The Game (25 page)

“How many chances do you want from me?”

His mouth lifted on one side. “Apparently, I’m a bit of a fuckup, and I might need
you to extend an olive branch now and then.” He was in my space again. “Forgive me.
Forgive me for being a coward that first night. Forgive me for interfering in your
life this week. Know that I did it with your best interest in mind, and I swear I’ll
never go behind your back again.

“If we ever encounter an issue in the future, I’ll spread out the details better and
talk it out instead of taking matters into my own hands.”

I wanted his words to be true. My breasts ached, swollen from the pressure I had on
them to keep my nipples from pebbling in his presence.

“Be mine.”

“I don’t want you to own me, Riley. I want you to love me. Unconditionally.”

“I do.”

My eyes widened.

Seconds ticked by.

“Forgive me?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Yes. You always have a choice.”

“Right answer.” I licked my lips.

“Open yourself up, baby. Drop your arms. Spread your legs. I hate that stance you
have. So closed. Cold.”

Slowly I let my hands fall to my sides and uncrossed my legs. I trembled under his
gaze. He had something over me that was undeniable. I could fight this. I could leave.
Run. Hide. But what would I gain?

Even if he was occasionally an asshole and meddled in my life, I would always forgive
him. That’s how strongly I felt about him. I was putty in his presence. I’d been kidding
myself about being able to turn it off and leave town as if I could forget him and
move on.

The truth was, I would have spent weeks crying my eyes out over the loss. I had no
choice but to give him another shot. It would kill me not to.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Riley’s gaze roamed up and down my body. “Thank you. I know this is hard for you.
I also know it’s my fault. Don’t let that bitch win. Please, baby. Stay with me. Fight.
Hold your head high. I’m yours.”

He’s mine
…

He was right. I would fight for him.

He reached for me, his fingers moving slowly to stroke my cheeks and then down my
chin and neck until he softly floated them over my nipples.

I arched into his touch.

“God, I love how your body responds to me.”

I did too.

“I need you. I need to see you. All of you.” If I wasn’t mistaken, his fingers shook
as he lowered his arms. “Take off your clothes, baby.”

I hesitated. It was so fast. We had a tendency to go from anger to sex in point five
seconds.

He waited, though I knew he wouldn’t be this patient normally.

“I want to spank you.”

I swallowed, wetness flooding my panties.

“I’m not going to.”

My shoulders slumped before I could stop them.

“I’m going to flog you.”

Flog?

I had my fingers fisted in my T-shirt, ready to lift it over my head, but I hesitated
and stared at him. “Not sure I’m ready for that.”

“Talk to me. What are you afraid of?”

“Uh, pain?”

He took my hands and met my gaze, pulling me closer. “There will be no pain. Only
pleasure. I promise. The flogger feels more like a massage than anything else. It
soothes, relaxes you. I’ll start out easy, and I won’t flog you any harder than you
can tolerate.”

I chewed on my lower lip for a moment and then nodded. His expression was sincere.
He would never hurt me.

He lifted a brow.

“Okay, Sir.”

He tugged my T-shirt over my head and tossed it aside with no regard for where it
landed. His fingers danced down the lace of my bra and dipped into the upper swell
to stroke my nipples.

I moaned and leaned into him, grabbing his forearms for balance as I swayed too far.

“So sexy,” he muttered.

My eyes fluttered shut.

“Trust me. Trust me to know what you need and what you can handle. You have safewords.”

I nodded.

“What are they?”

“Red. Yellow.”

He smiled.

I glanced down. “I’m a mess.” I lifted my hands to my uncombed hair and remembered
I also wore no makeup.

He chuckled. “I don’t care. I will admit, though you are smokin’ hot in jeans, I hate
them. Jeans in general. They get in my way. But I do like knowing they’re tight and
rubbing against your pussy.”

More wetness. “Stop it.”

“Stop what?” he teased.

“Speaking.”

“Never.” His gaze lowered to my waist. “Take them off. I want to watch.”

I undid the button, lowered the zipper, and then wiggled my ass back and forth to
ease them over my hips. When I kicked off my tennis shoes and stepped out, he grabbed
my hand to steady me. I released him to crouch down and remove my socks.

“I’ll run you a bath. I bet you could use the hot water and relax a while.”

He was going to let me soak in the tub? Sounded heavenly.

I followed him down the hall into the master bedroom and through to the master bath.

Riley turned on the tap and held his hand under the water until it heated. Then he
pushed the stopper down and stepped back. “Get in, baby. I’ll go grab you something
to drink.” He paused at the doorway and looked back. “When was the last time you ate?”

I nibbled my lip. “Sometime yesterday I think.”

He nodded and left without a word.

Ten minutes later as I lay in the tub, covered with warm water, he returned, carrying
a tray. “Brought you several things.”

I smiled at his assortment. Suddenly I was starving. I lifted a hand out of the water,
but he shook his head. “Just relax.”

When I lowered my hand back under the water and tipped my head back to see him better,
he sat on the edge of the tub and held up a grape.

It was just a grape, but I moaned around it. The way he fed me made everything taste
sharper. More flavorful. Delicious. The unexpected—not knowing what he would offer
next—heightened my senses.

A piece of hard cheese followed. I closed my eyes as I savored the flavor. Expensive
cheese. Not something I’d ever had before.

He offered me a pretzel next, and I almost giggled at the simplicity of the selection
on his platter of a variety of fruits, cheeses, and prosciutto.

He tapped my nose. “What’s so funny, imp?”

“Nothing,” I mouthed around the bite.

We went on like this until everything was gone and the water in the tub was cooling
off. Sometimes Riley took a bite. Mostly he fed me. And in between he offered me sips
of white wine. Crisp. Dry. Perfect.

