Spring Training (20 page)

Todd clenched his jaw and prayed he’d made the right decision. With every blow that landed, his admiration for the woman he loved rose exponentially. He was experienced enough with whips and floggers to realize Mistress Lola was going easy on him. He suspected she was going for show, trying to make his whipping appear worse than it was for his slave’s benefit. As much as he hated to torment Brooke this way, it was better than any physical punishment he could inflict. She hated to see him in this role. The stripes on his back were probably hurting her more than they were him. He could still hear his dad, right before he tanned Todd’s hide for doing something stupid, saying, “This is going to hurt me worse than it is you.”

He’d doubted the statement when he was a kid, but as an adult in love, it rang true. Inflicting pain on Brooke wasn’t easy for him. Yeah, he loved seeing her ass red, loved the way a well-placed flogger could make her beg to be fucked, but marking her the way he had last evening wasn’t something he wanted to do often. He
wouldn’t
do it often. But to say the stripes on her skin didn’t turn him on would be a lie.

Thinking about tracing every line on her body with his tongue, kissing the hurt away kept him hard throughout the whipping. When he got her home, he’d ask Brooke to wear his collar and his ring. One symbol just for them. One for the world to see.

He braced for the next blow, but it never came. Instead, he heard Mistress Lola’s soothing words as she released Brooke from bondage. He breathed a sigh of relief. They’d be home soon, and he’d do what he should have done months ago. Make her his forever.

“Master.” Brooke, there to release him.

“Babe—”

Her lips on his cut off anything else he would have said. Kissing through the web of chains wasn’t easy, but her lips felt so good, warm and wet, he strained to get closer. She broke the kiss, pulling away so their gazes met. Then she slowly sank down, and down, and down. His dick jerked when she closed her hand around the base. He closed his eyes, knowing what was next. When she swirled her tongue around the throbbing head of his penis, his knees gave out. Metal cut into his skin where his arms were thrust through the web.

“Fuck!” He unfurled his fisted hands, grabbing for the nearest chains in order to support his weight. Her mouth felt so damned good even as he grappled to release the pressure on his armpits. At last, he pulled his torso up enough to ease the pain of chains cutting into flesh. His legs were shaking, but his knees seemed to have recovered from the initial shock of the impromptu blow job. He wanted desperately to flex his hips, to drive his cock to the back of her throat, but the cursed bindings prevented him from doing anything but submitting to her sensual torture.

He forced his eyes open. His angle of vision was restricted, but he could see the top of her head working forward and back as she slid her mouth along his length. Beyond, the stripes on her back, more distinct today than they had been last night, seemed to reach out and wrap around his heart. Fuck, she was so damned perfect. He was as enslaved to her as she was to him. If only he could get out of these cursed restraints, he’d tell her so.

Her mouth was the purest form of torture—pleasure so intense it hurt. His balls were on fire. Hell, his entire groin felt as if it were clamped in a vise. With every swipe of her tongue, every thrust and retreat, she cranked up the intensity. In the back of his mind, he understood the pain of the whipping factored into what he felt. How clever of Mistress Lola to throw this one last lesson in for him.

His balls clawed their way up until they were so tight inside him it would take a search team to find them. Every muscle in his body clenched as his orgasm built, layer upon layer of pleasure or pain or what-the-fuck-ever. Whatever it was, he wasn’t sure he would survive it, but, goddamn, he wanted to experience it like he’d never wanted anything in his life. If it killed him, so be it. He’d die a happy man with his slave’s mouth wrapped around his cock. He couldn’t think of a better way to go unless it was buried deep in her pussy.

Something fluttered against his sac. Her fingers? Fuck, he didn’t know. Didn’t care. The touch was so light it almost wasn’t there at all. Again. He groaned, cursing as the first stages of release gripped his balls and squeezed. He saw stars a moment before he launched. Fucking NASA had nothing on him. Hot cum seared everything in its path, blinding him to everything but the woman on her knees, giving him a priceless gift, taking his essence into herself with the grace of a goddess.

She took everything he gave her, swallowed repeatedly until she’d wrenched every drop from him. Christ almighty, he was done for. When she released him, he sucked air into his lungs. Fuck, even inhaling hurt as if his breath had been wrung from him, too.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

It took both women working together to get him down and to the bed in the cozy aftercare room. His legs felt like jelly, and, fuck, his back was on fire. He’d be fucking useless on the field tomorrow, but what the hell did he care? He’d trade his entire career for one orgasm like the one he’d just experienced.

“Brooke.” Lying on his stomach, he couldn’t see where she’d gone.

“Shh.” The mattress dipped as Mistress Lola sat beside him. “She’ll be right back. I sent her to get dressed. I wanted to speak with you.”

He needed Brooke, but he wasn’t in any shape to go after her, so he said, “Go ahead. I’m not going anywhere.”

