Roses and Chains (2 page)

knew that. But we gave it a good try, and I can respect that. What I cannot respect,” she said with a soft little faux slap against Mara’s cheek, “is a sub who plays passive-aggressive bullshit games, and won’t let herself get what she needs from the

arrangement.”

Mara knew better than to apologize. She bit down on the automatic “I’m sorry” and

nodded her head.

“I’m not sure what you need, Mara. And I don’t think you’re sure either. But there’s no reason to feel bad about that. It’s brave just to be out there trying. You don’t need to beat yourself up for not figuring it out faster.”

“I know. I know.”

“Especially not when there are so many people who would be thrilled to do that

beating
for
you.”

She couldn’t help but smile, and Amie grinned back, the million-megawatt, slightly

evil smile that attracted subs from miles away.
The prom queen has decided she wants to
whip your ass…you’ll take it and like it, so bend over
. Mara had been one of the first in line, and would never regret the experience.

But Amie really had been a popular former prom queen, and Mara really had been

a disaffected, Indie-rock-listening, former Goth girl. And though they’d tried to find some common ground outside their scenes, it had simply never gelled.

“Mistress, may I worship your boot?” A groveling young man in a studded black

leather thong had knelt down near Mara at Amie’s feet. It happened all the time, and Mara knew to just wait. She didn’t blame him. She felt much the same about Amie, even though they were no longer together and she wasn’t a boot fetishist.

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Delphine Dryden

This one made the mistake, though, of making a move before he had received

permission. He was already leaning in, mouth open, when Amie spoke.

“Move that tongue any closer to my boot, little worm, and you’ll be thrown out of

this club for a month.”

Then she turned back to Mara, ignoring the man, who was smart enough to squirm

away without another word. He did whimper, however. He had almost certainly

enjoyed the rebuke on some level.

“Pushy asshole. Look, just call the number. I trust the person who gave it to me.

And I wouldn’t give it to you if I didn’t think it would help. It’s worth a shot, anyway.

So be brave, okay? And I’ll call you tomorrow to check up on you.”

With another little pat to Mara’s cheek, Amie was gone, strolling away across the

main floor of the club like the Queen of the Dommes, off to review her subjects.

Leaving Mara alone to consider the merits of calling the number on the little white

card.

She looked at it again and frowned.

“1-800-DOM-help? What the fuck?”

12

Roses and Chains

Chapter Two

There came a moment when it all balanced perfectly, suspended in time, fragile and

magical. The pleasure and the pain, the need to come and the desire to cling to delicious arousal. The struggle, and the sweet inevitability of submission.

That was the moment that always made it worth doing in the first place. What it

was all about. And lately, Delia just couldn’t seem to get there.

Daniel was a wonderful husband, and when Delia had finally confessed that she

needed something edgier in the bedroom, he’d gone along enthusiastically. But it

wasn’t his native tongue, Dominance. He was still learning. Usually the knowledge that he was learning for
her
was more than enough to compensate for any momentary lapses. The past few weeks, though, the timing had just been off.

“On your knees, Dee. Hmm. Why are your clothes still on?”

She paused, not sure whether to kneel or strip, and he sighed in a manner that

seemed more pissy than masterful.

“I’m sorry, Sir, I stopped to brush my teeth.”

“Did I tell you to do that?”

Oh Daniel. Did you really want me to skip it, since I ate onions on that burger earlier
?

“No. I’m sorry, Sir.”

But it didn’t ring true, she couldn’t suspend disbelief. Daniel was still Daniel, not Sir, and she was still worried in the very back of her mind that she might have forgotten to put the wet clothes in the dryer that afternoon as she’d planned. And he hadn’t told her to take her clothes off, she was sure of it. She would have remembered.

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Delphine Dryden

Delia knelt as gracefully as she could, wishing like anything she were already out of her jeans and tank top. It was so much easier when she was naked; it seemed to help

both of them work their way into the scene.

