Pick Your Pleasure (6 page)

“You have no idea what it does
to me when you call me that.” Ryder growled.

“I think I have a clue.” She
glanced at the erection he sported. Thick, dark, and damp at the tip, there was
no mistaking his arousal.

“Probably true.” The genuine
amusement in his laugh hit her again. His similar sense of humor turned her on
more than his not-quite-perfect good looks. The man ticked all her boxes and
then some. “Careful. The treads are windy and it gets darker. Let your eyes
adjust. I’ve got you.”

He ushered her down the spiral
staircase into the Basement.

“Oh, wow.” She gasped as the
night became a little more interesting, if such a thing was possible. Midnight
paint graced ornate wood. Red accents became the highlight. Instead of seeming
creepy, the ambiance lent itself to tucking closer to Ryder.

He braced her as they leveled
out onto the dark boards of the flooring, covered in area rugs plush enough to
curl her toes in. Instead of the refined sexuality of the area above, the
Basement didn’t seek to sugarcoat anything. Leather seats directly faced
black-painted equipment on a stone wall that would have put a medieval dungeon
to shame.

Cries of torture were absent.
But those of pure delight ran rampant.

Transfixed, she watched a woman
writhe on a giant
X
leaned against
the wall. Two men alternated delivering light blows with a tool sporting wide
strips of some soft-looking material. “What’s that?”

Ryder stroked her hair.
Patiently he explained, “The men are flogging her. It’s an introductory lesson.
The Master on the right has been training her husband. Eventually he’ll graduate
to a more intense implement.”

“That looks pretty extreme to
me.” She wondered why it also turned her on. Moisture began to spill from her
pussy onto the tops of her thighs, making her slightly self-conscious. Could
Ryder tell?

From his flared nostrils when he
glanced down at her, she guessed he could.

“Don’t tell me you dislike the
idea. Does it look as if she’s enjoying herself?” Ryder gripped her chin and
refused to allow her to glance away from the pure delight on the woman’s face
as she stared longingly at her husband and the man he was willing to learn how
to delight her from.

“Hell yes.” She sputtered.

“All right then.” Ryder nudged
her forward with his knuckles between her shoulder blades. “Now wait until they
watch you take your first spanking. You’re going to distract them all with your
sweet submission. You’re a natural, Linley.”

She balked. In a lame attempt to
delay, she objected. “Aren’t you going to show me the rooms first? My options?”

“You’ve trusted fate—and me—an
awful lot tonight.” Ryder teased her earlobe with his teeth as he coaxed her
into making a crazy decision, one she craved but would never have had the guts
to opt for. “Why not see it through? I can’t wait much longer to have you.
Let’s take the next available. We’ll make it ours, whatever we’re dealt.
Remember, I won’t let you fall.”

Without debating, she zeroed in
on the tone of his voice and the protective hold he had on her. She believed.
When a server wearing a crisscross of black leather, and nothing else, passed
nearby, she called out, “Excuse me. I’d like to put us on the waiting list.”

The man paused. Though subtle in
his expression, his appreciation couldn’t be missed or faked as his cock
hardened before her eyes. “Master Ryder has a new toy? This should be fun.”

“Less commentary. More tendering
of the lady’s request.” Ryder spoke in a firm tone the man responded to
instantly.

“Yes sir.” He bowed and spun
away.

“Thank you, Jay.” Ryder made
sure to soften the point of his impatience.

“You’re welcome.” The man smiled
over his shoulder. “I’m glad my break is due in a minute. A woman who riles
you. This I
have
to see.”

Linley raised a brow as she met
Ryder’s stare.

He shrugged. “There’s no use
denying it. I’ve been pretty frank about your impact on me, haven’t I, wildcat?”

“It’s nice to know it’s not only
me in a whole new world.” She nibbled her bottom lip, loving the dilation of
his pupils.

“Something special is happening
tonight.” He kissed her hard, then scooped her into his arms. “I plan to take
full advantage.”

