He smiled, then trailed his fingers from the crease of her backside toward her pussy. With barely a brush of his fingers over her cotton-covered folds, he realized she was damp. No, soaking wet. The longer he rubbed lazy circles over the mound of her cunt, the more her moisture wet his palm.
Mystery Mullins liked submitting. To him. That realization jacked up his desire, and Axel had to leash his need to fuck her, at least until he made a few things clear.
When she began to whimper and press her hips toward his playful fingers, he pulled away. “Does my touch feel good?”
“Yes, Axel.” Her words were high-pitched, spoken somewhere on the cusp of orgasm.
“Good.” He intended to have fun with her now. “Pull your pants down to the tops of your thighs.”
Without hesitation, Mystery complied, loosening the tie at her waist and wriggling as she shoved the garment over her hips. When the waistband fell, exposing her gorgeous, perfect ass, Axel couldn’t keep his hands off her. He palmed it instantly, kneading, pinching, and gripping it. She gasped and raised her butt, seeking more of his touch.
Oh, she was about to get it.
Axel raised his arm and slammed it down, hitting her bare ass with an unforgiving smack. “One.”
She yelped, froze, then gasped and struggled to get away.
He pinned her with a heavy arm across her body. “Stay still.”
“What are you doing?”
“You’ve heard of punishment, I presume.” He rubbed his wide palm over her bronze backside, the same sun-kissed shade as her back. Knowing she sunbathed in the nude just turned him on more.
She moaned as he spread the heat under her skin. “Yes.”
“To start, I’m going to make sure you understand I won’t tolerate any more lies. I expect you to be honest with me from now on. Do you understand?”
“I didn’t know how else to get close to you,” she replied.
“So, in order to protect your feelings, you decided mine didn’t matter?”
The starch went right out of her spine. “No.”
“What I didn’t know wouldn’t hurt me?” he challenged.
“I guess I thought if you never knew . . . yeah.” The contrite posture, without an ounce of fight, told him that she now grasped his point.
“I understand why you were afraid and uncertain. You could have tried to e-mail or call. I even have a Facebook account. Did it cross your mind to open a conversation, ask me if I was interested, and see what happened? I’m going to guess no because you’d already decided what my answer would be. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes, Axel.” She sobbed the words.
Sometimes, Mystery had so much moxie, he forgot she could be fragile. She’d been raised with privilege, but she’d also been through way more than her peers. He had to tread carefully as he reached her. She would only associate the pain of a harsh spanking with rejection. As soon as he’d finished making his point, he would start rebuilding her again.
Axel lifted his palm and struck her backside once more, watching her flesh give and bounce with his touch. More red bloomed across her cheeks, and he rubbed her skin to distribute the heat even more. “Two.”
As she moaned, he smacked her again, more to keep her attention and awaken the submissive inside her than to cause pain. “Three.”
She squirmed on his lap. “That feels . . .”
“I know,” he crooned. “Hold still, Mystery. No more manipulation. You will communicate openly and tell me even the painful truths.” He spanked her other cheek. “Four.” Then he waited for the impact to sink in.
She whimpered. “Axel . . .”
“Yes. I can give you more of that—and so many other sensations that will send your body soaring. I want to introduce you to a whole new realm of pleasure. You want that?” He stroked her from nape to ass, following the sleek line of her spine.
“More than anything,” she rasped out.
“I want to give it to you. God knows, I’ve wanted to for years. I even hate to admit how long and how often I’ve taken a temporary withdrawal of you from my spank bank.” He let his fingers drift between her thighs.
Despite the waistband, she managed to spread a bit wider, and he appreciated her effort to open herself for him by caressing her slick folds and skating his fingertips over her hard clit.
“That’s so good,” she gasped out.
“The way I’m touching you?”
“Yes.” She grabbed his shin and rubbed her face against his calf, despite his jeans, as if she needed to touch him. “But also knowing you stroked yourself while thinking about me turns me on so much. I—I touched myself thinking about you, too.”
He circled her clit again, bringing her closer to the edge of ecstasy. “That was beautifully honest. Let’s have more of that between us, not lies or topping from the bottom.”
Mystery didn’t answer him. Her body language told Axel that desire rumbled through her body, thundered in her head, and clouded her hearing. He removed his fingers.
“No,” she protested breathlessly.
“Yes. We’re not done talking.” He swatted her ass softly, delivering a blow that should sting sweetly. “That’s five.”
She jolted, but the whack did its job, bringing her back to attention.
