Bound to be Tamed: Emergence, Book 2 (35 page)

“Sorry, Sir. I wasn’t thinking.”

Dane leaned down and grasped her breasts through the satin of the cups under the lower swell of her tits. He flicked his tongue over her nipples and then released one breast to reach between her legs.

Without warning, he swiped his fingers through her spread pussy.

Stephanie flinched at the contact, damning herself for always proving him correct with her wetness.

He smiled and sat back to suck her juices off his fingers. “Let’s go.”

Aiden stood next to her and aided her to stand. “I like how rosy your nipples are when you’re shocked.” He nibbled the lobe of her ear as he whispered, “Sexy.”

Aiden took her hand and guided her away from the little cove they’d been in for quite some time. She followed with Dane at her back, his warmth always apparent, even when he wasn’t touching her.

They headed in a direction Stephanie hadn’t yet been. A wide hall with doors intermittently on one side. On the other side of the hall was a narrow platform, though she couldn’t think what it might be used for. Perhaps it was simply part of the architectural design of the building.

Aiden finally came to a stop. He stepped up onto the platform, pulling Stephanie up behind him. “We’re going to watch a scene in this room to the right.”

Dane stepped behind Stephanie and leaned against the wall. He pulled her into the V between his legs, her back to his front. Several others gathered in the hall along the platform and in front of it. There was a long window in front of them, drapes drawn closed on the other side.

Dane’s hands smoothed down her arms, sending a chill up to her neck. He threaded his fingers with hers and folded them across her torso, just under her breasts. He set his chin on her head.

She tried to relax, but the unknown behind that window made her shiver and she was constantly aware of her nipples peeking out of the top of her bustier.

In a moment the curtains opened and Stephanie glued her wide gaze to the room. In the center stood a polished wooden cross on a large, sturdy base about six inches off the ground. Stephanie shivered as she tried not to stare long at the smooth black gloss. She breathed deep, knowing full well someone was about to be attached to that apparatus, while praying at the same time her Doms wouldn’t ask her to do the same. She wasn’t ready for such a public display.

Her hands gripped into fists inside Dane’s grasp. She glanced from side to side. Several more people had gathered.

Dane whispered, “You have permission to look around, Steph.”

A cute redhead with freckles sprinkled across her face stepped up to the cross. She wore a robe and her gaze was downcast, but Stephanie thought she looked confident. This wasn’t the first time she’d done a scene.

Her Dom was tall and slender. He strode behind her and waited for her to step onto the mat at the base of the cross. He wore black jeans, but no shirt or shoes. He smoothed her hair back, tipped her chin up and kissed her forehead.

The man smoothed his hands down her neck and kissed her mouth in a slow, sensuous kiss that made Stephanie stiffen to watch. It wasn’t the kind of kiss people did in public.
Unless they’re at a fetish club.
She felt uncomfortable at first, as though she were a voyeur.
You are.

Dane squeezed her around the chest and held her tight. He didn’t say a word.

Aiden leaned into her side, making her aware of his biceps and thighs against her skin.

The man in the room across from them broke the kiss and lowered his hands to his sub’s shoulders. He swiped the robe away from her body, mumbling words Stephanie couldn’t hear in the redhead’s ear. She smiled and then giggled. She was excited to do his bidding.

“The man is Robert. His sub is named Joann,” Dane whispered.

Stephanie nodded. She watched as Robert turned Joann around and nudged her up to face the shiny black cross. He lifted her left arm and secured it with a loop of rope above her head. Never losing contact with her skin, he circled around behind until he reached her other side and attached that hand also.

He caressed her back and down her buttocks and thighs until he knelt at her feet and tapped the inside of her ankle. She stepped out, spreading her legs far so that Robert could attach her to the lower part of the cross the same way he’d done above. She lifted her foot for him to loop the soft rope around her ankle.

Joann was spread wider than the average person because of her small stature. She visibly shivered when her Dom was finished. She set her forehead on one side of the cross and waited. Her body swayed as though there were music in the room.

Next, Robert pulled her hair back. He secured it with a hair band but continued to hold the ponytail with one hand while he reached into his pocket for something else.

Stephanie gasped when she saw the blindfold. She stiffened. Aiden turned sideways, wrapped one hand around Dane’s back and set the other on Stephanie’s belly. “She isn’t you, hon.” He kissed her ear. “It’s okay.”

“I want to know what your story is behind blindfolds, Steph. Get prepared to tell the tale to us,” Dane whispered.

Stephanie didn’t comment.

As soon as Robert had the blindfold secured, he released Joann’s hair and set her free. He circled the entire structure several times, muttering words no one on the outside could hear. Encouragement?

Stephanie could feel the anticipation as though she were Joann. She held her breath, trying not to hyperventilate at the idea of Joann’s dark world. The woman had no idea what was going to happen.

Finally, in slow motion, Robert picked up a leather flogger from a nearby bench and began to drag the tips over his sub’s body, familiarizing her with its feel—everywhere. He left no skin untouched, even grazing the supple leather between her legs and over her nipples.

He grasped the well-seasoned leather with both hands and held it up to her face. She seemed to inhale the scent of the leather, tipping her head back, and then she kissed the handle. Flipping the flogger around, Robert trailed the handle end down her spine and prodded the crack of her ass until she lifted on her tiptoes. She moaned so loud Stephanie could hear her from outside the room.

When Robert finally made his first slap against his sub’s skin with the leather, Stephanie jumped. Joann wouldn’t have seen it coming and she too jumped. How could the woman stand it? Not knowing what was going to happen? Stephanie sucked in air and began to pant. She felt faint. The spanking scene she’d witnessed earlier in the week hadn’t affected her like this.

That’s because Melissa hadn’t been blindfolded.

