Under his command, p.13
Under His Command, page 13
part #2 of Decadence L.A. Series
“Put your cheek on the cushion and come up on your toes, these last two go on your upper thighs. They’ll be a reminder of this lesson each time you sit for the next day or so.”
She obeyed, not sure what tiptoes had to do with anything, until the wand came zipping down yet again, connecting with precision on the crease between her ass and thighs.
“Sir!” she cried.
“One more, Cassie. Take your punishment for me like a good girl.”
Her fingers curled into the seat cushion as she steeled herself for the final stroke. When it came, it burned like the five before it, except across the uppermost aspect of her tender thighs, it blazed even hotter. Unable to hold still, she came off her toes, standing, as her hands flew back to her bottom. And, she did a little dance, providing her own music in a wail of “oohs” and “aahs”.
Setting the wand aside, Flynn gathered her in his arms. He lifted her and took her place on the window seat, curling her toward him on her hip as he settled her on his lap, his broad hand caressing her fiery skin. She clung to his shoulders as he held her against his chest, rocking her while his lips brushed her temple.
“It’s over, imp. Let’s not have to repeat it, all right?”
“Yes, sir.” Her response came out muffled with her face in his collar. “I’d prefer that as well.”
He chuckled softly, moving his kiss to her forehead, as his hand expanded his stroking up and down her back. “We’ve talked, you’ve had a sample of my style of discipline, next will be your decision.”
Her head fell back, knowing her answer already. “Flynn, I—”
“Not now, when emotions are high.”
“But—”
He laid a finger across her lips, stopping the words ready to come out. “If you choose me, come to the club this Saturday at eight o’clock. Wear the same outfit as the last time, and we’ll start fresh. I’ll personally show you all Decadence LA has to offer. Be prepared to spend the night in one of the apartments upstairs.” He traced her lower lip with his thumb before he went on. “If, on the other hand, you decide I’m not the dominant you want; I’ll accept it and will work with Colt to identify someone you do. From there we’ll go back to being co-workers, perhaps fellow club members if you decide to join, and friends who share lunch every Friday. No hard feelings.”
“If I decide no, do you think it will be that easy to go back to the way we were?”
“I didn’t say it would be easy, but I’ve come to care for you, and I don’t want to lose what we had, so I’ll make it so.”
With a crooked finger, he nudged her chin up, the touch of his lips on hers creating a delicious sensation she didn’t want to end. She lifted her mouth, seeking more, but he pulled away.
“No. We can’t let kisses or the intimacy of a spanking and aftercare interfere with a lucid decision. No pressure, Cassie. I want you to do what is right for you and insist you take the week to consider it before making up your mind. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” she replied, the strain of disappointment in her voice of a sexually frustrated nature. “But I have to say I don’t like it.”
His face so near she could see the gray in his irises had again turned shimmery, like liquid silver, which she was starting to associate with his more intense reactions, both anger, and desire. One finger trailed down the line of her jaw before setting her on her feet. He eased her panties into place and smoothed her skirt over her warm and still smarting behind.
“Now then, dinner. What do you feel like?” Flynn asked while standing and turning her toward the door. He moved them forward, his arm curled around her shoulders as in the past. “Italian, Mexican, Chinese, or a burger? Name your poison.”
“A burger sounds good, but I need to use the powder room before we go.”
In the hall, he motioned to the next door.
She scurried out from under his arm and was just closing the door when his hand came up to stop it. “I almost forgot one other rule: no touching.”
Her eyes went wide. She couldn’t have heard right. “What?”
“No touching yourself and getting off. If you come to me at the end of the week, I’ll want you as hungry as I am.”
A wave of unadulterated pleasure swept through her at the notion he could be even half as aroused by their spanking session as she was. She leaned weakly against the doorjamb as she clarified, “Does that mean you are going to, um, abstain, as well?”
“Yes, not to would be rather unfair, don’t you think?”
She took a step forward, then another, rejoining him in the hall.
His eyes flicked over her shoulder. “I thought you needed the powder room?”
She flushed; the purpose of going now moot. “I don’t have to anymore.”
While gazing down at her for a moment, his eyes flashed with understanding. Then, in a sudden change in plan, he pulled her into the circle of his arms and hauled her up on her toes, his lips a scant distance above her own.
“Fuck interference, consider this while you decide.”
Flynn crushed her to him, his mouth smothering hers with demanding intensity. As his enveloping embrace molded her curves to the hard contours of his body, she felt the hard proof of his desire against her belly. In addition to the heady caress of his tongue slipping inside to tangle with her own, it left her head spinning.
She wanted him more than anything and would have told him how much she wanted to be his submissive and was more than ready to come to him willingly, whether to his caring, tender touch or the stern, stinging bite of his displeasure. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him how much she wanted to be his in every way, but she held back. Since he seemed adamant about this week-long contemplation period and her butt stung enough already, she didn’t want to test him. There was also some reticence on her part considering her past disappointments, although none of the men who came before had been anything like Flynn Dalton.
The kiss went on while she clung to his shoulders, opening wide to his possession, yielding to the demand of his lips and tongue which sent shivers of desire racing through her. Then, as quickly as it had begun, it ended, and with them both breathing hard, he set her away from him.
