The Sacrifice (8 page)

I wonder where Aiden is.
To my shame, the mere thought of the big vampire makes my heart
beat harder. It’s almost like I’m infatuated with him, which of course, is
ridiculous. I just met him yesterday—he’s practically still a stranger.

A stranger you bared yourself body and soul to. A stranger you
told your most embarrassing secrets,
whispers a little voice in my head. Trying to shut it up, I flop
back down and pull my pillow over my head. As I do, I stretch out my arms and
my fingertips find something thin and smooth that crackles when I touch it.

I sit up again and look to see what’s in my hand. It’s a piece of
paper covered in bold, flowing script—a note.

My Darling Emma,

I trust that you slept well after your exertion last night. I will
be waiting for you in the dining room when you awake. Please wear what I have
left out for you—you will find it on the dresser. Wear this and
nothing
more.
I look forward to continuing your education.

A.

“Controlling bastard, aren’t you?” I murmur to myself as I read
over his dressing instructions. Then again, I suppose that’s part of the whole
Master gig. My heart skips a beat when I see the last line about continuing my
education. Goddess, what does he have in mind for me today? “Only one way to
find out,” I murmur and hop out of bed.

After a quick but refreshing shower in the master bathroom, which
has marble everything and is bigger than my living room, I wrap myself in a
plush crimson towel. Then I wander back out to the bedroom to see what kind of
outfit my new master has chosen for me.

“What the hell is this?” I stand in front of the large mahogany
dresser with its ornate, oval mirror and stare at the 'outfit'. Only it’s not
an outfit at all—it’s a
collar
. A lovely one, to be sure—it’s been made
to look a little like a necklace with a ruby charm dangling from the front—but
a collar just the same. It even has a buckle instead of a clasp. Seriously, he
expects me to wear this? This and nothing else?

“I don’t think so,” I mutter to myself. I
might
be willing
to wear the collar, since we’re playing this dominance and submission game. But
there is
no way
I’ll prance around
naked
with it on. Letting
Aiden see me nude is one thing. Walking around with no clothes in a house made
of glass walls is something else entirely. It’s not going to happen.

I’ll just wear what I had on last night,
I tell myself. But when I go to
search for them, my blue halter top and peacock colored skirt are gone. Well,
crap. It doesn’t look like Aiden is leaving me many options.

But I’m not going down without a fight. If I can’t find
my
clothes,
I’ll have to wear some of
his.
Opening the mahogany wardrobe at the far
end of the room, I begin rummaging through the rows of clothes. Hmm, it smells
wonderful in here—like cedar and some kind of dark spice—Aiden’s personal
scent, I realize. I’m tempted to burrow in among the hanging suits and dress
shirts and just breathed him in. Maybe I can find the entrance to some magical
land where animals talk and nobody expects you to submit and wear a collar. But
I sense I’ve kept my master waiting long enough.

I pick a deep red, long sleeved shirt and put it on. Aiden is so
big his shirt falls to my thighs, making a suitable, if somewhat short, dress.
I have to roll the sleeves up almost to my elbows and then I look at myself in
the oval mirror.

Not bad.
The
crimson shirt contrasts nicely with my pale skin and makes my mousy brown hair
almost blonde. My mother had the same pale skin but her hair was raven black
and fell to her waist. I sigh, wishing that I’d inherited her hair color and
not just her skin tones.

The shirt looks good but what about the collar? Reluctantly, I
decide I’d better wear it. I’m already disobeying Aiden’s orders about not
wearing anything else. Maybe seeing that I also slipped on the article he left out
for me will appease him.

I buckle it around my neck and am surprised when it fits
perfectly—almost as though it was made for me. It doesn’t feel constrictive and
it doesn’t choke me. Instead, the smooth black leather seems to mold itself to
my throat, like a second skin. The ruby pendant nestles in the hollow of my
throat resembling a drop of blood, glittering when I move. I’m glad I chose the
red shirt because they definitely go together.

