In Deep (20 page)

“Do we?” Her words were muffled against his shirt.

“You seem a little distracted.” Grasping her elbows, he held her back to search her face.

“It’s nothing. Really.” Try as she might, she couldn’t look him in the eyes. She snuggled close again, playing with the lapels of his black shirt. All that counted now was each moment that she could spend with him still. She wouldn’t allow anything to stain that.

“I have a gift for you.”

Leaning her head back, she stared up at him in surprise. “A gift? For me?”

He nodded, grinning. “I’ll show you.”

Grasping one of her hands, he tugged her along. Jaidyn followed, unreasonably giddy with the idea Connor had a present for her. Down the stairs, to the right, and the door of the captain’s cabin fell shut behind her.

In the middle of the table stood a wooden chest, richly embroidered with butterflies … no, they were … Jaidyn stepped closer. They were dragonflies … No! They were pixies! Jaidyn laughed at the sight. Her father had always called her a little pixie when she’d been bad.

Where had Connor kept that chest all this time? She looked at him with the question in her eyes.

Connor chuckled. “I’m afraid I have a penchant for decorated chests. I found this one in a small shop in Boston and had it stored aboard the
Coraal
ever since. Do you like it?”

Jaidyn jumped, clapping her hands. “I love it!”

“There’s something in it too.”

Inside, the box was padded and lined with purple velvet held down by tiny brass nails. Opening the lid some more, Jaidyn saw something she thought she recognized. “That’s what you’ve been working on when you thought I didn’t see.”

Connor hummed. “Take it out.”

Tilting her head, Jaidyn contemplated the item. She decided that the thick, plaited end must be some sort of handle, so she grabbed it in the middle between the big and the small knot, her thumb and forefinger closing beneath the smaller knot. When she lifted it, the numerous slim leather thongs spread from the small knot and swung softly. The leather was warm in her hand. It shone, new and well-oiled. Jaidyn was completely fascinated by–

“What is it?”

“It’s called a Captain’s Daughter.”

Looking up at him, she felt her eyebrows sneak up on her forehead. “A what?”

“It’s a cat.” Connor took it from her and with a flick of his wrist, the leather thongs curled into a perfect spiral. “A cat-o’-nine-tails.”

Jaidyn was still perplexed. “And what’s it for?”

At that, Connor’s lips parted and he gave her a toothy grin. “You.”

“Me?”

With a curt nod, he almost growled, “I’ll show you.”

With one stride, he was at his treasure chest. He took something out that he stuffed into his belt, then he pivoted and strode to the door, locking it.

When he turned, his face had changed into an austere mask. His calculating gaze blazed with that dark, sparkling allure. “Off with your garments. Now.”

Jaidyn had difficulty breathing. She felt a whimper in her throat. Connor’s sharp, serious tone made her feel like a triangle had been hit, only instead of a high-pitched ring, sudden need vibrated through her.

“Yes, s-sir.” Arousal made her voice degenerate to a palsied whisper.

Her gaze was riveted on those leather thongs dangling by his calf. Without thought, she reached for the laces of her dress, her hands too shaky to work efficiently. Impatient to get out of her suddenly confining garments, she tore at them, desperate to get rid of the suffocating wrappings.

“Brace yourself against the table,” she heard him order just as she peeled the sleeves off. “Legs spread wide.”

Her hands found the edge of the table and held on to it.

“Bend your head. Watch.”

A fierce shiver raked her body as she obeyed. His hands cupped one breast from behind, thumb and forefinger playing with the erect nipple, twisting it gently one moment, pinching it hard the next. His other hand joined the wicked game, the leather thongs wrapped around his palm. The thick knob at the end of the handle and then the handle itself rasped the peak lightly. The difference in sensations, sharp pinpricks versus smooth leather that smelled of him, had her breath leave her in a sharp gasp. Every pore was flooded with hunger until she thought she was drowning in eagerness. Waves of desire washed over her, lapped at her body, pooled in her core.

“Are you slick with want already?”

At his words, desire slammed into her. Her heartbeat turned frenetic, as did the anticipating pulse between her legs. She thought she had been moist already, but she felt a hungry gush of cream surge out of her at his question, wetting her already slick folds even more.

