“Ben’s already asked me to spend the night with him.”

“Have you?”

“No.”

“I see that not yet answer in your eyes, Ainsley.”

She fidgeted. “But he can just command me to stay over anyway, right?”

“Technically? Yes. Especially if you’ve agreed to give up your weekends to him.”

“We haven’t talked about that.”

“You need to. Next time you’re together before the clothes fly off and the restraints come out.”

Ainsley rolled her eyes. “Gotcha.”

“I worry about you, knowing he’s in the area. You’re trying to prove you can handle the bank president’s job. You’re new in town and it’d be easy to spend all your free time with Bennett. I don’t want you to get too attached to him, because it won’t last.”

As much as Ainsley wanted to protest, she’d be wise to listen to Layla since she’d known Bennett for years. “All right.”

Relieved, Layla sagged against the loveseat. “Good.”

“Thanks for the advice. I never would’ve mustered the guts to do this if not for you.”

“You’re welcome. I’m glad we’ve reconnected, A.”

“Me too.” Ainsley stood. “Let’s eat. Then you can give me hints on how to keep my Dom on his toes while keeping my butt from getting paddled.”

“Don’t even pretend you don’t want that man spanking your ass at every opportunity.”

“I’m blindfolding you tonight.”

That was an abrupt subject change. “I guess that’s one way to start the weekend,” Ainsley said dryly. She’d weighed Layla’s advice and ignored it simply because she’d wanted to spend the whole weekend with him. In his house. In his bed. Under his control.

Bennett traced the line of her jaw and stared into her eyes. When he studied her so intently, as he touched her with such familiarity, she felt more naked than when she was actually naked. Stripping her defenses was more intimate than stripping her clothes.

“Will I need to bind your hands so you don’t tear the blindfold off?”

“Maybe.” Ainsley’s heart pounded. How could he make her so skittish with just words? “So you’re going to blindfold me, tie me up and then what?”

“Leave you in the barn while I come back inside and watch The Speed Channel.”

Her mouth dropped open.

“Isn’t that what you’re afraid of? I’ll take away your choices and leave you powerless and at my whim? Then I’ll somehow abuse you, or your trust, which will allow you to get upset and leave, which also lets you regain control?”

“Ben—”

“Bennett,” he corrected with an edge. “Answer the question.”

“I still don’t know…the truth is I’m confused.”

“I’ll un-confuse you. Because you’re not supposed to be thinking, are you?” His smile, usually so sexy and sure, took on a decidedly wolf-like gleam. “Get undressed and bend over the arm of the couch.”

Ainsley bit back her question. But the uneasiness wouldn’t go away. Just focus on each step. She removed every stitch of clothing. She stretched across the couch arm. She tried to concentrate on how the soft cushion molded against her hips and belly. How the fabric abraded her nipples.

Bennett crouched beside her. “Do you know the difference between discipline and punishment?”

Yes. But she had the urge to stall. “No.”

“Discipline is what a Dom uses to remind the sub who’s in charge. Punishment is to correct offensive sub behavior.” He plucked her bra from the floor and quickly bound her arms with it.

Neat trick. Okay, scary trick.

When he rolled up her blouse, she understood he intended to use her clothing to truss her up. That made this lesson more personal somehow. He covered her eyes and tied a knot at the base of her neck. Everything turned dark and her anxiety increased exponentially. Why was she naked, bent over, blindfolded and about to let this man do whatever he wanted to her?

Retreat! Retreat now. It’s not too late.

“Ignore that voice,” Bennett whispered in her ear. “The voice of doubt, the voice of reason that demands you assert yourself has no place here. The only voice you should be listening to is mine.”

The deep cadence held a compelling, but rough edge. But when she let go of her fear and trusted him, when she pleased him, those harsh tones mellowed into warmth. Ainsley tried to shut off everything but the reality of him: his voice, his touch, his scent, his presence.

“That’s it.” A single fingertip traversed her spine. “Don’t think. Feel. Anticipate.”

Sensual touches zigzagged from her shoulders to the top of her butt in a constant stream of motion. Then the sensation changed into a sharp bite of pain in a dozen separate spots on her body.

She pushed up from the couch, only to have Bennett pushing her down.

“Let. Go.”

She did and it was a glorious place to be, completely under his care and control.

