Chapter Four
I do not plan to fail. The arrogant declaration raced repeatedly through Brenna’s head as Kostas prepared to turn her pain to pleasure. Her head and face ached while invisible knives ripped across her shoulder, burning with remembered agony. The breeze generated by the overhead fan emphasized her vulnerable state. Cool air slipped over her naked breasts and lower to tease the closely trimmed landing strip left by her French wax.
“Kostas?”
“Yes, little sparrow?”
“I’m starting to freak out. Could we get this show on the road?”
She could almost hear his grin as he sat next to her on the bed. Gentle fingers brushed her hair from her shoulders before he trailed down her arm, raising goose bumps and tightening her nipples. He continued tracing little circles across her abdomen, then upward to caress the sides of her breasts.
“You are gorgeous.” His fingers outlined the marks on her shoulder and she cringed away. “Ivory satin and pink lace.”
“Pretty compliments won’t make the scars less ugly.”
Tender hands held her cheeks. “Stop, Brenna.” Firm lips whispered over the line on her face, his tongue barely skimming the aching flesh before he moved on to kiss her with the lightest touch. “Trust me. You are nothing less than perfection.”
“Lies—”
“Do not belong in this room, not between us.” He kissed her again, harder, nibbling and demanding her participation.
When he allowed her to breathe again, Kostas dropped distracting kisses along her jaw and down her throat, lightly tonguing the ridges on her shoulder. Shivers raced through her as the soothing caress mingled with the ghost pain. She arched toward him, desperate to feel his lips in more intimate places.
“In time, sparrow.”
The smooth skin of his cheeks stroked the inside curves of her breasts as he wandered down her sternum and along her ribs. The closely-cropped sides of his hair tickled. When he reached her belly button, he traced it with his tongue then wandered back up to suck a nipple into the hot cavern of his mouth. His teeth grazed the taut peak, closing sharply, before he licked the sting away. Her breast popped from his mouth, his breath teasing it to pucker tighter.
Brenna moaned and lifted. “Don’t go.”
“Never.” He took the sensitive tip between his finger and thumb, squeezing and stretching the flesh. A tiny zip of pain shot to her core the instant before something hard and cold closed over the nipple. He squeezed the clamp until she cried out and tried to twist away.
Kostas groaned, his mouth already busy teasing her other breast, nudging and pulling to ready her for the instrument of sweet suffering. When he tightened the second nipple clamp in place, the pain from her shoulder and in her cheek flared to life, far more intense than usual.
Gasping, she closed her hands around the chains of her cuffs in an effort to maintain a bit of control. “Oh, God, Kostas. It hurts.”
He kissed her again, lulling her into believing in him as his hands drifted down her body, kneading her hips and thighs. “I am sorry to cause your pain, sweet Brenna. The pleasure will come soon.”
Long, talented fingers slipped between her legs, probing and circling, coaxing her to welcome him. Her legs trembled as moisture flooded the already damp passage, and she lifted toward his touch, urging him on. “Ah…there. Ah!” Tremors shook her—contracting her muscles and fighting off the narrowing pain and encroaching ecstasy. How could the two build together? How had he known they would?
Opening her outer lips with two fingers, her tormentor wet his thumb in her juices and slowly explored her tiny sphincter as his other thumb leisurely massaged her clit. “Ready for the next nip, Brenna?”
She shook her head no. Panting, frantic to fight the pain that intensified with his every move, still she whimpered when his hands ceased their delicate torture. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing you can’t handle.” He clipped something to the chain that connected the clamps on her nipples, and icy links settled in a line down her stomach toward the junction of her thighs.
She screamed, jerking against her bonds, afraid and excited beyond reason. “No.”
“Yes.”
He spread her open again, exposing her hyper-sensitive flesh to his demands. Passion wiggled past discomfort as he blew gently on her heated skin before his mouth closed on her clit, sucking just short of true pain. Jolts of pleasure-laced fire shot from her core to her head and burned along her scars.
Caught up in the strange mixture of delight and agony, Brenna shuddered as his mouth left her and another clamp squeezed tight, closing over her tender nub with searing torture. She could no longer form real words, only moan and twist, begging him to stop.