As the flogging increased, so did Joann’s moaning and jerking. Stephanie squeezed her eyes shut against the scene. She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. She ducked her head. “Red,” she whispered, panic climbing up her spine until she struggled for her next breath. She wasn’t sure she was using her safe word for herself or on behalf of the woman who wore the blindfold.

Suddenly Aiden whispered something to Dane and Dane turned her body with his away from the scene. He lifted her off her feet, holding her around the middle still, and stepped down from the platform.

Moments later, they led her around the corner and into a darker section of the dungeon. All Stephanie could hear for a few moments was her own heavy breathing as she tried to control her emotions.

Both men hovered over her, murmuring soothing words she paid no attention to. She struggled to catch her breath, leaning forward until Aiden took her in his arms and held her head against his chest. “Baby…”

After several minutes, she regained some composure and stood straighter. She lifted her gaze to Aiden’s. “I’m sorry… I—”

“It’s okay. But I think it’s time to tell us what this blindfold aversion is all about.” Aiden let his finger graze down her neck and between her breasts.

Stephanie closed her eyes as he touched her everywhere and nowhere.

Dane stepped closer on her other side. He whispered into her ear, his mouth so close the warmth of his breath tickled her. “Blindfolds can be so sensual. They heighten all your other senses and make you feel them each more intensely.”

She gulped at nothing in her throat and opened her eyes to look at him.. “They also scare the fuck out of me when they hide the unknown. The sounds… The smells… No.” She shook her head vehemently, unable to stop herself. “Don’t ask me to do that. I can’t,” she choked out.

“Okay,” Dane soothed. “It’s okay. Just relax.” He trailed his fingers down to her waist and smoothed his palm over her belly. “What happened? Did someone blindfold you in the past?” His voice was deep, gravelly.

She nodded. She had to tell them. It was only fair. She loathed reliving the past, but it needed to be done.

“Tell us, Steph,” Aiden encouraged. His hand landed on Dane’s, his fingers tangling with Dane’s at her stomach.

Stephanie squeezed her eyes closed for a moment and then opened them. She looked both men in the eye, glancing back and forth. “My mother… She had so many men. They weren’t nice men. They treated her horribly. They slapped her around. They did lines of cocaine on the coffee table. They drank until they vomited on the couch. They fucked her.” Her voice grew shaky and louder as she spoke in rapid succession. She needed to spit this all out though. Suddenly she didn’t know why she’d been holding it in.

“Did your mother blindfold you?” Aiden’s brows furrowed in concern.

“Yes. She told me I was too young to witness some things. Our apartments were always small. One bedroom usually. Sometimes I would be in the room while she was with her men. And she…she…she didn’t stop them. But she covered my head, sometimes with a knit hat pulled down to my chin.”

Stephanie heaved for breath and continued, “The sounds were awful. I never knew what might happen in the room. No matter what I couldn’t block the sounds. I would squeeze my eyes shut and hold my hands over my ears, but nothing worked. I hated it.”

Dane set a palm on her cheek and wiped the tear that slipped from her eye. “You’re okay now. I get it. That was traumatic and not something any child should endure. No blindfolds. Don’t worry. We won’t ask you again.”

He understands…
She glanced at Aiden, who nodded. She opened her mouth and licked her lips. “I can’t stand being closed off completely from the world by force. I can close my eyes. I can turn my head. But having my eyes covered… It’s too…”

Aiden set his forehead against hers, bringing their eyes so close together. “Frightening. You’re safe with us. There will be no unknowns that make you uncomfortable. We may push the limit with you, but you know you always have the option to say stop, right?”

She nodded.

“Good girl,” Dane said. His thumb stroked her cheek.

Both men soothed her with their hands, running them up and down her extended arms and her face until she relaxed. She trusted them. And that trust was the key to this arrangement. They wouldn’t hurt her. They’d never force her to do something she couldn’t tolerate.

The blindfold might seem like a small thing to some people, and she knew most people loved them, but not Stephanie. She loathed the idea and always would. Some things were insurmountable.

Aiden led her from the hall silently and headed directly back to the couch they’d been sitting at earlier. He sat and prompted her between his knees, indicating she should resume the kneeling position from before the scene.

When she situated herself between his legs, he pulled her face into his crotch as Dane had before. Stephanie closed her eyes. She relished the ability to rest against his cock and not have to see the expressions on other people’s faces. She felt so raw after everything she’d just revealed.

It occurred to her that she had no issue hiding her face by choice. It was removing that choice that put her on edge.

They stayed for quite some time. Her Doms held several conversations with other Doms who joined them on the surrounding chairs; however, Stephanie concentrated only on Aiden’s hand as he soothed the back of her head and her shoulders. She could have fallen asleep if not for the effort to stay upright on her knees.

Aiden finally rose, taking her by the shoulders and lifting her with him.

Her knees wouldn’t cooperate, so he swung her up into his embrace against his chest.

She cooed, the sound absurd coming from her. But it expressed perfectly how loved and cherished she felt. Even her bare ass sticking out didn’t bother her as long as Aiden held her firmly.

Stephanie relaxed every muscle and was only vaguely aware of the trip home. Wrapped in the cape she’d come in, Dane carried her into the elevator and up to their apartment. Minutes later she drifted off in the center of their big bed.

Chapter Twenty-One

Stephanie awoke with a start. She glanced around the room with her heart racing from whatever dream she’d been having.

The sun was shining through the windows, beating a path across the floor and landing on her lower legs. What time was it?

She dragged herself to sitting, groggy from sleeping too long. She didn’t even know what time they’d come home, but it had been late. Or early, depending on how she looked at it.

She smiled. The apartment was silent. Glancing around, she found a note on the pillow next to her.