“You dare me to let you cut off my clothes?” She shrugged, shivering as I did another cut. “You clearly don’t need my permission, maître.”

I smiled, deliberately dragging the sharp tips up from her cle**age, transfixed by the red welt I left behind—I didn’t break the skin, but Tess was so sensitive, flushed with blood. “That’s not the dare,” I murmured.

Her gaze swirled with confusion. “What is then?”

“How many times you’ll let me cut you.” A full body shiver rippled through my muscles at the sick sentence. I should be repulsed, embarrassed by my need to mark her—especially because she let me brand her—but I wasn’t. I’d told her the ‘Q’ sigil stopped those urges.

I lied.

I still needed the power over her mortal body. I needed to see her bleed for me, cry for me.

Her eyelashes flared wide as her pupils dilated—half with panic, half with lust. “How many times?” Rocking back, trying to avoid the ever steady snip down the centre of her dress, she hesitated. “Cut my dress as much as you want—leave me skin alone.”

I shook my head. “That’s not the dare.” Slicing again, the tightness of the bodice started to loosen, revealing the purple lace cupping Tess’s beautiful f**king br**sts.

Her hands opened and closed, trying unsuccessfully to hide her nerves. “You’re not playing the game correctly.”

I snipped hard, deliberately catching the soft sensitive skin just below her bra line. “Oh no…how terrible of me.”

Snip.

It was my way of cutting into her shell, carving an entry into her heart. I pushed the sharp tip into her bra, circling her nipple.

Her stomach rose and fell with every millimetre.

My c**k literally burned to be inside her. Every tiny movement made my balls tighten and snarl against the prison of my trousers. Was it the alcohol coaxing me to reckless sensitivity or the knowledge of where I’d be filling Tess tonight?

I didn’t really care if it was the whiskey. Tonight she was mine. All of her.

“You don’t ask me how many times. You dare me.” Her eyes smouldered. “So, master…how many times do you dare me to bleed for you?”

Fuck. Me.

The beast instead howled at the delicious f**king question. So brutal. So unpretentious. Grabbing the back of her neck, I kissed her like a savage animal intent on drinking her soul.

Her hands came up, pushing against my chest as I plunged my tongue past her lips, giving her no choice but to open wide and receive.

Her touch seared my skin beneath my shirt; her roaming fingertips crept up my chest, running hot along my collarbone.

Then she ripped the material, sending buttons pinging and air rushing against my tattooed torso.

Her teeth captured my bottom lip, somehow taking control of the kiss for a second before I lost my cool and slammed her backward, upward, and onto the bed.

The air flew from her lungs into mine. I pinned her down with my fingers around her throat. “Three. I dare you to do three.”

Her lips were swollen and red and so, so wet from our kiss.

She arched up, forcing her vulnerable neck into my fingers. Her breathing turned ragged. “Four. I dare you to do four.”

Oh, my f**king God, what was she doing? Now was not the night to fight back—now was definitely not the time to make me lose the rest of my fractured control.

Something skittered in her eyes before hiding in their grey depths. I reared onto my elbows, releasing her neck. “Why?” Suspicion chased hot through my veins.

She looked away, but I grabbed her chin. “What do you dare in return?”

Her body stiffened, but her gaze locked with mine. “I dare you not to take my anal virginity tonight. Give me more time.”

My stomach gnashed with livid teeth. “That’s your dare? You’re so damn afraid of something I guarantee will bring you pleasure.”

My imagination stole reality giving me a snuff movie of erotic torture.

Her crying as I slid into her for the first time.

Her thighs and cheeks glowing from my spanks.

Taking her ass with my cock, while filling her pu**y with a quivering vibrator.

My hands curled at that vision. I ached to fill her with my c**k and a vibrator all at once. I wanted her stretched and overly full. I wanted her to know exactly who she belonged to.

Flipping her onto her stomach, I hoisted up her skirts and snipped with silver scissors at her knickers. They fell away, leaving her ass perfectly bare, the glisten of arousal slick between her legs.

She jolted as I pressed a finger against her clit, dragging the tip through her wet folds and up to the one place she denied me.

My c**k pulsed with the first wave of pr**cum as she rolled her hips, trying to dislodge my touch. She was so tight, so shy, so f**king amazing.

“Maître, please…I’m not saying no…just not now.”

“What scares you so much, esclave?” I pressed against her hole, loving the tight muscle, the blatant refusal to allow entry—so different to her pu**y which beckoned with its wet, dark heat.

I’d never stop loving her taste or tightness, but I wanted this, too. A lot.

Gathering more of her damp desire, I swirled it around the puckered muscle digging fingernails into her hip when she tried to squirm away. “Tell me. In detail. And maybe I’ll accept your dare.”

Her head hung down, a curtain of blonde hiding her eyes. “I don’t know. It’s just foreign. Something I never thought I wanted. It’s not…sexy.”

Not f**king sexy? She obviously didn’t see what I did. Didn’t she know her shyness was a heady aphrodisiac? Knowing it was the one place no one else had gone. It drove me to breaking point.

I laughed, never stopping my stroking, dying to use force to break the seal of her body and take her anyway. “It’s not sexy? Fuck, esclave. Seeing you like this, wanting you that way…it’s the sexiest f**king thing I’ve ever seen.”

Lowering my head, I bit the feminine curve of her hip, sinking my teeth hard. Keeping her locked in my hold, I spread her cheeks and ran my tongue down her seam.

She jolted as I pressed harder with my finger, breaching her body with digit and tongue.

She reared upright, a moan echoing around the room. I slapped a hand between her shoulder blades pressing her back on the bed, keeping her ass high and open.

It was a good thing my c**k was still in my pants because the ache between my eyes was excruciating. The need to f**k building. Foreplay was almost over. Hard and fast was quickly approaching, and I wanted it. I wanted to slam inside her and come like a volcano.