Xander was doing his best to focus on the conversation and less on the dazzling, nearly naked woman in front of him. It wasn’t easy. Even if he prided himself on his ability to keep his composure, there were still some temptations that weren’t easy to ignore. Mercedes was just such temptation.
While he contemplated his answer to her question, he was busy grazing her incredible curves with his eyes, wanting to put his hands on her, to feel once again how soft her skin was. To cup her breasts in his hands. He wanted to put his mouth on her, to suck her nipples until she was writhing beneath him, begging for more.
He would’ve assumed that just the idea of submitting to anyone, let alone in public, would’ve sent his dick into hiding, but truthfully that wasn’t the case. Or maybe it was the fact that Mercedes had told him she didn’t have any hard limits. That, in itself, was enough to make him damn near lose his mind.
To know that she trusted him enough to know he’d only push her as far as he felt she could go, well, it was humbling.
“Just to confirm,” he said as he took one step closer. “You’ll give yourself over to me for five full days. Starting now. No hard limits. And in return, I have to agree to submit to you on two occasions. Once at Devotion, the other at a time and place of your choosing?”
He knew what she had up her sleeve. She was going to play her card in a public place that would put him fully on display. Somewhere that might intimidate him. If she believed he wasn’t on to her plan, she was sadly mistaken. He’d just recently asked her to join him at the opening of Alluring Indulgence Resort, and though it wasn’t planned for roughly six more months, it was clear she was thinking that would be her venue of choice.
Not that he really gave a shit. He knew the Walkers would likely find it amusing, but that was the least of his worries.
“That’s correct,” she said on a breath, her eyes still locked with his.
“Remove your panties,” he instructed, not looking away.
Without reservation, Mercedes reached down and slid the silky white panties down her legs, stepping out of them as well which put her a mere foot or so away from him.
His eyes locked on the patch of dark hair between her legs, then he trailed up over her generous hips, admiring the small tattoo he’d only been privy to when he had seen her playing at the club. He continued upward, over gently rounded belly, past her bountiful breasts. He was distracted briefly by the ornate tattoo that encircled her entire arm from her shoulder down to her elbow. He’d always loved that tattoo. She’d gotten it before he met her, and according to her, it was a reminder of all that she’d been through. The flower represented her, and the intricate detail around it was the chaos she’d lived in since she was younger. As with a lot of her personal details, whenever he would ask, she would shrug him off, telling him it wasn’t important. Little did she know, but everything about her was important to him. And she should know that by now because he’d never let her retreat from him before because he was her friend. He was in her corner, no matter what.
He looked up, meeting her gaze head on.
He wanted to tell her that they had a deal. He wanted to tell her that he’d pretty much do anything for this chance. For him, it was so much more than getting her to submit to him. He’d wanted Mercedes for so long, had ignored that hunger and pretended he could handle merely friendship. But this woman was all he’d ever wanted in one magnificent, enticing package.
He had to have her.
And if it meant he’d have to submit in front of a crowd of people just to prove himself to her, then so be it.
“Please tell me we have a deal,” she whispered, her arms still hanging down to her sides.
“We do,” he finally conceded, unable to keep his hands off of her a moment longer.
Taking one step forward, he cupped both of her shoulders, skimming his hands down her arms and then back up. She was warm and soft. His self-restraint was being tested because as far as Xander was concerned, he hadn’t waited just a few minutes for her to get undressed, to stand before him completely and utterly vulnerable.
No, this certainly wasn’t something he’d come up with on the fly. He’d been waiting for this for years.
“Turn around.”
Mercedes turned to face away from him, giving Xander a perfect view of her back and her ass. He took a moment to skim over her soft skin, ensuring that there weren’t any marks left from their scene the night before. Although he’d double and triple checked prior to them leaving Devotion last night, he couldn’t help himself now.
She was flawless. Perfect in every way.
For a man his size, he was always conscientious about the women he was with. He didn’t pursue tiny women. He had no interest in being gentle which meant he needed a woman who could handle him. Mercedes was that woman.
Moving up against her, Xander reached for her hands, linking their fingers and lifting her arms. “Put your hands around my neck,” he advised, leaning forward which was the only way she’d be able to reach around him.
Her fingers were cool against the overheated skin of his neck. He closed his eyes briefly, enjoying the feel of her touch.
