Fucking actress overdid it, and she covered her mouth there at the end in an overly melodramatic move, depriving me of the sight of where I next planned to plunge my rapidly hardening dick. No way was I going to let her manipulate me into giving her what she wanted. As her Master, I’d make sure I gave her what she needed first.

  Her entire body stilled when I laughed. We’d get to the spankings soon enough, but not tonight.

  “Come. Aunt Mel knows me all too well. She practically raised me. She watched me parade my high-school girlfriends through this very diner. Caught me in the act more times than I can remember. Her only rule is that I clean up.”

  After gathering our clothes, I maneuvered us through the kitchen and to the back room. As expected, Aunt Mel had placed two towels and a fresh bar of soap out for us. She even had the foresight to put shampoo and conditioner in the shower.

  “It’s a small shower, but we’ll both fit just fine.” I turned to leave.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to go clean up the table, but I’ll be back in a minute to administer your punishment.” My cock stirred at the thought of her on her knees servicing me. “Enjoy the warm water, wash your hair, make sure to get rid of every bit of that chocolate sauce.”

  She cocked a hip forward, accentuating the curve. “I thought you pretty much licked me clean.”

  “I did, but your hair’s a mess.”

  A wide smile spread across my face. The reemergence of her banter swelled my heart, but I didn’t trust her. Something stirred behind her eyes.

  “In you go. Let the steam build and relax. I’ll be back in a few.”

  I left her there: a calculated move full of risk. Leaving her with her thoughts might allow her to shore up her defenses, but she needed a moment away from me. I grabbed a rag and a bottle of cleaning solution and went to scrub down the table.

  When I returned, steam billowed out of the bathroom. Fog covered the glass doors of the shower. Kate was down on the floor, curled into a little ball. I paused, in awe of her vulnerability, knowing I would soon be pushing and poking at her defenses again. My chest burned with protective instinct, full with the power to claim and conquer and provide everything she needed. All I had to do was find a path inside that head of hers.

  “Are you all right?”

  She lifted her head. “I’m good. The steam feels nice. Might not be much hot water left for you.”

  I opened the door, and she made to stand. “No, stay there. Might as well get comfortable.” I palmed my dick and stroked it from head to base. A rush of pleasure had my balls clenching. The warm water fell gently over my back and splashed against the shower doors.

  She moved to her knees and kept her head bowed.

  I gathered her hair, brushing it off her shoulders. The desire to gaze into her eyes swept through me, but she had a job to do. I put a finger under her chin and guided her to my cock.

  Gloriously plump lips parted seamlessly and without complaint. The warmth of her mouth took me in, and I gasped as velvet heat enveloped my cock. The rough texture of her tongue stroked along my shaft, lifting me to the balls of my feet with the delicious sensation. My balls contracted as pleasure thrummed through me.

  “Oh, my God. Your mouth…” I gripped her hair in my fist.

  She pulled off. I tilted my chin down, perplexed as to why she stopped. That look of fire sparked in her eyes. A dangerous glare. “Before I continue, Jake Davenport…”

  Oh, the use of my full name screamed disaster. My mind struggled to find what colossal error I’d made. But, no. I’d orchestrated everything perfectly. She should be fully under my spell.

  “I thought I told you not to call me by my full name.”

  “This concerns the case.” Her hand reached up to cup my balls, but her nails dug into the sensitive flesh.

  Her mind was on the case? It should be on my dick and how best to wrap her lips around it. My hand curled in the wet tangles of her hair, frustrated at how easily control slipped from my hands with this woman.

  A grasp for power had me exercising too heavy a hand and barking out a command. A mistake the moment the words slipped from my mouth.

  “This is a punishment. We’ll discuss the case later.”

  I attempted to guide her head back to my cock. The futile attempt only served to affirm what I already knew. The balance of power had slipped from my grip.

  The scorching glare of her eyes caused my gut to clench. “Tell me, Jake Davenport, have you been truthful with me?”

