Page 29 of Need

On instinct, my feet came up onto the couch, my whole body crunching into a tight ball. I waited for the first strike to hit me.

It didn’t.

I looked up slowly to find Stephan standing over me, waiting patiently. When he saw that he had my attention, he said, “I’m not going to cane you, Brianna. Put your legs down, please, and hold out your hands.”

My brain kept shouting at me not to, but I wouldn’t forget what he’d told me again. He wouldn’t lie to me, and he’d proven it more times than I could count. I could trust that when he told me something, it was true.

It took effort to uncoil my body, but I managed. One by one, my feet found their place on the floor in front of me. I put my hands out and opened them, hoping my trust in him was not misplaced. I watched as he took a seat on the coffee table directly in front of me, the cane lying across his lap.

“This is a rattan cane,” he said, lifting it up with both hands. “There are many types of canes made out of a variety of materials. They come in all different thicknesses, but this is one of my favorites.” When he was finished with his explanation, he offered the cane to me. I didn’t know if I should take it. “Go on. It won’t bite, I promise,” he joked.

I tentatively reached across the small distance and touched the wood. It felt almost like a spindle on a chair.

He held perfectly still as my fingers examined the cane. It was as if he didn’t want to spook me. When I retracted my hand, he sat back and shifted his weight a little.

“Close your eyes for me, Brianna.” My eyes widened instead. What was he going to do? He seemed to know what I was thinking. “I want to show you something, but you need to close your eyes first.”

Trust. With a deep breath, I clenched my eyes tight. It was the only way I could do this.

He took my hands, and helped me stand. He led me a few steps before stopping and asking me to hold perfectly still.

My breathing was starting to get out of control when I felt his breath graze my ear from behind me.

“Relax.”

He ran his hand slowly down my arm, leaving heated warmth in its wake before heading back up the same path it had just traveled. I didn’t know what to think. Or feel. My brain was battling with itself. Why did he make me feel this way?

Whether by choice or not, my body started to forget about everything except him touching me. His fingers were doing wonderful things to the most innocent places, while his lips were doing something amazing at the junction of my neck.

I felt a slight pressure against my right hip. It was just a tap of something. Then his hand and mouth suddenly left and I felt another pressure on the back of my left thigh. The weird thing was that it felt almost familiar.

My heart pounded as I waited to see what he would do next. I felt a tap on my breast and gasped. Our day in the woods, when he’d blindfolded me. That’s why it felt familiar.

He didn’t remove the pressure from the top of my breast. “Open your eyes.” There, in front of me, resting on my left breast was the tip of his cane. “I improvised a little in the woods, but the basic principle is the same.” He lowered the cane to his side. “The cane can cause pain because the person wielding it controls its use, but in and of itself, a cane is not something to be feared.”

I knew what he was trying to tell me. It was the same thing he’d been telling me since I walked through the door of his home. He wanted me to trust him. “Do...”

“Go on,” he prompted. “You can ask me anything.”

“Do people... actually... like that?”

His lips turned into a smile I’d never seen before. “Yes. Some submissives enjoy being caned.”

I swallowed. “Do you think... I mean... would I...” As much as the thought frightened me, some part of me wanted to know how anyone could enjoy being hit with a cane. It was probably a very stupid curiosity considering everything I’d been through, but with him, everything just seemed different. Better.

He cupped my cheek and stepped closer until I could feel his breath on my face. “We can find out,” he whispered, and I felt a shiver, tinged with a hint of fear, run down my spine. “But not today. Today,” he said, leaning down to place a kiss that was barely there on my lips. “Today, we have things we must discuss.”

My eyes rolled back in my head as his lips covered mine. He wrapped his arms around me, and crushed me to him. All I could do was hold on.

Stephan

My kissing Brianna was purely impulse. I wasn’t used to doing things this spontaneously, but with her, my control always seemed threatened. She made me crazy. There was not five minutes that passed in my day where I did not think of her.

As I forced myself to release her, I knew that once again, I’d be spending some quality time in my shower tonight. I wanted Brianna as I had wanted no other woman, and I couldn’t have her. At least not yet. Soon though. I didn’t know how much more of this I could take. Her slight pout as I put space between us did not help my trying to do the right thing. I smiled down at her. “We should get you fed.”

She followed me into the kitchen where I had laid out some fresh fruit and granola. We set everything on the table, and she began to eat. I let her get a few bites in before I spoke again. “How is your neck feeling today?”

Her hand came up to cover the area in question before going back to her food. “It’s better.”

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