Mastering Lexie (Stronghold Book 4) (47 page)

He was still
reeling from the revelation that she'd deliberately saved her ass for
him.  When he'd learned she was an anal virgin, he'd thought it was
nothing more than lack of opportunity or perhaps trust with her previous
boyfriends and sexual partners.  But she'd been thinking of him all along,
and the moment he'd learned that, he hadn't been able to draw out the scene any
longer.

"What's
your color, sweetheart?" he asked.  Even though he was watching her
expressions in the mirror, he wanted to know that he wasn't misreading
her.  While seeing her bear some discomfort to pleasure him was exactly
what he craved, what he needed, he wanted to ensure that her needs were met as
well.

"Green,"
she said, wriggling slightly, her eyes clearing just a bit as she looked back
at him in the mirror.  Those big baby blues widened, as if she was just
noticing exactly how breathtakingly erotic a tableau they made together.
 "It hurts, but it feels so good too."

"Good
girl," he said, running his hand around the bottom of her waist
cincher.  So far it had restricted her breathing perfectly, helping to
keep her distracted and light-headed, but he was ready to loosen the laces at
any sign of truly labored breathing.  "Ready for a little more?"

"Yes,
Master."  Her breath hitched, and his cock jerked, balls tightening
at the breathy sound of her voice, declaring him her Master again.  Fuck,
he'd never get tired of hearing that.  

"Then
take it." 

Pushing deeper
into her, he savored her soft cries of pained pleasure as he slid the rest of
his cock inside of her.  The lube helped him push past her clenching
muscles, which massaged his cock as he finally penetrated her fully.  They
both groaned as he bottomed out, his groin pressing up against her hot cheeks.
 

Taking his
gaze away from the mirror for just a moment, so that he could fully appreciate
the sight of his dark cock buried in her ass, his chocolate hands covering her
cherry-red cheeks.  Fucking beautiful.

"Oh
fuck... oh fuck... oh fuck..."  She was repeating the words over and
over, underneath her breath, her face screwed up as if in concentration. 
He held still, letting her spasm around him, feeling her body adjusting to the
invasion.  The play of muscles around his cock massaged his length, making
waiting entirely pleasurable, if a bit torturous because he was dying to thrust
and ride her.

As her
breathing started to even out, Patrick slid his hands up to her waist, taking
hold of her hips, and began to pull his cock from the warm, tight sheathe of
her body.

"Oh
Fuck!"  Lexie shuddered, bucking slightly as her back arched against
the spanking bench, eyelashes fluttering.  "That feels... oh fuck,
that feels so weird... Patrick... I can't... It's too intense..."

"Hush,
sweetheart, you're doing so well," he said, soothingly as he reversed
directions and began to slide back in.  Lexie panted, shivering, eyes
glazed again as she slowly relaxed against the bench.  "I'm so
pleased with you."

This time when
he began to pull out again, she moaned and clenched, but something about her
had softened.  Changed.  She was submitting completely to him, giving
herself over to him and letting him do with her body as he wanted. 
Trusting him to make this good for her, even though it was scary and intense
and probably a bit frightening.

The power that
she gave him was just as terrifying to him.  He cradled it gently,
determined to never let her down.

"Hold on,
Pixie," he murmured, slowly withdrawing again.  Her eyes were
half-lidded as she rested her chin against the bench, blinking as he addressed
her.  "I'm going to make you feel so good."

She gasped as
he thrust in, harder than he had any time before, her body responding immediately
to the combination of pleasure and pain.  The spasms of her inner muscles
felt so fucking good, but he was going to hold off until she came first. 
Gripping her hips tightly, he began to plunge his cock in and out of her,
rubbing its length against her tight channel, pressing her mound against the
bench and stimulating her clit at the same time.

"Oh! 
Oh!"  Lexie began to writhe underneath him, he could see her fingers
and toes curling in the mirror as she tried to adjust to this new wash of
sensations.  There was a huge difference between wearing a plug, even a
large one, and having a cock moving in and out of her ass.  

Her cheeks
flushed and she tossed her head as he rubbed over something deep inside of her
that made her clamp down around him.  The lube kept her from being able to
truly grip him, and she cried out in intense pleasure as he kept moving, kept
thrusting.

******

It was too
much.

