When he finally stopped her, he made her keep holding him in her mouth, a flesh and blood gag as his fingers slid along her jaw, along her frantic pulse. She'd given him release, and she was so close to it herself, she could barely think straight. When he finally lifted her face, letting himself slide free, his gaze slid over her features in that slow, measuring way, seeing the flush of her pale cheeks she could feel. As he wiped her mouth with a thumb, she smelled his seed there.
She turned her face into his palm without thought, and he made a pleased noise. He lifted her to her feet so she was standing before him, so he could put his arms around her and kiss the tip of one breast, tease it with his mouth as she stood still, torn between a million emotions and the storm of her own arousal, still unsated. He followed the tracks of her arousal on her inner thigh with his fingers, and she made that needy noise again. Her hair when unbound fell almost to her hips, and he tugged on a lock of it.
"Go to the dresser and bring me everything that's in the top drawer."
There was no balking about it this time. As she obeyed, she was bemused to discover two things. One, she wasn't entirely steady on her feet. Two, while she slept the mirror had been replaced, along with the rug. The floor around it was entirely clean, not a sliver of glass.
"Does Mr. Vardalos have an army of field mice on his payroll?" Her voice sounded hoarse, another intriguing thing.
"I let the Club Sin cleaning staff come in while you were sleeping. Under my supervision of course. You were out, my lady."
She wasn't going to think about the significance of that, that she was allowing this male she barely knew watch over her while she slept. She'd kept her door bolted and locked the first five years Fran was in the house.
"Dresser, my lady. I'm getting impatient."
She realized she was standing in front of it, head down in thought. Now she jerked into motion, sliding open the drawer. When she saw the contents, her heart started to thump erratically again. An alligator paddle, just like he said. The name was a misnomer. It wasn't made out of alligator skin, but the paddle's impact surface was designed like it, like rows of pyramids with the tops cut off, leaving square blocks and spaces between that would leave a memorable impression on the flesh. Next to the paddle was a pair of clover nipple clamps and a butterfly-shaped clitoral stimulator.
Turning, she saw he was standing. He'd picked up a pair of folded jeans from the floor and was sliding them on. The things she held in her hands were forgotten as she watched the play of his upper body muscles, the ripple across his shoulders as he pulled the jeans up to his hips, over his taut ass. No underwear. Tucking his cock back in, he zipped the jeans, but carelessly left the top button undone when he sat back down, beckoned to her.
She was used to seeing gorgeous male servants in all manner of dress and undress, yet this powerful scarred man had her arrested, to the point he had to speak to break her out of her ogling. "Kaela, bring them here."
Guiding her between his knees again, he took the toys from her, leaving her standing. He didn't say she couldn't use her hands, so she laid her hands on his shoulders, enjoying the width, the firm skin. The man had a neck like a tree trunk, which fit the proportions of the rest of his body. She was so aroused, yet there was another part of her, restless and needy, that had words spilling from her mouth.
"Does he have someone?"
He didn't answer her right away. Unclasping the straps on the clitoral stimulator, he hooked them over her thighs, running another ribbon strap down through her outer labia, her buttocks, clicking it into a three-way hasp between the dimples over her ass. As he did that, he brought her closer. She caressed the wide expanse between his shoulder blades, ran her fingers over the tattoo. When she looked at it, it felt as if the message on it was intended just for her.
"Who?" he asked.
"Sorry. It feels like...never mind. The Dom in the wheelchair. Does he have a permanent sub?"
"Yeah, he does. She loves him, would do anything for him. He's the same way about her."
He caught her hand, bent his head over her palm to kiss it. Hesitantly, she raised her other hand, touched his bare skull. Tilting his head up, he laid his big hand on her shoulder, giving her a light squeeze against her throat before he turned his attention back to what he was doing.
Her mind fragmented as he pulled the straps taut so she felt the pressure against her clit, labia and rim, all the erogenous points. Though her mind went quiet, that ache in her throat didn't. "That's nice. About the two of them."
"It is. What was the 'never mind', Kaela?"
She shook her head. She couldn't tell him that sometimes it felt like he was in her mind like a second mark. Maybe even a third, because supposedly their range could be even more expansive...if the vampire allowed it. Stop doing that. Just because he or Vardalos says it's okay to second mark him doesn't mean it is. It's one thing to risk your life. That would be risking his, if they're wrong. Or lying. She didn't want to contemplate any deception here, but that sly voice wouldn't let up.
If he was second marked, he couldn't lie to her.
He straightened, making her hands slide from his back to his shoulders. She wished he never wore a shirt. She loved feeling her palms against his skin, and the man had an amazing upper body.
"We'll come back to it." His tone changed. "First I want to talk about you taking blood without my permission yesterday."
He gripped her forearms, taking her hands away from him. Putting them at her sides, he tapped them, a signal to keep them there as he picked up the clover clips from the side table where he'd placed them. He rolled the metal in his palm, over his fingers, idly playing as her gaze latched onto them.
"When a submissive misbehaves like that, she's testing her Master." Closing his free hand over her right breast, he started squeezing and tweaking her right nipple, an obvious functional intent, preparing it for the bite of the metal. "Afterwards, she'll feel regret, uncertainty. She doesn't know how to fix it. That was the way you felt yesterday, wasn't it? Say it. I want to hear it."
"Yes." She had to admit it was. She swallowed back a tiny yelp as he pinched her harder, rolling the nipple between fingers acting like pincers. But for all that it was uncomfortable, she just kept swaying toward him.
"If I'd acted angry, how would you have felt?"
"Maybe angrier," she said. "Defensive."
"Good. Honest answers. How else?" In one smooth movement, he attached the clover clip to that throbbing nipple. The biting pain was immediate, but he caught her hands. She could have thrown him off, but his sharp voice stopped her.
"Breathe through it. Answer my question. Breathe."
"I don't know...I wondered...I wasn't sure...how to say I was sorry. How to...earn forgiveness."
Could she believe she wanted that, needed that? That she'd even said it aloud?
"It causes a sub a lot of stress, those kinds of questions. But it's not your job. If you've misbehaved, it's up to me to decide how to absolve you."
He started to work on the other nipple and she had all she could do to stay still. The bound nipple was throbbing. His free hand closed over her thigh and he ran his thumb up the sensitive inner side, letting her feel the fluid marking her there. "You're in pain, and yet your clit is as full and flushed as the head of my cock when you had it in your mouth. You have no control here, Kaela. You can act up, beat me black and blue, but all that does is show you're feeling out of control, uncertain about the scenario. You can't take command of this like you can as a vampire overlord. You came here for a very different experience, but that's the experience you know, so you retreat to it when you're feeling unbalanced. When I earn enough of your trust you rely on me for your balance, you'll figure it out. Another deep breath."
She had to stop herself from backing away before he clamped the clover clip in place. It hurt. God, it hurt. Once again he caught her hand. "Breathe. Breathe through it. This will help." Reaching between her legs, he pressed the back of the stimulator, a weight
that spiraled through her cunt. The rubber butterfly started to vibrate in a pattern that tingled along her labia and stroked her clit like a heated tongue.