Shackled (4 page)

Oh, no thinking there. I’m definitely going to have him.

That thought, that certainty, nearly made her come right then and there. She cleared her throat, tamped down that image, and said, “Yes. I parked in the lot across the street.”

“I’ll want your keys, then. I’ll have your car taken to my town house. Is there anyone you need to notify, let know you’re going to be out of pocket for a few days?”

“No. It’s Wednesday. The kids called Sunday and won’t likely be in touch until next weekend.” Bethany frowned. “Of course, there’s Connie, Tim’s sister. But to be perfectly honest, she’s been a bit condescending since Tim died. I don’t owe her any explanations as to where I’m going to be, so…no. No one needs to know what I’m doing.”

“Good. Get dressed and wait here. I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”

The door closed softly behind him, and Bethany stood staring at it for a full minute before she shook her head and looked down at her clothes.

Even though he’d said he wanted to play with her on the drive, she thought she’d put on her underwear anyway. Never in her life had she ventured out on the street without panties and a bra.

She looked down at the small pile of clothes. Jonathan had pulled a fast one on her, and she hadn’t even noticed him doing it.

All that was left for her to don was her skirt, blouse, and shoes. He’d taken everything else with him.

* * * *

Jonathan raked Bethany with a gaze that would leave her in no doubt that, although she’d put on her skirt and blouse, he could still envision her luscious, naked body.

He’d noticed her blush, of course, and the sense of unease that had come over her as she’d submitted to his inspection. He’d had to control his temper when she’d derided herself. Not for the first time, the enormity of the task he’d set himself glimmered in the sun, a granite wall of seeming impenetrable proportions.

Getting her to surrender control completely, while helping her to build her self-esteem, wasn’t going to be easy. He knew she believed she knew what she wanted, and as far as her understanding of the D/s lifestyle was, she did. He hadn’t lied to her. She was a natural born sub. What he knew, however, was relinquishing control wouldn’t be as simple as it would have been if she hadn’t lived as she’d been forced to these past many years. He had no doubt whatsoever that she wanted a master, that she needed a master. And he knew, in fact, he was exactly the master she needed.

“Your keys?”

She handed them to him readily enough. He put them in his right hand and took her right with his left. As he led her down the corridor toward the door to the street, Jordan opened his office door and leaned against the frame. He said nothing, just stood there with an expression on his face Jonathan had no difficulty reading.

Be careful with her or answer to me
.

Jonathan appreciated his friend and mentor’s protective instincts for Bethany, even though, in this case, they were completely unnecessary.

He’d rather suffer a dozen injuries himself than allow any harm to come to her whatsoever.

He handed Jordan the keys and knew he didn’t need to explain himself.

“You want her car taken to your town house?” Jordan asked then offered Bethany a smile. It didn’t surprise Jonathan that she blushed then shifted her gaze to the floor.

“Yes, please. We’ll be at my place outside of Northwood.”

If anyone was looking for him or Bethany, Jordan would likely hear of it. He, more than most, understood how crucial it was in the next few days for Bethany to be focused on him and him alone.

“Drive carefully.”

Jordan fought his smile. “Don’t worry.”

The relative dim of the club’s interior gave way to brilliant afternoon sunshine when Jonathan opened the door. He waited a moment as Bethany blinked at the brightness. Heat rose up from the pavement, countered only slightly by a soft breeze that wafted around them.

Bethany gasped.

Jonathan bent over and whispered, “Is this a new experience for you, standing outside on the street with nothing under your skirt but you?”

“Yes. I feel naked.”

She’d whispered her answer, and he grinned.

“Well, sweetheart, you
are
naked.”

His car sat by the curb, gleaming in the sun, its sleek, silver body and black, soft, retractable top one of his favorite toys.

“Is that an Audi?”

Jonathan didn’t tease her about the non sequitur. He figured she was doing a pretty good job coping with such a new and totally different reality. “It is. Once we leave the city behind, I’ll open the top. But for now, I think we need the AC to cool us both down a bit.”

He opened the passenger door, unsurprised when Bethany hesitated. There, on the leather passenger seat, he’d placed a soft terry towel.

“As you get in, lift your skirt so you’re not sitting on it. I want only your sweet bare ass on that towel.”

She only hesitated a moment, looking around, he knew, to assure herself no one else could see her. Then, with movements that spoke of her embarrassment, she did as he asked.

He closed the passenger door and hurried around to the driver’s side. Once in the car, he turned to Bethany.

“Spread your legs for me, Beth.” How often had he imagined giving that command to her? Now, in the middle of the city, in the heat of a midday afternoon, what he’d wanted most in his life and never believed would be his had begun.

Again, her hesitation was brief. When her knees fell apart, he reached over and lifted her skirt so that it sat high enough for him to see her pussy.

“Are you wet?” He gave her no time to answer. His gaze locked with hers while he moved his right hand. His fingers found her soft folds, found them, stroked them then pierced inside the tight, wet opening they draped.

Beth’s eyes widened, a tiny sound came out of her throat, and her pussy drenched him in moisture.

“Don’t look away from me,” he said. God, she was tight but so hot and wet. He inserted a second finger, then began to move them, in and out, delighted by the moisture that seemed now to rain from her. He could only imagine how long it had been since she’d enjoyed a good, heavy pounding.