Rapture.

Pain.

Decadence.

Perversion.

Intimacy.

A free-fall
into a sexual chasm so intense that she didn't know if she'd come through it
intact.  Her body clung to the bench as if it might save her, Patrick's
hands on her hips holding her to reality.

The feel of
his cock, moving inside of her, in places that no other man had ever touched,
was more intense than she could have ever imagined.  Her ass gripped him,
trying to hold him in place, as the head of his cock passed over an exquisitely
sensitive spot deep inside of her.  When she couldn't hold him there, and
he did it again, and again, she almost screamed from the intense
sensation.  If she could have gotten the breath to, she would have.

He was
plundering her, pleasuring her, and she wanted more, more, more. 

"Patrick! 
I need... please... I'm going to..."  She couldn't find the breath to
ask him for what she needed, to beg him for permission.

"Cum for
me, Pixie.  Whenever you need to."  His voice was dark, fierce,
as his fingers dug into her hips and the thrusting in her ass came faster,
harder.

She screamed
as the ecstasy rolled through her, a fuller, deeper orgasm than she was used
to.  It came from some dark place inside of her and flowed outwards,
boiling through her in torturous bliss, filling her completely.  Her body
strained, bucking, sobbing, and shattering.  Blackness loomed as she ran out
of breath, causing her orgasm to soar even higher, synapses firing off in her
brain, no longer able to discern pleasure from pain or fear from passion.

Patrick's
voice roared her name and she gasped, breathlessly, as sudden liquid heat
filled her.  He pulsed inside of her, each spurt of cum forcing its way
past the gripping ring of muscle at the entrance to her body and spilling into
her dark hole.  Mewling sounds, like from a small animal, filled her
ears... her voice... her sounds.

Heat and
muscle slumped over her as hands caressed her, pressing against her back and
her backside.  Inside of her, she could feel her ass spasming around a
slowly softening cock, squeezing every last drop from its sated length. 
She trembled, even though there was no possible way for her to be cold with
Patrick's body wrapped over hers, his lips pressing against her shoulder
blades.  The tremors shaking through her were an after effect of all the
endorphins, the intensity of the connection she'd just experienced.

"My
Lexie.  My Pixie.  Mine."  The self-satisfied tones of her
Dom and boyfriend were what finally brought her back to reality as he sprinkled
kisses across her shoulders and upper back, repeating his words like a
possessive little mantra as he did so.

******

Patrick had
never been into branding, but with Lexie he was starting to think he could
be.  Seeing the collar around her neck, he kissed and licked her upper
back just beneath it, enjoying the feeling of her body, limp and sated under
his.  He was careful not to put his full weight on her, but he was too
reluctant to pull himself from the warmth of her body immediately.

It wasn't
until she started to stir, squirming a little bit as her ass squeezed, trying
to force him out, that he finally, reluctantly, moved away.  A sleepy,
sated Lexie rested on the bench while he gently cleaned her of their combined
juices with a warm, damp towel.  Undoing the waist cincher, he rubbed her
skin where the boning had dug in, reddening it slightly, and she sighed with
happiness.  Picking her slight weight up in his arms, he transferred them
over to the bed, cuddling her against his shoulder.

Alarm sparked
through him when he laid them down together and realized that tears were
running down her cheeks.

"Lexie? 
Sweetheart?  What's wrong?  Did I hurt you?"  Anxiety
threaded through him, he thought he'd been so careful, and he'd never forgive
himself if he'd fucked up.

"No, you
didn't hurt me," she said in a watery voice, shaking her head.  She
seemed almost surprised by the question, and even more surprised when she put
her hand to her cheek and her fingers came away wet.  "I don't even
know why I'm crying.  That was wonderful."

Sub-drop. 
Duh.  He was an idiot sometimes.  After a scene that intense, when
she'd given over so much of her trust to him, he should have expected it. 
His own emotions were a bit off-kilter too, which was the only reason he hadn't
immediately realized what was wrong. 

Fortunately,
he had chocolate and water bottles in one of the nightstands, and he cradled
his little Pixie while feeding her bites of chocolate from his fingers and
making her take sips of water in between.  Aftercare had always given him
pleasure, because he was the type of Dom who found satisfaction in caring for
his submissive in every way, but with Lexie it was just as good as the
sex.  Just in a different way.