Ryder strode to the corner of
the Basement. He plunked her down on her knees on two miniature platforms,
which perched on top of black stilts. One supported each of her legs from
mid-shin to knee. Her feet dangled off the ends. A little confused, she waited
for Ryder to bend her over a rounded support, also elevated, at waist level.
Next he placed each of her hands through a leather tube farther forward. At the
end of each, a handle made a convenient place for her to grip and balance the
weight of her upper body.

Though she never would have
believed it, the minimalist contraption was actually quite comfortable, even
after Ryder yanked on a cord that constricted the tubes around her arms,
trapping her effectively.

Momentary panic had her testing
the bonds. They were immovable.

“Shh.” Ryder was beside her in
an instant. “It’s a natural response. Animal instinct. Use your mind, wildcat.
Trust your body. You want this.”

One hand rubbed her back as the
other slipped between her legs. Given the fluid glide of his fingers, she
couldn’t deny the arousal coating her thicker by the instant.

She slowed her breathing and
allowed herself to consider the reassuring pressure on her wrists and forearms.

“There you go.” Ryder kissed her
cheek before wandering toward her feet. “Now you’ve got it. Here come two more.
For your safety, Linley. Wouldn’t want you to fall. You’ve already proved
staying still is a challenge. And I’m going to spank you harder than I did
earlier. Where all my friends can see your ass turning pink for me.”

“Will it hurt?” She swallowed
hard, gripping the handles fractionally tighter.

“Only a bit. I’ll rub it and
kiss it better.” Something pinched her ass. If she wasn’t mistaken, he might
have taken a bite. “I need a distraction until our room is ready. You’d better
hope it’s not long.”

She moaned at his bantering.

As if the cry unchained
something in him, his palm met her bottom with a slap that sounded a hell of a
lot worse than it felt. Still she yelped. Surprised. And ruthlessly excited.

“Oh, come on. Wildcat, you can
take more than that.” He chuckled at her response. Still, he soothed the sting
as he’d promised, with gentle circles from his fingers. They wandered from her
ass, between her legs. His simple reward had her begging for more.

“That’s better.” He obliged her
with three or four more smacks.

She lost track around the time
she realized there was a display on the wall in front of her, not four feet
away, that noted the names of the rooms and their statuses.

“Ah, found the scoreboard, did
you?” Ryder talked low and steady as he massaged the tingles from her ass.
Except as she read she only found herself wanting more of his blunt contact.

Whips and Chains. Fuck Machines
Rule. Wax Museum. Pins and Needles. More the Merrier. She’s The Boss. The list
went on, but her eyes had glazed over by the time she got that far.

Ryder made a circuit of her
splayed and pinned body, taking his time and touching every exposed surface.
She praised his foresight when she couldn’t stay put. Had she not been strapped
down, she would have busted her ass very ungracefully in front of the men and
women who had gathered nearby to observe him putting her through her paces.

“That’s right, Linley,” he cooed
in her ear before kissing her with a tenderness at odds—or was it?—with the
rougher treatment he lavished on her. “I know what you need. I’m going to give
it to you.”

This time when he came even with
her ass, which was raised high in the air, he delivered a barrage of spanks
that had her first crying out, then groaning, and finally moaning, attempting
to rub herself on the contraption cradling her. The burn had percolated into
her skin. She absorbed it as it morphed from mild discomfort to something so
much more potent.

“Ryder.” She called for him and
he came, though he continued the constant contact of his stroking hands.

“Yes, wildcat?” She caught sight
of his hard-on in her peripheral vision and knew he suffered as much as she
did.

“I need you.” If that meant they
fucked for the first time in front of the spectators murmuring their praise,
fine.

“Right here? Right now?” Ryder
paced toward her feet. Would he step between her legs and slide his cock deep?

Staring straight ahead, waiting
for the pressure his blunt cap would put on the entrance to her pussy, she
noticed immediately when the switchboard lights flipped. She blinked, focusing
on the vacancy directory on the wall in front of her to determine their
destiny.

Except there wasn’t one new
green light.

There were two.

