he set the tray on her nightstand, then sat on her bed, staring at it.

"if you don't stay aroused, needing me and what i'll give you, then i'll walk away," he said, his voice so soft she had to strain to hear it. "but i'll push you, tess, see what you like, see what you can take. not just tonight, but all week. you're mine until the night of your father's party. no matter what, no matter when, as long as what i'm doing arouses you."

"and if it doesn't?" she asked angrily. "what are you going to do, hurt me until i can't take it anymore?"

he turned to her, his eyes blazing.

"only i can give you what you want, what you need," he bit out. "you're so damned hot to be dominated you can't stand it. do you think i don't know that? did you think you were told the rumors of my preferences needlessly? if you weren't excited by it, tess, you wouldn't have been so wet you soaked my hand two years ago when i caught you in the hall. you're just scared of it. and i want you too damned bad to let you stay frightened of what we both need any longer."

"i won't do it!" but excitement was electrifying her body, making every cell throb in anticipation.

"won't you?" he growled. "i know about the books your mother found in your room when you went to college, tess. the stories you read, to satisfy that craving you couldn't explain."

her face flushed. her mother had been enraged over the naughty books she had found in tess's room that year.

"captives, dominated by their lovers. submissive, loving every stroke of the sensual pleasure they received.

tess could feel her flush of mortification staining her entire body.

"did you ever fuck your ass, tess?" he asked her softly, leaning toward her, watching her closely. "as you stroked your cunt, fighting for orgasm, did your finger ever steal into that hot, dark little passage, just to see what it felt like?"

she had. tess moaned in humiliation. but it hadn't been her finger, rather it had been the rounded, slender vibrator she kept hidden. the dark surge of pleasure that had spread through her had been terrifying. even worse had been the hard, shocking quake of an orgasm that had her nearly screaming, ripping through her body, and making her cunt gush its slick, sticky fluid. the remembered pain of the penetration, the humiliation of that rushing liquid squirting from her had caused her to never try such a thing again except with her fingers. even now, years later, the thought of that one act was enough to leave her flushing with shame.

"did it hurt, tess?" and of course, those wicked eyes knew the flush of admission on her skin. "did it make you want more?"

"no," she bit out, shaking with nerves, with arousal.

"i think it did." he touched her cheek, his fingers caressing her flesh, his voice gentle. "i think i left you aching, needing, and too damned scared to try to reach for it. i think, tess, that you need me just as much as i need you."

"and i think you're crazy," she bit out, refusing him, wondering why she was when she needed it so damned bad.

his thumb stroked over her swollen lips, his eyes dark, glittering in the light of the candle.

"am i?" he asked her softly. "let's see, tess, just how crazy i am."

chapter seven

tess watched cole, trying to still the hard, rough breaths that shook her body. she couldn't seem to get enough oxygen, couldn't seem to settle the hard shudder of her pounding heart.

"there's a fine line that divides pleasure and pain," he told her as he removed the butt plug from the tray, and the tube of lubricant. "it's so slim, that if went about the right way, the pain adds to the pleasure, in a dark erotic manner."

he moved to the bottom of the bed. he loosened the ropes attached to the footboard, then grabbed her legs quickly before she could kick out at him. ignoring her struggles and heated curses, within minutes he had her entire body flipped over, the ropes once again holding her in position as he tucked several pillows beneath her hips.

"you bastard." her voice was strangled as crazed excitement shot through her body.

her buttocks were arched to him now. she was spread, open to him, and the flares of fear and excitement traveling through her body had her terrified.

"god, tess, you're beautiful," he growled from behind her, his voice rough, filled with lust. "your little ass so pink and pretty. and i like how you keep your pussy waxed so soft and smooth. but i would have preferred to do it myself. >from now on, i'll take care of it for you."

tess trembled, crying out. she should hate this. she should be screaming, begging him to stop, instead her body pulsed in need and desire, in anticipation.

"you shouldn't have waited so long to come back, tess," he whispered as he kissed one full cheek of her ass. "you shouldn't have made me wait so long, baby, because i won't be able to be as gentle as i would have been."

her cunt pulsed at his words.

"and i'll have to punish you." she whimpered at the rising excitement in his voice. "but i would have anyway, tess. because i need to see that pretty ass all red and hot from my hand."

"no-" despite her instinctive cry, his hand fell to the rounded cheek of her ass.

heat flared across her flesh, then she screamed as his finger sank into her pussy a second later. she twisted, writhed against her bonds.

"you're so wet," he groaned. "so tight and hot, tess. but by the time my cock sinks into your pretty pussy, you'll be tighter."

his hand struck again as the broad finger retreated from her quaking vagina. as the heat built in the flesh of her buttocks, his finger sank in again. tess was crying out in fear and a wash of dark, erotic excitement. the blows weren't cruel, rather sharp and stinging, building a steady heat in her flesh.

