The Shy Dominant Read online

  “But you didn’t—”

  “No. I come when I’m ready to come.” His chest rose and fell hard and she could see his erection straining against his jeans, but he was in control of himself, reminding her that he was older than she was, tempered by life.

  In fact, it seemed like he was making a point of how in command he was. It made Dharma wonder if what they’d just done would happen again and if it did, could she tempt him somehow into coming with her? Would he fill her, take her against the car?

  The thought made arousal burn again, hotter this time. Her body was already throbbing, already pleasured, but she hungered for more.

  She was desperate for more.

  He got in the truck, looked at her and raised a brow.

  She buckled herself in.

  Fred might be shy, but he was definitely in the driver’s seat.

  As they drove in silence, she stole glances at him, feeling an unaccustomed reserve fall between them. She wanted to ask him if they would be together again soon. Like…how about now, when he took her home?

  He stopped in front of her dilapidated apartment, giving it an annoyed look as if he’d like to single-handedly fix the place up for her. “Is that place even up to code?”

  “Yes. And you ask me that every time you come here.”

  “I want better for you.”

  She licked her lips, squirming in her seat. “Do you?” Her voice came out husky.

  He looked at her and his lips curled into a sly smile. He unbuckled her belt, a total gentleman, damn him, leaving her even more desperate. She wanted to climb onto his lap.

  “Fred…”

  “Miss me tonight.”

  She bit her lip.

  He reached down between her legs and cupped her, squeezed her. She moaned, arching, losing herself.

  “Good girl.” He reached around her and thrust open the door for her.

  She was about to snap at him when he brushed a finger down her cheek. The gesture was sweet and old-fashioned, and she craved it as much as she had the one he’d just given to her sex.

  “You better serve my coffee tomorrow morning, Dharma. I like to see your face.”

  Throat tight, she nodded. “I like to see yours.”

  Somehow she climbed out of his SUV.

  Of course, being Fred, he waited until she was safely in her apartment with her door locked before he drove off.

  Chapter Six

  Dharma’s heart raced when she found Fred and Taz waiting for her after her shift ended the following night. She’d spotted them in the bar earlier, passing the time playing pool. It had made her edgy, wondering how they’d play tonight.

  All she could think of now was how she was dying to come. She’d tried a half dozen times to bring herself off in bed the night before or in the shower, but she’d been distracted and rushed and irritable because she wanted Fred there with her.

  Tonight there was a solidarity about the two men, as if they’d worked out what they planned for her. Taz took her arm, guiding her to Fred’s SUV. “Get in the back,” he ordered while Fred went around to the driver’s side.

  Mouth dry, Dharma obeyed.

  Fred did a U-turn and they drove down the highway until he turned off on a dirt road. She heard the crash of surf and felt the warm air through her open window. Neither man looked at her or spoke to her, which only heightened her arousal and suspense. What were they going to do with her?

  When they came to a stop in a deserted spot, Taz turned and looked her in the eye. “Strip off your clothes and then climb out of the truck. Oh, leave the shoes on. I like the heels.”

  Her heart gave a thump at the coolly phrased instructions. She felt giddy, unfettered the way she’d been when she first began to paint and every colour was singing for her to use it.

  Hands shaking, she pulled off her tank top then her skirt and thong. Since she hadn’t worn a bra, that left only her red heels.

  She was still trembling finely as she exited the SUV, feeling foolish to be so…nervous?

  The wind was cooler now against her bare skin. It felt like a touch. She crunched over gravel, walking to where Fred and Taz waited for her.

  “Hold your hands out,” Taz said.

  And all the time he was giving her orders, Fred watched.

  She held up her wrists and Taz tied them quickly and expertly. Then he walked around her, as if inspecting her. The second time he circled, he grazed her nipples with the back of his hand, making her body jolt.

  “You aren’t to move unless we say you can.” He put his hands on her waist and lifted her, actually lifted her as easily as if she were a child and placed her with her front leaning against the warm hood of the SUV.

