Hold 'Em: Vegas Top Guns, Book 3 (16 page)

And that was enough.

She came so freaking hard, like her brain shivered into little shards. White flashed where she clenched her eyes shut. Her moan wound free into a soft scream, but Mike kissed it away. Took it into himself.

Just like he took everything else she gave him, then turned it bigger and brighter.

Chapter Eighteen

Mike knew how to drive well, and he knew how to drive fast. Luckily his house wasn’t too far away from either Nellis or that dive bar, or he would’ve needed to sacrifice the former for the latter. Leah was right behind him, but her Ducati couldn’t out-throttle his hundred and ninety five horsepower. Just wasn’t happening. His competitive streak was at least as wide as hers. He was still the guy. With the bigger bike.

Suck it, Princess.

He was nearly laughing when he pulled off his helmet. Leah had only just drawn her pink nightmare to a stop.

Her ponytail was a gorgeous, sweaty mess, and her delicate features were flushed. Nothing else about her was delicate. “What the hell are you smiling about?”

“Just my mind rambling.”

She stalked toward him. No,
prowled
. Her hips swayed like a belly dancer’s, although he doubted much of it was conscious. He’d satisfied her. She wanted it again. The strength of her desire shone from her dark eyes, even in those evening shadows.

Whatever she wanted had nothing on Mike. He’d made her come in a few short minutes. The pride he felt in having served her so perfectly edged under his skin. Time for his reward. He knew it, and so did she.

Only, she wasn’t going to make it easy on him. The way she met him toe to toe and grabbed his balls, giving them a sharp twist, was proof. He hissed in a breath, doubled a bit. The unexpected bite shot straight to his brain. Pain. And excitement.

Good.
It had been so long since he’d been with a woman who had the potential to test his limits.

“Inside, Michael. We have work to do.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She gave him one more squeeze and twist before turning on her heel and leading him by his belt loop.

No lights. No prelude. Two hours at Paulie’s had been foreplay enough. She walked toward his bedroom as if she’d done so a thousand times. Hell, even he didn’t know his new place that well.

A woman on a mission.

“Free rein of your drawer, yes, pet?”

No matter the strong lead she’d taken in this encounter, she still had doubts. One or two. Deep down. A practiced femdom wouldn’t have asked. But when beginning a new D/s relationship, he was glad for the concession.

He held her gaze, let his smile unfurl. Those beautiful quirking lips shared his moment of humor. “Anything,” he said.

A sharp nod. “Naked. Hands and knees.”

The whip crack of her voice meant it was time for a new sort of play. “Where, ma’am?”

“I’m being nice to you tonight,” she said. “Sideways on the bed. No cold, hard floor. Generous of me.”

Mike had already started on his belt and jeans. “I appreciate it.”

She ate him with her gaze. Just…
devoured
. Dark eyes had gone wide, so wide, and her lips were moist as she licked them again and again. She’d shrugged out of her flight jacket. Her respiration was quicker now, with her lush breasts lifting. He would do chin-ups and eat beef jerky for the rest of his life. All she had to do was stare at the results as if he were a living god.

A living god who stood naked before a woman who’d just discovered his English ruler.

“Well, well. I like this.” She eyed the toy before turning to gauge his reaction. “Do you like it, Michael?”

“There’s nothing in that drawer I don’t like.”

Her walk was a slinky masterpiece of femininity. She barely reached his chin with the top of her head. Mike took the opportunity to breathe her, absorb her, when that was all she was prepared to give. He was surprised to see her nostrils flare too—the same reaction to their bodies being so near. They stood on opposite sides of a chasm, but they were also on the same page.

Fucking perfect.

“But I saw something,” she said. “On your face just now. What was it, pet? You will tell me.”

“Apprehension, probably.”

“Oh?”

“It’s not easy.”

“To take?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

A cruel, beautiful smile turned her into a picture of all things erotic. Fantasies danced in her fathomless eyes and shivered down her spine. “I said hands and knees. And I also said naked.”

She glanced down to his cuff with a severity that was not fake, not exaggerated. She actually hated the thing. Mike
really
needed to hide his smile as he laid the circle of silver on his nightstand. Then he took his position on the bed. Ready.

Or so he thought.

Leah’s aim was true, and the strength of her swing choked him on a gulp of shock. No matter how much he enjoyed the rush that came with receiving pain, and the mental challenge of surpassing his Dom’s expectations, it still fucking
hurt
. The first strike. No amount of excitement could keep his nerves from doing their job.

Leah took another sharp swing.

Mike grunted, fisted his hands in the comforter. Sweat popped up on his neck. His ass was on fire. The heavy ruler, eighteen inches long, was made of some evil wood from the Amazon. He’d bought it because it was beautiful, and because he knew what beautiful pain it would cause. It had no give. No remorse. No room for softness.

Apparently, neither did Leah. He wondered if the lack of warm-up was due to her inexperience or some innate streak of meanness.

“That wasn’t for fun, Michael. That was punishment. You didn’t follow my orders. Instead you were smelling my hair and enjoying it. Deny it.”

Oh, fuck yes. A test. And he’d failed. The woman was too good to be true.

“I can’t, ma’am. I like how you smell.”

“You’re lucky I like that compliment.”

Leah rubbed her palm over his flaming flesh, almost caressing. She was in a sharp mood, but she eased him through the worst of those initial strikes. Or maybe, on an instinctual level, she knew exactly how to keep him holding on. A little pain. A little reward. Back and forth until he’d gnaw through a two-by-four to earn his release.

He heard the sound of clothes being removed. His dick perked up in a sudden surge of want. She strolled around the bed. “Look at me, Michael.”

