The Prize (14 page)

“Don’t bend your knees. Feet wider.”

I spread my legs and set my elbows on the table, my forehead against the backs of
my hands. The surface was smooth, the wood dark, and I was grateful it was there for
support.

Parker stood and sauntered closer until he stepped between my legs. He set his hands
on my ass cheeks and molded them.

I had to brace myself to avoid rocking forward.

When he separated my cheeks, I sucked in a sharp breath. He had the perfect view of
my rear hole. I wasn’t a prude, but I also hadn’t shared that forbidden hole with
anyone. No one had asked for that one thing.

Parker had stated he would take me there some day. Did he intend that to be today?

Was I ready?

The vibrator returned, the setting slightly higher than before. As he stroked it through
my folds again, I calmed myself with deep breaths. The thought of him breaching my
ass dampened my arousal enough to keep me from coming. All I had to do was concentrate
on what he intended to do with that vibrator.

Coated in my juices, the slick device made its way forward to circle my clit and then
backward to tap on my tight hole. Again and again with enough pressure to drive me
insane but not enough to give me the relief I needed.

I whimpered softly against my hands, willing him to increase the vibrations or apply
more pressure. Either one would do the trick. It was amazing I lasted as long as I
did.

“Your skin is so smooth and perfect. It makes my hand itch to spank you.”

Would he?

I shuddered. I wanted him to. I couldn’t believe the thought entered my mind, but
my body was so heated I would let him do anything. The idea of his hand landing on
my ass at that moment made my pussy clench. “Do it.”

He hesitated, easing the vibrator from between my legs and turning it off. He set
it on the table behind my head and smoothed his hands down my body from my shoulders
to my hips and over my ass. For the second time, he gripped my cheeks and spread them
apart. “Are you sure you’re ready for that?”

“Yes. Please. I want to feel your hand on me.”

He released me with one hand and set the other on my lower back.

I lurched forward several inches the first time his palm landed on my butt, low on
one cheek. Tingles raced through my body. Not in a bad way. It felt amazing. The rush
of adrenaline was intense. I wanted more. “Again, Sir. Please.”

He caressed the heated spot, lifted his hand, and spanked my other cheek in the same
way.

I moaned, rocking forward and backward slightly. “Oh. God.”

“You like that?”

“Very much, Sir.”

He did it again, this time a little higher. And then two more times in random spots.

What shocked me more than anything was how close I was to coming. This was not what
I expected. Wasn’t spanking supposed to elicit feelings of humiliation? The emotion
I had was pure arousal.

I clenched my pussy when the next spank hit low and centered on my ass, jerking my
head up off my hands and inhaling sharply. I was close. Too close.

He smoothed his hand over the last spot and rubbed the sting. “Hold it in, hon. I
know you need to come, but control it.”

Was he insane? I was way past controlling anything. I gritted my teeth, unable to
utter the words to tell him this. If I glanced down, I assumed I would find my clit
three times its normal size and throbbing.

His hand disappeared. “Stand up, Meagan.”

I wasn’t sure it was possible. I hesitated, knowing my legs wouldn’t hold me, especially
in my heels. Finally, I pushed off the coffee table with my palms and righted myself,
holding my breath, shaking. All my concentration was centered on the need to come
and whether or not I could suppress the urge.

My vision was blurred. Was there even blood in my head at all?

“Turn around and sit on the edge of the table, hon. Facing me.” He stepped back and
lowered himself onto the plush couch cushion once again, crossing one ankle over the
opposite knee and cupping his chin as if he were about to watch a game on television.

I lowered my ass onto the table. My heels made it possible for me to plant my feet
on the floor. Only a few inches separated my knees from his.

“Spread your legs wide.”

I separated my thighs for him, breathing heavily. Somehow this new position felt more
intimate with my pussy swollen and spread open to his view.

“Look at me, hon.”

I lifted my gaze.

“Good girl. Sit up straight and fuck yourself with your fingers.”

I flinched. Masturbate? For him to watch? Another first…

Could I do it?

Could I not?

