I gasped as Lukas finished screwing the butt plug into place.

I was already a quivering mess of sensation, thanks to the minutes he’d spent putting nipple jewelry into place, drawing it out under the guise of adjusting the fit – and then doing the same when it came to a pretty little piece that he’d told me was a clit clamp.

It sounded painful.

It felt…unreal.

My clit was engorged and already swollen, and now, as he spread the cheeks of my ass, clearly looking down at the plug he’d just put in place, I thought if I had to so much as move, I’d come.

Then he moved me, straightening me away from the desk and turning me to face him.

“You’ll keep all of it in place all day,” he told me, brushing the back of his fingers down my cheek.

“Yes, Lukas.” I nodded, but I was so caught up in the sensations, I barely knew what I was saying. He could have told me that he wanted me to walk naked down to my cubicle, and I might have agreed.

Or…maybe not.

A minute later, as my head slowly cleared, I held out my hand for my panties, and he hesitated.

“I need my panties, Lukas,” I said, almost desperate. I had a conference call in less than ten minutes, and I had to get down to the bathroom.

He lifted the lacy silk scrap to his mouth. “But I like them.”

Throwing a look at the clock, I gave him a pained look.

“But I need them.”

“You do know what to say, right?” He was pushing me, I realized.

“I’m insanely wet,” I said, pushed to the edge. “If this…thing falls off me…” I gestured to my front. “Or if I started…” I hesitated, not certain how to explain. “What if I sit down and end up standing with a wet spot on the back of my skirt?”

Lips pulled to the side, he considered me, then slowly, held out the panties.

I grabbed them and all but ran from the room.

In the bathroom, I hurriedly cleaned up, terrified I’d dislodged the clamp. I wasn’t worried about the plug, but…whoa…the way it felt inside me. Sitting down was going to be interesting.

Once I’d wiped off as best as I could, I pulled my panties back on and wondered if maybe I should start wearing pants to work.

It had been two weeks since that weekend when we’d opened up a little bit to each other – I’d spoken to HR the weekend I came back, asking if I could please withdraw my resignation. Naturally, it was just for form. Lukas already knew I’d changed my mind and had contacted HR as well. But still, it was the courteous thing to do.

During those two weeks, Lukas had done exactly as he’d said he’d do. I’d asked him to stop holding back.

He’d promised to try, and wow, was he holding up that promise.

One morning, I’d come in with a voice so hoarse, people had thought I was coming down with something.

No, but I hadn’t been about to tell them that Lukas had made me scream myself senseless and my voice was trashed because of it.

Another day, he’d confiscated not just my panties, but my bra. Fortunately, I’d worn a pantsuit with a double-breasted blazer that day, which had probably given him the idea.

But nothing he’d done compared to what he was doing now. Each step was torture, an exercise in exquisite sensation and maddening patience as both the nipple and clit jewelry teased those areas into points of surreal pleasure, while the plug seemed to be a locus of heat that pulsed from within.

I was already wet again by the time I reached my desk.

Just in time for the phone call too.

* * *

I was all but quivering by the time Lukas led me into his room.

He took the overnight bag he’d asked me to pack and dropped it on the floor, then turned to me.

He held out a hand, and I stepped closer, putting mine in his.

Just that light contact had me shivering, and he dipped his head to murmur in my ear, “You look like you’re about ready to come, just standing there.”

I managed a jerky nod.

“It makes me want to toy with you even more. Should I?”

“Please don’t, Lukas,” I said, the words hardly more than a moan.

“Would you cry wolf?” He fisted a hand in my hair and dragged my head back, staring into my eyes with a gaze that burned.

I didn’t answer.

“I’ve watched you all day, knowing that your nipples must be aching, that your clitoris must feel the same. I’ve watched you all day, wishing that it was my dick in your ass and you can’t even give me that?” There was something almost…teasing in his voice.

I opened my mouth, almost ready to say it.

But he kissed me before I could make myself.

“We’ll find another way to bring you to your knees, Stella.” His tongue licked into my mouth, and I curled my arms around him as he pulled me closer, but the press of his chest against my over-sensitized nipples was too much, and I tore my mouth away, shuddering.

“Lukas…please. It almost hurts,” I said.

He reached for the buttons on my blouse, that gaze of his still burning hot. “I want to see you.”

He stripped me bare, and when he had peeled every last stitch of clothing from my body, he circled me, pausing to tug on the chain that connected the two nipple charms. I cried out, feeling an answering pang in my cunt. He slid his finger to my shoulder and continued on his slow journey around my body. When he reached the front of me again, he startled me by going to his knees and staring at the apex of my thighs, an avid gleam in his eyes. “You’re so wet, I can smell it on you.” He leaned in and stabbed at my clitoris with his tongue.

I came.

The touch of him was like liquid lightning, and I’d been primed for him all day long. With a broken gasp, I caught his shoulders and squeezed, struggling to stay upright.