Eyes still a
bit watery, Lexie looked up at him, putting her hand on his wrist to hold him
back for a moment.  The chocolate hovered a few inches away from her lips.
 "Thank you for taking care of me..." She hesitated for just a
moment, looking angelically beautiful and impossibly vulnerable.  "I
love you."

Happiness,
tenderness, warmth... salvation.  That's what Lexie was.  His
salvation.  His joy.  His future.

"I love
you too," he murmured, lowering his lips to her forehead, hugging her
closer, tighter.  It would never be close enough, never tight enough, but
he'd do his best.  "And I will always take care of you. 
Always."

Watching with
amusement as Lexie stroked her collar again, Leigh had to stifle her own
feelings of envy as Patrick came up behind the young woman, a look of complete
adoration on his face.  She'd always been kind of intimidated by Patrick,
but seeing him with Lexie... well, she was finally getting to see a softer
side, that was for sure.  It was hard to stay scared of a man who looked
at a woman like that.

It was also
really hard not to be envious of that woman.

Especially
because, at one point in her life, Leigh had had a man who looked at her like
that.  At least, she thought she had.  Sometimes she wondered if she
just sucked at reading people.  Or maybe it was because Michael had only
looked at her like that as long as she was fitting into his neat little box
that he'd made for her.  The one that he'd expected her to stay in, after
removing all the parts of her that didn't fit him anymore and keeping the parts
that he wanted.

Leigh hadn't
done very well in that little box, but she'd tried.  God, she'd tried so
hard. 

But it didn't
matter.  In the end he'd dumped her anyway.

Ugh.  She
needed to stop thinking about this.  Especially because tonight was so not
about her.  Tonight was about celebrating Lexie's brother's return
home.  Lexie's incredibly hot brother who unfortunately did nothing for
her.

Okay, that
wasn't entirely true.  He was too sexy and confident to have no effect on
her, but she'd already decided to swear off guys.  In the two months since
she and Michael had broken up, she'd had a one-night stand, had a long-distance
booty call with a guy she'd had a massive crush on in college but had never
pursued because of Michael, and then tried actually dating.  The dating
thing hadn't gone so well.  The guy, Brad, had been perfectly nice, but
after three dates he'd already started asking her about her plans for the
spring.

So not what
she was looking for.  She wasn't over Michael yet and Brad had obviously
wanted to get serious really quickly.  Although, she'd gotten the
impression that he would have wanted that with any girl that he went out
with... he was just that kind of guy.  Sweet, nice, and kind of
desperate.  It didn't make her feel special that he had been so eager, it
had made her feel interchangeable.  They didn't know each other well
enough for him to know that he'd want to go on a trip in the spring with her,
which meant that any girl would do.

After the
appreciative look Jake had given her when Lexie introduced him, she'd felt a
spark of interest, but not enough for her to want to pursue it.  Not
enough for her to break her unvoiced conviction to stay away from men for a
while.  Which, right now, was not so easy.

Not just Jake,
although he'd searched her out to "get to know her better" in between
conversations with his friends.  The welcome home party was also
Stronghold's Halloween Masquerade, which meant there were sexy, alpha men
aplenty, all around the main floor of the club.  It also meant that they
weren't confining their interest to the subs gathered in the Lounge area;
during the Theme Nights, no one stayed in their usual areas which meant there
was a lot more open flirting going on.  She'd actually seen one sub being
dragged off downstairs to be punished for "daring" to blatantly flirt
with a Dom - by the Dom she'd been flirting with.  Not that the sub had
looked upset about her upcoming discipline, she'd looked thrilled.

Yeah,
something else to feel a bit envious over.  

Leigh had
never been spanked before.  She'd never done any of the kinky BDSM
stuff.  But she'd started reading about it and... well, let's just say,
she'd spent more money on her e-reader books in the past few months than in the
entire time she'd owned it.  Not that she was brave enough to mention her
interest to anyone.  Just coming to the club and sitting in the bar with
Angel and her friends was the limit of Leigh's courage.  Even when the
Doms came over and talked to her, she just clammed right up, too scared to give
them any encouragement.  What if they invited her downstairs?  Or
upstairs?  What if they wanted to spank her?

