SIXTEEN

The master suite was everything Savage could possibly want. He would have bought the house for that alone. He had wanted a room with a lot of space, one where he could see the ocean from nearly every angle. If not the wild sea, then the woods surrounding the privacy of the courtyard off the master suite. The bedroom, sitting room and master bath had everything he could possibly want and more.

The bedroom was enormous, the walls a textured seaweed in a muted sage color. The ceilings were high, with those same beams running throughout the house. The wood floor gleamed, but he had thick rugs in various places, including in front of the long in-wall gas fireplace. A padded bench was placed near the bed, carved from a dark cherrywood, the cover a deep royal-blue leather.

Three long curved stairs led down to the sitting area, another huge space where the walls of glass gave such a view of the sea. A royal-blue leather divan was placed facing inward, the head toward the window, foot toward the center of the room. A post rose from the floor at the head of the divan with several metal rings attached. There were two shorter posts on either side with rings at the end. A wide railing made of the same cherrywood as the spanking bench was curved around one bank of windows, the same thick royal-blue leather over the top of it.

There were so many little touches for him, so many discoveries for his woman. He couldn’t wait to show them all to Seychelle. She was exhausted, and they had to get certain things out of the way before she could go to bed.

“We talked about the things that upset you, baby. I listened to every word. It’s very important that you pay close attention to me now.”

Her head went up alertly, sensing she was on dangerous ground.

“I told you not to leave the bar and the safety of the club members, Seychelle. Do you recall me saying that to you?” He kept his voice very low. A whisper of command. He saw the shiver go through her.

She bit her lower lip and nodded, avoiding his eyes.

“I require an answer, and look at me when you do.” He poured steel into that. When he did, his cock responded. His body knew what was coming. He was already getting aroused just by being in the room with his woman and his personal toys.

“Yes.”

“You had to have realized I would have come to you immediately if I wasn’t still working. By going outside, where two obsessed Diamondbacks followed you—as well as Brandon Campbell and Joseph Arnold, who was in the bushes taking pictures of you—you divided my attention. Instead of doing the job I was supposed to do, I found myself worrying about my woman. If for some reason Alena was targeted and I had to protect her, I might have been too slow, and she could have gotten killed.”

Her breath caught in her throat. “I’m sorry, Savage. I just stepped outside for the fresh air. I’ve never gone that long without a break.”

“You could have stepped into one of the back rooms. Fatei wasn’t happy, and he must have expressed that to you.” He could tell by her face that the man had. “You don’t get to ignore or override whoever I put on you to look after you like that, Seychelle. They’re there to protect you while I’m working.” He kept his voice controlled.

Seychelle didn’t pull away from him or slow down at all when he took her to the side of the bed. She had to know what was coming. They’d been there before. He’d warned her that the next time, he wasn’t going to be quite so nice about it. His cock throbbed and ached with the strain of anticipation. Outside, the roar of the pounding sea added to the fierce, hot blood rushing through his veins.

“It wasn’t fair to ignore Fatei when he was just following my orders. You put him in a bad situation. If the Diamondbacks had insisted on coming after you, he would have had to defend you, and what do you think would have happened then?”

“I’m sorry, Savage. I didn’t think about any of that. I’ll apologize to him.”

“Then there’s Shari. You continually put yourself in a position of having to deal with her. I told you we would get rid of her, but you said it wasn’t a problem. You could have gone back into the bar, but you didn’t. You deliberately decided to confront her. Again, Fatei tried, very gently, to get you to go into the bar . . .”

Her chin went up and her eyes flashed fire at him. “I refuse to retreat in front of that woman. She would gloat and think I was afraid of her.”

He caught her chin, deliberately clamping down hard between his finger and thumb. “Perhaps you do need to be a little more afraid of me than I thought. Better that than put every member of our club in danger. Shari is nothing at all, and you know it. That isn’t the real reason you decided to confront her. This was about Brandon Campbell. Once again, you were putting yourself in harm’s way. You stay away from Campbell. You ignore Shari. Do you understand me? She won’t be welcome in our bar, but if she comes around you again, you walk away without even looking at her.”

