Chapter 23
There's one thing I've never expected I will think of myself - that I'm a wimp.
But today I'm obviously proven wrong.
It all starts pretty relaxed - we've been to the tattoo studio twice before to see the artists' works firsthand and talk about our designs. While Bella has been fussing over hers together with Mandy, the owner's daughter who Bella instantly connected with, I've decided to pretty much wing it. Carlos, the owner himself, is an acclaimed free hand artist, and I trust him to get the dragon on the canvas of my left upper arm right.
It's weird how downright giddy I feel, but for obvious reasons I can't be as exuberant about it as Bella is - at breakfast she's been pretty much unable to concentrate on anything else, and when we meet up at the tattoo studio after work she seems a step away from squealing with delight. I still wonder if part of it is due to Jazz not hanging around, as he chooses to go running instead of eating with us.
As she and Mandy have the design all planned and already drawn up, the stencil is quickly transferred to Bella's right shoulder over her shoulder blade, and after a last check that everything is where it belongs, Mandy sets to work. Bella barely winces as she remains hunched over her chair, looking serene and nearly relaxed except for the constant chatter going on between her and the woman wielding the tattoo gun. She has decided to get a heavily shaded Calla lily, no extra colors added, but the outline alone promises to yield a stunning, elegant flower to soon bloom on her back.
Meanwhile Carlos is busy sketching the dragon on my arm, and we don't really talk that much - then again I get the impression he's equally amused about Bella and his daughter giggling and laughing away like old friends, and I don't feel like breaking his concentration. It's fascinating to watch him draw a few lines that seem only like a natural emphasis of my muscles at first, then keep building up on them until I have a red penciled fierce predator curled around itself all over the outside of my arm, from the shoulder down to nearly my elbow.
"About what you had in mind?" Carlos asks, and I nod.
"Even better. Let's do this."
When he starts mixing the colors I'm still somewhat calm, but from the moment he turns on the tattoo gun, I feel my cool slipping away. And damn, that stuff is uncomfortable.
At first I try telling myself that the feeling will pass - after all it's quite ridiculous that I of all people should have problems with a little pain - but it doesn't. In fact it only gets worse when he moves up from the fleshier part of my arm to the bones at the shoulder, and I feel myself break out in cold ysweat all over. For half an hour that goes mostly unnoticed, until Bella asks Mandy to take a break because she has to use the restroom - and when she returns and looks over to us to check the progress, she gives a strangled guffaw that doesn't sit well at all with my ego.
"Everything alright with you?" she asks, her voice unable to hide the laughter she tries to hold back, and at her words Mandy of course turns to us, too. Her critical gaze rakes me, then she shrugs.
"Maybe you should take a break. Eat and drink something, you'll feel better in a few minutes."
Carlos stops after finishing the next line, then glances at my face.
"Dude, you really are pale."
"I'm fine," I hiss between clenched teeth, then give up when I realize just how ridiculous I'm acting. Bella bats her lashes at me as she sits down again, then ignores my glare when she resumes their chat with, "You know, normally he's not such a wuss."
Oh girl, you've got it comin'!
Carlos is nice enough to pretend he needs to call another client when I'm done jugging down a can of coke so I get a little more respite. When we resume our session I'm still not exactly enjoying myself but the discomfort is more tolerable; seeing the tattoo slowly come to life on my arm is helping a lot, too, and I can't help thinking that it would still be worth it even if it hurt ten times as much.
With the head start they've had from Bella's tattoo being completely planned already when we got here, and the whole piece being smaller than my dragon, it's no surprise Mandy is done long before her father. After giving Bella a short respite Carlos and Mandy switch places to include the parts Bella and I have agreed on before - a stylized black dragon soon circles the stem of her lily, while my half-finished dragon clutches a lily in the talons of his left front leg. Each of us will now bear a part of the other with us, wherever we go, come what may.
Once Carlos takes over again, Mandy and Bella leave the room, the tattoo artist murmuring something about showing her the rest of the studio. There are no other customers left as it's very close to closing time already, and to me at least it seems as if Mandy is aching for a smoke.
