Close Cover (Masters and Mercenaries #16)(40)

He’d given her his most intimidating voice, but she simply shrugged, her eyes focused on the floor. “You didn’t say I couldn’t talk.”

“Master Kai, maybe I should rethink.” He moved around her, breathing in her beauty. She was so damn gorgeous. She was always gorgeous, but like this, she was damn near perfect. “I should rethink what I said though. It wasn’t perfectly true. This is our space. This is the space where we can drop our daily roles and find that other part of ourselves. When we walk into this room, I want you silent unless I ask a specific question. Would you like to take off your clothes or do you want to do this with the corset on? I assure you I can make it work.”

“Naked works for me. I told you, Master Remy, that I have some exhibitionist in me.”

“Have you ever watched me scene?” He thought he knew the answer to that, but he wanted to see if she would reply honestly. He moved to her back, reaching down to let the laces of the corset out.

“It was my hobby while I was here, Sir. I think I caught most of your scenes. I’m surprised you came back here. There are hard points on the stage you usually use.”

“I wanted some intimacy this time,” he replied. “I don’t want a huge crowd because like Kai here, I’d like to let my freak flag fly, and there are things I like to do when I hold a sub dear that I don’t on a simple scene partner.”

Like fuck her silly. He didn’t mind having sex in the club, but he wanted more intimacy with her. And then there was his other kink.

“Ow. Ow. Fuck you, Kai,” Kori said.

“I believe my lovely wife is making those hand gestures because she wants to know if you would like us to find another spot,” Kai said. “Yes, keep it up, love. The rope is doing its job nicely. Your poor foot. I could help you, you know.”

“You were here first,” Remy replied. “And what I’m going to do won’t bother you. Now if Big Tag was here, I’d gag him.” He didn’t do this often, though the words flowed through his head every time he picked up a length of rope. He wanted to do it with her. He wanted to give her the words that flowed like an easy river. “You have a safe word. Will you promise me to use it if I scare you?”

“I promise, but I don’t frighten easily and I’ve waited for this,” she whispered. “For a long time.”

He eased the corset off her. “I’ve waited forever to see your skin. To make it my canvas. I won’t use paint. I’m not an artist whose strokes hang in a gallery. There is no immortality in my work. It takes this flesh and binds it.”

He’d prepped the rope he would use and called the dungeon monitor, who seemed to have properly set up his scene.

He dropped the length of jute in front of her. “This is my only artistry. My one talent. To bind my chèrie in rope worthy of her, to hold her close so she knows each wrap of my rope is a manifestation of my affection, my need. Can you accept my gift?”

She looked up and tears were already in her eyes. She nodded slowly.

He reached down. “I don’t mean to make you cry.”

“Don’t you dare stop. If I only get a few weeks, I want all of you. I want this part. You let me feel it all. You don’t hold anything back on me. I want it all and I definitely want those words. I used to watch you and you would take your hair down. I waited for that moment because that was the moment you took control.”

“I cut my hair because I had to have surgery,” he explained as he began to wind the rope around her torso. “I’ll grow it back out and it wasn’t a huge deal. I’ve got a metal plate in my head from an injury.”

“What?”

“Hush, this is my time. In my head, this is a lush dance. In my mind, this is art.”

She went still, her obvious trust in him allowing him to find that place again.

“You think I’m hard in this place, this top space, but this is where I find peace.” He worked the rope, the ties perfectly familiar, his fingers moving almost without his brain. The muscle memory took over, knowing where to go as he concentrated on her. On how the rope looked against her skin, how it would leave an indention he could touch and kiss for an hour after. “This is where I let go, allowing my body to serve yours, my mind flowing like that river, gently easing everything out to sea.”

He started in on her breasts, working the rope around each sweet mound. “My rope binds you to me, reminds you that I am the one who touches you, brings you to the ultimate pleasure. My rope binds me to you, reminds me that this connection, the one that flows through each wrap and binding, comes only from this soul I wind myself around. For I am in this rope, in every tie, every inch that caresses you. This rope is the touch of my hand, the loving touch of my mouth and tongue, the offering of my body to yours.”

He let the words flow as he worked his rope. He spoke of her beauty, his affection and need for her, all the while winding the rope around her body, showcasing her breasts and preparing her for more. She wanted the full experience? He could give it to her. He would let her feel it all.

Not every scene had to be hardcore. For Remy, D/s was about having a spot where he could open himself up, allow himself to be as vulnerable as the submissive he was about to suspend. He’d been looking for the right sub, the one who would relax him enough to allow him to be exactly who he was without self-consciousness or fear.