Page 16 of Hard Ride
No, fuck no. I don’t want that. I spent so long trying to forget how that one experience warped my sexuality forever, and I really don’t want all this bullshit with Tate to remind me.
In the room beyond the window, Lucas rises to his feet, issuing an order and pointing to the bed. Cherry gets to her feet, too, with surprising grace, given she has her hands handcuffed behind her. She moves over to the bed and sits on the end, wriggling up on the mattress and lying back. Lucas goes to the chest of drawers again and gets more cuffs out, taking them back to the bed. Then he fastens them around each of her ankles, before attaching them to special rings at each corner of the bed frame, so she’s lying with her legs spread wide, unable to close them.
She’s open to him, available in every way, with her hands locked behind her. Her nipples are hard, and she’s breathing very fast; I can see the rise and fall of her chest.
“She’s at his mercy,” Tate murmurs in my ear, reading my mind. “Completely and totally. And she loves it.”
Does she, though? There’s no choice to be had in any of this, not for her.
You like it. You always have.
I ignore the thought as Lucas comes to stand at the end of the bed, looking down between her spread legs. Then he puts his hands on her thighs, gripping them tightly, and he bends down,putting the flat of his tongue on her pussy, licking her like an ice cream cone.
She jerks on the bed, her back arching at the contact, her mouth open in a cry, and this I can’t hide the sound of my own breath catching. The pulse between my thighs gets more and more insistent, my cotton panties damp and getting damper.
“That could be you,” Tate goes on in that dark voice. “Cuffed and spreadeagled for me. Unable to move. If you were very good, I’d eat your pussy until you screamed, and if you weren’t, I’d toy with it until you’re so desperate to come, you’d do anything for me.”
I want to tell him to shut the hell up, that I don’t want to be at his mercy, or anyone’s mercy, not again. I don’t want to feel as if my pleasure is being forced from me without my consent, no matter how much my body might enjoy that. It’s always been a liar.
Lucas’s head is between Cherry’s legs, his tongue lapping at her, licking the folds of her pussy. She’s quivering like a tree in a storm, her eyes closed. He pauses and says something, and her eyes open. She looks down at him, and he looks back, licking and nipping, eating her as if she’s his finest meal.
I feel as if it’s his tongue between my legs, as if I could come just by thinking about it, and I don’t know how I got to this point, or why I can’t resist, but I can’t keep watching anymore. Any minute now, Tate’s going to know just how turned on I am, and I can’t bear the thought of that.
I start to turn away, but that’s when I feel Tate’s large, warm hand take my jaw in his palm, and he turns my head firmly back to the window. He has me in a tight grip, making it impossible for me to move. “Watch,” he orders, low and dark in my ear, his breath warm against my skin. “Watch her come. I want you to see her face when she does, because what she’s feeling is incredible.”
I freeze, everything in me going still. I remember how searing his touch was, how my skin would go tight and hot at the merest brush of his fingers. In bed, he was a fire I tried to control, yet only ended up being consumed by, and I feel that same way now as his hand holds my jaw. Yet that dirtiness, that shame is also there too, memories of that guy’s irresistible strength as he pushed me against the wall and held me there flooding through me. How I didn’t want it and yet liked it at the same time, and how confusing that was.
“If you don’t want this,” Tate says quietly. “Say ‘red,’ and I’ll let you go.”
A little shock winds through the heat building inside me. I don’t know how he’s picked up on my tension, but he has, and it’s weird, because he never used to be that observant.
I don’t know what to do now. I don’t want to keep watching. I don’t want this rapidly building desire or the complicated feelings that come with it. But he’s given me an out, and a part of me wants to take it. Because who cares if he knows I can’t handle this? He told me his offer was a one-night thing, so if I walk away, I’ll never have to see him or Lucas again.
Yet, I don’t want to be a coward, either. Ten years ago, I ran away from both of them because I was afraid, and I always believed that I left that girl behind me. But I won’t have left her behind if I say ‘red’. I’ll have given in to it instead.
So, I give my head a brief shake to let him know I won’t be saying anything, let alone ‘red’, and keep watching as Cherry’s face flushes, her expression becoming desperate as she stares at Lucas between her thighs. I can see her mouth move, but he’s shaking his head.
“She’s only going to come when he says,” Tate murmurs. “He’s in control, and she can’t come unless he permits it.”
I can’t quite hide how I’m trembling, and all I can think about is the feel of Tate’s fingers pressed against my skin. His touch is so hot, like little flames burning me.
“That seems unlikely,” I force out, hating how husky my voice is, because it betrays me too much.
Tate gives a soft laugh. “Oh, she will.” He’s so certain. “Luc will make sure of that. That’s his job.” His thumb moves on the underside of my jaw, lightly stroking, and sparks crackle over my skin. Everywhere. “I can make you do that, too.”
I’m shivering and I can’t stop. “No. N-no, you can’t.”
“Oh, sweet girl.” His lips brush the side of my neck, and I shiver even harder. “There’s no end to the things I can make you do.”
7
Tate
Ican feel the quiver of her body through my fingers on her jaw. Her skin is as soft and warm as I remember. She was the one bright thing in my life, the only bright thing. Losing herwas like losing the part of myself that still had hope of happiness in this fucked-up world, and I’m not letting that happen again.
Take it slow, Lucas said to me, and he wasn’t wrong. He never is, not when it comes to subs, so that’s why I asked him for that favor. It was a shitty thing to ask, I knew that, especially given his feelings about her. But he was the best Dom for the job, and I trusted him to show her what she needed to know.
She can trust me as well. That’s why I gave her a safe word, because I could feel her tension and her resistance, and I needed her to know she has an out if things get too much.