His eyes refused to allow hers to look away. He held her gaze until her defiance melted and she nodded.

“Good.” He leaned down and took her mouth. Gently. Tenderly. Loving her. Bog, love swamped him, wrapped him up until he felt as if he were drowning in it. She rained fire on him. In him. The flames rushed through his veins. His palms shaped her face when he lifted his head.

“I really did find this house some time ago but passed on it. What was the point, when I didn’t have anyone that I could share it with? I was so damn sure I would never have anyone. I thought the house would just mock me if I kept it empty. When you came back from your trip that scared the shit out of me, I ended up calling the agent, took one look, imagined you here with me and had to have it.”

One hand slid from her cheek to her throat, just lying across it to feel her heartbeat to see if it was going as crazy as his. “You’re going to strip and put your clothes on the end table and then stand right there and wait for me. I’m going to give you another lesson in sinful, dirty sex. Tomorrow, when you’re not so tired, maybe I’ll teach you to crave the fire, baby.”

She pressed her lips together and a shiver went through her body, but she didn’t hesitate. She unbuttoned the little shells on her blouse and let the garment slip from her shoulders, folding it carefully and placing it on the end table before reaching behind her and unhooking her bra, spilling her tits out. They were firm and round with those perfect nipples, drawing his instant attention. She was tormenting him almost beyond his control.

His breath caught in his lungs and just stayed there at the erotic sight of her. “Keep stripping, baby.”

Seychelle’s hands dropped to the waistband of her jeans, and she slowly opened them and began peeling them off her hips, taking her panties with them.

His hands moved up her ribs, fingers tracing each one, finding the path to the undersides of her breasts. “Love the shape of you. I can wrap leather around your tit so nicely. One stroke. One easy curl. Do you have any idea what that would feel like? Or on your gorgeous ass? I can write my name. Lay the sun on your back.”

Seychelle reacted with goose bumps forming on her body. Her legs moved restlessly.

He swept his hand over her bare mound. “Right here, I would mark you with my initials.” His fingers traveled lower to feather over her clit and her entrance, already slick with heat and her golden liquid cream. Yeah, she wanted what he did. He took her hand and pressed it over the thick bulge stretching the material of his jeans. “Just the thought of it makes me harder than hell.”

She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue, her eyes on his, never looking away. “How do you do that, Savage?” Her voice was low, intrigued, already husky with need. “Make me want you so much I can barely think.”

“I can teach you to love the feel of fire. Do you want to try tomorrow? It’s early. Advanced. We can go easy, try something else. Something with just a different type of leather.” He almost couldn’t breathe waiting for her answer. He needed now. That fast, she’d seduced him into needing the whip. Made him want. Lust. Fuck, he couldn’t lie to himself. He was desperate to have his partner fully in his world, but she had to consent, she had to want it. “With the crop. Keep building you up to it.”

He bent his head and took her left tit into his mouth, pulling strong, loving the weight of it, the softness, the way she instantly cradled his head. His tongue slid over her nipple and teased and rolled with expert care. He lifted his gaze to hers and then let go. “Anything I do to you, I’m worshipping you. Not just your body, Seychelle. You. I want you to feel it. Do you?”

She nodded. “Last night when you woke me a million times, each time, each way, fast, slow, it didn’t matter, it felt like worshipping.”

He had been worshipping her. He kissed her chin. That little chin she liked to stick out at him sometimes. “I’m glad you felt it, baby. I do worship you. That’s not ever going to be a secret, not to anyone who knows me. That’s why it’s so important that you stick close to me. I’ve got enemies, Seychelle. Torpedo Ink has enemies, but I personally have them too.”

“You told me. I understand. I’m not going to go back on my word. You’ll know where I am, and if you say I need to stick close, I will.”

“You gotta learn that lesson, baby. Not just pay lip service to it. I tell you to stay put, you have to do it.”