  Her use of my first and last name emasculated me, and she dug those fingernails deeper into the sensitive skin of my balls, forcing an answer. What the fuck? “Of course I have.” My fingers curled again in her hair as I tried to guide her mouth and those amazing lips back to my cock. I pulled her forward.

  She yanked away.

  Her resistance infuriated me. So much insolence.

  When I’d had her stretched out on the table, I’d commanded her with a power I’d seldom held over a woman. Or at least, I’d established a connection that would have taken weeks to develop in the past. She’d given herself freely and bound herself to my will. So sublime and perfect, like she’d found a missing part of herself and slipped into a role she’d been made for. I’d give anything to get her back into that frame of mind right now. Instead, I stared down into the hardened eyes of a fiercely independent woman.

  Her hands now gripped my thighs, her fingers squeezing my ass. “So, there’s nothing I need to know? Nothing pertinent to my investigation you need to tell me concerning Elizabeth?”

  I shook my head, fingers curling, hand guiding her recalcitrant head back into place. Again she resisted. My cock swelled and pulsed with primal instinct to thrust hard and slam into the back of her throat. To stop her questions.

  I practically growled out my answer. “No.” But now I was the one who lied. I knew, just knew, with that God-awful, gut-wrenching certainty, that she’d discovered I’d been the Master who trained Lizzy.

  The corner of her mouth twitched. “So, you know nothing about Lizzy and her very first Master?”

  Shit.

  Chapter Six

  Jake

  My dick deflated. How many times was this woman going to verbally grab my nuts and twist? Here I thought I was in charge, and she just served me my balls on a platter.

  Lizzy.

  Her hair slipped from my grasp while Kevin’s words came back to haunt me, and like always, he had been right. This wasn’t how I wanted this bit of my past to come out. I staggered back in the too-small stall, my ass sliding against the shower wall.

  Her stormy eyes stared up at me. This was not what I wanted to be doing right now, defending myself, but she’d wrested away control. The Mistress of Pain had unraveled all my hard work in the blink of an eye.

  “My connection to Elizabeth was years ago. Does that make me a suspect because I knew the girl?”

  She shifted off her knees and stood. “It matters because you didn’t mention it.” Her hand went to her brow, hiding her expression.

  “I didn’t mention it because I don’t see how it’s relevant.”

  “Everything’s relevant in a murder investigation. Every tiny detail.”

  “If you need to know, I mentored her for only a few short weeks.” Not quite the truth, but close enough.

  “Sandra said another man stepped in.”

  “Who’s Sandra?”

  “She was going to be a sister slave with Elizabeth.” She waved her hand. “Sandra mentioned Elizabeth didn’t stay with you.”

  “Lizzy was taken. I didn’t let her go willingly.”

  The brow over her left eye arched with interest. “There’s a story there.”

  I’d say a shit storm of a story.

  “Lizzy wasn’t in a good place when she came to Stripes that first night. Young, barely legal, and on too many drugs.”

  “And you couldn’t resist her?”

  I held up a hand. “I didn’t touch her, but she stayed and watched, and I made sure no one took advantage of her because she was in no state to give consent. I took her upstairs and let her sleep off the drugs, had a long talk with her in the morning. She was excited by what she’d seen.”

  My mind traveled back to the eager girl who’d become a beautiful submissive. Elizabeth had been wonderful to train, and like all the others, I had given her into another’s care, where she could flourish.

  “Sounds like she meant something to you.”

  “No more than any of the others.” I gave Kate the honest truth because I sensed a thread of jealousy in her questions and wanted—no, needed—her to know how different she was to me. “It soon became clear she was interested in the edgier side of things, but I refused until she cleaned up from the drugs. Then BlackJack showed up.”

  “BlackJack?”

  I couldn’t help the twist of my lips. “That’s what I call…called my dad. He was a prick. Lizzy was progressing along nicely when he dropped in at the club.”

