Enamored (11 page)

Could there be another woman like her?

None that he’d met lately. But for Trevor, he’d trained Elisabeth to enjoy obeying and serving—being submissive—instead of just a masochist who was only in it for the endorphin high of erotic pain. Perhaps he could train a sub to get turned on by pain, to be a true masochist, in the same way . . . using Pavlov’s principles of intermittent reward.

The limo pulled up in front of the club, and the group bypassed the long line and passed the velvet rope, entering the dark, alluring world of WhipperSnapper. Their booth was empty, reserved for them as usual.

They all headed off in that direction, but Roman needed a break. He headed toward the bar and asked for a Coke, hoping the sugar and caffeine would put him in a straighter state of mind.

“Here you go, sir,” the girl behind the counter said cheerfully. He looked up at her. She looked like she was sixteen. Blonde, tan, and tiny.

“How old are you?” Roman asked.

“Twenty, sir. That’s why I’m allowed to bartend here, there’s no alcohol.” She smiled, flashing beautiful white, straight teeth.

“Roman Chase,” he said, extending his hand. She took it hesitantly and shook.

“From Brooks Wilde Chase. I’ve heard of you guys. I’m new here, so I—”

“Now you tell me your name,” Roman said, still holding her hand, enjoying the uncomfortable look in her eyes when she realized she was talking to the closest the club had to a celebrity. Well, one of them, anyway.

“Jessica,” she whispered. The lights at the bar illuminated her pretty blonde hair, and Roman just couldn’t help but imagine what those pink lips of hers would look like spread with a ball gag.

He smiled. “Nice to meet you, Jessica.”

M
arc pulled the short black leather leash out of his pocket and held it up for Lauren to see in the relative privacy of their booth.

“I’d like to put this on you, and lead you somewhere we can play. Is that okay by you?”

Lauren looked nervous for a moment, then she smiled. “Of course, sir.”

He attached the leash to her collar, his cock getting hard just at the sight of Lauren—his Lauren— submitting to him so readily.

“You’re just pretending, like Roman suggested,” Marc said, as the realization hit him.

“Come on Marc, it was great advice. How am I going to give being your sub the ol’ college try if I keep looking at everything through the eyes of Domme?”

“But I like your eyes,” he teased.

“I like your eyes too.” She started to stand but he gently tugged the leash and she sat back down at the booth, looking confused. “Oh, wow. Okay. I’ll wait for your lead, then.”

He took her face his hand, caressing her porcelain skin, and kissed her, hard. “Safewords still apply. You can always safeword out. I might want to hurt you a bit, but I’d never harm you. You know that, right?”

“Out of everyone in the world, you’re the only Dom I’d say I trust one hundred percent,” she whispered.

“Good. And I need to trust you, too,” Marc said. “That you won’t take this pretending thing so far that you wind up having to go through some sort of therapy after I’m done with you.”

She laughed. “Just give good aftercare.”

Now Marc stood, and she followed his lead, stepping out of the booth and walking across the crowded club. She followed closely, both because of the crippling high heels and the leash. But even without her usual dominant stride, she drew all eyes.

Marc had a feeling everyone was wondering what the hell is going on.

“Mistress Lauren?” LeatherBottom squealed in surprise when he saw her, immediately dropping to his knees and kissing the toes of her heels. “I’m so sorry, Mistress Lauren, I couldn’t help but to scream for him.”

Marc looked at him sternly. “Get the fuck up off the floor. I won the bet, and Lauren is doing this of her own free will. And if you ever touch or kiss my property again I will personally make sure you are suspended from WhipperSnapper until her time as my sub is up.”

LeatherBottom immediately stood, not daring to look at Lauren in the eyes without Marc’s permission now.

“Sorry, sir,” he said, and scurried off.

Good. He had to mark his territory, so to speak, or everyone would just be following Lauren around begging to lick her boots like they usually did.

He had to make it clear that she was his.

Originally, Marc wanted a private setting, but now he realized he needed to make their first experience very public, to show everyone.

“With your consent, baby,” he whispered in her ear, “I’m going to flog you in front of everyone on the Saint Andrew’s Cross.”

“Are you trying to humiliate me?” she asked, but there was no teasing in her voice.

“Humiliate you? Is that what submitting to me feels like?” He’d never want to humiliate her, it wasn’t his style. Sure, some guys got off on that stuff, but not him. Marc wanted to cherish his submissive, not embarrass her.

Lauren blinked rapidly, as if to keep from crying. “No, sir.”

“Carnation.” Marc said. “Fuck it. Red. I’m safewording right now.” He unhooked the leash from her collar and lifted her into a hug, leaving her heels on the floor so she was barefoot.

“You?
You’re
safewording?” Lauren asked, her body warm and comforting against his.

“I can’t do this anymore. I thought if I could show you that you could submit to me and enjoy it, hell—love it, that we could connect on a deeper level. Obviously, I was way wrong.”

“No, wait, Marc,” she said, still hugging him back, so that she spoke into his chest and not to his face. “Your motives change everything. I was upset because I thought you were . . . purposefully trying to humiliate me. But if you’re not, then I’m okay with it. I really am.”

“No,” he said. “I can’t do anything to you that you’re going to regret later. We can’t risk our friendship. I was trying to let the whole club know that for now, for this week or until you call it quits, you’re mine. That you choose to give yourself to me, and that I have responsibility over you.”