Savage cupped her breasts, his thumbs strumming her nipples. He loved them. The color, the way they stood out. The way she shivered for him and pushed into his hand. He tugged. Rolled. Pinched and then bit down just a little harder with his fingers and thumbs, watching her eyes darken. Watching the way the breath rushed from her lungs. He let go and leaned his head down to soothe the sting with his tongue.

“If something ever happens to me, Seychelle, you stick with Torpedo Ink. You have to let them watch over you. What you’re learning. This thing we’re doing together. It won’t go away. You understand that, right?” He lapped at her right breast while he kneaded her left one, then took it into his mouth, still gently. Tenderly.

“You told me.”

He lifted his head. “Telling you isn’t you understanding.” She was right. They were going to run out of time if he didn’t get down to business and work her body up to accepting what she could handle. There was so much. So many things. Depending on how bad it was, the level he got to when the monster emerged, he needed her body to get used to mixing pain and pleasure, because when that time came, she would need the training desperately.

“You’re absolutely certain, Seychelle?” He needed for her to give her consent. She had to be a willing participant. That was what made it all the more exciting to him—that Seychelle wanted to give herself to him, to allow him to whip her when she knew it would cause her pain and yet bring her multiple orgasms. Her dilemma. How long would she hold on for him? How long would she wait before she said enough? She’d never once stopped the hard spankings with his hands. Or the leather belt. The strap. Or the clamps. But he’d been relatively gentle.

“I’m certain.”

“I have a little surprise for you. I know how much you love clamps.” He tugged on her nipples. “You have the perfect nipples for them. I love your tits so damn much. They’re perfect for jewelry. You were made for me. For everything I love and need. Stay right here. Don’t move.”

He waited until she complied before he went to the dresser and removed a pair of black drawstring pants. Shedding his clothes, he donned just the black pants. They gave him more room and were far more comfortable. There was a tall wooden cabinet built into the wall against the window. He pulled open the top drawer and selected a long black box. He carried it back to her.

“Ice is a jeweler—a rather famous one. When I said he was making a ring for you, I wasn’t kidding around. He made these clamps at my request as well. I have several different ones for you, but these are beautiful, and I think they go with my mood right now.” He lifted them out of the box to show her.

Seychelle’s eyes went wide and then dark with arousal. She definitely had a thing with clamps, although he didn’t think she would fall in love with this set right away. They were beautiful. The clips were heavy pieces of teardrop black metal, ornate and inlaid with sparkling teardrop gems.

“These are clover clamps. These aren’t adjustable, baby, they just pinch down on your nipples the way I pinch them or bite them, a steady, relentless pressure.” As he talked to her, he stroked her left breast, his cock going so hot he thought it might burst into flames. “The pressure is steady at all times, or increases when the chain is pulled or there are weights on the clip. See, I can add weights in the form of these beautiful gems Ice created.”

He lifted the various chains of diamonds and sapphires and emeralds out of the box so he could hold them up. They swung invitingly. “You’ll look so beautiful with jewelry on. And when it comes off, it will be such a rush. You’ll want to scream for me to fuck you. But we have one rule, don’t we? You never scream. You can give me your tears. Those are mine and I want them, but you don’t scream, not unless you’re coming, and you don’t do that until I tell you it’s the right time.”

She ducked her head. “I’m not very good at controlling that, Savage. My body takes over and I can’t stop.”

“You’re learning. I’ll help you more.” He kept stroking her breast as he replaced the chains of gems in the box. Those were for later. “Right now, we’ll be fine with just a chain between the clamps. Later, one will go to your clit. You’ll love that sensation as well.”

The thought of what was to come was giving him such a rush it was incredible. He realized the combination of love and lust was intensifying the feelings he had. He let them take him as he put his mouth on her, pulling strongly, his tongue working her nipple, preparing her for the wicked bite of the clover clamp. There were so many sensitive nerve endings just waiting to be stimulated. He used his teeth to bite down and then pulled back so he could apply the clamp. He watched her expression closely as the two ends of the clamp tried to meet.

Her breath hissed out in a soft protest. “That’s painful.”