  A second later he kicked her feet wider then pushed her so she was plastered against the vehicle, the position completely exposing her pussy lewdly to their gazes.

  And she felt them looking. She wanted to moan and squeeze her thighs together, but she knew they would not permit it.

  She belonged to them now.

  More gravel crunched and Fred moved so he was standing directly opposite her. He leaned over the hood, took her hands in his. He was blushing fiercely, but his gaze was just as fierce.

  What was Taz going to do to her while Fred watched? She was dying to know.

  Fred took her hands. “You, ah, indicated you wanted me to push you over my desk one day and spank you.”

  Humour and tenderness for him warmed her. “I indicated?” Oh, he was adorable when he wasn’t intimidating.

  “Yeah.”

  “Is Taz going to spank me?” Her voice got husky at the end of the sentence. “While you watch?”

  “Taz is going to use a riding crop.” As if he was worried she’d shut him down, Fred added. “He’s teaching me how to use one. I wouldn’t risk your skin until I can handle it.”

  “A riding crop?” Her heart jumped again. Part fear, part thrill.

  Eyes heavy lidded, Fred whispered. “You’ve never played with one?”

  She shook her head.

  “We need to know if you’ll let us try this. You have to tell us.”

  Deeper waters. She wasn’t sure what would happen if she allowed herself to go there. But Dharma had always prided herself in being adventurous. She nodded.

  “Say it, Dharma.”

  She licked her lips. “Yes, I want to try.”

  Her hands were cold and shaking slightly. She gripped Fred tightly, absurdly grateful for his lifeline.

  “I’m right here. I want you to look in my eyes the entire time. If it ever gets too much, if you need to stop, all you need to do is pump my hand twice. Understand?”

  “Yes.”

  Something hard and cool traced her spine, moving from one vertebra to the next in an unhurried fashion. Because she couldn’t see what Taz was doing, she died a little each second.

  And Fred was watching it all, his lips parted, his eyes a dark midnight blue. She felt him with her.

  When Taz ran the crop down the open slit of her body she gasped, shuddering at the solid feel, at the intention and authority she could feel humming through it from Taz to her.

  She heard it whistle then there was a bright hot flash of pain on her right buttock. The sound, the impact made her think of that first moment when you dropped something on a frying pan. Her body arched and sound whispered through her lips. “Ahhhhh.”

  “Don’t close your eyes. Look at me,” Fred commanded.

  Her eyes snapped open and it was so intimate to look into him and feel him looking into her. She was more naked this way than she’d ever been in her life. He could see everything, read everything so she was an open book in his palm. He could move her from page to page and all she could do was surrender and be open to him, to this moment, to the sound of the crop falling, the strike, the hot sizzle of pain, the satisfaction of it as it bloomed on her skin like the toughest kiss.

  Her submission turned her on as much as anything else. The almost-humiliation of being naked while both
men were clothed. She was liberated by every gasp Taz made her utter, by the spill of a tear that wanted to fall, the soft rain of the crop, heating her like a warm bath would until it was hotter, hotter, until she writhed and tears were falling onto the hands she clasped to Fred’s.

  All along he was both observer—which was so sexy—and participant, as if part of him ate up every pained cry she gave, rode the same edge of harrowing desire.

  “Stop.”

  The voice was like water hitting her face, soft but with as much impact as Taz’s strikes. She saw Fred looking at Taz, sensed they were silently communicating, but she felt oddly peaceful while her body hummed, her fingers curling, the throbbing pain of her ass, the neediness between her legs.

  “We’re both going to fuck you,” Fred said.

  “Yes, oh, yes.” She collapsed against the side of the SUV, her legs too shaky to hold her now, but it was okay because Fred and Taz were both suddenly behind her and they held her up. Two sets of hands moving her confidently so her feet left the ground, spreading her wider, a callused big palm patting her ass—Taz, she thought.

