Beyond Eden (21 page)

“You won’t hurt me?” she squeaked out more as a question than a statement.

Eve realized instantly she had made a mistake, because Danny’s dark eyes grew wide in outrage and his nostrils flared in anger. “You’re not allowed to speak without permission,” he said in a low, tense voice. “You’ve now lost that privilege for yourself and you won’t get it back until you’ve proven you know your place.”

Eve felt her neck flush hot for an entirely different reason. Anger surged through her because he was taking this way too far. Who the fuck did he think he was? This was

a man who had begged her to be with him, who made it obvious he was lonely and miserable without her around. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears, making her deaf to the outside world as she huffed in fury.

“Don’t screw this up, because if you do I will never do this with you again,” Danny broke in seriously as if he could read her fury as easily as a children’s book. “I understand you don’t trust me, that you need to be broken, but a good Master doesn’t have to bruise to do that. You have to know I wouldn’t do this if I weren’t certain you would like it. The forbidden tastes good to you, it always has. Bite the apple, Evie, it’ll blow your mind.”

An inner battle broke out inside Eve. Lust and temptation fought viciously with fear and anger. She wavered where she stood under the weight of it as her heartbeat thundered. Her breathing burst out of her in shallow pants and her pussy throbbed to the point of pain with the desire to see this game through.

She lifted her eyes to Danny, seeing not just the boy who had been her friend since kindergarten but the man she had fallen in love with over the past few months. He was sweet and caring to a fault. He loved her. She knew it with all her heart and soul. He would never hurt her, not even close.

True to her name, Eve gave in to temptation and nodded silently.

A slow, pleased smile spread over Danny’s face, making it obvious he knew he had won. He had shot down her defenses with the promise of the forbidden. Eve sucked in a sharp breath when she realized he was able to break her as easily as breathe.

“I’m sorry you lost your privilege to speak. You’re innocent. You didn’t know you were being careless with the gifts your Master bestowed on you. If you behave, you can earn it back,” Danny said softly, sounding genuinely conflicted. “But for now, you have to learn that disobedience and disrespect will always be punished. Until you’ve earned the right to speak freely you can’t utter a word without my permission. You can’t beg. You can’t ask questions. You can’t do anything but answer the questions your Master asks you and when you do answer them, you are to do it using absolute honesty and you are to always end any statement with homage to me as your Master. If you fail to do so you will be punished. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Eve said in a small voice. Danny surged forward in his chair, resting his arms on his knees and giving her a pointed look, with his eyebrows raised expectantly. She closed her eyes, realizing what he was demanding. “M-Master.”

“Better,” he said, his eyes running lazily up her body. “You can continue to undress. You lost your privilege for clothing as well. Remember to be slow and sweet about it. I like my property well taken care of.”

Eve decided she could play along if this was what turned him on. She pushed her bra straps down her shoulders first for effect. Danny raised his eyebrows, his gaze hot as he stared at her intently, watching her work with what she had on. She reached behind her and unclasped her bra, then pushed it off to land on the floor. The air felt nice on her breasts, it eased some of the heat of desire, but she felt exposed as well. She

mourned over her discarded clothes only because he told her she had lost her right to them.

She lowered her eyes when she had to unzip her shorts, feeling shamed and stupid for having to be punished but also weighted with desire for the exact same reason. She closed her eyes, feeling her cheeks flame hotter as she pushed them past her hips to land on the floor. She knew her panties were next and they were soaked with the juices from her pussy that was still throbbing and aching, refusing to be ignored or suppressed.

She wasn’t certain she wanted to be found out, if she wanted to give Danny that much power over her. She kicked her shorts aside, taking her frustration out on them.

“Don’t do that,” Danny snapped at her. “If you disrespect your possessions, you don’t deserve any. And I believe that is
my
shirt you so carelessly tossed on the floor earlier.”

Eve looked down, seeing his shirt she had been wearing pooled on the floor next to her shorts. She would have said sorry. It was on the tip of her tongue, but she bit her lip instead when she realized she couldn’t speak.

