Tender Mercies - By Kitty Thomas Page 0,38
neck, forcing her head up so her eyes met his. “You see, your fear isn’t the only thing that makes me hard. Touch me.”
Her tongue darted out to slide over her lower lip in an unconscious, nervous gesture. She reached tentatively to stroke the soft flesh, not at all sure about hands. Lucas had used her cunt, her mouth, and her ass, but he’d never had the patience for hand jobs. She wasn’t sure if she was bad at it, or if he just hadn’t liked them in general. But now she was paranoid it was the former.
She leaned forward, her hair falling across him as her mouth got closer to his cock.
“Now, kitten, let’s not change the rules of the game midstream. That’s very unfair. You said hands. I followed the rules. So will you.”
Her eyes shot up to his, afraid to see anger, but instead finding mirth. She let out the breath she’d been holding and wrapped her hand around him and started pumping. Don’t be so stupid. You’ve given a hand job before.
Asher leaned against the pillows and let out a hiss. “Exactly like that. Harder.”
He seemed so close already that she didn’t bother teasing, afraid he’d find it more annoying than pleasurable right now. A few minutes later he released over her hand and his stomach. She stared at it for a moment, unsure.
“Well? What do kittens do with cream?”
Her eyes widened for a split second before she licked her hand clean. Then she turned her attention to his belly and lapped up the warm, salty liquid from his toned stomach. He stroked her hair while she ran her tongue over him.
When she’d finished, he flicked the lamp off and went back to petting her hair as he held her against his chest. “Go back to sleep now.”
Within minutes she drifted off. The rest of the night, her dreams were unmolested by Lucas and instead filled with her master’s voice and hands. And images of playing kittens.
***
Asher woke to find Grace still lying across him, just as she’d been the night before. He’d assumed they both would have tossed and turned in their sleep, but if they had, they’d ended up together again by morning. Her hair splayed across him, and he found himself wanting to run his fingers through it again, but he resisted the urge. She looked so peaceful, he didn’t want to wake her.
He carefully shifted her to the pillows and put a robe on, then slipped from the room. When he reached the kitchen, William had already started breakfast. The butler glared up at him.
“Oh, God, William. Are we back to that again? I thought we’d had this discussion.”
William turned away and went back to scrambling the eggs and flipping the bacon. “Will Grace be dining with us?”
“She’s still sleeping. And she won’t be eating at the table. I’m starting her training today.”
The butler started scrambling the eggs more vigorously. Finally, his ability to hold his tongue broke. “With all due respect, sir, I don’t believe it’s wise to train her like Darcy.”
“Why not?”
“Treating her like an animal after what she’s been through is just––”
“Stop right there. You say it like I’m going to keep her chained up and in a little crate. She’s going to be treated more like a beloved pet. And it won’t be all the time, anyway. Not like I’m going to make her meow or never let her do human things. She’s going to garden and cook. Do cats do those things? Besides, I’m curious to see how this will go. With Darcy it was all a game. A fun game, most definitely, but Grace brings a different . . . flavor to things.”
William scraped the eggs onto the plate, added bacon, and poured a glass of juice. He placed the food on the table and left the room, his final opinion on the matter delivered without words. Asher sighed. William had always been so loyal, and now it was a constant struggle with him. Apparently this house couldn’t be run without at least one mouthy brat in it.
His cock twitched in his pants as he thought about Grace lying in his bed upstairs. His frightened little kitten. He was still appalled by the things Lucas had done to her, and yet the resulting effect was nothing less than spectacular.
He tried to ignore the voice in his head that told him he never could have trained a woman to be this way himself. He wasn’t a hard