Command (24 page)

She undressed, but she decided to leave the bracelet on. It seemed fitting.

Then she considered the blindfolds. The choice was easy. Leather. The scent of it, the feel of it, the way it would fit against her face. No doubt he’d like that one.

Exhaling to settle in, she knelt.

BDSM was part ritual, she realized as she put the blindfold over her eyes. The instructions, the touches, the verbiage…it created its own intimacy and relationship.

Being unable to see made her hearing keener, and she listened for his movements. She was reminded of the portrait on the easel. Originally she’d suggested that he had it there as a warning to potential subs. But now she thought of it as so much more. She related to the woman in the picture—her trust, her resolve, her transcendence.

Eventually, inevitably, Aria heard him.

Her heart did a slow thud.

She shook her head back, letting her hair fall down her back, and she placed her hands on the back of her neck, still waiting.

As he came closer, she thrust out her breasts, spread her knees farther apart and waited. Patience may not have been one of her greatest virtues, but she was learning.

His footsteps stopped. She inhaled, smelling the leather blindfold then…him. Even though she couldn’t see, she squeezed her eyes shut, savoring the anticipation.

“Stunning,” he said softly. “I’d imagined what you might look like, but I’m not brilliant enough to have filled in all these details. Your breasts are gorgeous.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“And how’s the blindfold?”

“I’m okay with it.”

“I mentioned you’d earned your first punishment,” he said.

But she wasn’t worried. There was no anger in his voice, only the thrum of desire on his vocal cords. “Yes, Sir.”

“No fear?”

“None,” she admitted. Then, thinking, she asked, “Should there be?”

“Perhaps.”

His response made her stomach plummet.

“I like the choice of blindfolds,” he said.

“Thank you.”

“What shall I spank you with, subbie?”

“Your”—she bit back her instinctive response—“choice, Sir.”

“I wonder what you might have said if you hadn’t remembered the correct response?”

He moved behind her, and it was all she could do not to twist him to follow him. Ridiculous, she knew, given the fact she couldn’t see anyway.

“I might have said, your hand, Sir, but I’d never be so bold.”

“What did you put on the bed?”

“A paddle, Sir. A leather one.” Either way, she wished he’d get on with it. She was a bundle of excited nerves.

“Stand,” he told her.

He put his hands around her waist to help her up.

“You couldn’t be any more perfect,” he said.

She dropped her hands to her sides and waited.

He obviously sat on the bed, and he drew her over his knee. Desperately, she put out one hand, trying to touch the floor with her fingers.

“I’ve got you,” he said, clamping a strong arm around her. “And if you don’t struggle, you won’t fall.”

She was very much aware of her precarious position with her naked butt upturned over his lap. But it was hot and sexy at the same time, made more so by the scratch of his denim jeans on her soft skin. The fact he was fully dressed while she was completely naked added a sense of vulnerability.

“Is your pussy already wet?”

“Yes,” she whispered, horrified.

“Just from the anticipation?”

She nodded.

“Then I wonder what you’ll be like in a few minutes when I’ve punished you for your submissive sass?”

His words, the harsh tone, made her squirm. “Why don’t you find out?” Quickly, she added, “Sir,” knowing it was too little and much too late.

He laughed. “Goading me?”

“You’re killing me,” she admitted. “I need you, Sir.”

“And now you can wait.”

She flailed her legs in mute protest.

He jostled her, sliding her from his knee, setting her upright and holding onto her until she found her footing. “Damn it,” she protested.

“We’ll start over,” he said.

Other than clenching her back teeth, she didn’t show any further frustration.

“Better,” he said. “I’m adding the nipple balls.”

Aria reminded herself that she’d endured them before. As long as he talked, touched, reassured, she could tolerate anything.

“Put your hands on your hips.”

Once she’d complied, he gently squeezed each nipple until they were aroused then attached the balls.

She was almost dizzy with arousal.

“Fuck. They do make you even more gorgeous. Now, would you like to behave like a perfect submissive, or shall I clamp your cunt, too?”

