Taken and Tamed (13 page)

“I’ve been shot before,” he replied grumpily, when she urged him to take it easy. “I know what my body needs better than these pill-pushing quacks.”

“Sweetie, you’d better get him the hell out of here before we shoot him ourselves,” his nurse muttered to Cass.

They spent another ten days at a nearby motel, so Nico could go back to the hospital daily for therapy. Despite his protests, Cass insisted on separate rooms. She’d seen the toll his injury took on him, caught the grimaces of pain he tried to hide, the trembling in his arms and legs when he pushed himself too hard. She knew that no matter what his cock wanted, the rest of his body needed time to recuperate.

Besides, she welcomed the interlude. Without the distraction of mind-blowing sex, she could get to know the real Nico. And the more time she spent with him, the more attracted to him she became. Every day after Nico’s therapy appointment, they talked for hours while they took long walks on a nature trail not far from the hospital. The local farmer’s market became a favorite stop every couple of days for fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese and bread for impromptu picnics.

At night they roamed the streets of downtown Asheville, stopping to watch street performers do magic tricks or listen to a sidewalk steel drum band or just sit and soak up the atmosphere at an outdoor café. One night they followed a savage beat to a tiny park downtown, lured there by the Friday night drum circle. To her amazement, Cass found dozens of drummers, young and old, perched here and there on the stone steps leading down to a crowded pocket park, pounding out a rhythm that somehow kept changing smoothly as they played. It was as though the drums had a life of their own, and had taken control of the drummers, compelling them to play as one.

People, young and old, danced in place, stomping and swaying to the beat vibrating up through the ground into their bodies. Next to her an aging hippie wearing a faded paisley skirt that grazed her Birkenstocks twirled in circles, waist-length gray hair flying around a face wreathed with a huge smile. Cass laughed, kicked off her high-heeled sandals, and joined in the dance, whirling faster and faster as the drumbeats built to yet another crescendo, then somehow seamlessly transitioned into a new rhythm.

He loved so many of the same things she did—binge-watching shows on Netflix, getting lost in a novel till three a.m. But he challenged her to get up, get out, and try new things as well. Cass realized that with Nico as a boyfriend, she had her own personal trainer. His idea of fun always involved doing something that left her with sore muscles. But it was the good kind of sore, the kind that made her revel in her newfound strength and stamina. She finally relented and bought a pair of cross-trainers, since she couldn’t keep up with him in her usual heels.

One afternoon they rented kayaks and paddled down a shallow river. Nico taught her to recognize the thrum of a wild turkey beating his wings against the ground, pointed out patches of blackberries just beginning to ripen in a sun-soaked clearing along the banks.

“In a couple of weeks, the turkeys will descend on that patch and strip every last berry from the branches. When I was a kid, it was always a race to see if we could get to the berries before the turkeys did. If we got lucky, we’d fill old milk jugs to the brim with them.” His eyes grew dreamy. “Granny used to make the best jam.”

“I’m guessing she served that on her famous biscuits.”

“Damn right. I vowed that someday I’d find me a gal who could cook just like granny,” he replied in a drawl. He gave her a lecherous grin. “Guess I’ll have to settle for one who gets my dick hard every time I look at her.”

She splashed him playfully and his eyes narrowed. “Be careful. You do realize I’m keeping track of every naughty thing you’ve done in the past couple of weeks. Right now you’ve earned yourself three good spankings. Are you sure you want to go for number four?”

Her pussy clenched. She’d been so hot, so ready for days now. But fear held her back even more than her concerns about his health. He’d done as he promised, never making a move until she was ready to come to him and ask for that next spanking. Both of them enjoyed the game of seduction they played along the way. The teasing, the casual remarks when they were out in public that only they knew were brimming with innuendoes.

By the time Cass headed back to Charlotte for a few days to take care of business, the sexual tension between them had built until it was nearly unbearable. This morning she’d picked him up in Asheville and they headed two hours up the road back to the cabin where they’d be spending the next month together while he got back into shape.

She swallowed nervously as he reached around her and unlocked the door. He’d stayed true to his promise all this time, never pressuring her, giving her the time she needed. But they both knew that agreeing to come here with him meant she would agree to submit to him, accept him completely as her dom.