Finally I’m ready to leave the room. I let myself out of the
bedroom and start walking but soon I find that the house is kind of a maze.
There are hallways branching into hallways, sitting rooms, bedrooms, a study
lined with leather-bound books, even a professional looking kitchen hung with
burnished copper pots—but no dining room that I can find. The glass walls
everywhere makes it seem like a mirror maze at the carnival—I’ve always hated
those things. Even worse, I start getting the weird, creepy feeling that
someone I can’t see is watching me.

Just as I’m about to get really weirded out, I turn another corner
and find myself in a large, formal dining room. There, sitting at the far end
of a table that could easily seat sixteen, is Aiden. He has a laptop open
beside him and is going over a thick sheaf of paperwork but when I come in he
looks up.

“Ah, finally.”

“Sorry, I got a little bit lost.” I come over to the table, very
aware that he is staring at me without blinking. Goddess, suddenly wearing his
shirt—when he expressly forbid me clothing—seems like a bad idea. “Do you like
my outfit?” I blurt at last when he still doesn’t say anything.

“You look very fetching in my clothing,” Aiden rumbles, frowning.
“But as you well know, Emma, you’re not supposed to be wearing anything but the
collar.”

“I
am
wearing the collar, see? I shake back my hair, baring
my neck for him, making sure he can see the ruby winking in the hollow of my
throat.

“Yes, and it looks lovely on you. But why are you also wearing my
shirt?” Oh crap, he sounds so
stern.

“I…uh…” I swallow hard, trying to think of an excuse. “I thought I
might be cold?” I say weakly.

Aiden frowns. “The house is kept at a constant seventy-five
degrees during the day, Emma. And with all the sunlight coming through the
windows and walls, there’s no way you could be too cold.”

“Well, that’s the problem, isn’t it?” I snap, suddenly angry at
his unreasonable demands. “Maybe I don’t
want
to run around nude in a
house that has mostly glass walls. What if some pervert was peeking in?”

“That’s impossible,” he says flatly. “I value my privacy highly
and I pay well to make sure it stays intact. No one will see you, Emma. Remove
that shirt right now.”

“I don’t want to,” I whisper, clutching the crimson fabric to my
chest. “I…I feel safer with it on.”

“That’s exactly the point,” Aiden says patiently. “How can I break
down your boundaries when you feel safe? You need to be out of your comfort
zone.”

“Maybe I
like
my comfort zone,” I say mutinously.

He sighs. “Do you really think I want you naked just to discomfort
you? I have other reasons as well. I want you to make friends with your body.”

“Make friends with…what?” I stare at him incredulously. What the
hell?

Aiden must see the skeptical look on my face because he raises a
hand and says, “All I mean is that you need to spend some time in your own skin
in order to realize how beautiful you are.” His eyes roam over me from top to
toe, making me feel hot all over. “To see yourself as I see you.”

“That sounds like some kind of crazy therapy,” I say but I can
feel myself blushing from the way he’s looking at me.

Aiden shrugs, his broad shoulders rolling under the expensive gray
suit jacket he has on today. “Call it what you will but until you learn to love
yourself, until you’re completely comfortable with your body, you can’t submit
to me properly.”

I sigh. “I still don’t understand why you need my submission so
badly. Is this the way you augment your power?”

“Something like that but it’s not what you think at all. This
isn’t just for me.”

I look around. “Are we doing it for someone else? Are they
watching?”

Aiden laughs. “No, Emma, it’s nothing like that.”

“Then what
is
it like?” I demand.

He sighs. “I will tell you all in the fullness of time. For right
now, please remove the shirt so we can eat.”

I can tell he’s not going to let this go. And he’s already seen me
naked last night—this should be no big deal. But somehow it is, it
really
is.
It’s much harder to take off my clothes in the broad light of day than it was
to slip them off last night in the warm, forgiving lamplight of the bedroom.

I unbutton the shirt slowly, trying to put off the moment of
complete nudity. Aiden watches me, his gaze roaming over my body as more and
more of me is revealed.

