The Burning
Amanda
It was strange, how wild, burning need could drive away inhibition. It was almost like a drug, the craving, the need, the relentless pounding ache deep inside that needed to be sated.
She craned her neck and stared at Jason, the man she loved, the whip limp in his hand. She couldn’t believe she was deliberately goading him into whipping her.
She’d been so unsure at first, so afraid. Afraid that it would hurt. Afraid that Jason wouldn’t know what he’d doing and he’d hit her too hard; that he’d break her skin open and make her bleed.
Now I’m afraid he won’t.
“Are you sure?”
Jason had never looked more raw or masculine, the full day’s light glinting off the sheen of sweat that had formed on his muscular body. His chest and shoulders gleamed. The muscles in his thighs flexed as he stepped forward, taking a wide stance. His hand trembled, though from fear or anticipation, Amanda couldn’t be sure.
“Yes. Be gentle at first though?”
“Of course,” he breathed reverently.
It rocked her to see the awe in his eyes as he raised his hand. The awe inspired by the way she gave herself to him, surrendered so completely and utterly. She remembered the heady sense of power she used to feel when they’d do this. That it was her who could bring a man like Jason to the brink and back again. She was the one woman in the world that Jason wanted and craved. There wasn’t any other feeling like the power that knowledge brought.
Amanda turned, facing the wall. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the first stinging blow. Jason raised his hand. She felt it, rather than saw it. She heard the whip sing through the air. It landed on the round swell of her bottom, the fleshy part where there was enough padding to soften the blow.
She gasped at the sting, the fire spreading under the surface. He raised his hand and struck again, the whip hitting her other cheek. She cried out, her body jolting at the pain. As the sting wore off, the fire turned from painful to pleasureful in an instant. The terrible throbbing between her legs increased, the juices of arousal sliding down her thighs in wet streams.
“Do it again,” she panted, her eyes still closed.
She braced for the blow, but was still shocked when it came. She endured the pain, let it ride over her, flow through her blood, take her over and under and out of control. The hunger that followed, the overwhelming need for more, startled her.
“Again,” she commanded thickly. “Hit me again, Jason.”
He did, the whip singing through the air with a gentle hiss, punctuating their breaths like an exclamation mark at the end.
She moaned, her body rocked forward violently as the pain seared through her flesh. She was panting, the feeling that swept through her was how she imagined it would feel like to be drugged, though she’d never tried anything more than a puff of a cigarette in her life. That heady astounding heat that ripped through her blood wasn’t anything like she’d ever felt before. She was sure it was adrenaline, but it was charged with an undercurrent of dark sexual energy.
“Do you want more?” Jason rasped.
When Amanda turned she was astounded to see his shoulders heaving. He was such an incredibly big, strong man, it was utterly amazing to see how out of control he was. His features were twisted with lust, his breath ragged and raspy, his chest heaving, rising and falling with the effort of drawing another shaky inhale.
It was his eyes that shocked her most of all. The blue was nearly gone, eaten away by the pupil, swallowed up entirely by the flames of passion.
Hunger. Hunger twisted his face, hunger drove him forward, hunger shook that massive build. Hunger for her. The want of her. Her act of surrender had brought him, the one who was dominating and in control at the moment, to his knees.
“No,” she whispered. “I want you to set that down and come here. Come kiss the welts away that you created. Come and take me and fuck me.”
His hand opened and closed, his fingers flexing as his mouth gaped open. She loved the effect her words had on him, the way they transformed him and turned the tables, so that in an instant, she was the aggressor.
She turned her face and in the next instant he was there, his hands wrapping around her waist, his fingers digging into her hips, face bent to kiss away the welts she knew must be there, on her ass and lower back, her thighs. His lips didn’t leave a single inch of skin untouched. He worshiped her, praised her, made her feel like the most cherished woman in the world. At this moment she almost thought she’d die from the tenderness and the stirring inside.
“I want you inside of me, Jason, filling me up.”
He groaned in response. His lips trailed away, but his hot kisses remained like a phantom on her skin. He tilted her hips towards him and when she looked between her spread legs she saw him there, the head of his cock parting her opening. It was sexy as hell to watch. It had been a long time since they’d done this in daylight.
God, we need to do this more often, in the light. Always in the light.
His cock, already as wet and swollen as her sex, slid in easily. He wasn’t gentle when he slammed inside and she didn’t want him to be. His fingers bit into the flesh of her hips, hammering her against him. Their bodies slammed together, their skin slapping with wet noises that should have been embarrassing and were anything but.
They were both drunk on each other, high on the sensation of floating together, finding and taking their bliss. He used her, fucked her so very sweetly and she took, took everything he had together, grinding her hips, swaying and bucking and taking from his at the same time as she gave.
She closed her eyes as Jason’s thrusts grew frenzied. He hammered home, pulled out, slammed back in. Pleasure rocketed through her limbs, soaked into each and every pore. Her slick passage clenched Jason, closing in around him, spasming hard with every single thrust. Her breath became little more than hard pants. Their hips bucked and ground harder, harder as they came closer and closer to finding the release and relief they both desperately needed.
Amanda found heaven first. Her eyes slammed shut, lights bursting behind closed lids. She tumbled and fell, soared and crested peak after peak. Just when she thought it was done, another hard wave of pleasure hit her, rolled her over, tumbled and smashed and sent her careening back into oblivion.
