Perfect Alignment (23 page)

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Emma knew she was in a bit of a mood as she drove out to Drew’s a week later. Her father had booked her ticket home for after finals and she was feeling a weird mix of happy to be going to see her parents and dreading how it was going to affect her relationship with Drew. The fact that her brother’s birthday was three days after Christmas always made the holidays a mixed bag of emotions.

She’d considered cancelling on Drew, but she had only a couple of more weeks to see him before her trip and she didn’t want to waste her chance. Determining to put her cranky pants firmly behind her, she turned up the music and spent the drive daydreaming what interesting things her man might have in store for her and reminding herself how much she liked it that he’d started calling her baby after her stupid little tantrum. She wasn’t sure he’d even noticed, but she certainly had.

The smell of pizza was pungent as she walked to the door held open by a smiling Drew. He took her backpack from her and gave her a kiss before ushering her into the house and closing the door behind her. He gestured to his laptop, sitting on the dining room table.

“I got an email from Toby, if you want to see. He has some pictures from his trip, funny little stories. I called him after and we talked a while.”

He moved into the kitchen and opened the oven to check the pizza. It was one of her favorite meals that he made. Using store-bought dough, he doctored up his own sauce and used plenty of cheese in addition to the sausage and mushroom toppings she favored. He swore it was the pizza stone that made the difference. She didn’t care, she just liked that he made it often. Apparently deciding it could use some more time, he shut the door as she sat to look at the laptop.

“How did he sound?” she asked.

“Good. Really good. I was worried, since this was the first solo trip of the kind that they used to take together. But he said he was feeling better than he has since it happened. He credits a decent portion of that to you.”

She blushed. “I think it was just the timing. Part of him was ready to start embracing life again. You helped him with that.”

He took the seat next to her, reached his hand around her neck and brought her forward for a kiss. “Yes. And part of it was you, just being you.”

Pleased that he thought so, she read the email, laughed with him over some of the stories and looked at the photos. By the time she was done, Drew had pulled the pizza from the oven and sliced it up. “How much work do you have, baby?”

She smiled as he handed her a plate. “Not much, maybe half an hour. How was work today?”

He told her about a domestic disturbance call that luckily had ended up more comedy than drama. She loaded the dishwasher and started it running while he went to take a shower. She was on the couch with her book and netbook, feet stretched out to rest on the coffee table, when he came down with his paperback. He sat at the other end of the couch, then leaned over, picked her feet up and swung them around so that her feet were in his lap instead.

She just rolled her eyes at him, but couldn’t actually keep the smile off her face. He was careful not to distract her, as he always was when she was doing homework, but she was glad to reach the end of what she needed to do and shut the netbook down. She leaned over to put it and her textbook on the coffee table, then snuggled down a bit so she was reclining against the couch arm.

Setting his book aside, he picked up one foot and dug his thumb into her arch. Her eyes rolled up in her head and he laughed out loud. “Good?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Tell me about your class.”

No, she was done with schoolwork for today. She didn’t want to think about it anymore. Didn’t want to think about how close to being finished she was, how much work the next semester was going to be. And then it would be over. Done. Time to leave.

“Don’t you have more important things to concentrate on right now?” she asked, pretending she didn’t hear the note of belligerence in her own voice.

He raised his eyebrow at her, something that managed to look sexy but still come across as chiding. He switched feet and she tucked the toes of the finished foot under his thigh. “You’re pretty good at that,” she said when he didn’t answer.

“Instinct.”

“I do like your instincts.” Well, mostly. Except when it had him giving her that penetrating look.

“I’m glad.”

He moved his hand up to her ankle.

“Hey, you weren’t done down there.”

The look Drew gave Emma only caused her to pout. Interesting. Emma wasn’t much of a pouter. Something was going on with her, but he had no idea what. He didn’t think it was anything to do with Toby. Something with school? Should he steer the conversation back to that? She didn’t seem inclined to talk about whatever the problem was, and he debated pushing it, or pushing her and letting the rest come out later.

