Finding Their Balance (13 page)

Pride in them, in their behavior, growth, and love—in those moments Henry came closest to the edge. When he tortured himself with delayed gratification. The touch of masochism in the master’s need for self-control.

Stepping back, she let Jay’s arms bump across her shoulders and snatched his hands as they dropped. “Let’s go, stud.”

He hopped off the table, linen falling in a heap behind him. “Oops.”

“Leave it.” She swung their linked hands. “You have places to be.” Walking backward, she pulled him along in a hip-swaying saunter. “Gifts to unwrap.”

This one, though, belonged to Henry. Obedient, naked, bound Jay following her down the hall, his strong, unscarred back on full display. The greatness Henry had uncovered and refined with years of painstaking patience. The man who knew his worth and took pride in his service. Nothing would take that away from him.

* * * *

Dark green silk gleamed under the bedside lamps as Jay helped her peel back the comforter.

“Top sheet too, my lovelies.” Henry opened the button at his throat. With long, graceful fingers, he traced his shirt placket. “We want a level playing field for this exercise.”

Jay swung toward Henry. “Exercise?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Unnecessary, the sheet joined the comforter on the floor. In Henry’s bed, they bared themselves in heart, soul, and body with nothing to hide beneath.

Henry beckoned Jay to his side. Closing his hands around the cuffs, he raised Jay’s arms between their bodies.

Go time. If they’d planned well, Jay would gain so much confidence. If not—contingencies. More love, more trust, more time.

“Do you recall the night our girl wore these for you?” Rasping his thumbs across the cuffs, little more than a whisper, Henry shouted in the silence. “The trust, courage, and joy she demonstrated?”

Jay rocked on the balls of his feet. “I remember.” Up. Down. “Alice is fearless.”

“Is she, now?” Henry turned a skeptical brow on her. “Alice, is this true? Are you fearless?”

“Not even close.” She gentled her denial for Jay’s tender edges, the open wounds they sought to seal. “Sometimes I conquer my fear.” The silk rippled under her sliding fingers. “But sometimes, when I’m in a safe place, I embrace it.”

Humming, Henry prompted Jay for his safeword and got the standard answer. “Tell me again when you will use it.”

“When…” Jay studied his cuffed wrists. The hands holding them. Henry, and her, too. His rocking diminished until he stood firm. “When the fear is more than the fun. When I can’t embrace it.”

“Exquisite.” Claiming a fierce kiss, Henry led a dance of two strong, masculine jaws in a rhythm directing her heartbeat.

Toes curling, Jay whimpered as they parted.

“Go ahead, Alice.” Henry must’ve judged Jay relaxed enough for the advanced game. She’d prodded him with incessant questions Wednesday. Plan and plan again to make every step right for Jay. In memory, Henry whispered.

“My hands loosed his bonds once we’d snapped the locks. What he wants and what he’s ready to handle are not always in harmony.”

The under-bed strap yielded to her questing fingers. Warm from its slumber beneath the mattress, sturdy nylon slipped free. A simple-latch carabiner dangled at the end. No locks.

“Pull the safety tab.” As Henry guided Jay through using the cuffs’ quick-release, Velcro scratched the air.

She rounded the bed as an unobtrusive servant. Not a role to which she’d ever aspired.

“If his body responds with fear, he will feel he has failed.”

But as she readied their safe haven for Jay’s submission, service dumped a cocktail of contentment and anticipation into her bloodstream.

“Allow me, my good boy.” Henry refastened the cuffs. The more trial runs, the better. On and off, the blanket across the colt’s back without added weight.

She rested the second strap atop the fitted sheet. Jay blew out a breath.

“We will provide as different an experience as possible.”

Only the wrist straps. No ankle straps, no ankle cuffs. The lightest of restrictions, repetition morphing into routine. She and Henry had an advantage mustang breakers lacked.

Jay wanted to be tamed.

“Shall we prepare our girl for playtime?” Laying his hand to Jay’s cheek, Henry turned him toward her. “She appears shockingly overdressed.”

Jay pranced in place, his hips wiggling and his ass tightening.

“His partner naked, symbolically bound, as equal in vulnerability as he.”

At Henry’s direction, she approached and bent her head. Taking his sweet time sliding the tiny button at the back of her neck free, he woke shuddering pleasure.

“Untuck Alice’s blouse, please.”