Her entire body shook and trembled, and her pleasure pulled Jason’s hot climax from him. He pulled out at the last minute, spilling hot jets over her back, her thighs, her ass.
The room went still as they both crashed back down to reality.
“My god, Amanda,” Jason said hoarsely when he found his breath.
It was all he could say. A second later he produced something to wipe off her back with. Amanda couldn’t hold herself upright any longer with her shaky arms. Every single muscle in her body strained and cried out in protest. She was deliciously sore, her bottom and thighs and back still stinging from the whipping, but in a good way that somehow made the last vestiges of pleasure that much more enjoyable.
She collapsed against the bed, pulling herself to her side. She made a feeble attempt to cover herself with the quilt.
Jason joined her a second later. He slid under the blanket beside her and pulled her into his strong arms. She turned so she could face him, so she could get lost in the beauty of his hard, rugged features as he was drifting off to sleep like she knew he would.
Or at least, she thought he would. When she wiggled out of bed to answer her ringing phone she woke him. She returned to the bedroom after speaking with her mom for a few minutes.
“They made it safe?” Jason’s brow arched in question.
“Yes. Everything went well. Ross slept the whole time.”
He extended a hand, a huge grin lighting his face. “Good. I knew it would. Now you can stop worrying and come here again. I missed you.”
“I was gone for a few minutes,” she protested, laughing.
“Exactly. The bed is cold. You should rectify that.”
Amanda realized just how much she’d missed this- the having, the taking, the soreness, the rawness, the giving and joining of one heart, one soul, to another. She didn’t hesitate to run across the room and jump back into their bed.
***
Lulled into a trance-like state, tired and sore and deliciously sated, Amanda was jerked back to reality by the sound of gravel crunching against rubber. The afternoon sunlight had faded, given away to the darkness that came so very early with the arrival of fall.
She sat upright, straining to listen for the unusual sound she was sure had been nothing more than her imagination or the beginning of a dream hovering on the periphery of sleep. Being so secluded, invited visitors were rare. Unexpected intrusions never happened.
The sound came again, subtle and quiet, but undeniable. The night quiet was shattered along with Amanda’s sense of security.
She grabbed for the sheet, tucking it around her chest while she shook Jason’s shoulder hard.
“Jason. Wake up. I heard something.”
He shot upright in bed so fast the movement was like an explosion. He was instantly alert, blue eyes wide and feral.
“Stay here.” He slid from the bed, nothing more than a silent shadow as he hurriedly pulled on his discarded clothing.
Of course Amanda didn’t obey. It was the middle of the night. Her curiosity got the better of her a minute after Jason left their bedroom. She slipped on her own clothing and tip toed down the hall. She turned the corner to their small living room just in time to see Jason take the shotgun down from the pegs above the door.
She gasped and he raised his head, as though he already knew she was there.
“I mean it, Amanda. Stay in the bedroom. Or at least, stay away from the windows.”
His handsome features contorted into a mask that she’d never seen before. The black look in his sea blue eyes spoke of danger, even fear. Fear. It wasn’t a word she equated with Jason Strathmore.
His terrible uncertainty sent a cold shiver racing up her spine. She wanted to call out to him, to stop him from going out the door, but her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth. The only thing she could do was watch helplessly as the rough wood door banged shut behind him.
Despite the fact that he’d told her to keep away from the windows, she crept to the nearest one, the one in the living room that over looked the driveway. The room was dark so she knew whoever was out there wouldn’t be able to see in. Even so, she kept the side, carefully away from the glass.
A nondescript white sedan pulled down the driveway another few feet before it came to a standstill. Headlights swept over the yard, pointing towards the woods, since the car was at the wrong angle to illuminate the cabin.
Amanda squinted hard to see the driver, but the night was too dark, the headlights too blinding. She thought she could make out the shape of a man. A large man. She breathed in a raspy breath, fear coiling in her stomach. The tight shivers that raced up her back turned into an icy clamp that froze her backbone and made the hair on the back of her neck and arms stand on end.
She couldn’t see Jason, but she heard the scrape and clomp of his boots as he stalked over the porch and down the steps. He stalked into her line of view a second later, carefully putting himself between the intruder and the window where he probably knew she was standing, disobeying his orders.
He held the shotgun aloft and trained it towards the driver side of the car.
“Get out of the car,” he commanded, the tone of his voice sending another flurry of shivers through Amanda. That voice, like the look on his face right before he walked out the door, was a tone she’d never heard before.
She knew her husband had a past. It was obvious, though he never spoke of it and she never asked. It was there, always between them, hovering in the background. She knew now, that he always felt it would catch up with him, while she had naively assumed that they were safe, that the past was the past and though it might haunt Jason’s memory, it meant them no harm.
The driver side door slowly opened. A minute later, the large form of a man slowly unfurled himself from the seat. He raised his hands in the air, took one halting step forward, and crumpled to the ground. He lay there, flat on his face, prone and unmoving. When it was clear it wasn’t some trick and the guy wasn’t going to get up, Amanda rushed out onto the front porch.
Jason turned at the sound of the cabin door opening. Their gazes met and she knew right away that their peaceful, tranquil, happy life was over.