She pulled her foot free of his grasp then set it in his lap. She wanted something more from him and it wasn’t conversation.

He gave a light slap to her foot. “Behave, missy.”

Her pout deepened, though he was sure at least some of it was put on.

“Maybe I don’t want to.”

Repositioning his hand on her ankle, he gave her a hard look. “Is that so?

She tried to jerk her foot free again, twisted in his grasp. He watched her eyes fall partly shut at the sensation of being trapped. He didn’t know why she was in brat mode, didn’t know why she didn’t want to talk anymore, but he knew the best way to find out.

Standing abruptly, he dropped her leg and pointed to the stairs. “Wait for me on the bed. No clothes.”

She stared at him for a full minute, satisfaction, nervousness and arousal all clear on her face. Then she rolled off the couch and stomped into the bedroom. He heard her open the door harder than it needed as he walked into the kitchen and pulled a glass from the shelf. Taking deep breaths, he filled the glass with ice from the refrigerator dispenser, then water. The sound of the ice crackling under the flow of water always sounded sexual to him. He had no idea why, but it helped him center himself. He wasn’t mad, knew she was testing him, testing herself in some way. But he needed to be focused, needed to figure out what it was that she was looking for, what she wanted, and most importantly, what she needed.

He drank the cold water slowly, until there was only ice left. Then he carefully placed the glass on the counter and walked to the bedroom. It didn’t surprise him at all that she wasn’t sitting in a submissive pose, calmly waiting for her master’s orders. Still, he had to bite back a smile at what he found. While he was pretty sure she was naked, as ordered, she’d crawled under the covers, wrapped herself tightly within and was feigning sleep.

The covers moved too rapidly from her breathing for her to actually be asleep. Keeping as quiet as possible without actually sneaking, so that she’d have to struggle to track his movements, he walked to the dresser and selected an anal plug and lube from the drawer. When he moved to the side of the bed, her eyes were closed. He watched her for a moment, letting the anticipation build while he had the pleasure of studying her face. Her skin, that fascinating combination of brown with the hint of olive, looked striking against his sage-green sheets. He realized he’d started favoring the sheet set for exactly that reason. Her black hair spread out across the pillow, one skinny lock falling along her cheek, just in front of her ear. He’d never spent much time looking at a woman’s nose, but he had to say hers was attractive. Not too big, not too small. Like everything else about her, it worked perfectly for her. Had he noticed that before?

She’d begun to make subtle movements under his scrutiny. A hard swallow, a twitch of the eyelid, a crinkle along her forehead, quickly smoothed out. He reached out and grabbed the covers, flung them completely off the bed before she had a chance to react. Her eyes flew open but she made no further move.

“What?” she asked.

He held his hand out to her. “Put this in.”

She sat up, looked at the lube and the plug. “Okay. Bend over. Don’t worry, I’ll use lots of lube.”

It was a struggle not to laugh, to force his expression to remain stern.

“Emma.”

She moved back, only an inch or two, but away from what he held, away from what he ordered. He dropped the items on the bed, grabbed her up and had her bent over his legs, ass in the air, before she had time to do anything more than squeak.

Three hard slaps had her breathing hard, her breasts pressing snugly against his leg, her body trembling ever so slightly against him. He opened the lube, squirted a large amount on her and worked it in easily. The plug was a small one, so he didn’t need to do much prep. When she was wet, he picked the toy up and slid it neatly into her ass. She stiffened but said nothing.

He lifted his arm from her back and she rolled off, landing on the floor and scrambling away from him. But she made no move to touch her ass.

“Stand up.”

She did so, but not with the graceful compliance she usually displayed. He took a step forward, knowing she’d take one in retreat. When she did, he crowded her, walking her backward until she was against the dresser with nowhere else to go. He spun her around, using his size and weight to hold her against the cool wood. His legs bracketed hers, his left arm going around her body and between her breasts until he rested his palm lightly against her throat. A full body shiver betrayed her and he let himself smile since she couldn’t see.