“But I
am
choosing to give myself to you, at least for this week. And I won’t call it quits sooner.”

Marc smiled sadly against her beautiful long red hair. He’d meant until she called it quits after the week was up. As in, what if she wanted to stay with him? To be his submissive for real, and not just playing pretend because she lost a bet?

“Please, Marc, don’t safeword out on me. I’m sorry. I want to let everyone know that I’m yours this week. In fact, it would really help me if you’d let me make an announcement before the public flogging. Please . . . sir. Please?”

An announcement? It wasn’t unusual at the club for a Dom to introduce his sub and perhaps tell a story, such as the reason he or she was being flogged, or if they were trying out a new toy, or if the sub was a newbie. That sort of thing. Sometimes, for fun, the subs begged their Doms to whip them to prove they really wanted and needed it before receiving their licks.

“Okay. But I’ll be checking in with you, and you better use the stoplight colors to keep me updated so we’re on the same page, got it?”

She nodded, smiling again. “Got it. Right now, I’m green to go.”

“It’s a lovely color on you,” Marc teased, since her corset was green as well. “Speaking of, I’d like to open the corset once you’re attached to the cross so I can have full access to your back, but I’ll lace it up again before I untie you.”

“Okay.”

“Still green?” He held her hand and helped her back into the heels.

“Green, sir. Will you . . . I’m sorry, I hate it when people top from the bottom. Never mind.”

“Tell me what you want. This is our first real experience doing this together, so I’m going to give you some leeway on the not-topping-from-the-bottom rule, at least for now.”

“Will you put the leash on me again, and walk me up to the cross?”

Wow. Those words, coming from her mouth . . . it was like she was his fantasy come to life. “I’d do anything for you, baby.”

She smiled. “Sounds different when you say it like that.”

“Different how?”

“Like you mean it.”

He kissed her gently. “I’ve always meant it.”

He hooked the leash back to her collar, and they slowly made their way to the large, X-shaped Saint Andrew’s Cross.

L
auren felt curiously safe now, after talking with Marc. And she did want to tell everyone what was going on, since it felt like everyone in the club was looking at them in confusion. Time to set the record straight.

At the cross, she turned to the onlookers, a crowd which suddenly seemed much bigger than usual.

To Marc, she asked, “Okay?”

He nodded.

“Ladies and gentlemen and kinksters of all legal ages,” she began, to break the ice and get a chuckle. “You might be wondering where Mistress Lauren went, and who this woman in a collar is. Well. As many of you know, Marc is an incredible Dom, one whom I’ve admired for years. When he won a bet, he won me as his personal submissive for a week.”

The crowd gasped.

“I do not back down from bets. But that’s not the only reason I’m here. I think any good Domme can benefit from learning the other side of the coin, and learning just how important submission can be in a working D/s relationship. I’ve always held the whip, but I’m honored tonight to receive my first flogging ever from a Master, my best friend and a Dom I trust with my life.”

She smiled at Marc, feeling pumped up now, ready for him to take over.

“Are you sure?” he asked softly, and she nodded.

This time, she wasn’t pretending. Not one bit.

He carefully positioned her on the cross, with her corseted breasts pressed against the worn wood. In silence, he took first one of her wrists, and then the other, and used the thick leather straps attached to each length of the top of the X to bind her with her arms up high, spread out.

She felt his breath, warm on her bare leg, as he kneeled and gently removed her stilettos so she’d feel more grounded. At least, that’s why she assumed he did it. It worked. Spreading her legs wide for him, he slowly took each ankle and latched it to the bottom of the X-shaped cross.

Splayed wide, with her back to the club, she felt incredibly vulnerable, and yet safe in Marc’s hands. Every word she’d said was true. She trusted him completely, and he was the best person—the only person—to be the one to flog her for the first time.

His hands rubbed her shoulders, loosening her muscles, giving her a physical reminder to relax, to let the bondage hold her and to submit to his dominance. She breathed in and out deeply, focusing her energy on his hands as he unlaced her corset, eliciting a murmur from the club. They’d never seen her in any state of undress before.

Even though she was a curvy woman, she felt comfortable in her skin, especially with Marc’s appreciative gaze on her.

“You are gorgeous, Lauren,” he whispered in her ear as the corset opened, revealing her back completely. “I’m going to remember this moment for the rest of my life, and cherish it as much as I cherish you.”

“Me too, sir.”

The anticipation fluttered in her stomach. When would he start?

He showed her the long flogger, with many thin strands of suede. “How are we?”

“Green, sir.”

He ran the flogger luxuriously over her skin, pure pleasure with zero pain. It almost tickled, the light touch of the strands of suede as they made their way across her back.

“I’m starting out lightly,” he said.

This is happening
. And even though he hadn’t even hit her yet, she found herself wet with desire. But was it Marc she desired, or her first flogging experience as a sub?

It doesn’t matter
, she thought, and then the first strike of the flogger landed on her back. She gasped, more from surprise than anything else.

From her years of experience as the one who held the flogger, she knew he was pulling back at the last moment so that only the surface of her skin would be lightly stung, instead of the deep, more muscular blows she knew the flogger was capable of.

He hit her again, covering her entire upper back with light, stinging licks that woke up her nerve endings and had her squirming with arousal. A rush of delicious adrenaline and endorphins flowed through her and she moaned, needing more.