There was no question. I needed to come so badly I would do anything. If he wanted
to watch me push my fingers in and out of my pussy, I would gladly do so to reach
orgasm. I smoothed one hand down my belly and reached between my legs.

“Tweak your nipples with your other hand.”

My tits strained forward, eager for the contact. I moaned when my fingers pinched
my nipple and pulled it outward. With my other hand, I gathered my copious wetness
and spread it forward to circle my clit. If I touched it, even lightly, I would tip
over the edge.

“Please, Sir. May I come?”

“Yes. Now. Come for me.”

With one stroke, my orgasm swept through my system. My pussy pulsed around nothing,
and my clit throbbed against my fingers the moment I pressed against the tight nub.

My legs shook violently.

“God, you’re so gorgeous.”

His words sounded far away. How was I still seated and not collapsed on the floor
like a puddle that oozed from the table?

As the orgasm subsided, I tried to catch my breath, but Parker had other ideas. “Don’t
stop. Keep going. I want you to come again.”

Ordinarily I would have said that wasn’t possible, but tonight was anything but ordinary.
There was no doubt I could and would come again. And probably a third time too.

Without hesitation, I thrust three fingers into my pussy and fucked myself hard and
fast, the ardor rising rapidly back to full-blown desire.

My back was stiff. I would ache tomorrow. But I didn’t care. All I cared about was
reaching that precipice again and tumbling over into the abyss.

“So sexy. Keep going.”

I couldn’t have stopped even if he demanded it.

So much wetness…

So much need…

So much emotion…

If I hadn’t been so wrapped up in the consuming energy to orgasm again, I would have
cried. Probably for hours. It was highly likely I still would. Later. After.

As I got closer, I switched to pinching my opposite nipple, pulling and twisting on
it to the point of pain. I thrust my fingers into my pussy faster, adding a fourth,
wishing I could reach deeper than the length of my fingers.

I lifted my heels off the ground and perched on my toes to give me better access.

Never in my life had I masturbated with such urgency. Hell, I usually used a toy.
Not my hands.

As I got close, I sucked in a breath. I lacked oxygen. I could sense it, but I couldn’t
do anything about it.

“Come, Meagan. Now.”

At his command, I came, my pussy gripping my fingers tighter than I thought possible.
My clit pulsed, and I set my thumb on it to press down and fully experience the orgasm
coming from more than one part of my sex. My eyes fluttered shut, and I tipped my
head back toward the ceiling.

As I came back to earth, the room came back into view. I lowered my head to find Parker
naked. He was still in the same spot on the couch, but his clothes were gone and he
had a condom in his hand. He held it out. “Stand up, hon.”

I pulled my fingers from my pussy. It took me several moments to rise to my feet.
Every movement drew my attention to the wetness between my legs. I could come again.
The idea shocked me. Instead of collapsing, my adrenaline pumped.

“Suck your fingers clean, Meagan.”

I glanced at my soaked hand and lifted it to my mouth, curious about my taste even
though ordinarily I wouldn’t have found the idea of licking my juices to be sexy.
I slipped my pointer between my lips and sucked it from base to tip like a lollypop,
keeping my gaze on Parker’s with the intent of looking sultry. My flavor burst on
my tongue. Sweet and salty at once. Not undesirable. I’d tasted myself on his lips
before, but this was so much more intense.

I repeated the action with each finger before lowering my hand down my chest to sweep
it across my breasts and back toward my belly.

“Enough touching, hon.” He held out the condom. “Put this on me.”

I lifted my hand from my body and took the foil wrapper from him to tear it open with
my teeth and then slip the lubricated rubber from the package.

As I stepped between his legs, I leaned forward to roll the condom slowly down his
cock. He was harder than I’d ever seen him. Not surprising.

His length bobbed in front of him when I let go.

“Kick off your shoes now and climb onto my lap. I want you to ride me. I’m going to
let you do it however you want. Slow. Fast. Deep. Shallow. It’s up to you.”

I smiled slowly. He was conceding this small amount of control.

