Page 29 of Cherry Auction

And if he stays, then I can hold on to this feeling of myself. Past and present. The past might be a vague thread I’m barely grasping, but it’s stillhere.

When he leaves, I lose it.

So against my better judgement, I look where he points. It’s the strangest piece of furniture I’ve ever seen. Now that he’s said what it’s for, I can kind of make out that there are four padded struts where legs and forearms are meant to rest, then a long torso pad in the center.

“If you’re a good girl, I won’t put the restraints on. And I promise, I’ll take it very easy for your first time.”

Oh yes, now I see there are cuffs at the edge of the four limb paddedareas.

I gulp and look up at him. “Will it hurt?”

Something washes over his face—a softness I don’t expect. Another crack in his mask.

“It’ll just be a sharp little sting. But I swear,” his face becomes so solemn, his Sir persona slips almost entirely. “Mads, I’d never hurt you, love.”

I blink, something going mushy and confused in my chest at the gentleness in his voice. Past and present collide.

Donny. I’ve got to tell Donny something.

I blink, and the sudden clarity goes fuzzy again. Before I can figure anything else out, I look up at him and his mask is firmly back in place.

“Crawl,” he commands. “Now.”

I swallow and crawl towards the intimidating contraption. As always, obedience feels like the most natural thing in the world for some reason. Is it an impulse from my old life?

“Now,up.”

I climb up, knees on the bottom pads, chest on the largest central area, and forearms on the front two.

“If I do this, will you answer any of my questions about the past?”

“There is only today. Just stay in the present, Pet.”

Ugh! Why can’t he just answer a question straight out?

He chuckles. “Always so impatient. Now stay still but don’t tense your muscles. Allow the experience to wash through you.”

I hear the gentle swish of his pants as he walks away fromme and crane my head to look over my shoulder. I swallow again when I see him pick up an intimidating-looking flogger off the wall. At least I think it’s a flogger. It’s got a ton of twelve-inch black leather strips on the end of a long handle. It’s not exactly one of the giant whips, but what do I know? It still looks scary as fuck.

“What are you going to do with that?” I ask anxiously.

He lifts an eyebrow at me. “It’s called a spanking bench, Pet. What do you think I’m going to do?”

Suddenly I feel a draft. I never did get another pair of underwear. I guess I just sort of thought he’d spank me like he did that first night. With his hand.

I have to swing my head around the other way when he walks back over to the nightstand and pulls something out.

He hides it behind his back until he comes around to stand in front of me. Which is when I notice that he’s aroused. It’s hard to miss, with his, um,thingright in my face. It’s tenting his pants so badly it looks painful.

I look up at him. “Are you going to fuck me?”

“So curious, kitty,” he says. “But no, you don’t get off that easily.” Then he pulls his hand from around his back, and I see it’s a blindfold. “When I say give yourself over to the experience and the sensations, I mean it.”

A thousand arguments are poised to erupt, but he’s already settling the blindfold over my eyes.

My breath becomes short. I don’t know why not being able to see makes me feel so much more vulnerable. I’m in thesame position I was two seconds ago. And for once it’s not because I’m afraid of the dark. When Domhnall’s here, the dark doesn’t scare me.

I just can’t see to know what’s coming next before it happens. It feels like all my other senses crank up to a ten.

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