With two days to go before our gig in New York, I had a feeling my nerves wouldn't fade anytime soon. Not unless Thayre was willing to turn my flesh bright red. I wanted to be flogged—for Thayre to send me into that blissful oblivion, but the way he stood in front of me, I knew using a flogger wasn't in his plans for the evening. He wouldn't touch my back—he'd said as much before.
"I don't like the idea of you being too stiff and sore to play."
While I appreciated the concern for my already tense muscles, the rest of my body felt otherwise.
Standing with my hands behind my back, I dropped my gaze and awaited my orders. It didn't matter how many times we'd danced like this in the last month—the apprehension was always there. Tingling at the front of my mind while my muscles tried to decide if they wanted to tense or if they should liquefy under his watchful eye.
Music practice was over. We'd worked every night this week, so for the next day or so, we were supposed to rest, and for Thayre and I, that meant some quiet time in his guestroom.
"Tell me your safe words," Thayre said, his voice stern as he stepped in front of me. To my side. Behind me.
I shivered when his hands touched along my spine. Stand up straight, Moyra. I corrected my posture and cleared my throat. "Yellow to slow down. Red to stop, Sir."
His hand left me, but his presence continued to consume me. "You already know I won't flog you this evening since we're leaving first thing in the morning. With that in mind, do you have any other limits?"
I wanted to say no. To ask for it all, but I also knew some other activities would leave me too sore to sit. "No anal or any pain play involving my butt, Sir."
"Shame. Anal could unwind you a considerable amount, but I understand. Anything else?"
Granted, we'd never done anal, but given I was terribly inexperienced in that department, right now probably wasn't the best time to give it a shot. "No, Sir."
He leaned in close to me. "I will get to claim your ass one of these days." The caramel tone he used made my breath catch. "Now, get on your knees and be a good Songbird."
I couldn't help smiling at the pet name which had become so much more than that. He never used it outside my submission, but somehow it offered me a sense of comfort, and slowly, I started to relax. I let my mind go blank and dropped onto my knees, using the towel as a bit of padding between myself and the hard floor.
Clothes weren't an issue. After taking a long shower, Thayre demanded I wear a towel—the very same one he had me fold and place in front of my feet once I entered the room.
Damp hair swept from the middle of my back, over one shoulder and onto my breast as Thayre guided it across my otherwise warm skin. Goosebumps pricked on my arms and legs, and my nipples hardened from the burning cold tendrils of fire that managed to reach them.
I took a shaky breath, trying my best to stay alert as the room tilted to one side. I'm not sure when it happened, but I'd closed my eyes, and after weeks of wearing a blindfold, I knew better than to open them to see where we were. We were still in the guestroom, but as Thayre caressed my left cheek, stepped in front of me, then away, my sense of direction vanished.
I felt more than heard Thayre's footsteps as he moved across the room. Drawers opened, and my spine straightened at the sound of chains jingling together. I breathed in through my nose. Held it. Let it out slowly. He wouldn't gag me. There was no need when I wasn't on the cross. And yet, I still whimpered loud enough for him to hear as he turned toward me.
"Not all pain lands on your back," he'd said at one time. "Sometimes it isn't pain at all."
Hot and cold. Hard and soft. They had completely different meanings when I was on my knees as opposed to whatever we did outside this room.
I lifted my head, trying to track Thayre as I'd lost mental sight of him again. The air around me was warm. Still. A droplet of water freed itself from my hair, and I focused on that single drop of moisture as it traveled past my breast, around my navel, and finally stopped above my bikini line.
I wanted to brush it away. To pull my hair up and wring it out while Thayre wasn't looking. I unclasped my hands from behind my back and slowly—
"Don't make me cuff you," Thayre said, his voice equal parts playful and demanding.
I put my hands back in place, lowered my gaze and smiled. At least now, I knew where he was—still across the room, getting closer. Something opened and closed again. The fridge. I shuddered. Either he was getting out our water bottles, or—
Crack. Crack. Pop.
I winced. Ice.
Footsteps again. Toward me. He stopped off to my side, setting the ice down with a gentle thud so close to my feet I could feel the cold coming off the tray.
"Are you okay?" Thayre asked somewhere behind me.
"Yes, Sir."
"Are you uncomfortable?"
I shifted my weight front one knee to the other, and nodded. "A little, but I'm okay, Sir."
"Let me know if it gets to be too much."
His warm touch trailed along my right check to my neck. My collarbone. Slowly, very slowly trailing his fingertips closer to my breast. He stopped centimeters from my nipple.
"I love it when you're like this," he said, his hand still.
"And how is that, Sir?"
"When you have no idea what's to come and end up expecting it all. So many different opportunities. So many ways to make you—"
"Oh God!" I yelped as a cube of ice fell onto the center of my back.
Thayre's laugh made me shiver even more than the ice had. He was great at tormenting me, and tonight would be no different. The ice burned my skin as Thayre moved it alongside my spine. I jumped when the cube suddenly disappeared, reappearing at the very same moment on the backs of my legs.
It was the worst kind of mind game. While my body still registered the cold of the cube in one place, Thayre could easily surprise me by moving it somewhere else. Without warning.