Once inside, she bustled around, putting away the groceries, exclaiming over how the view of the mountains out the huge window had changed in a few short weeks. “It looks so different now that summer is almost here. The mountains closest to us are a sea of green!”

Nico never said a word. He stood in the middle of the cabin and let her carry on. Cass heard herself babbling like an idiot, but she couldn’t seem to stop. Her knees were shaking. She glanced at him.

He wore low-slung jeans and a black t-shirt that skimmed the sleek muscles in his chest. He’d gotten rid of the sling two weeks ago and both arms rested at his sides. All the sunshine and exercise had given his skin a bronze cast and he glowed with health. His dark hair had grown out a little over the last few weeks. It suited him. She resisted an impulse to go over and run her fingers through it, knowing he wouldn’t welcome a gentle touch at the moment. He stood there in full dom mode now. Huge. Silent. Radiating an aura of tightly controlled power.

His eyes met hers, dark and smoldering with heat. Her voice died off.

He let the silence build.

“Um… I guess I’m ready. But you probably knew that already since I’m here and we’re alone and all…”

“Cass.” His one word stopped her in her tracks.

“Uh… what?”

“Don’t you have something to ask me?”

“Right now? I thought we’d have some lunch first, maybe go for another walk…”

“I’m not hungry. And you don’t get to set our schedule. The moment you set foot inside that door, you gave up control. Now you have to acknowledge it. Not to me. To yourself.” His eyes raked over her. “Do it. Ask me.”

“Will you… I mean, I’d like you to… Oh, God, this is so hard. You know what I’m trying to say. So just do it!”

“That’s not how it works, Cass.” His tone was stern. “When I tell you to do something, I expect to be obeyed. Unless you want to start out being punished?”

“No!”

His eyes narrowed menacingly. “I don’t want to hear that word again while we’re here.”

She felt it again. The shiver of arousal surging through her every time she heard that stern tone in his voice.
He’s right,
she told herself.
This is what you wanted. Now you have to have the guts to admit it out loud.

She took a deep breath. “Would you please give me a sexy, loving spanking?”

He stared her down. “Sir.”

She looked back at him in confusion. “What?”

“You will address your dom as sir.”

“But I thought if it was a loving…”

He cut her off. “I told you once before. When it comes to sex, I’m
always
the dom. It’s my way, not yours.”

She let out a sigh. “Would you please give me a spanking, sir?”

He walked over to the couch and sat down. “Stand here in front of me. Take off your clothes. Slowly.”

Spurred by the commanding tone in his voice, she stepped in front of the couch and began unbuttoning her shirt. She’d chosen her outfit with care this morning—a sleeveless bronze silk blouse tucked into her favorite butt-hugging jeans. Underneath she wore a low-cut black lace bra and matching bikini panties. And since he’d spoken so fondly of them, she had on the black fuck-me stiletto heels she’d worn the day they met.

Cass tossed the shirt onto the floor and began unzipping her jeans. She took her time wiggling them down past her hips, relishing the way his eyes followed every movement of her hands. She slid off the black heels, one at a time, as she stepped out of her jeans, then put them back on to stand in front of him clad only in her underwear.

“Take off your bra, but leave the panties on—and the shoes.” His eyes held the glint of arousal but his voice stayed hard.

“Yes, sir.” Reaching back, she unhooked the bra, dropping it on top of her shirt. Her nipples stood out, dark reddish-brown peaks, already aching to be touched and squeezed.

“Come here and lie across my lap.”

Those four steps seemed like the longest journey of her life. He never moved, never spoke, even when she fumbled awkwardly as she draped herself over his thighs.

“Do you remember what I said would happen in a sexy, loving spanking?”

“Yes, sir.” Her voice was muffled as she buried her head in the couch, nervous and embarrassed.

“Tell me.”

“You said you’d rub my bottom while you told me all the things you were going to do to me.” His hand began making light circles over her panty-covered cheeks. She shivered. “Then you said you’d start spanking me. It would sting at first, then I’d get hot—and your cock would get hard.”

“That’s right.” His hand came down with a sharp whack. Cass squealed in surprise. He smacked her again with the flat of his palm. Hard enough to raise a fiery sting. He stopped and ran his hand across her quivering cheeks.

