He kissed her shoulder and noticed the glaze in her eyes. He didn’t have time to rest just yet, the sense of duty washing over any feelings of exhaustion. He quickly pulled out and took care of the condom, unlatched her restraints, and scooped her up into his arms. He walked over to the couch and snagged the blanket before sitting. He wrapped it around her as best he could and held her to him as he gently stroked her sweat-soaked hair. She was completely limp as she stared off into the room, not seeing.
Her first time playing, and she’d reached subspace, the epitome of submission, and she’d achieved it. Because of him.
This hadn’t gone as he’d planned. He wasn’t going to touch her, so there hadn’t been a possibility of them having sex. At the moment, he couldn’t bring himself to care, though. Oh, he’d berate himself later for not being stronger. Right now, he needed to tend to Shelby. He held her to him and murmured soft words of praise until she finally looked up at him, so open, vulnerable. In this moment, she was true perfection, and his chest tightened almost to the point of pain as he gazed at her.
It was a reaction he quickly ignored.
Someone was screaming.
Shelby was flying, soaring into the clouds as fireworks exploded in the distance. But the screaming was still there. She didn’t care. She was airborne, the air whistling around her as she reached new heights, peaks she hadn’t even dreamed of discovering before this very moment.
Then quiet filled the space around her. She was shifting, the world tilting around her.
Warmth. She was wrapped in a layer of something soft, pillowing around her while hot air fanned her, blanketing her in comfortable heat. The air was moist with a hint of masculinity. Breath? Was something breathing on her? She blinked and looked to the side. She was in a room that wasn’t unfamiliar. She looked to the other side and saw eyes peering down at her.
“Welcome back, pet.”
Master.
No. Mason. Mason Showalter. The man she was investigating. She looked down and noticed the red blanket wrapped around her as if she was a swaddled baby. She shivered as she tried to move.
“No, Shelby. Just relax. You’ve experienced something powerful. Just breathe for me.” He gently nudged her head back to his chest. “Breathe,” he whispered.
She did because she didn’t know what else to do. She felt confused…but at peace. She also felt something else when she shifted. Her rear end was on fire. That really big man had used various implements to spank her. At first, she’d tried detaching herself so she could just get through the night. She’d told herself she wouldn’t do that, that she would fully immerse herself in this experience, but that had been when she thought Mason would be the one dealing out the sexual torture. The game had changed. But even her newly found determination to distance herself from the other man hadn’t lasted long. She quickly found herself sinking into the abyss with the onslaught of his ministrations. She looked around again, but didn’t see him.
“Where’s Master Rafe?” she muttered, mostly to herself.
“He left a while ago, Shelby.”
She nodded as her brain fast-forwarded to that moment, and then she gasped, her head whipping in Mason’s direction. She stared at him as the final pieces clicked into place. They’d had sex. Oh God. She’d sucked his dick. Then he’d…then they’d… Oh. God. Her face was now burning almost as much as her ass.
He tsked and shook his head. “You have no reason to be embarrassed, pet. It’s not uncommon for a sub to experience subspace. It doesn’t happen all the time, and I honestly didn’t expect you to experience it on your first night, but it’s totally natural. I hear it’s very euphoric.”
Sub-what? What was he talking about? Whatever it was, he seemed to think her flaming face was due to her momentary memory loss. He couldn’t be farther from the truth. She had to get away from him. She hadn’t wanted to have sex with him.
Oh really? Then why did you beg for it?
She slammed the door shut on that thought. She had a job to do. That’s why. It was because of her job. And it was because of her mission that she needed to get away now. She’d accomplished getting close, but that was all she could do tonight. No way was she in the right mindset to get information out of him right now. She was already feeling something she couldn’t put her finger on. Trapped? Maybe, but not quite. Whatever it was, it was uncomfortable, unnatural…yet not.
“I have to go.”
Mason narrowed his eyes. “Why?”
“I, er, I’m supposed to meet someone.” That was partially true.
“You set up a date after our scene?” The incredulity in his tone almost made her wince. The angry glint in his eyes made her want to explain.
“No. I have a friend. Viola. She knows I’m here. It’s a safety thing.” The tick in his jaw had her scrambling to finish. “I-I wasn’t sure what all would happen tonight, and she was worried about me. She insisted I meet up with her afterward, or she told me she’d have the cops bust down the door and come searching for me.” Again, partially true, but true enough.
Mason took a deep breath. “I see. But here’s another lesson for you. Recovery time isn’t just for the sub. You need to be held and comforted just as much as I need to do those things for you. It’s part of building that trust between us.”
She swallowed as she looked up at him. Did he expect them to bond over this? He’d let another man beat her ass, and then he’d fucked her while she was strapped to a bench. She might’ve wanted it at the time, but now that the haze of lust had lifted, she was able to think a little clearer. She refused to think about how much she’d wanted him earlier, or how sexy he was, or how being in his arms made her feel. Right now, she just wanted to leave.
He sighed. “Okay, pet. This is enough for one night. Next time, don’t make plans afterward. I don’t like being rushed, but I applaud your friend’s safety instincts.”
“Um, she’ll want a timeline,” Shelby quickly said. She couldn’t just give this man an indefinite amount of time. She might be new to this BDSM stuff, but the next scene was supposed to be bondage, which implied being tied up. No way was she going to let him tie her up for hours on end with no fallback plan.
You were just bound to a spanking bench for lord knows how long. Again with the voice in her head. She shut it out too. Thinking about that stuff would make her actually accept what had happened. It was better to ignore it. At least until she got out of this man’s arms.
“Too bad, Shelby. You’ll have to trust me to protect you. If you don’t want to try, then we’ll call an end to this right now.” He licked his lips and lowered his head. “Is that what you want?”
She shivered. What was this man doing to her? No, she was not going there right now. She’d do nothing but think—obsess, really—once she left. But maybe she could get a little something out of him, a nugget of information at least, so she could focus on that rather than the events that had happened. Doubtful, but she was desperate.
“No,” she answered. “But are you going to tell me anything about you, or is that something that’s off limits?” She heard the sarcastic edge to her voice, but right now, she couldn’t control her conflicting emotions. She’d just had sex with a man she hardly knew. In a sex club, tied to a bench, while being spanked. With a possible criminal. And she’d wanted it. Begged for it. She shuddered. No matter how hard she tried not to contemplate what had happened, her mind—and body—were demanding it. She was losing the battle very quickly, and that was assuming she had a fighting chance to begin with.