Enraptured (14 page)

Roman’s face was unreadable. “Are you embarrassed to wear my collar, Jessica?”

“No, sir. At least, I thought I wasn’t. But people keep staring at it.”

To her horror, Roman didn’t look angry the way she’d thought he would. Instead, he appeared . . . sad.

“I always imagined the woman who wore my collar would be proud of it,” he said. “That she’d tell anyone who asked that it symbolized her commitment to submission to her Master. You could have told them that, but you didn’t.”

“No, sir. I wish I had.” She grasped his hand, hoping to spark their connection. To remind him why he’d chosen her in the first place. “Lying felt wrong, which is why I knew I needed to tell you about it.”

“Would you prefer to not wear the collar?” he asked.

It was a test, she knew it was a test. If she said she didn’t want to wear his collar, then he’d think she was only with him for his money. That was easy to see. She couldn’t give him a reason to doubt her intentions, even if her intentions were unclear even to herself.

“I want to wear your collar, sir. I do. And please, sir, I want you to punish me for lying. I need you to, please sir.”

“Stand up,” he ordered.

She swallowed hard and stood. What would he do?

“Call your parents and tell them what’s going on. You don’t need to tell them about BDSM. I understand wanting to keep your sex life private from your parents. But they need to know that you moved, for fuck’s sake. They need to know you don’t need their hard-earned money. And they need to know you changed majors so they know you’ve chosen a different career path. Otherwise you’ll end up living a lie.”

“Yes, sir.”

He reached into her front pocket and plucked her cell phone out, slapping it into her open palm. “Now.”

Jessica prayed they wouldn’t answer, but of course her mother did, on the second ring.

“Hi sweetie!” her mom answered. It was good to hear her voice, especially since she’d been avoiding talking to her parents since she’d dropped out. The few times she did speak to them, she’d had to get off the phone quickly before they started asking too many questions.

“Good news, Mom,” Jessica said, hoping that she could frame it the right way. She heard a click as her father got on the line. “Hey Dad. So, first I just want to thank you for sending me checks every month to help cover my rent, but I moved in with a friend and I’m not paying rent since he doesn’t need it—”

“He?” her father interrupted. “Who’s ‘he’?”

“Um, my boyfriend Roman. He has a house outside of the city. So I don’t need you to send money anymore, okay?”

“You moved in with your boyfriend?” Her mother sounded shocked. “Who is this Roman? I’ve never even heard you mention him before, and now all of a sudden you two are living together?”

Jessica sighed. May as well get the rest of it over with. “I left the drama program and took some time off, which is when I met Roman. And he convinced me to go back to school, so I am. Studying psychology. And yes, we’re living together. He has a house and he invited me, and it just makes financial sense, right?”

“No, not right,” her father said. “You don’t move in with a man because it makes financial sense. You do it because you’re married to him. And do not take that as an invitation to run out and elope.”

“We’re not getting married,” she said hurriedly.

“Oh great,” her mom sighed. “Like that’s supposed to make us feel better?”

“I’m not paying for you to go to school while you’re living with a man,” her father announced.

“Oh, honey, stop it,” she heard her mom say.

“No. I will not. She can come home,” her dad said.

“I’m still on the line,” Jessica said, annoyed they were talking about her future as if she had no say. “Dad, I love you, but Roman’s paying my tuition. I don’t need your money at all. And . . . I’m staying here. With him.”

“Is he there?” her dad asked. “I want to speak to this Roman character.”

Jessica looked back at Roman, who clearly could hear her father’s booming voice through the phone.
“Help,”
she mouthed silently to him.

Roman took the phone from her hand. “Hello, Mr. Vaughn. This is Roman Chase.”

Jessica didn’t need to strain to hear her father on the other end of the line. His voice was as clear as if he stood right there.

“Roman Chase, huh?” her father asked. “I think we need to meet, if you’re living with my daughter. Paying her tuition. Convincing her to change career paths without even consulting us. Tell me something. How old are you, Roman?”

Jessica gasped at his rudeness.

“I’m thirty-five, sir,” Roman answered mildly.

There was no response. Her parents had hung up the phone.

