You Only Love Twice (Masters and Mercenaries #8)(53)

Thud. Thud. Thud. Like a train running endlessly down the tracks. Not in a hurry. No particular destination, traveling to simply travel.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Like the horse she’d learn to ride on, big hooves eating the distance, joy in the freedom of riding.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Though she was still, she felt as if she was moving, the insistent thud of the flogger taking her someplace she’d never been before.

Taggart kept pace with the music, his flogger moving in time to the rhythm. Over and over he struck with loving precision, bringing her skin alive. He struck her shoulders, her butt, the tops of her thighs. She could feel the almost circular pattern he was making, but after a moment, she took a breath and stopped thinking about the academics of the situation. She let out the air and felt her muscles relaxing even as the strikes got harder.

No pain. There was no pain from his flogger, just a hard thud, striking her and forcing the tension to flee.

She felt loose, like her muscles were melting in the most pleasant way. There was heat and pleasure at her back, but Jesse was at her front. She was surrounded and she gave in, allowing herself to sink into the sensation of being wrapped in tactile pleasure.

“I can feel you,” Jesse whispered against her ear. “I felt the moment you gave over. Do you know how beautiful you are?”

She didn’t answer him. It wasn’t really a question. He continued to murmur in her ear, his words somehow matching the floggers beat. They drugged her further, taking her to a place where there wasn’t a lonely future, no tragic past. There was only the now, and it was full of possibility. She didn’t have to be Phoebe Grant, grieving widow. She was just a woman, relaxed and submissive in the arms of her lover.

She wanted to be his lover. Even if it was only for a night.

The thought whispered along her brain. She could steal a few days. She didn’t have to be alone. No one had to know.

“She subs out fast.”

“I think she needed that.”

They were talking, Taggart and Jesse, and she realized that the wonderful thudding had stopped. “It’s already over?”

Taggart chuckled. “That was a good fifteen minutes. I think it’s enough for your first time.”

How had it been so long? If she’d been asked, she would have said she’d been held by Jesse for a fraction of the time.

“I think she needs some aftercare, my brother,” Taggart said as Jesse lifted her up.

It was a good thing because her knees were distinctly weak. Her whole body felt loose and her head sweetly befuddled.

How had she gotten high off some dude flogging her?

“Because you’re a sub.” Jesse grinned down at her as he started to move off the stage.

Had she said that out loud? She felt small in his arms, small and protected. It was so easy to cuddle down and allow him to take over. She let her eyes drift closed, but she wasn’t about to fall into sleep. She wanted something more. She wanted a memory of him.

“I think we can handle the aftercare upstairs.” He reached the back stairs that led to the second floor and their private quarters. “Do you want me to draw you a bath or do you just want me to tuck you into bed?”

“I want you to make love to me.”

He stopped in the middle of the stairs. “What?”

“Make love to me.”

He stared for a moment and then he picked up the pace, practically running to get to their room.

No matter what happened, she would have her night with him. She would have one memory of the man she shouldn’t love.





CHAPTER NINE





Jesse hurried down the hallway. From downstairs, music thudded up softly, but he was no longer tempted to go back to the club. He’d thought he would settle Phoebe in and then go back down for one last beer, but there was no way he wasn’t honoring her request.

He’d had some hope that she would let him rub her feet and talk about how the scene had made her feel. He’d never imagined that her aftercare request would involve actual sex.

Should it?

He kicked open the door and made his way to the bed. She was a soft bundle in his arms. He would have been content to simply hold her. She was warm and half naked, and he would likely never forget that moment when he’d slid the corset off her and saw her breasts for the first time. They were perfect. Round and just enough to fill his hands. He’d loved the way her nipples had felt against his chest, the way she’d leaned into him when she gave over.

It had been the single most intimate moment of his life and he didn’t want it to end. No matter what he told himself, he wanted more with her, and not in some dumbass, dump-her-afterward way so he could feel better about himself. That had been a momentary insanity. Now that he was alone in the room with her and her skin glowed like a pearl, he was willing to admit he would take any time he could get with this woman. He would take anything she offered him and be grateful for the time they had.

He would do just about anything to keep her.

He gently laid her down on the bed and then turned on the nightstand light. He couldn’t do this in the dark. He needed to see her. When he dragged the skirt off her hips, she didn’t fight him. She just looked up as he tossed it aside.

Her chest moved as she stretched out on the bed, a tired smile on her face. “I liked that, Jesse. I didn’t think I would.”