Page 50 of No Going Back

“It’s time.” He offered her his hand.

She took it and rose, her grip tight on his fingers, and as soon as she was on her feet again, he swept her up in his arms. She tensed, her breathing fast and shallow. “What—”

“Shh.” He quieted her with a look more than with his voice. “Do I need to give you a refresher course in obedience before we start?”

Her eyes lowered. “No, Sire. I apologise.”

“Apology accepted.” He set her down on the table and took a step back. In silence he watched her. With each passing second, the tension between them escalated. Her breathing became shallow and rapid. Tremors shook her limbs once more. Somehow, he knew she was remembering how it had once been between them.

So was he, and after a decade of keeping to the shadows, the sadist inside him took centre stage once again.

“You know I’m going to hurt you?”

“Yes, Sire.”

“And you know I won’t fuck you when I’m done?”

“Yes, Sire.”

“Lie down. On your back, arms over your head and legs apart.”

Guy turned away. He didn’t need to see what the soft sounds of her movements were telling him, that she was obeying his instructions to the letter. He returned to the side table and unlocked one of the two drawers.

It was kept locked for a reason. That reason lay on a bed of black velvet. He picked up the knife, removed it from its sheath, and examined the exquisitely chased blade. In spite of where his interests lay, he had no taste for using such a keen implement on soft, creamy skin. He would never inflict any permanent mark on such alabaster perfection. Any marks he did leave would only ever be temporary, and to make them, his implement of choice was the cane. Maddie’s—or should that be Liz’s?—love of it had made their relationship a perfect symbiosis.

He remembered that negotiation as if it were yesterday—a social get-together only, arranged after their initial meeting, to discover where their interests meshed. He recalled her hesitation when she’d described needs that belonged at the more extreme end of the spectrum. Not for her a little light bondage and spanking.

By the end of that encounter, he’d known she’d be his. Though she’d made her eagerness to move to the next stage clear, he’d made both of them wait. Three more dates was all he could manage before stripping her naked with his hands as well as his eyes.

Guy closed his eyes, as if by doing so, he could banish the memories of how good they’d been together. There was no going back to that time. However, as Maddie herself had said, maybe this session would enable them to set their mistakes aside and move forward. To where, to what, he wasn’t sure. Together? He wasn’t sure of that, either.

All he knew for certain was that they both needed this.

He sheathed the knife and clipped it to his belt.

The sight of her lying there tied his stomach in knots. So much was riding on what happened next. Would this write The End on their relationship, or open up the first of many new chapters?

Without saying a word, he guided her hands to the correct position, so he could bind her wrists in the cuffs chained to the corner of the table.

Guy took a temporary seat on the edge of the table, close to Maddie’s head. She looked uncomfortable but not distressed. Too short to be gathered into her neat, practical braid, a stray wisp of hair clung to her cheek. He brushed it to one side, using the act as an excuse to stroke the side of her face. He smiled.

“We’ve already agreed your safewords—define them for me, please.”

“Yes, Sire. Red, yellow, green—stop, slow down, continue, in that order. Sire—I need to be here. I need this.”

He let the outburst go, preferring to brush the back of his fingers down her cheek again. So soft. “We both do, pet.”

When he produced the knife and showed her the naked blade, her eyes widened. To most people, the razor-sharp edge would look frightening. The vulnerable position Maddie now occupied would ramp that up to terrifying, especially since knife play had never featured in their shared past.

“May I compliment you on your choice of lingerie, Madeleine? The colour suits you.”

“Thank you, Sire.”

Midnight blue was striking against her fair skin. Such a pity he was about to ruin the set by cutting it from her body. On the other hand, it would be fun to shop for replacements and have her model them for him.

Taking the utmost care—because, sadist though he was, this was a mindfuck, too—he lifted each strap and sliced it through it. He finished the deed with a snapping cut to the lace between her breasts. With each slice of the knife, she gave a spasmodic jerk that sent an electrifying surge of satisfaction through him.

The fabric fell away, revealing the perfection he adored, then as now. He flicked a glance at her expression, and was gratified to see lust and outrage chase across her face. Her whimper broke free when he sliced through the narrow elasticated bands at her hips and flicked the ruined thong away. Though he had no intention of taking her, the urge to do so became a relentless assault on his determination. Instead of giving in, he gorged himself on the feast before him, approving of the neatly trimmed pubic hair and perfectly waxed bikini line. Just as his woman should look.