Cherise Sinclair - Master of the Abyss

Instead he tightened his arms. “Don’t move, sub.”

The firm command sent heat streaking across her skin. She tried to move-couldn’t-and with the feeling of being immobilized came the realization that he could do…anything. Her insides melted into warm liquid.

He chuckled and bit her earlobe. The sharp, unexpected pain sheared straight to her pussy, and a moan escaped her.

“I think I’ll enjoy tonight after all,” he murmured. “So, short stuff, have you tried anything like this before?”

She barely kept from rubbing against him like a cat. Touch me . Why did he keep talking? Asking a question she didn’t want to answer. But his expectant silence forced a reply. “A few times. But I never liked it.” She’d known this was too good to be true. Be fair to him, Kallie . She added reluctantly, “I’m not submissive or anything, so it’s okay if you find someone else.”

“Sure you’re not.” He slid his hand another inch, one finger on each side of her labia. So close to her clit that she had trouble paying attention to anything but the throbbing bundle of nerves.

“Tell me about those times. What did you do?”

Her brain didn’t want to work. “I… One wanted to handcuff me to the bed, and I wouldn’t let him…although it had sounded exciting at first. Another tried to spank me, and I couldn’t stop giggling.” What else? “Um, pretty much that kind of stuff.”

“Uh-huh. Sounds like no trust and no true submission.” He turned her around.

The removal of his warm hands left behind cold places on her skin, and she ached down below like she’d wrenched something in a place where things didn’t get sprained. He’ll tell me to go home now; I should have lied.

He closed his hands on her shoulders. “How much do you trust me, Kallie?”

The question was unexpected, and she had to shift directions. Want, yes. But trust ? “I-”

“Let me rephrase that. Can you trust me in here, surrounded by other people, to restrain you, spank you, and give you pleasure?”

Her mouth went dry. The thought of him- Jake -his hands on her, tying her, touching her… She frowned. But spanking?

His eyes crinkled. “You wear your emotions right out there on your face, don’t you, sugar?”

She thought of the dom and his sub, how he’d brought her to climax with his fingers. “Does pleasure mean us both or just me?”

“Well, now”-he slowly stroked his finger down her cheek, his gaze intent on her face-“I figured on just you, using my hands.”

The words welled up like a balloon expanding in her chest. “I want more; I want you in-” Couldn’t say it; just couldn’t… “Um.”

“You want my cock inside you. Is that what you mean?”

Heat rolled up into her face until she felt as if she’d poked her head in a sauna. “Yes,” she whispered, swallowed, and gave him a firm, “Yes.”

He cupped her cheek in his calloused hand. “All right, sugar.” He smiled. “But that’s the last request you’re allowed tonight. Now, did any of those boyfriends give you a safe word when you played?”

“Yes.” She couldn’t remember a one of them.

“Must have been real memorable. How about ‘Barney,’ since I doubt you’ll forget his aim.” With a thumb under her chin, he tilted her head up, and the laughter faded from his face. “Kallie, listen closely here. If anything I do bothers you too much or hurts too much, use ‘Barney,’ and everything will stop, right then and there. And just to make sure you feel safe, ‘red’ is a popular safe word, so if you shouted it out, people-including Simon-would come over to check on what was wrong. Around here, any dom who doesn’t honor a safe word gets flattened.”

“Barney. Or red. Okay.” Good. Fine. She could stop everything if she wanted. As she stared into his intense eyes and felt the sheer power radiating from him, somehow that little safe word didn’t decrease her anxiety. Or her arousal.

“Now the rules.” He moved closer, so big that he loomed over her, like her Maine coon cat with its six-toed paw on a mouse. Even the marrow of her bones seemed to quiver.

A flicker of a smile touched his lips, creased his left cheek, and faded. “You have only one thing you may control tonight-whether to use your safe word or not. Otherwise, all the decisions, all the choices, are mine. Everything is in my hands.”

She nodded. Why did that sound so wrong and yet feel oddly like freedom?

“You will do what I say. Immediately. No backtalk, no questions, no argument. I want to hear only, ‘Yes, Jake,’ or ‘Yes, Sir.’ from you. Am I clear?”

When she nodded silently, his eyes hardened. She hurriedly said, “Uh, right. Yes, Jake.” Maybe add a salute?

“Much better.” He released her. Stepped back. “Strip.”

“Excuse me?”

He didn’t answer, but when he raised his chin an infinitesimal amount, heat curled through her and melted her insides into compliance. Her shirt dropped onto the floor.

He nodded, and she could breathe again. She unlaced her boots and toed them off, added her socks, sheathed knife, and jeans to the pile. Hesitating, she stood in her cheap white bra and cotton panties, knowing there were others around, but unable to look away from his face. Almost naked, her body there for him to see-or reject. Anxiety made her fingers curl.

“You are consistent in your choice of attire, at least,” he murmured. “Come here.”

She took two steps forward. He ran his hand over her underwear, and the noise he made sounded very much like disgust. And then he pulled her panties down.

Oh Lord. Trying to keep the unease off her face, she stepped out of them. He reached around her, undid her bra, and slid it off her arms.

She was naked. In a roomful of people. This was absolutely insane-and she wanted him to touch her so badly she almost screamed.

When his big hands engulfed her breasts, fire liquefied her lower half. “Under all those clothes, you’re definitely a girl. And these feel as pretty as they look,” he commented. He rubbed his thumbs over her nipples, and her knees almost buckled with the searing need.

“I’m little,” she whispered. He dated C-cups, not-

He pinched one peak, a startling bite of pain, and a cry escaped her. Her clit throbbed as if he’d pinched her down there too.

“You have gorgeous breasts, sprite, and I’ll take responsiveness over size any day.”

Really ? A weight lifted from her shoulders, knowing that he’d seen all of her and had liked what he saw. There could be no compliment more potent than that huge erection in his jeans. All for her. Her lips curved up.

He walked over to the couch and, from a big leather bag on the floor, pulled out a set of wrist cuffs. “Turn around, little sub.”

Her heart started pounding again. Surely all these changes in speed weren’t good for it. Very unhealthy. She stared at the restraints. “But…”

“Your answer to me is what?” He didn’t wait for her response but turned her so her back was to him, and fastened a cuff snugly around her left wrist. He ran a finger under it. “Kallie?”

“Yes, Sir.” It came out sounding as if she were a strangled cat, and he chuckled.

“Relax, sweetheart.”

The second cuff went on. Then she heard a snick . She tried to move, but he’d fastened the cuffs to each other, keeping her hands behind her back. Very fancy handcuffs. Virgil, her cop cousin, would be so impressed.

I’m not feeling real relaxed here.

Jake walked in front of her and looked down at her naked body. The knowledge that she couldn’t protect herself, that he-anyone-could touch her, could handle her bare breasts, sent a quiver through her. And yet her nipples bunched into aching nubs.