it was the pain and pleasure combined. the needs, so shocking, so consuming that they dazed the mind to the point that the submissive rarely remembered begging for it.

"fuck me," tess still begged, her voice was thick and desperate as her cunt leaked the honeyed cream of her need. and he would fuck her. soon.

he lifted a small, oblong metal device from the tray. it was attached to a long cord with a control box at the end. a silver bullet it was called. so tiny it appeared harmless, but the effects of its internal vibrations would send tess into such a haze of rapture that she would never forget it.

he inserted the three-inch long device into her cunt. his cock clenched at the closed fist tightness he encountered as he pressed it past the fullness of the plug lodged in her ass and moved it to the back of her cunt. he positioned the little device for maximum vibration against her g-spot then withdrew. he set the control on low, a gentle, stroking vibration that nonetheless caused her to flinch. then he set about feeding himself from her cunt.

he lapped at her pussy, just as he had once promised her he would. gentle strokes into her vagina with his tongue that had her bucking against his mouth, begging for more. her body was sheened with sweat, her breathing harsh, her cries desperate as he tongued her, stroked her. and she tasted so damned good he couldn't help himself but to thrust his tongue as deep inside her as he could go, and draw more of her into his mouth.

cole was on fire for her. he knew his control was slipping, something that never happened, something he had never had to fight to keep before. but he had to prepare her, he couldn't allow himself to unwittingly hurt her. tess was everything to him. his heart, his soul, the happiness he had always believed he would never find. she teetered between erotic pain and the pain that could irrevocably damage her sexuality forever. if he wasn't careful, extremely careful, then he would destroy both of them. because cole knew he couldn't go much longer without her.

so he tamped down his own lusts, stroked her gently, gauged her need and advanced the speed of the vibrator accordingly. she was bucking in his hands now, nearing that point of no return. reluctantly, he moved back from her dripping vagina, licked back, circled her clit with his tongue. then he turned, laying on his back, positioning himself to suck the swollen, engorged bud into his mouth as he edged the speed of the vibrator higher.

she exploded, her body tensed. her scream was strangled, breathless as her body bowed, jerked, then began a repeated shudder that signaled the beginning of her orgasm. he tightened his lips on her clit, flicked it with his tongue and held her hips with easy strength when the hot, volcanic rush of her release began to rush through her body.

tess was dying. she knew she was dying and she eagerly embraced the exquisite rush of painful pleasure that threw her over the brink. her body was jerking uncontrollably, her orgasm filling her body, pumping through her blood, spasming her uterus as it tore through her. she could feel the hard vibration inside her, cole's lips at her clit, blending into a raging storm she knew she wouldn't survive. hard shudders rushed over her, pleasure, unlike anything she could have conceived tore her apart. and in a distant part of her mind, she wondered if she would ever be the same again. if she survived it.

she screamed against the torrent, but couldn't fight it. she could feel her fluids gushing through her pussy as it spasmed, and cole's mouth moving to catch them with a hard, male groan. his tongue speared inside her tortured cunt, triggering another hard shudder, another gush of fluids until finally, she collapsed mindlessly against her ropes, dazed, stripped of strength.

small tremors still assaulted her boneless body. the never-ending pulse of her climax didn't go away easily. she could hear cole, a hard, brutal male groan echoing through the room as his body jerked against her. had he come? had he been inside her and she didn't know it? it didn't matter. she was drifting on a haze of pleasure so weak, so astounding that she couldn't think, and didn't want to.

"tess?" cole's voice was tender, warm as he moved behind her. "are you okay, baby?"

she felt the ropes loosening, his hands calloused and gentle on her skin as he untied her, helped her to stretch out on the bed. she lay boneless, so satiated she could barely move. she was aware of cole moving along the bed beside her, turning her over to her back, his expression, when she looked up at him, was concerned, gentle.

"sleepy," she whispered. and she was. so tired, so emotionally and physically drained she could barely stay awake.

"sleep, tess." he kissed her cheek gently. "rest, baby. we start again tomorrow."

cole lay down beside her, drawing the quilt over them, ignoring the pulse of his still throbbing cock. he had climaxed with tess, but it wasn't enough. he needed to be buried inside her, feeling her, tight and hot, enclosing him with her satin heat.

and he knew the fight wasn't finished. accepting the pain-filled pleasure would be the easy part for tess. submitting to him would be the hard part. giving in to him, no matter what he asked of her, no matter what he demanded for her sexual pleasure, would be the fight. one he looked forward to. he knew tess better than she knew herself. he knew from her father's admission of the books her mother had found, what turned her on. it wasn't the pain, it was the domination, the submission into the sexual extremes that she craved. she wanted to fight. she wanted to be vanquished, and he wanted to give it to her.

he pulled her against him, luxuriating in the warmth of her body, her very presence. he had dreamed of this for two years. he knew the moment he met tess that she held a part of him that no other woman ever could. the thought of it had tormented him, racked him with lust. in the past months, it had grown worse. he lived and breathed daily with the need for her. it was like a fever burning his loins that he couldn't escape.

and now he had her. by valentine's night, her final lesson, her final erotic dream fulfilled, she would know who mastered her body and her heart.

chapter nine

tess was sore. her entire body throbbed, protesting her wakefulness. the muscles of her legs were stiff and burning, her arms and even her breasts were sore.