Her laugh was low, knowing. “You’ll be fine in a few minutes. The marks on your back won’t last more than a day or two. These are nothing compared to the ones I put on your slave.”

Todd had suspected as much.
Good Lord, she’s amazing.

“I wanted you to know I had no intention of taking your slave away from you. I knew you would find a way to give her what she needed. I was prepared to have you whip her tonight, but when I saw her back, I realized you had met her needs all on your own. I’m very proud of both of you. You’ve been excellent students. Brooke loves you with every cell in her body. She’ll serve you the rest of your life if you let her, and you’d be a damned fool to let her get away.”

Nothing he hadn’t thought himself. “She isn’t going anywhere. I have a collar for her in my bag. I’m going to marry her.”

“Congratulations, Master Todd. I’ve never topped a more responsive sub. You’re a lucky bastard.” She stood. “Next time you’re in town, perhaps you’ll bring your slave over for a bit of play time?”

“I think Brooke would like that. Thank you, Mistress, for everything.”

“It’s been my pleasure, Todd.” She disappeared from view. “Let me get salve for your back. I’ll send a case home with you. I think you’re going to need it.”

He smiled at the humor in her voice. Yes, indeed, they were going to need her miracle salve. He looked forward to applying it to Brooke’s skin in the future. He was half-hard again, thinking about creative ways to mark his slave when the woman in question returned.

“Master.” She knelt beside the bed. “Oh, Master. I’m so sorry.”

He raised up on his forearms. God, she was beautiful. He forced himself to breathe before he could speak. “Don’t be, slave. Your mouth on me was all the apology I needed. After tonight, we won’t talk about this again. You’ve learned your lesson, and I’ve learned a few of my own. Your needs are my primary concern. In the future, if I’m not meeting them, you’re to tell me. We’ll work out a system of communication—say a period, once a week, where you’ll be allowed to tell me anything without repercussion. Will that do?”

“Yes, Master.”

“I promise I’ll listen, and, after tonight, I think I have a new understanding of your needs. You are an amazing woman, Brooke.” He leaned toward her. “Come closer. I need a kiss.”

The kiss began as a brush of lips, but tasting himself on her, he pushed for more. She opened for him, letting him taste his essence more fully. He needed her again, but he could wait until they were home. He would be a zombie tomorrow, but he couldn’t wait any longer to say the things he needed to say. Before the sun came up, he’d claim Brooke in every way a man could claim a woman.

Brooke wasn’t sure her insides would ever quit shaking. She knew Todd loved her, but until tonight, she had no concept of how deep his love went. He’d taken a beating for her. He wasn’t the type to cede control to anyone, but he’d done that and more—for her. So she could see with her own eyes what he would sacrifice for her.

He allowed her to tend to him, mostly because he needed time to recover before driving them home, not because he wanted her making a fuss over him. With proper care, the marks on his broad shoulders would be gone in a few days. She had every intention of giving him proper care whether he wanted it or not. Her slavery demanded it. Her love for him would not let her do otherwise. From now on, she was going to do everything in her power to make his home life perfect.

Arriving home, she rushed to the bedroom to turn down the covers. Her Master had a game tomorrow, so he needed to rest. She checked the bedside alarm clock for the correct setting then looked up to find him filling the doorway.

“That can wait.”

“I beg to differ, Sir. It’s late, and you have a game tomorrow.” Assured the clock was set correctly, she placed it back on the dresser, facing away from the bed, so the bright digital readout wouldn’t keep her Master awake. “Let me help you undress, Sir.”

He grabbed her wrists before she captured the hem of his polo shirt. “We have important things to discuss, slave.” He tugged her to bed, bidding her to sit on the edge. “No arguments. Just listen.”

She nodded, wondering what could be so important at this late hour. When he went down on one knee in front of her, her breath caught in her throat.

“I love you, Brooke. As a man, as a Master, I’m not without my faults. I’ve made mistakes, and I’ll continue to make them, but the biggest mistake I’ve ever made is not making you mine the minute I saw you in The Buggy Whip. I thought I was looking for something else at the time, but what I was really looking for was you.

“You captivated me from the beginning. Christ, Brooke, you made yourself come right there in a bar full of people, but you were looking at me when you did it. I should have snatched you up right then and there. I should have laid you out on the bar, hiked your skirt up, and paddled your ass in front of everyone. Then I should have collared you with your naked, red ass on display so no one would ever think you were anything but mine.

“But I was an idiot. I let you slip away that day. Thank God, you found me. Even then, I was stupid. I toyed with you, didn’t let you into my life, but still, you were there. You were in my heart every minute. I came to depend on seeing you, on using your lovely body in order to keep me sane. You gave everything and asked for nothing in return.