“Is it?”

She had a moment of confusion, not sure what he meant. Finally it hit home. She’d been so fixed on what was happening to her that she hadn’t even considered how this was affecting him. Tentatively, she rocked against his crotch. Sure enough, there was a distinct bulge in his tight jeans.

“You should have known the answer to that already.” He delivered three more swats to her ass, harder this time, and she gasped in shock. “Lesson one. You concern yourself with your dom’s pleasure before your own. A good dom will see to it that you are pleasured as well. But it will happen in his time frame, not yours.”

“Yes, sir,” she managed to murmur. He spanked her again and she felt the surge as his cock swelled beneath her. Her pussy clenched and she could feel it already damp with desire.

“What else did I say would happen in a sexy spanking?”

His hand stroked her ass again. More of a caress, really. She sighed, enjoying his touch. “You said when your cock got hard, you’d want to feel my arousal.”

As she spoke, he was sliding her panties down to her knees. Cass gasped as one finger delved between her legs. He dipped it into her moist center, then withdrew it. She heard him inhale deeply.

“I love the smell of your pussy when you get hot. Have you ever smelled it, breathed in the scent of your own arousal?”

Embarrassed, Cass shook her head. No man she’d ever been with had talked about the smell of her pussy. She had a sudden urge to bolt off his lap, head into the bathroom to wash. That’s what she’d always done in the past if she thought there was a chance that she’d be having sex with someone.

He brought his hand to her face. She caught a whiff of something earthy and musky, with an underlying sharp tang. It didn’t smell sweet. Certainly not like any perfume or feminine product she’d ever used.

“That’s real, Cass. The real you. That turns me on. And the more aroused you get, the stronger your scent becomes.” As he spoke, he worked her panties down to her ankles. Carefully, he drew them over her heels, one at a time. She saw the panties go flying across the room to land on the pile with her jeans and shirt.

“Now spread your legs for me.”

She parted her thighs a little and hissed when his hand came crashing down on her naked ass.

“I said spread your legs.”

She shifted her knees, opening herself up to him. His finger probed deeper this time.

“That’s better. Now tell me—did you do what I told you to do while you were back in Charlotte?”

Shyly, she nodded. That was easy. His words were burned into her memory. He’d asked her—no,
ordered
her—to play with herself every night while fantasizing about the spanking she’d get when they were back together. What he didn’t know was that ever since he’d been shot, she’d already spent nearly every night making herself come while hearing his stern, compelling voice in her head.

He delivered three sharp whacks to each cheek, hard enough for her to feel the burn. “Show me.”

She lay there, unsure of what he wanted, as the burn built into a fiery sting.

He smacked her harder. “I want to see what you did. Get up and sit in that chair. Show me how you made yourself come.”

Cass planted her arms on the cushions and leveraged herself to her knees, then took a few wobbling steps over to the upholstered chair that sat at an angle to the couch. She lowered herself onto the seat. The nubby fabric felt like sandpaper against the hot cheeks of her ass.

“Spread your legs nice and wide and do what you did.”

Face red with embarrassment, Cass ran a hand between her legs. She’d never masturbated in front of anyone before. But she should have known Nico would remember the fantasy she’d told him about—the one where she made herself come while imagining that her ex-husband would walk in, catch her doing it, and then spank her.

“Talk. Tell me what you were imagining. How you felt.”

She closed her eyes and began. Slowly at first. Hesitantly. “I thought about what you said would happen in a sexy, loving spanking. How you’d make me spread my legs for you, so you could run your finger up inside my pussy.”

Her hand moved, one finger disappearing into the tiny nest of dark curls between her legs. His voice rang out, sharp.

“Did you shave your pussy?”

Her eyes popped open. “I… trimmed it a little.”

“From now on, your pussy belongs to me. If it needs shaving, I’ll be the one making you spread your legs so I can go down and stroke along it with a razor. You’ll have to lie there without moving a muscle, knowing if you do you’ll get spanked. And I’ll enjoy the hell out of teasing you while I do it, just to see how much you can take before you earn yourself a good old-fashioned paddling with a hairbrush. You did buy a hairbrush, didn’t you?”