Kostas tugged lightly on the chains connecting her breasts to her clit. “I need you to focus a moment, Brenna.”
“Fuck you.” Shivers escalated to tremors, tremors to shudders.
He pulled the chain again in a sharp reprimand that demanded her attention. “Do you want to stop this? Say your word and I’ll end it.”
She wanted the incessant throbbing to go away, but paradise hovered almost within reach. If she could capture it, maybe the rest would really end. What if he was wrong?
“I need an answer, little sparrow.” Kostas’s long fingers slid into her channel, stroking in and out, coaxing the pleasure to surmount the pain.
“Don’t.”
“Be specific.”
How had she fallen so low that the need for orgasmic release overshadowed everything else? “Don’t leave me like this, please.”
***
God, help me. Kostas fought to maintain the distance his trainers had insisted upon. If he allowed his concern to control the moment, he would quit before she had broken through. He would not do that to the fragile woman beneath him. Slipping his fingers from her hot body, he steeled himself against her whimpered cry. She lingered on the edge, her legs shook and her silken flesh quivered. He kissed her hard. Her tongue mated eagerly with his, commanding his full participation. His cock hardened painfully, begging to take her, but he ignored his needs.
Reaching across her waist, he grabbed the slender anal plug lying on the mattress and dipped it into a tub of thick lube. Shifting on his haunches between her knees, he allowed expectation to build. Her whole body had tightened in anticipation of his next move. He stroked her stomach in soothing circles, persuading her to loosen her muscles for him.
“Tell me, please.”
“No. The element of surprise, remember?”
He tugged on her chain again, shifting her focus from what might happen to what was happening. She arched her hips off the mattress, trying to ease the strain on the clamps, and he used her elevated position against her. The first inch and a half of the plug pushed through her tight sphincter before she could fight it off. Her scream pieced his heart. She bucked and twisted as far as her bindings would allow, but the movement merely worked the intrusive silicone deeper.
“Hold still, Brenna. Let your body adjust.”
“Again, fuck you!”
He laughed despite the fear and tension knotting in his stomach. “You will grow accustomed to the feeling more quickly if you relax.”
“Yeah? When was the last time someone shoved a two-by-four up your ass?”
Had he really hurt her? The passionate expression on her face claimed otherwise. “It is a little bitty thing, no bigger than my pinkie to start. You can take it.”
Sliding the plug nearly out of her too tight hole, he watched for signals of true distress. Instead, she shifted upward again as if pleading for more. He obliged, pressing the toy steadily into her until the shoulder popped past her snug ring and only the pink knob at the base remained outside her body.
“Oh, shit, that burns.”
He grinned when her physical reaction belied the protest. A flush warmed her entire body rosy pink, and her tremors returned. Her lower lip disappeared beneath straight, even teeth as she quivered and writhed on the bed. He let her adjust, watching the ebb and flow of emotions wash over her face. As her knees quit shaking, he released both nipple clamps at once and blood rushed to the deprived area.
“Ow! Damn it, Kostas, you’re a son-of-a-bitch.”
Instead of responding to her insult, he gently sucked on the abused tips, each one receiving lavish and tender attention to ease the ache. He continued until her breathing slowed and she no longer whimpered. As soon as she relaxed, he tugged on the chain connected to her clit. Only the restraints kept her from flipping off the bed. She thrashed, jerking against the slender chain. Without warning he released the pressure and blood swelled the tiny nub beet red.
It had to hurt, but she bit her lip harder and said nothing. Pushing her legs as wide as the short straps allowed, he found her distended clit and blew on it. She squirmed. He licked it tenderly. She moaned.
Her pussy wept with primitive desire, and his cock ached to soak up its tears. He sat back once more to study her. Had he pushed her hard enough? If he let her tumble into orgasm, would she be able to at least compartmentalize the pain and manage it?
“Do you get some sort of twisted pleasure out of pushing me to the edge and then backing off?”
“Of course.” Her sexy, frustrated pout eased his doubts. Reaching into the toy pile again, he selected a butter-soft riding crop and a hot pink rabbit vibrator. “Trust me a bit longer, Brenna. I will make you glad you did.”
“Kostas.”
“Yes, little sparrow?”
“Don’t disappoint me.”