  Her questions continued; the pace of her speech intensified. “Then what happened? Sandra mentioned it got heated?”

  “More like explosive. BlackJack did what he did best. Proved he was better than me and stole her right out from under me.”

  “So, Lizzy and your dad?”

  “My father was a sadistic fuck. His practice bordered on being nonconsensual. I kept tabs on what he was doing with her, and when I found he’d steered her toward the more dehumanizing aspects of things, I couldn’t stay out of it anymore. I took her back.”

  “What do you mean by ‘you took her back’?”

  “I went to his house and cut through her chains—Kevin helped me, so you can ask him.”

  I took in a deep breath and blew it out. I felt like I was in a fucking confessional instead of a steamy shower.

  “We went to Los Angeles to get as far from him as possible. Months of intensive work, and I was finally able to get her head back on straight. BlackJack had done a real number on her.”

  “Didn’t he come after you?”

  “He couldn’t come chasing after a slave, and I wasn’t worth his time. But that’s it. End of story. Lizzy and I went our separate ways after we returned. I haven’t seen or heard from her since. Which was why I was so interested when you were showing her picture around the club.”

  Her brows drew together, and a long, pensive look appeared on her face. “So you haven’t seen her recently?”

  “Last I saw her was when I moved back.”

  “And you’re certain?”

  Why was she persisting with this line of questions? “Pretty sure I’d remember if I’d run into Lizzy.”

  She bit at her lower lip. “Okay.”

  I lifted her chin, forcing her to face me. “Hey, honestly, I didn’t think my history with Lizzy mattered.”

  She jerked her chin out of my grasp. “It’s getting late. We should probably head back.”

  “It’s not my intention to keep secrets from you.” I kissed the crown of her head, inhaling the rich floral scent of the shampoo. “I want this to work out.”

  Kate leaned her head against my shoulder, her cheek pressed to my chest. “Pretending to be your submissive is not as simple as you think.”

  “It doesn’t have to be difficult.”

  “But it is.” The softness of her body pressed against mine making my dick pulse. “And it’s even more difficult if you aren’t 100 percent truthful with me. If we do this, we do it as a team. I need to know I can rely on you.”

  “You can trust me. I didn’t mean to keep anything from you. You have to believe me when I say I didn’t think it was important.”

  What she said next had me leaning down to catch her words.

  “Trust is very important to me. I had a Master once,” she said, a quaver in her voice. “I trusted him with my life. Then he bound me to a beam and beat me. He tried to kill me. I trusted him for all the wrong reasons. I can’t handle the thought of not being able to trust you.”

  “Oh, Kate…”

  “No, it gets worse. He took pictures of the whole thing. I thought I was in love, but I was really in love with the idea of submitting to him, to anyone, really. I worshipped him and didn’t once think about what was happening. I trusted him.”

  The depth of my mistake hit me full force. “We all make mistakes.” And I’d made the biggest one of all.

  She shook her head. “Let me finish. I never questioned what was happening. Not even when he slit my wrists.”

  A choked sob followed. Her indrawn breath expelled out of her in a staccato of exhalations.

  “He clicked that camera of his while I bled. I was bound and helpless, and I would have died…but that’s why I won’t allow anyone to ever restrain me again. I need to know I can trust you, so when I only get half-truths, or lies of omission…” The unwrapping of her hands around my neck came with a brief flash of her luminous eyes as she lifted her gaze to mine. “Don’t ever fail me.”

  I folded her into my arms. “I won’t.” Smoothing her wet hair, I kissed her.

  Perhaps we’d come to an understanding. I wasn’t entirely sure, but I treasured her admission because it bound her to me. It was time to reassert my dominance and move us forward from this moment.

  “You need to call me Master.”

  Her lids fluttered open. “That word…it means a lot to me.”

  “And to me too, but it will make things easier if you get used to it now. When we’re at the Edge, the more natural we act as a couple, the freer you’ll be to do your job.”