“You’re shivering.”

“The water got cold.”

He set the tray aside and reached a hand out to help me out of the tub. When he wrapped
me in a giant plush white towel, I sighed. He led me from the room. Damp tendrils
of my hair hung across my shoulders.

The bedroom was bright from the sun spilling in the window to land in long rays across
the floor. The comforter was pulled back to reveal the dark midnight blue sheets.

Riley eased the towel from my body. At some point he had removed his shoes, and now
he tugged his shirt over his head. He stood before me in nothing but worn jeans that
hugged his body low on his hips in a way that any woman would drool. “Kneel in front
of the bed, Cheyenne. Hands on the mattress. Head ducked. Knees apart.”

I followed his directions, my heart pounding. I glanced around, my gaze landing on
the flogger I had managed to somehow miss when I entered the room. It rested on the
bedside table, thick with long black leather strips. I held my breath.

“Don’t panic. We’ll take it slow. You’ll be surprised by how good it feels to be flogged.
It’s like an intimate massage. I know you think it will hurt, but you’re wrong. You’ll
love it. Just relax.” He set a hand on my shoulder and pointed at the side of the
bed. “Eyes to the front. Chin down. Safeword red.”

I gripped the sheet around the mattress with both hands, bracing myself. Would this
be the time I finally needed my safeword?

Instead of swatting me with it, Riley dragged the ends across my skin, dancing them
over my shoulders and then down my back. It tickled more than anything.

I relaxed marginally as he continued to shake the ends across my ass and thighs and
then my calves.

“I’m going to strike you now, so softly you will hardly notice. You ready?”

“Yes, Sir.”

When he lifted it away, he wasted no time before it landed on my upper back. Gently.

I flinched, but for no reason. It didn’t hurt at all. In fact, it felt good. Welcome.

Again it whizzed through the air and landed on the other side of my back below my
shoulders. Several more strikes landed similarly as I relaxed into the rhythm, forgetting
entirely that I’d been nervous.

Gradually, each time he struck me, he swung slightly harder. The increased pressure
was welcome. In fact, I craved it. He didn’t add to the force fast enough. I wanted
more.

Suddenly, he switched to my ass.

I swayed forward with a gasp. The sting was delicious, but shocking.

“Stay still, baby. Don’t move. It’s important that I only swat you in the fatty areas.
If you move, I might miss my target and hurt you.”

“Okay.”

“Okay what?”

“Yes, Sir.” As soon as I spoke that word, I slipped into a place of submission one
notch deeper than I’d been in. It was that easy.

“Good girl. May I keep going?”

“Yes, Sir.” I craved it.

Several seconds went by while he rustled around behind me, and then he was back, and
the next time I felt the leather hit my skin it was followed immediately by a second
flogger.

I glanced over my shoulder. He held two now, working them in a sort of figure eight
through the air so there was little pause between contact with my skin.

“Face front, Cheyenne. Hold still. This style is called Florentine. How does it feel?”

“Amazing, Sir.”

He chuckled and continued striking me across my upper back and then lower over my
ass and thighs.

Instinctively I spread my legs wider. I closed my eyes. I was so wet. Incredibly turned
on.

“You’re enjoying this.”

I was.

“Can you take more?”

“Yes, Sir,” I whispered. I actually wanted him to continue.

His actions increased in speed and force until I found my head hanging lower in front
of me and my back red hot with the burn.

He suddenly struck me four times in a row with sharp stinging slaps that made me moan,
and then he stopped.

I heard the thud of the floggers hitting the floor, and then he was behind me, kneeling
between my legs, his hands roaming up and down my body, rubbing the burning sting
in my ass and back.

I was so horny, I could have come by his touch alone, and I willed him to reach between
my legs. And then his hands were on my waist and he lifted me onto the bed on my hands
and knees. I was shaking. I couldn’t stop.

He disappeared for only seconds, and then I heard the tear of a condom wrapper and
he was back.

He held me firmly as he thrust into me with no warning.

The shock was so much that I came immediately. My body pulsed around his cock deep
inside me.

“That’s it, baby. Let it go.” He threaded his fingers into my hair and held my head
firmly, tugging so that my neck elongated.

A deep moaned escaped my lips. My sated body wanted to ooze into the top of the bed
and relax.

But Riley wasn’t done with me. “Stay on your hands and knees, baby.” He pulled almost
out and thrust back into me, releasing my head to grab my hips with both hands. Fast
and hard he thrust, over and over.

My first orgasm, not fully finished, turned into two and then three. Each one was
more intense than the previous. The pleasure was more than I’d ever experienced, and
I never wanted him to stop.

He didn’t, at least not for a while. Instead he snaked one hand around to stroke my
clit, driving me higher. I braced myself and thrust backward with his rhythm so we
moved in a choreographed pattern.

When Riley reached his peak, he paused deep inside me, his fingers working my clit
so hard I came one more time while he emptied himself into the condom.

Completely out of energy, my arms and legs shook.

Riley held me up around the waist and slowly lowered me to the bed. He kissed my shoulder
blade as he pulled out, leaving me sprawled open without the energy to move an inch.

He padded from the room and returned a minute later with a warm cloth that landed
between my legs to stroke through my sensitive folds. When he was satisfied, he tugged
my body so I lay the correct direction on the bed, climbed up beside, me and covered
us both with the sheet. I was way too hot for any blankets and glad I didn’t have
to voice that because so far my lips didn’t work.

I faded as he held me close to his side. “Sleep, baby. Rest.” His lips landed all
over my shoulder, soft kisses that lulled me into a deep sleep.