Rope Burn: The Boot Knockers Ranch, Book 5 (17 page)

Her eyes shot sparks. “Isn’t being on this ranch about taking back some control over my life?”

Oh no. She was entirely right—except she wasn’t thinking clearly. “It’s the early days of the week. That means the couples will still be getting to know each other, and a common place to break the ice is the hot tub. You’ll be seen, love. I stand firm on my decision.”

“It should be my decision too.”

“I’m only doing this for your own good. Are you bored with the places I’ve spanked you so far? I’ll find a new location.” He looked around the barn.

She blushed, as he’d known she would. “That’s not it. You’ve been…very attentive. But this is something I want. Please, Master?”

Damn. The minute that word dropped from her lips, he was a goner. He stared down at her beautiful face, which was set with determination. “All right. Under cover of darkness, Tabbart.”

She grinned.

“And if others are there, we leave. I won’t compromise you.”

“Deal.”

He pinched her backside hard enough to make her squeal. “If I have you in the hot tub, I get your ass again.”

“What?” She lowered her voice. “You mean…fuck my ass?”

Hearing her say
fuck
made him want to toss her over the nearest hay bale. “Yes. It’s my way or no way.”

“You’re a tough negotiator.”

“Are you in agreement?” He caressed the curve where he’d just pinched, and she arched into his touch.

“Yes, Master.”

“Since you’re pushing me into making decisions I don’t feel a hundred percent comfortable with, it’s my turn.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes. I said I’d expect more of you.”

She chewed her delectable lower lip. “Like what?”

“I want to put you on the cross as punishment for pushing me to agree to the hot tub.”

She blinked. Dust motes swirled in the space. “Punishment? The cross…like…onstage?”

“There isn’t a cross any other place.”

“I didn’t realize I was going to be punished about the hot tub.”

He eyed her. “I made it clear how I felt about it.”

“I didn’t think I wasn’t allowed to ask.”

He squeezed her hand. “You’re allowed to ask for anything, love. But you must know I have your best interests in mind.”

“I do,” she said quietly. “Okay, I’ll go with you to the auditorium. But won’t we be seen?”

He arched a brow and she realized what she was saying.

“What if you push me up against my hard limits again?” she asked, eyes darting.

“I’ll keep you safe. I won’t let you go that far.” If he were honest, he needed to see her tied to his cross just once before she left his life forever. He needed that memory ingrained in his mind.

He took her hand and led her out of the barn. Shade dappled the grass from a small tree he’d planted a few years back. Over time the landscape was growing more refined. Sidewalks and shrubbery were yearly updates. He loved the wilder parts of the ranch best, though.

A log had been hewn into a bench in the shade of the tree. He settled Tabbart there and took a seat beside her.

When she meshed their fingers together, he found himself staring at her delicate fingers against his rougher skin. She nibbled her lip.

“You’re going to use the whip when I’m on the cross, aren’t you?”

“I’ll make sure you’re well prepared, love.”

She stared at the ground where a little bird was hopping. It pecked the grass, then flew off. Tabbart turned her head to meet Stowe’s gaze. “I’m ready to try it again.”

He felt the smile spread over his face. “I know you are or I wouldn’t ask.”

“When do we start?” Her voice was already taking on that quiet, lulled tone she had when under his hand.

“After dinner.” He wasn’t wasting any time. There wasn’t much left to waste.

Tabbart’s heart slammed against the wall of her chest as Stowe’s scent filled her head. Without her sense of sight, she only had smell, because she couldn’t make out Stowe’s footsteps. The man was as silent as a predator.

“Bindings feel okay, love?” His drawl sent spasms of lust through her body.

She was in total darkness behind a silken black blindfold, but somehow it made her more aware of her body. She knew how slow or fast her heart beat. And how her wrists and ankles felt in the bindings of the
X
cross.

“I’m okay.”

“If you start to lose feeling in any limb or even the tip of a toe, you stop me.”

“I will.”

Was that his breath trailing across her shoulder? Or a feather? Oh God, she was so wired. She hadn’t even been this nervous on her first-ever TV show. A bead of juice slid down her inner thigh.

