I nod.
I understand.
I understand Braden so much better than the last time we were here together.
I understand myself so much better as well.
And I’m ready.
I’m ready for whatever he chooses to give me tonight. What goes on in this room is his choice, not mine. My choice is whether to consent.
He moves away from the table and out of my line of vision. When he returns, he picks up the flogger once more and whips it across my breasts.
I gasp at the sting.
He gasps as well. “I brought a blush to your tits. So beautiful.”
My nipples are straining, having grown even harder from the flogger.
He brings it across my breasts again, and then once more. Then he whips my abdomen softly. Then harder. Harder still.
Until he comes to my clit.
It’s hard and straining, and I want more than anything to lift my hips, offer myself to Braden on a silver platter.
But I’m bound.
Bound only by his command, but his will is stronger than the toughest rope.
He teases me with the flogger, trailing it ever so lightly over my clit.
I’m ready to explode. Seriously shatter like those glass shards from his glass on the carpet last night.
My flesh tingles, and I’m ready, so ready…
He flogs my clit then, and I jerk, the sparks flying through me out to my limbs and then arrowing back to my pussy.
Please, I beg inwardly. Please, Braden. I need you!
He turns from me for a moment, fidgets with something out of a drawer. Then he turns back to me, a red taper candle in his hand.
“Soy wax,” he says. “It burns cooler than paraffin. I can’t risk burning your beautiful skin.”
He hands the candle to me then. I grasp it tightly.
He pulls out a match. “I could use a lighter, but I prefer matches.” He strikes it and then lights the candle. “Watch the flame. Let it hypnotize you as you hold it.”
I bring the candle in front of me, breathing in the aroma of the lit match, the sweetness of the burning wax. The small flame grows, flickering in a discordant rhythm. I stare at its orange warmth, at the red wax beginning to melt. Relaxation overtakes me, though my body still hums from the flogging.
After some time—I couldn’t say how long—Braden takes the candle from me and tips it, so a drop of wax hits the inside of his forearm.
I open my mouth to ask him what he’s doing, but he regards me sternly.
Right. I’m to stay quiet.
“I’m testing the wax, Skye. I’ll never put something on your body that I wouldn’t put on my own. It’s my duty to protect you. Always.”
Always.
My safe word.
Except it’s so much more than a safe word.
Not just to me but also to him. Braden was so distraught when he thought he didn’t protect me from the Reardons. So upset that he was ready to leave me rather than have me put in harm’s way again.
Now, more than any other time, I understand his need to protect me. He’ll never let me down, and I’ll never let him down.
The wax hardens on his forearm, and he nods. “It’s ready.”
I tingle all over. Where will he drip the wax first? On my thighs? My chest? My nipples. Not knowing what to expect has me thrilled beyond measure.
Braden holds the candle over me, and the anticipation drives me wild. I don’t dare close my eyes, though I’m tempted, just so I won’t know where the hot wax is coming—
Until it’s there. A drip on the top of one breast. I gasp. It burns, yes, but only for a split second. Then it’s warmth, as it meanders for a few seconds before beginning to harden.
Braden tips the candle once more, and another drop drizzles onto my areola.
My nipple hardens as the areola shrinks around it. The red hue of the wax makes my nipple look painted.
Painted red.
And it’s fucking hot, in more ways than one.
My hips rise, seemingly of their own accord. Yes, Braden told me to stay still, but he doesn’t admonish me.
He merely groans.
“You’re so beautiful,” he says, as he drips more wax over my breasts and nipples. “God, I didn’t know how hot this would be.”
I sigh, again tempted to close my eyes and surrender myself to the moment.
More drips, the flaming hotness melting against me, engulfing me in desire, and then cooling quickly into shapes, none the same.
He trails the candle lower, and I hold back a gasp. Will he drip wax onto my clit? Onto my pussy? Do I want him to?
I have my safe word.
But I won’t use it. I know this already. Braden will never put me in harm’s way.
I trust him.
I trust him with my body, my heart, my soul.
And I trust him with this candle.
He groans again. “I thought about binding you, but I decided against it, and I’m glad. You couldn’t be more beautiful than you are now, bound only by my command.” He drips wax on my abdomen, close to my mound, and I shiver at the burn and then the warmth and then the tingles as the wax cools and hardens.
Braden moves down to my thighs, dripping the wax into long rivers over my flesh. With each new burn, my excitement increases. My heart beats faster, and my pussy aches even more.
He spreads my legs. “You’re glistening, Skye. So wet. Fuck.” He blows out the candle.
I suck in a breath, part out of disappointment but more so out of anticipation. He’s going to fuck me now. I know it in my bones. I’m in sync with Braden’s passions and desires.
He disrobes quickly and within seconds he’s hovering over me, ready to plunge inside.
“I love you, Skye. I fucking love you so much.”
He thrusts into me.
The wax shapes bend slightly with each of his thrusts, and my nipples react to the friction. I meet Braden’s fiery blue gaze. I haven’t been told to speak, but I can’t help it.
“I love you, too, Braden. So much.”
He lifts his eyebrows slightly at my disobedience, but then he closes his eyes, squeezing them shut as he continues to fuck me hard and fast.
And with each thrust, I lift my hips, longing to grab his ass and force him farther and farther into me, but I hold back. I already disobeyed once. I will not do it again.
Instead, I rush. Inside my body I rush toward the peak I’ve only climbed with Braden. With this amazing man who I love so much.