Page 67 of Healing the Heart

“Them,” she whispered, the word barely audible in the noisy playroom. “They’re laughing at me.”

“No one has laughed. I wouldn’t allow it. Neither would Eric nor the DMs. I think what’s happening is that in your heightened state with your back turned sounds can become distorted.”

“Like in the bar that night?”

“Yes, kitten. Just like that.”

“But... I’m different. I don’t really fit in here.”

“How so?”

He was going to make her say it. “I’m Fat Fiona.”

“The man was a horse’s ass,” he bit out angrily. “You can’t let his opinion color your life.”

“It isn’t only his,” she replied. “Please, I want to get dressed now. I don’t feel comfortable enough to—”

When she didn’t continue, he pressed more firmly against her back, his lips brushing her ear. “To come?”

A shudder raced through her as she nodded.

“I’m not convinced that’s true, pet. Your cheeks are flushed, your breathing has quickened, and your nipples are hard, practically begging for my mouth.”

His lips slid along her neck—open, wet, the heat incredible. When he licked her collarbone and slowly up her throat, her head fell back on his shoulder, craving more.

“That’s it,” he softly encouraged. “Concentrate on me, and what I make you feel. Whether it’s my touch or the snap of my flogger against your skin. If I put my hand between your thighs, I’d find you drenched for me. Wouldn’t I?”

His hand slid down her belly as if to check the veracity of his claim, but it stopped short of what she thought was his goal and flattened on the curve of her lower belly.

“Feel how much I want you.” Applying steady pressure, he molded her ass to the front of his pants and the rampant proof of his desire. “Can you say you want me too, Fiona? And what I plan to do to you on this cross with my flogger?”

“Please, sir,” she gasped, her desire for him quickly spiraling out of control. “I want all of that too! And I really need to come.”

He ran his lips along her shoulder, up the side of her neck to her ear. “I’m glad we’ve gotten that cleared up. The former, at least. But I don’t recall negotiating an orgasm for you. Just a flogging.” He caught the lobe between his teeth, biting lightly before soothing it with his tongue. “Anything more, pet, must be earned.”

“Yes, sir,” she breathed.

In all the times in the many weeks they’d been intimate, he’d made her wait but had never denied her. He’d yet to explore any of her really good, extra-intimate places, and she was already wet and trembling. Noah had the power to do that. To make herbody come alive and cause her mind to forget. If he could do that in his condo, his bed, and on his desk in his office, why not here in a crowded playroom?

Him not allowing her to come suddenly seemed worse than having an audience.

“What do you say? Should we resume?”

“I think so...”

“You hesitated. What are you thinking?”

“It’s just... If I’m to focus only on us, what’s the point of a public scene?”

“For starters, I couldn’t get a private room. If we wanted to play, this was it. Also, I’m the kind of dom who likes to show off his submissive’s beauty. No matter your low opinion of yourself, that’s all I see when I look at you. I’m also determined to help you get past this obstacle,” he murmured, his lips once again brushing her ear. “I’m sure that’s all this is, kitten. A minor speed bump.”

Like so many others, Noah had a touch of exhibitionist inside him. And why not? He was skilled and fit and freaking gorgeous. His determination was infectious, and she refused to let him down.

When he stepped away and she no longer had the pressure and heat of him against her back, she’d do her damnedest to block everything out. Except that was only half of her dilemma. How would she meet his other challenge, of enduring a flogging, which she craved more than the restraints she so loved, without coming?

“I’ll leave your panties where they were. Will that help your focus?”

She had walked around for an hour in nothing but skimpy panties beneath his shirt. His arm around her waist raised the tails in back, revealing half her butt. So how was this so very different?

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