  She heard the rustle of plastic then the wrapper was placed deliberately beside her. Another hand on her back, stroking her, almost consoling her so more of those wonderful tears dripped. She was not a crier, but this felt so good, as if they’d reached inside her to some bottled up place and helped her open it.

  Fred had given her this gift. Because she loved him.

  That thought made her eyes pop, but she couldn’t hide from it. Not after what they’d done to her. Nothing was hidden, not her shadows, not her moments of light. She was naked to herself as much as to Fred and Taz.

  A hand on her back steadied her then she felt the blunt head of a cock rubbing against her pussy. She was so alive now it was like every brush set off fire crackers in her blood. She gasped and tried to shove herself back, so desperate to be fucked.

  Two sets of hands again took control, holding her unmoving so she was breached then entered from behind. Belatedly she realised she wasn’t sure who was taking her. Taz? Fred?

  The not knowing sent a delicious tingle of the forbidden. They had given her a taste of the whip, a taste of humiliation and absolute control and now they were giving her a taste of stranger-sex, something that had purely been a fantasy before now because she valued herself too much not to be safe.

  But Fred…Fred rescued kids and elderly people, took care of his men and had no hesitation running into a collapsing building. Fred would always, always keep her safe.

  “Sweet ass,” Taz grunted and she knew it was he who took her now. Fred stepped into view and she saw he’d stripped away his own clothing, revealing that hugely muscular body, tattooed extensively not just on his chest and arms but down his legs and on the flat plain of his belly. His abs rippled like corrugated steel, his hips were defined, perfect for a woman to hold onto while she sat herself on him. And his cock… He was huge, swollen and thick, larger than any man she’d ever had before.

  Faint apprehension tingled up her spine. Could she comfortably take Fred?

  Taz tangled his fist in her hair and she heard him say to Fred, “Thank you for lending me this. She’s a hot, wet, tight little cunt. Feels perfect around my cock.”

  The way Taz talked about her made her Fred’s property and yet not a ripple of disquiet moved through her. She felt serene and deliciously claimed by the drag and retreat of a heavy cock, the shock of pleasure as Taz fucked her slowly, thoroughly.

  Her bound hands could not find enough purchase to offer her any counter-balance to enhance her pleasure. She was going to get fucked, for as long and as hard and as slow and measured as Taz cared to give it to her, but she wasn’t sure he would give her quite enough so she could come the way she needed.

  “You’re not going to come, little cunt,” Taz said, smacking her ass hard to light up all the heat he’d brought with the riding crop. “Only Fred can give you that.”

  Dharma had never let any of her boyfriends call her a cunt. She hated the word. Why was it so sexy hearing it from Taz?

  He thrust inside her again and her toes curled. Every taking seemed to go deeper and deeper inside her, until she was panting, until she began to beg him to go faster, please, she needed it just a little faster.

  The sexy bastard laughed and kept up his steady pace until finally he gripped her hips, his fingers digging in as his body shuddered. “Hot little piece!”

  She was still warmed and wet and on the edge when she heard more plastic crinkling then felt Fred behind her. He pushed inside her unhurriedly, widening her channel ruthlessly with his sheer size. Her breath caught as she struggled to accommodate his size.

  She’d taken one man and now with her body slick and open and hot, she was taking another. Did this make her a slut in Fred’s eyes? She didn’t know, and she hoped not because she had opened more than just her body to him. In all those long days they’d talked, in the shared looks at the coffee shop, in the moments when he opened a door for her and put his hand on her lower back protectively, these feelings had been growing.

  He could hurt her now. He could devastate her.

  And still she would let him do what he wanted with her.

  And still she loved him.

  He took her hips, pulling her back on his erection, claiming her so she was so full she whimpered.

  Then he fucked her as she’d never been fucked. He slammed into her hard and dangerous, and his arms came around her, pulling her in tight under his crouching body, his face brushing hers, sweat running down his cheeks, his eyes glazed as he shoved in and out…

  She screamed as she came, feeling it like a life and death impact. He rode her a little longer before he jerked and began to shove inside her.