“Is it?” His voice was that same sinful tone, a soft inquiry. He kept one hand on her other breast, stroking. His other hand was on her hip. He slid it around until his fingers found her bare pussy lips and the moisture gathering there. “I think you like them, baby. You’re hot and slick for me.” He poured approval and heat into his voice.

Deliberately, as he put his mouth around her nipple, he pushed one finger into her, deep, curling it as he stroked and then brushed her clit with his thumb. Helplessly, she began to ride his hand, trying to get ahead of the fiery sensations generated by the clamp on her breast. It wasn’t long before the two sensations mixed together and her breathing was ragged, her body flushed. He bit down and pulled back, clamping the other breast. Her eyes went liquid, and she rode his hand frantically before she realized movement could cause the clamps to pinch tighter.

“Do you remember your first lesson in dirty, sinful sex? I bought a toy just like yours. I want you to lie across the padded bench.” He indicated the spanking bench with the thick leather cover. “Your breasts will hang down, the gold chain dangling. That will make things very interesting for you. I want you to keep that toy positioned right over your clit. You keep the power on low unless I tell you to turn it up. Do you understand? The first infraction, baiting Brandon Campbell, gets my hand. The second one is a huge infraction. Leaving the bar when I was working deserves the strap. If we were further along in our relationship, Seychelle, you would be getting more than that. Walk over to the bench and bend over it. Take the toy and do what I told you.”

He made it a command, and she didn’t hesitate. His Seychelle. Shoulders straight back, her eyes giving him a sweeping look of liquid blue, she walked to the bench, the toy in her hand. Her body was pure poetry. Her hips swayed. Her breasts bounced with every step. The chain rocked. The clamps had to pinch tighter. That was how they worked. Her ass beckoned, a siren’s call. His temptress.

When she bent over, he could see her pretty little pussy gleaming at him. All that moisture taunting him, that blank canvas calling to him to decorate it. He smacked her hard, sending the first jolt through her body with his bare palm. He liked skin on skin. It felt personal. Intimate. She didn’t make a sound, but she started to pull away from the bench. He didn’t have to correct her; she stayed down. He worked her buttocks and the backs of her thighs, turning them a dark red. Then he reached for the thick leather strap he’d put to the side.

He rubbed her bottom, dipping into her cream and pressing into the forbidden star between her cheeks. He kept rubbing to spread the heat over her bottom and into the bundles of nerves, so it would be impossible for her to know if she was feeling pain or pleasure. The two sensations would mix together so easily, heightening the erotic feeling.

“You’re so beautiful, baby,” he murmured, meaning it. “I don’t know why the universe gave you to me, but I swear I’m going to do everything in my power to keep you.”

He pressed kisses over her very red bottom, his heart beating hard as he picked up the strap and moved around her. His cock ached. Hurt. Was becoming a problem. He fucking loved that after years of having to command his cock to work, it was suddenly working all by itself just fine. She had done that for him. She’d fixed his broken cock.

Barefoot, he walked around the bench until he was directly in front of her. Grasping her hair in one hand, he pulled her head back. There were tears streaming down her face like a path of jewels. Diamonds. He took her mouth hungrily. There it was. She kissed like she fucked. Pure fire. Giving him everything. Pure sin.

“Bog, baby.” He licked up her right cheek, collecting her tears even as he tugged on the chain gently. “I’m so fuckin’ proud of you. You should see yourself. So gorgeous.” He took every tear from her left side. “You aren’t going to disobey me when I tell you to stay put again, are you?” Deliberately, he kept her chin up with the heavy leather strap, waiting for her eyes to meet his.

“No.” Her voice came out a small sob.

“Do you want to stop?”

With the flat strap of leather, he massaged the curves of her breasts, patting gently. Twice he hit the chain where it swung free between her breasts, tugging at it. Her breath hissed out, but her eyes continued to meet his.

“No. I don’t want to stop.”

“You can turn your toy up to medium, but don’t you dare come. If you get too close, you stop, turn it off, do you understand me?”

“Yes.”