“I know you’d rather be naked, Dee.”

Then again, sometimes he did display that uncanny ability to read her mind. Delia

smiled as she settled into place to wait.

“Don’t you want to know
why
you’re still in your clothes?”

“Yes, Sir.” Now she was really confused. She’d thought the clothes were just an

oversight on his part. She also wanted to know why Daniel was still in
his
clothes.

“Because we’re going on an adventure.”

The way he said
adventure
piqued her interest. Outside the house? Daniel hadn’t liked playing at the last club the Fosters had tried, because he didn’t like other men seeing her naked, or even semi-naked. And she wasn’t sure if there were any clubs close by that had private playrooms. It wasn’t the right night for a Munch, and she didn’t know of any classes scheduled.

Daniel was rummaging around in the closet, and came out still wearing his jeans

but with a close-fitting black t-shirt on in place of the bright red walkathon freebie he’d been wearing. He was smiling like a kid with a secret, but he still somehow looked Very Serious with his rimmed glasses and closely cropped beard and goatee. His jeans were just low-slung enough to draw the eye to his trim waist, and just tight enough that a discerning eye could tell he had an extremely nice ass. Sexy intellectual.

Hipsterlicious
, she thought, stifling a giggle.

“Does that shirt have one of those elastic things in it?”

“A shelf bra?”

“Dee, work with me here. I don’t need to know what it’s called.”

“Yes it does.”

“
Sir
.”

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Roses and Chains

“Sorry. Sir.”

“Good. Take off your bra. Are you wearing panties with those jeans?”

“Um, yeah. A thong.”

Daniel walked around behind her and bent over, tugging the waistband of her jeans

down just enough in back to reveal the thong. It was plain pink cotton, nothing fancy.

“You can keep that. But lose the bra.”

“Yes, Sir.”

It took her a moment to work the thin straps of her bra around her arms, loosen the

back clasp and draw the whole thing free. Once she had, Daniel snatched it up and

leaned into the open bathroom door, chucking the bra in the direction of the hamper.

Then he returned and stood in front of her, staring down her red tank top as though

assessing whether he liked what he could see.

Delia was officially off guard now, with no idea what to expect. And she was

thrilled to realize it was kind of making her hot.

“Now play with your nipples. I want them hard. Like you just stepped out of a

walk-in freezer, that kind of hard.”

She reached up with both hands and tweaked her nipples obediently, knowing he

liked to see her do it roughly. Pinching, twisting…they had already been hard, now

they were harder and a little sore, and if she didn’t get to put her bra back on, rubbing against the shirt would keep them erect all night.

Delia knew she should be concerned about that. She never went out braless. It was

tacky, and she was big enough up top to be just a little saggy—though Daniel insisted that wasn’t the case, that her boobs were perfect and perky.

“Chin up, Dee. Hold your hair up out of the way.”

He had a leather strap in his hand…her collar. The one that usually went on after

her clothes came off. It had become an informal signal between them that the scene was 15

Delphine Dryden

really starting. It was half an inch of soft white leather, with a buckle and a d-ring. No spikes or rivets, no “slave” spelled out in diamonds. Tasteful.

But it was still no street collar.

Daniel finished fastening it around her neck then stood up, but didn’t step back.

Dee could see he was already aroused, so she wasn’t too surprised when he undid his

jeans and pushed his boxer briefs down just enough to free his erection. If he was going to be able to concentrate at all on whatever excursion he had planned, he needed to lose this edge first. She didn’t even realize she had licked her lips in anticipation until Daniel chuckled.

“Eager tonight, my little cock-worshipper?”

“Yes, Sir,” she admitted with poorly feigned chagrin.

“No, not Sir. We’re trying something else tonight. Master. Say it.”

“Master?”

“Okay. Now say it and try not to look at me like I’m crazy.”

She snickered, she couldn’t help it. Then Daniel put his hands on her head and

tipped it back, meeting her eyes as she looked up. He wasn’t smiling. Dee swore her

heart skipped a beat, just like it had the first time they’d ever kissed. “Say it, Delia.”