“Only when I selfishly asked you to take our relationship out of The Dungeon did you ask for something for yourself. You asked me to be your Master. It should have been me asking you to wear my collar, but again, I was an idiot. I didn’t see your request as your need. I saw it as my good fortune. I had no idea what I was agreeing to, but I would have agreed to anything, short of castration, to keep you.

“I let you down, Brooke. I’ve been a horrible Master. The fact that you’re still here with me is testament to the fact that you love me, no matter how inept I might be.”

He paused. She rushed into the gap. “You aren’t inept, Sir.”

“What did I say about speaking?”

She tried her best to look contrite. “No arguments? Just listen?”

“I look forward to punishing you for defying my order.”

Her skin heated at the promise of his hands on her. “Yes, Master. Please continue.”

He smiled at her cheeky submission. “As I was saying, I can be inept sometimes, but I assure you, I have this punishment thing down. But I digress…. The point of all this is, I’m no catch, Brooke, but I love you. You were what I was looking for when I didn’t know I was even looking. You came into my life when my life had no direction. You forced me to focus on what’s important…love. If I had to give up baseball tomorrow, I’d still be a happy man because you are in my life.”

He reached behind him for the duffle bag he’d been carrying around all night. It sat just inside the door, not much of a reach in the small room. Dragging it across the floor, he bent over to dig inside it. When he straightened, he held his hands out to her.

Brooke gasped. The collar resting on his palms was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. Gleaming metal, the thin band of gold edged with silver was elegant in its simplicity. She stared at it, speechless.

“Brooke.”

The coarseness of his voice jerked her attention back to him. Her gaze met his, and her heart melted at the vulnerability in his eyes. Silly man, didn’t he know? He owned her.

“Master.”

“Will you wear my collar? Will you marry me?”

He’d shocked her. She’d longed for a collar, yearned for him to claim her in that way, but never dared to hope for more. She must be hallucinating. “Marry you?”

“Be my wife for the world to see, my slave in the intimacy of our home. I love you, Brooke. I want you to have the security of the symbols of my love, my commitment to you, to us. Will you be mine?”

Her head bobbed up and down as tears trapped by emotion were freed to spill over her cheeks. “Yes. Oh, yes, Master.”

“Todd.”

“Yes, Todd. I’ll marry you. I’ll be your slave, your wife, all of it, forever.”

“Thank you, Brooke. You’ve made me the happiest man on earth.” He sounded happy. She could hardly see him through her watery eyes. “Can I put this on you now?”

“Please, Sir. Todd.”

He closed the latch, and the cool metal settled into place just above her collarbone. She touched it, marveling at the feeling of contentment that washed over her when she did so.

“After the game tomorrow, we’ll pick out an engagement ring. I don’t care what kind of wedding we have as long as it happens soon. No later than the All-Star break.” He held her left hand in his, his thumb stroking her third finger where she would wear his ring. With his other hand, he traced the band circling her throat.

“I knew this was the right one as soon as I saw it. It has a heart of gold just like you, soft and warm on the inside, but held together with the strength of platinum. I need you, babe. Take your clothes off. I need to be inside you. Now.”

“Yes, Master.” This was the man she loved, the one who could make her body beg with a heated look and a firm command. She was wet and ready before she wiggled out of her panties. Lying back on the bed, she gave herself to him.

He entered her with the same urgency she’d heard in his voice when he said he needed her. She reveled in his command of her body, in his total possession of her. Taking her hands in his, he raised them above her head, pinning her beneath him. His first thrusts were brutal, claiming, but they soon tapered off to slow, easy slides that promised mutual satisfaction by way of prolonged pleasure.

“I’ll never get enough of you, babe. I want to be inside you every minute of every day, and when I’m not, I dream about it. Your pussy, your mouth, your ass. I want it all. I want to possess you, but it is you who possesses me. I’m a slave to your pleasure. I’d give my life in exchange for one more chance to make love to you.”

She sighed her contentment as he buried his face in the crook of her neck, placing hot kisses along the collar he’d placed there.

“Master, I’ll always be yours.” If she were to lose his love…. It didn’t bear thinking about.

“God, Brooke.” He lifted up enough to look into her eyes. “I want to stay here forever.” He ground deep inside her, groaning when he couldn’t go deeper. She shifted her hips, taking more of him.

“We need a house slave to serve us food while we lie here, connected.” She stroked a hand over his shoulder to his nape. “Maybe some little blue pills for dessert?”

He laughed as he kissed her senseless. She loved that they could joke about something so entirely serious. Joining with him made her complete in a way she never felt when they were apart. She lived for the moments he was hard inside her.

“Woman, I’ll never need pills around you. All I have to do is think of you, and I’m hard.” He rocked into her to prove his point. She gazed into his eyes as he seated himself deep inside her.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”