Page 59 of Pretty ’n Peak

He expected pain, but for a long time, Austin just teased him with it, running it over his skin. Just when he was starting to go from nervous to impatient, Austin struck.

A soft thwack on his right shoulder. Not even so different from the caresses.

Then a matching one on the left. “How are you doing?”

“Fine.” He’d thought it would hurt more. It was almost disappointing.

“Remember, this is to warm you up. It brings the blood to the surface and gets your body ready to interpret the pain.”

“Yes, Austin.” He’d momentarily forgotten that.

The two thwacks came again. And then again, finally settling into an easy pattern. Left, right, left, right.

He could feel his skin getting warm. Almost like sitting directly in the sunlight.

Or getting a massage. He let his shoulders drop, giving in to the soothing force. The strokes traveled lower, down to his bottom rib before rising again to his shoulders.

God, he could do this all day.

Just as he was thinking that, Austin increased the intensity. The heat lingered now, long after the flogger had moved on. It was building toward something. Something that just kept getting better.

He felt like he was dancing into it, ass thrusted back and shoulders down to receive every sensation.

With a final, deep slap, the rhythmic strikes were replaced by Austin’s hands. His skilled fingers lightly teased and then raked over his skin. It was indescribable. The heat. The hint of pain. Each touch burrowed into his muscles, awakening nerve endings that had been slumbering and were now growing toward the sun.

“Color?”

“Green.” So very, very green.

Austin pressed into his back. Even the slightest brush of his shirt against Mateo’s sensitive skin made him gasp.

“Can you feel them looking at you?” Austin whispered against his ear. “Everyone in this room is hard right now, listening to the sounds you make. Watching you thrust into the air like the needy slut you are.”

Mateo couldn’t help it. His breath fell out of his mouth in another deep moan.

“Just like that, baby. Everyone’s watching you. Feeling what you feel. Or imagining what it would be like to touch you right now.”

He’d almost forgotten that there was anyone else around, but now he could sense their eyes on him, the hungry weight of their appreciative stares. This was what he’d wanted. To be watched and desired.

Austin ground against his ass. “I bet some of them are wondering what it would be like to fuck you. Wondering if you’re a hungry little bottom boy.”

Mateo whimpered, the chains rattling at his wrists.

He didn’t want them to actually fuck him, but the idea of it… He was so exquisitely immobilized, so desperately horny. So visibly needy in front of all those watching eyes.

They all wanted him. Him.

He felt like he could fly.

“Think they’d like to see you take the crop?”

“Yes, Austin.”

“Do you remember what I told you about it?”

How could he forget? He’d fondled the leather implement, longer than his forearm, while Austin whispered against his neck earlier. This one’s a good balance of sting and thud. You should feel it burning on your skin, but also burrowing in deeper. That’ll tell us which sensation you enjoy in small amounts and which one makes you scream.

“Yes, Austin.” He knew he was just repeating the same words, but each time he meant them.