forgotten. That way
she’d looked at him said it all. He ran his hand through her silken hair and
breathed in her scent. She smelled of vanilla and lilacs.

“I lost your card. I looked everywhere.”

“Did you happen to check your messages at the hotel?”

She blinked. “Um, no. I had messages?”

“I should have come by last night and taken you to dinner.”

“You should have,” she agreed. “I almost didn’t leave the
room, because I wanted to be around in case you showed up, but I’ll only get
out here once probably and it’d be a shame to waste it.”

“Where’d you go?”

“I went to Ballarat again.”

“To Sovereign Hill?” he guessed. The recreation of an 1850s
mining settlement was a big tourist attraction.

“In the morning. In the afternoon I hiked along the Eureka
Trail.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Odd choice for an American.”
Especially if she’d gone more than once.

“My great-times-three grandfather was there at the
stockade—well, he was sort of there, apparently he skipped out for some
drinking before the soldiers came.”

He grinned. “So you’re practically an honorary Australian.
Did you have fun?”

“It would have been a lot more fun if you’d been along. But
yes, it was fun. And interesting.”

“And the plan for today?”

“I think I was just going to wander the streets aimlessly.”
Zoe giggled. “I thought about going back to the Royal Gardens, but with as
little time as I have here it would be a shame to go to the same place twice,
and yet I really had no better ideas. The Gaol? State Library? The Immigration
Museum? I think what I really want to do is get more of a feel for the city.”

Nick smiled.
Dare I hope?
“Thinking of coming back
someday?”

Zoe’s face clouded over and he immediately wished he hadn’t
asked. “It’s pretty expensive. I don’t think I can do that.”

“Yeah, I guess it is, isn’t it?” Nick tried to make his
voice sound as light as possible. “No worries. I’ll be glad to wander the
streets with you. The Golden Mile, which takes you past a lot of the historic
things and within a block or so of the Gaol, isn’t that far away from here.
Shall we wander that way to start?”

She brightened up quickly. “Sounds lovely!”

Zoe felt as if she’d walked ten miles. But a lovely dinner
at a Chinese restaurant, which Nick had insisted making his treat, had
rejuvenated her by the time they got back to her hotel. She wondered if Nick
had seen the way she shivered when they showed off the manacles at the old
Gaol.

When he leaned over to kiss her, she turned her head to
dodge and hide an impish grin. She couldn’t stand for the surprised and
disappointed expression to stay on his face long, however. She had no intention
of refusing him this last night. “Why don’t you come up and stay with me
overnight instead of going home?” Zoe asked. “That way you don’t have to kiss
me good night.”

“I thought you’d never ask.” He touched her cheek and turned
her to face him. “But I want my kiss anyway.” He kissed her deeply, hungrily,
and she responded by pressing against him and mixing her tongue with his.

They walked upstairs hand in hand. The man at the lobby desk
gave them a leer, which she didn’t think was very professional, but she ignored
it. Nothing that happened here would affect her back home, so let him think
what he pleased. He was probably spot-on, anyway.

She opened the door and preceded him inside. Despite all the
reasons she gave herself—she was a modern woman, she was on vacation, she
trusted Nick—she still had butterflies in her stomach.

“You’re sure you’re okay with this, Zoe?”

Does my nervousness show that much?
Zoe set her purse
down before turning to answer him.

“I’m sure I want to. Please. I think it’s a step I need to
take.”

He smiled and clasped her hand in his. The gesture felt so
normal, as if he was her boyfriend rather than someone she was hanging out with
and sleeping with while she was on vacation. He’d given her a lot of strength
over the last few days. No, that wasn’t right. He’d helped her uncover the
strength she already had. Strength enough to go back to Texas and deal with all
the shit waiting for her there, to face down Stu and stop running from him. It
was something she needed to do or she’d always be running.

She didn’t know how to make the next move, but that didn’t
matter. She should have known he’d take charge. He led her back into the
adjoining area where the bed was and then turned to face her. She nibbled on
her lip. He lifted her T-shirt, and she pointed her hands at the ceiling to
help him get it off. He’d seen her body. That nervousness should have been gone
but it wasn’t entirely. She wasn’t going to let it hold her back.

