“Marry you?” She squeaked. “No! It’s too soon!”
“Kitten, I can’t imagine my life without you in it right now. It’s the only way to make both of us feel secure.”
“We’re still in the honeymoon period.” She argued. “It’ll wear off. You don’t want to marry me.”
“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to.” He ruffled his hair. “Noelle, I’ve never met anyone like you before. I need you to love me in the way that I love you. I’ve given you space, I’ve given you all I can give you. I don’t know how else to make you love me.”
“You can’t make someone love you.” She said gently, taking his hand. “It’s something that happens on its own. I can’t deny that I’m falling for you Gabriel, falling hard. Just give me some more time.”
“What difference does time make?” He didn’t pull his hand back, but he didn’t squeeze hers either. “I’m not going to change. I can’t love you any more than I do now. What difference does it make if you tell me you love me now, or a month down the line? And don’t tell me you don’t, because I know you, Kitten. I know you feel the way I do. I can read your body like a book. I’ve seen the way you look at me when we’re together. Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not-...” She began to protest and then her mouth snapped shut.
He was right. She was lying to him. He’d swept her off her feet, given her a twisted fairytale and changed her world forever. They were never going to work if she couldn’t commit to him out of some fear he’d given her no cause to have. She’d been pushing him away from the moment they got together and, if she carried on, it would be her fault they broke up. The thought filled her with a deep sense of horror. She’d never felt about anyone the way she felt about Gabriel. “You’re right.” She shook her head. “You’re absolutely right. I just didn’t see it until now.”
“See what?” He asked guardedly, a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes.
“That I love you. I think I have for weeks, I just didn’t know how to admit it. To you or to myself.”
“So marry me.”
“No.” She shook her head. “It’s too soon. Please don’t ask me again.”
“Then when?” This time he did pull his hand back.
“It’s not like I can put a time scale on it, Gabriel.” Her shoulders slumped. “This is all so new to me. However I feel, I’m still confused and overwhelmed by the things that happen here. Give me a chance to accept it, to be comfortable with it, before you ask me to commit to it. I only intend to get married once. I won’t be pushed into making that decision without a great deal of time and thought.”
“I’m not going to stop asking.” He said stubbornly and she chuckled softly, the water rippling around her.
“I know. Giving up isn’t in your nature. Just don’t make me resent you for it.”
“I’ll try.” He stretched as though a burden had been lifted from him. “Are you hungry? I thought we could order takeaway.”
“Sure.” She relaxed back against the bath. “That sounds wonderful.”
***
The rest of the week rushed by in a blur. By the time Noelle got back to the house the following Friday, she was exhausted.
“How was your day?” Gabriel called from the kitchen when he heard the door, and she sighed, hanging her coat up.
“Long. Full of loud children and stressed teachers. I’m so glad it’s the weekend.”
“That’s a shame.” He appeared with a glass of chilled white wine and handed it to her. “I had hoped we might go to the playroom later.”
“Maybe I’ll perk up a bit when I’ve had a chance to unwind?” She offered and he shrugged.
“It doesn’
t matter.” He kissed her forehead and headed back towards the kitchen. “I cooked!” He called back over his shoulder and her jaw dropped.
“You actually cooked?
You? Not the housekeeper?”
“Don’t sound so surprised.” He sounded affronted. “I’m not entirely useless in the kitchen.”
“I never thought you were.” She fibbed brightly. “That’s a lovely surprise to come home to. Thank you.”
“You might want to try it before you thank me.” He said drily, poking fun at her disbelief. They sat down to plates of pasta with spinach and seafood in cream sauce
, and it was actually delicious, even if the pasta was a little overcooked. By the time they got around to clearing up and loading the dishwasher, Noelle was much happier and more relaxed.
“We can go to the playroom.” She said quietly, closing the door of the washer. “I’m ready.”
“Are you sure?” He eyed the empty bottle of wine they’d shared over dinner. “Aren’t you tired?”
“I’m feeling much better.” She smiled and stepped in towards him for a hug. “You wouldn’t have asked if you didn’t want to go in, so we’ll go.”
“Okay.” He kissed the top of her head and released her. “Go and do what you need to do and I’ll meet you in there in ten minutes.”
When she entered the playroom, he was repositioning the padded horse underneath a set of pulleys on the ceiling. Nervously, she eyed all the neat coils of rope lined up on the horse.
“That looks
like it’s going to get complicated.” She admitted.
“It is.” He pulled a lever that dropped the box back to the floor, retracting the wheels. “Take your clothes off and come here.”
She did as he asked, folding her clothes and leaving them in the customary place, atop the drawers. They’d gone back to classical music today and, as he began looping the rope around her, she let herself drift away in the sensation and the sound.
Thoroughly securing
her torso, with the knots at her back, he made her lie face down on the horse and began working on her legs, binding them so she was open and exposed to him. She struggled against the ropes a little when he pulled against the winch and she rose clear off the horse.
“Settle down
, Kitten.” He snapped. “You don’t want me to drop you.”
“Sorry, it just felt weird.” She regained her sense of equilibrium, even though she was swinging gently from side to side.
“Is it uncomfortable anywhere?” He tested the ropes, pulling and releasing them with deft fingers. “Is your weight distributed evenly?”
“I feel fine.” A hand landed across her backside and she flinched. “I feel fine
, Master.” She whispered.
“That’s better.” Finished testing, he moved back behind her as she watched him in the mirrors. Facing dead on, she couldn’t see all of him, but when his
head lowered between her legs, she had a split second to tense before his tongue drove hot into her core.
“Oh my God!”
She quivered in the ropes, using her hands to steady herself on the horse beneath her. He took her to the edge and then stood up, meeting her gaze in the mirror.
