Nobody's Lost (Rescue Me Saga #5) (19 page)

Ryder hadn’t been the only recon Marine who frequented the club, which he and others deemed to be far enough away from Pendleton and private enough to be as safe as could be expected. Shortly after 9/11, he talked a new roper in his Marine recon unit, Gino D’Alessio, into going up there with him and Sherry. D’Alessio had tagged along a couple other times, too. He’d liked one of the girls who bottomed there. Bianca or something like that.

True, Marines couldn’t spend a lot of time in a club like that because, if they’d been caught by an MP, their asses would have been hauled to the brig. But Jerry was a hero to a lot of active-duty and retired Marines, as well as other military personnel. Ryder thought he’d somehow been given a pass from being raided or patrolled by MPs because he was helping a lot of them deal with post-combat issues.

Ryder and his wife had been at Jerry’s when he heard the news about what had happened to D’Alessio in Kandahar.

Ryder took a deep breath. He needed to get his head back in the game if he was going to continue this scene with Megan. Besides, he didn’t like dwelling on the—

Holy fuck.

Ryder’s attention was brought back to the scene with a vengeance when Megan peeled her shorts down her legs, revealing two round globes divided by the thin strap of her thong panties. He took several deep breaths to ground himself in the scene. If he let his mind stray once more, he’d need to end this scene.

Looking at her beautiful body, he sure as hell didn’t want this to end anytime soon. Unable to help himself, he reached out, placed one hand on each cheek of her ass, and squeezed. “Thank you for that surprise, Baby. Any others I should know about?”

“Surprise, Sir? I don’t know what you mean.”

He slapped her ass with his hand. Firm ass. Jesus, he wanted to take her over his lap and paddle her good, but that position would be more intimate than he cared to go with her. Besides, he needed to initiate her more slowly to the way pain could turn to pleasure.

“You know damn well what you’re doing to me, brat.”

“Probably no more than what you do to me, Sir. In case you were wondering, I enjoyed that smack on my butt.”

Why did he get the feeling they’d just crossed into new territory where they could both find fulfillment, at least for the duration of this scene? For him, he had rediscovered control.

Control over her level of pain and pleasure.

Control the types of play he introduced her to.

Control how her body responded to him.

He turned to gaze at the implements he’d placed on the bed. He hadn’t given her a chance to choose what she’d like to try. Perhaps being blindfolded, she’d be open to trying things that might have scared her at first glance.

He’d leave the blindfold on.

“We’ll do some more impact play on your ass then.” He took her by the upper arms. “I’m going to lead you to where I want you. Just relax and trust me.”

She moved in the direction he indicated without hesitation. She trusted him so blindly? Of course, that’s what he would want in a submissive—but he didn’t want any attachment to this submissive beyond a couple of days. He couldn’t let her get under his skin, because he’d have to send her home soon.

He sighed.

“Is everything all right, Sir?”

He realized he’d paused longer than necessary. “Yes. I want you to reach out in front of you and grab the iron footboard.” She did so, leaning forward until she made contact. “Good girl.” Her body was bent over slightly, exposing her ass cheeks to him beautifully. The implements were displayed on the bed before her, but she wouldn’t know what he would try on her.

“Remain still.”

He returned to the bed and looked at what he’d selected earlier. Paddle, crop, even the belt. Which should he use first? He reached down and picked up the paddle. It was wider than some, which would blunt the worst of the sting. Still, with enough strokes, the wooden paddle should redden her ass nicely. He hoped she enjoyed it, too, because paddling was one of his favorite things.

He wouldn’t take her too far their first time. He mainly wanted to gauge her limits for pain, so he returned to the foot of the bed where he set the paddle on her back.

“Oh, that’s cold!”

His hand smacked her ass. Man, he loved the feel of his hand on her cheeks. “What were your instructions?”

“Not to speak unless spoken to, unless I needed to use my safeword. I’m sorry, Sir. It just surprised me.”

