Fourteen
A handful of blurred moments passed and I felt Leo’s strong arms scoop me off of the floor and carry me around the corner into a bedroom. He tossed me on the bed then paralyzed me with smoldering eyes as he undressed me the rest of the way. Leo moved to a dresser drawer on the opposite side of the room while I remained immobile, naked and trembling with excitement. I let my eyes drift to see the pale gray walls of the room with nothing but a mirror on one wall and an odd looking bench and chair off in one corner. By the time I began scrutinizing the furniture, he grasped one wrist and hoisted me off the bed just enough to yank the thick comforter out from underneath me. He sat me back down on the soft sheets, but didn’t look at me as he buckled each wrist in a leather cuff before securing them together with a metal chain.
He guided me forcefully onto my back. Gripping the chain between my restraints, he pulled my arms above my head, looping the chain on a hook screwed into the headboard. The idea that Leo would have permanent fixtures meant for play in his home hadn’t really crossed my mind until now. As he snaked down my body, I shivered. A black strap appeared in his hand from beneath the bed and I saw the same kind of cuff attached to the end. The cool, textured leather slipped around my left ankle and I instinctively drew my right leg in in an attempt to have one last free movement before he roughly grabbed it and locked it in place.
Legs spread wide, cuffed at the edges of his bed, and arms gathered and locked above my head, I’d never been more restricted. I tugged at the cuffs around my ankles and flushed with heat when I heard Leo laugh at the sight. My eyes met his. The silence between us didn’t frighten me, it exhilarated me. I waited for him to make a move but a little protesting whimper came out of me when he backed out of the room wearing a smirk.
Alone, the first splinter of fear pricked at my heart. I dragged in a ragged deep breath to calm myself. Shutting my eyes, I breathed in again and again. With every inhale, I settled down and with every exhale, my passion stirred.
I heard a scratching sound followed by a whoosh and the scent of sulfur filled my nostrils. My eyes fluttered open to see Leo holding a matchstick to the wick of a white candle, lighting a second one as soon as the first flame ignited. The two thick cylindrical candles sat atop the dresser and the dancing flames entranced me until I noticed Leo. Shirtless and changed out of his black slacks and into loose sweatpants, his body lit by the glow of candlelight made my mouth water.
The muscles of his chest and abs tensed as he stood still near the candles, staring at me darkly. Leo’s gaze slid over every inch of my body, cast in amber glow. My bare breasts heaved with each breath. He wet his lips and I squirmed. His feet moved and I was sure he was coming for me, but again he turned to walk out of the bedroom. Once more, my vocal chords scraped in a weak protest, but then my eyes fell on his back and I gasped.
Taking up nearly his entire back was a portrait of a lion. Done solely in black, the tattoo startled me and intrigued me at once. I didn’t know why but I didn’t expect a tattoo on Leo at all let alone this one. The quick glimpse wasn’t enough to truly dissect the image but what I saw was unexpected—yet another reason I should’ve given every part of Leo my attention from the start. The lion image he wore wasn’t that of the roaring king of the jungle or the menacing hunter. It was docile. Simply looking back at me with mystery in its eyes.
I swallowed hard as Leo walked back into the room, this time carrying a metal bowl that he set on the nightstand beside me. He took a seat on the edge of the bed. His eyes grazed over my skin and all I could think of was his tattoo and how desperately I wanted to see it again.
“Do you remember your colors?” His voice sounded rough; it was music to my ears after the silence that had hung between us for so long.
“Yes, Sir.”
A black glove reached out and I flinched as he trailed one finger in a circle around my already hardened nipple.
“Good girl,” he replied and I squirmed again, desperate to squeeze my legs together. “I should punish you…”
I pulled in a sharp breath and set my eyes on him, frantically wide but without a word. Certainly without a color. He reached into the top drawer of the nightstand and pulled out a black satin eye mask. Leaning over me as I panted, he slipped the cool fabric over my eyes and let the elastic strap hug the back of my head, shrouding me in darkness.