She was totally nude and strapped to a cross without her sense of sight, but she couldn’t imagine any place she’d rather be. Her chest rose and fell against the leather padding.

“Tell me your safe word.”

“Daisies.”

“Tell me why you’re being punished.”

“Because…”
I want to go to the hot tub with you. I want to remember it forever.
The erotic lap of water around their bare bodies as he kissed her and slid into her body…

“Tabbart.” His command was harder this time.

“You have my best interests in mind.”

“And you want to put yourself in jeopardy.”

“Yes.”

“Do you still wish to go to the hot tub?”

Lord help her, she did. Her fantasies about it outweighed the fear factor. “Yes, I do.” She raised her jaw.

“Then you must bear my whip. You give before I give.”

A shiver slinked down her spine and she pulled against her bonds. “I’m ready.”

She couldn’t hear him step away, but his leathery man scent was gone.

The first lash of the whip made her cry out. Though it was relatively soft, it shocked her. She tried to relax her muscles, aware that tensed muscles would mean more pain.

He warmed her up with another lick of the whip. And another. Then they grew harder. She listened to the rhythm that was becoming a sort of music in her darkness. And knowing the touch was coming from his hand was pushing her into a deep calm.

She listened and the smacks grew into a heat on her backside that slithered between her thighs. Her pussy squeezed.

The whip stopped and his scent was with her once more. “Are you all right, love?”

Surely there was a word to answer, but she couldn’t think of it. She nodded.

His hands smoothed over the places he’d just kissed with his whip. With surprise she realized there was leather against her skin, not his rough hands. She blinked behind the blindfold. What she wouldn’t give to see him wearing leather gloves.

“Can I see you please, Master?”

Silence resounded in her ears, so complete she wondered if he was still in the room. Finally, he said raggedly, “Not yet, love. I must know if you’re contrite for what you’ve done.”

Was she? No, she wasn’t. She still wanted the hot tub, and having the whip wasn’t punishment really. Especially when she knew what would come after—hot, open-mouthed kisses and his hands on her body.

“Tabbart.” Warning was in his tone again.

She shook her head.

“You’re not sorry you’re going against me?”

“No.”

“Dammit,” he muttered. “I can’t give you more lashes without breaking the skin, and I won’t do that. I guess I’ll need to punish you another way.”

Seconds later her hands were released. Then her legs. Still blindfolded, she lost her balance and started to tip, but he was there to keep her upright. He positioned her back against the cross and fixed her wrists and ankles again.

“Can I see you?” she asked again.

“No.”

That was almost more punishment than the lashes, and he knew it, judging by the tone of his voice.

“What a delicious sight you make, love.” His footsteps sounded now. It seemed he was walking in an arc around her. Looking at her.

She felt more exposed than ever. Her nipples pinched hard.

A leather-clad fingertip skimmed one nipple. She cried out louder than she had under the whip. His finger vanished, and she whimpered.

“Oh yes. You want my touch on your beautiful nipples, don’t you?” He skimmed the other nipple, and she tried to push into his touch, but too quickly he pulled back. “You want me to worship them with my mouth.”

“Y-yes.”

“They ache for my tongue.”

“Yes.” God, his words hurt her. She shook with desire.

Something indescribably soft brushed her upper breast. A hand? Hair? A feather? God, she needed to see.

“Give me the nipple clamps if you won’t suck them,” she said.

He clapped a hand hard over her pussy. She gasped. One leather-covered finger slid along her seam and then was gone. Leaving her weak and panting. She hung on the cross.

“You don’t get the clamps, you naughty girl. You won’t come when you want.”

“When do you want me to come, Master?” Her voice hardly sounded like hers.

“That is the question. I need some time to think.”

He moved away. She knew by the loss of his scent.

She took a whip like the best sub. Yet she could barely withstand deprivation. She needed his hands on her right now as much as he needed air.

Stowe stood staring at the gorgeous vision hanging on the cross, feeding his desire until his cock was granite. Her ripe curves called to him, but he couldn’t give in to her. Not yet.

She needed to know the exquisite torture of wanting, needing him. His head swirled around the power of it.

