Betting on Fate (4 page)

As much as she wanted to pretend she had no idea what he was talking about, it would be a lie. She wanted to stick it to him in whatever way she could, but she wasn’t going to disobey his command to be honest. It was the one thing that chafed the most, but it was also the most necessary thing he’d done tonight. If the trust broke between them, this thing was broken beyond repair. Trust was
essential
, no matter how it aggravated her to give him so much as an inch.

Will stroked a thumb down her temple. “Obey me, Penelope, and I’ll reward you until your body is brimming with so much pleasure, you won’t be able to walk for hours afterward. Is that so much to ask?”

It didn’t sound terrible, but that was the problem. The second she stopped fighting him, she was his. Their agreement might only last a week, but who was to say he wouldn’t pull some Dom trick and manipulate her out of a business account when they met next? She couldn’t give him the keys to the kingdom, no matter how much a small part of her wanted to. So she closed her eyes and told the God’s honest truth. “Yes, Sir.”

Chapter Four

Will had suspected Penelope would respond in a contrary way. He thrust against her once, twice, and a third time, until her breath hissed out. She was close—she didn’t have to open her eyes for him to know that. It was tempting to finish her off, to perhaps kiss his way down her body and taste her, but he forced himself to move back. She whimpered, the sound so delicate and sweet, he actually took a step toward her before he caught himself.

No
. If he allowed her to top from the bottom tonight, then she’d continue to attempt it for the rest of the week. The only way this would work was if he created solid boundaries now and held to them. It was never something he’d had a problem with before, but at the sight of her pussy glistening in the low light he was in danger of forgetting all the rules.

“Up.” He barely recognized his own voice. He sounded like he’d been smoking a pack a day for the last ten years.

She blinked. “What?”

“Up, Penelope.” He grabbed her upper arm and hauled her to her feet. “And the next time you forget to address me properly, I’m going to put you over my knee.”

“Sure you will, Sir.”

“Better.” Her legs seemed to be shaking and her breath came in short gasps that had her breasts nearly spilling out of her white lace bra. The white garter did nothing more than frame her ass and pussy, an effect only enhanced by the nude thigh-highs. She was temptation personified, and he was reluctant to follow through on the punishment he’d decided on.

Will gave himself a mental shake and walked to the chest at the end of the bed to grab his bag. There would be plenty of time in the next seven days to play with her to his heart’s content. Right then, it was vital he set the standard. “Remove the bra.”

She only hesitated half a second before obeying. He smothered a groan at the sight of her dark nipples puckered up as if begging for his mouth.
Not yet
.

“This way.” He opened the door and stepped out into the public playroom. The spanking bench in the back corner was empty, which was perfect for his purposes. Penelope had marked ‘maybe’ for exhibitionism, and he was about to see just how serious she was about exploring it.

He turned to find her hovering in the doorway, her gaze jumping between the various couples engaged in scenes and the group of Doms and subs who lounged on couches situated near the elevator. The bench was on the other side of the room from the group, so the only people who would see anything were those already occupied with their own activities. It would give the illusion of being out for everyone to see while still maintaining a small amount of privacy.

In short, it was a good place to start.

When she didn’t seem all too inclined to step into the main room, he held out his hand, meeting her gaze in a silent demand for obedience. She frowned and stepped out to place her hand in his. “I don’t want whatever you have planned, Sir.”

“You don’t want anything to do with me, so that’s hardly surprising.” He led the way around the scening couples and pointed to the bench. “I believe you know what is required.”

“And I believe that you’ve got a stick shoved up where the sun don’t shine, sugar.”

He grinned at her ass as she leaned over the bench. “You know, pet, I think I’m starting to enjoy the way you talk dirty to me.”

“Was that a joke, Sir? I didn’t realize you were capable of making them.” Her accent was so thick it slid over him like honey on a warm day.

Will casually smacked her ass. “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me. Now be a good girl and grip those bars on either side of you.” When she did, he nudged her feet farther apart. “Be very still and very silent and I’ll give you a reward after the punishment.”

