Stare Me Down (Stare Down) (27 page)

“Right here, that’s right.” He leaned back to give her access to his belt and when she had it unbuckled, he whispered, “Now take it off me.”

She had to tug a couple of times, but eventually she got it and when she went to drop it, he said, “No, hand it to me.”

She probably thought he was going to use it on her. Well, he was. Just not the way she thought. “Look at me.” Her eyes always seemed larger right after she woke. “I want you to trust me, okay?” He waited for her to nod and then said, “I’m going to buckle this around your throat. Not too hard‌—‌you’ll still be able to breathe. But hard enough so you’ll know my leather is wrapped around your throat and holding you while you suck my cock. Hold up your hair.”

He leaned forward and drew the belt around her neck. “Lift your chin. A little higher,” he said as he threaded the leather through the buckle and tightened. “See? Not too tight.” When the prongs engaged in the holes so that it wouldn’t tighten anymore, he wrapped the excess leather around his hand and pulled. “Now undo my pants.”

When she had them undone but didn’t move to do any more than that, he gave the belt a tug. “You know what to do. Make me happy. It’s that simple.”

His grip remained tight on the leather as she worked. He wasn’t going to help her. This was up to her and how badly she wanted to satisfy him. In no time at all she’d gotten his cock out, but instead of going right to it and taking it in her mouth, she did something totally unexpected. She used her hands and fingers to explore him. Petting and rubbing. Squeezing, which pleased the fucking hell out of him. Because watching her discover him this way was a different kind of turn-on. A more meaningful experience that touched him deeply. It was slow. Thorough. Bordering on bliss-filled torture.

Already he was harder, longer, thicker and ready to explode the moment he gave himself permission to, and she hadn’t even gotten her mouth on him. That was the amazing part. A heaviness settled in his belly and lower, branching out. Rolling and reaching as he watched her. With one hand holding his leather tight around her neck, he rested his other on the top of her head. He’d noted before how she’d responded to the gesture, and he hadn’t been wrong. The second he did it, it was as if she dipped on cue, but instead of her mouth taking him inside, she licked him.

From the base where his cock met his ball sac to his tip, she dragged her tongue. He wasn’t a man to say he shivered, but it was something fucking close when she dragged her tongue back down. Only slower, and not on the same path. She made a new one, which left the old one to chill in the air after she abandoned that saliva thread. Over and over she did it. Teasing with kisses to the top of his dick until he almost lost patience and demanded she open up and take him inside her mouth. Would she ever?

Oh, fuck, yeah. Her mouth opened and opened some more as he slid over the cradle she fashioned her tongue into and went deeper to the back of her throat. There was so much he wanted to say. Do. Command, but that wasn’t the point of tonight. The belt around her neck was, and yet? He’d nearly forgotten about it. He nearly forgotten about everything as she surrendered to the moment and focused on him. On giving him pleasure. He reached down and felt between her legs. Soaked. She was soaked. He grabbed hold of his dick and gently pulled it out of the suction of her mouth. If he didn’t have hold of the leather around her neck, she would have dove forward for more.

When she was six inches from him, panting but not trying to hang herself any longer, he let go of the belt and ordered, “Turn around and get on all fours.”

Thankfully she did, because he needed a few seconds to regroup. Get the condom out of his pocket and‌—‌fuck. She dropped her shoulders down toward the floor and lifted her ass toward the ceiling. Just the position he loved. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath then opened them and said, “Spread your knees. Wider and keep that ass up. Is your pussy aching? I bet it is.”

He tugged on the condom and kneeled behind her. Astounded when, with one arm and shoulder to the floor and cheek turned sideways against the wood, she used her free hand to reach back and give him his strip of leather. He wound it around his palm and decided she deserved to come twice for that.

“Do you love the weight of my leather around your throat?” He slid his cock into her slowly, going halfway in and stopping, wanting to hear her answer. “Do you?”

“Yes.” She tried to push back but he stopped her.

“Say it.”

She moaned and attempted to move, but he held a firm grip on the belt so she couldn’t. “Say you love my leather around your throat. You love the way it makes you feel. Owned. Needed. Wanted.”

