It felt good. Really good.

To spend the day like that. To lie in the sun, just like any other couple. To share something more of myself than just my body, even if it didn’t really matter. Even if we never saw each other again, once our week together was over. When he stood and stretched, and began gathering up what was left of our lunch, I knew we were heading back.

I watched him. For as tall and muscular as he was, he moved with surprising grace. He bent to fold the blanket and I watched the back of his jacket stretch with the movements of those wide shoulders. The image of his naked, scarred back hadn’t been far from my mind, even with everything else that had happened. It had been such a shock. Perfect little crosses, all in rows. Every cut had been deliberate. Planned and deliberate.

I couldn’t imagine who could have done all that to Kaine, and the idea of it made me feel cold and sick inside. When I’d first seen them, for a moment I’d been terrified that it might all be a part of whatever… requirements… he’d warned me about. And I couldn’t stop thinking about what else he’d said too…

We will both suffer.

As we walked back to the Citadel in the dying light, I still had no idea what those words had meant. I wanted to understand. I needed to. But not just for me. I couldn’t even begin to explain the feeling, but I needed to understand for him too.

As hard as I tried, I couldn’t picture him wanting that. Needing pain. He hadn’t hurt me. And the things he had done… I felt an exquisite tightening deep inside every time I remembered. He’d given me so much pleasure. And he wouldn’t even let me touch him…

He’d protected me from Cole. Hell, he’d protected me from all the other men at La Laisse. While the other masters had shared their women, Kaine had told me that he wouldn’t do that. He was saving me from being passed around, night after night, and I was grateful. Especially after seeing what went on in the ballroom. And after the vile threats Cole had made…

More than any of that, it was my instincts that told me I was safe with Kaine. That maybe I was safer with him than I’d ever been with Evelyn. It was only a feeling. Far from proof. But the only way to know for sure was to stay. And as Kaine took my hand in his and smiled down at me, I knew that was what I had to do.

“Don’t worry,” he said, wrapping his arm around my waist and opening the door for me. “We won’t run into Cole. He’s in his suite by now, letting his girls lick his wounds for him.”

I glanced up, the disdain showing clearly on his face. We headed for the elevator, passing by the doors that opened to the ballroom. The voices reached out to us as we passed, and I couldn’t help but look. The evening’s auction was over, and the reception had already started. I stopped and stared, as Kaine moved on ahead to push the up button.

The scene looked very much the same as it had the night I was sold. The tables, the food, couples and groups on the sofas around the room. But it was a girl named Ivy who caught my eye this time. She sat on the edge of the buffet, naked with her legs spread wide. A man sat behind her, his legs bent, his feet along the insides of her thighs. He was holding her legs wide, for the other man who was kneeling in front of her. The man behind her was holding her breasts in his hands, kneading and lifting them. The man on his knees had his face buried in her pussy. I only watched them for a minute, but I could tell by the look on her face she was close to orgasm. Her eyes were shut and her body was writhing like a snake as they worked her. I turned to look at Kaine. He’d never turned to look inside the room.

I moved toward him as the elevator opened for us, my head spinning. It was a shock on many levels, some disturbing. Others somehow exciting. I was so glad not to be in that room, but deep inside I wanted to know what Ivy was feeling. I’d never had a man’s mouth on me like that and I couldn’t help wanting to know…

Kaine kept his hand at my waist as he unlocked our door, easing me in ahead of him and turning the lock behind us. I was unsure suddenly, the confidence I’d been feeling in the park starting to fail. The room was so still, except for the two of us. I was so aware of his body, so large and so powerful, so close to mine. His scent was warm, clean, mixed with the freshness of the grass we’d laid on. He was so close and we were so very alone. My heart was pounding and picking up speed with every minute I waited for him to touch me. I knew he was going to. Tonight was the night, and this man was going to take me. I flashed to the image of a man and woman downstairs. It had only been a glimpse, but he’d had her over the back of a chair and was driving his hips against hers. A hot, pounding rhythm…

“Come with me,” Kaine said quietly, breaking the stillness of the room and making me jump. “I want you in the bedroom.”

He pushed me gently ahead of him, his warm palm spread wide in the small of my back. The blinds were open, letting the light from the streets sift through. He turned me to face him and let his fingers rest just under my breasts. Then he dropped his mouth to the side of my neck, trailing his hot mouth under my jawline, back to the spot below my ear. He caught my earlobe between his teeth and sucked it into his mouth. His hands moved under my sweater, warm along my belly until he reached my breasts. Pulling the flimsy lace of my bra underneath them, he forced them high and together in his hands. His thumbs tortured my nipples until they were hard and aching. His mouth was on mine, his tongue searching. My hands moved on their own, up to tangle in his hair, wanting him closer. I could feel his heart pounding through his chest, his own breath as ragged as mine.

“Don’t, Grace…”

He caught my hands, moving them behind me and catching my wrists together at my back. His eyes burned into mine and his chest moved against mine with his breathing. “I need you to tell me yes. I need to know you want this, no matter what I’m going to do…” He caught my lower lip in his teeth and bit down teasingly. “Say it,” he ordered, not letting me go.

“Yes,” I answered back simply.

“And you won’t leave?” He let my lip go and slipped my sweater up over my breasts. He took one nipple in his teeth and used his tongue to roll it around and around… Then he let it go.