With his free hand he opened a far drawer and pulled out restraints. When he backed away from her body, he trailed his hand around until he gripped the back of her neck. Using only that touch he directed her back to the bed. He gave a small push, nudging her to bend over the bed, but she stood firm, locked her knees. In less than five seconds he’d kicked her feet apart, pulled her wrists behind her back, shoved his knee hard against the plug lodged in her ass and forced her cheek against the sheet. While his legs kept hers spread and his knee continued to manipulate the toy, he buckled the restraints around her wrists.

Her butt made tiny movements against his leg that he was sure she was completely unaware of. Sliding a hand under her torso, he cupped her breast, found her nipples hard. She breathed into him, but her eyes were shut, refusing to look at him. He pulled his hand free and spanked her again, once, twice. She made a needy sound in the back of her throat.

Keeping one hand firmly on her backside, he knelt next to the bed and wrapped her ankles in the cuffs. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do one-handed, but it only took a couple of minutes. When he was done, he stood, leaned one arm next to her head, let most of his weight settle on her. Her mouth was open, her breath coming in little gasps. Sweat beaded along her hairline. She went limp under him, relaxing into the mattress. He fingered her hair back from her face, watched the tension instinctively fade from her features. Until she began to think again. Her eyelid twitched, her fingers curled against his stomach. He nuzzled her face, kissed her cheek. Then he moved.

Before she could react, he’d picked her up, turned her over and tossed her in the middle of the bed. He straddled her chest, sitting up high enough that she couldn’t do anything with her legs but kick ineffectively. She pulled against his hands but he had the restraints attached to the clips in the headboard before she’d finished wailing “No.” Within seconds he had her ankles similarly restrained to the footboard and simply watched as she tugged and pulled, jerking the heavy bed only slightly.

She stopped moving, only her heavy breathing indicating her fight. Well, that and the glare she gave him as he stripped off his clothes and rolled on a condom. He went to the dresser and retrieved one more item.

“Let me go,” she demanded when he moved up onto the bed, her eyes fixed on the small flogger he held.

“No.”

He slapped her pussy with the flogger, letting the tails land with a sharp sting, then slide free with a heavy softness. She froze except for the rapid blinking of her yes. Stunned, she let the angry façade slip as her hips bucked up. It took her only a second to recover, however, and she screeched at him, “Let me go!”

“No.” He flogged her breasts, first one, then the other.

She licked her lips and her nipples tightened even further. Twisting against the restraints, she managed to point most of her torso to the side, away from him. He took advantage and fingered the plug, twisting it, pulling it out a little, then pushing it back in. She turned her moan into a growl, which morphed into a gasp when he dropped the flogger and shoved two fingers into her slick pussy.

Her back dropped heavily to the bed, her hips pushing her pelvis up into his invading fingers. He pulled free and licked himself clean of her juices.

“Why do you need to be punished?” he asked, straddling her thighs.

She glared at him.

He slid his legs down along hers, propped himself up on his elbows so that their faces were lined up.

“Why do you need to be punished?” he asked again.

Her bravado slipped away, her body stilling as he brought the game to an end. She turned her head, looked away from him. He wrapped his fingers into her hair, pulled sharply until she was facing him again, barely loosened his grip.

“Why do you need to be punished?”

She swallowed hard enough that he heard it.

“I, um, didn’t listen. Tried to get away.”

He leaned in, bit her on the chin. The fact that he rubbed his chest against her nipples at the same time wasn’t an accident.

“Why do you need to be punished?”

“You can be such an asshole!”

He reached one hand down, used it to once again move the plug out and back in. She tried to buck into him, but his hips held her steady. She tried to grind herself against his cock, but he didn’t give her enough space.

“Drew!”

He tightened the fist holding her hair.

“Sir!”

Loosening his hold, he stared into her eyes.

“Why do you need to be punished?” His voice was calm and firm.

The fight drained out of her. Her eyes closed, but she forced them open before he could command her to.