Page 94 of Syncopation
“Mmm.” Zavier patted his ass. “I could drink you down when you move like that.”
“This is intense.”
Soft leather trailed againstRay’s right arm. He turned his head and watched the end of the flogger slide over his skin. Zavier smiled at him. “It’s only going to get more so.”
God. He shivered at the words, at the leather slipping over his heated skin. Zavier moved out of his line of sight. “I’ll start slow.”
That was all the warning Ray had before those leather strips fell on his ass.
He jumped, even thoughit didn’t hurt. Not one bit. Just a thud of softness on one cheek. Then repeated on the other. He pulled at his bindings and settled into the mattress. No way it would stay that painless.
It didn’t. Each blow came harder and a little faster and warmth radiated up from his ass—then pain. Sharp stings as the leather hit the same spots over and over and over.
“Fuck.” His whole body tensed.
“Let go, Ray.”
He couldn’t. Not right away. It wasn’t until the pain made him cry out that he hit that amazing spot where the heat and the sharpness slid into pleasure and light.
“There you go.” Pure joy in Zavier’s voice. “Dance for me, Ray.”
The blows became harder, and Ray moaned and swayed as much as he could with the rhythm Zavier had laid down. Each time, agony blended toheat into warmth that radiated up his bones and made him fly. He didn’t know where he started or ended, only that hewas.
When Zavier stopped, Ray groaned—and fell a little out of that high. But Zavier’s hands were on him, smoothing, calming, and inflaming. God. He’d never really thought about liking pain before, and he wondered if it was that or Zav or the surrender.
“Want to feel thedifference between that and a spanking?”
Yes. No.Shit. “Yellow.”
Zavier trailed fingers over Ray’s burning ass. “That’s fine. It’s a lot to take in at once, I know. Being bound. Being flogged. I’m grateful that you’ve allowed me this much.”
Tears leaked out of Ray’s eyes. He wasn’t crying. Not really. It was relief and joy and fear and...love. He was in love with Zavier—with his patienceand his voice and his kindness. With the kink and the admiration. His snarky replies to Carl. Everything.
Fuck. He wasn’t supposed to fall in love.
“Shh. We can stop. I’ll untie you.”
“No,” he rasped. “I—give me a minute. I’m okay. It’s just overwhelming.” And it was. The pain and the ecstasy. The way he loved being held down. Zavier’s ministration. “You can spank me.” He wanted togive Zavier that—whatever it was that he got out of this—Ray wanted him to have all of it.
Zavier took a breath and blew it over the heated skin of Ray’s ass.
Ray squirmed. The coolness hurt and soothed and made him want to fuck the bedspread until he spent himself. He was already hovering in that perfect buzz of pleasure.
“Four blows, then. And I want you to count them.” There wasan edge to Zavier’s voice. Not anger, but something hard and hot. Lust?
“Okay.”
The first took his breath away, and he barely got “one” out before the second landed. Oh fuck, they burned. More than the flogging, More than before. Needles up his back. The third put tears back into his eyes and the fourth had him screaming the number out.
In the silence that followed, Zavier appearedin his vision. He’d stripped off his shirt somewhere along the line and his ink-covered chest was ruddy with exertion.
Zavier brushed some tears from Ray’s face. “Thank you for letting me do that.” More than lust in his voice, but Ray couldn’t say what. “Thank you for trusting me—though I don’t think you enjoyed it. Not like the flogging.”
Ray closed his eyes. “I—maybe. I don’t know. Ithurt, but now...’s not too bad.” It wasn’t. With the sharpness and immediacy gone, the ache that spread out was delightful and calming. He relaxed into the bed. “Feels like you should fuck me.”
A finger brushed his lips. “I will. But I want to plug you first. Stretch you. Watch you. Can I do that?”
Warmth in Zavier’s voice. Ray flicked his eyes open, his cock suddenly very eager about allthose things. “Yeah. Green, Zav.”