Caresses slithered over her back, sending goose bumps blooming outward, increasing her awareness of new erogenous zones. As soon as she became used to the tickling touch of a dozen different points of contact, they morphed into pinpricks of fire that seared her skin.

The teasing stroke followed by several stinging snaps went on for several rounds. The hard/soft combination awakened her nerve endings, sending her to the place where pleasure bled into pain and became one. She existed in the moment, in his attention.

That’s when Bennett stopped. Curling his hands over her shoulders, he pulled her upright and unbound her hands. “You’re beautiful in obedience, angel.”

He tantalized her with erotic kisses that increased the dizzying, floating sensation. She was vaguely aware of moving. Of his callused hands gripping her hips as he guided her backward.

“Up on the bed. Hands on the headboard.”

Despite the commanding tone, he helped her into the position. He made her wait, but he hadn’t left the room. She heard him pacing behind her.

The bed dipped and his warm, hard body pressed against hers. A hand slipped over the curve of her belly, breaching the curls covering her mound. Two fingers followed the seam of her sex and plunged inside her wet pussy.

God that felt good.

His pleasure rumbled in her ear. “Flogging turns you on.”

“That’s what that was?”

“Widen your stance.”

While Ainsley slid her knees out, he thrust his fingers in a few more times before he moved. The bed jostled. Soft hair brushed the inside of her thighs.

“Lean forward.”

Oh wow. It was like she was sitting on his face.

His tongue snaked from the top of her slit to her bottom. A very long, very thorough lick.

Her whole body trembled.

“Goddamn you taste good.” He yanked her down and went to town. Suckling her pussy lips, then flicking them with his tongue. Mapping every fold with every part of his mouth. Lapping at the cream pouring from her sex.

A whimper escaped when his teeth scraped her clit.

Bennett stilled. “Did that hurt?”

“A little. It just caught me by surprise.”

He pressed several soft kisses over the hood of her clit.

Those glimpses of his care, of how attuned he was to her every response amazed her. His work-honed hands clutched the globes of her ass as he ate at her sex. She was so lost in the intimate attentions of his hungry mouth that she jumped at the first brush of his thumb across her anus.

Which caused him to smack her ass and growl a warning.

That smack made her wetter yet.

Bennett began to plunge his thumb in and out of her pussy as he fastened his mouth to her clit.

Ainsley knew she wouldn’t last long with such intense focus. All pulse points in her body were already buzzing as Bennett pushed her closer to the edge of detonation. He didn’t retreat when she began to grind into his face, desperate for that rush of release.

Right as the climax hit, he slipped his thumb in her ass. Her clit pulsed against his sucking lips. Her pussy and anal muscles contracted in opposition to the throbbing in her sex, making the orgasm seem endless.

As soon as the last pulse faded, Bennett scooted backward. “Stay just like that.”

“I can’t think, let alone move.”

A couple of seconds later he removed the blindfold as he kissed her nape. A slick digit swept over her asshole. “Don’t clench.”

A light pressure gave way to a gentle swirling motion that encompassed all those unexplored nerve endings. A constant stroking of the outer ring of muscle and a little inside. The more he stroked, the more those nerve endings came alive. She found herself wanting that invasion. Unconsciously she pressed down, trying to force contact.

He murmured, “Who’s in charge, Ainsley?”

“You are.”

“Relax and I’ll give you what you want.”

She expelled a steady breath. As soon as she followed his directive, he slipped something in her ass. A thick something. But it didn’t fill her bowels completely. Not a dildo. Probably not even a finger.

Demand to know what he shoved up your butt.

No. Be compliant.

Bennett chuckled. “You are bein’ a model sub. Avoiding punishment by doin’ what you’re told without arguing or without questioning me.” He slapped her ass. “Let’s see how long you can keep it up.”

The swat didn’t hurt; it merely caught her off guard because it jiggled the thing in her butt.

“You’re wearing the butt plug until I take it out.” He trailed his finger down her spine, between her butt cheeks, over her tailbone to jostle the object. “Whatcha think about that, sub?”

“I’m not supposed to think.” She tacked on, “Sir.”

He laughed again. “Good answer. Come on. Let’s shoot a game of pool.”

Pool? With her bending over the table and that…thing poking out of her behind? No way. “You’re joking, right?”