Pressing his lips to the curve of her neck and shoulder, Xander slid his hands over her hips, her waist, higher until he cupped her breasts in his hands.
“You have such beautiful breasts,” he mumbled as he lifted them. “Perfect pink nipples that will look so pretty clamped.”
Her body tensed briefly, but Xander didn’t allow it to throw him off course. Pinching her nipples, he kissed her neck again. “But not yet. First, I want you to look up into that mirror.”
Xander glanced up to meet her gaze in the oversized cheval mirror that his designer had picked out, saying something about suiting his personality. For him, it had always been just a mirror. But right now, it was a portal to ecstasy.
“For the next five days, I’m going to own you. Every part of you. Do you agree?”
Mercedes only nodded, but her eyes never left his.
“Answer me,” he insisted, keeping his tone low. “That’s one thing I won’t compromise on. You will tell me what you’re feeling. Especially when I ask.”
“Yes,” she whispered. “For five days, you’ll own me.”
Xander wasn’t a praying man, but right then and there, he sent up a silent plea that five days would turn into much, much longer.
~*~*~*~
Mercedes watched the images in the mirror closely. Xander’s body pressed up against her back, his face serious as he observed her in the reflective glass. What she saw wasn’t at all what she expected to see.
There, reflecting back at her, was a naked woman – her – but she saw more than just an abundantly curvy body that she knew was a far cry from perfect. Not that she’d ever cared about perfection. She liked who she was, how she looked, her inner strength. But right now, with Xander’s big hands grazing over her skin, the fire she saw in his gaze, well, it made her feel incredibly feminine and… powerful.
How could that possibly be the case when for the last ten minutes she’d undressed in front of him at his command. Could it be the way he was looking at her? Or possibly the way his hands drifted over her skin reverently, like he was cherishing every touch.
Whatever it was, it was heady. Enough to make her breath lodge in her throat.
He didn’t appear to be in a hurry, didn’t seem to need more than what they were sharing right at that moment and she felt an exhilarating rush of lust burst in her bloodstream.
She’d had a hard time admitting that he would own her for the next five days. In fact, she’d said the words while, at the same time, she was thinking that she’d never last that long. But the longer she stood there, the more Xander touched her, all while their eyes met briefly in the mirror, she knew he had won before the game ever even began.
She may never truly submit, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to fall for him.
“I want to touch you,” Xander mumbled against her ear.
He was touching her, wasn’t he? She didn’t speak the words out loud though.
“Come here.”
As he stood up straight again, her hands fell from around his neck. She let her arms hang down at her sides while she glimpsed the woman in the mirror one last time. She couldn’t help but wonder whether she would recognize the woman by the end of the weekend. She was sure if Xander had anything to say about it, she would.
Mercedes took Xander’s hand when he held his out to her. Following behind him, she allowed him to lead her to his bed. Seriously? Was he going to get down to business so quickly? That wasn’t like him at all.
“Sit,” he said, motioning toward an oversized cedar chest that sat at the foot of the bed.
Not meeting his gaze, Mercedes sat as instructed, her knees tightly clamped together in front of her while she kept her arms in close to her body, suddenly feeling incredibly modest.
She watched as Xander moved across the room. When he grabbed a chair and returned to set it in front of her, she wondered what he was going to do. Surely if he wanted to have a conversation, he could afford her a measure of dignity and allow her to get dressed.
“Spread your legs,” he insisted.
Ok, so apparently her dignity just took a dive out the window. It was a twenty story drop. There was no way it would be in tact when she finally got around to needing it again.
Mercedes’s nerves were suddenly at war inside of her.
Swallowing hard, she stared back at Xander. She could do this. She knew she could. She would just need to pretend that this was a lesson, a demonstration of sorts, one that she could use when she was the one in control again. It wasn’t like she didn’t have an idea what he was going to do. She’d done the same to her subs multiple times.
Squaring her shoulders and straightening her spine, she spread her legs, keeping her attention focused on Xander’s handsome face.
“Very pretty,” he remarked, his eyes sliding down her body and then stalling between her now spread thighs.
She fought the urge to snap her knees closed.
You can do this, she reminded herself.
Xander inched the chair closer to her, closing the gap between them.
“Put your feet on my knees.”
Ok, so that was going to be an awkward position. Not wanting him to see the mortification that was probably clearly written on her face, she avoided his eyes by looking directly at his chest as she did as she was told.