Finally on our own Carlos clears his throat, then chuckles softly.
"It's usually the slight girls who are the toughest. Don't let her get to you, you're handling this well. Just last week I've had to stop after twenty minutes because a guy couldn't handle it anymore. Not a problem, we all have our good and bad days."
I try to take that with the humor the situation deserves, but my ego is still bruised.
"Sure. But it's a little embarrassing."
He gives a noncommittal grunt before he sets to switching colors one last time, adding green highlights to the blue scaled beast.
"Guess that depends. You one of the guys who can't handle his girl being better at anything than him?"
"Oh, I know she's better than me in pretty much everything."
"But?"
"I'm not used to being the squeamish one."
Carlos seems to weigh my words as he cleans up some of the residual ink.
The tissue halts for a moment at the faint scar close to my elbow, right next to the lily.
"Single-tail?"
His question surprises me, but a glance at his knowing look he's giving me makes me shake my head, laughing.
"No, bullwhip."
"Ah," he wisely surmises, then gets back to working on the scales. I wonder if I should say more, and part of me feels the need to clarify that I'm more comfortable with being the one on the other end of the whip, but then I figure I might as well let him believe that Bella beats me up on a daily basis.
Eventually we're done, too, and I take my time admiring the piece of art now covering my arm. The animal looks ready to jump right off my skin, sinewy and strong, while at the same time he is ready to protect his precious flower. I just love it, and when Bella and Mandy rejoin us, I'm nearly as jumpy as she's been all day to show it to her. So much so that it takes me a full minute to realize that she's a little white in the face herself, but I figure that is most likely from her tatt hurting more now that it's done than it did in the process of creation.
Before we go, Mandy takes a few pictures of our tattoos, then a few more of us both together, from the side with my arm curled around Bella's side so that my dragon ends up right next to her lily - and two more with us kissing that way. She already has Bella's email address and promises to send us the best ones, while two print-outs will join the huge wall of their happy customers at the back of the studio.
Armed with a whole arsenal of cleaning products and instructions we finally take our leave and head back home. Bella is unusually quiet in the passenger seat, but I don't worry too much when I see her lift her right shoulder periodically where it sits very lightly against the backrest of the seat. It costs me a lot not to add a few taunting remarks but I decide to act more mature than my ego wants me to and hold my tongue until we're back home.
I have to admit, it feels like a small weight has been lifted off my chest when we find the living room empty, and a note from Jazz telling us that he's out with a few of his colleagues, trying to round up a few more people for his business - and won't be back for several hours still. To me at least it seems like he's making an effort not to get on our nerves too much, and I appreciate that, even though Bella keeps frowning at the note for nearly a minute.
"Would you really prefer if he'd be so broken that he's all curled up on our couch the whole time?"
She must have been lost in her own thoughts because she jumps at the sound of my voice, then hastily puts the note down and shakes her head.
"No, of course not. I just hope he doesn't take an example from Alice and goes into full-blown avoidance mode now."
Nothing I can add to that, really, so I hug her from behind and pull her against me, relishing the low laugh she rewards me with.
"Stop it, you insatiable beast you!"
"Beast, huh?"
"Yes, a beast," she huffs, then tabs the bandage over my tatt lightly. "That dragon really fits you perfectly. Although I think it still lacks some smoke coming from its nostrils, when it's huffing and puffing indignantly."
I accept her jab with a grunt, then retaliate by letting my arms slip from around her so I can tickle her sides. Now she's squealing, and before I can catch her again Bella dances away from me and towards the bedroom.
"No, you don't!" she complains when I make as if to grab her again, making me raise my eyebrow.
"Says who?"
"Says me."
"I can't help it, you seem awfully cocky tonight. I think something must have gotten to your head. What you really need right now is a good lesson in proper behavior."
Her eyes light up at my 'threat', but then she bites her lip and shakes her head.