“You make me forget my good intentions. In the truck with you, imp, and on to Nicky Rottens. Instead of having you, I’ll sublimate my need with a beer, and a peppercorn burger with Swiss, well done.”
With food the last thing she was hungry for; she made that clear as her hands slid over the contoured muscles of his chest. “A week is longer than you think, Flynn. What if I sleep on it and give you my answer in the morning?”
“With an instructor out, I won’t have time in the morning, or for the rest of the week. And I want you to think long and hard about this decision, Cassie. We’ll wait.” He took her by the shoulders, next, and sent her into the bathroom, adding a swat to her backside when she dragged her feet. “Go splash some water on your face and cool off. And while you’re in there, lose the dreamy-eyed look, or I’ll never make it until tomorrow, let alone Saturday.”
She gazed at him over her shoulder as she went, thinking that wouldn’t hurt her feelings at all.
“Yep,” he groaned, “that’s the look.” With a scowl, he reached in and firmly shut the door.
She gaped at it for a moment, then unable to stop herself, she giggled. But the joke was on her because it was going to be a trying, unfulfilled, long ass week.
Chapter 12
Cassie’s prediction came true in the five interminable days and six excruciating nights that followed. The week dragged on as though it were a month. With Flynn covering someone else’s rotation, she didn’t know if it made it better or worse that she didn’t see him. By the time Saturday arrived, she was wired, and annoyed he’d put them through this needless torture when he could have had her in his arms, and his bed, every night since Monday.
He wanted to give her time to make a lucid decision. Ha! The only thing she could think about was his hands on her bare bottom, the taste of his kisses, and the way the hard length of him had pressed against her belly when he’d taken her in his arms. And his no-getting-off rule hadn’t promoted clear, lucid thinking. On the contrary! She couldn’t focus on anything except seeing him, and how, if it didn’t happen soon, she would explode like a firecracker with a short fuse.
At the end of the utterly frustrating week, she once again found herself squirming in the backseat of Colt’s Dodge Charger and fussing with her indecently short skirt as they made their way north to LA.
“Shouldn’t we be there by now? How much longer?” she barked abruptly as though her friend was her chauffeur.
“Since I said thirty minutes ten minutes ago, and twenty-five, five minutes after that, you finish the countdown, math whiz.”
Her head snapped up; seeing her friend staring at her wide-eyed from the front seat while Colt frowned at her in the rear-view mirror with waning tolerance. “Sorry,” she murmured, realizing how much she sounded like an ungracious, demanding brat.
“You’re wound as tight as a kid going on vacation,” Jules said with an understanding smile. “But you don’t need to apologize for being excited. I am too, for you.”
“As am I, squirt,” Colt conceded. “I’m going ten over already to get you there in plenty of time.”
Her eyes homed in on the clock on the dash, then flicked to the speedometer. “Good grief, don’t get a ticket and make us late. Flynn will think I’m not coming. Slow down!”
Colt growled as he eased off the gas, shooting a laser-sharp glare at her in the mirror, equal parts impatience, and amusement. He looked briefly at his wife. “If the Commander doesn’t paddle her ass tonight, I swear I’m going to because she’s driving me nuts.”
Jules stroked his arm gently. “She’s in love, babe. Remember how crazy we were when we first met?”
His hand covered hers, and with their fingers intertwined, he raised it to his lips. As he brushed her knuckles with a kiss, the look he sent her friend was so warm it melted Cassie’s heart. That’s what she wanted with Flynn, and she was twenty minutes away from making it happen.
He checked his watch for the tenth time in as many minutes, glaring at the damn thing as if it were responsible for the time creeping by. It had been this way all week. He couldn’t begin to count the times he’d grabbed his keys and was halfway to the door, on his way to her, before stopping himself. Distance brought clarity, he reminded himself, and he wanted her to be damn sure that he was what she wanted. They had too much riding on this to rush in, and because once he claimed her, he wasn’t letting her go.
On edge, he’d been extra tough on his men, joining them for many of the endurance drills not only to burn off frustrated energy but to end their bitching. He’d proven even at his age, which was almost twice some of theirs, he could cut it and wasn’t asking more out of them than he could do himself. Still, he’d had three candidates ring the bell, unable to take another day in the grinder. It wasn’t unexpected and probably for the best. If they couldn’t hack it now, they’d never survive hell week and its twenty-hour training days.
To Flynn, the past six days, while constantly wondering how Cassie would decide, had been an emotional hell week. He’d questioned the punishment he’d given her innumerable times, but it had served many purposes. He wanted to give her a sample of the Dom she could expect. The caning, mild though it was, revealed his disciplinarian side and illustrated how her risky behavior the past weekend would not fly with him—ever. The kisses and the gentle touches they’d shared were intended to counteract the discomfort and demonstrate being with him wouldn’t be entirely about disapproval and discipline. That she seemed truly disappointed when he didn’t carry the scene out to its natural conclusion, gave him hope she’d say yes with her attendance tonight.
