His Contract: Legally Bound, Book 1 (15 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

The next Saturday, Jack made Lilly watch as he undressed.

She’d already stripped, her safewords murmured from her spot on the floor, and now she was staring up at him as he undid each button on his shirt, a look of hunger in her eyes he was sure mirrored his own.

He’d waited a long time for what he’d planned today, and he couldn’t wait to start.

“Stand up,” he said. “Sit on the edge of the bed. Hands behind you.”

She followed his commands as he unfastened the last button on his shirt and reached for his belt. He slid it free from the loops on his pants and snapped it loudly. Lilly flinched, her breathing going suddenly rapid.

“What is it about that sound?” He snapped the belt again. Lilly jolted, but her hips rolled all the same. “Does it scare you, or does it make you even wetter than we both know you are?”

She eyed the belt. “It scares me, Sir.”

“What are you scared of?”

“The pain, Sir.”

He took a step closer and brought the belt to her chin. She’d become so much more vocal and honest with him, but there were things she didn’t understand yet, things she couldn’t even admit to herself.

“I don’t think that’s what you’re afraid of.” Jack drew the edge of the belt down her throat and between her breasts. Over each stiff nipple. Along the damp skin between her splayed thighs. “Weren’t you the girl who was begging for me to spank your pussy with my crop?”

Lilly shuddered. It hadn’t taken him long to realize she loved dirty talk, or of being reminded just how lewd she’d been with him.

He changed the angle of his hand so the buckle rubbed against her clit. The silver tip slid easily against her slick skin. She turned her head to the side and squeezed her eyes shut, her face contorting into a mask of pleasure as her hips shifted forward. Jack couldn’t decide which he liked better—her face, or the way her legs spread wider, opening her up to more of his steel caress. It was such a high to lure out the kink in her, to watch her get off on something so twisted and corrupt.

“You’re not afraid of pain,” he said, watching her body move in time with the metal stroking along her flesh. “You’re afraid of where I can take you, my perverted little girl. Of letting the deviant inside you come out and play. And it’s time for that to stop.”

He let the belt fall to the floor.

“No,” she whined, grimacing at the ceiling.

He placed his palms on the bed on either side of her. “You gonna fight me?”

Lilly lowered her chin and glared. It was the fight in her that Jack enjoyed the most. Having her challenge him was half the fun. It made her eventual surrender that much sweeter.

She blew out a breath. “No. Sir.”

“That’s what I thought.” Jack stood and took off his shirt. “Look at the toys I’ve set out for you.”

She turned to scan the bed. The nylon restraints had been pulled out from under the mattress, the pillows piled up in a neat line by the footboard. In front of them was a spreader bar attached to a pair of ankle cuffs, as well as his rabbit-hair flogger, the deerskin one and the suede.

Her nipples stiffened to tight little points, a motion Jack’s cock agreed with. He couldn’t wait to see how she responded to the suede, the sound the falls made when they smacked against her skin. The marks they’d leave behind.

“We’ll have a warm-up spanking first, to get your skin ready.” He gently clasped her throat, one finger urging her chin back toward him. “Are you ready to play, little girl?”

It was a question he’d gotten in the habit of asking at the beginning of every session. It seemed to settle her, help her find her focus.

“I am, Sir.”

“Good girl.” He pulled her to her feet and led her to the end of the bed. “Today is about letting go. I don’t want you to think. Just relax, obey and feel.”

He bent her face down until her torso was on the bed, her hips propped up by the pillows. When she’d relaxed into the position, he spread her arms out to each side so her body made a T-formation and slipped one of her hands into a restraint. Jack wrapped the nylon in a snug embrace around one wrist, then did the same to the other. Lilly tugged at her bonds, testing them.

“Don’t even think about trying to wriggle out,” he warned. He’d like to see her try, though, just so he could wrestle her back into them. They were more for her to hold on to, anyway. To help brace herself when the real fun began.

Jack hovered over her and kissed the back of her neck, unable to ignore the temptation of her exposed backside. He ground his hips against her, his cock stiff and constrained behind the layers of cotton and denim. He wanted inside her so damn bad, had even purchased a pack of condoms and stashed them in the toy chest in the hopes that she’d lift that damn limit. She wasn’t there yet, and until she was ready, he’d need to make her even more crazed than he was. Which was what he’d planned to do today.