His hot-as-fire lips kissed the frozen flesh at the same moment he moved the ice to trace the side of my breast. Down my ribs. Along my hip.
I whimpered. Tried to draw away from the cold, but was then touched on my other side with the ice. The cube was shrinking, but it wasn't small enough. Just like the single drop of water that had freed itself from my hair and trickled down to my bikini line, the cold cube was superimposed in my mind.
He kissed my neck as the ice cube slithered up the inside of my thigh. Toughed my clit. I arched my back. Tried to clamp my legs shut, but Thayre's hands stopped me.
"I could've restrained you," he said against my ear, smiling into my neck when he parted my pussy lips with his fingers, the ice cube or both. "But you may have gotten the wrong idea."
I let my head rest against his shoulder as he thrust two fingers inside me. My body shook on its own, and I lowered onto my hands and knees.
Thayre pulled my hair. "Did I say to get on all fours?"
I forced myself up on my knees. My teeth chattered. "No, Sir."
Then, in a gentler voice, Thayre said, "Are you uncomfortable?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Can you stay on your knees a while longer, or do you want to change positions?"
I straightened my back. Leaned to one side, then the other. "I should be okay, Sir."
"Let me know if that changes."
I bobbed my head and closed my eyes, giving in to the electricity that sparked from his fingertips on my clit. I thrust at him as he quickened the pace, breathing hard through my nose as I forgot all about the ice cube.
Thayre reached his free hand around me, pinching my nipple until it hardened from his touch. The fingers on my slit slowed, then stopped. I swallowed hard as that same chain from before jingled behind me.
Something cold touched my breast. "You know what this is, don't you?" Thayre asked, twisting at my hard nipple before closing the clamp around it.
I screwed my eyes tight from the momentary pain. Breathe, Moyra. Remember to breathe. I did, with a little effort.
Inhale.
Thayre's fingers pinched the other nipple.
Exhale.
He kissed behind my ear.
Inhale-exhale hard.
He closed the second clamp, letting go of the chain between them so it hung from my breasts. "Doing okay?"
I nodded.
"Get on all fours."
Thankful for the rest, I pressed my palms into the wood and widened my stance, thrusting at Thayre when I sensed him getting closed to me.
Using one finger, he pulled on the chain just enough to make me squirm. "I bet you’re tight. In fact, I know you are, and do you know why that is?"
I trembled. Shook my head. "No, Sir."
"Because of this." He tugged on the chain again. Harder this time, sending bolts of electric flame up and down my spine. "And this." He pulled on my hair so I was looking up at the ceiling.
I whimpered. Moaned as he pressed his lips to mine. Nearly screamed as he thrust inside me. He released my hair, and I bowed my head between my arms. He'd released the chain connected to my breasts, but every time he pumped inside me, my body rocked, and as it did, the chain tugged on my breasts to keep them tingling and my body aching for more. More pleasure. More pain. More Thayre.
I clawed at the floor. Winced from the odd texture under my nails. And Thayre thrust faster. Harder. Grunted and grabbed onto both of my hips.
"Play with yourself."
Steadying myself on one arm, I circled my clit with my fingers. Pressed harder. Fucked my hand faster as the first tremors of my orgasm threatened to tear me apart. Not yet, Moyra. For fuck's sake, not yet. Not until Thayre was ready. While I was free to climax whenever I wanted, going at the same time gave me more of a rush than when I finished alone.
"Faster," I begged, my legs shaking beneath us.
Thayre didn't ask me how close I was, and by now, he probably knew. Between the pain-pleasure searing on my breasts, my hardening clit and the heated desire of my pussy, I wasn't going to last.
He dug his fingers into my hips, and, using long strokes, thrusts into me as deep as he could. His hot breath hit against my shoulders, his moans causing my clit to throb as much with need for my release as his own.
I pushed back. Tightened my kegels. Held my breath. But as white sparks crowded my vision, Thayre sent me tumbling over the edge. I gasped and came, and as the euphoria passed, the pain of the clamps on my breasts grounded me.
"Sir, may I?"
"Remove them," Thayre grunted. Thrust again.
Wincing at the very real pain that was to come, I inhaled, exhaling with a strangled gasp as I removed the first clamp. Thayre's breath caught, and timing his thrusts with the removal of the second clamp, he came fast and hard. Hugged an arm around my middle. Slumped over me until we'd both had the chance to catch our breath.
"Don't," I whimpered as he reached for my breasts.
"Still sore?" Thayre asked, kissing the nape of my neck as he withdrew, more than likely shuddering from the sensitivity of his now spent cock.
I sat on the floor and watched him as he disposed of the condom, accepting his hand when he offered it to me. Once I was on my feet, I joined him over on the spare bed, climbing under the blankets and in his arms as we both tasted each other's lips. The salt of sweat met my tongue, and I ran my fingers through his damp hair.
"Looks like we might need another shower," I said, pressing my forehead against his own.
He took a breath and held me close. "After a nap."
I smiled, and, with Thayre's body warm against mine, I closed my eyes. With our bodies more than spent for the time being, and given the long days we'd had, the need for rest quickly honed in on us. And before I could give it another thought, I was thrust into dreaming of what was, what is and what I may become. Sub. Violinist. Musician and lover. I wanted it all.