Chapter Three

“Kneel.”

The command dropped over her like a heavy blanket, smothering the last of her fears and doubts. She wasn’t a novice sub, and she knew how to quickly and efficiently shut away the outside world and center herself in the moment.

She dropped to her knees in the powdery snow. She shivered, though it wasn’t cold. The fake snow was made of shredded plastic, and slightly rough under her knees. Pipe and drape had been rolled into place behind her, hiding the rest of the sound stage, giving the winter set the illusion of privacy. If she closed her eyes she could imagine that there was no warehouse roof high overhead, but instead only a cold winter sky dotted with stars.

“Open your eyes.”

Kiara blinked, surprised that she had actually closed them. She raised her gaze from the fake snow.

Reis stood in the middle of faux forest set, ankle-deep in the snow. There was a mixture of fake and real trees, the fake ones nearly indistinguishable from the real ones except for the smell. There were artful arranged fallen logs and stumps. Nearly thirty feet back from where Reis stood there was a massive painted backdrop that depicted a nighttime view of the side of a snowy mountain. It was gently curved, hugging the back and sides of the set.

A framework of metal bars overhead held the lights, which were bright, but had a blue tint to them that added to the illusions of both cold and night.

And then there was Reis.

He wore black leathers and heavy boots. The ice-blue dress shirt he’d been wearing before was unbuttoned and hanging off his shoulders, leaving a large stripe of sexy male chest and abdomen exposed.

He held blue nylon rope coiled in his left hand. His right was stretched out to her.

“Crawl to me, Kiara.”

Kiara carefully lowered herself onto her hands. Her breasts nearly spilled out of the brown leather and white lace short corset she wore. She’d made some adjustments to the garment just for this shoot, making the cups full coverage, and adding removable lace shoulder straps. Her ass was barely covered by a matching pair of brown lace-up peek-a-boo cheek panties.

The fake snow compressed under her palms, and she could feel the gym matting that had been laid down under the snow. As she started to crawl she heard the quiet click of a camera shutter. Summer’s presence should have made it easy to maintain some emotional distance, to remember that this was just a photoshoot.

But every foot that brought her closer to Reis made it harder for her to think of this as a job. Her skin was alive with need, her breasts hanging heavy below her, her sex throbbing where the thick seam of the panties pressed against her.

The snow built up around her wrists and knees, so that by the time she caught sight of his shoes she was pushing a good size pile of snow in front of her.

“Kneel up,” he commanded.

Kiara pushed up so her upper body made a straight line from knee to the crown of her head, her arms straight at her sides. She braced the toes of the soft moccasin-style boots she wore on the ground to help her maintain her balance.

“Chin up, eyes down,” he murmured.

Kiara made minute adjustments to her posture, and caught sight of Summer, in all black, circling around to the right, camera in front of her face.

Reis stooped and picked up a handful of the fake snow. He turned his hand, spilling the snow to drift down over her head and shoulders.

Kiara smiled. She wasn’t even sure why, but as she felt the whisper-soft brush of the snow over her shoulders and calves her lips curved up.

Reis cupped her chin and tipped her face up. “Hello, Kiara.”

His eyes were the pure green of sunlight shining through a summer leaf, and the way his hair fell forward to brush his cheekbone made her want to reach up and brush it back.

“Hello, M—” For one heartbreaking, treacherous moment she almost said “master.”

The smile dropped from her face. “Hello, Sir.”

His gaze searched her face, and it was so intense that she closed her eyes, unable to watch him watch her.

“You look lovely today.” Reis kept his hand on her chin as he spoke, his thumb lightly brushing her cheek.

“Thank you, Sir.”

“It’s been a long time since I touched you. I’d like to get reacquainted.”

“And I’d like to please you, Sir.”

“What do you want?”

Kiara hesitated. “To please you.”

Reis’s thumb stroked across her lips, pulling the bottom one down, exposing her teeth. “You’re not that submissive, Kiara. Are you still lying to yourself?”

Kiara jerked her head back, away from his hand. “I’m not lying to myself.”

Reis crouched, bringing his head level with hers. “Look at me.”

She notched her chin up and met his gaze. She wasn’t afraid of him.

She was afraid of what he could make her feel.

“You’re more than a little subby girl, aren’t you?” His hand hovered over her breasts, and Kiara inhaled, hoping to tempt him to touch her. “You want more than to kneel and be meek and obey.”

“Yes…Sir.”

“Honesty. Good. Tell me what you want.”

Kiara met his gaze. “You don’t get to know that.”

His eyes flashed with green fire. “What did you say?”

Kiara’s resolution to remain professional was being burned away by remembered anger. “You don’t get to know what I want, what I need. You have the right to touch my body, and to expect me to adhere to the terms of our contract. But you lost the right to know me.”

His hands curled into fists and for one horrible moment she thought he would hit her. He pushed to his feet, and then she was worried he’d walk away.

Don’t walk away.

Perverse creature that she was, she didn’t want him to leave. She wanted him to suffer the same way she had.

“You’re right.” His fists unclenched. “Only your master has the right to know you so intimately.”

Kiara couldn’t stop herself from flinching when he said “master.” His fingers slid into her hair, which she’d pulled into a loose braid. “But I’m not going to stop asking, Kiara.”

What was that supposed to mean?

“Come.” He touched the top of her head and guided her forward. She dropped back onto her hands and started to crawl.