“Punish you for back talking me, for pulling away, for stealing my opportunity to undress you by taking matters into your own hands, and for resisting me for so long—too caught up in your own concerns to think about me. Us.”
With my sense of sight revoked and my limbs captured, the sound of his voice in my head was as luscious and intoxicating as wine. This moment alone made my body feel that gentle pull toward levitation and I knew whatever he had in store for me, it wouldn’t take long before I spun out.
I jumped at the feeling of his gloved hand smoothing down the skin between my breasts, trailing all the way to my sex. I could feel his hand hovering above me. I tried to lift my hips off the bed to meet his touch, but I had no leverage and his presence kept me weak.
“But I want to reward you, Sloane.”
I stilled and honed in on his words, focusing every ounce of my being to the tone of his voice as I felt him lean into my ear. His breath warmed the already flushed skin of my cheeks and I drew in the clean scent of him.
“Reward you for listening to me, for seeing the errors you’ve made, for apologizing, for dropping to your knees,” he whispered and moved even closer, his warm bare chest pressing against my side. “And for cutting your hair.”
A whimper passed my lips just as he smothered his mouth over mine, capturing the sound with his tongue. He pulled back, leaving me breathless. The sensation of his kiss without the ability to see or touch him catapulted me to an unearthly height. I felt his hands snake around the back of my neck, now exposed thanks to the haircut.
“This part of you,” he spoke against my lips, “haunts my dreams.”
He lifted my head and crushed his lips to mine again.
“It’s everything you are,” he said, breaking the kiss. “It’s delicate but strong and while you own its every move, I will always be able to wrap my hands around it and take your breath away.”
One heavy pant pushed from my lungs, coated with a moan when Leo pulled away from me. My chest rose and fell and my head whipped back and forth, blindly searching for him.
“What do you think I should do? Punish or reward you?”
I attempted to speak but nothing emerged. Cool leather plucked hard on one nipple, tugging it straight up making my lips clamp shut and vibrate with a moan.
“Come on,” he said. “Be a good girl and answer me.”
“Both,” I choked as he let go. The answer was greedy, as the punishment was a reward after the emotional rollercoaster I’d been on with him over the past few days. I heard a rustling noise, like liquid swirling and something clinking against metal.
“Perfect answer,” he said.
Goosebumps instantly scattered across my skin as something slick and chilly pressed against the nipple he’d just tweaked. Shocked, I yanked on my restraints feeling the hard little object circle around one sensitive peak. I registered the sensation as an ice cube as soon as Leo moved it to my other nipple and sucked the first one in his mouth, the heat of his tongue zapping the cold away. Gasps ripped out of me every time he alternated, swapping his mouth for a torturous ice cube, slowly circling the surely reddened buds. I bent my elbows and pulled on the hook that held me but it didn’t budge, and every time I tried to pull myself up and away from his devilish actions, I felt the cuffs on my ankles mocking me.
Sucking so deeply on my nipple that a pop sounded through the air when he released it, Leo finally lifted the ice from my skin. I heard the same liquid and clanking just before a new even colder cube came to draw a line from my parted lips down my chest to my navel. I sucked in my stomach, trying to shrink away from the delicious agony of the cold but puffed a curse as Leo pressed it firmly against my skin, drawing it to the crease of my thigh. The ice moved everywhere but where I knew he meant for it to end up eventually. Heavy breaths shot from my lips to the ceiling and I reveled in the excruciating pleasure of not being able to move or see as he toyed with me.
“Do you know yet?”
“What?” I shrilled, feeling the ice slip slowly to the place where my outer sex split. The heat of my body melted the cube and cool water trickled down to mix with the wetness he’d brought forth.
“If this is the punishment or the reward?”
I could hear the grin in his voice but didn’t have time to react. Leo pressed the ice cube flush with my clit and I cried out. He added a second and then a third as I gritted my teeth, feeling all three pieces of ice melting on my sex. I tried to catch my breath, but I failed and screamed as soon as Leo pushed one hard cube inside me, then pressed another handful between my legs. His firm, leather-sheathed hand cupped my sex. I felt goosebumps break out all over my legs and tears slip down my temples. Leo replaced his hand with what felt like a pillow and I whimpered. I felt the bed shift as he stood and my senses perked, anticipating a shower of ice to rain down on me. I licked my lips in between panting breaths and tried to ignore the numbness of my throbbing pussy and focus on the clues I had with sight and scent.