“I…” He felt it. That shiver. The one she did when she truly enjoyed something, and his heart beat like a drum against his rib cage. “I love it. I do. It makes me feel safe and protected.”

Her words were better than his. So much better. He leaned over, reaching for her clit, whispering once he got hold of it, “Do you want me to show you another trick I know that will blow your mind?”

He was careful as he slammed into her, making sure the tip of his cock beat with steady precision against her G-spot. Over and over and over.

She gasped. Moaned. Groaned and then screamed when he gave her back-to-back orgasms before he hammered into her to find his own with a growl.

“I don’t think I can move,” she finally said.

“Do you want me to help you to the bed?”

“No, that’s okay. I can manage.”

Aries watched her get up. She didn’t take any notice of his belt, which was still locked around her neck. It looked great against her skin. And with the slack length of it falling down to the apex of her thighs, all kinds of ideas came to him. Like what he could connect to the end of that before he—

“Are you coming to bed? You’re going get cold lying there.”

He didn’t think so. His heated thoughts warmed him. “Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute.”

He got up and went into the bathroom and by the time he came out, she was sitting up in the bed. She always looked sexy after he’d fucked her hard, but tonight with the belt wrapped around her neck? She was the prettiest he’d ever seen her. Albeit a little pensive at the moment. That could only mean one thing.

“You look great.” He dove over her and spread out beside her with arm bent and chin propped in his hand. “Is this going to be a long discussion, do you think?”

She shook her head and smiled. A deep smile that showed off her dimples and made her eyes sparkle when she looked down at him. “No, I don’t think so. I just wanted to ask you one thing.”

He picked up the end of the belt and played with it. He was feeling something. Something good. Really good, with his hand on the end of the leather and the other end wrapped around her throat. “Ask.”

She looked him in the eyes. Her gaze was deep. Penetrating. This was important to her. Whatever she had to ask him he knew the answer he gave was going to mean something to her. “Do you want to take the belt off…‌or, um, should I?”

“I don’t want to take it off,” he said and could almost feel her disappointment as she sat forward. When she brought her hands up, he whispered, “Don’t touch my leather, Jaxx. If I put it on you, I’m the only one to take it off, do you understand?” He sat up and after she nodded, he added, “What I meant was I didn’t want to take it off you just yet. I like it on you. Come here.”

He opened his arms and when she leaned into them, he fell back in the bed with a sigh. She was a handful. Smart. Too smart and stubborn, didn’t barely even cover it, but he wanted her. He wanted her all to himself.

“You’re crushing me.”

Her playful growl made him grin and when she poked him in the ribs to get him to loosen his grip, he chuckled. “Okay, easy there, tiger. Relax.” He opened his arms and let her slide off his chest so she was lying beside him. Then he dug the belt out from between their bodies and took hold of it.

He should take it off her and go, but he didn’t want to. It felt nice. Better than nice lying next to her. He closed his eyes as he rubbed the leather with his thumb, thinking about how great it was going to be to Scene with her. She was going to be a pleasure. An absolute joy to master.

“I think I’m cut out for this,” she whispered and God love her, she tugged on the leather. “I do. It’s not like I want you to tell me what to do during the day or anything. Actually, when you do, it annoys the shit out of me, because I have things I need to get done that don’t involve you. There are people I work with and decisions I make every day that you can’t help with, but that said?” She snuggled up to him. “When we’re like this, I’d do anything for you. Anything.”

“Do you know how glad I am to hear that?”

She was walking her fingers over his chest then stopped. “So, you’re not bothered by the fact I find you annoying occasionally?”

“No, but just so you don’t feel bad about that, on occasion, I find you’re no peach either.”

She snorted. “Well, at least I’m not trying to rule the world.”

He leaned back and popped his shoulder to make her look up. When she did, he said, “You could have fooled me.”

“What? Why? Because I challenge you?”

She was staring, so he stared right back. “Maybe.”

“Bullshit.”

“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”

“No, I kiss you, and I don’t hear you complaining.”

