Claimed (11 page)

Dmitri examined her glistening sex and caressed her damp folds. His groin tightened as he inhaled the scent of her tantalizing honey. That captivated him enough to lean in and sample a taste of her, and with a long lick, he trailed his tongue down her folds.

He discovered her clit and he flicked the bud. Her whimper, mixed with a jerk of her body, urged him to press his tongue against her clit and give it a swirl. Then he traveled back toward her anus, gathered up her sweet arousal, and brought his tongue into his mouth to savor her fine taste.

Remaining on his knees, he raised the flogger, and in a steady pattern, he deepened the color of her skin. Every hit softened her, the tails swiping along her flesh earning sweet accepting groans, almost as if it released a part of her that needed relief. She wasn’t gasping out in pain, and he wasn’t flogging her to warrant it. The speed and pressure with which he came at her were simply an erotic way of rousing her body.

When he flogged her on the sweet spot right below her ass cheek, she gave him a lovely shiver, then he caressed down her wet folds. “Right there, aren’t you?”

Another moan.

“All right, doll, I’ll send you flying.”

Placing one foot flat on the platform for support while he knelt behind her, he pushed his fingers through her needy flesh. Then he sent the flogger down on her bottom in heavy whacks and thrust his fingers into her without restraint, hard pounds against her hot cunt.

Her eyes screwed shut before they shot wide open, filling with striking emotion, and a scream of rapture ripped from her throat. As if, for the first time in her life, she had completely let herself go.

“You will ask to come, Presley,” he told her.

Another strike on her ass had her all but vibrating, and she arched in to the flogger. He glanced at her body as she shook and quivered. Then he looked to her pretty eyes, and as she whispered, “Can I come for you, Master?,” something sweet and pure passed in the air between them.

A slow heat slid through his veins at the sound of
Master
from her lips, causing him to pause. Was it her soft voice making that word sound different, the transparency now in her soul, or the way her expression pleaded for him to take her to a place she’d never gone.

Shaking the questions from his mind, he refocused himself. He ran his hand over her red ass, feeling the heat of her skin against his palm, and at the same level of force she found sensation in, only at a quicker speed, he flogged the beauty.

On the third strike, he thrust his fingers into her hot folds and found a home inside all her lovely wetness. He thrust his fingers, hard and fast, and he didn’t give her the chance to refuse his demand of orgasm. “Come for me now, Presley.”

Her back arched, her pussy went into strong convulsions around his fingers, and her scream of release carried him to a place equally high as she journeyed.

With a final screech of satisfaction, she crashed from her orgasm, an exhausted, perfect submissive. Dmitri stood, holding the flogger in his hand, and time had stopped. All that remained was him, her, and the sound of her
Master
echoing in his ears.

Chapter Ten

The sweet aroma of leather drifted through Presley’s nostrils, and she lifted her head, realizing she now lay on a couch in the main room. The soft black sheet that once covered the tray was, in fact, a warm fuzzy blanket that had been wrapped around her tightly.

From across the room, the sounds of pain and pleasure filled the dark space, but it seemed that Master Dmitri had taken her to one of the couches off to the side, away from all the action, and not to the center of the busy dungeon.

She remembered him removing the ropes and picking her exhausted body up off the ground, though she hadn’t realized he’d walked anywhere. But here she was, cradled in his arms while he ran his fingers through her hair as if this were everyday business. “Is it always like this after a scene?”

A soft kiss pressed against the top of her head, then Master Dmitri continued to brush his fingers through her hair. “Sometimes a sub needs a moment to recover, and it’s her Dom’s responsibility to give her aftercare, just like I’m offering it to you now.”

He was tending to her not because he wanted to but out of obligation. Not wanting to be pitied, she attempted to sit up.

Master Dmitri’s hand tightened on her head, even if his voice remained gentle. “No, doll, stay still. I’m enjoying you in my arms.”

An ease that he seemed to bring without much effort washed over her, and she relaxed into his hold. Besides, his touch felt . . . nice.
Safe
. His presence was as warm as the blanket around her, and oddly enough, she’d never experienced such a sensation of peace. As if the voices chattering in her head, telling her what to do, where to go, and how to act, had finally gone silent, though how could that be? He’d stolen her voice from her, hit her with a flogger, bound her with a rope, and made her follow
his
rules.