What if she
liked it?

Not thoughts
she should be having.  Not with Michael calling her every other day and
her still picking up the phone.  Being her friend.  That's what he
called it, although he got kind of nasty whenever she talked about any other
men.  They talked sometimes in the evenings and she’d learned not to say
anything about other guys, after telling him about her one night stand… but she'd
sat quietly through his own complaints about his lack of knowledge when it came
to pursuing other women.  It always stirred her jealousy, but it also made
her feel a kind of vindictive satisfaction.  In the entire time they'd
been broken up, Michael hadn't gone on a single date, hadn't kissed another
woman.    

So there,
asshole.  There were plenty of guys who wanted her.  Heck, half the
reason Brad had appealed had been how badly he'd wanted her.  She'd just
felt bad because she hadn't wanted him back.  Not like that.

Scanning the
room, she took another sip of her drink, her eyes passing over the playful
couples, the flirting singles, and the groups of friends.  For a moment it
felt like her eyes tripped, and then she moved them back again.

Standing
against the far wall, in between the rooms to the women's and men's locker
rooms, was a pirate.  A really, really, really big pirate.  He was
huge, with big muscles and shortly-cropped hair that was less than a centimeter
long.  The darkness of his skin and the black pants and shirt he was
wearing, along with the black hat, made him practically blend into the
wall.  No wonder it felt like her eyes had tripped.  Like her, he
looked like he was scanning the room, but unlike her, he didn't even bother to
look like he was trying to participate in the festivities.

Jared.

That was his
name.  The only person in the Stronghold group that she hadn't met yet,
although Angel had told her all about him and pointed him out when they'd
finally arrived.  The one who had recently gone through a break-up with
his long-term, on-again-off-again girlfriend.  That relationship had
sounded even more tumultuous than her own. 

She was moving
before she even thought about it, drawn to the only other person in the room
that might possibly have a clue what it was like to be so lonely in such a
large crowd of wonderful people.

******

There was an
angel walking towards him.

Literally,
dressed in an angel costume.  Although, even out of the costume, he might
have had the same thought.  She was beautiful in an almost unassuming way,
gorgeous as only a sweet girl-next-door could be, and somehow managed to give
off the impression that she was completely unaware of how she looked.  The
white corset, with its surprisingly modest neckline, white skirt, tights, heels
and fluffy wings didn't do a whole lot to counteract the innocent thing.

He'd seen her,
of course, weaving in and out of the other people at the club.  Seen more
than one Dom approach her, only to be turned away after a few minutes. 
Other than that, he hadn't paid much attention, it was just that she stood out,
in all that white.  Even though it was Halloween, she was, surprisingly,
the only angel in the club.  She was also showing the least skin of any of
the women in the club.

When it became
clear that she wasn't just walking towards him, she was walking
to
 him,
all of his muscles tensed.

The theme
nights were good business for the club.  Most of the members loved the
chance to dress up and be at the club for an "event."  It
promoted a casual atmosphere where the Doms and subs could interact with less
formality and get to know each other a little better outside of a scene. 
Plus, it made Lexie thrilled, which made Patrick happy.

But they were
also a pain in the ass for someone like him - a single Dom who wasn't looking
to get to know any of the subs better.

His break-up
with Marissa still made him feel like he was battered and bruised, inside and
out.  Years.  He'd invested years into their relationship, only to
have it come out to nothing.  When he'd told her that he wanted to break
up, she'd accused him of cheating on her.  Neglecting her.  Treating
her like unwanted baggage. 

The worst part
was, some of it was true.  Not the cheating part, never that, at least not
sexually, but... he did like cuddling and soothing an upset sub.  He
provided aftercare for a few of the submissives who either played with Doms that
didn't like doing aftercare or who preferred to have aftercare from a different
Dom than they'd scened with, for one reason or another.  Being needed like
that was something he himself needed.  So no, he hadn't cheated on
Marissa, but he'd been getting emotional satisfaction outside of their
relationship.  Yes, that was because she'd been gone so often, but... the
idea of her finding that kind of satisfaction with another man had made him
sick.  Not that Marissa had ever required much aftercare, but that was no
excuse.

