Safeword Quinacridone (7 page)

Damn, she wished he would just be
quiet
. For someone who had such trouble with dinner conversation the man had no problems keeping a damned running dialogue during sex. Or, was this even sex? Oh, fuck. He must have added another finger and she felt the burn and heard herself moan at the pleasure-pain of being stretched beyond what her ass could easily handle.

“Ah, there we go, you can be vocal after all; it just takes four fingers to get you there. We’re going to have so much fun with your asshole, Cara Mia. Now, it’s time for you to come for me. Stop holding on, let me feel you spasm around my fingers up your ass. Let it go, ahhh there it is.”

His gentle but commanding voice, his demanding fingers moving in and out, and she was pretty sure he’d pushed his leg into her clit — it all worked together and her body obeyed. Her climax started as a small blaze but as his hand picked up speed a
dozen fires sparked into being,
and she lifted her head and roared as her entire body turned to liquid flame.

She didn’t sound like herself, her voice deep and the air vibrating through her as it made its way from lungs, through her throat, and out of her mouth. His hand moved faster and it went through the back of her mind that she’d feel this for days.

The thought pushed her orgasm higher, and then he was pressing his fingers in, pushing, stretching, forcing her open, his hand motionless so she could feel the muscles of her ass moving around him as her pussy walls contracted and jerked every direction. She could barely breathe through the sensations, her body burning with heat, her lungs no longer working.

When the orgasm finally waned he gently pulled his fingers from her ass before saying, “I want you on your hands and knees. You’re probably hot
. I
f
you’d like to take the robe off
that’s fine, but it’s up to you. I’ll wash up and put a condom on and when I get back you’ll take twelve strikes of a paddle before I fuck your ass.”

She pushed herself to hands and knees, realized she was burning up, and sat back on her feet to pull the robe off. He returned in seconds, pausing for her to see the condom before climbing on the bed behind her.

He held what looked like a thin ping-pong paddle but she realized it was leather when she saw it flex.

“Turn around; brace yourself so you can stay in place.”

He hit her four times all at once with no hesitation — right cheek, left cheek, right cheek, left cheek. If there’d been enough time she would’ve said yellow but by the time she could form the word he was rubbing her bottom with his hand and it wasn’t so bad.

It hurt while he was doing it, but the pain almost immediately went away when he stopped, and warmth spread across her ass and into her girly bits. She moaned in pleasure without meaning to and heard him chuckle before laying on another four, giving her a brief pause, and then another four.

Without another word he pushed inside of her, his pelvis to her ass,
and filled
her as his width held her open. Her bowels spasmed and she worked to relax them. Damn, it burned. It shouldn’t burn this bad; she was already open — unless the paddling had made her tense. Still, this was a different kind of heat and something wasn’t right. She tried to twist away, but couldn’t.

He pushed forward with his hips while his strong fingers pulled back on her hipbones, locking her in place. “It’s a special condom
,
lubricated with cinnamon for an extra special burn. It’s safe and won’t hurt you, though you’re a bit raw from my fingers and probably have a nice blaze going.”

She whimpered and moaned agreement and he added, “If it’s too intense I can switch to a regular condom, but I think you need a little pain. You know how to stop it if you must but I’d rather hear you beg me to stop.”

“It burns.” She gasped. “It hurts!”

“Yes, I know. I want it to.”

And then he was moving again, fucking her, fully aware it was hurting her, and turned on by her pain. His cock thrust into her again and again, and her pulse gained momentum until it carried her back into a frenzy of lust and pain and pleasure and bliss, and the burn grew progressively intense until the orgasm hit her like a hurricane, wiping all rational thought. She wasn’t herself, just a bundle of twitching and jerking and convulsing muscles in the throes of euphoria.

When she came back to herself he was holding her in his arms like a baby, his head lowered, his lips on her forehead. Not kissing her, just resting. She raised her hand and ran her fingers through his hair, and he spoke softly with his lips still on her forehead.

“Welcome back. That was quite an ending. Are you okay?”

“Yes. How embarrassing. I’m sorry.”

“Please don’t be embarrassed with me. Never be ashamed of anything we do. That was exquisite. I’ve spent ten years learning the art of hurting people and you just responded to pain like a
...
well, I loved your reactions and I’m especially excited that you get off on pain to your asshole. Don’t you see? If anyone should be embarrassed it’d be me, for admitting I enjoyed hurting you.”

She tried to push away from him but he held her. “Let me hold you a bit longer, I want to take care of you.”

“No, I need to go to the bathroom. Please.”

He held firm, not giving an inch. “You’re clean Cara, you feel the lube, I promise. If you need to use the facilities that’s different, but don’t go running off because you fear you need to clean yourself. No shame between us. Ever. If I’d gotten you dirty, why would I think worse of you for something I did?”

She tried to get up but he embraced her possessively, and she began to feel the edges of panic. It’d been okay while in the midst of passion but now it was pissing her off.

“
Quinacridone
. Let me up dammit
!
”

He immediately not only released her,
but also
helped her off the bed, touching her as little as possible and releasing her completely once she was standing and balanced.

She made it to the bathroom in three long steps, closing the door and locking it before sitting on the toilet to pass gas and empty her bladder. She wiped, saw she really was clean
,
and felt a little silly — though that wasn’t why she’d panicked. She hadn’t wanted him to hold her. She didn’t want
anyone
to hold her. Not like that, anyway.