As Henry fingered her neckline, Jay gripped her waist. Hands pressed to her sides, he raised the camisole out of her pants.

“Lovely.”

Their cooperative conspiracy left her naked but for the leather encasing her forearms. Rounded edges, tight stitching, swirling scrollwork. The wind’s leaping joy etched onto the dark, steady earth. Hmph. Spending so much time listening to Henry had leached his artistic whimsy into her engineered order.

“My best boy is in your hands now, dearest.” Henry kissed her palms and stepped away. “Mind you feed him well.”

A feast of familiar flavors but unknown sensations. To start, a reinforcement of their success in the dining room.

“His back protected, safe from pain and exposure.”

With her Henry-kissed palm over Jay’s heart, she walked him backward to the bed. “Sit, sweetheart.”

In silence, with trusting eyes rich and dark, he obeyed. Not innocence but wisdom. Faith that this time would be different. Faith enough to make her legs wobble if she let it.

“Slide back.” She projected nothing but confidence. Certainty.

Weight on his hands, he followed her command.

“I want every inch of your beautiful body on this bed.” Weeks of practice in their shared room naturally framed praise as the output of her desires. “Henry’s generous to give us so much freedom to play.”

She straddled his extended legs and knee-walked closer. The sway of her breasts drew his gaze as she pushed him prone. With gentle sweeps, she splayed his arms wide. Moment of truth.

“Feminine hands.”

The snap of the carabiner closing shot through her. Jay’s shiver called for comfort. Nuzzling his hand, she tugged his index finger into her mouth. Swirls teasing on her tongue, the soft pattern of his fingerprint tingled. Uniquely Jay and all but invisible to her senses.

Whimpering, he shifted the bed with his rocking beneath her. Comfort and arousal. Stretched across him, she snapped the second strap in place. Ready to ride. Her rodeo, at least for now.

“A feminine voice.”

Gripping him between her legs, she rested at the low end of his ribs. “Are you comfortable?” Under her kneading hands, he lay warm and firm-chested. “Are you eager to please me?”

Lifting his hips, Jay grimaced. “I’m sorry, Alice.” He turned his face away. “I’ll try harder.”

She stuffed down a twitch of panic. “Try harder?”

His cock. Not hard yet, because he’d barely had time to recover.

“Oh, sweetheart.” With deliberate unconcern, she shook her head, reached behind her, and delivered a reassuring squeeze. “We’ve got time for that later. You told me once you have two hands and a mouth.” Arms spread, she rose on her knees. “I’ve already put your hands to work for me. You’re such a good boy to accept my bonds.”

As Jay’s eyes widened, he licked his lips. Bingo, baby.

“But now I have a job for your mouth. For your quick, clever tongue.” Slow moves forward. Building anticipation like Henry’d taught her. She’d make him proud. “I swallowed your joy. Will you swallow mine?”

Opening his mouth, Jay strained toward her.

“An exceedingly clear demonstration of your femininity.”

She descended on him with the deep notes of her arousal thickening the air. Henry held his silence. If Jay didn’t safeword, they’d add Henry back into the mix. When the straps had become nothing to fear, a meal paired with the wine of her climax.

“A negative outcome would be worse than denying him the attempt outright.”

Jay’s tentative probing demanded encouragement. “The first night you did this for me, you gave me so many orgasms I thought I’d die in Henry’s lap.”

He deepened his strokes, flicking his tongue inside, and she clenched down. Flood his senses with feminine heat and musk, slick lips and a slippery, trembling clit, and they just might lick this.

Lick it. Giggles floating in her abdomen, she set off more contractions.

“He wants so badly to submit. A setback would devastate him.”

As she gripped the headboard, the leather sleeves rippled with her forearms. Tension built between her legs, fueled by Jay working his hot breath and strong, flexing tongue.

“I tried to match the feeling. Vibrator fizzled out. Shower sprayer beating water right against my pussy failed. Only you and your mouth got the job done right.”

Moaning, Jay shot into overdrive, delivering heat and speed and pressure. She poured every gram of concentration into not smothering him between her thighs. Jesus God, Henry’d taught him well.

“But a success, a success filling our bound boy with confidence and pleasure? That would be a joy I’ve waited years to witness.”

She lifted an inch and he chased her, extending his neck to keep his tongue between her lips. Tension lining his arms, Jay formed fists. Rustling behind her revealed his feet sliding on the sheets as he raised his legs. Mmm. Cock revival underway.