Bending down, he fastened the cuffs around her ankles, linked the spreader bar between them and stood back to look at her. She was a work of art, her skin a blank canvas ready for his marking. She must have panicked a little at the distance, though, because she let out a soft cry of distress.

“Shhh. I’m here.” He touched her lightly, soothing strokes along her back until she calmed. He liked how he had that effect on her now—that he could soothe her with nothing more than a touch. “Do you know why I’ve tied you up like this?”

“No, Sir.”

“Because it keeps you safe. I need you to be as still as possible. It gives me more control over where the flogger tails land, so they don’t wrap around your side and hurt you.” He leaned down until his lips were against her ear. “But there’s another reason.”

Lilly shivered. “What’s that, Sir?”

“Because you look so lovely when you’re helpless, incapable of stopping me.”

The words seemed to roll through her, her back arching as she let out the most delicious little groan. Jack chuckled and retrieved the fur flogger. He fanned it from her spine to her heels, submerging her in its feathery touch until her body sank down, the set of her shoulders relaxing.

He repeated the move several times, letting the falls seduce her, then pushed it through her legs, stroking once along her slit. When he pulled it back, Lilly let out a plaintive whine.

“My greedy little prisoner, always wanting more.”

He doled out a sharp spank to her bottom with his free hand. Lilly gasped, her head snapping up in surprise, arms going taut as she gripped the restraints.

“Relax.” He kept his palm against the spot he’d struck and rubbed it gently. “You know I won’t harm you. Just let yourself feel.”

Lilly moaned and Jack’s cock hardened even more at the sound. He never felt as dominant as he did when he brought her from pleasure to pain and back. Lifting his hand, he slapped her again, interspersing each smack with a light thump from the flogger, until the swell of her bottom became a symphony of color, her creamy skin layered with the pink echo of his handprints.

He set the fur flogger back on the bed and picked up the deerskin one.

“We’re moving on now,” he told her, and angled the tails over each pink cheek. When he finally struck her with it, the feeling of the thud against her rear reverberated all the way up his arm. Lilly shuddered and cursed.

“What color?” he asked.

“Green, Sir.”

“Do you want to continue?”

“Yes, Sir.” She was breathless. It was exactly what he’d hoped for.

Jack started a figure eight pattern, each downward lash leading to the next. Her body undulated with every strike, spilling across the bed in a wave of pleasure. After a few minutes, her skin had flushed to a lovely crimson, and Jack paused when she started rocking against the pillows, the friction she craved unattainable with her legs spread so wide.

“Look at you, trying to work yourself against the bed.” He slipped his fingers between her legs. She was soaked, the proof of her desire running down her thighs.

Lilly arched against him. “Please don’t stop, Sir.”

“Don’t stop what? This?” He pumped his fingers once, twice, then pulled them free and slapped her with the flogger again. “Or that?”

She grunted. “All of it, Sir. Please.”

Jack licked his fingers. Her taste was almost as satisfying as the sound of her begging.

He traded the deerskin flogger for the suede, and his breathing picked up as he grasped the handle. It was so perfectly weighted, the falls thick and pliable. Lilly lifted her head and looked over her shoulder at him, her lust-filled eyes trained on his hand.

“Face down,” he ordered. When she obeyed, a sense of satisfaction and pride charged him up like wildfire. Holding the flogger against her bottom, he asked, “You want this?”

“Please, Sir.”

“There’s my filthy little girl.”

Jack drew it back and waited one more heart-pounding second, letting her anticipation build, before snapping it against the swell of her ass. The force of the heavier tails made her cry out, her body caving in as the first shockwave of sensation surged through her. Jack waited for her to quiet, and then did it again. Her reaction was better than the first time.

“Do you like that?”

“Yes. More. Please more, Sir.”

Jack gripped the flogger’s handle tightly. He was glad Lilly couldn’t see his face because the sound of her need hit him like an avalanche. He’d hoped she’d react this way to his favorite implement of pleasure and torment, and
fuck
, did he plan to torture her with it now.