He caught me by the back of the thighs, supporting me with his strength, but the moment the orgasm ended, he was on his feet, his face rigid as he glared down at me. “You came without me giving you permission, Stella. Say you’re sorry.”

“I’m sorry, Lukas.”

“Kneel,” he ordered.

I did so, my mouth watering at what I thought was coming.

“You like sucking cock so much, I should find a better punishment,” he muttered. He threaded one hand through my hair and reached for the slim, silver buckle on his belt with the other. “The problem is, your mouth is one of the best damn things I’ve ever felt. I don’t want to give that up.”

When his cock sprang free, I leaned in, taking him in my mouth, but Lukas wouldn’t let me take the lead. He grabbed my head between his hands and fucked my mouth, slow, lazy motions that denied the frustrated hunger building inside me.

When I would have reached between my thighs to stroke it away, he said, “Don’t you play with yourself. You’re my toy right now. You touch when I say you can.”

I moaned, but his words made me burn.

His toy.

His.

Even if only for this.

He came inside my mouth after only a few more strokes, each one rougher than the last, making me think the game we’d been playing affected him as much as it did me.

He pulled back almost immediately afterward, his cock still half-erect, and he made a bemused noise in the back of his throat. “I should be ready to sit and have a glass of scotch after that, and all I can think about is taking a look at your ass to see that plug. Stand up, Stella.”

Once I did, he had me turn around and put my hands on the bed. I was far enough away that I had to lean forward to do so, and I bit my lip at the open, vulnerable position he left me in. The charms still dangled from my nipples although the clit clamp had fallen out of place, probably when he’d kissed me.

And the butt plug…

He pressed his thumbs to the cheeks of my ass, spreading me open.

I could feel him watching me.

“I’m not ready to fuck you here yet. I won’t be gentle, and you need to be more prepared first.”

“I don’t care if you’re gentle,” I said desperately. I had a huge, yawning void inside me and I just wanted him to fill it.

“You will. But for now…” He thrust two fingers into my pussy. “Feel how tight this is, Stella?”

I barely heard him. The feel of his fingers invading me while the plug narrowed down my passage was too much, and I swayed forward, almost collapsing. It was only his hand, gripping my hip firmly that kept me upright.

“Move closer to the bed,” he said.

I couldn’t.

I couldn’t move, could hardly breathe.

Breath shuddering out of me, I tried to follow his fingers as he withdrew – then plunged them back inside.

“Fuck, you’re already about to come again…not without me,” he said brusquely. He withdrew his fingers and slapped my ass abruptly. “Don’t come without me, Stella. You hear me?”

“Yes, Lukas.”

A moment later, I felt the head of his cock probing me, then he was inside – but he didn’t thrust. I didn’t know if he could – he was wedged in tight, thanks to the plug, and the feeling was indescribable. Whimpering, I bounced up on my toes trying to lessen the pressure – or take more, I had no idea.

He withdrew and began the slow process all over again. Each thrust took him a little deeper, and I was shaking, shuddering, begging, pleading.

“I can’t hold it back, Lukas, I can’t!”

“You will.” He spread both hands across the base of my spine and rocked against me. “You won’t come yet…not yet.”

I cried out. “Bastard!”

“I know. But…bad girl, calling me names. You just enjoy being punished, don’t you?”

Something slapped the cheeks of my ass, and I jumped.

The sting was sharper than it had been with either the velvet whip or with his hand, and I gasped. He did it again, and I arched upward, squirming. I couldn’t decide if I wanted more or not. Then he did it again – and the twist my body made in reaction seated his thick, heavy cock completely inside me.

Oh…yeah. I liked.

“Little witch,” Lukas breathed out. He threw something down. I saw it from the corner of my eye, and when my gaze focused on it, I realized it was his belt.

At that point, I didn’t care.

He could paddle me with a switch, and I’d light up for him no matter what.

“Lukas…please…please…please…”

He grunted and withdrew, his hips swiveled forward as he slammed into me, driving deep despite the tightness caused by the plug. I shrieked out his name. “I have to…please…come…please…”

“Come for me, baby girl,” he said roughly. “Come for me.”

I came apart, and it was…amazing.

Just like everything about him was amazing.

Shuddering, I twisted on the thick shaft impaling me, riding the climax to the very end. If it was possible to die from pleasure, then I’d choose this as the way to go.

* * *

Breanna, Gracie, Lukas, and I shared a table at a brewery just down the street from work.

Gracie had mentioned it to me, and I’d asked her if she’d like to join Breanna and me.

Breanna had given me a look like I was some alien lifeform when I’d told her, still confused about the marriage business, but finally, she’d said, “If you’re cool with it, I’m cool with it.”

That had been a week ago – right before Gracie and I met for pizza…and to talk.

Gracie had issued the invite then.

Now, after issuing the invite to both Gracie and Breanna and Lukas, I tried to figure out just how I’d describe this time in my life if I ever had to do so. Well, I hung out with my…sexual companion, his wife, and my new best friend. And we somehow managed to get along great.