If she belonged to him already, he would have taken her there on the window seat while her bottom still sizzled with heat. Then on the couch, over his desk, and against the wall, with her hands pinned above her head in one of his own. He would have loved to have her trembling and at his mercy as he teased and tormented her luscious body until she was begging him to fuck her. Those images had caused him many sleepless nights—not only during the past week.
Shutting it down when she wanted him had been one of the toughest things he’d ever done, and for a SEAL that was saying something. He’d suffered for it because his hard-on had gone unabated despite the brutal pace he’d set for his men. He’d fallen into bed each night exhausted, but even in sleep, his dick stayed hard, like it was now, while he waited at the bar, consumed with thoughts of her.
Choosing a spot with a clear view of the entrance, with each passing sweep of the second hand, he got increasingly tense. He knew it showed on his face when most of the other club members gave him a wide berth. Those unobservant few who got too close picked up on the waves of his mounting impatience and made a hasty retreat.
“Quit scowling, man. You’re scaring the members and costing me bar business.” Flynn didn’t so much as blink at Eric’s comment, his eyes remaining glued to the door. “You don’t honestly think she’ll refuse you, and not show, do you?”
“No,” he said shortly, confident Cassie would make the right decision for them both. Nonetheless, in the back of his mind, the tiniest fraction of nagging doubt remained.
“Have a bourbon while you wait at least. It may not remove the glower from your ugly mug, but it might lessen it enough, so the subs aren’t afraid to fetch their Doms a damn beer.”
Flynn didn’t object when his friend raised his hand and signaled to the bartender.
“Don’t worry, Commander.”
The softly spoken words got his attention despite the blaring music and the chattering, boisterous crowd. He turned to find Valerie, Eric’s subbie wife gazing up at him with a smile. He’d been so obsessed with watching the front door, he hadn’t even noticed her presence.
“I saw the two of you dancing last Saturday. She was wearing a mask, but even so, there was no mistaking the way she looked at you or how she melted in your arms. You weren’t wearing one, which means Cassie knew it was you from the beginning. She’ll be here.”
As if on cue, the doors opened. The bright red wig and prim white shirt were hard to miss in the sea of pervasive black fetish wear. He stood, positioning himself so he could see all of her from the beribboned twin braids to the short skirt, and the fuck-me shoes that screamed anything but innocent schoolgirl. He grinned, well-pleased. She’d done as he asked, coming to him exactly as she was that night.
“You’ve got an eerie sense of prophecy, love.” This came from Eric, who looked on with his arm around Val’s waist. “Now the question is, will the Commander make her come to him or meet her halfway?”
He didn’t have to wait long for an answer. Flynn stepped forward, his eyes not leaving Cassie as he watched her scan the room. When she spotted him, her shoulders slumped visibly, and he realized she’d been as anxious about this meeting as he was. Immediately, she started in his direction.
“In this crowd,” he told his companions, “waiting for her to come to me, might take all night. I’m usually a patient man, but I burned through it all these last six days. I’m going to claim what is mine.”
With his eyes on her, he didn’t look before he surged ahead, which was unfortunate. So was the near-disastrous collision he had with the waitress who had the misfortune of passing by at that precise moment with a full tray of drinks. The young woman took the brunt of it, bouncing off Flynn’s hard, unyielding frame which eclipsed her in both momentum and sheer mass. She staggered, and he reached out on reflex, steadying her with his hands on her waist. Somehow, she managed to save the teetering tray of sloshing glasses while she apologized. But he dismissed her, his mind circling back to Cassie, as soon as Eric stepped in to calm his flustered employee. Not generally rude, he would have accepted the blame and stayed to ensure she was all right, but Flynn had a more urgent mission.
Glancing up, he searched for Cassie who was no longer at the front doors. It took a moment, but he spotted the top of her bright head in the crowd.
“What the fuck?” he growled the next moment when bodies shifted. Another Dom had stopped her and had his hand on her arm. From across the room, he could see the hold wasn’t gentle.
“What’s wrong?” Eric asked, instantly switching his focus and stepping up beside him.
“That bastard Charles has his hands on her. So help me, if he causes her to bolt again, I’ll break him in two.”
As he rushed into the crowd, he heard his friend’s drawled request. “Try not to get his blood on the floor, will you, Flynn? The grout in the tile costs a fortune to clean.”
Further testing Colt’s patience, Cassie hopped out of the car before it fully stopped. Making matters worse, she rushed up the steps, and into the lobby without an escort. But she’d waited long enough to see Flynn, and now that she was finally here, she didn’t want to waste another precious minute.
Check-in delayed things with the scantily clad woman in reception unsure about allowing a guest in without a member. One of the security guards assisted in finding her name on a list, and without too much fuss, had waved her through without making her wait for Colt and Jules who were still parking.
She rushed through the same doors where only a week earlier she’d fled, as Flynn had said like her ass was on fire, then found herself at a standstill. Though not as busy as the last time, the bar area was still standing room only. Anxiously scanning for him in the mass of wall to wall bodies, in seconds she spotted his dark blond head by the bar on the opposite side of the room and added easily-picked-out-in-a-crowd to her growing list of things she liked about Flynn.