He took his time, walking silently around behind her, admiring her body. She really was beautiful, physically and in every other way. He loved that she was his. That she wanted to be his. That she gave herself freely to him. He was training her body to enjoy the things he was doing to her, mixing pain with pleasure, and she was aware of it, giving that to him as well.

The shape of her ass was perfection to him, her bare cheeks presented, darkened with his handprints. His hand slipped over her cheeks, rubbing and massaging gently, sliding to her slick entrance to dip his fingers into her heat and draw out her moisture.

“You’re so wet, baby. You love this, don’t you? It feels so good.” He pumped his fingers into her, let her ride them while her toy worked her clit. He pulled his fingers free slowly and painted the crease between her cheeks with the thick moisture, pushing it over and over into her forbidden little star. “Remember I told you we were going for sinful and dirty, baby?”

Savage began to push the vibrating plug, the one he’d coated with cinnamon gel, into her tight little hole. She moaned softly, started to writhe, but the clamps tightened and she stopped abruptly. When the plug was fully seated, he stepped back and used his foot to widen her stance. He studied her for a moment, just drinking in the sight of her. He took his foot and widened her stance even more, needing to see her hot little pussy, now so wet she was almost dripping.

He struck with the strap without warning and didn’t let up, putting a little muscle into it, decorating the backs of her thighs, the seam where her buttocks and thighs met, and then striping her buttocks, first horizontally and then vertically. He didn’t put a single mark on her spine or back. Her sobs increased, her body shuddering.

“Let go, Seychelle, ride the pain. Let it take you.”

He kept the steady rhythm going, using the strap on her skin, watching the heat blossom, the red turn to purple. She didn’t make a sound, but her body jolted with each movement, and he knew what the mixture of pleasure and pain was doing to her, jumbling the brain, confusing her ideas of what felt good or bad until they were mixed together beyond her comprehension.

He tossed the strap aside, took the toy from her hand and threw it onto the bed. She remained bent over the bench, breathing hard, crying quietly. Savage shed his pants, his cock raging at him. He caught her arms and very gently helped her into a standing position.

“You did so good, baby. I’m so proud of you. What do you need? Tell me. Say it. Say it, Seychelle.”

“I need you to fuck me, Savage. I hurt.”

“You hurt so good,” he replied, his tone sheer velvet. A sin. Teaching her. Training her. He walked her backward until she was against the wall. He circled his cock, so hard and thick, desperate to be in her, but holding it out to her in temptation. “You need my cock, don’t you, baby?”

She reached up and circled her arms around his neck, one leg sliding around his waist, pressing her swollen, inflamed, very needy pussy against him. “I do.” Her tears continued to track down her face. “Savage.”

“You have to say it, Seychelle.”

“I need your cock.” She whispered it to him, a confession of truth.

He picked her up without preamble. “Wrap your legs around my waist, baby.” He didn’t wait. His cock was a monster and she was slick and hot. He drove into her, all but slamming her into the wall. She was tight, a scorching furnace wrapping him in a silken fist, and he began pounding into her. Her hands clutched his shoulders, fingernails biting deep into his skin, then tearing down his back as she tried for purchase so she could use him for leverage to impale herself as deep as she could get him.

“Harder. More,” she whispered. “I’m so close. Make me go over.”

“Not yet,” he denied her. “You wait until I say. It’s going to be so intense, a rush like you won’t believe, baby. I promised you sinful. You’re getting nothing less than spectacular. You deserve it, Seychelle, and I can give it to you.” He pounded into her, over and over, his cock a hot friction, a piston, sawing over the bundle of inflamed nerves. He kept thrusting, watching her face, feeling her body coil tighter and tighter.

Reaching down, he suddenly tugged off the clamp on her right breast fast. As the blood rushed to her nipple, he shifted position just enough to ensure his cock hit the perfect spot inside her, and he kicked up the remote on the plug in her forbidden star while his finger thumped her clit hard. Her eyes went wide in shock.

“Now, baby. Come for me now.”

Her mouth opened in a scream as a powerful orgasm swept through her, taking her over, ripping through her entire body in a merciless, seemingly endless series of tidal waves.