A gentle touch along her forehead drew her into the present, and Master Dmitri murmured, “All conflicted, aren’t you?”

The music playing only added to the sense of relaxation, which confused her. She hadn’t been
relaxed
since she stepped foot into the dungeon. Sometimes she’d been insanely nervous and other times completely aroused when Master Dmitri had turned all that impressive power on her, but relaxed hadn’t entered the equation. “Something like that.”

Tipping her head back against his arm, he looked down at her with his sexy half-smile, which now portrayed gentleness. “Tell me.”

“I . . .” She hesitated, not overly comfortable sharing her thoughts. At the slow arch of his eyebrow, she sighed. He wouldn’t take
no
for answer. “I’ve never felt so comfortable, so calm, or so centered with anyone than I do with you now.”

His mouth once again curved. “That’s a good thing, doll.”

True, but . . . “It’s odd, considering you took control from me. You did all the thinking for me, and it’s strange I found freedom in that.”

“You thought it’d be the other way around?”

She nodded, the back of her head brushing up against his thick forearm, as he continued stroking her hair. “I would’ve have thought I’d be comfortable and sure of myself when I was in control, not out of it.” She hesitated, gathering her foggy and distant thoughts. “I wasn’t expecting to feel anything after the scene, except sexually satisfied.”

He inclined his head in clear understanding. “That, Presley, is what makes you a submissive. You find peace and happiness when you relinquish control.” His eyes searched hers a moment before he dragged a finger along her cheek. “What else has you confused?”

Exhaling a long breath, still trapped in the comfort of his warm stare, she tried to sort out her thoughts. “I’ve never had a one-night stand before, so I’m not sure what it’s like, exactly. From what I hear, they’re cold and impersonal, and this isn’t.”

One sleek eyebrow arched. “Far from it, doll.”

The tenderness in his touch and expression only cluttered her mind more. “Okay, but I got off, and you didn’t take anything back. I can’t help wondering what you get out of this.”

His hand stilled on her head. “Your submission.”

She pondered and realized that her books hadn’t taught her everything; nor had she asked Cora enough. “Which means?”

He resumed the swipe of his fingers over her hair, and his voice was smooth and controlled. “I like knowing a woman finds a certain type of peace in my care, to know I can bring her to the highest levels of pleasure, and
I
am the reason for it.”

Seemed simple, but . . . “That’s enough for you?”

“For now, it’s enough.” His gaze sizzled with a hot promise. “Besides, I’m not finished with you, Presley. Our scene was about you learning my expectations, experiencing your first time not only submitting to a Dom but also experiencing kink, and most important, building trust between us.” His grin turned entirely wicked. “So later, I can get off.”

Her cheeks heated, but his reasoning eased her slight guilt toward him. At least he got something out of their scene. Shifting against his lap, she didn’t feel an erection, and oddly, that comforted her. It meant right now he was in the present, not lost in naughty thoughts. That restraint warmed her to him, which made her curious about the man holding her. “Have you always needed to be in control?”

He nodded, the dim light in the dungeon cast a shadow over his chiseled jaw, and a strand of blond hair fell over his eyebrow. “I have a naturally dominant personality, but I didn’t understand what that meant until I worked at the casino beneath the vice president, Charles.”

The name instantly registered in Presley’s mind: Charles was the husband of the doctor, Mary. Now the close relationship between Mary and Dmitri made sense. Dmitri had worked with Charles at the casino, and that’s how they were all connected.

“Four years ago Charles died, and because he’d taken me under his wing and taught me everything he knew, I took over the role of vice president at the casino.” He watched his finger slide through her hair, then he looked into her eyes. “A year later, I stepped into the role of president.” Raw pain seeped into his expression before he controlled his emotions. “Our friendship changed my life, and not only professionally.”

She pondered, then she concluded, “So, I take it you mean that Charles introduced you to the lifestyle?”

Master Dmitri inclined his head, continuing to trail his fingers over her hair in light, gentle sweeps. “He recognized Dom traits in me, explained the lifestyle, and offered to guide my way as a sexual dominant.”