"open your eyes, tess. we have to remove the plug and you need a hot bath." cole's voice was firm, brooking no refusal.

her eyes snapped open, her head turning to him, her eyes focusing on the savage features of his face.

"you left that thing in me?" she bit out incredulously.

he arched a single brow.

"your ass was tight, tess. it needs to accustom itself to stretching before you'll ever be able to take my cock there."

her heart slammed into her ribs.

"go to the bathroom, then come back here. if you try to remove it yourself, i'll tie you back down and leave you there the rest of the day."

he meant it. she saw his determination in the hard lines of his face.

"take it out first," she said instead.

he shook his head. "do as i say, tess. i have a reason for my demands, baby."

tess frowned, but she knew she did not want to experience the torture of being tied down and frothing with need. and she knew he would make her froth. he would torture her, then leave her to suffer in her arousal. she wasn't ready to take that chance yet, not after last night.

so she rose from the bed, walking gingerly to the bathroom. after relieving her most pressing need, she brushed her teeth and washed her face then returned to the bedroom. her stomach rolled with nerves, wondering how cole planned to continue the sensual torture he had started last night.

"on your knees." he nodded to the bed, standing beside it, naked and sporting an erection that resembled a weapon.

his cock was the largest she had ever seen, nearly as thick as her wrist, with a bulging, flared head that made her mouth water at the sight.

tess went to the bed, assuming the position she knew he wanted. she trembled as his hand caressed the cheeks of her rear. his fingers ran down the crease of her ass until he gripped the plug, pulling it slowly, gently, free of her bottom.

"stay still," he ordered her before she could move. "under your cabinet are some personal supplies i bought for you. from now on you will use them whenever i tell you to do so. understood?"

"yes," she whispered, feeling her cunt burn, moisten as he ran his hands over her ass.

"i'm not going to fuck you now because to be honest, i don't think i can keep my cock out of your ass. but i need relief, baby."

he moved around the bed then, turning her as he faced her, his cock aiming at her mouth. tess licked her lips. she opened them as the purpled head nudged against them. she heard his hard groan as she closed her lips around his cock, taking him, opening her throat to take that last inch possible.

one of his hands gripped his cock, to assure he didn't give her more than she could take, the other twisted in her hair. the sharp bite of pain had her mouth tightening around his cock, her throat working on the head as he cried out in pleasure. he wasn't willing to prolong his own pleasure this morning though. his thrust in and out of her mouth with deep, hard strokes, holding her still as he groaned repeatedly at the pleasure she was bringing him. then, she felt his cock jerk, throb, and the pulse of his sperm filling her mouth as he cried out his release.

cole was breathing hard when he pulled back from her, his cock was still engorged, still ready for her, but he did nothing more.

"go bathe, tess, before i do something neither of us is ready for. come down to breakfast when you're finished."

tess stood up, watching him fight for control.

"is father home?" she asked

"not yet." he shook his head. "he'll be back the night before the party. you're mine until then, tess. can you handle it?"

her eyes narrowed at his tone of voice, the suggestion that she couldn't.

"i can handle you any day of the week." damn her mouth, she groaned as the words poured from her lips.

his lips quirked. they both knew better.

"we'll see." he nodded. "go bathe. i'll lay out what i want you to wear this morning. the servants have been given the rest of the week off as well, so there's just you and me for a while."

tess bit her lip. she wasn't certain if that was a good thing or not.

"go." he indicated the bathroom door. "come downstairs when you're ready."

an hour later tess walked down the spiraling stairs, barefoot and wearing more clothes than she thought he would lay out for her but decidedly less than she wanted to wear. the long, silk negligee made her feel sexy, feminine. it covered her breasts but was cut low enough that if he wanted them out, he would have no problems. there were no panties included, but the black silk shielded that fact. she would have been uncomfortable in something he could have seen right through.

his note had stated that he would await her in the kitchen, and there he was. dressed in sweat pants and nothing else, his thick black hair still damp, looking sexier than any man had a right to look. and he was smiling at her. even his eyes were filled with a lazy, comfortable expression as he set two plates of eggs, bacon and toast beside full coffee cups.

"breakfast is ready, you're right on time." he pulled her chair out, indicating that she should sit.

tess took her seat gingerly, the soreness of her muscles was much better, but her thighs and rear were still tender.

"sore?" he brushed a kiss over her bare shoulder, causing her to jerk in startled reaction.

she turned her head, looking up at him as he straightened and moved to his own chair.

"a little." she cleared her throat.

"it will get easier," he promised. "now eat. we'll talk later, after you've been fed."

breakfast, despite her initial misgivings, was filled with laughter. cole was comfortable and his easy humor began to show. his dry wit kept her chuckling and the wicked sparkle in his eyes kept her body sizzling, kept her anticipating later, praying he would fuck her. the longer he waited, the hotter she got. she didn't know if she would survive it much longer.