With her feet resting on his spread knees, she had to lean back on her hands to hold her upper body up, while her pussy was on full display for him, and he was taking every opportunity to glance between her legs.
She was not going to survive this.
“I’m going to shave you later,” he informed her, one finger gently grazing the dark curls at the apex of her thighs.
Her first instinct was to argue. It wasn’t that she was against the idea because she was usually bare down there, but recently, she’d decided to do something different. Translated to: she’d gotten lazy and rushing out to the spa to get waxed hadn’t been high on her priority list. She preferred to be bare, so in some sense, she was still in control. Not that she would tell him as much.
Remembering that he’d be making her decisions for the next five days per their agreement, she didn’t say a word.
“I want us to lay out the rules, Mercedes,” Xander said, surprising her with the topic.
Here she was, splayed wide for him, and he really wanted to have a civil conversation? She was going to lose it, she knew it.
Sucking in a deep breath, she tilted her chin up, ignoring the fact that he’d put her in an incredibly vulnerable position. “What are the rules?”
If she weren’t mistaken, Xander’s lips tilted slightly into one of those sexy smirks of his.
He was pressing his luck.
“For four nights, you will sleep in my bed.”
“But –”
“No buts,” he argued. “Once I’m finished, you can tell me your thoughts and we’ll discuss.”
God, he sounded like such a fucking Dom.
“Fine,” she retorted sarcastically.
Xander’s hand lifted, and before she could react, he smacked her splayed pussy, sending a zing of heated pleasure racing through her. She moaned.
Oh, God. She actually moaned.
Heat suffused her face, but this time it was embarrassment that lay claim to her body. The body that betrayed her with such an enthusiastic reaction to his intimate touch.
“Keep up with the smart ass comments, and I’ll bend you over my knee.”
Mercedes clamped her lips shut, not trusting herself not to argue. It was in her nature. She was the one who was generally in control. This was the exact reason she didn’t submit. It went against everything in her because she didn’t want someone to order her around.
“Five full days. Four nights. My bed,” he restated. “You’ll live under my roof during that time. You’ll be permitted to go to your condo to handle your business dealings. When you aren’t working, you’ll be here with me.”
“Tell me I’m going to cook and clean for you and we’re done,” Mercedes argued, venom injected in her tone. He was pushing her to her limit.
Xander glared at her, his eyes hard. She was so transfixed in his gaze that she didn’t see him move. When his hand slapped her pussy once again, she screamed. An intense, pain filled pleasure jolted her system. Before she could think or breathe, Mercedes found herself laying across Xander’s huge thighs, her breasts crushed against his leg.
“Five,” he told her. “Count them out.”
There wasn’t a pause before his hand came down on her bare ass, and she knew instantly that he wasn’t going to go easy on her.
Oh, God. The humiliation was unbearable, but somehow she dug deep, grasping every ounce of her pride as she lay motionless across his lap.
“One,” she groaned through clenched teeth, her breath rushing out of her.
Another slap followed immediately on the same ass cheek and this time she swallowed her scream. “Two.”
“Three more,” he said, the heat of his hand caressing the sting on her ass.
The warmth disappeared, and she braced herself for the impact, but it didn’t come immediately. It was exactly what she would’ve done, leaving her sub anticipating the next move.
Oh, fuck! Mercedes screamed when his hand landed on the crease where her ass met her thigh, the pain excruciating, yet strangely erotic at the same time. “Three.”
There was no way she was going to last through two more. Her ass was burning, and the heat had engulfed her entire body. She felt like she would implode at any second.
He spanked her again, this time on the opposite cheek. “Four.”
Tears slipped from her eyes, and she blinked, wanting to take them back. There was no way she’d break right now. She refused. Sucking in a deep breath, she held it as she waited for him to finish.
The last one came in the same spot as the one before, and she choked on a gasp that ripped from her chest, the pain lancing through her nerve endings.
“Five.”
“I’m proud of you,” he said, his voice steady and calm.
Mercedes knew that Xander didn’t overreact. He never punished a sub out of anger. That’s not what it was about. Too bad, in her current position, she wasn’t feeling all that calm, or seeing any rationale behind the punishment.
Biting her tongue to keep from yelling at him, Mercedes waited for him to move, wanting desperately to get off of him, but at the same time, she wanted to feel the safety and security of his body against hers.
Not to mention, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t be sitting for at least a good half hour. Her ass was on fire.