Tender Mercies - By Kitty Thomas Page 0,52

was going to happen on his timetable. Very often that certainty brought a measure of comfort and safety. But not this time.

He came to stand beside her, his hand resting on the small of her back. The light pressure and warmth of his skin settled her. Then he moved his hand downward to press across her ass. Her muscles clenched as she waited for him to raise and then drop his hand on her, but his intention wasn’t to spank. He pressed down, causing the vibrations to pound between her legs more strongly.

“Just focus on this. Ignore the rest until you can focus on the rest.”

She nodded, squirming and rubbing herself against the bench.

Then his hand came down on her. She jumped at first at the sensation, but then relaxed again. Instead of calling up memories of Lucas, it made her think of the 24/7 she’d lived in before the island. It had felt like playing, but she remembered their sessions. Her master had warmed her up, not just hitting for the sake of it, but gradually coaxing her body to reinterpret sensation according to his whims. It was the same as what Asher was doing.

He went through each of the spanking implements: the paddle, crop, and flogger. But not the cane. The cane sat untouched as he slowly brought her to the tolerance level he wanted her at.

“You have a higher pain threshold than I was led to believe. That fucking idiot,” he muttered.

She knew he was speaking of Lucas. Lucas didn’t warm her up. He’d just thrown pain for the sake of pain at her, randomly delivered at the highest intensity right off the bat. He’d had no reason to care about her experience or her body’s ability to take the pain and turn it into something pleasurable. Her cunt had dripped from it anyway, much like it was doing right now.

As Asher brought the pain level up, he moved the power of the vibrations up as well. She no longer felt tethered to the table. No bonds could hold her right now. She was soaring. She bucked like a wild thing, one moment thrusting her ass up at him, her body begging for more of the pain that had started an opiate-like reaction in her brain. The next second she was pulling away, pushing her pelvis against the vibrations so she could come again and again. Each sensation was equally enticing, and she couldn’t stop the fight to have them both.

The tears came in earnest then, a catharsis. Things she’d held onto and kept buried deep inside, places in her soul where Lucas had touched her, which she’d never been able to get clean. All she’d been able to do was repress, bury. Now it all flowed out of her. The blows Asher was landing weren’t even hurting her; she was too deep in, her brain releasing too many pain-diluting chemicals. But it was permission to cry, to let it out in ways she hadn’t given herself permission to until this moment. Asher was right. Somehow she knew the nightmares would go away. Maybe not forever, but each time he could, and most likely would, bring her back here to the dungeon to purge her demons.

A moment later the vibrations stopped. She thought he was finished with her, but then a sharp crack landed on her ass that made her scream and fight to catch her breath. She turned toward him, the fear back in her eyes, but Asher had already laid the cane back on the table.

“Just a taste of punishment, kitten. I don’t want you to think all pain with me is good pain. I don’t want to encourage misbehavior. If you want good pain, all you have to do is ask. Never misbehave for it. I promise I won’t make punishment pleasurable.”

Grace was offended he thought she’d be a brat. Didn’t he understand how grateful she was to be in his care instead of Lucas’s?

He ran his hand lightly over the welt the cane had left. “Now tilt your hips so I can get inside you.”

He left her strapped to the spanking horse while he fucked her, his hands spanning her waist, making her feel somehow even more vulnerable. He didn’t ask her questions or intrude upon her thoughts as she cried. He must have known the tears weren’t something he needed to ask about. Not pain or hurt . . . relief. For once he let her have the private moment inside her