He began a slow rhythm of strikes, letting the intensity build. The thud of the suede slapping at her skin made his cock throb, made sweat pool in the creases of his elbows and knees. Lilly cried out with each thump, her hips bowing up to meet every smack. When her skin turned scarlet, Jack forced himself to stop and check on her.

“What color?”

She didn’t answer. Jack listened for signs of stress, but Lilly’s breathing was heavy, deep, her limbs slackened. He touched the small of her back with his fingertips, and she finally murmured, “Green, Sir.”

The words came out slurred. It took a minute for Jack to register what he was seeing. It was subspace—that delirious, altered submissive mindset he’d always wanted to witness but never had before. He couldn’t believe he’d driven Lilly there with the one thing he’d been dying to do to her. He was torn by the desire to keep a careful watch on her and the perverse need to push her further down the rabbit hole.

“You want more?”

Her head dipped in a slow nod. Jack smirked.

“Such a greedy little slut.”

Lilly stiffened, her limbs suddenly rigid, her breath rushing out. She went completely and utterly silent, and Jack had no idea what was happening until she whispered, “Yellow.”

He dropped the flogger and moved in close, his hands on either side of her body, his weight surrounding her. “Talk to me.”

“That word. Slut.” She took a shallow, shuddery breath. “It’s what Damien called me.”

Jack winced, but felt a niggling sense of discomfort. Why hadn’t she told him that?

“Do you want to continue?” he asked.

“I…I don’t know.”

There was so much uncertainty in her voice. He only had to stop the scene if she said red, but he couldn’t tell if she was being honest about her emotional state, or if she could judge it at all.

“I’m so proud of you for safewording, but we need to stop and talk before we keep going.”

“Okay.” Despite his reassurance, she sounded so ashamed.

He dropped down to free her ankles, then tugged the Velcro off her wrists. He urged her onto the bed, and she’d curled into a fetal position by the time he climbed up beside her. Jack pulled her into his arms.

“Can you talk about it?”

Her breathing was short and tight. Jack stroked her hair, keeping her nestled in the crook of his arm until she’d gathered her thoughts.

“I hated when he called me that,” she finally said. “A ‘dirty fucking slut’ he could do whatever he wanted to. I let him call me that, even when it made me feel like shit, because when he made me feel good all the bad stuff would disappear. And then I started to feel like a slut, because I kept going back to him. Like I was some pitiful whore who was so desperate for what he could do that I didn’t even care how I was being treated.” She trembled and he held her even tighter. “I’m sorry. I should’ve told you about it sooner. I just never expected you to say it.”

Jack sighed and shook his head. He wasn’t even sure why he’d called her that in the first place. It was a word he’d barely ever said before. It just flew out of his mouth. He’d been in too deep, running away with the momentum of the scene.

“Don’t ever be sorry for being honest with me.”

Lilly lifted her gaze to meet his, eyes wide with something that looked like disbelief. Her expression was heartbreaking. There was so much damage to be undone, caused by a word that left deeper scars than any whip could have.

He could fix that. He could show her how a word’s meaning changed depending on who said it.

“We won’t use that word again if you’re that uncomfortable with it. But first, tell me—is it the word itself or how Damien used it that upset you?”

Her brow furrowed, lines pressing into her forehead. “It’s not the nicest word, but I guess it never bothered me before he said it.”

“What about when I called you dirty and perverted? Did that bother you?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Her eyes searched his. “I guess it’s different, coming from you.”

“So wouldn’t the same be true for slut if I said it?”

“I…guess.”

Jack watched her blink as she worked through puzzled thoughts. He took her hand and brought it to lie flat on his chest, caressing her fingertips. “Do you know why I say the things I do to you?”

Lilly shook her head.

“Because I want to help you embrace this part of yourself without judgment, guilt or shame, and get you to the point where all you do is listen and obey.”

“Like you did today?”

“Exactly.” He brought her fingers to his mouth and ran the pad of her middle finger over his lower lip. “I want to give you the freedom to let out that depraved, dirty part of yourself. Where all that matters is what you crave, and satisfying that need.”