“You can expect to be surprised by any number of things tonight, Megan. You’re asking to be taught discipline, and one of the first rules of discipline is to follow your Dom’s simple instructions. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Sir.” The breathlessness in her voice made him rock hard in seconds.

He grabbed one cheek with each hand and squeezed hard, bringing the blood to the surface. He kneaded and squeezed her ass for several more minutes until she moaned.

So responsive.

Time to see where her limits lay for the paddle.

*     *     *

Ryder’s hand came down in several smacks on each of her butt cheeks. Not hard enough to sting, but her butt soon grew warm. She didn’t count the blows because he hadn’t asked her to the way some of the Doms in her books did. The spanking stopped, and whatever he had laid on her back a moment ago glided down her back to her butt. Flat and hard, it warmed to her body temperature quickly.

Ryder surprised her with a number of light, quick taps that made her butt grow warmer, too. He paused again and she no longer felt the object against her skin until—

Thwack!

A scream nearly spewed from her mouth at the impact, but she caught herself in time and gripped the footboard. What the hell had he hit her with? God, it stung.

Wow, this shit just got very real, very fast.

Thwack!

The first strike had begun to burn when the second hit. Her knuckles hurt from gripping the iron bed frame, and she gritted her teeth to keep from screaming.

Thwack!

He’d returned to hitting the first cheek again and once again, it stung, but this time it became a burn much more quickly.

Thwack!

He laid the offending implement on her back again, and his hands rubbed her burning butt cheeks. She wasn’t sure if that made them feel better or not.

“How are you doing?”

“O-okay, Sir.”

“Would you like this paddling to continue?”

How should she answer? No, or hell no?

“Shall I take silence as a yes?”

“Yes, please. May I have another?” God, how cheesy did that sound? She read too many books.

Whatever was on her back remained there, but she felt something small and stingy against her upper thighs and on her already sore butt. It rained four more stinging smacks onto her burning ass, two on each cheek without a pause this time. She blinked and realized her sleep mask was wet with tears.

Crying? Well, this hurt and wasn’t exactly what she’d been looking for when she said she wanted to try kink.

When a ninth or tenth blow struck her, harder than any of the others, she screamed, “Scarlet! Scarlet! Scarlet!”

Ryder’s hands were empty when he placed them on her burning backside and kneaded her skin. She realized the weight of the first implement was gone from her back. She didn’t know or care where either had disappeared to, but wasn’t sure touching her burning ass was going to help. When cool air blew on her cheeks, the skin puckered into goosebumps.

“Ackkkk! I don’t think that’s helping, Sir. God, that burns.”

“When did you start feeling the pain was more intense than you wanted?”

Oh, about the second swat.

“Um, maybe after the sixth blow.”

“Why didn’t you use your safeword then?”

“Because… Well, in my books, the Doms delivered many more blows than that, and their trainees didn’t safeword. I felt like a wimp.”

She sniffled, realizing the tears were pouring from her eyes harder now, and her mask was soaked.

“I don’t want you to compare yourself to anyone else. How many times have I told you to listen to your body?”

“Lots of times.” She remembered hearing it at least twice.

He rubbed a cool liquid or ointment onto her ass. “That will take away the sting soon.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

Sniffle, sniffle.

How much more embarrassing could this night become? What had seemed like fun at first had gone south awfully quickly. If she could just grab a tissue from the nightstand, she could blow her nose rather than risk dripping all over the bed, but she hadn’t been given permission to move yet.

Ryder’s hands grabbed each of her wrists and pulled. “Stand up, Baby.”

She did so, and her butt hurt again from changing positions. He lifted the blindfold and mask from her face, but she refused to let him see her childish tears. His finger under her chin gave her no option but to look at him.

“I can’t work with someone who won’t tell me when she’s reached her limit.”

He was giving up on her already?

“I’m sorry. I promise I’ll do better. I just didn’t expect…so much pain.”

“Did you feel any excitement or enjoyment of the pain?”

“God, no! It hurt like hell, and I just wanted it to be over.”

He grinned, and she cocked her head. “What’s so funny?”

“I think it’s safe to say you aren’t into pain.”