Of course, if I believed that, I was crazy. He was still the one giving the commands.
And I had no doubt he would stop me if I did anything not permissible. But exhilaration
filled my senses as I lifted my feet out of my heels and then climbed onto the couch.
My pussy spread wide with my knees positioned on each side of his hips to give me
the leverage I needed to lower myself onto his cock and then fuck him the way I felt
like being filled.

As I eased gradually over his stiff length, I closed my eyes, savoring every sensation.
The inside of my pussy suddenly had more nerve endings than ever before.

I was also tight from the swollen membranes. I didn’t stop until he was seated as
deep as possible, and I smiled when a low groan escaped his lips.

He grabbed my hips with his hands, but then released his tight grip and smoothed his
palms up my sides until he cupped my breasts. “Can’t wait to watch these bounce in
front of me while you fuck me.”

I set my forehead against his, not willing to move yet, preferring to savor the feel
of him filling me. I would need this moment later. I could call on it when times were
tough. When I got lonely, I would have this snapshot of us together for the rest of
my life.

Instead of lifting off him and starting the harried pace I would take the moment I
moved and the friction consumed me, I met his gaze and then glanced down his body.
I created a panorama of us in my head. No one could take that away from me.

Ever.

Chapter Sixteen

I was right.

Once I started, I couldn’t stop.

I fucked him hard, pushing all the way down every time to get his full length as deep
as possible. I had to fight back the urge to come for a third time prematurely. It
would be so much better if I came when he did.

Luckily, Parker was too aroused to last very long. His hands lowered from my breasts
to rest beneath them, holding me tight, not in an effort to control my movements but
more as a way of grounding himself.

When his eyes clouded over and his mouth fell open, I released the tiny grip I had
on my ability to hold back. The moment he came, I let myself fall with him. The pulsing
of his cock combined with the grasp of my pussy to create pure ecstasy.

I collapsed against his chest when I could no longer hold myself up, my head falling
on his shoulder.

He wrapped his arms around me, keeping me from floating away. His fingers stroked
up and down my spine while I settled.

It took a long time for my breathing to return to normal and my brain to clear enough
to make sentences. “I can’t believe…” How was I supposed to finish that phrase?

He held me tighter again. “You’re a natural. Gorgeous and amazing. Spectacular. You
realize I’ll never let you go, right?”

I stiffened.

He stopped moving also.

His heart beat against my chest, and I concentrated on that one thing to avoid pointing
out that I couldn’t stay with him. Not now. Not during the most beautiful moment of
my life.

Luckily he changed the subject. “Did I hurt you?” he asked, his hands lowering to
cup my ass and squeeze.

The skin was heated and slightly tender.

I shook my head against his shoulder. “Not at all. It felt perfect.” That was no lie.

“Told you it would. It’s difficult to comprehend allowing someone to spank you—or
even flog or whip you—until you’ve experienced it firsthand. But now that you have,
do you see how satisfying it can be? The release when you give up control is that
much stronger and fulfilling.”

“Yes.” I was suddenly so tired. I had to force that one word out. I couldn’t concentrate
on his speech any longer. It seemed like my body had two choices—expel the stress
of the last few weeks through a long ugly cry or succumb to sleep. I didn’t want to
expose my emotions so thoroughly in front of Parker. I wasn’t sure what kinds of things
I might blurt out if given the opportunity. So I chose sleep. “So tired.”

“Rest, hon. I’ve got you.” He cupped my ass and lifted off the couch.

I held on to his neck and allowed him to carry me through the house, my legs wrapped
around his hips, my head still on his shoulder.

He didn’t bother with the lights as he entered his bedroom and deposited me gently
on the bed. “Be right back.”

I didn’t move, letting the air of the room cool my heated skin. My eyes were too heavy
to open. Nothing mattered but allowing the darkness to take me under.

When he returned, he spread my legs open and wiped away our combined love making.
And then I curled onto my side as he drew the covers over my body.

In seconds, I slipped into a deep sleep.

****

I had no idea what time it was when I awoke with a gasp. How long had I been asleep?
I bolted upright, instantly on alert with no idea where I was. Had I been dreaming?
I didn’t think so.