“Tell me you want me
, Kitten.” His voice was hoarse and she swallowed.
“I want you Master.”
“Well...good things come to those who wait.” He winked at her shocked face in the mirror, and then simply walked out.
“Not again!” Noelle let her head hang down. Whose stupid idea was it to come in here again? Oh yeah, hers.
Idiot.
The first three times he came back, she bit her lip and refused to give him the satisfaction of begging, but she was confused. He hadn’t given her
anything to beg for. She hadn’t done anything wrong. She didn’t know why she was being teased so mercilessly.
On the fourth occasion, he got her all fired up and then came round to watch her face as she struggled against the ropes. “This isn’t fair, Master!” She snapped. “Why are you doing this?”
“I’m trying to make you understand how you make me feel.” He shrugged, leaning back against the mirror.
“I don’t tease you like this!” She protested.
“Not sexually maybe, but you’re still pushing me away, Kitten. You’ll tell me you love me, but you won’t admit you’ve moved in. You get mad at me when I ask you to marry me.” He shook his head. “Here you are, this amazing woman just parading around in front of me, and you won’t let me take a firm hold of you.”
“But that’s crazy!” She stared at him, wide-eyed. “Nobody gets married that quickly.”
He pushed away from the mirror and came towards her, sliding a hand beneath her chin to caress her breasts. “What part of our relationship would you class as normal?” He asked reasonably, rolling a nipple between expert fingers. “I want you, Kitten. All of you. Forever.”
“This isn’t fair.” She tried to catch his hand to stop him distracting her, but he moved too fast. Her eyes followed him in the mirror as he moved back behind her. “I warned you, Gabriel. You can’t use sex as a weapon. You can’t force me into something I don’t want to do by driving me crazy. It’s not right.”
“What are you going to do about it?” She jerked as he slid a testing finger into her, and made a soft sound of pleasure as he withdrew it and massaged her clit. “Kitten, I asked you a question.” He persisted mockingly, knowing he was raising the fire within her again. “What are you going to do about it?
Drawing a deep breath, she tried to force herself to concentrate. “Gabriel, if you try and use sex to force the issue, I’m going to safe-word. You don’t leave me any choice. I won’t let you twist what we have like this.”
“Then I guess I should give up, huh?” She barely had time to brace herself as he thrust into her, crying out as he stretched her unprepared body. It was disorientating, hanging so that she rocked back and forth as he powered into her. She tightened her hold on the horse, afraid she was going to get sea sick.
When he’d found a relentless rhythm, he ran a hand over her rear and slipped his thumb into the crack, pressing cold gel into her tight hole. She shivered on the edge between pleasure and shame
, as he worked one finger in and then two. When he added a third, she stopped watching and let her head hang down. Her skin was glowing with mingled shame and heat. It was good and it was wrong and she hated him for making her question herself, even as she loved him for doing it.
When he stopped fucking her though, her head jerked up. What was he doing? The answer came seconds later
, when he withdrew his fingers from her arse and began pushing his cock in instead.
“Am I being punished?” She blurted out and he stilled.
“No Kitten. You aren’t being punished.”
“So why...why are you...” She swallowed.
“Because I am Master in this room, Kitten, and you are mine. I may have let you speak freely just now, but I will take what I want.” He slid in another inch. “And this is what I want.”
“Please don’t.” She couldn’t stop the words tumbling out and he stilled again.
“Are you questioning my authority?”
“I...no...I...”
“For that, Kitten, the game has changed.” He eased back. “I’m not going to fuck you. You’re going to fuck me. Use your arms. Push yourself back onto my cock.” Her arms trembled. “Kitten...” His voice was a low, warning growl. “Do it.”
“I can’t.” She was shaking all over now.
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Both.” She whispered.
“Explain.” There was no comfort in his voice, no sympathy.
“Because I don’t like it.
And when it’s you doing it to me, I can justify it. I just can’t make myself do something I don’t enjoy. I have nothing to hide behind and I can’t willingly cause myself pain.”
“I don’t know what’s worse, K
itten. The fact that you’re lying to me, or the fact that you’re lying to yourself.”
“I’m not lying.”
“You want this, Kitten. You come for me when I do it. If you don’t know you’re lying to yourself, that makes it even worse.” Strong hands grasped her hips and he pushed all the way into her, wrenching a cry of protest from her throat. “Will you defy me on this?” He asked, his voice deceptively soft.
“I’m not defying you. I just...I can’t.”
“I will punish you, Kitten.” He warned.
“Please...Master
, don’t.”
“There is no mercy in this room.” He said implacably. “Take over
, or I will punish you.”
“Then punish me.” She hung her head. “I can’t do it.”
“So be it.” He set up the same hard rhythm as before, setting her swinging back and forth with the force of his thrusts. When the first stinging slap landed on her back, she jerked in the ropes, struggling against them. “You earned this.” He told her calmly. “Take a deep breath. Let it flow through you and accept what’s about to happen.” Another spank landed in a different place and she tried to breathe through it, even as the tears filled her eyes. When the third one landed, she cried out and then he pressed a vibrator to her clit.
“No!” She fought wildly as he continued to
spank her and her body betrayed her, helplessly riding the pleasure to the forgiveness of all else.
“Come for me
, Kitten.”
Slap
. “Give in to this.”
“No!” Helplessly she writhed as he continued with his assault on her sense
s, feeling her body wind tighter and tighter.
“Give in to it
, Kitten.” He pushed her further and further, pain and pleasure becoming an overwhelming mess in her mind. As her body convulsed in orgasm, she closed her eyes and began to fly.