“Ah… I’ve learned my lesson, Sir.”

“Back over my knee then,” he said, helping her back into position.

This time, she kept her mouth closed.

He stroked her ass with his fingers.

In silent entreaty, she spread her legs to give him better access to her pussy, desperate for a single touch.

He ignored her.

She bit her upper lip to keep her mouth shut.

Before she was completely ready, he blazed his open palm on her ass. She arched her back and gasped. That had damn well hurt.

But the pain vanished immediately and she never considered asking him to slow down or stop. She wanted this.

His words from the first day replayed in her head.
Live dangerously.

He gave her at least another half dozen swats, on her ass, on her thighs, moving quickly, not letting her absorb one before going onto the next.

It sparked a fury of arousal.

Only then did he stroke her pussy, quickly, harshly, shoving her to the edge with no relief.

“Punishment,” he reminded her.

And it wasn’t enough.

The next spank made her go stiff. He’d placed it just beneath her buttocks, and it had been harsher than the previous ones. He’d apparently moved on to the paddle, and its pain was different, more like the flogger, but broader, more concentrated.

It sounded different, too. Louder and hollower. She loved it.

Aria tossed her head from side to side, letting him know how much she approved. “Yes,” she whispered, but wasn’t sure she’d said it aloud.

He moved at a measured pace, working his way up with each strike. She no longer noticed the pain in her nipples, just the throbbing sensation on her butt.

Grant held onto her, keeping her in place, making her aware of his masculine power.

Damn.
On so many levels, Grant got to her. Maybe Julien had been right when he’d said that Simon was the wrong kind of man for her.

She heard the echo of something thudding against the hardwood floor, and she realized he was fingering her pussy, fucking her with his fingers.

Then he moved her onto her back and she heard him unfasten his belt buckle, then the sound of his zipper. Even though she was blindfolded, she was aware of him taking a minute to roll on a condom.

He pulled her into position, her legs spread, knees draped over the edge of the mattress.

“You’re wet,” he said.

And he was hard. He impaled her in a single thrust.

The pain from the spanking, the bite from the nipple balls, the fury of his thrust combined to shove her headlong into a shuddering climax.

She bucked against him, and his hands were everywhere—on her clit, her breasts, prolonging the torment and driving her forward again as his cock swelled with arousal.

He pinched an already abused nipple and she surged forward.

“I… I…”

“Come,” he urged.

The word and his own orgasm were enough to make her shatter again.

By slow measures, reality returned, and she became aware that he’d taken off the balls.

“Close your eyes,” he told her before removing the blindfold.

She blinked several times to let her eyesight adjust to the light in the room. It was then she saw he hadn’t even managed to get all the way undressed.

He sat next to her and pulled her against him.

“How was your first punishment?”

“Anything but incentive to behave,” she confessed.

“As I thought. In that case, no more punishments for you. I’ll only do something like that if you’re very, very good.”

“Very, very good?”

“Extraordinarily so.”

She settled her head on his shoulder. “I liked that.”

“Yeah. You may be ready for more.”

More?
There was more? “In that case, I’ll be extraordinarily good,” she promised.

* * * *

“What do you think?” Aria asked.

The video on the screen faded. This time, instead of a soothing landscape, the Bonds logo was displayed. Despite the fact it wasn’t 3D, it seemed to float above the wall.

Grant tapped his index fingers together. “It’s astounding. But is it enough?”

In the three weeks that she’d been at his house, their original idea had taken shape. The underlying concept was solid, but there were still hundreds of unknowns. The success of Project Molly depended on Julien’s ability to make deals happen, either by acquiring companies or working out agreements with them. And mostly, it rested on Julien’s interest. Bottom line, if he didn’t like it, it didn’t get developed.

This presentation was their only chance.

And given the fact Julien had become very interested in movies, he might scoff at this effort—or maybe not. He’d always liked being the star.

With help from their labs, they’d created a CGI image of Julien and added the sound.

Molly had spoken for herself during key parts. And they’d had Julien’s own theme music play at the beginning.

