Zurlo, Michele - Two Masters for Samantha [Awakenings 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (26 page)

The room was in the back of the house. It was large, but not enormous. Everything was white. Carpet, chairs, walls, molding, furniture, and bedding. All of it was white. At the far end of the room, floor-to-ceiling windows opened toward the ocean. Samantha spied a balcony.

Stefano regarded her, an expectant expression on his face. “Do you like it?”

She took one more look around. “It’s very white.”

Stefano laughed. “A blank canvas. We don’t know what you like yet. We don’t know what colors best suit you. We like you in pink, but we’re not fans of pink-themed rooms. The better we get to know you, the more the furnishings will reflect your personality.”

They’d done this before. Sam stared at a chest of drawers painted white.

“The things we’re allowing you to keep are put away. You’ll find toiletries in the bathroom. Your clothes are somewhere else. You’ll be allowed to check your phone messages twice a day. Everything will be returned to you Sunday.”

Sam nodded. That answered one question. Not only did they plan to play all weekend, they made sure she had no choice but to walk around without clothes. As long as nobody else was around to see it, her nudity had never bothered Samantha.

“You may have some time to freshen up,” Stefano said. “Ten minutes.”

Ten minutes flew. Intensely nervous, she had need of the facilities. Then she had to inspect the drawers. They had left her a hairbrush and her travel set of shampoo and creams. With the exception of a tube of lip gloss, all clothing and makeup were missing. Samantha smiled. Affecting the natural look had been a good call.

She refreshed her lip gloss. A knock at the open door had her scurrying into the bedroom. Dressed in the same ebony shirt and light denim jeans, Alexei faced her.

Samantha looked him up and down. Unsurprisingly, he looked every bit as good as Stefano. She smiled and kept her distance, unsure how he expected her to greet him. The grim set of his lips and the seriousness behind those electric-blue eyes made her nervous and a little wet. This dark look gave him a dangerous edge Stefano seemed to lack.

“Did you dress alike on purpose?”

Alexei’s harsh expression cracked, just for a millisecond. “It amazes me that you knew I wasn’t Stef.”

“Yeah,” she said. “I can tell.”

Perhaps her grin was a little too self-satisfied. His demeanor changed back, armor firmly in place. “It’s time for your punishment, Samantha.” He nodded to the bed. “Bend over the edge with your feet on the floor, shoulder-width apart, hands on the back of your neck.”

She did as he asked. With each step she took closer to the bed, the wetness between her legs increased. The last time they’d punished her, it had felt so good. Time had seemed to slip away. Standing next to the bed, she stopped suddenly. Subspace. She had been there, just barely, and she had tasted bliss. Need wrenched her gut, but she breathed a sigh of relief. They had taken her there once; they would take her there again.

A strong hand on the back of her neck pulled her from her thoughts and forced her to the mattress. Feet kicked at her insteps, forcing her legs apart.

“That’s two punishments,” he said. Was he growling through gritted teeth? He turned her head so that her cheek pressed against the mattress, and he smoothed her hair away from her face. “Tell me why you’re being punished.”

“I didn’t answer your question earlier.”

“And why is that a punishable offense?”

“It’s disrespectful.”

“No,” he said. “It’s unsafe. When we ask a question, if you don’t give an immediate response, how can we know if you’re hurt? How can we tell if your failure to give a red or green signal comes from impudence or because you’re too hurt to speak or form hand signals? We don’t want to
hurt
you, Samantha.”

She understood. As the Dom, he was responsible for her safety and her pleasure. He needed to be able to count on her to communicate.

“You are untrained, but that changes now. Tell me why you earned a second punishment.”

That one threw her, but she was learning to not delay her answers. “I-I don’t know.”

“Failure to follow instructions. You came to the bed and stopped. I instructed you to bend over and assume a position. I expected to have to correct your posture because you’re new to this. However, I still expect you to make a good effort.”

She nodded, knowing he wouldn’t care to hear the reason she hesitated. Weak excuses would not be tolerated.

“You’ll count it out. Ten for each infraction.”

He didn’t use his hand. She definitely preferred his hand or the cat. She didn’t know where he had been hiding it, but he was using the paddle. It was hard and cruel, sending a different kind of pain through her. It wasn’t one she enjoyed. This wasn’t going to take her to subspace. This punishment was designed to keep her rooted in reality. She counted out loud. By the time he reached ten, tears stung the inside of her eyelids. The cheeks of her ass were on fire. By fifteen, tears leaked from her eyes and she could no longer say the words without revealing evidence of them.

Alexei stopped. “Samantha? Where are we?”

She took a deep, ragged breath. “Yellow?” Was that an option under these circumstances?

His fingers traced through the heat on her ass. She flinched. He reached between her legs. She didn’t stop him even though she knew he would find her barely wet. The tiny bit of moisture that was there had been generated by the sight of him in jeans and by the promise in his eyes.

“Tell me again why you’re being punished.”

Again, she breathed. “For not answering you and for wondering whether I would like this or not.”

Alexei threw the paddle onto the mattress and pulled Samantha, turning her so that she sat on the edge of the bed. One finger urged her chin up to look at him. He wiped away her tears with the pads of his thumbs. “Did you hesitate because you were afraid?”