“I won’t,” I panted, my hair falling in a curtain against the side of his face. “I want this to happen…”

His breath caught and he let go of my wrists, lifting me in his arms. “God, what you do to me,” he ground out harshly. In two steps he had me on the bed, flat on my back. “I want you…”

He unzipped my jeans and slid them down, peeling off my lace panties and boots along with them. A second later, my sweater and bra were on the floor. My breath was coming in fast, shallow pants. It was really going to happen. I could see his body tense, needing release. His cock was hard, evident even through his jeans. I waited, unable to look away, knowing he was going to strip too, aching to know the feel of that huge cock pushing into me. I wanted all the waiting to finally be over…

He opened a drawer in the bedside table and pulled out what looked like a bundle of cloth. Only when he dropped it beside me did I realize it was strips. Wide, long strips of fabric, each with a loop at one end.

“This isn’t to hurt you,” he said, putting one of the loops around my wrist. “It’s only to help you remember.”

He tightened it carefully, slipping a finger underneath to be sure it wasn’t too tight. Then he moved to the headboard, tying it just below the carved wooden finial that topped each of the four bedposts. The finials were small, smooth and egg shaped, tapering very slightly to a solid shaft. He knotted the strip and moved to the other arm, tying it as well. My arms were spread wide, but the strips had slack. Enough that I could move. Not enough that I could reach forward to touch him…

My mind was racing along with my pulse. I felt his eyes on my breasts, I could see the outline of his body. Moonlight was starting to shine through the windows. He climbed onto the bed at my feet, still fully dressed. I shifted, not knowing what to do. I was naked and tied, waiting for what would happen next. Anxiousness seemed to heighten every feeling inside me and suddenly, rather than feeling afraid, I felt warm and liquid inside. Waiting had become pure wanting.

“Do you know what it feels like, to climax from a man’s tongue on your pussy?”

He was sliding a hand up the inside of my thigh as he talked to me. I could feel his fingers moving closer. “No…,” I gasped out. “I’ve never…”

“You’ve never really been kissed then, have you sweetheart?” His hand was close, so close. He slipped it underneath me, using the other to lift my thigh and drape my leg easily over his shoulder. I could feel the warmth of his breath. I was starting to lose control.

My body began to shake in his hands. I’d thought I’d be so terrified at this moment, but all I could think was how badly I needed the feel of him. I felt a warm trickle of wetness slip between the curves of my ass. He lifted me, like a cup to his mouth. “Feel this, sweetheart. Feel what your body can do to you.”

My back bowed in a hard arch when his mouth took me. The shock hit and moved through my whole body in a fast second. I felt hot… wet… and velvet all at once. I held my breath, all my senses raging at the same time. My whole body felt alive and every feeling I had was centered where Kaine’s mouth worked me. Lips and tongue and wetness. He lapped me, biting gently, tugging… only to let me go and lap again. My hips rolled in his hands. I didn’t know if I moved on my own, or if he was moving me. All I knew was his mouth and the feeling of his jaw, rough with stubble on the tender inside of my thigh. I felt his tongue push just inside me and I bucked, lost in the feeling, my body making demands of its own.

“Christ… sweetheart…” He was moving relentlessly now and I could feel my clit, hard against his tongue. He rolled it, lapping and flicking. He was pulling a sensation from somewhere inside me. Something deep and primitive. Something that wanted to be set free…

“Kaine,” I gasped out, unable to say more. But he heard the need in my voice. He answered by flipping me over. My wrists were in front of me, the slackness in the ties taken up now by the twist in them.

“Knees,” he rasped out behind me. “I want you on your knees.”

He lifted my hips like I was weightless. My ass was suddenly in the air, my knees apart on the bed. I should have been ashamed, but I was too far gone for that. The need in me was roaring now. I braced, waiting for his cock to fill me. I knew it might hurt. And I no longer cared.

But it was his hands I felt. Long thick fingers, touching at first, probing me. He pushed one thick finger in slowly, working it inside. I was soaking wet and slippery. He slid a second finger in and my pussy clenched greedily. “Tell me how it feels, Grace.” His voice came from the small of my back. I felt his mouth touch me there and his warm breath as he spoke.

“Tell me everything you feel, when I do this…”

I felt his fingers turn inside me. They were deep and the tips of his fingers were turned toward my belly. I felt myself gripping them as he started to move. They were stroking me inside, gently at first, but his touch was growing stronger. I was being pushed and pulled, the pressure of his fingers turning the need inside me into pure liquid desire. I felt a gush of warmth make his fingers even more slippery. Then he was pumping them into me. “Tell me,

Grace,” he ordered.

“I can’t… I’m going to… I can’t control it,” I gasped out, unsure he could even hear me. “I’m lost.”

My body was rocking into his hand now. I couldn’t have stopped if he’d told me to. “I can’t control this,” I whispered. “It feels… like my body… my body isn’t mine. Not anymore.”

I felt him shifting behind me, his fingers never slowing their pace. But Instinct told me the rest. He was freeing his cock with his other hand. He was going to fuck me. My walls clamped down on his fingers…

Then I felt him pull them out. The emptiness was almost more than I could stand. The arch in my back deepened as my pussy begged for what was going to happen next. I felt desperate and brazen. I wanted… I needed… This was it.

His cock was against me, hot and slick. Not inside, but stroking up and down, from my clit to my ass. I could feel the lips of my pussy curl around him, my hips moved under their own power, working to find the right angle for him to enter me. I was moaning but he stroked on and on, keeping just beyond my reach, using the swollen head to tease my aching clit.

“God, Kaine! I have to… oh, please…” I was close to tears. “Kaine… please…”