“Ryder!” She didn’t care that
her shout was less than dignified.

He must have caught her urgency
because he bent over her in a flash. “That was a close one, wildcat. Lucky
again. So what do we have here?”

He hummed as her gaze flickered
wildly between the options. Both were delicious, but one held more appeal to
her at the moment. Would Ryder feel the same? What would he select?

“It’s your night, Linley. And
you’ve been such a good girl for me.” He continued to rub the sting from her
prominently displayed ass. Other men in the crowd supplied their assent with
his obvious intentions. “Which will it be? Fuck Machines Rule or More the
Merrier?”

If Linley picked
Fuck Machines Rule
click
here
or search for
4G - Fuck Machines Rule.

If Linley picked
More the Merrier
click
here
or search for
4H - More The Merrier.

“I’d love to try More the
Merrier. If you’re up for it,” Linley amended.

A rush of murmurs went through
the crowd. Several men volunteered as quickly as if they’d been on the
Family Feud
faceoff, their hands
hovering over the buzzer.

The admission to Ryder—never
mind publicly declaring her debauchery—would have mortified her earlier in the
evening. Any discomfort she’d felt about sharing her desires seemed to have
vanished somewhere around the time she’d begged her usher to fuck her out in
the open for everyone to witness.

About then she’d realized she
was proud of her passion and the man who managed to magnify its impact on her.
Here among others who understood the need for something more than the everyday
dating drama—something lustier, something more direct, something darker—for
whatever their personal reasons, Linley could be honest.

Ryder had unlocked that
capability in her. A huge win. She embraced the change.

Her escort singled out a couple
of the men who’d been watching her closely.

“Grant, help me get her loose
and you can join us. Todd, I’m going to need you too. You’re both available
tonight, correct?” Her seemingly easygoing guide flashed his inner core of
steel. Authority sat naturally on him, even if he chose not to don the mantle
most of the time. What did he do to earn that? Where did it come from in real
life?

A tendril of recognition stirred
within her. Part of her related on a level that insisted he hid a heck of a lot
behind his jeans and T-shirt exterior. Or maybe that was her justification for
the fairly major omissions she’d had to make to follow the rules.

In any case, she didn’t have
long to dwell on the possibilities as Ryder’s two recruits freed her in no time
flat. Having three strong men surrounding her tilted her world on its axis.
Funny enough, she had no trouble telling which person was Ryder. Already they’d
formed a bond.

Linley felt off balance, both
because of her line of reasoning and because the comfort of her bindings had
been stripped away. She tumbled right into Ryder’s outstretched arms. He winked
down at her as he cradled her against his toasty chest. “Hey there.”

“Hi,” she whispered with a
smile, growing meek just for a moment. It was either that or admit how much
more than simply her body was in the game tonight. Unwise, she’d come to care
during the evening they’d shared.

The Basement shifted around her
as Ryder toted her to the appropriate portal. She didn’t notice much of the
surroundings since her stare never wavered from his scruffy jaw. The deep, rich
brown of his hair made her long to run her fingers through it and the matching
trail that lead down his body to his cock.

All along the way, men and women
alike congratulated the two men now flanking Ryder and her as they made their
way to a private chamber. Some people cursed them or joked about volunteering
to pinch hit.

Ryder brushed them aside, taking
his dream team into the shadows near the row of rooms. He stepped aside, using
his allies as an extension of himself. Grant depressed the latch-style handle.
He held the door for Ryder.

When he slipped inside, he
didn’t immediately turn on the lights.

“I’m glad you decided on this
room, wildcat.” Under cover of darkness, he confessed, “I don’t mind sharing.
Giving my playmate that extra level of pleasure is an honor. And later, I’ll
stake my claim on you privately. I’m not going to lie. Something about you has
me possessive.”

“You sure you want us to stay,
Ryder?” Smooth and sexy, Todd’s low key question put her a little more at ease.
She didn’t know these men. But Ryder did. And if he trusted them, that was good
enough for her.

“We can go out the side door so
no one sees if you’re worried about appearances,” Grant offered.