“Without a doubt. But who said all kink had to be centered around pain?” Then again, judging from the implements lying on the bed, she found it hard to think of anything else they could be used for other than to inflict pain. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a riding crop like one used on horses—was that the second implement he’d used? There also was a leather belt with grommet-covered holes, but she would have recognized that if he had used it. Might be pretty to wear, but she didn’t want to feel that across her butt either.

“How does your backside feel?”

She realized the burning had stopped. “Better.”

“Good. I think it’s time for a little aftercare. We’ve learned enough for the first night.”

Oh, aftercare meant cuddling. Megan smiled. “I’d like that a lot. Sir.” She kept forgetting to address him as Sir, but noticed he didn’t really call her on it half the time. Maybe he didn’t look at her as his real submissive.

He picked up an afghan throw from the bottom of the bed and wrapped it around her. “I think I’d be more comfortable holding you on the couch.” Before she had a chance to take a step forward, he lifted her into his arms, and she gave in to the feeling of warmth and caring by resting her head on his shoulder.

Cherished. She understood the meaning of the word she’d read so often in fictional accounts of Dom/sub relationships. Overcome with emotion, she sniffled.

“Poor baby. Rough night, huh?”

She nodded, unable to speak.

In the living room, he set her on her feet and settled himself on the leather sofa before he pulled her into his lap and adjusted the cover over her. His hand stroked her head and down her arm over and over.

“Tell me what you enjoyed about what we did tonight.”

“The clothespins. Most of that, anyway. Oh, and when you gave me a scalp massage. God, you give great massages.”

“Thank you. Anything else?”

“The blindfold made things interesting. Not knowing what you were going to do increased my excitement.”

“Until I started paddling you.”

She nodded. “I’m sorry I didn’t like it. Is it one of your favorite kinks?”

“I have others to choose from. Don’t worry about me running out of kinks to introduce you to. What did you think of the bare-handed spanking?”

“Oh, I did like that. It was just the hard smacks with—”

“I used a wooden paddle first then a riding crop.”

“I thought it was the crop, not that I’d have guessed until I saw it lying on the bed.” She sat up and met his gaze. “Can we play some more tomorrow?”

His smile helped right her world. “If you’d like to.”

“Oh, I’d like that very much!”

“Let’s talk a bit more so I can plan a better scene for you. I’m afraid I might have rushed things a bit tonight. I haven’t worked with someone so new to kink. Anything else you liked?”

“When you had me bend over and hold the bed. The position was very…suggestive. Erotic. I don’t know what to call it.”

“You’re doing fine. How would you feel about being restrained again, only both arms and legs this time?”

“I like ropes.”

“Ropes, chains, cuffs. There are many ways to restrain a person.”

She smiled impishly. “I think I’d enjoy that, but it depends on what you plan to do once you have me restrained.”

“Do you like being tickled?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Scratched?”

“Maybe, just not cut.”

“How about various types of sensation play?”

“Like feathers?”

“Sure, that’s one type of sensation. There are many others. Ice, chemical play—”

“Oh, I don’t want chemicals put on me!”

“You don’t even know what I would use. Could be as simple as toothpaste.”

“Where would you put that?”

“You’d be surprised what minty toothpaste can do when applied to certain parts of your body. Of course, some Doms use Tabasco.”

Oh!
She clamped her legs together. “Okay, I suppose we could try something like toothpaste, but you can put Tabasco and other hot sauce on my hard limits list for now.”

“The best sensation-play scene would have you blindfolded again and not knowing what I would do—or when and where the various sensations would be applied. Would you trust me enough again to do that using my best judgment as to what you might like?”

“You always stopped when I admitted I was at my limit.”

“That’s one way to establish trust in a sub. You do need to be more open with me, though, and not try to tough it out when you really don’t like what we’re doing. Especially when you’re so new to kink. You could get hurt badly by making your Dom believe you wanted more of the same.” He stroked her arm soothingly. “Over time, though, you may find that things you once disliked might interest you enough to give them another try.”