He held her gaze while he wrapped the belt around his palm until there was no slack left, much like in the atmosphere around them. It got heavy. Quiet. Intense as he whispered, “The only time I’m going to complain is when you displease me. Right now? I’m enjoying your feistiness because you need it, Jaxx. Somewhere along the way something happened. I think I know what it is, but until you do, I’m not going to say. Use the elves. They’re in your corner and when those guys come out, they’re swinging.”

His grip eased while he waited for her to say something. He expected something sarcastic, so when she laid her cheek over his heart and whispered, “For a smart cookie I’m pretty dumb. I can help other people understand their problems but when it comes to my own life it’s like I’m swimming in pool of water locked in a body bag.”

He drew her in closer. This was his opening. The perfect time to ask her again. “Why do you have to figure yourself out?”

She stopped rubbing her jaw up and down his pec, and said, “So I know.”

Her breath fanning his skin felt calming. Right. “Why you are the way you are?”

She nodded.

“And when you discover the answer, what are you going to do about it?”

She leaned up on elbow and stacked one hand on top of the other on his chest before resting her chin on them. “What do you mean?”

“I like who you are, don’t you?”

She frowned while she thought about that, so he’d give her more to think about.

“I see a woman who’s growing into her future because her past, no matter what happened there, isn’t holding her back. She just needs a little confidence and maybe a spanking once in a while to set her straight.” She blinked, and he couldn’t help himself. “I wasn’t going to gossip, but word is? The elves are exhausted.”

She got up on her knees, and blood drained to his cock. The sight of her naked, hair all mussed from their playing and his belt around her throat had his adrenaline revving. But this wasn’t the time. She needed him in a different way right now.

“You know? I’m more myself when I’m with you. It’s like I know who I really am and I think…‌I think I like who that person is more than the other ones.”

He shook his head. “Other ones?”

“Yeah, there’s the Jaxx who tried to be the best daughter so her parents would like her better and then there’s the Jaxx who tries to be sensible and calm so she won’t disappoint Maggie. I just want to be me and with you I can be that. There’s no stress.”

His desire was all but forgotten. She’d just given him the best compliment. Now more than ever he knew things had to work out between them, because if he weren’t mistaken, Jaxx Gavin had just wrecked his chances with ninety percent of the female population.

“Come here.” He pulled her by the belt down to him and kissed her deeply. “I like who you are too. So if there was bad shit along the way you had to deal with? I’m not sorry about it, I’m thankful for it. It made you who you are. And I repeat, I like who you are.”

She combed her fingers through his hair while she looked to be digesting this. Then she stopped. “Could you put a good word in for me with the elves? This is no time for them to be exhausted.”

He pulled her down. Close. Searching her face and then eyes. “Fuck the elves, babe. You have me now.”

He wasn’t expecting the response he got when she wound her arms around his neck and squeezed tight. He knew she hadn’t meant for him to hear it. He was sure of it when she whispered softer than soft.

“I need you…”

But he heard it. He heard it loud and clear and he hoped he wasn’t wrong about being her everything. He prayed he was doing the right thing. God, if he wasn’t? He didn’t want to think about that.

Chapter Seventeen

Aries had a full night ahead of him and he was working on little sleep. But who could blame him there? Jaxx was a temptation no guy could easily walk away from, and last night with his belt wrapped around her throat? He never wanted to leave her. But right now he had to do his weekly inspection of equipment and make a few needed adjustments in this regard. It did occur to him that even without the epiphany he had that afternoon at Aaron’s birthday party he would have eventually realized that the club scene wasn’t his style anymore. Jaxx’s presence in his life proved this.

“Yeah, move this one over there and then do something with this. What the hell happened to it? Did someone bring a dog in here?”

“Draco. He likes to show off the power of his custom-made finger cuffs. I don’t know how he hasn’t maimed any of his subs with those things.”

Aries bent to examine the damage to the spanking horse and then stood. “We’re not paying for this.”

Shar followed along behind him. “I know. I already told him. He’s cool with it. Aries? Hey? What happened? Did your date crap out on you?”