Now he could say his piece. “You trying to force me to give you your way, removing my choices? That’s unacceptable. I’m the Dom, so I’m in control. I can’t be in any sort of relationship with someone who can’t respect my needs. I’ll always do my best to respect yours. I know right off the top of my head that you need affection, attention, and understanding. I’m sure you require more, and I’ll find out what as we get to know each other more. I will always do my damnedest to satisfy you. But if you try to manipulate me like that again, it’s a deal breaker. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Axel.” She sounded almost solemn, and he hoped he’d actually reached her.
“Good.” He helped her rise on unsteady legs between his feet and gripped her thighs to balance her. When he looked into her slightly dazed eyes, so yearning for approval, his heart clutched. “Kneel here.”
He helped her down, and she wasn’t graceful—not that he gave a shit now. She was willing and open and wanted more. Nothing else mattered.
Axel cupped her face and leaned in to kiss her, a gentle clasp of lips at first. But damn it, Mystery was so fucking sweet, and he’d been fantasizing of having her—as her—for way too long to hold back.
He parted her lips with a nudge of his own, and she acquiesced instantly, rolling out the welcome mat with an enthusiastic passion that made his desire skyrocket and tilted his world on end.
Jerking away, Axel looked down at her, his stare following the trail of her body, her rosy lips, the little bites on her neck, the T-shirt stretched just a bit too tight across her breasts, then the pants banding around her thighs with that sweet bare pussy almost hidden between.
He grabbed her chin and looked right into her eyes. “I’m going to fuck you.”
His words made her jerk as if they’d impacted her chest. “Yes, Axel.”
“It wasn’t a question. And I wasn’t asking for permission. I’m telling you what will happen, unless you’re giving me your safe word. That clear?”
“Very.”
“Good. Do you have a word in mind?”
“I—I don’t know. I’ve never . . .” She shrugged, looking a little lost. “What’s your recommendation?”
“Let’s use the traffic light system for now. It’s something you’ll remember.” He gave her a wry grin. “I want to try a million perverse acts on you and watch you respond. If I’m hurting you too much or doing something you absolutely don’t want, call ‘red.’ If I’m approaching the edge of your comfort zone, say ‘yellow.’ Make sense?”
She nodded, looking at him with eager eyes that glowed green and needy. Knowing he’d put that expression on her face revved him up even more.
As much as Axel wanted to tear through her
clothes and shove his cock into her now, he forced himself to take a breath. Much like that first kiss she’d pressed onto his lips, their initial sexual encounter didn’t really count because he hadn’t known that he’d been touching Mystery. And she hadn’t felt the way he would make her body his.
He intended to change that.
“Do you know any of your limits, hard or soft?”
A relieved smile flitted across her face. “I told Heath you were responsible and would ask. He wouldn’t listen to me. Instead, he suggested you’d whip me until I bled or make me sleep with a stranger . . .” She shook her head, her aversion to either of those possibilities clear. “Just no.”
“I don’t know where the hell he heard that, but rest easy. Neither of those are in my wheelhouse. In fact, I’d go so far to say they’re a hard limit for me.”
The relief in her expression deepened. “He said he saw those things during an undercover mission in London.”
He raised a brow. “Not in a club with Dominion’s reputation. Thorpe has strict rules and an even more stringent membership screening. Everything that happens here is both consensual and well supervised. Whatever Heath saw must have been in a private hardcore club. I like rough play now and then, but nothing like that.”
She seemed to sigh with relief. “Good.”
“So, any boundaries I need to respect? A soft limit is something that both scares and intrigues you. You’re not sure you want to . . . but you’re not sure you don’t.”
“I like bondage. I mean, I like the idea of it.” She blushed profusely. “I’ve never done it, but the thought of it turns me on.”
“I like it, too. A lot. We’ll definitely go there. What else?”
“The spanking was nice. Not so much the first smack, but the rest . . .” She gave him a dreamy smile, and he held in a chuckle. “I’ve seen a video with a Dom wielding a soft flogger on his sub’s butt. That looked interesting. But I don’t know how I feel about anal sex or exhibitionism or so many other things.”
Because she’d never tried them out. If he had his way, they’d eliminate whoever threatened her, then he’d spend however long it took to become exactly the Dom and lover she needed.
“Floggers are fine,” he said, then gave her a slow smile. “Anal? I love the hell out of it, but it’s not for everyone. Exhibitionism doesn’t appeal to me much, but I’m not against it, either. At the end of the day, I’m the kind of Dom who prefers to do one thing above all: get in your head and own you.”
A visible tremor went through her body. Yeah, she wanted what he could give her. She sought the physical surrender, but she ached to yield her soul even more.
“You can do that, can’t you?” Her voice shook as if the possibility aroused her terribly.
“Oh, little girl . . . I can do it so fast, you won’t know what hit you or how to stop it, and you won’t care because you’ll have given every thought, along with your aching pussy, to me.”