His free hand roamed down her body and cupped her mons, his fingers probing and spreading her dewy nether lips while his other hand kept to the primal rhythm sawing away at her nipple. Panting, she gave a low moan when she felt her secret muscles ravaged with tiny contractions as his thumb played over her sensitive knob and he rubbed her entrance with the pad of one finger.

But he left her too soon, drawing her moistness over the apex of her thighs with his fingers. A moment later she caught a glimpse of his hand between her legs, holding a small, knobby thing that vaguely resembled a miniature member.

Entranced, Jaidyn watched Connor spreading her lips with the knobby plug, bathing it in her juices just before he gripped it harder and pushed it into her slick sex. Her muscles sucked it in immediately and Jaidyn cried out, feverish with lust. She arched her body, thrust her hips down. But it seemed the harder her breaths came, the slower he moved the plug in and out of her. Jaidyn groaned, seeing her juices trickle down his hand. She wanted more, relished in the wicked pleasure the plug brought.

“Move closer to the table,” she heard him say, his voice degenerated to a feral rasp.

Jaidyn tottered a step forward until the hard wood of the edge of the table bit into her thighs and she felt a dull throb against her mons. The hand he held the cat in now came to lie on the small of her back.

Her core pulsated around the plug seated inside her in the same rhythm of the deafening beats of her heart. She threw her head back and let out a high-pitched cry when Connor slid the plug out of her quivering core and positioned it at her tight entrance. Without effort, it slid past the barrier. Groaning, Jaidyn welcomed it and the dark pleasure it brought.

Both his hands left her. Jaidyn mewled in anticipation. She knew he was going to use the cat on her. Would she feel the impact deep in her muscles like she’d done with the rope? Or would it deliver fitful, fiery stings like the birch rod had? She fought against her instincts and tried not to tense her muscles.

At first, she only registered the crack of the cat. Then she felt its bite on her backside. It had landed with tiny, successive smacks. Jaidyn bent and squirmed, her body instinctively trying to evade the pain.

Her skin started to tingle and the ache altered, turned into honey-sweet pleasure. Jaidyn delighted in the cat’s pitiless caress. Its kiss wasn’t as sharp and pricking as that of the birch rod nor as deep as the ropes. It was as smooth as the instrument itself looked.

Again the leather thongs landed on her skin, creating that tickle that rushed headlong into her core, spearing it with desire and leaving it sobbing for more. Jaidyn thrust her hips up toward Connor, silently begging him to continue the precious torment with his loving, ruthless caress.

Titillation, want, and desire tangled up in her belly, sizzling down to her core. Jaidyn knew a climax was bubbling in her stomach, throbbing between her legs, tickling in her anus. The pleasure kept right on building, rising inside her with such force it made her feel faint. The effort to hold back was almost too much.

The next few strokes with the cat came fast and her eyes shuttered. Moaning, she felt herself climbing toward an ecstasy that threatened to overtake her.

Her core was on fire, relief so close she teetered on the edge. She whimpered for it, but held back. She knew it pleased Connor if she denied herself until he allowed her to crest.

But divine pleasure assailed her senses, a multitude of sensations that almost shut her brain down and immersed her in pleasure so raw, so heady she swore she was going out of her mind.

Her skin rippled, her nipples ached in abandonment. Her pulsing, weeping core and that tingle in her rear, it all cumulated to a fiery conflagration. She needed so hard to crest, but her body coiled and waited. Only Connor could grant her relief from this.

Jaidyn licked her lips dreamily, her body swaying gently. Connor was pleasure; she was a slave to pleasure. The words rumbled in her brain over and over again.

Throwing her head back as the cat landed where her buttocks ended and her thighs began, Jaidyn let out another gasp. The vibration so close to her drenched core had her cry out with the tiny scrap of relief that was just out of her grasp. Passion boiled beneath her skin, streaked through her veins, and sizzled like a bolt of lightning down to her throbbing sex, scattering any rational thought. Behind her closed lids she could see sparks flying, pulsating with every stroke he delivered.