Still…

“What can we do different? Better?”

She slid from her stool and paced to the window, something she had done regularly since the day he’d fucked her up against it. She still hadn’t ventured onto either deck, but he hadn’t given up on that.

“Honestly?” she asked. “I think we’re there. We’ve gone through the objections.”

In fact, during some clandestine video conferences, they’d run it past a few of their senior engineers. They’d added several dozen more concerns.

Bottom line, no one thought it was insurmountable.

He studied her.

“The video is solid. It’s not Hollywood, but it’s not bad.”

And it was a sight better than endless slide shows.

The trouble was, the closer they were to the end of the project, the closer she was to returning home. Other than the fact that, greedily, Grant wanted to keep her, there was no reason for to stay.

Having her here had been natural, and more, he enjoyed her company. And the sex? Beyond anything he could have imagined.

He wasn’t able to fool himself, though. Good sex enhanced a relationship. It wasn’t the basis for one.

“You have to be the one to introduce it to him.”

“We can do it together.”

“He’s looking to you,” she reminded him.

That had been their biggest source of discontent during the past few weeks. The more she and Julien pressed Grant to take a bigger role, the more he protested. He liked his life. He had never agreed to be anything other than an engineer. Being cofounder hadn’t come with expectations of him taking a stage.

He reminded her of it again.

“Oh, please. Look at you when we’re in a scene. That’s a stage. You create the whole thing, set it up, script it.”

At that, he grinned. “You give me too much credit. It’s mostly extemporaneous.”

“You’re good at it,” she persisted. “Presenting Bonds’ products is the same thing. C’mon, Grant. You wrote almost that entire video.”

“That was easy.” He waved her off. “All I did was put words in Julien’s mouth and let him talk about Molly.”

“Exact same thing as talking to an audience.” Then she put her hand on the table and leaned toward him. “You’re better looking than Julien.”

As if that meant anything to him.

“Less arrogant, too. People are going to like you more than they like him.”

“Julien is a natural.”

“And he pisses off as many people as he engages.”

“I could be exactly the same.”

“You’re not.”

“A genius is trying to reach you.”

The interruption startled him, and she stood up straight.

“What are we going to tell him?” she asked.

He put his finger across his lips then pointed up.

She nodded, indicating she understood. Through Molly, he was most likely already listening in.

“Hello, Julien,” he greeted. “What an unexpected surprise.”

Julien didn’t even pretend to engage in any pleasantries. “What don’t you want to tell me?”

“Are we ready?” Grant asked, glancing at Aria.

Obviously she’d meant what she’d said earlier. Other than giving him a thumbs-up, she said nothing. He was on his own. So be it. “Video on.”

“Ah, Aria, you’re looking beautiful, as always.”

She gave an exaggerated curtsey.

“It’s the boots,” he added. “I told you it was going to be the boots.”

“Hands off,” Grant said.

Both Julien and Aria looked at him. Aria’s mouth formed an O and she frowned.

“It’s like that, is it?” Julien asked.

His own reaction shook him. He’d never been possessive with a woman before, and certainly not with a coworker—and most definitely not with Julien. The man, to Grant’s knowledge, had never been in love. He never flirted with other men’s women, except in an overt, friendly way. Julien might be an asshole at times, but he was never dishonorable.

Despite the silence, looks cast his direction and an innate desire to pass it all off and move on, Grant remained resolute. Instead, he looked at Julien and responded, “Yeah. It’s like that.”

“Understood. My sincere apologies.”

Aria continued to stare at Grant, and when he directed his gaze toward her, she wrapped her arms across her chest.

The action made the bracelet even more prominent.

He hadn’t been completely honest with her when he’d bought it. To him, it was more than a stunning piece of jewelry. The Candelaria turquoise reminded him of her eyes, yes. That and the fact the stone sounded like her name had both been reason enough to buy them. Her joy in handling the piece had been palpable. And still, there’d been more. He saw it as a gift of his appreciation for her having shared the first steps of her submissive journey with him. At least to him, it would forever be a reminder of that.