“Pain can be many things,” Damon said just to her left. “Or it can just be pain. What will it be for you, Serena mine?”
The crop whistled as it sliced through the air. Before she could tense, pain, bright and explosive, sheared like lightning over her skin. Her body jerked in response, and she cried out. Before she could say the first word that sprang to her lips, heat simmered over her buttocks where before fire had flashed.
A warm hum, heady and pleasurable, invaded her veins, making her heavy and sluggish. It was difficult to process this odd pain that turned so quickly to pleasure. She wanted more. Feared it, but craved it in equal measure.
Fire tore through her other ass cheek as the slap of leather met flesh. Before she could suck in her breath and wait for the aftermath, Damon sliced the crop across her buttocks again.
She flinched, and he struck again, not as hard this time and over the sensitive skin just below the curve of her ass. Ribbons of razorblades ran circles over her skin.
Astonishingly, as she opened her mouth to ask him to stop, she found herself begging him for more. Please. More. She heard the words trip precariously from her lips like they’d been dragged from a reluctant tongue.
The crop found untouched skin. The leather covered every inch of her ass until heat poured off her flesh like liquid fire.
Damon ceased and she gave a little moan, whether of relief or regret, she wasn’t sure. Not moving from behind her, he leaned against her back, reaching and finding her breast. He flicked lightly at the tortured nipple, and her reaction was instantaneous. Feeling poured in, white hot, leaving her gasping and her eyes watering. But just as the blow to her ass bled into slow, sweet pleasure, so too did the fire die a quick death in her nipple and instead pleasure bloomed. Curled with desire and pushing upward as though seeking the sun.
He pulled away, giving one last tweak to the hypersensitive nipple.
“I wish you could see how beautiful you look,” he murmured. “Stretched before me, open and giving. Your skin is radiant with my mark. It’s like a warm blush, red in some places, pink in others.”
She closed her eyes against the seduction in his voice. She felt beautiful when he spoke so. Cherished and treasured.
A loud pop echoed through the room, startling her first with the sound, and then the sizzle of red hot pain made her body surge forward, tearing and straining against the bonds that held her tight.
Tears stung her eyes, pricked at her eyelids and threatened to spill over. Again and again the crop rained down over her ass, her hips, the small of her back and up to her shoulders.
There was no pity, no mercy, no reprieve from the pain. And then, like a sunrise, the warm, hazy glow of indescribable pleasure rose and spread across her skin. A gossamer veil enveloping her in silk. Was she insane to want something so badly? To suffer for the ultimate ecstasy?
The room blurred, whether from the narcotic-like embrace of pleasure or from her tears, she wasn’t sure. She floated, light and free. No longer was she restrained. She flew. Surrounded by a warm, comfortable glow. She smiled dreamily and let her chin drop to her chest.
Unbelievably, an orgasm stirred, awakened and spread like stretching at dawn. It gathered momentum and surged through her exhausted body, tightening each nerve receptor, making the pain of the crop rise until she couldn’t tell the difference between a lash and the sweetest of kisses.
And then the pain went away, and she moaned in protest. Her orgasm lay suspended, waiting on edge, poised to hurl her over a jagged cliff.
Hands gripped her waist. A cock nudged at her ass. Her pussy clenched, feeling neglected. Damon shoved, impatiently, and lodged himself inside her ass in one forceful lunge.
Her ass, so sensitive from the crop, quivered each time he slid his hands over the raised welts. His grip tightened, and he began fucking her with brutal intensity.
The force of his thrusts shook her body, made her breasts jiggle, and each movement made the teeth of the clamps bite harder into her nipples.
She knew she was being observed, that men and women alike watched her with lust in their eyes. In that moment she didn’t care. There was only her and Damon, fucking her, owning her, showing her that here she had no power except what he gave her.
She was beyond her limits. She had no control of the ragged pleas that tore from her mouth. Was she begging him to stop or begging for more? The only word she kept closely guarded, bound to her as tightly as she was bound to the frame was no. She wouldn’t say it. Didn’t want it to end.
“Release her,” Damon said as he rammed against her ass again.
Hands cupped her breasts and suddenly the jaws of the clamps opened, freeing her nipples. Feeling, sharp and agonizing, returned to nipples that had been numb, tore through her and sent her spiraling into a yawning abyss.
Her eyes opened and widened, her lips formed a scream.
Damon’s cock, thick and heavy, ripped into her ass, over and over. She was helplessly open to him, powerless and defenseless against his onslaught.
His hands circled her. His fingers found her nipples and rolled the points, pinching them slightly. It was too much.
As if he felt her orgasm breaking, he kept pounding furiously into her, her body shaking and swaying on the frame.
“Come, Serena,” he commanded hoarsely. “Give me your pleasure.”
He pinched sharply at her nipples, sending a fresh wave of agony through her chest. It matched the unbearable pressure in her ass as he buried himself as deep as he could go.
She needed, she needed just one more . . . push, pull, something to send her that extra inch. Her body couldn’t take much more stress. Every muscle was tensed, her body straining and pulled in a dozen different directions.
And the hot fire ripped over her back. The crop landed just inches above where Damon was buried in her ass. His hands still covered her breasts, toying mercilessly with her aching nipples, so she knew it couldn’t be him. Cole. It had to be Cole.
Like lava falling from the sky, the lashes fell. Damon pumped furiously against her buttocks. She closed her eyes, and the room went still around her. Silence, so sweet and blissful, settled like a soft rain. She simply let go, gave up control, quit fighting her needs and fears.
Her orgasm roared through her like an out-of-control freight train. It began in her groin, rolling, stampeding outward until her entire body shook uncontrollably. She screamed. Once. Twice. She lost count.
Pleasure, so much pleasure. It was too much and not enough. Even sated, completely and utterly exhausted, she wanted more. Like an addict desperate for a fix. She arched her body upward, seeking the crop that was no longer there.
Gentle hands soothed her ravaged back. Sweet words floated down over her, coating her like warm caramel. Lips touched the center of her back. Strong arms surrounded her, holding her up as someone else freed her arms and legs.