Reis lead her to a large tree stump. It was more oval that round, and about two feet high. From a distance it looked incredibly real, but up close it was easy to see that the surface of the stump was actually painted leather, and lightly padded. If she’d had to guess, Kiara would say it had probably started life as an ottoman.

“Up, on your hands and knees.”

Kiara rose and then climbed onto the stump, which was smooth under her.

“Chest down, ass up, tuck in your arms.”

Kiara responded both to his words and to the guidance of his hands, laying her chest, shoulders, and head on the stump, the crown of her head level with the top of the oval. This left her enough room to have her knees and shins flat on the stump, her feet hanging off the edge. After a moment of adjusting her position she laid her hands one atop the other and rested her cheek on them, keeping her elbows tucked in to her sides.

The corset meant she couldn’t arch her back like a cat, but was instead forced to keep it flat, her ass raised and pelvis tilted.

Her leather panties, with their thick center seam, were digging in to her sex, grinding against her clit which was starting to throb.

“Beautiful.” A warm, hard hand settled on her ass cheek, which was mostly bare. When she was standing the cut of the panties left the lower part of each ass cheek naked. Bent like this, nearly her entire ass was exposed.

“When was the last time you were spanked?” Reis’s hand slid over her bottom, circling from her ass to upper thighs.

“Several months ago, Sir.”

“Several? Be more specific, sub.”

“At least six months, Sir.”

“A long time. I’m surprised.”

What did that mean? “Sir?”

“I saw some lovely photos of you wrapped in ropes. Are you telling me you didn’t get a spanking as part of that scene?”

Wait, he followed her on Instagram?

Smack.

Kiara jumped and let out a yip of surprise.

“Answer me when I ask you a question, Kiara.”

“Yes, Sir. Wait. I mean, no, I didn’t get a spanking. I was just a model for the rope work. It wasn’t part of a scene.”

Smack.

This time the spank wasn’t hard and sharp the way the first one had been, it was a soft thump against her sensitive sit spot. He held his hand there, kneading the heat of the swat into her skin. This time she didn’t jump. This time she moaned in pleasure.

Smack.

Smack.

He started spanking her in earnest, the flat of his palm striking her lower ass and upper thighs. He worked in a steady, even rhythm, heating her skin. There was enough pain that she dropped deeper into that center well of calm she always found when submitting, but it was an aching sort of pain, instead of a sting.

“When was the last time you did a scene?” Reis paused the spanking, using his left hand to rub her well-spanked ass, probably to give his right hand a break.

“As a model?” His fingers felt cool against her hot flesh and she shivered.

“No. When was the last time you submitted because you needed to be topped?”

“It’s been a year, Sir.”

There was a pause in his stroking, as if he were surprised. His next words confirmed it. “Why so long, Kiara?”

“I didn’t need it.”

“You didn’t?”

Smack.

He resumed spanking her, and though based on the sound he wasn’t hitting her any harder, her warmed flesh felt these blows more keenly, and she jumped a little with each strike.

Her hot breath fanned over the back of her own hand, and she ran her tongue over her lips, wetting them, and wishing it was his tongue, not her own.

“Answer me, please.”

Smack.

“No, Sir, I didn’t need it.”

“I’m surprised. You’re a highly submissive woman.”

Kiara tensed. Of course he would think that, after the way she’d behaved when she was with him. The reminder made her face heat with embarrassment and anger, and she tensed. The next strike of the spanking had his hand hitting her tensed gluteus.

Kiara hissed out a breath. That hurt. Being spanked on a relaxed, jiggly ass was very different than having someone smacking a tensed muscle. It hurt, and not in the good, fun way.

“You’re pulling out of the scene.” He laid his cool left hand on her lower back, keeping her in position. “Take a deep breath, and bring yourself back.”

Her anger was too hot. “You don’t know me. You think you do, but you don’t.”

Silence.

“How I was that weekend…that’s not how I am normally. Don’t assume you know me, because of that mistake.”

“Mistake?” He took his hand off her, and Kiara felt terribly alone. He was outside her line of sight, standing behind and to her right, while she had her head turned to the left. She was looking at a few feet of fake snow and a cluster of trees.

She heard a slight rustling, then the creak of leather. “You think that weekend was a mistake?” He was quiet, speaking to her from less than two feet away. He must have crouched down behind her.

Kiara squeezed her eyes shut. “What do you want me to say? Why are you here? Why did you say that?”

“Those are a lot of questions.” His fingers skimmed her cheek as he gathered the few loose wisps of hair, brushing them back off her cheek.

“Will you answer them?”

“I will. Maybe not all of them. And not all of them right now. But I will answer.”

“I don’t want to think about the last time.”

“You don’t?”

Why was he tormenting her? “Reis, please, don’t.”

He stroked her cheek, her neck. “You have your safe word, are you using it?”

Her safe word had been a part of the contract negotiations. She’d gone with pumpkin, in honor of her favorite holiday, Halloween.

Did she want to give up and walk away? It was the only way to be sure she wouldn’t be embarrassed.

“No, Sir.”

He kept stroking her cheek, and each touch was exquisite. “I will excuse your using my name, but do it again, and you will earn a real punishment.” He spoke in the low hard tones of a Dom.

Kiara felt the words as much as she heard them. She wanted to wrap herself up in that sound, the merciless, powerful command that infused his voice. The voice of the man she still wanted to call Master.

“Yes, Sir,” she breathed.

The past was forgotten, as was the future. All that mattered was the present—the feel of his hands, the sound of his voice, and the promise of pleasure and pain contained in both.