Then she realized that behind all those numerous buzzing fireflies there was … a strangely peaceful place. Each stroke of the cat felt like it gradually scratched away the wax on a honeycomb. Her sanity liquefied and trickled like treasured honey from her. Jaidyn let herself drift to that place and found herself swallowed up by the scorching bliss that welcomed her and annihilated any rational thought.

Twirling the cat in his wrist, Connor let it land on her backside, this time with a little more vigor than before. Her moans and gasps blurred into each other and he saw she rested her forehead against the surface of the table.

Next time he brought the cat down, he used as much force as he believed she could take in her current state of arousal without hating him for the marks in the days to come.

Jaidyn squirmed and let out another breathy moan. Thin welts started to show, a crisscross of horizontal lines that rose from the pale skin of her backside and upper thighs.

Excitement sluiced his control until his toes tingled.

Once more he spanked her hard and then, without giving her time to process the pain, he turned his hand, twirled his wrist, and let the cat snap forward fast only to pull it back immediately. The cat’s thongs landed right between her spread legs, each tip nestling against her sex, biting her vulva before they fell away.

At that she let out a deep, long groan that sizzled through his body and licked at his skin, called to him. Need slammed into his gut and Connor tightened the grip on his slipping control.

Again he flogged her left cheek hard, quickly followed by a harsh swing to her right buttock. When she yelped, he let the cat snake between her legs. A visible shudder skittered through her body and she let out a long moan.

Now Connor concentrated on the sensitive skin on the inside of her thighs, which were glistening with her juices. The ethereal skin on her backside was flushed with too many crimson welts, some of them already fading. Others would still be visible tomorrow.

With careful strokes the cat landed from below, the thongs wrapping around her thighs, a few of them always kissing her core. Perspiration covered her body that swayed to those strokes in a primordial rhythm. Sometimes Jaidyn let him hear a breathless moan of pleasure, at other times she gasped or grunted in pain. But always her passionate sounds ended in blissful sighs. Too soon her thighs turned an angry red as well.

Jaidyn had become eerily silent. Connor’s hand fisted in her hair and he forced her pliant body upright. Her eyes were closed, tears dotted her lashes. Taking only shallow breaths through her slightly open mouth, she was smiling as though she was dreaming.

She’d floated away to that place where he couldn’t follow.

With Jaidyn, Connor thought as he tamped down the overwhelming pride expanding in his chest, using the cat-o’-ninetails was perfect.

Placing the cat on the table next to her, Connor cupped her chin.

“Jaidyn.” He spoke softly, trying to gently pull her mind back into her body. “Darling. Come back to me.”

Connor rained tiny kisses on the tip of her nose, her cheekbones, and her chin. Then his mouth settled on hers. He felt her lips quiver shortly before she responded to the kiss, moaning into his mouth as he flicked the tip of his tongue over hers.

Nipping and sucking her lips before he kissed her deeply, he felt the strength coming back to her body. She held herself upright now, thrusting her tongue back into his mouth, letting it tangle with his. He suppressed the pleasant shudder as she thrust her bottom out and it bumped against his engorged cock.

“Connor,” she whispered as they ended the leisurely exploring kiss and her eyes fluttered open. She smiled at him and his heart missed a beat.

“There you are again.”

“Please …”

“What, Jaidyn?”

She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, especially now as her cheeks were flushed, her eyes dilated and misty, her lips wet with his kisses. And her scent … marvelous. So spicy, so sweet. It was wrapping him in Oriental silks more exclusive and precious than he’d ever seen.

“Take me, Connor.” She didn’t demand; she pleaded softly.

Turning her in his arms, he slowly, almost gingerly lowered her upper body to rest on the table before he reached down and opened his breeches. His cock fisted in his hand, he guided it toward her pussy.

Her moist nether lips happily parted for him and inch by agonizingly slow inch he stuffed her, relishing every moment. She was beyond tight with the plug in her ass. Her muscles constricted around him, struggling to accommodate him. Inexorably, he sank deeper into her slickness until at last he was seated up to the hilt in her.

Allowing himself to revel in her long, low moan for a little longer than he should have, he eased his cock out equally slowly until he almost left her completely. Once more he slid into her and retreated just as slowly, but with her ragged loud pants he couldn’t hold back any longer.