Secrets (Passion Shields) (7 page)

Chapter Seven

A rush of cool air
from the air-conditioner in the hallway washed over Selina's bare skin like a rolling wave. A rash of Goosebumps skittered down her arms. Her shiver wasn't from the draft that had entered the room when the door opened. Rather it was from anticipating the man who now stood blocking the light filtering in from the hallway.

She swallowed the lump in her throat as her hands
, which were clutching each other at her back, trembled. Nothing else filled her with a mix of excitement and trepidation like Benjamin's imposing presence, especially when she didn't know what lay ahead.

Wool pile scratched the taut skin on
her knees. She itched to adjust her posture. But she remained still, her gaze fixed to a spot on the carpet she'd chosen earlier as she knelt on the bedroom floor, her hair loose and flowing down her back like he liked it, her body stripped of her clothes, bare to the gaze of her husband whose face she couldn’t see, but whose presence she felt to the core of her being.

Her heart thumped in her chest.
She wanted to apologize for going against his wishes, for disappointing him, starting with her bratty attitude this morning when he'd announced he was going out to blatantly disregarding one of the rules she'd agreed to.

She could never offer herself to any other man the way she offered her body to Benjamin. She knew that now. In that sense,
he
was the Master of her body.

She sucked in her breath and blinked several times as her eyes stung with the realization. Her stomach tightened.

Truth was, her heart wasn't far behind. She would offer it to him if only she could trust that he felt the same thing for her.

He cared about her. That much she knew. The way he'd stood up for her with his sister had warmed her heart. Now she wanted to reward him the way she could. With her whole
-hearted submission.

She should've trusted that he would fulfill his pledge to her always. She needed to learn to give her total trust to him.

She wanted to tell him all this—to share what was in her heart. But words always failed her.

So instead here she was, bare and on her knees, in a pose she hoped conveyed her remorse and capitulation more than any words she could conjure.
Between her lips was the black leather paddle. She took shallow breaths through her nose, silently counting to stay calm. Yet every fiber of her body, every pore, every nerve-ending was tuned in to the man who still stood by the doorway.

He didn't say anything.

Was he angry at her? Pleased? What? She wanted to look up and see his expression. But that would negate the purpose of her actions.

She was presenting herself to him
, ready for his authority, whichever form it took be it chastisement or enjoyment.

After what seemed like an eternity but was only a few seconds, Benjamin strode across the room. The door clicked shut. His dark trousers and polished shoes came into view and disappeared behind her. He still didn’t say anything. His spice surrounded her
. She inhaled deeply, comforted by his familiar scent.

Soft hissing, a flow of warm
air, and the chug of a train in the distance informed her that the balcony door was opened.

Fabric rustled.
Foam sighed. Wood creaked. She pictured him sitting in his favorite chair, an antique red upholstered Victorian armchair he sat on to smoke his cigar on the balcony.

Glass tinkled and thumped on a dulled surface.
The scratch and sizzle of a match and a sucking sound told her he'd lit a cigar.

"Come here." The quietly spoken words were at a baritone level that had her core vibrating.

Selina lifted her head and looked in the direction of his voice. As she'd imagined, Benjamin sat in his chair on the balcony puffing on a cigar. Beside him on the low mahogany table was a bottle of wine and a glass half full. Behind him the horizon was a mix of purples and orange above the roofs of the houses across the Thames as the sun descended for the night.

She hesitated as she grabbed the foot of the bed so she could stand. Though
they had no neighbors on this floor or above to spy on them, if someone had a pair of binoculars they could watch from the bridge or one of the houses across the river.

"Crawl to me," he said,
the gentle depth of his voice irresistible, his gaze connecting with hers and never wavering.

She sucked in a sharp breath. He really meant it. Somehow
the way he stared at her encouraged her. She placed her palms on the carpet and started crawling. She pictured the grace of a cat as it padded across the floor and mimicked its movements.

Having Benjamin
's mesmerizing gaze on her naked body boosted her confidence. Her movement improved, becoming fluid. She felt sexy. Hands first, she stepped into the balcony and stopped in front of Benjamin, still on her hands and knees, awaiting his next command. The slab of stone that made up the balcony floor was hard and cold. She ignored the discomfort and focused on the man in front of her, for whom she would do anything. The thought sent warmth spreading over her body and her heart clenching.

For Benjamin, she would endure
most things.

Chair creaking under his weight, he pushed to his feet
and walked back into the bedroom. Selina kept her gaze riveted to the spot he'd just moved from. She didn't want to look around her. If she did, then the panic simmering in her veins would boil over and she would run. For once, she wanted to do this right without panicking.

Keeping
her gaze fixated on the chair kept her grounded on Benjamin. She could imagine he was the only one who had eyes for her, the only one watching her.

He
returned, tossing a brown, velvet cushion on the floor beside her. He sat back in the chair.

"Kneel on the cushion."

She adjusted herself on it, glad for his consideration. Her breasts jutted out as she folded her arms at her back, her thighs spread open, the way he liked her to present her body to him. Whether it was from the breeze or Benjamin's accessing gaze, her nipples tightened into points, cream running down her thigh, her skin flushing with heat.

How she wished he would touch her
! A gentle pat of his hand on the head, a brush of his sensuous lips against hers or a thrust of his fingers into her sex, she wasn't really fussed as long as she felt a physical connection to enhance this emotional connection she currently shared with him.