Beyond, Henry stood with his shirt untucked and unbuttoned. He fingered his belt buckle, erection distending the fly beneath.

Lost in shudders, she sagged. Jay latched on and sucked her clit hard. Their giddy boy of pure enjoyment. In treasuring this night forever, Henry would immortalize them on canvas.

She rode a swell of pride and power to orgasm.

* * * *

Uncurling her fingers from the headboard, she harbored the certainty she’d have the chance again tonight.

“You’re an artist, Jay.” If her mental checklist hadn’t highlighted the game waiting, his long, flat strokes would’ve kept her in place for another round. “Your tongue is your brush.” A mechanic with great torque. Leave the percussive maintenance to Henry, though. He knew how and where to strike. “You’re such a good boy to study with a master painter.”

“Henry,” he whispered. With a happy Jay-whimper, he vibrated her clit.

“Henry.” Aftershock rippled through her belly. Better move before she got too attached to staying right here. She hefted herself backward and straddled him. Time to remind Jay how much he loved Henry’s voice. He hadn’t flinched at Henry’s name or the word “master.” She had a green light. “I bet he’s so proud of you.”

“He is?” Arching his chest under her, irresistibly cute and catlike, Jay licked his shining lips.

“I am.” Using his deep tones, Henry soothed like nothing else. “You created a portrait of pleasure I won’t soon forget.” With his voice, he lubricated moving parts, reduced friction, optimized every element for top performance. “You’ve earned the reward our girl yearns to deliver.”

Busted. Rubbing herself along Jay’s abdomen, she’d given away her excitement.

“I get a reward?” In full-on fidget mode, Jay delivered a ride better than rubbing. His grin showed his teeth. “Nobody mentioned a reward.”

As Henry rounded the bed, he nodded to her. “A bonus gift.”

She skirted the erection Jay’d been so worried about not having. Settling on his thighs, she stroked his hard shaft. “I said I’d have a use for this later, didn’t I?”

Jay whipped his head sideways and scanned the nightstand. He was gonna fucking love this. Love the fucking, too. The soft cuff hampered his reach for the drawer, but he didn’t flinch from the pull. “Henry? May I please have a condom?”

Henry ran his finger along the nightstand. She matched him on Jay’s cock. Poor Jay didn’t know where to look.

“Alice wants to give you a first time as you did for her.” Shirtless, bending across the bed, Henry rested his face beside Jay’s. “I might be tempted to name it fairness—equality for my beautiful pets,” he whispered. “But we both know how competitive our girl is, don’t we?”

Henry winked, and Jay nodded in rapid, repeated agreement. Damn teases. God how she loved them.

“I expect you’ll enjoy letting her win this one.” He treated Jay—a bound Jay welcoming his master’s touch without panic—to a slow kiss.

She flash-froze the image in her head.

“Happy birthday, my boy.” In pulling back, Henry granted her room to work.

With a swift stroke up Jay’s cock, she recaptured his focus.

“Henry says you’ve always been responsible about wrapping this up.” A month of fantasizing and more than forty-eight hours she’d been ready for this exact moment. A lifetime for Jay, since the first time his cock stood up and he knew what to do with it. “You don’t have to tonight.” She added a purr to her voice. “Not with me. Not anymore.”

Jay jerked in her hand. “For good?”

Powerful desire coated her lips, and she shared the slickness, sliding his cock along her sex.

He caught his breath. “You mean it?”

“Mm-hmm.” He had a beautiful cock. Firm and purpling between her legs. Perfect ridges for grinding her clit. Her lubrication prepared them both. No substitutes, no barriers.

“But Henry should—”

“Be first,” they finished together.

She bent and kissed his brow. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. He was.”

“Alice gives us a lovely gift.” Henry spoke, and she acted. A harmony if ever she’d found one. “One in which I’ve partaken this week.”

Three times Wednesday. Not once Thursday. A long day of emptiness to raise her expectations and her eagerness for Jay.

“Her choice shows us how much she values our love, hmm?”

Value indefinable. The variable becoming a constant, neither subject to the rules governing all others.

“How committed she is to loving us.”

Damn straight. Not a man before them had shared this nudity with her. And now she got to be Jay’s first. Maybe his only. Her clench tightened her whole body, curling her toes and clamping her jaw. No wonder Henry got off on commitment and control.