“Doesn’t that nullify the need to punish me,
Sir?
”

He spanked her again, a light smack meant to get her attention. “Silence, pet.” He crouched and went through his bag, touching each instrument before finally settling on a paddle. It had round holes carved into the wood, so it would hurt, but it shouldn’t be enough to push her over the edge. It would take some time to establish where her personal boundaries stood and, while he had no problem cozying right up to the line, he’d do his damnedest not to cross it. There was no joy to be found in traumatizing someone, and any Dom who thought otherwise was quickly found out and banned from Serve.

“Seven.” He palmed her ass, giving it a good squeeze before he released her. “That’s the number of times you’ve disobeyed tonight, and that’s that number of strikes you’ll receive. Do you understand?”

Her breath hissed out. “Yes, Sir.”

He didn’t hesitate, bringing the paddle down on her ass with a smack. The goal was to ease her into the harder blows so her endorphins kicked in and pain became something closer to pleasure. She jerked, but other than her hands tightening around the bars below her, she didn’t respond. He waited a full three seconds, seeing if she’d safe out, but she seemed to be bracing herself for the next one. Good. He brought the paddle down flat across her ass, pausing between each strike to ensure she didn’t need to stop, counting aloud.

Five. Six. Seven.

Will dropped the paddle onto his bag and circled her, stroking a hand up her spine to cup the back of her head. Every muscle was relaxed and limp, the sign of a submissive deep in the bliss of subspace. Still, it was necessary to check, since this was their first time scening together. “Penelope?”

“I’m…good.” Her voice was a little distant, a little dreamy, and that tone hit him like a lightning strike, searing through his body to his cock.

He moved back around and went to his knees behind her. “You pleased me greatly, pet.” He pressed a kiss to one cheek and then the other. “Are you ready for your reward?”

He massaged the back of her thighs while he waited, his thumbs bare inches away from her center. Her extremely wet center. Yes, it was safe to say Penelope thoroughly enjoyed light pain play.

Finally, she seemed to gather herself enough for an answer again. “Yes…Sir.” In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to surge to his feet and bury himself deep inside her.

Christ, what was wrong with him?

He never lost control—ever—and certainly not in the middle of a scene with a sub who was blissed out. Will closed his eyes and took a deep breath, but all he could smell was her desire.
Focus. Her reward.

He had intended to take her back into the private room and reward her there, but he didn’t trust himself to hold to the plan once he had her stretched out on that bed again. After coming so close to losing it twice already, the lesser of two evils was to reward her here and then finish up the scene.

Or that was what he told himself as he leaned forward and dragged his tongue over her center. She tasted… There were no words to describe how she tasted, or the sweet sounds of need coming out of her mouth as he took his time savoring her. He dipped down to flick her clit with his tongue, and her entire body went tense. Ah, so that was something she liked.

Because this was meant to be a reward, he kept doing that, again and again, until she came apart around him, her body shaking with the force of her orgasm. Will gave her one last long lick and rested his forehead against the back of her thighs, trying to remind himself of all the reasons he couldn’t follow this through to its natural conclusion.

Not yet.

He stood and scooped Penelope up. The dungeon monitor nodded at him as he passed on his way back to the room. Everything he needed for aftercare was there, and he wasted no time wrapping her in a blanket and sitting with her on the couch where they’d first started negotiations. He rested his chin on the top of her head and held her as her shivers from the combined adrenaline of her orgasm and spanking eased, and her breathing returned to something like normal. There was a part of him that wished she didn’t bounce back quite so quickly, but when she raised her head, he released her.

“That was…”

He pulled the blanket more firmly around her. “If I see you to a cab, will you be okay getting home?”

She blinked, and he could almost see her walls coming back up. “Of course.”

It was better this way. He hadn’t anticipated the strength of his response to her, and the only way to get back onto stable ground was to remind her of the fact she hated him. For the first time in as long as he could remember, it was a struggle to retreat behind his cold mask. “Get your sleep, pet. I have an eventful day planned for you tomorrow.”

