Tender Mercies - By Kitty Thomas Page 0,37
you’ll have to wait to learn what my tongue can do.”
She shivered at his words. He was disappointed. Well, what did he expect? Did he really expect her to be excited and eager after what she’d been through? She was grateful to him and wanted to please him, but too much of her was at war. She was afraid she’d never be able to fully give him what he wanted. And she really did want to give him everything. Between Lucas and her lingering fears about Asher and what kind of temper he might unleash on her, she just froze up.
He stopped touching between her legs when she went stiff. His hand instead went to stroking her belly. “Grace, listen to me. I know you’re scared. You don’t have to feel any particular thing about any of this. So stop fighting with yourself. All of this is out of your control. I am taking what’s mine, but you can keep your heart. For now. You don’t have to give me everything, just your body. When your body trusts me, your mind will follow. Now, open.”
When his hand had moved away from her pussy, she’d closed her legs back together, as if in doing so she could protect those parts of herself from further exploration. Now, on his command, she opened them again, her body even more excited than before, and her brain more confused and upset by that fact. But he wasn’t asking for her brain, just the part that had betrayed her in its willingness to comply.
She thought about all those times she’d wanted to separate and hover above while Lucas did the things he did, and now she wished she could do it for a different reason. She was scared of feeling too much pleasure with Asher, in coming to count on it and believe in it. She knew he was right. Once her body belonged fully to him, her soul, heart, mind . . . they would obediently follow behind like little soldiers. And what if it was a bad choice again? But she didn’t have a choice here. He’d spelled that out clearly. Whatever happened, it wouldn’t be her fault.
She hadn’t hopped on a plane to go to Asher’s home voluntarily. She’d been bought and brought here. Her choices were only to obey or be punished. It didn’t make her bad if she wanted pleasure instead of pain, right? Her body lurched when two fingers tunneled inside her. She’d been so wrapped up in her thoughts and rationalizations that he’d taken her by surprise. His other hand was busy memorizing her body, running the planes of her face, over her hair, her breasts, her belly, her thighs. The fingers inside her started to pump in and out with greater intensity.
“You’re so responsive. I like that.”
His voice was so musical, like the pied piper leading her over a cliff. There was a time when, if she could have pictured this scene and all the horror of the past few months, she would have imagined fighting back, not just giving in like this. What he was doing to her body, however, felt so good. After feeling so bad for so long, she greedily lapped up the pleasure that was on offer. Never had a tactical invasion of fingers felt so comforting and welcome, and never had a sexual advance created so much turmoil and confusion.
“This body knows who your master is,” he growled in her ear, which only made her wetter. He sat in front of her, the fingers of one hand still moving inside her while the palm of his other pressed against her clit, grinding against the swollen bit of flesh that was so hungry to be touched, harder, faster, forever.
“Be a good little slut and come for me now.”
That word. Slut. It should have killed her response, but rolling off his tongue, the word only excited her more. It wasn’t abuse. It was endearment. Though she was still afraid, he was taking control of her and taking away bits of uncertainty with each small demand. She fell back into the pattern she’d learned over eight months. Obedience without thought. Her body opened further to him, her cunt clenching around his fingers as she came.
She was panting, trying to come back to earth when his voice once again pierced the silence of the room. “Good girl. Now return the favor.”
Asher’s cock was the hardest she’d seen it. His hand moved possessively around the back of her