There was movement at my side before a hand landed on my back. “Meagan. You okay,
hon?”

My racing heart slowed at the sound of his voice, jerking me back to reality. I was
in Parker’s house, in his bed, surrounded by his warmth.

I lowered myself back onto the mattress and turned toward his warm body to curl into
his side and set my cheek against his chest.

A peace I had never known filtered in. I inhaled his scent, slowly drawing breaths
so I could memorize that also and store it with the mental image of me fucking him
on his couch. “What time is it?”

“Almost six.”

“How long was I asleep?” I had no idea when we’d finished having sex and come to bed.

“Eight hours. You were out. You haven’t moved a muscle.”

“Wow.” No wonder I was wide awake. I didn’t want to move, but my mind was alert.

And then a flood of emotions slipped in unbidden, and I couldn’t stop the rush of
feelings that consumed me. In two seconds, tears flooded my eyes and slipped unbidden
to run down my face and drip onto Parker’s chest. It was too late to stop the onslaught
or keep the insanity from him.

He didn’t seem shocked. Instead he wrapped his arm around me tighter and held me close,
kissing the top of my head. “It’s okay, hon. Let it out.”

What was he talking about? Had he known I would start bawling? How could he?

“You were in a subspace. It’s common to be flooded with emotions afterward. It usually
happens before you fall asleep, but since you didn’t take the time to process your
feelings before you crashed, they’re floating back to the surface.”

Was he a shrink now? I gasped, sobbing. There was no stopping the flood. I pushed
against him to put some space between us, but he stopped me. Instead he reached behind
himself to his bedside table and returned to press a pile of tissues into my hand
on his chest.

I grabbed the tissue and wiped my eyes, but the tears kept coming. “Let me go,” I
sobbed.

He eased his grip until I had the space to sit up and blow my nose and wipe my face.
The covers fell to my waist, exposing my bare breasts. I didn’t care.

He handed me another tissue and set the box on my thighs. “I bet you don’t cry often.”

“Never.” I kept sobbing, uncontrollably. The one word I uttered sounded garbled.

With one hand on my back and one on my thigh, he let me cry. It took several minutes
for me to regain control, leaving me exhausted and erasing the alert feeling I’d had
from the moment I bolted awake. I lowered myself back onto the bed, turning onto my
side away from him. Tears still ran out onto my pillow, but at least I stopped heaving
for air.

Parker flattened his chest against my back and wrapped his top arm around my body.
“You’re going to be okay.”

“I’m so sorry,” I finally managed when I could speak.

“Don’t be. I’m not. You needed a good cry. It happens.”

“Stop being so nice.”

He chuckled. “Would you prefer I toss you out on the lawn for having emotions?”

“Yes.” Frankly, I would. It would make things easier.

“Never. Besides, it’s my job as a Dom to provide aftercare.”

“What the hell is aftercare?”

“It’s the comfort a Dom should provide after an intense scene. What you’re experiencing
is common—the emotional roller coaster a sub goes through when coming down from the
high of submitting so thoroughly. If you didn’t experience it in some fashion, I would
be worried. If I didn’t hold you through the twists and turns, I would be a horrible
Dom.”

“I don’t like it.” I hated it. I never wanted to experience this again. I was raw
and exposed in a way that unnerved me.

“I’m right here, hon. You shouldn’t be embarrassed. When you’ve gotten a little more
rest, you’ll feel so much better. It’s freeing. Turning your control over to another
person lets you release pent-up stress you might not have known you harbored. Though
in your case, it’s pretty clear.

“You’ve spent fifteen years holding back everything, bottling up your emotions and
sharing them with so few people. It’s a wonder you haven’t cracked under the pressure
and the loneliness. Most people would have years ago.

“It gets easier. If you submit with more frequency, you’ll find yourself suffering
fewer of the aftereffects. The release this time was for years of anxiety and the
unexpected shock of how it would make you feel.”

I tried to process what he was telling me, but I didn’t want to go through anything
like this again. The orgasms were fucking hot. There was no denying it. His domination
did that to me. But this? This was horrifying.