He kept pounding into her right through the tsunami, then gentled as the sensations lessened after a time. He leaned down to lick at her red, hot, sore nipple. “Intense, and such a rush, right, baby? You fucking loved that. I could tell. You’re so perfect. You were born for me, but even more importantly, I was born for you.”

Savage began to move in her again, watching not just the chain on her breast swing; now the clamp he had released was swinging as well. The remaining clamp would tighten unless Seychelle could hold herself still. She became aware of the problem and tried to stay motionless, letting him do the work, but his cock was a monster, thick and long, invading her tight tunnel, the friction merciless.

Her body responded in spite of the wild, out-of-control orgasm she’d just experienced, already coiling hotter and tighter. He could feel her tight muscles gripping him like a fist, trying to milk him, desperate for his seed. He had left the vibrator on between her cheeks, keeping those forbidden nerve endings fired up. He slapped her bottom hard and then raked his fingernails across her cheeks.

Her breath hissed out. Ragged. Rushed. The liquid in her eyes put even more steel in his cock. He thought he might explode between the love and lust rising in him, threatening to overwhelm him. She’d wrapped herself around his heart so fast he hadn’t known what hit him. She gave him everything. He hadn’t yet earned that, but she gave it to him anyway.

His hips surged into hers, a ruthless machine, pounding out his love, his need of her total surrender, of her gift to him. The feeling was indescribable, moving through his body like an incomparable drug, rushing through his veins, a fire that built and built in intensity. Her body reacted, that silken fist tightening, twisting, tonguing and gripping his cock greedily. Her hips began to frantically reach for his, catching his rhythm, pulling back to come in just as hard so they came together in a mad rush of heated, frenzied fucking.

Seychelle’s generous breasts jolted wildly with every frantic thrust, the jewelry swinging in a tangled symphony, causing a fresh flood of liquid to track down her face even as she begged him for more. She chanted his name, pleading mindlessly.

“What do you want, baby?” he murmured, watching her closely again. That face. So close to ecstasy. He could send her flying, give her body and her mind the need for his cock, for him, for what he could do for her anytime she hurt. She would turn to him automatically and know he would be there for her.

“You, Savage. I need you.”

“You want me to send you flying again, baby? You want that intense rush? So good, only I can give it to you? You ready for that?” He increased his pace. Hard. Sawing deliberately over that sweet spot. Again and again. Watching her face. The need building in her. The desperation.

He yanked the clamp from her left nipple, letting the jewelry fall away as he hit the remote, increasing the vibrator even as he thumped her clit hard. Simultaneously, he gave her the order. The command she always had to associate with him. The pleasure he gave her. “Now, Seychelle. Let go.”

He slammed his swelling cock into her, over and over, hard and fast, pushing her over the edge as the blood rushed back into her nipple. Her body clamped down on his like a vise, strangling him, pumping. Milking. Squeezing. Even as the tears ran down her face. The sensation was somewhere between heaven and hell. There was nothing like loving her. No experience he’d ever had rivaled it.

Her orgasm should have waned, but it seemed to intensify as his hot seed coated the walls of her channel. The scorching fist pumped, while a million hot mouths sucked greedily in unison, determined to squeeze every last drop from him. His entire body seemed to go up in flames. She screamed, the sound definitely one of pleasure, a ragged calling of his name. For a moment they were locked together so tight, Savage knew they belonged. It wasn’t just their bodies. It was something far deeper.

She sagged against him, her head dropping on his shoulder, her body shaking uncontrollably, hot tears flowing into his skin. Her legs wrapped around him as tightly as her arms, as if she was afraid that if she let him go, she’d be lost. Savage turned his head and brushed kisses along her temple.

His legs had turned to rubber, but he held her carefully, murmuring softly to her. “I’ve got you, baby. You’re safe. I’ve got you.” He kissed the side of her face. Sipped at her tears. His breath came in raw, ragged rushes, but he forced himself to pull in air. To take care of her. She was the most important thing in his world.