  “Can I… Ah hell, this rule about asking questions needs to go.”

  “It stays in place.”

  Irritation framed her face. Her eyes flicked up and to the left. “I need time to think about it.”

  Disappointment hollowed out my chest. I had hoped for more, but I understood.

  She placed a hand on my arm. “I don’t mind playing the part of your submissive, but that word carries a weight to it.”

  “I don’t want you to just play the part.”

  She bit her lip, her brows furrowing in thought.

  I couldn’t imagine anything other than claiming her completely. She’d already stolen my heart. I belonged to her. It only made sense for her to belong to me. But she hadn’t been a submissive. The Mistress of Pain had once been a slave.

  And that bastard had tried to kill her.

  A part of me felt like a heel for pushing, but I couldn’t deny the need within me.

  “You wouldn’t be with me if there wasn’t a part of you that wanted that again.” I hoped I’d broken down enough of her walls to get the truth. “Remember, you agreed to answer honestly.”

  A long moment passed, but then she blew out a breath. A shaky smile trembled on her lips. “Honestly, I don’t know.”

  I pressed my finger over her lips. She hadn’t said no. I latched on to the promise the omission of that one word implied. There was hope for me yet.

  “Then we just see where this goes. But we each must play our part…for the case.” Screw the case. I wanted her.

  Certainly, I had reached a limit.

  The water heater had finally given up. The heat of our enclosure diminished as cooler water sprayed down on us.

  My tone grew firm with redirection and reaffirmation of my dominant role. “We’ll deal with all of that later. For now, you have two more punishments from our drive up here. Two kisses you owe me.”

  “More kisses?” Her eyes grew wide with incredulity. “I thought we were done with those.”

  Her pout had me smiling, and I wasn’t clear if that had been a question. “Those were earned before I changed the rules.”

  “Okay, so you want to kiss me. Not such a bad punishment.”

  I brushed her lips with a chaste kiss. “Most definitely.”

  “We’ve established that I like your kisses…Master Jake.” A smile teased at the corners of her mouth, shy and elusive. She didn’t let it take form, but it was clear she was ready to resume play with me.

  I was ready for a whole hell of a lot more.

  “I like the sound of that.”

  “Just trying it on for size. Don’t get excited.” She placed her hand on my chest. “I’m waiting for my kiss.”

  My brusque laugher spilled out between us. I opened the shower door and kicked her out. “Dry off and get dressed. I need to wash off this girlie soap. When I get out, you can give me the first kiss.”

  “No problem.” She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her body, searching for her clothes.

  She had no clue what I had in store. After she was dressed, I gave her a command. “Go to the kitchen, and find one of Aunt Mel’s egg timers. Bring it back.”

  “Why do I…ugh!” She gestured with exasperation as she caught herself beginning to ask a question. Stomping off, she muttered under her breath. “Stupid fucking-ass dominants and their fucking-ass rules.”

  I found a bar of soap and scoured away the feminine hair-product residue from my skin. I dressed and waited for her on the small couch in the employee break room. I patted the seat next to me and held my hand out for the egg timer.

  “What’s this…” Another eye roll while she rephrased her words. “Just tell me, already, what the timer is for.”

  I turned the timer to three minutes, and the ticking sounded loud in the small room. “Come here and straddle me.”

  Her brows arched, but she moved to obey.

  “Your punishment, as I mentioned, is a kiss.”

  “Yes, you mentioned that.”

  I swatted her bottom. “Don’t interrupt your Master.”

  She bit at her lower lip, obviously enjoying the swat.

  “You will sit on my lap and kiss me for three minutes.”

  It was a long kiss and would force her to an intimacy she didn’t want.

  “I want the hottest kiss you can give. I want to feel you fucking my mouth with your tongue. If I’m not feeling it, if you stop for any reason, then we restart the timer and begin again. Is that clear?”

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17