  After, she was completely limp while Fred held her captive under him, and she was crying because everything had been too much, just too much.

  He swung her gently into his arms and she wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling like she was torn apart, like she truly was dying as pain welled up and flowed from her. It was the most peculiar sensation of her life, as if their shared sex had done more than pleasure her body.

  “Take the keys,” she heard him say to Taz. “Leave us alone for a while. You can come back with your bike in the back later.”

  The SUV fired up, but Dharma didn’t care. All she cared about was Fred holding her, walking with her naked until he sat down on a silvered log on a tiny beach lit only by a fine sliver of moon.

  She gave herself as much to him now, curling tight as she continued to cry silently.

  He never let her go.

  * * * *

  The wind tugging a tendril of hair into her face woke her in irritation. She was curled against the log, Fred’s shirt tucked around her. She saw him right away, standing at the water’s edge, magnificently male and still gloriously naked. Hers, if she had the courage to try to make this complicated older man belong to her.

  Her throat tightened because she wanted that more than anything she’d ever wanted in her life.

  She didn’t think about it. She tossed aside the shirt and crawled to Fred on her hands and knees.

  He turned and when she reached him he put a sandy foot over her neck, pressing down lightly. Then he was on his knees, breathing hard. He covered her, pushing her hair out of the way so he could lave her neck with his tongue, like an animal taking possession of its mate.

  He bit her, a little savage, hard, stinging pain that went straight to her pussy. He brushed her there, testing her as she opened to him, holding nothing back.

  He cleared his throat. “I’m clean… I mean, I should have said it before. I’ve only been with two women in the past two years.”

  “I’ve had more partners, but I’ve always been safe and I was tested recently,” she said. She felt his tension over her confession as if he didn’t like it that she’d had more lovers even though she hadn’t hidden it from him. “You’re only jealous because you weren’t there to run the sh
ow.”

  “Maybe. Jesus!” He laughed and she heard his chagrin in his laughter. He was still uncomfortable with what he liked.

  “Is that what you want, for us to…share?”

  He cupped her face in his big hands. “No. I’m territorial as hell, which probably makes what happened with Taz seem weird but…”

  Gladness rushed through her, soothing her. “I loved it. You gave me so much pleasure using him as your, um, surrogate, but…” Her throat dried up. It’s you, she wanted to say. You’re the one.

  “He’s still going to give me pointers. I like what we do, but I can’t do it irresponsibly,” Fred said.

  It was so Fred to have that attitude. They would play, but they would do it so it was safe for her, always.

  He leaned his face against hers, whispered against her lips, “I want to come inside you.”

  She pulled back, shocked to the heart. “Wow.”

  He dropped his head, rubbing the back of his neck which made his muscles bulge and his tattoos move like living works of art. He looked like an exotic god in the moonlight, primal but still with that hint of shyness.

  “I know. It’s a fucking stupid idea. I have two daughters. I know what it’s like to get pregnant by accident.” His blue eyes lifted, sizzling into hers. “And you should know that wherever you are in your cycle, I’m really good at making babies. Even if we take precautions, I will likely knock you up sooner or later if we keep doin’ this.”

  Wow again. She covered her chest, trying to absorb the impact of his direct words. He’d spelled it out baldly, and he’d totally terrified her…and turned her on?

  “Okay, you’ve said what your body can do, baby-maker. What about what you want as a man?”

  He rubbed his jaw and she heard the rasp of his whiskers. He grew them faster than any other man she knew, which was why he kept an extra razor at work. He was virile in every sense of the word. “What I want…” He laughed softly, heat pinkening his cheeks. “Oh, fuck.”

  “Fred.”

  He gave her another of those sizzling looks that made her toes curl. “What I want is to get you pregnant. I’ve never felt that way. Marilyn and I just fell into it but you… I get hard thinking of covering you until we make a baby because then you’ll be tied to me. Then I can reel you in under my roof. Then I’ll have a hold on this beautiful, scary, mysterious much-younger-lady.”