Samantha shook her head. “I’m not afraid of you, Lex. I know I earned a punishment and I accept it. I just...Last time, I liked some of the punishment and the parts I didn’t like, it didn’t seem to matter for very long.”

He wiped away another tear.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to ruin this for you.”

With a quiet laugh, Alexei scooped her into his arms. Samantha nestled her head against his shoulder and accepted the comfort he offered. “Punishment while playing is mostly meant for small corrections or to help you hold off an orgasm. Punishment during training is to help you remember the rules. These responses need to become a part of you, Samantha. You’ll find that we’ll use this kind of punishment for infractions that could lead to compromising your safety.”

He held her in silence. His hand played up and down her spine, and her ass burned unpleasantly against the cool air in the room. The worst of the pain was subsiding and the heat of his body seeped through his clothes, branding her.

“We’ll forego the other five this time, Samantha. I think you’ve learned your lesson.”

Perhaps she had, or perhaps she hadn’t. Samantha wasn’t seized with a burning desire to please either man except for sexually. Nevertheless, she let the topic drop. She wasn’t eager to experience more of this brand of punishment.

Just when she relaxed enough to melt into his body, he patted her on the hip and set her on her feet. “Time to get dressed.”

“Dressed?” She thought being naked suited her purpose for being there just fine.

Alexei had already crossed the room. He opened a drawer in the painted white dresser and pulled out a stack of folded items. “Come here, Samantha.”

Heat flooded between her legs. The commanding tone in his voice set her libido back into motion. She obeyed.

He held a pink, silky corset up to her torso, checking the size. The corner of his mouth lifted, and he squatted in front of her, holding it open.

She stepped into it. The hand she placed on his shoulder was more because she wanted to touch him and less because she needed the balance support. Why did he want her to wear a corset? Samantha had always been a physically active person. Her weight and her shape were healthy. “Are you trying to tell me something?”

The softness of the silk whispered over her thighs and across her waist as he pulled it up her body. It stopped just under her breasts. Stiff material cupped the bottoms. It was enough to lift, but not enough to cover them. Though he didn’t answer her question, the burning in his eyes as he checked her over said enough. Samantha wondered how many outfits she would find in the drawers. She wondered how many other women had worn them.

“You’ll use condoms, right?”

Her question smacked of nervousness. She hoped he couldn’t hear the underlying jealousy that she had no right to feel.

The frown that flashed was brief. He turned her around and pulled the laces tight. “Yes. Don’t worry, Samantha. We’ll take all the same precautions we took before.”

Any further questions died in her throat. Flat, vertical pieces of plastic or metal forced her to stand very straight and thrust out her breasts. A single article of clothing accented the features each brother found most arousing.

As he worked his way down the ties, the tightness of the corset affected her in a curious fashion. Though she wasn’t tied to anything, she felt bound, powerless, yet secure. He knelt behind her. Cold leather encircled her ankles. She didn’t need to glance down to know the cuffs were thick leather bands that would allow him to secure and release her quickly from various restraint devices. It wasn’t the first time she had seen these cuffs, but it was the first time she had allowed them to be put on her.

He stood in front of her now, lifting one wrist to secure a cuff there. Samantha watched his fingers work the tiny buckles. She had become sopping wet when he tightened the corset. Now strength and stability were leaving her knees. They trembled. She inhaled a shaky breath that had Alexei jerking his head up.

Lex studied her eyes. A frown furrowed his brow. “Where are we, Samantha?”

“Green.” She didn’t hesitate. The word burst from her lips, an automatic response. Thought she hadn’t thought about it, she would die if he stopped now. “Please don’t stop. You’ve barely begun.”

He nodded. The frown faded, but it didn’t ease completely.

She inhaled a few times, using her breathing to try to control her body’s reaction to Alexei and what he was doing to her. “Really, Lex, I’m fine. This is just all new to me. Once I’m used to it, I promise I’ll do better.”

He finished buckling the last cuff to her other wrist. “Samantha, I’m not looking for you to hide your reactions. I need to know what they are so I know how far I can push you.” Lifting his hand, he traced her brow with his thumb. “We are going to push you, Samantha. We’re going to do things to you that you’re going to love and you’re going to hate. We’re going to make you cry and beg for more. We’re going to make you scream our names. You will submit to us completely, Samantha. Only then will you get exactly what you want.”

Sam couldn’t look away from the promise in his eyes. Then the flash of a longer leather band caught her attention. It wasn’t as thick or as wide as the heavy cuffs on her wrists and ankles. Two metal loops hung like tabs from it.

“Alexei, I said no collars.” She would not be a piece of property.

“No, you said you wouldn’t wear one in public. That’s fine, Samantha. We’re not leaving the house, and you will wear this in the playroom.”

Anger stopped the flow of cream to her pussy and snapped her out of the euphoria she felt from the way he was dressing her. “I said no collars. I didn’t specify where because I meant no collars
period
.”

His fathomless expression gave her pause. She wasn’t going to get her way in this. As proof, his question was a demand that she justify her request. Samantha knew how these things worked. He was negotiating, but he wasn’t doing it in a fair way.