And we did.

There wasn’t any tension, but part of me thought it was because Lukas, Gracie, and I all knew there was nothing expected between any of us.

Lukas and I were in this for the sex, right?

Lukas and Gracie were in it for something else.

As Breanna and Gracie laughed about a TV show they both loved, Lukas nudged my knee with his under the table. “Somebody is giving you a dirty look. Should I go mess up his face a little?”

I didn’t have to ask who he meant. I’d seen Aaron come into the pub about five minutes after we’d been seated, and I could feel the hard weight of his glare arrowing into my back.

“Nah.” Lifting one shoulder in a shrug, I said, “He isn’t worth it.” And I meant it. “He and Terri are welcome to each other.”

“He still doesn’t need to be giving you dirty looks.” Lukas looked like he was debating, but finally, he hitched up a shoulder. “If it doesn’t bother you, then I won’t worry about it.”

* * *

“Mr. Grayson?”

The graying, grizzled older man didn’t look up at first, so I spoke louder. I’d been directed to the outdoor patio by one of the employees here at the assisted living center. After looking for him for the past week and a half, I’d finally tracked down Lukas’s father – and the man who’d raised his hands to the boy Lukas had once been.

Just before I would have said his name a third time, the older man stirred in his chair and lifted his head, blinking at me with bleary, sleep hazed eyes. He might have been resting, I had no idea.

As his gaze focused on me, I lifted a hand. “Hello, Mr. Grayson. My name is Stella. We spoke on the phone.”

In response, he reached up and scratched his chest. He blinked and looked around, clearly searching for somebody, but finally, he focused on me and gave a short nod. “You called asking about that brat, Lukas.”

“Yes.” He hadn’t had kind things to say about him on the phone, so I wasn’t surprised by the vitriol now either. Irritated, yes, but not surprised. “Have you seen him since he left home?”

“Seen him?” Gilbert spat on the ground. “Shit, no. Why would that no-good piece of trash have any time for me? Not like I raised him, took care of him, put food in his mouth, did I?” The sarcasm was so thick it could have been cut with a knife. He curled his lip, glaring at me with rheumy eyes. “Then he goes and makes himself some money, and what does he do? Forgets the people who helped put him where he was.”

I wanted to ask what Gilbert had done to put him where he was, but that wouldn’t help, I didn’t think.

No, if anything, it would make it worse.

“Would you mind if I asked what he was like as a kid?” Part of me yearned to know as much as I could about him, but I was asking for other reasons. I didn’t know what I was looking for – some rationalization in this man’s mind for why he’d done what he’d done. Honestly, I was starting to think I’d wasted my time tracking him down, wasted my time calling him, wasted my time coming here, but now that I was here, I felt like I needed to get something.

“He was a brat, got even worse after his mother died.” Gilbert scowled, looking off into nothing. “Did he think it was easy for me, taking care of him with his mama gone? It’s not like he was my kid, anyway.”

I jerked in response to those words.

“What?”

His eyes went sly then. “What…you can’t tell?” He held out his hands. “Look at me. Then go look at him. Ain’t no way that boy is mine. His mama went and cheated on me. I always knew it. No kid of mine would have been so disrespectful, so mouthy. I had to backhand the boy just to get him to do his fucking chores. His mama spoiled him, then she left me to raise him.”

He snorted and reached for the plastic cup on the little table next to where he sat. “All the shit I put up from him, looking at him and seeing his bastard father’s eyes glaring back at me…then he goes and makes it big and forgets all about me.”

Dazed, I slumped back into the chair and gaped at him, struggling to process the information he’d given me.

“So you’re positive he isn’t your son?” I finally managed to ask.

“Ain’t you been listening?”

“Yes, sir.” Swallowing to try and find the spit to moisten my dry mouth, I looked away. “You know who the father is, then.”

“Yeah. There was this scrawny bastard…Holden Richmond. He used to chase after Penny like she was a bitch in heat.” He paused, then laughed. “Guess she was. They fucked at least once, I know it as sure as I’m sitting here.”

He continued to rant on, talking about how it was Penny’s fault he’d had to be so rough on Lukas. If she hadn’t given him a bastard, he wouldn’t have to cuff the boy just to get his attention, that maybe he would have listened like any decent kid would do.

As he spoke, his face reddened, his anger clearly growing. Abruptly, I couldn’t take anymore. Rising, I pasted a patently false smile on my face. “I’m sorry, Mr. Grayson, but I need to go. Thanks for all your help.”

I hurried out of there in the midst of him demanding to know what the hurry was. It was rude, but I didn’t care.

Out in my car, I sat there, gripping the steering wheel in my hands convulsively as Gilbert’s words tumbled through my mind over and over.

Hardly any of it made sense, but one thing did connect. Clear as day.

Gilbert wasn’t Lukas’s father.