“Master,” she breathed.

“Better. Now be a good girl and suck your Master off so he doesn’t accidentally

cream his jeans ogling your tits in the car later.”

And just like that, the delightful tension broke. But for a moment…for a moment,

Delia had forgotten all about the laundry, and the clothes she had on, and everything but the look in Daniel’s eyes and the too-tempting proximity of his very stiff penis.

That part, of course, she could always handle. She was bending toward him, lifting

up a little on her knees, when Daniel threw her another curve ball.

“Hands behind your back.”

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Roses and Chains

His
hands were still holding her head firmly, thumbs playing suggestively along her lower lip. Delia looked up at him, uncertain, but he just waited for her to comply.

When she did, slowly, he teased her mouth open and pushed one thumb inside. She

suckled obediently, suddenly hungry for something bigger.

She didn’t have long to wait. He dragged his thumb out and pressed his hips

forward, encouraging her to wrap her lips around the wet tip of his cock. She tried to spread the moisture but wasn’t quite quick enough. Her lips caught against his skin, and he frowned and pulled back just a bit. Then forward, a little easier this time,

pressing just deep enough to be slightly uncomfortable.

And then he held still and continued to hold her head tight, and Delia felt torn

between the urge to escape and the urge to do…something. Whatever this was, this new thing Daniel apparently wanted from her. What had he been reading or watching?

“I like it when you suck me off, Delia,” Daniel said in a voice that was calmer than she would have expected. It was a little surreal, hearing him sound that in control when her mouth was full of his cock. “But I think what I really want is to fuck your mouth.

Which is a different skill. So tonight you’re going to learn how that works.”

Oh, sweet Jesus
. She moaned a little, nearly choking on him in the process.
Bless him,
he’s been watching bondage porn
.

“Fortunately you already don’t have much of a gag reflex. So we’ll just try this

carefully at first and see how it goes. When I push to the back of your throat, I want you to swallow. Like you’re going to swallow my dick. Got it?”

“Mmm.”

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes, Master’.”

He pushed, she swallowed, and then she panicked for a second as his thick cock

pressed her tongue down and cut her air off completely. She caught her breath when he pulled back, and felt helplessly grateful for the encouraging squeeze of his hands

against her skull.

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Delphine Dryden

“Good. A little longer this time. You want to just keep your throat open like that if you can, not try to swallow me each time.”

Another inexorable motion of his hips, and Delia gulped as he filled her throat

again. She found she could breathe out, though not in again. She fought the urge to gag and tried to relax. To accept.

He moved out and in again, and she realized it was getting easier because her lips

were coated with spit.

Crap. Drooling
. Automatically she started to lift a hand to wipe it away before actual slobbering could occur, but a sudden tug on her hair made her stop.

“No, Delia. Hands stay behind your back. What, is it the spit? Are you worried

about looking gross?”

She nodded as best she could. She wanted to do what Daniel said. But she really,

really
wanted to wipe the spit off her lower lip.

“If you move your hands again, you won’t get to wear my collar out tonight, sub.”

Or maybe he’s been reading bondage porn
.

“It’s not gross, anyway. It’s sexy.” Out and in again, just a little deeper. “Like you don’t even care what you look like, all you care about is taking your Master’s cock like a good little slut. And when your hot little mouth is nice and wet, it’s much easier to fuck.

Which I think you’re ready for now.”

Oh, talk some more dirty talk. And haven’t we already been…oh
.

Yes, this was different. He’d been experimenting before. He’d been giving her time

to figure it out. Now he wasn’t stopping, he was just fucking, filling her mouth with his cock in the uneven, shuddering beats she knew meant he wouldn’t last long.

She couldn’t quite get enough air. She was dizzy, she was slobbering. Her blood

roared in her ears when Daniel’s hands shifted and covered them. Then he came,