As he watched her breath catch again, her nipples bead tighter, Axel repressed a smile. The girl liked a dirty mouth. He’d give her that, too.
“I have a few other rules,” he began, running a fingertip between her luscious breasts before cupping the weight of one in his palm and caressing it with his thumb.
She almost threw herself against his body, then seemed to remember he’d told her to assume this position and sat on her heels again. “Yes, Axel.”
“You don’t come until you’re given permission. But unless I say otherwise, don’t hold back your sighs, whimpers, pleas, or screams. They’re mine, and I want them all.”
“Yes, Axel.” She shifted her hips from one side to the other.
Clearly, Mystery had a bad little habit of trying to ease her desire whenever she pleased.
He gripped her shoulders. “Hold still and stop trying to make your pussy throb less.”
Instantly, she complied, but she bit her lip as if the ache was too overwhelming to ignore.
He stroked his fingers across her cheek, then wrapped them around her nape. “You think you’re aroused and want me to fuck you now?” When she nodded, he smiled. “Just wait. I’ll make you beg—with your mouth, those nervous hands you’re wringing, your wide eyes. You’ll offer yourself to me with your words, your pouting nipples, your spread legs. When you really know what it’s like to need me to fuck you and you’ve begged sweetly, then I’ll make you scream.”
Mystery closed her eyes and dragged in a ragged breath. “I know you will. I think I’ve always known that.”
Just like on some basic, elemental level, Axel had always known that she would not only torque up his desire but drive his Dominance to new heights and fascinate him completely.
“More beautiful honesty. Excellent.”
She sent him a placid smile. It pleased her to please him. What would please him more was to have her naked. He could tell her to strip, but he wanted to unwrap her like a special gift.
Taking her braid in hand, he eased the elastic band from the ends and combed his fingers through her damp tresses. They spilled everywhere around her shoulders, brushed her waist, with soft curls that shined under the golden light from the ceiling fixture. Then he lifted the T-shirt from her curves. The stretchy knit skimmed her waist and caught on her heavy breasts.
As he pulled it over her head, she sat, spine straight, watching him raptly. Damn it, she wore another one of those frilly bras that short-circuited his brain completely. Her nipples were barely contained by the half cups. Only the upward curve of scalloped lace concealed them at all. They poked at the fabric, a deep rosy brown that had his mouth watering.
“You always have the sexiest lingerie,” he breathed as he lifted her breast in his palm and dipped his thumb under the edge of the lace.
Her nipple jumped to even stiffer attention. “I like how feminine I feel when I wear it. And I like your reaction to it.”
“That bra and panties I hand washed for you at the ghost town? As soon as I took them from the water and set them on the towel rack, I had to jack off. I knew if I didn’t, I’d picture you wearing them and you’d be flat on your back with your legs spread for me.”
Mystery closed her eyes. She fucking glowed with arousal. She wanted this, wanted him . . .
As badly as he yearned to pounce on her, Axel couldn’t. He had to take her slowly, introduce her to some of the kinks he’d like to share with her, convince her without words that she’d be satisfied long, well, and often.
He reached behind her and unclasped the bra. Her breasts bounced free. Damn, he wanted those nipples in his mouth, wanted to know if a bite of pain would excite her.
“Up on your knees,” he demanded.
Swallowing hard, she raised her butt from her heels. Her body strained toward him. Even her nipples pointed straight at him. Axel couldn’t wait to give her everything she craved.
He wrapped his big hands around her torso. She looked so small comparatively. So soft and submissive. Spreading his legs wider to make room in between, he lifted her closer. Then he bent and kissed her lips, her jaw, dragging his mouth down her neck, then the swell of one breast.
“Offer them to me,” he rasped out. “Lift them to me.”
Her breath caught as she obeyed, cupping her mounds in her palms. They spilled over her smaller hands, but she brought the stiff tips closer to his mouth, and that’s all he needed.
He latched onto one, sucking it deep and hard, giving it a little pinch with his teeth.
Mystery yelped, and Axel waited a breath, a heartbeat, then . . . There came that moan he wanted. From the startled note it held, he suspected the nip of pain had awakened her nipples with sensations she’d never felt.
She wrapped her hands around his head and held him close to her breast. He hadn’t given her permission to touch him. He enjoyed her urgency and the closeness for a moment. Someday, he’d make love to Mystery softly and let her touch him at will. Today wasn’t that day. Everything inside screamed not only to dominate but to claim her,
to bind her to him with pleasure. Because he still didn’t know if she would truly want him when the real world came calling again, when her father found out and the tabloids questioned why she was with a man who came from the backwoods, hadn’t finished college, and often liked guns more than people. But maybe, if he gave Mystery more pleasure than she could manage, when the dust settled with whoever pursued her, none of that would