Footsteps.
Fire.
“Are you cold?”
“Yes, Sir,” I whined, wiggling my hips in effort to melt the cube slowly shrinking inside of me.
My senses blocked out the cold the instant liquid heat splashed on my breasts. It burned for a split second then cooled and puckered on my flesh. I choked on a breath just as another trickle painted me, the burning drops splashing over one nipple. As more liquid fire spilled on to my skin, the scent of the flame pulled me toward the realization that Leo was pouring candle wax on my body. While it scorched the first second it touched me, it cooled rather quickly and the moans the sensation drew out of me were proof I enjoyed it. Droplets fell on me, coating my belly in broken stripes and finally moving low enough to make me squeal. As the velvety, hot liquid trickled close to the pillow holding ice against my sex, I screamed.
“Please!”
“Please, what?”
“Please,” I huffed. “Sir.” Another gasp. “I—can’t.”
My voice failed me and a sob slipped out just as the pillow between my legs disappeared. The melting slivers of ice fell away from me. A deep, guttural groan ripped from my lungs and I shrank inwards, flexing every muscle in my body as soon as I felt Leo’s hot mouth against my pussy. His tongue pushed inside where the cube he’d slid into me had chilled my core. The temperature torture reached its peak when he unlocked his lips from me and exhaled deeply onto my flesh, attempting to steam the frozen, sensitive flesh. I felt myself melt at his attention and as the feeling came back, blood rushing to my pussy, the deep ache of an impending orgasm engulfed me. Bucking against his face, I gritted my teeth and mewled pathetically when I heard Leo laugh.
Suddenly, the weight of his body covered me and he pulled the blindfold away. I blinked to see his brooding eyes as he stared at me briefly before slinking down, unbuckling the cuffs around each of my ankles. He met my bleary eyes once again, hovering over me, letting a gloved hand fondle me between my legs. A flicker of a smile touched his lips as he shifted and I felt him push down the pants he wore. Without a moment to prepare and my mind still on overload, I cried out as he pushed his cock inside me. I shut my eyes and groaned in delight.
He sat up and gripped my hips, yanking me toward him, fucking me deeply without reprieve. With my arms still linked to the wooden headboard, I longed to touch him. But the utter loss of control and the feeling of him taking me—rewarding me—was the final push I needed to lose myself to the spin. My eyes rolled back as Leo thrust, stretching me and pushing me toward ecstasy. Then the feeling of leather fingertips slipping under my earlobe to the back of my neck made me look up at him.
The indigo stare that had struck me at our first encounter dug deep into my soul as our bodies joined as one. His hand at the back of my neck tightened into a fist, gripping the short hair as he ground into me. The symphony of sounds resounding around us only added to my dizziness. The world fell black and I sank to a dark and desperate place. A place where pleasure knew no bounds and everything was Leo Calloway. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else existed.
My body slackened as he rocked into me. I felt my arms shift and jostle then felt the warmth of Leo’s skin against my wrists. I opened my eyes a sliver to see he’d hoisted me into his lap and looped my chained wrists around his neck instead of around a metal hook. With every thrust, the inevitable built inside me. My heart ricocheted beneath my breast as the spinning intensified.
Leo’s leather-sheathed hands made their way around my throat. There was no pressure, my air flowed just as ragged as it had before, but the intensity of the moment—my spinning mind, my life’s breath in his hands, and the driving force of his cock—pushed me over the edge. A cry tore from my lungs as my core pulsated around his thickness. Tears streamed down my face as I came—the deepest, most emotional release I’d ever achieved completely overcoming me. Just before blackness shrouded me, I locked eyes with Leo. He wiped at the tears on my face, kissed me roughly, and came with a harsh curse against my lips.