Leaning in to his touch, which brought forth that sexy curve of his mouth, she asked, “And that helped you?”

He looked at his fingers brushing through her hair, as if doing such a simple thing relaxed him as much as her. “Once Charles brought me into the lifestyle, I became more able to control my need to dominate in public, keeping it confined to private. Before Charles, I was very strained and unhappy. After I discovered the lifestyle, everything settled for me.”

She supposed that made sense. If Master Dmitri held a desire to be dominant and he couldn’t be that way in everyday life—since not everyone took well to it—she figured it would be stressful, even frustrating. “After that, you opened the dungeon?”

Something close to pain filled his eyes before he controlled his features yet again. “I bought the vacant land two weeks after Charles’s death. It took one year to build the mansion, and I opened the dungeon a month later in his honor. Now I enforce the rules he instilled in me and educate those as he did me.”

Warmth slid through her heart. Out of all the reasons she had thought he’d open a dungeon, that wasn’t what she’d expected. Leaning her head to the side, she scanned the dungeon. From their spot on the couch, she couldn’t see any scenes going on, only members walking by.

Master Dmitri’s motives for opening the dungeon touched her. The rules and ways that Charles had lived by would never be forgotten, because Master Dmitri made certain of it. He honored his friend and mentor in the only way he could, doing what Charles had taught him to do and passing the rules on to others.

His fingers trailed over her hair again, and she looked up into the powerful stare that reached into the very depths of her. Now she saw deeper into him than a dominant man who enjoyed kink. Master Dmitri had a genuinely kind soul.

During her scene, a certain peace had washed over her. She had thought she’d come to Club Sin with something to prove to herself, to be a different woman, but tonight she felt as if she had become the woman she was meant to be—free and calm.

Now she lay in the arms of a man who asked her only to be herself. He demanded honesty, and right down to the simplicity of it all, he cherished her gift of submission. When he touched her, he meant it. When he looked at her, he saw right through her. When he talked to her, he didn’t see anyone but her. For all he’d given her since her first sight of him sitting in his office, she realized an empty hole in her soul had begun to heal.

The sheer tenderness she spotted in his features, the care and compassion he’d shown her, all made her nibble on her lip as she tried to fight off the emotion in her chest. Sadly, she failed, and on a deep breath, tears filled her eyes.

His touch halted as his eyebrows drew together. “Now, doll, what are those tears for?”

Overwhelmed with emotion, experiencing an unfamiliar sense of rightness deep in her soul, she said the only thing she could think of: “It feels nice being here with you.”

He smiled, sweet and soft. “I enjoy it as well.” He slid his fingers over her jaw so tenderly, it came as a contradiction to his dominant side. “Rest now, doll, you need it.”

* * *

An hour had passed since Presley had fallen asleep, and Dmitri officially gave up on fighting against his next steps. He gathered her in his arms, and she didn’t stir from her sleep, still wrapped in the warm blanket.

He strode through the dungeon, passing by members who smiled and nodded at him, which he returned. He scanned the dungeon and spotted Cora sitting next to Kyler on the couch in the center of the dungeon.

At his approach, both turned to him, and Dmitri didn’t hesitate, knowing what he said next would cause a reaction. “I’m going to take Presley to my bedroom.”

Cora’s eyes, not surprisingly, widened, and she glanced at Kyler, who wore a similar mask of shock. Dmitri ignored the astonishment rippling across their features, and to Kyler, he said, “Will you lock the doors at midnight?”

Kyler slowly grinned. “Sure will.”

Dmitri snorted. He didn’t need the reminder his behavior wasn’t typical, but nothing since Presley walked into his office had been ordinary. He kept his face impassive, and to Cora, he said, “Presley will be fine with me tonight.”

“Oh, I know, sir.” Her wide eyes hadn’t lowered, confirming that he’d stunned her senseless.

While he could justify his actions by saying that he was simply doing right by Presley, it would be a half-truth. She had suffered a huge emotional drop after her scene, and as her Dom, he needed to stay with her; but wanting her with him tonight was not out of duty. He’d never taken a sub into his personal bedroom; instead, he would’ve taken them to a guest room. For those reasons, he kept his mouth shut and didn’t bother feeding either of them lies.