“Get down on your knees,” Danny said impatiently as he slouched back in his chair and reached into his pocket for his pack of cigarettes. “Pick up the clothes, fold them nicely and then sit there until I decide you’re allowed to get up and hand them to me.”

Eve fell down like she was told, feeling the hardwood floor on her knees. She picked up his shirt first and folded it neatly, while internally her body went crazy. She reeled as she folded her shorts next, because she was really getting off on this. She was going to be completely exposed when she had to take her underwear off. Even with them on, she could feel stickiness on her thighs. Her body had never responded like this to anything. He hadn’t even touched her and she was wetter than she had been in her entire life.

She folded her bra next, setting it on top of the stack of clothes she had rested near the table leg as she silently prayed he would leave her kneeling there long enough to get her body under control.

She kept her eyes downcast now that she had nothing to do as a riot of emotions and feelings ran rampant inside her. It wasn’t until she heard the click of his lighter that she lifted her eyes back to Danny.

He tilted her head, staring at her with a dark, smoldering gaze that touched her better than most men could on their best days. She thought she could come just from him looking at her as he took a long, slow drag off his cigarette and then let the smoke waft past his full, sensuous lips by just parting them softly. Eve was mesmerized by him. How could she ever capture that much sex appeal on canvas? Forget painting, she was suddenly seized with the wild need to photograph him.

“Get on your hands and knees for me,” Danny said as if the idea were just a whim of his, something he thought of to amuse himself while he sat there smoking his cigarette. “If you’re going to act like a puppy, you can sit there like one.”

Eve closed her eyes, feeling a fresh surge of shame as she fell down to her hands and knees in front of him. She let her head hang low, because she couldn’t bear to look at him. Danny was definitely going to let her photograph him for this. She wanted to capture him naked in black and white. She wanted to see that image of smoke slowly rolling past his lips on tangible paper, as if she had captured the devil himself and kept him harnessed for all time to be stared at whenever she wanted.

“What are you thinking about?”

Eve swallowed hard and lifted her eyes to him once more. She breathed deeply as she watched him smoke his cigarette like a movie star from days gone past when men had class. “I’m thinking about photographing you, Master. I want to see you in black and white.”

He raised his eyebrows. “You haven’t even worked off this bargain and you’re already plotting another. Is that wise?”

“Probably not, Master,” Eve said, lowering her eyes again.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” he asked curiously. “Are you having fun on your hands and knees at my feet like a pretty little pet?”

Eve stared at the lines in the floor, seeing the dents and scratches as his words sent a fresh surge of lust pulsing through her. She liked the wood floors, they showed the life they had endured. They bore the evidence of every heavy footfall, every piece of furniture moved. Every aspect of the life the people who walked on it lived could be found in a hardwood floor if one knew how to look for it. It was a recording, something history couldn’t forget, just like paintings and photographs.

“I asked you a question,” Danny said impatiently. “When your Master asks you a question, you answer him honestly and instantly or you get punished for impertinence.”

“I d-don’t know,” Eve choked out as she continued to stare at the floor beneath her hands and knees. “I’m feeling confused, Master. I don’t know if I like it or not.”

“What does your body tell you?”

Eve closed her eyes once more, wondering if the hardwood floor would show her shame for all time, because her thighs were wet from the desire, her pussy was throbbing more insistently than ever, pulsing to the rhythm of her rapid heartbeat.

“I don’t want to punish you.”

Eve sighed and lifted her head to glare at him. Her eyes were narrowed in anger she couldn’t hide or suppress. “My body is aching, Master. It wants to stop kneeling on this floor and be forced to climax instead.”

“Have you considered that your impatience is the reason you never learned how to come with a nice, hard cock inside you?” Danny asked and then took another long drag off his cigarette. “Clitoral orgasms are for amateurs, Evie. You shouldn’t have to rub yourself raw every time you want to come. You are reckless and impatient. You lack focus and discipline, just like a sweet little puppy. You look so cute at my feet.”

Eve’s breathing became shallower, her heartbeat thundered in her ears and palpitated relentlessly between her thighs. Her nipples were aching and extra-sensitive. They were beaded tight, aching for some sort of relief from this torture. She was overcome with the sudden urge to beg, to plead with Danny that she didn’t care what sort of orgasm she had as long as she had one quickly.