The
accusations about neglecting her and treating her like unwanted baggage were
true too.  In fact, that was why he'd broken up with her.  Because he
knew that he wasn't treating her the way he should treat his girlfriend, much
less his submissive.  He avoided her calls, procrastinated on returning
her texts and emails, and felt happier when she wasn't at home, even though he
thought she
should
 be at home if they were going to make their
relationship work.  But he should have broken up with her weeks before he
had, instead of dragging it out and making both of them even more miserable.

Her tearful,
justifiable accusations had lodged in his head, and he couldn't get them
out.  There was no way he wanted to do anything intimate with another
woman right now, not when his head was all fucked up and he still wasn't sure
where he'd gone wrong or when he'd turned into such a passive asshole. 
The closest he'd gotten had been when Patrick had asked him to do a scene with
a sweet little sub named Eileen.  She'd just needed some confidence in
herself and the scene hadn't had any sexual contact.  In fact, he'd
introduced her to another Dom right afterwards, and they were now seeing each
other both inside and outside of the club.  That had given him a lot of
satisfaction.

Unfortunately,
the theme night meant that a lot of the subs felt more comfortable flirting
with the Doms, not just talking to him.  He'd already chased off several,
as nicely as he could, and he was starting to lose patience with it.  What
about leaning against the wall, in the shadows, as far on the edges of people
as he could get, said "Come talk to me?"  The last submissive,
Christy, whom he'd taken care of after an incident with her ex-boyfriend at the
club, had been particularly stubborn, and he'd had to get a little mean in
order for her to get the hint.  Which had resulted in her walking away,
tears in her eyes, while he stood there and felt like an even bigger piece of
shit.

This was why
he didn't talk to people.

"Hi,"
said the angel, smiling up at him when she finally reached him.  She was
holding her drink in one hand, the other one stirring the ice with a little
straw.  Nervous, obviously.  He didn't smile back.  Hopefully
she'd get the hint.  "So, what are you, the club wallflower?"

It actually
took an effort not to smile, just a little.  Who, other than Hilary, used
terms like 'wallflower' anymore?  But smiling was encouragement, and he
didn't want another tearful sub on his account tonight.  In fact, as soon
as he got rid of the little angel, he was leaving, period.  He'd said hi
to Jake, and there was no way to have a real conversation with the man
tonight.  There were too many other people here, all wanting to talk to
him.

Too impatient
to be nice or subtle, he went with the stark truth.

"I just
got out of a seven-year relationship, and I'm not interested in flirting
tonight."

"Yeah, me
too, that's why I came over."  The angel tilted her head at him and
then held out her hand in front of her.  "I'm Leigh."

Manners
insisted that he take her hand and shake it, and as their fingers touched,
their eyes met.  Both of them were pretty hazel colors, but one was hazel
brown and the other was hazel green.  It wouldn't be noticeable from a
distance, but up close, it was impossible to miss.  His eyes swept up to
her hair, a natural brown streaked with blonde, piled up onto her head. 
It looked like there was a lot of it.  

His brain
finally clicked all the information into place.

"Angel's
Leigh?"

A wide smile
parted her lips as she shook his hand with a strong but feminine grip, and then
let it drop.  "That's me.  You're Jared, right?"

"Yeah."
 He studied her as she moved to stand next to him, leaning against the
wall - carefully, in deference to the wings she was wearing. 

Everyone in
his group of friends talked about her.  Pretty, friendly, possibly
submissive according to some of them, and also recently out of a nearly seven-year
relationship.  Funny how that worked.  

"Anyone
ever tell you that you kind of look like Taye Diggs, but a lot bigger?"
she asked, looking up at him.  She came up to just above his
shoulder.  Since her heels weren't that high, he figured she'd just barely
reach his shoulder without them.  A nice height, since he didn't have to
bend his head too far to look back at her.  She had the same body type as
Marissa, slim up top with a generous bottom and hips.  He had to admit, it
was his preferred body type.  There was just something nice about a woman
who was nicely padded on the bottom, and he liked the contrast of a slimmer
top.  Breast size had never mattered much to him, although he could tell
that Leigh wasn't nearly as well-endowed in the chest region as she was below
the waist.  She really was gorgeous.  He'd heard the story of her
break-up.  What the hell had her ex been thinking?  The man was
either a complete idiot or blind.