Seychelle had done every single thing he’d asked. Given him everything. Her complete surrender. She’d taken his hand and the strap, and he hadn’t been gentle. She’d learned her orgasms came from him. She was beyond any partner he had ever imagined. Savage hadn’t known he was capable of feeling tenderness, but she definitely brought that emotion out in him.

Seychelle was shaking almost uncontrollably. Certain she couldn’t stand on her own, he eased her back against the wall and bent his head to her sore nipple, licking at it with exquisite tenderness. “I’m right here, baby. I’ve got you. You’re flying too high. Come back to me.” He kept his voice low, a velvet enticement, as he kissed his way back up her throat to her face to collect her tears. “I’ve got you. I’ll always have you.”

“Don’t let go of me, Savage.” There was real fear in her voice. She circled her arms around his shoulders, linking her fingers behind his neck, shaking so hard he was afraid she might go to pieces against him.

“Angel, I’m not going anywhere. I’m right here with you. Let me get you to a chair. I’ve got to take that plug out and wrap you up, then I’ll hold you close.” He kissed his way up her neck and behind her ear, talking softly to her, reassuring her with the sound of his voice, bringing her down gently.

With one hand, he reached around her and managed to find the plug nestled between her cheeks. “I’m going to pull this out, baby.” He had no idea where he’d tossed the remote, and the damn thing was still vibrating. He tugged. She shuddered in his arms, then gasped when her breasts slid over his chest, her nipples pressing tightly against him. “Shh, I’ve got you,” he murmured over and over in reassurance.

Once he knew he had his legs under him, he shifted her in his arms, allowing his cock to slide out of her. The movement triggered a series of aftershocks to ripple through her body. She moaned, her mouth against him, teeth biting into his shoulder as he lifted her, cradling her against him.

Savage carried her to the wide chair in front of the large window overlooking the view of the ocean. Waves rushed toward the bluffs, a turbulent wall of dark blue water, pounding them. White spray rose into the night sky like diamond drops—or crystal tears. He had a warm throw on the back of the chair, and he wrapped it around both of them and settled into the chair, Seychelle on his lap, cuddling her protectively.

He smoothed his hand over her hair and rocked her gently until the storm of tears passed. All the while he dropped little kisses on top of her head and along her temples. For a long time, he kept his eyes closed, his heart aching. She was his angel, giving him a miracle he never thought he’d have. He’d come to terms with what he was and what he needed, but he hadn’t thought how he’d feel when he actually loved someone. Really loved them.

“I’m so fucking proud of you, Seychelle,” he murmured. “I love you. Those words can’t even convey to you how much I feel for you. I know what gift you’re giving me, and I can only tell you how much I’ll always treasure you.” There was no real way to say what was in his heart. The ache that was there. The regret. The deep need that he knew would only grow.

He wasn’t a fucking poet, although he wrote in a secret journal for her, and he hoped someday he’d have the courage to give it to her. Maybe. Because she had such courage, and she deserved anything he could give her. Her sobs faded to soft little hiccups, and he caught up the bottle of water he’d put next to the chair earlier, in preparation.

“You need to hydrate, Seychelle. Drink just a little for me.” He coaxed her; he didn’t command her. He kept nuzzling her neck, alternating between kissing her soft skin and tasting with his tongue while her hair tumbled wildly around his face, the silken strands reminding him how fragile she was.

She took the bottle, her hand trembling. He sat her straighter on his lap and helped her, making certain not a drop spilled on her but that she drank quite a bit before he put the bottle back on the end table. He pushed her hair back so he could tip her face up to his.

“Look at me, baby. I need to know you’re back with me.” He kept possession of her chin, his thumb sliding along her cheek gently while his palm framed her jaw. Her bone structure felt delicate in his hand. “That’s it. Look right at me.” Her pupils were dilated, and she still looked a little dazed, but her eyelashes fluttered a few times and she focused on him.

“I’m okay, Savage. That was . . . intense. I didn’t expect it to be like that.” She laid her head back on his shoulder.

