Page 54 of Breaking Free

“That was against my hand. A warm-up stroke,” he explained softly. “Is there anything you’d like to say before we begin?”

The three-letter word that would end everything weighed heavily on her tongue. But she was an instant away from experiencing what Narissa had, and she desperately wanted to know what it was like.

“No, sir,” she replied breathlessly.

“Very well.”

Before his words faded, she heard another swish, and the tails swept over her bottom. It was anticlimactic, and definitely disappointing because she barely felt a thing.

With a grunt of annoyance, Tristan tucked her hem into the waistband of her panties.

The next stroke struck leather to skin.

“Much better, don’t you think?”

If he expected an answer, he didn’t get one as another stroke followed, and another, each with slightly more intensity. They robbed her of breath, leaving her speechless, her mind racing as her senses came alive. Piper curled her fingers around the chains, hanging on. She welcomed the bite of metal into her skin, which kept her from losing herself completely to the sensual heat and rhythm of his lash.

“Your skin has turned the same pretty pink shade as your lips. But you can take more, can’t you?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“A lovely sound, but I require words, Piper.”

“I can take more, sir,” she said, in a husky, seductive voice she barely recognized.

“Good girl.”

Briefly, she wondered why his praise made her warm and tingly inside and out. Then a louderthwapfollowed the nextwhoosh, and the fleeting thought vanished like vapor as Tristan’s expertly measured stroke, with just a smidgeon more sting, sent waves of pleasure rippling through her. More landed. At least a half dozen of equal intensity, and the desire he stoked burned more fiercely.

She thought she heard him utter, “Fuck me,” but couldn’t be sure because of the moan that came unbidden from her lips.

Piper arched her back, presenting her bottom prominently, asking without words for more as her body vibrated, her nipples tightened, almost painfully so, and wetness flooded the needy, achy place between her thighs. Unbelievably, she was on the verge of coming without him even once touching her pussy.

The suede strands continued to fall across both cheeks, the lower curve where her ass and thighs met, and a few even lower. Over the pounding in her ears, she could hear his accelerated breathing, as if he was feeding off her reaction.

Her body writhed and swayed, dancing on the precipice of ecstasy. Only a few more strokes, and she would shatter.

Chimes sounded. They weren’t harsh or blaring but broke the spell Tristan had spun around them. The rhythmic rise and fall of the flogger faltered and then stopped.

“No! Please keep going.”

“The chimes signal closing time,” he informed her, his impatience audible. “The DMs don’t waste time. They’ll be by to roust stragglers any minute.”

Her head fell back, and she sobbed in frustration, tantalizingly close to release, one that she was certain would be more incredible than she’d ever experienced before.

“I...understand, sir,” she whispered brokenly.

Something clattered to the floor then Tristan’s arms encircled her body. One hand rose to her breast, curved beneath it, and his thumb swept over her aching nipple. The other flattened on her stomach and slid downward inside her panties and between her legs. A finger dipped into her drenched folds and easily found her pleasure point. With his mouth open on the side of her neck, it took only a few subtle movements, rubbing her clit and rolling her nipple, to send her soaring.

As she shuddered and cried out with her orgasm, he held her, cupping her pussy with one hand and a breast with the other. Tristan, more than the chains and cuffs, supported her, the roughness of his clothing rubbing her sensitized bottom, which only prolonged the shivers and shudders.

When they subsided, his lips brushed her neck and jaw. Then he released the cuffs one-handed, keeping a supporting armaround her waist. A good thing, too, because her knees were as solid as cooked noodles.

Tristan adjusted her panties and smoothed down her skirt then tied the open laces of her vest. Finally, he untied the blindfold, and Piper had to squint against the sudden brightness of the overhead lights.

There came a knock on the door almost at the same time it was thrown wide. “It’s 2 a.m. Closing time. No exceptions.”

Piper glanced up at him, surprised for two reasons. He’d predicted this would happen and that the hours had flown by since she’d arrived.

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