“Well, that went well,” he said, handing her back her cell phone.

“I’m so sorry, Roman. I really am. And I didn’t mean it when I said it just made financial sense. I moved in because I want to be here, to be yours, sir.”

“It doesn’t matter why you’re here, as long as you’re happy,” he said, pulling her onto his lap. “Are you happy?”

Having his arms around her, a rock in her suddenly chaotic world, made her very happy. She kissed his lips reverently. “I am.”

“Hold that thought,” he murmured against her lips, and he picked up his business phone. “Sara,” he said to his assistant, “please mail two round-trip tickets to New York to Mr. and Mrs. Vaughn, along with a gift basket.” To Jessica, he asked, “Do they enjoy wine? Or would a fruit basket be better?”

“Wine. They’ll need a drink when they get those tickets,” she said, imagining their surprise when they got the delivery. Her mother would probably thrilled and her father would be insulted. But they would still use them, which meant she was going to have to deal with her parental drama in person.

They were already so pissed that she was living with an older man. God, if they only knew the half it, they would die and then roll over in their graves. Then they’d come back from the grave as zombies and kill her.

Roman relayed her parents’ information to his assistant and hung up.

“That’s very kind of you, sir.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting your parents and putting their minds at ease.”

She shook her head. He didn’t understand how old-fashioned her parents were. How vanilla. They were so vanilla they didn’t even know the term vanilla.

“One more thing, Jessica,” he said softly, running his fingers over her neck. “We need to address what you should do about the lie you told about your collar.”

A flush of shame heated her face, and she looked away. “I could make an announcement in class that the collar is because I’m your slave, not because I had a tracheotomy, maybe?”

“Don’t be silly. Class is not the right time or place to talk about your private relationships. But tomorrow, you’ll go to school without your collar. And then everyone will see that you have no scar, no bandage.”

“Please, sir, don’t take away my collar. I promise I’ll tell everyone the truth,” she pleaded.

“It’s not up for discussion. Come. We’re going downstairs now,” he said. “For your punishment.”

Oh right. That.

Now that the moment had come for him to actually dole out the bodily punishment she’d so intensely needed earlier, her courage waned. Wasn’t taking her collar and having her parents visit enough of a punishment?

But she deserved it. And afterward, the slate would be wiped clean, ready for them to start fresh.

She followed him through his house and down to the dungeon, her body thrumming with energy. What was going to happen?

Roman pointed to the table with the stirrups. Oh God. She sat on the table, resting her hands in her lap.

“Lie back, bring your ass all the way to the edge of the table, and put your feet in the stirrups,” he ordered.

She knew better than to tease him about a gyno exam. If he was already planning on punishing her, then she wasn’t going to do anything to make it worse.

“I’m going to strap your feet to the these,” he said as he did just that, binding her to the table with leather restraints. “Now, I’m going to punish you, but since I’m still in the process of teaching you to associate pain with pleasure, I’m going to have to provide you with an orgasm as well. So today your punishment will be forced orgasms to the point of pain, at which point the actual punishment kicks in.”

“I don’t understand, sir. You’re just going to give me orgasms as my . . . punishment?” Her pussy, so exposed, was already wet just from hearing him describe it. How could he think that would be an appropriate punishment?

“Well,” he smirked. “I’ll reserve the right to add more punishment as I see fit, how does that sound?”

She wanted to beg him for a proper punishment, to make her pay for all the lies, even for her own murky intentions. But it wouldn’t be right to try and run the show.

Roman spread her labia with his fingers until her clit peeked out, and she moaned with pleasure as he sensually played with it, running his fingers in slow circles over her bud until it swelled under his hand.

Why was he making her feel so good, when she wanted—needed—to be punished?

“No more lies,” he said, and spanked her clit with his palm, hard.

She gasped in surprise when he moved his hand and spanked her ass, then spanked her clit again.

“I’m so sorry, sir,” she said, but she needed more. More pain, more punishment.

Roman stepped away, and she wondered if he was done with her so soon, if his punishment was to leave her wanting, needy, with her legs tied apart. But no, he came back to the table with a vibrator.