He bunched her hair in his fist. “We have to talk about it, Seychelle. Now, and again when you’ve rested. I need to know if at any time you were going to tell me to stop. You have to be honest with me.”

She was silent, and then she nodded. “Just once, after you took off the first clamp and we started to move again. The chain on the second one was swinging. The clamp tightened and it felt like it pulled so much. It was painful. Too painful.” Her voice was muffled by his shoulder.

Savage couldn’t tell if she was beginning to cry again. He tugged on her hair until she tilted her head up, her blue eyes meeting his. There was that liquid in them that made his cock stir. “Why didn’t you tell me to stop?”

She frowned. “There was so much pain, and it radiated out and down to my . . . sex, and then the pain turned scorching hot, and you were moving so hard and fast. The vibrator was going crazy. My bottom was on fire. Everything came together, and I couldn’t tell what was happening to my body, only that I was hot and needed you desperately.”

“Did you like it?”

Her frown deepened. Her fingers on his arm dug into his muscle. “I don’t think like is the word I’d use. I think it’s addicting. This time I came so much harder than last time.”

He let his breath out. She had recognized that her body wanted the things he had been slowly introducing to her. Each time he made love to her or fucked her hard, he had to have some level of this kind of interaction, and he’d done different things to coax her body into accepting them.

“It’s also a little terrifying, Savage. I was so scared of why my body responds to this kind of sex when I never really responded to other men. Why, when I bent over that bench, was I already getting hot and slick at what you were going to do, and what you would do after? I think about you teaching me to take you in my mouth. You haven’t done that yet. I don’t know why, but I know it’s going to be a lesson that might be scary and yet my body reacts the same way. I think about the ultimate end, what you’re going to need, and that’s the most terrifying of all, and yet I’m so hot I can’t sleep sometimes. What’s wrong with me, Savage?”

A fresh flood of tears accompanied her question. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her forehead to his chest.

“You fell in love with me, Seychelle,” he said gently. “That’s the only thing wrong with you. The only way you know how to love is wholly. Completely. With everything in you. You gave yourself to me knowing I was a fucked-up mess. I don’t know another woman who could have done that. You came into this with your eyes wide open, but more importantly, baby, so was your heart. You turned your body over to me to be trained in the things I need.”

He brushed kisses down her temple to her ear. “I love you so much, Seychelle.” He whispered it to her. “I can’t be any different. I want to be. I was trained to be this way from the time I was a little kid. It was every day. Weeks. Months. Years. I trained girls for them. Boys. I did things to keep my brother alive. To keep the others alive. I don’t know when I crossed the line into needing this shit, but somewhere I did, and there was no going back. I never knew any other way of having sex. I didn’t know there was another way.”

Savage stroked her hair and then nuzzled the top of her head with his chin. “I can’t lose you, Seychelle, I can’t, but I’m never going to be different. I thought, when I realized how much I loved you and that it was growing every day, that maybe I could overcome those needs for your sake, but instead of them lessening, I needed them more.”

He pushed his forehead against hers as he made the confession. “The idea of putting my marks on you, of you allowing it, of wanting them there.” His lungs burned as the rush took him. “It won’t go away, baby. And with it, there’s going to be other things I thought I could give you, that you asked me for, but that we might need to talk about again.”

“I’m so scared for both of us,” Seychelle whispered. “Going down this path with you, and then if something goes wrong and I lose you . . .” She trailed off. “What if I can’t be what you need after all? What if I’m not that woman? I almost stopped you.”

“Baby, we would have stopped. You say stop, we stop. You’re so far ahead of where I thought we’d be, it’s insane. Clover clamps are for very advanced users, not beginners. I expected you to put the brakes on. I wanted you to see it would be perfectly all right and you could trust me to stop.”

He tipped her face up to his again and captured her tears. “Don’t get me wrong, it was the best fucking turn-on ever, but I would have stopped if you told me to. I’ve got to get you in a bath. Drink more water while I get that ready. I’ll cut up fruit and clean up in here while you’re soaking, and we can talk more before you go to sleep.”