Placing the cigar on the marble ash tray with one hand, h
e leaned forward, the other arm outstretched, palm open and upward. Opening her mouth, she allowed the paddle to drop into his hand.

"What's the paddle for, Selina?" he asked, his tone amused.

"You said I was going to be punished."

"I said? And why should you be punished?"

"I've been bad, Benjamin. I disobeyed our rules and ended up burning my arm. I have no rights to mark my body without your permission."

"Yes
, your body is mine. And you've earned this punishment. But you don't get to decide how I punish you, Selina. Do you understand why?"

"Yes, Benjamin."

"Tell me."

"On
play days, I have no decision-making powers, except the choice to participate or not. If I choose to participate, I'm simply to let go and obey, trusting that you know the best for me."

"
Good girl."

He put the
paddle on the table beside him and picked up the cigar again. He took several puffs, the smoke curling upward, marking the air with his presence. She knelt there content and happy to finally be with him after they'd spent the whole day apart.

There wa
s something calming about watching him smoke, although she didn't like the fact that he did. She was a pharmacist who worked in a busy London hospital. She'd seen the effect of smoking on patients. But she accepted it as a quirk of his. And prayed that there was no damaging effect on his body. There were cases of smokers who didn't contract lung cancer. She hoped her husband would fall into that category.

They stayed like that for several minutes. She forg
ot about the world around them, only reminded occasionally by the odd hoot of a car horn or rumbling of a train on the tracks. The shadows deepened. Soon the only light was from the smoldering ash at the tip of his cigar and the light filtering through the curtains from a dimmed lamp in the bedroom. Benjamin must have turned it on when he'd gone into the bedroom to collect the cushion.

R
eturning the cigar to the ash tray, he shifted in his chair.

"Unbuckle my belt," he said.

Glad for an opportunity to touch him, she rushed to do his bidding. Her hands trembled as she grabbed the metal buckle and unclipped the leather belt from it. She held each end in her hands.

"Now the fly, unzip it."

She stared at his fly. The bulge beneath appeared huge, and her eyes rounded. While she'd had some relief today, she knew Benjamin had an iron clad control and only ever climaxed when he wanted, which was usually while he was inside her.

She placed her hands on his thighs, the muscles beneath toned and hard.

"No hands, Lina. Use your mouth."

No hands?
She raised her gaze and saw his eyes glittering with a quiet amusement. He nodded. Leaning in, she used her lips to move the flap of fabric covering the zipper. The metal was hard between her teeth as she tugged it.

Perspiration coated her back.
She sucked in shallow rapid breaths. The woody tobacco scent of him filled her nostrils increasing her arousal. The gritty sound of the zipper coming undone increased her anticipation.

Eventually she got it lowered. Beneath his black boxer brief
s were stretched.

She looked up again and licked her lips. He'd said no hands
, so it would be difficult to get to his erection without his help. However, he hadn't told her to do anything else. So she waited.

He lifted his
right hand from the arm of the chair and slid it inside his trousers. When his hand came out it was wrapped around his shaft. She was so eager to get it in her mouth; she looked up at him again.

With a nod of approval from him, she leaned in, flicking her tongue out around the smooth tip.

The sharp hiss of his indrawn breath coaxed her, and with his hand on the base of his length, she continued her exploration with her mouth, licking, kissing, and caressing it with all the attention she could give. The bundle of muscle and nerves felt like velvet steel on her tongue and smelled of musky sex.

She continued he
r attention, worshiping his dick as much as she could without her hands. His light grunts increased in pace.

"Enough teasing, Lina. Open up."

She smiled knowing she had affected him. One of the perks of being on her knees was the sounds of pleasure her husband made. Fulfilling his need delighted her.

She opened her mouth. Benjamin wrapped his fingers
into her hair, gripping the strands and guiding her lips over his length. He bobbed her head up and down as her mouth slid up and down over him. When she'd mastered the rhythm, his hold on her hair loosened a little, and she worked her mouth over him.

He slid in and out, a smacking sound filling the air as the tip hit her throat. She sucked her cheeks in and puffed
, mimicking the way he puffed on a cigar.

"Oh, Lina."

She glanced up, and Ben had tilted his head back to the top of the chair, his left hand gripping the arm of the chair. The whites of the knuckles showed through as she knew he fought for control. But in this battle she intended to win.

Break his control, just once
, a devil on her shoulder whispered.

Her husband was king of control
, and just as he used his hand on her hair to control her movements, slowing her down when she got too fast, she added another dimension to wrest that from him.

Her body was already buzzing with her arousal,
so she pulled her thighs together, squeezing them for some relief but didn’t get much. She started humming in her throat, using the extra vibrations around Ben's erection to push him closer to the edge.

A loud groan erupted from Ben. He yanked her head off his length just as an arc of semen shot over her face and chest, marking her body in white cream.
A sense of satisfaction rolled over her body, but she stopped from actually smiling until she could see his expression.

He lifted his head. Relief washed over her as she noted his lips curled up in
smile.

"You're a troublesome girl, Lina."
The harsh edge to his words was softened by the twinkle in his eyes.

She licked the bit of cum around her lips but le
ft the rest on her body. She loved wearing his mark. It made her belong, and emphasized his possession.

Taking a handkerchief out of his trouser
pocket, he cleaned himself up, and tucked his length away.