Beth moaned and tilted her hips just a little to give him easier access. Taking his cue, he stroked his thumb over the top of her slit. Her clit emerged, hard and ready to play. When her moan turned into a whimper of need, he pulled his fingers out of her and sucked them into his mouth.

She tasted so sweet he nearly came in his pants.

The look of shock on her face told him that, on top of everything else she’d been denied, his Beth had never experienced oral play.

“You’re tasty. While we drive, you can think about what you want in your pussy first, my tongue or my cock.”

Because she’d not yet gotten to it, he fastened her seat belt. Then he kissed her hard and fast, right on her surprised mouth.

“I don’t…that is, I’ve never…”

A wide grin split his face. He’d completely robbed her of coherent speech. Not bad for the first half hour of their time together.

He clicked on his own seat belt and started the car. Then he gave her his grin as he said, “You haven’t, but you’re going to. Everything you could ever have imagined and some I’m quite sure you’ve never even heard of. And it will all begin just as soon as we get home.”

Chapter 4

For Bethany, the hour it took to drive from Reckless Abandon to Jonathan’s country home sped by in a haze of lust and nerves. He said he wanted to play with her along the way, and he certainly hadn’t been kidding. He’d kept up a constant barrage against her libido, stroking her pussy, caressing her breasts. Once they’d left the city behind, he told her to open her blouse for him. Of course she obeyed, and of course he then began to pinch and pull her nipples. The strangest thing was, the harder he pinched, the more turned on she got.

The result was that her entire body trembled with arousal. In an effort not to come all over his car seat, she tried to completely focus on the man behind the steering wheel. She thought she’d explode if he didn’t take her soon. But at the same time, wanting him made her jittery.

She’d come to believe she was a complete failure in the sex department, and the more she wanted Jonathan, the more she wanted not to disappoint him.

Without that mask, he looked like the same young man she’d known for years. She’d met him when he’d been a too-serious teen, working after school and trying to take care of his mother.

She’d liked him straight off, and had looked forward to summer afternoons spent in her backyard, chatting about myriad topics over cold drinks. She’d never thought of him as a kid, for when she’d met Jonathan Steele, there’d been absolutely nothing adolescent or childlike about him.

Sliding a sly look in his direction as he got out of the car and came around the front of it, she wondered if he’d really changed in the year since she’d last seen him or if she was only now just really looking at him.

“Are you going to get out of the car, sweetheart? Or are you going to stay there all day?”

Bethany heard the suppressed laughter in his question. Heat once more flamed her cheeks. She hadn’t realized he’d opened her door and stood waiting.

“Of course I’m getting out.” She eased out of the vehicle with as much dignity as she could muster. Then she decided to tell him the truth. “You have my body and mind in total chaos.”

“I’d say my job here was done, but I haven’t even really gotten started yet.” He leaned forward and planted a quick, but deep, kiss on her.

When he pulled away from her, her senses were reeling.

With great effort, Bethany took her attention off the man and looked at his house. No,
house
was the wrong word for this. The building before her resembled a manor home, like the ones she’d seen featured in travel magazines on England and Scotland.

The quartz infusing the gray stone sparkled like diamonds in the afternoon sun. A wide, long staircase leading to the front door was also made of stone in a darker shade of gray and looked as if it had been polished. More windows than she could count gleamed in the two-story structure, the glass multi-paned and in a diamond pattern. Old glass, she knew. Likely cost a fortune. But then, she’d always known that Jonathan would achieve his goals and have what he wanted, and cost be damned.

I wonder if, even then, I recognized the Dom in him?

The entire effect of his home was that of an eighteenth-century mansion, and she fell in love with it instantly.

“It’s beautiful. Just tell me there won’t be a butler named Jeeves who will peer down his nose at me the moment he opens the door.”

Jonathan laughed, the sound rich and free and happy.
Now, there’s a change.
The Jonathan Steele she remembered had been as rigid as his name, seldom allowing himself laughter, or play—as he’d done throughout the ride here.

She figured that on this one afternoon, her pussy had enjoyed more attention than in her entire life before today, and he hadn’t even fucked her yet.

“No butler, I promise. I have a housekeeper who splits her time between here and my town house…but she won’t be here for the rest of this week or next. This next week, it’s just you and me.”

“This next
week
…but I don’t have any things with me! I don’t have enough clothes to last more than the afternoon, let alone an entire week!”

“You won’t need anything, sweetheart. I plan on having you naked practically all that time.” He took her hand and led her up the steps to the front door.

The interior of the house appeared as modernly sleek as the outside had old-fashioned. The air smelled fresh and light and its coolness kissed her skin.

The door clicked closed behind them, shutting out the rest of the world. They were alone in Jonathan’s domain. Bethany felt a sudden shift in him. He looked at her, and the heat of arousal she’d seen in his eyes at the club returned full force.

“I’m going to have to insist you give me the rest of your clothes, Beth.
Now
.”

She opened her mouth to protest then snapped it shut. She had wanted this, and she’d known darn well when she’d made her decision to contact Jordan Fitzpatrick that if she went through with her plan, she would be opening herself up to exactly this sort of situation. Besides, she’d been balanced on the fine edge of arousal for more than an hour and she wanted to get to the main event.