When he finally cut her down and plowed his cock into her soaking pussy, she was going to damn well know who owned her.

Deep in his mind he knew it was wrong to take her so far. Women didn’t take sex lightly, and Tabbart was exceptional. It was totally possible she would return to her life quite changed. So changed that she couldn’t have a normal relationship because of what Stowe had done to her.

His chest burned. Pride and ownership filled him. But why? He had no business feeling anything but affection for her.

She pulled at her restraints.

He approached her slowly, watching for signs of real struggle or pain on her face. Her features weren’t exactly calm, but she wasn’t grimacing.

“Are you all right, Tabbart?”

“No,” she cried.

His heart did a wild flip. “What’s wrong, love?”

She sagged. “I want you to touch me.”

“Where, love?”

“My…breasts. My pussy.”

“You need release?”

“Oh yes, Master.” Her breasts shuddered with each labored breath she took.

“And you want to see me.”

“Yes.”

Inspiration struck. He could push her high. How high? Could she come without being touched? Hell, he wanted to find out.

When he removed her blindfold, she turned to his touch with desperation. He smoothed his thumbs over her eyes, and when she opened them, his heart stopped.

What he saw in the dark depths of her eyes…

No. It couldn’t be.

He kissed each eyelid, then the space between her brows. When he moved to cheeks and finally lips, she gasped like a drowning woman.

Before it was impossible for him to stop, he stepped away from her. A few feet away, he held out his arms. “Is this what you wanted to see?”

“Yes, Master.” She wet her lips with her sweet pink tongue. Her gaze latched on to his hands.

Fuck. She liked his gloves. She was getting off on him wearing them.

A shudder rolled through him. Very slowly he unbuckled his belt, then the fly of his leather pants. She hung on his every movement. When he reached into his pants and pulled his cock free, she whimpered.

The head was purple and shiny with need. Precome gathered at the tip. He wrapped his gloved fist around his shaft and pumped.

“You like watching that? Seeing what you do to me?”

“I do, Master.”

“You’d like to feel my cock in the back of your throat.”

“Yes.”

He fucked his cock through his fist with slow motions meant to torment her. Instead it was fueling his fires. He was getting so damn close to bursting. Seeing her up there…

“You want to feel me pressing my cock between your folds.”

“Yes!”

“And slipping inside you.”

“Oh God.” A long moan escaped her. Her pussy glistened with cream and her nipples were distended into tight buds. Was she close, though? He wanted her on the verge so he could make her build.

Heat coiled at the base of his spine. He smeared his thumb over the precome oozing from his tip and held it up. “You’d like a taste?”

“Please.”

“Please what?”

“Master.” She seemed to vibrate the cross. He pushed her harder.

“Maybe I’ll give you a taste.” He approached slowly, cock still in hand. When he stood before her, he gathered more precome on his thumb and stuck it in her mouth.

She parted her lips and sucked his gloved digit in. Her tongue swirled around it and her eyes were wide and fixed on his. Just as he wanted—needed.

Abruptly he withdrew his thumb, and she gave a disappointed whine.

Oh yeah. She was climbing the steep cliff of bliss. Could he tip her over?

He stepped back enough to give her a perfect view of him working his hand over his cock. As he rolled his hips, he watched her.

“How much will it take to make you come, love?”

“A touch.”

“Just one? One finger over your clit?”

“God, yes.”

“I don’t think you’re that close yet.” He palmed his cock more slowly, watching her build.

Tabbart felt as if someone were burning her alive. She needed release—now. He was teasing her to the point of pain. Damn him, he knew it. Was getting off on it.

So was she.

She watched his strong fingers covered in black leather against his straining erection and wanted to fall to her knees to take him in her mouth. He wouldn’t let her, and that was the worst punishment imaginable.

His abs rippled with every movement. The dips and swells begged for her tongue as much as the mushroom head. At this point, giving him pleasure would be enough.

He cupped his balls in one black-covered hand and paused. Was he close to losing it? She shivered.

Their gazes locked, and she felt her last bit of resistance fall away.

Until that moment she hadn’t realized what she was truly fighting—falling for him.