“You will never, ever take the time to discover what your body is really capable of, will you?”

“No, probably not, Master.”

“I thought not,” Danny said as he leaned over and put out his cigarette in the ashtray on the table. “But since your body belongs to me now, you’re going to be forced to learn to control and manipulate it whether you like it or not.”

Eve closed her eyes in frustration when she realized she was kneeling on the floor at Danny’s feet because she couldn’t come from penetration. If she had known it was going to cause such an issue she would have just faked it.

“You look like an angry puppy. Not that I mind, you can sit there and be angry. It’s no less cute to me,” Danny hummed as he stretched out one leg and pushed at Eve’s arm with the ball of his bare foot. “Tell me what you’re thinking about?”

Eve growled under her breath and lifted her head to glare at him. “I’m thinking about faking orgasms, Master.”

“You growl at me like that again and I’ll make you bark,” Danny snapped back at her as his eyes narrowed threateningly. “Does that sound like fun to you? Do you want to bark for me, Evie?”

“No, Master, I don’t,” Eve whispered as she tried to choke back the anger raging through her.

“Good, then sit there and be cute instead,” he said simply, settling back in his chair, his shoulders relaxing as if he were sated once more. “Have you faked orgasms before?”

“Yes, Master,” Eve said instantly, deciding right then that she would sooner paint sunsets for the rest of her life than bark. “Many, many times.”

“Why?”

“Because, Master, sometimes I get sick of sweaty men with tender male egos rutting on me to achieve something I know is impossible,” Eve said simply. “If you had a pussy, you’d fake ‘em too.”

“Oh, no, I wouldn’t,” Danny countered. “If I had a pussy, I’d know how to use it. Any man who was let into my
inner sanctum
would either worship it or be extremely sorry that he didn’t.”

It took more restraint than Eve knew she had not to roll her eyes at him.

“The large majority of your gender has no idea the power it holds in its hands.

Entire kingdoms have fallen for pussy. Don’t you think that’s something, Evie?”

“If you say so, Master,” Eve said tiredly. “Perhaps you should study philosophy instead of selling cars for amusement.”

Danny leaned his elbow against the table and rubbed his hand against the back of his neck. “You must
really
want to bark for me.”

Eve closed her eyes in frustration.

“You want a chance to say sorry?” Danny asked in a sweet, singsong voice. “You’re so cute. I’ll let you say sorry if you beg for the privilege. Go ahead, beg me. I’ll let you.”

Eve squeezed her eyes shut tighter, knowing without a doubt that if she didn’t beg for permission to say sorry he was going to make her bark like a fucking dog.

“Please, Master,” Eve said through clenched teeth as she kept her eyes lowered rather than glare at him. “Let me say sorry.”

“I’m really not impressed with that,” Danny said in a bored voice. “I expected more flair from a woman with six years of artistic education.”

Eve gritted her teeth harder, knowing if she said anything now, she’d be punished, but if she didn’t, she was going to be barking like a dog.

“Should I give you one more shot?” Danny tapped her arm once more with his bare foot. “Fine, one more shot for you because you look so sweet sulking there. Impress me.”

Eve took a deep breath and then lifted her head to look at him. “Please, Master, let me say sorry,” she said in her sweetest voice, the one she reserved for special favors from maître d’s and police officers. “I really do want to please you. Let me say sorry and I’ll be a good puppy for you.”

Danny smirked and his eyebrows rose as a look of genuine surprise showed on his face. “You did that very, very well. You can say sorry to me for being a nasty, yappy puppy who growls when she is not supposed to.”

“I am truly sorry, Master. You are a wonderful, extremely sexy Master and I should have never, ever growled at you.”

Eve lowered her eyelashes demurely and looked back down at the wood floor, deciding she could stare at scratches and scuff marks all day.

“Oh, Evie Girl,” Danny hummed, his voice heavy with arousal. “You beg really nicely. I liked that a lot. Would you like to hand me your clothes you folded because you are learning to appreciate your things?”