“Sleep. You don’t need to get up yet. I don’t have to be in the office today. I’ll
work from home. You can rest and ease into the day.”

That sounded amazing if I ignored the fact that I needed to haul myself out of Parker’s
bed, his room, and his house. I needed to head for the police station, speak to the
detective, and make a more permanent decision about my life. Two nights in Parker’s
bed were amazing, but this wasn’t reality.

There was no guarantee Michael Swarth would ever be captured. I needed to plan my
life with that assumption in mind. I had plenty of money stashed away. I could make
a new life with a third identity someplace else, perhaps another country. I was confident
the authorities would help me make it happen.

I hated the idea of losing my job, but accountants worked all over the world. I could
easily find work.

What saddened me was the break needed to be complete. I had researched the idea for
years in preparation for this day. I would never be able to speak to any of my friends
again. Nor my family. For fifteen years I had feared this might happen. And here I
was. I swallowed the lump in my throat over never seeing my parents again.

There were no tears left to cry, so I held back the intensity of the emotion, but
the sadness seeped in anyway. My mom and dad would argue against this plan, but my
mind had been made long before the release of Michael Swarth. The only way I could
protect my family was to never make contact with them again.

Swarth had a bone to pick with me and me alone. I killed his brother and shot him
at point-blank range. Not my mother. Not my father. Me. A child.

He didn’t care about any of that. All he cared about was revenge. The look in his
eyes when he spoke to me that last time never left my mind. I would picture it until
the day I died.

And if I didn’t get the hell out of town fast, that day would arrive sooner rather
than later.

I licked my dry lips. “I need to go to the police station today.”

“Okay. Why don’t I call Branch and have him come here instead? You’ll feel safer.”

Shit. Was this going to turn into an argument?

“No. That’s okay. I’m sure there are things he needs to go over with me.” It was lame,
but I couldn’t think of anything convincing to say.

“Meagan… What are you plotting now?”

“Nothing.” I slid from his arms and climbed off the bed, not turning around to face
him as I fled the room for the attached bath. At least I could hide my face from him
in another room.

I flipped on the shower, used the toilet, and then stepped under the spray.

Parker startled me when he wrapped his arms around my torso from behind. I hadn’t
heard him approach. Jesus. I was losing my touch. How was I going to protect myself
if I couldn’t hear a man right behind me?

He kissed my shoulder and then lifted his arms to my biceps to smooth his hands down
until he could thread his fingers with mine. “So soft. I’m always surprised by how
smooth your skin is.” His voice was low and sexy.

My body came alive unbidden. How could I possibly get aroused again the morning after
three amazing orgasms?

He nudged me out of the direct line of spray toward the wall and lifted my hands to
set them against the tile next to my head. “Leave them here. Let me wash you.”

I shivered, not from cold but from nerves. With those few words, I fell under his
spell. I needed this. Even though my brain screamed at me to stop the nonsense and
run from the house as fast as possible, my heart knew it wanted another experience
with Parker before I left.

He disappeared for several seconds while I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds
of him popping the lid on the shampoo. His huge hands threaded into my hair next,
tugging my head back so my neck elongated in front.

I moaned as he massaged my scalp for far longer than necessary.

When he was satisfied, he pulled the shower head down and held the spray a few inches
from my scalp to rinse the suds away.

After replacing the nozzle, he grabbed the conditioner and repeated the process. Leaving
it to soak into my hair, he fiddled around behind me again, and then a washcloth landed
on my skin and he proceeded to bathe my entire body.

There were no words exchanged between us. I didn’t fight him on the dominance. Instead
I stayed right where he placed me, my hands on the wall, my feet spread wide on the
warm tile floor.

My eyes were closed for the majority of the experience. And I didn’t move until he
finished rinsing me again and then gently turned me to face him.

He brushed a lock of hair from my forehead and stared into my eyes. “Better?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Why don’t you wrap up in a towel, and when I’m finished, we’ll make something to
eat?”

I nodded and slipped from his embrace to round the corner out of his sight.

How would I survive a morning of domesticity with this man and then walk away?