The sleek, rounded end of the ruler touched beneath his chin. She lifted. His gaze tracked up, up, up her astonishing body. She’d stripped to underwear and a bra, both in matching black. Her trim physique was one part grace, one part muscle. A soft line bisected her abdominals. He wanted to lick his way down to where it softened into the flesh held by the lacy waistband of her panties. To eat her out again…

“All the way up here, pet.” Her grin was still on the cruel side, but her amusement was unmistakable. She’d retied her ponytail with regulation precision. Ready for the task at hand. “How much can you take?”

A real question. No joking. So he gave her a real answer.

“As much as you need me to.”

She assessed him with a hard look then shrugged. “You had your out.”

As if.

What was he going to say?
No more than six, please. My tender little bottom can’t take any more.

She hefted the ruler, smacking it ever so gently against her own palm. The strikes were feather soft, but Mike’s muscles tensed every time. She leaned over and kissed him sweetly, as if saying goodbye. He knew why, and his blood surged harder.

Leah rounded to the back of the bed. “Sets of ten, Michael. Count them off.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She sank one knee into the mattress with the other leg on the floor. One warm palm settled against his lower back. Comforting, yes. Confining too.

The sudden whoosh of air was his only warning. Left cheek. Fire and shock and release. As calmly as he could manage, knowing how much more awaited him, he began to count off her strokes. She alternated sides. No variation in the timing or strength. Quick, hard and in the exact same fucking spot each time. Mike’s “ten” was rougher than he would’ve liked.

“Again.”

The rhythm spiked faster, the swings ever more certain. It wasn’t her palm on his back anymore, but a near fist. That sign of tension kept him hanging on, despite the sweat across his shoulder blades. He was in such delicious agony that counting her sets of ten became a mantra. He may as well have been saying her name.

“You do very well at that, Michael. I’m pleased.”

“I’m glad, ma’am.”

She kissed from his nape to the base of his spine. Licked some. Used her teeth. “You taste delectable. Working so hard for me. More, pet?”

“Please, ma’am.”

Her hesitation made him want to turn, to look, to see the reason written across her features. In the end, he didn’t need to. She caressed his hot, blistered ass and exhaled long and low. “You have no idea what that does to me.”

“You give me a gift like that, Leah, and I can do this forever.”

“Good.”

No warning. She transformed from lover to Dom so fast that his mind spun. The world slipped out from under him as he sank deeper and deeper into the cadence of their exchanges. Smacks and counting and smooth palms over his aching muscles.

“Nine, ten,” he finished.

But he froze. Leah hadn’t delivered number ten. He’d been so lost in a spacey haze that his counting had outpaced her whacks. A malicious chuckle bubbled out of her. She was panting. The ruler dropped to the hardwood floor with a clatter.

Like a slinking cat, she crawled onto the bed with him. Her hands were damp when she grabbed his chin. Only, Mike couldn’t make eye contact. He was floating.

“Ooh, now that’s pretty.” She stroked his brow. “Your eyes. Jesus, Michael. Where are you?”

“Don’t know.” His speech sounded…
off
, even to his own ears. “But it’s great here.”

“Looks it. So nice. But… You know what you did.”

He swallowed. “Yes, ma’am. I miscounted.”

“I’m proud you realize your mistake. Yet I’m afraid mistakes deserve punishment. What do you think about that?” Her smile was barely a hint, but it made her beautiful. She was playing with him. Maybe she’d only intended that many strokes, eager now to take him somewhere else.

He’d go with her. Willingly.

“Punishment is just another type of reward, ma’am.”

“Very sweet. But that won’t change what’s coming.”

“Me?”

She reached back and grabbed his balls, only this time without the protection of his jeans. “Getting smart with me?”

Mike was awash with the rush of her abuse. He was an adrenaline junkie. Everyone knew that. But his other drug of choice was endorphins. What an amazing thing, the brain. This high would last. That he pushed her, and pushed her again, was testimony. Wherever his mind went when he felt that goddamn good—all he wanted was more. However she wanted to give it to him.

Such was the danger of being a submissive. He needed to trust that his Dom knew limits and stayed in control, that she’d keep him safe when he drifted away.

“Apologies again, ma’am.”

She twisted. First gently, testing, turning her wrist. The pain built until Mike flat-out grunted. She must’ve been waiting for that because she let him go. Relief made him shiver. Then came a shiver of another kind when she stroked his cock.

“Not all the way hard yet? Hm.”

“One thing at a time,” he said, nearly a gasp.

“What do you mean?”

“Pain first. Like…can’t process both.”

“But if I told you the pain was done and kept pumping this gorgeous prick? Hard in seconds?”

Mike bowed his head against that fierce pleasure. Such an amazing fucking contrast. His chest heaved. He could hardly hear her words, and his own rattled like stones in his ears. “In seconds, ma’am.”

She put that to the test. Up and down, so firm and determined, she jerked him with as little mercy as she’d shown when wielding that wicked ruler.

“You were right,” she said, sounding impressed. “Absolutely beautiful, pet.”

Through gritted teeth, Mike was barely able to thank her for the compliment. His hard-on was a force of nature now. She was edging him. He knew it. Somewhere in the back of his cloudy, hazy, pleasure-fizzled mind, he knew it.

“Too bad we’re not done with testing you,” she said. “Because this… It’ll be difficult to give this up. I’d like to flip you on your back and ride you.
So
hard.”

A growl burned up from his chest. “Want that, ma’am.”

Hands off. Just like that. She pulled away.

Mike dropped his head to his forearms and groaned. “Fuck.”

“Mmmm. Those honest reactions are gorgeous.”

“Honest?”

“When you can’t help yourself. Now back up on your hands.”

In front of anyone else, Mike would’ve been embarrassed as hell to realize how his biceps trembled. Leah only watched. She wore a smile of wonder. The crazed light in her eyes seemed to reflect his own need, his own bigger-than-life arousal.