The vibrator whirred to life. It had a long, white handle and a head the size of a doorknob. Surely that couldn’t fit inside of her.

Roman pressed the head of the vibrator against her clit, and she moaned with pleasure. It felt too good, much too good. A thick coil of desire unfurled itself within her, and she came hard, her body spasming, her hips bucking against the vibrator.

“That’s one,” Roman said. And he held the vibrator to her pussy.

Her orgasm made her pussy extremely sensitive, but it took her slightly longer to come this time. When she did, she cried out his name.

“That’s two.”

“No, no!” she moaned when he kept the vibrator tight against her clit.

But Roman just laughed. “I can stand here all night. Or I could just tie this vibrator onto your pussy and go read the newspaper.”

The muscles in her thighs cramped from overstimulation, and she moaned, trying to stretch her legs, but they were restrained, as captive as her pussy underneath the merciless vibrator. She came again, a flood of juices wetting her.

“Oh my God, please,” she begged, but she wasn’t sure what she was begging for.

“This is nothing,” he said. “It’s just the beginning.”

He held her there, forcing orgasm after orgasm, until she simply couldn’t climax anymore. Her womb clenched in an unrelieved state of spasm, her clit had popped out of its hood. The vibrator, an instrument she’d always thought of as pure pleasure, had turned on her, sending wave after wave of electric, erotic pleasure-pain through her entire body.

“Please, please, please,” she cried out, but Roman was amazingly stern, and held his ground as long as she didn’t safeword. Should she safeword? As much as she wanted to, she trusted Roman to give her what she needed, and tonight, she needed his punishment, however he chose to give it to her.

After a long time, her pussy torture stopped. He shut off the vibrator and set it down. Jessica panted, a sheen of perspiration covering her skin.

“Now that you won’t derive any sexual pleasure from it, I can give you the spanking you need,” he said.

He uncuffed her ankles and turned her over so her ass faced him. Her pussy ached, shooting spikes of pain through her as her clit rubbed against the table.

The spanking was hard, lengthy, and complete. At some point she let go and began to cry, and it felt like a burden had been lifted from her soul.

When he was done, he unlocked the latch on her collar and removed it from her neck. He sat her on his lap and held her, stroking her hair and murmuring soothingly in her ear.

“Thank you, sir.”

“You’ll earn that collar back, I know you will,” he whispered.

Chapter Eight

J
essica accepted Lauren and Elisabeth’s invitation to go shopping, even though she knew she should probably stay home and study. Roman seemed to want her to go out with them. He even gave her his credit card. But so far, the only thing she bought was coffee for the three of them.

Jessica sipped her mocha Frappuccino, unable to concentrate on the women’s discussion of something that happened to them the prior winter. But it was probably good for her to be quiet for a while, considering that all afternoon she hadn’t been able to stop talking about Roman, or about how hard the past few weeks had been.

Every day she did everything she could think of to earn back the right to wear his collar. She got to her knees the moment he entered a room. She brought him things he’d need before he could even ask for them. She studied by his feet every night while he worked—even aced her first exam. In the dungeon, and in the bedroom . . . Jessica proved to Roman, with her words, her body, and her submission, exactly how much she wanted to be his.

To be owned by him. To be his slave. Jessica sighed and touched her bare neck self-consciously. Did he want that too? She’d fantasized about it for ages, it seemed, before finally making it a reality. And now she’d ruined everything.

Elisabeth noticed. “I remember that feeling.”

“That’s different,” Lauren said. “You were Gregory’s collared submissive for years.” She looked at Jessica. “You’ve been wearing Roman’s collar for about a month.”

Jessica flushed. “Yes, I know it’s different. But I feel terrible about it. I want to wear his collar again.”

“Why?” Lauren asked. It didn’t sound mean, merely curious.

“Because it’s Roman. He’s . . . amazing. And I want to be his. This is my way of being his, you know?”

Elisabeth took her hand across the tiny wooden table by the window of the Starbucks. “I think we’re all just a little surprised by how quickly this is happening. Roman’s never been the type to do this sort of thing. To have this kind of relationship.”