Lincoln set the tub of shaving items on the bed next to his sweet submissive. She was frazzled. No doubt about it. She hadn’t fully wrapped her mind around the spanking scene before he threw this next test at her.

Was he moving too fast? Going too hard on her?

He had to think not. For one thing, that was the goal. For another thing, if for some reason she continued to show truly submissive tendencies, then she would be that much more prepared for her next Dom.

He stiffened at the thought. There would be no next Dom. Fuck.

He had two choices, convince her not to enter the lifestyle or keep her for himself. Since option number two was out of the question, he needed to stay focused on the first goal.

Eight swats to her ass wasn’t going to kill her. He knew it had to burn, especially now that she was lying on her back, but submissives endured far more intense spankings than that one. She only thought it was horrifying because it was her first.

Frankly, he was shocked by how well she’d endured it. She hadn’t even tried to escape his palm. She’d cried out, but otherwise, she’d been brave. Quite the accomplishment after running from Master Colin’s mere suggestion of swatting her bare bottom last week. He now knew that was different, though. She hadn’t liked the public exposure. She hadn’t known Colin. Master Colin was not Lincoln.

Lincoln took a breath. She would blossom for him. She will do it for me. No one else.

Looking at her now, spread open for him. Naked. Exposed. Laid completely bare a few hours into her training. He was undone.

Damn, she was gorgeous laid out for him like she was now. Shivering, teeth almost chattering, but sexy as hell. “I want you to reach under your knees for me and hold your legs open.”

She turned her head to one side, pursing her lips, but she did as she was told.

His heart raced. He let his gaze roam down her body from her tight nipples to her pussy. He set his hands on her inner thighs and stroked the tender skin, helping her open farther while soaking in the sight of her tight pubic hair and the treasure it attempted to hide.

He vowed not to dwell on her pussy or its promises until after he’d bared her to his scrutiny. Instead, he reached for the towel in his tub and tapped the side of her butt. “Lift your bottom, sweetheart. I need to slide this under you.”

She used her heels as leverage and did as instructed. As she settled back onto the towel, Lincoln couldn’t stop himself from gently stroking through her pubic hair. He needed to feel it, feel her. It was soft. His cock stiffened. The small head was being tortured today. After he shaved his sub’s sweet mound, he really needed to escape for a bit into his own bathroom and relieve the pressure before he exploded.

Never in his life had he gotten hard during a scene. Granted, this was far more than a scene. It was a full-time arrangement. But he still shouldn’t be this fucking hard all the time.

A soft moan from Sasha reminded him he was stroking her fucking pussy. He pulled his hand away and reached for the shaving cream. Forcing himself to disassociate, he spread the white foam around her pussy all the way back to her tiny hole.

His reason for shaving her had nothing to do with his aversion to a woman’s genital hair. He found women sexy with and without the barrier. But for this week, he wanted to keep Sasha totally exposed. It would make her feel that much more vulnerable without the added protection.

Women had a thing about having their pussy shaved. He found most of them had a different head space when they were bare to his view. They also inevitably got more pleasure from having their naked lips stroked and their clit exposed to the air. And hell, this knowledge came from having sex with women, nothing to do with BDSM. He really did keep the two separate in his mind.

Until Sasha.

He also knew it was unnerving to have a Dom shave a woman himself. Totally different from instructing the sub to do it.

Yeah, he was pushing her limits. But she was yielding them just as quickly. A fact that made him harder. Dammit.

When he set his left hand on her lower belly to hold her steady and pull her skin tight, she whimpered. “Deep breaths, baby. It won’t hurt. Most women find it soothing.”

He half expected her to ask how many times he’d done this, but she didn’t. She was stiff and distracted. The truth wasn’t very interesting. The few times he’d had a sexual relationship with a woman that lasted longer than a few dates or trips to the club, he usually asked them to let him shave them.

He didn’t question what his obsession was. He just knew he liked the way they submitted to him when he did it. The idea jolted him while he continued to rub the foam into her mons. It didn’t need further attention, but it mesmerized him, and she was panting through the attention so deliciously.

He tried to grab on to his last thought. It never occurred to him that shaving a woman like this was indeed a sign that he enjoyed a bit of sexual kink alongside his sadism. Huh.

He removed his fingers, wiped them on a smaller hand towel, and grabbed the razor next. “Stay still for me, baby. I don’t want to cut you.”

She was holding her breath. Too stiff.

“Sasha, look at me.”

Her throat moved up and down and finally she lowered her gaze. Her mouth was still pursed tight. Her eyes blinked.

“Trust me?”

She nodded. He wouldn’t ask for a verbal this time. She was totally unaware of her indiscretion.

“It’s just hair,” he pointed out. “If you hate it, it will grow back.”

She let her lips part. “I know, Sir. I’m ready.”

He smiled warmly at her. “Good girl.” And then he bent to the task, slowly dragging the razor over the curls above her clit first and then working his way down to her pussy. He had to grit his teeth to keep from moaning as he so intimately parted her lower lips and bared them to his view with long, drawn-out drags of the razor.

He concentrated. Hard. Forcing himself to get the task done before he would allow himself to stop and admire her sweet, sweet pussy. He was the first man to ever see her spread open like this. The first man who would carefully bare her. The first man who would watch her come undone, witness the swell of her lower lips, watch the throbbing of her clit when she came, taste her essence.