“Lovely,” he growls softly when I reach the last button and the
shirt hangs open around me. He pushes back from the table and beckons to me.
“Come here, Emma.”

Not knowing what else to do, I come to him and stand where he
indicates, right between his legs. He’s so tall that, though he’s sitting and
I’m standing, we’re still eye-to-eye. “Master?” I whisper softly, hoping to
appease him—wondering what he’s going to do.

“So beautiful. Such full breasts.” He palms one of my breasts
gently and thumbs the nipple until it’s a stiff little peak. I have to bite
back a moan—Goddess, his touch sets me on
fire
. “I love the way you look
like this, with your nakedness framed in crimson,” Aiden murmurs, cupping the
other breast and giving it the same treatment. “I’ll tell you what, Emma…”

“What?” I whisper as he continues to stroke and tease my breasts.
He seems to like pinching my nipples until I gasp and then circling their
aching peaks until I moan.

“I’ll let you keep the shirt on,” he murmurs, looking up at me.
“As long as you keep it open, just as it is now, and don’t try to hide your
body from me. I want to see you every minute—looking at you is a visual feast.”

No one has ever said anything even remotely like this to me
before. I’m stunned for a moment but then I realize this is the best deal I’m
going to get. I’d better take it quickly. “Yes,” I nod. “Yes, Master, that
would be nice.”

“Very nice,” he murmurs. “But I’m afraid you’ll still have to be
punished for disobeying me.”

“What? But I thought we had a deal,” I protest.

He frowns. “A deal you
forced
me to make when you came out
here dressed instead of nude, as I required. That kind of manipulation from a
submissive is called ‘topping from the bottom’ and I won’t have it.”

“What…what are you going to do to me?” I ask. “Bend me over your
knee and spank me again?” I’m ashamed to admit the thought of that, of being
held down and punished by him, is making my pussy wet. Goddess, what’s wrong
with me?

“Nothing would give me more pleasure,” Aiden growls, his gray eyes
flashing silver for a moment. “But I have much to do today and I’m already
running behind.” He looks at the heavy gold Rolex on his wrist and frowns.
“However,” he looks up. “I
do
have a means of punishment here that I
think will be appropriate.”

Before I can ask what it is, he is pulling what looks like two
little alligator clips from his pocket. They have black rubber tips and are
attached with a length of fine, golden chain, which coils in his palm like a
pet snake.

“What are those?” I ask, looking at the clips apprehensively.

“You’ll see soon enough. Come here.” He beckons for me to get
closer, which I do, even though it puts my breasts right in his face.

Aiden doesn’t seem to mind in the least. He palms one of my heavy
breasts and sucks the nipple gently into his mouth. I gasp as he takes me into
his wet heat. His tongue plays with me—circling my sensitive bud, then lashing
it until my legs are so weak I feel like I might fall down. It seems like each
new sensation of pleasure goes straight to my pussy, making it wet and hot and
ready for him. He sucks me hard, taking as much of my breast as he can into his
mouth at one time until I moan. Then, slowly, he pulls back, eyeing my fully
erect nipple approvingly.

“Very good,” he murmurs. “And now that you’ve had your pleasure,
it’s time for punishment.”

“What kind of punishm—” I begin but that’s when he clamps one of
the black rubber alligator clips to my nipple—the nipple he just finished
sucking, the one that’s still so sensitive even the soft breeze from a nearby
window feels too intense.

I yelp and try to jump away but Aiden holds me still. Swiftly, he sucks
the other nipple until it too sticks out. Then he puts the second clamp on.
When I look down, I can see the fine-link golden chain swaying between my breasts.
It feels like someone with mean fingers is pinching my delicate buds as hard as
they can.

“It
hurts,”
I protest, wishing I dared to take the damn
things off my nipples. One look in Aiden’s gray eyes tell me there’s no way I
can. Not without incurring his wrath and an even more severe punishment.