Tender Mercies - By Kitty Thomas Page 0,60
The moment they’d gotten home, he’d taken her to his room and proceeded to use every toy at his disposal on her hot little body.
He fully intended to repeat those actions today, but this time, he’d finally punish her first. In truth, he didn’t like hitting for punishment. He much preferred to turn that kind of pain into an erotic torture that would make her beg him to take her deeper into it. And once he’d punished her, he’d move her into that space again.
She didn’t have to be told to go to the cushion. She just went and knelt on the large, fluffy pillow, waiting for instruction. Asher set up the table with toys and instruments of pain, then he covered her eyes with a blindfold.
“Master, please, I’m sorry,” she whispered, the tears spilling out from under the dark cloth.
“I know you are, kitten. But you still have to be punished. I told you this day was coming. When I’m finished with you today, you won’t withhold anything from me. If you think I’m misreading your feelings on something, you’ll take the opportunity to correct my assumption. You will not go about with secret thoughts and feelings and fears. There will be no doors closed to me that I want left opened. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, Master.”
“Offer me your wrists.”
She took a shuddering breath and held her arms in front of her. He took a length of rope and wrapped each of her wrists individually, then went to work, tying intricate knot work.
When he was finished, he pulled her to her feet. She didn’t struggle, but stumbled a little as he tugged her forward. When he got her where he wanted her, he looped her tied wrists over a hook that extended down from the ceiling. The movement forced her to go up on her toes.
“I’ll be right back,” he growled in her ear, sending a shockwave of anxiety through her that he could almost smell.
He returned a few minutes later with a pair of heels from her closet. He slipped the shoes on her feet to make up the height difference. As much as he enjoyed watching her up on her toes, he wanted her standing solid and level for this.
She jumped when he cut her t-shirt and bra off with a pair of scissors. Then he removed the tail and slid the shorts down her legs. He stood back for a moment to admire her, naked except for the ropes binding her wrists, the blindfold, and the black and white heels on her delicate feet. Next, he retrieved a spreader bar from the toy chest and locked her ankles into it so her legs were spread wide.
“How scared are you, kitten?”
“Please . . .”
His hand landed solidly across her ass, leaving a loud smacking sound and a red imprint with the outline of his fingers. “I didn’t ask you to beg. I asked you to tell me how scared you are right now.”
“As scared as I was the day you took me.”
His hand fell on her again. “What did we say about lying, Grace?”
“I . . . I’m not lying, Master.”
“Perhaps not. But you’re misremembering, at least. You were broken then. I don’t believe you’re that scared now. Do you trust me not to harm you?”
She only hesitated a moment before she nodded. “Yes, Master.”
“Then it’s not like that day, because you didn’t have any certainty in my ultimate goodness to fall back on that day. I’m going to hurt you. But I’m not going to harm you. Why do I have to hurt you today?”
“Because I wasn’t honest about my feelings. I let you believe things were happening in my head that weren’t happening and kept secrets about what was really going on.”
He stroked her flank. “Mmm-hmm. Do you know why that will get you hurt?”
She was still and quiet for a moment, and he knew the only response she had was something along the lines of “Because I said so.” Wisely, she chose not to say it.
Asher sighed. “Because if I don’t know what’s going on in your head, I can’t be a good owner. I need to know where you are at all times, physically and emotionally. If something has you scared or upset, I need to know about it. You knew I didn’t know what was really going on, and you were experiencing distress I didn’t know anything about. You may have had your reasons, but it should have been left to me