…

All Penelope wanted to do was to curl back up in Will’s lap and close her eyes for a bit. Her body felt strangely disconnected, and her head was fuzzy as if she’d just downed a bottle of wine. She’d known pain could turn to sharp pleasure between one breath and the next, but experiencing it for herself was something else entirely. Experiencing it in the capable hands of Will…

She shook her head and tried to focus. He wanted her to leave. He’d just said as much. She struggled to her feet, wobbling a little and wondering how she’d managed to keep her heels on this entire time, and reached down to pick up her bra. He watched her as she wrestled it on and then slid into her dress, his blue eyes unreadable. Had he worn that same non-expression the entire time he was beating her and then going down on her?

I don’t think so.
Not when his voice had dropped and roughened when he talked to her, and he’d shown those little glimpses of heat. No, he was affected, whether he wanted to be or not.

It struck her that maybe he wanted to hustle her out of there because he had a secondary sub set up. The night was young and he was no doubt still wanting to scratch his itch. He certainly hadn’t gotten off with her. Hurt rose, and dampened the strange fog around her. There was nothing in their contract about being exclusive, so of course he’d be seeking pleasure elsewhere tonight.

She shrugged into her coat, her muscles protesting the movement. All she wanted was to curl up and sleep—to do something to maintain the feel-good sensation currently leaving her body. She paused at the doorway, waiting for… She wasn’t sure. For him to tell her to stay
? For him to rush over and take her against the wall? Penelope shivered at the thought, then forced her spine straight. She’d promised herself that she wouldn’t beg Will for a damn thing, and she wasn’t about to break. Not now, not ever.

So she opened the door, part of her still expecting him to call her back, and walked out. Nothing. She caught a few curious looks from people as she made her way around the perimeter of the room and to the elevator. The doors closed without interruption, and only then did she allow herself to sag against the wall. “This is so incredibly bad.”

She’d been doing fine until he bent her over that bench and spanked her with the paddle. She’d heard rumors of the man’s skill with his various toys, but going through the full Technicolor experience…there were no words. By the second strike, she had been fighting not to arch into the strokes, had been relishing the stinging, had never wanted it to end. She’d forgotten everything but the expectation of his next strike, his next touch.

What had she been thinking, betting away a week of her life to that man?

She took a deep breath and exited the elevator, winding through the crowd to the front door, her head held high. It didn’t matter that most of these people were strangers and she had nothing to prove to them. She had something to prove to herself. Penelope didn’t make a habit of self-deception, but it was still aggravating to admit that she wouldn’t last another six days without sacrificing things that she couldn’t afford to lose.

It was too late to back out. Even if Will would allow it, her pride wouldn’t let her give that much ground.

Which meant she needed something else to occupy her time and keep her focused. If she had business concerns to deal with, it would be easier to regulate her nights. Or that was the theory.

She was so busy planning, she nearly ran into the man standing in front of her before she realized he wasn’t going to move. Penelope looked up to see Nolan, the general manager of Serve. He nodded as if he’d been waiting for her. “Will wants to make sure you get into a cab all right.”

She blinked. “I’ve been catching cabs all my life, sugar.”

“All the same.”

Another way he was exerting control over her. She bit back a sharp reply, because it wasn’t Nolan’s fault she was cranky. She’d go along with this—for now. But next time he saw her, she’d figure out a way to get the upper hand. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” He opened the cab door and waited for her to slide in before he shut it firmly.

She sat back, her thoughts swirling as the cab lurched into motion. Will said he had big plans for her tomorrow, but he hadn’t given any indication as to when she could expect to hear from him. Penelope huffed out a breath. No doubt he’d call at the most inconvenient time and expect her to jump at the snap of his fingers.

Her stomach flipped at the thought.

God,
no
. She wasn’t going to give him any more control
by obsessing about what tomorrow would bring, or by sitting on her phone, waiting for his call. That was exactly what he wanted. If he thought for a second that she was looking forward to seeing him again, he’d hold off just to mess with her. Unacceptable.

Penelope crossed her arms, trying to ignore the way her body pulsed with the remains of pleasure and pain that wasn’t pain. Despite her best efforts, Will had played her better than any instrument. Worse, he knew it.

It didn’t matter. She’d find a way to keep it from happening again.