"so pretty." he whacked the other side, then his finger thrust into her again.

she was so wet she was dripping. he alternated mild and stinging blows that kept her flinching in anticipation. kept her flesh heated, the pain flaring through her body. a pain she hated, hated because the pleasure from it was driving her crazy. she could feel her juices rolling from her cunt, hear her cries echoing with needs she didn't want to name.

by the time he finished, her ass felt on fire, her hips were rolling, her cunt throbbing. she was dying of need. if he didn't fuck her soon, she would go crazy. she was burning, inside and out, a wave of fiery lust tormenting her loins as she fought the depraved pleasures of the spanking.

"your ass is so pretty and red now," he groaned. "damn, tess, i like you like this, baby, all tied up for me, reddening, your cunt hot and tight and so wet it soaks my fingers." two fingers plunged inside her.

"cole-" her cry was hoarse and desperate as her orgasm teetered her on an edge of agonized excitement.

"i'm going to put this butt plug up your ass now, tess," he warned her as he drew his fingers from her body. "then i'll fuck you, baby. i'll fuck you so deep and hard you won't ever leave me again."

tess's head ground into her pillow as his hand separated her buttocks. she flinched at the feel of cold lubricant, then cried out again as his finger sank fully into the tight hole. it pinched, sent a flare of heat through her muscles that had her bucking into the thrust.

"oh, tess, your ass is so tight." he twisted his finger inside her, spreading the lubrication, stretching the muscles as she whimpered in distress. "it doesn't want to stretch, tess. such a pretty virgin hole."

as full as his finger filled her, how would she ever take more? she tightened on him in fear, then moaned as the heated pain made her cunt throb hotter. she was depraved. she should be terrified, fighting him, instead her whimpers were begging for more.

he repeated the lubrication several times as tess fought to breathe past the pleasure and pain. she was ready to scream, to beg for more. she wanted to whisper the forbidden words. she bit her lip, panted, cried out as his finger finally withdrew.

"tess, i want you to take a deep breath," he finally instructed her heatedly. "relax when the plug starts in, it will ease the pain if it's too much for you at first."

"you're torturing me," she cried out, bucking against her ropes. she didn't want this now. she was too scared. the dark lust rolling over her was too intense, too frightening. "stop, cole. let me go!"

"it's okay, tess." his hand smoothed over her bottom then his fingers clenched, separating her again. "it's okay, baby. it's normal to be scared. just relax."

"cole-" she didn't know if her cry was in protest or in need as she felt the tapered head of the thick plug nestle against her tiny hole.

"it's going to hurt, tess." his voice was dark, excited. "you're going to scream for me, and you're going to love it. i know you will, baby."

"oh god." she tossed her head on the pillow but couldn't help allowing her body to relax marginally.

she felt the device begin to penetrate the tight hole. at first, the piercing sensation was mild, but as the length and thickness increased, the steady, building fire began to shoot through her body.

she tensed, but cole didn't ease up. she cried out as it grew brighter, then began begging as pain bloomed in her anus. but she wasn't begging him to stop.

"it hurts," she screamed out. "oh god, cole. cole please-"

he didn't relent, instead, the fingers of his other hand moved to her pulsing cunt. there, they stroked and petted her clit until she was thrusting, pushing into his hand, crying out as the movement pushed the plug deeper into her ass.

she could feel her muscles stretching, protesting but eventually giving way to the thick intruder invading it. she bucked against her ropes, rearing back, writhing under the lash of burning pain, and equally burning pleasure.

"damn you!" her voice was hoarse, enraged from the building kaleidoscope of sensations rushing through her body.

the fiery heat of the invasion, the slow steady buildup of pain, the resulting agonizing pleasure so overwhelmed her senses that she felt dazed with it, awash in a darkly sensual reality where nothing existed except the slow, steady invasion of her ass, and the soft, too light caresses to her throbbing clit.

long minutes later she jerked harshly as the last inch of the plug passed the tight anal ring, leaving seven inches of hard thick dildo lodged inside her. she squirmed, fighting to accustom herself to the sensation. cole chose that moment to land his hand heavily on her ass again. tess screamed, her muscles tightening around the plug, inflicting a disastrous form of ecstasy.

"now, tess," cole growled. "now, i get to eat that pretty pussy."

chapter eight

tess's cries were echoing in his head, throbbing in his cock. cole couldn't remember a time he had been so turned on, so hot and ready to fuck. he wanted to plunge his cock as deep, as hard up her tight cunt as he could. he wanted to slam it inside her, master her with the brutality of a fucking so lustful that she would find it impossible to leave the only man who could give it to her.

but he knew, the longer he could keep her hanging on the edge of the sensations ripping through her, the more she would crave it later. he was a slave to the need to be the one who pleasured her.

the piercing of her ass with that plug had been the most erotic, satisfying thing he had done in his life. he wondered if she was even aware of how loud she had begged for more. how many times she had pleaded with him to push it hard inside her, to take her. he doubted it. submissives rarely remembered that first time, those first long minutes that the plug, or a hot, thick cock invaded their ass.