She reached forward and unbuttoned the top button on his
shirt, and worked her way down. He stopped to let her and cupped her through
her satin bra. Her breasts tingled at his touch, their peaks hardening into
sensitive nubs. He noticed, of course, and brushed his palms against the points
they made in the fabric. It felt so good she slowed down her unbuttoning,
wanting to enjoy his touch longer. But each button revealed another ripple of
muscle. Pecs that looked as if they’d been carved from granite. Six-pack abs.

At last, though, she reached the last button. It wasn’t fair
to him to delay. Hadn’t the times in the club been all about her sensations?
Any pleasure he had gotten was mental, not physical. It was his turn to enjoy
some touching. She didn’t want to be a greedy girl. Yet as she continued on
from his shirt to undo the button on his jeans she realized she
was
greedy. She wanted his cock, and she wanted it now.

He let her get the button, but stilled her hand with a firm
grip when she got to the zipper. She looked up at him wonderingly, afraid she’d
done something wrong.

“I appreciate the sentiment, darlin’, but I want you naked
first.” He sat down on the bed, kicked off his shoes and laced his hands behind
his head. “We’ve got all night. Take your clothes off nice and slow, and let me
watch.”

His gaze swept her body, and it felt to her as if it was hot
enough to burn her skin. She reached behind her to obey, and then got an idea.
If he wanted his own private striptease, a striptease he would get. She wished
she had something to play music other than her MP3 player, which didn’t have
speakers, but she’d do her best in silence. She didn’t have any illusions she’d
be graceful, but she had a feeling that Nick would appreciate the intent.

She swayed her hips to an imaginary beat, then leaned over
toward him so low that she almost spilled out of her bra. So far she almost
fell over too, and had to touch the bed for a second to steady herself. Nope,
not graceful. She straightened, put her hands behind her on the clasp of her
bra, and spun around slowly so she was facing away. She wiggled her ass at him
and unfastened the bra, catching it with her other arm to stop it from falling
away completely.

She resumed the turn until she was facing him again, her arm
still holding the fabric to her breasts as she slipped the strap off the other.
She switched arms so she could get the other strap, leaned over not quite as
far, and then turned again before letting the bra fall to the floor at last.

She looked over her shoulder. “Slow enough for you?”

“Perfect, darlin’. I could watch you all night… Or at least
for a while. Eventually I need to bury my cock where it’s wanted to go ever
since I met you.”

“And where would that be?” She cupped her breasts with her
hands and slowly turned to face him.

“In your pussy. I want to feel you coming around me.”

I’ve had all the orgasms in the relationship, and he’s
still thinking how
my
pleasure will feel.
Maybe it was a line, but
she didn’t think so. And she knew from the way his pants tented at times that
he’d been plenty turned-on, so it wasn’t as if he didn’t have wants. Needs.

She was going to be the one satisfying those needs. She felt
her pussy moisten at the thought. His eyes widened as she slowly removed her
hands, almost as if he’d never seen breasts before. But there was no shortage
of bare skin at Indigo, and he’d seen her naked before as well. Nonetheless,
his gaze devoured her hungrily.

She slid one hand down her stomach toward the snap on her
shorts. He made her feel as if her body was unblemished, perfect. As if she was
some kind of fashion model. It didn’t matter if the snap barely held, and five
pounds ago had been coming undone every time she bent wrong. Lots of guys might
say the right thing, but his eyes couldn’t lie. And they said, very clearly,
that he thought she was sexy.

She unsnapped the shorts. Normally she felt a sense of
relief at the sudden release of pressure, but it didn’t matter this time. She’d
let him cinch a rope around her waist if he wanted to. But the idea that he was
one step closer to being inside her made her clit tingle. Without a plan, she
slid her hand down, outside the shorts, and rubbed herself. She was embarrassed
for a moment at what she’d done, and then she saw his grin. He clearly didn’t
mind. She stroked between her legs for a few more seconds, careful not to focus
on her clit lest she overload herself. God it felt good right now. But he’d
feel even better.

The fact that he enjoyed the show spurred her on. She
unzipped the shorts and rubbed some more, first between her panties and her
shorts, and then slipping her hand between her underwear and her mound, dipping
to touch the wetness in her pussy.
I’ll be a puddle if I keep this up, but
it’s obviously turning him on.