He was so fucked. No way in hell did her brother intend for Lincoln to so thoroughly defile her like this. Sure, he’d emphatically insisted on no sex, but where was the line? Lincoln knew he had crossed it about three hours ago, if not from direct contact then at least from his carnal thoughts.

He quickly continued down to her tight hole and then gently pushed her labia from side to side to make sure he didn’t miss a spot. And then he was done.

She exhaled a long breath as he used the hand towel to wipe the remaining shaving cream away. She was probably relieved to have that small measure of cover.

But it was short-lived. Lincoln tossed the razor and towel back in the tub and set his hands on her thighs, pressing them wider. He needed to see, soak in this moment. So pink. So damn sexy.

When he gave a pull on her skin, her labia parted for him, exposing her wetness. He slid his hands closer, using his index fingers to draw the hood off her clit.

Damn. Damn damn damn. The bundle of nerves was swollen and red and tight. It pulsed while he stared at it.

Hell loomed up behind him, beckoning him to lean backward into the heat so it could swallow him whole.

The willpower it took not to more thoroughly violate her right that second was intense, and the only way he figured he would actually be able to hold back from touching her clit or pushing a finger into her pussy would be if someone else did it for him so he could watch. Sasha.

“Let go of your legs, baby,” he whispered. “I’ve got you.”

She released her thighs. He held her open. He inhaled her scent. Musky. Arousal filled the air. She was panting. Desperate. “Sir…” The word trailed off on a moan.

He wasn’t even touching her directly. “Touch yourself.”

She flinched, her hands fisting at her sides. “Sir?”

“Baby, stroke your pussy for me. Use your fingers.”

She hesitated, her torso arching. Fuck me. She moaned. “Don’t ask me to do that, Sir. Please…”

He lifted his gaze and waited for her to look at him. “Did you masturbate this past week?”

“No, Sir.”

“Then you must be really needy right about now.”

She swallowed. Her eyes were wide.

“Under my care you will never be permitted to touch your nipples or your pussy without permission. I’m giving you that permission right now. I want you to stroke yourself to completion. Show me how you bring yourself pleasure when you’re alone.”

She panted, still staring at him.

Fuck me. If she doesn’t even masturbate, I’ll die right now. “Sasha… You do masturbate, right?”

She flinched. “Of course.”

He lifted a brow. “By that do you mean you have done so once or twice? Or often?”

“Often, Sir.” Her voice was barely audible.

Thank Christ. “Show me, baby.”

She inhaled sharply, shaking her head. “I don’t. I mean, I don’t usually use my fingers.”

He took a deep breath, his eyes sliding shut for a moment while he processed visions of her fucking her pussy with a dildo or a vibrator. “What do you use to make yourself come, baby?”

“A, uh, a little vibrator usually. It, uh, it’s like a butterfly.” Her face was dark red.

“Thank you for being honest. I don’t think you’ll need a vibrator this time, though. Do you?”

“No, Sir. But…”

“You going to use your safeword?” he pushed. Admittedly he held his breath, praying she would not back out now.

That was the intention, asshole. The goal is to get her to give up this notion of submission. Eye on the prize.

He didn’t want her to fail, though. He couldn’t begin to know what that meant, but he knew he was counting on her success. “Touch yourself, Sasha,” he ordered. “Do it. Don’t think about it. Close your eyes and slide your fingers through your folds.”

She hesitated for one more second, and then she slid her uneasy fingers between her legs. Her eyes closed. Her head tipped back. Her mouth fell open. She was in the moment before she even touched herself.

He yanked his attention to her tiny fingers, mesmerized as she stroked two of them slowly through her folds, gathering the moisture and spreading it up to her clit. When she flicked those fingers over the swollen nub, she moaned.

Fuck yes. Doesn’t usually masturbate with her fingers, my ass…

She rapidly flicked her clit, her breaths coming in shallow pants. Shocking the hell out of him, she let her other hand slide to her nipple and pinch the tip. Holy mother… The bud grew tighter as she worked it. And then she switched to the other one, her hand smoothing gracefully between her mounds.

The entire time she was working her clit, her fingers flat on the nub now, pressing, rubbing. Her heels dug into the mattress, making her thighs stiffen in his grip. “That’s it, baby. You’re so damn sexy. Come for me, Sasha. Let me see you shatter.”

Suddenly, her hand flew down from her breast to join the first one between her legs, and she shocked him again when she worked her clit with both hands, rolling it between her forefingers.

She cried out, so involved in the scene that she probably didn’t know it. And then she gave an incoherent scream. It was short, but it correlated with the exact moment her entire body went rigid.

He could swear he actually saw her clit pulse with the force of the orgasm. Her body jerked with every wave of release. Over and over. So many he lost count.

When she was done, her hands slid to her sides and her body went slack.

And Lincoln’s world tipped on its axis.

The little minx had lied to him again. No way in hell had she not done this before. The woman regularly got off with her fingers. She may own a vibrator. He had no doubt she did. But she knew her way around her body, and she was skilled without electronics.

He wasn’t going to call her out on this, however. She was sated and relaxed. He didn’t want to ruin that by embarrassing her. Because he had no doubt the reason she hadn’t been completely honest was because she was mortified at the idea of having an audience.

He’d let it slide.

For now.