Still, she didn’t think it was why he’d given her the stop word. He’d respected it though, and had not only let her get away, but helped her. She returned to the bedroom, pausing in the doorway to see him sitting on the side of the bed.

“I’m sorry. I know that’s not the reason you gave me the word but I really needed to... I don’t know. I just needed to get away.”

“You were exactly right to use it — to let me know my holding you was a problem. I might want to tie you up someday and the word will make me untie you. But let me say again, there’s no reason for embarrassment or shame between us. I probably pushed air up your ass when I fucked it; you don’t have to leave the room to release it. I won’t think less of you for passing gas. It’s a natural bodily function.”

She felt herself blushing and she remained in the doorway with lots of floor space between them. “That wasn’t the main reason I went in there. I needed... I don’t know exactly what I needed. Away from you for a few minutes to collect my thoughts, maybe.”

“Are you good now? Can you be near me again?”

Cara walked to the robe and put it back on, but sat in the chair, five feet from the bed
and asked,
“Are we going home now?”

His words were measured. Careful. “We can if you’d like. Or we can spend the night and drive back tomorrow morning. Let me check the outer hall, there should be fresh clothes for both of us. I’ll be right back.”

He returned with a department store bag and produced a pair of jean shorts and a shirt for her, along with a package of underwear. There was also an undershirt with a built in bra.

“Who does this for you?”

He shrugged. “There are people who make a living catering to the whims of people with too much money. It’s not as impressive as it might seem. The most efficient tend to demand the highest fees and those of us who want proficiency pay it. I’m good to drive you home tonight if you want, or we can go into my media room.” His smile had a hint of mischievousness. “I have the latest Intuos tablet, extra-large, if you’d like to play with it. I’d kind of hoped for cuddling but you don’t seem up to it.”

No, she didn’t cuddle, but she’d spent untold hours lusting after those pen tablets. Some of them cost almost as much as her car. “Really? Those are going for like — oh, yeah, money’s no object to you.” She rolled her eyes and smiled. “Yes, I’d love to play around with it. What software do you have?”

“If I don’t have what you need I’ll buy it and download it, but I think I have all the good stuff.”

Chapter Five

She followed him onto the walkway overlooking the great room below, with Travis still nude and her in the robe. The night view of the city was more breathtaking than the daytime vista and when he turned to go into a room she kept walking until her toes touched the glass. She spent several minutes looking at the blackness of the sky, the moving lights of traffic, the still lights of the buildings and streetlights.

Turning to find Travis, she paused at a closed door with a complex lock
that looked
as if it belonged on a bank vault. She wasn’t sure, but it appeared to need a palm print. How odd. But then, from what she’d gathered, a lot of people had access to the condo so she supposed it’d be necessary to have a room to secure personal effects. But, no, he’d said this wasn’t really a home. His important papers would be in Chattanooga.

She made her way to the door he’d walked into and saw him booting a computer with ten monitors. There were three, then four in a row above them, and another three on top. Damn. Talk about the need to multi-task. She’d thought her two monitors impressive; no wonder he didn’t comment on her set-up the other night — it must’ve seemed quaint to him.

Cara wasn’t accustomed to seeing men walking around nude while operating a computer and she couldn’t help but stare at his ass as he bent over the desk, clicking away at the mouse.

He saw her and said, “You already know how to move across multiple displays
,
and I’ll have three of them active. I used my phone to take a picture of one of the trees you shot; I’ll put it on one monitor, the tools and pallets on another, and your workspace on another. If you want more I can add them but I figure that’s all you’ll need for now.”

“What’s behind the locked door?”

“Things I don’t want the gossip dealers to know about.” He didn’t hesitate, didn’t blink, and there was no apology in his voice.

“So, none of my business. Or are you going to ask me to sign something before you’ll tell me?”

He stood, the computer forgotten as he focused on her, his gaze steady as he studied her face. He propped his ass on the edge of the desk with his fingers beside his hips, curled around the desktop’s rim, seemingly unaware of his nudity. “You figured out a great deal, somehow jumping from my renting Six Flags for a party to my hiring professionals for my first sexual experiences, but there are important pieces you missed. If you’ll give me your word you’ll tell no one about any of what we talk about, I’ll tell you.”

“You trust me?” She heard the surprise in her voice. She hadn’t intended to sound quite so shocked.

He gave a wry grin. “Yes, I do, though my attorneys and PR people won’t be pleased. They prepared paperwork for you to sign but...” He looked down and back up, his eyes intense. “I have to learn to trust sometime, and there are things you haven’t told me. If I want you to trust me enough to share your secrets it’s only fair I go first.”

For a moment she considered signing the paper if doing so would get her off the hook, but on second thought she realized how wrong that was, so she answered, “Okay. I promise. I won’t tell anyone what you tell me about your past.”

“Or my present. You won’t reveal my sexual preferences, or explain why I don’t have girlfriends. Or, why I haven’t had them before you, if you want to consider yourself my girlfriend now. No confirming or denying anything. No explanations at all. Not even if you’re offered a million dollars for the information.”

He frowned. “If someone offers you a million, or any other amount, I’ll match it. You’ll
just
need to sign a legal document outlining their proposal so I can add it to my collection.”

“Someone would pay that much for dirt on you?”

He gave a lopsided grin. “Probably not, most offers are in the ten to twenty thousand range. The highest so far was a quarter million and was dependent on my acquaintance having specific information.”

Still leaning in the doorway but feeling as if she should be closer, she said, “All right, I promise to give no details, and
won’t confirm
or denying anything about your sex life or sexual preferences.”