"Not tonight. And I really need to use the bathroom now. Gotta see the tatt from up close."
Then she's gone, leaving me with the distinct feeling that my girl just cockblocked me in the most blatant of ways. Following her upstairs, I stay in the bedroom and give her what time she needs in the bathroom, which is an awful lot as I soon realize. I'm even a little concerned by the time she exits it again and pads over to me. When I kiss her I taste a hint of something I didn't really expect.
"Painkillers? That bad?"
She shrugs, avoiding my gaze, but when I catch her hand and draw her down onto the bed next to me, she offers me a small, apologetic smile.
"Not the tattoo."
I mentally go through all the conversations we've had today, wondering if she's mentioned something like the onset of a headache, but come up blank. Then something else occurs to me.
"Just what were you and Mandy up to when she was giving you the tour?
As far as I remember the studio's not that large."
Bella shrugs again, the gesture obviously too offhand to be real, but when she sees that I don't buy it, she drops the act of innocence. Instead she's back to gnawing on her lip, her standard nervous gesture, but her gaze is laden with something heavier than just chagrin at avoiding me.
"We might have been up to something else, too, yes."
"Something else, huh?"
"Yes," she said, pronouncing the word very precisely, before she crawls backwards off the bed until she's standing right next to me. I follow her movements with my eyes only, and watch in silence as she wrings her hands, then ditches her sweater and halter top she's wearing underneath, leaving her in her pants and the dark blue halter bikini top she's chosen to avoid any bra straps causing her discomfort over her new tattoo.
"You know, this is probably just because I've been watching too much porn."
"There is nothing like too much porn," I reply, grinning up at her. She huffs, then smiles back.
"Okay, scratch that then, maybe I've been watching just enough porn to get curious. Not that I want to attempt a new career as a Suicide Girl, but, you know, I'm a terribly curious person."
"Thankfully."
Another smile, but the way she keeps wringing her hands I wish she's just go on, which she finally does after hooking her thumbs into the waistband of her pants.
"So, well, when I was over at Mandy's last week to see her updated version of the design, we got talking, and one thing led to another, ..." she trails off, then shrugs as she reaches into the cups of her bikini top to get rid of some cotton swaps, in the same motion pulling the top down to pool around her waist. "And then talking led to this."
I let my gaze follow the motions of her fingers as she plucks the fabric from her tits, revealing her nipples hardened in the cool air of the room - and somewhat puffy from the barbells now piercing them. I feel a wry grin come to my face as I look back up to her face.
"Naughty."
She laughs, the sound holding more relief than I think is warranted, but is at the same time so like her.
"Yeah, I'm such a rebel," she offers, then crosses her arms over her stomach in a way that squishes her breasts together enticingly.
"So you like it?"
"A lot." As does my dick.
Bella smiles, her eyes for a moment jumping to my crotch, but then she goes on while she pulls the bikini top off completely.
"Of course that means that my poor, tormented nipples are off limits for you for the next days. No sucking, licking, rubbing, twisting, pretty much no touching because I know how much of a temptation that all must be for you.
And me."
"Don't you trust me to behave myself?"
She considers my question a little too long, but then grins brightly when she sees me frown.
"Of course I trust you. But I also don't want to tease you too much if I can avoid it."
"Really." No question, but a statement.
"I'm not done yet," she offers in turn, then blushes, that in itself as adorable as it is strange. Unless, of course, that talking has lead to more still.
"No?"
"No. You see, when we were done with the tattoo today and Mandy and I were in the back room, getting everything ready for my nipples, I was kind of, ah, afraid. And she kept going on how the pain is not that bad, just like a harder pinch that's over within a few seconds, and, you know me, of course I had to blurt out that I know I can take a lot more than just a few moments of pinching. I think she was still grinning knowingly when she told me to raise my arms so she could place the marks for the needle symmetrically, and I was still rambling when she took it out of the sterile wrapping - and then it was all over, really not more than a pinch, it was nearly disappointing. I mean now it hurts more, but I really thought it would be worse. Mandy was clearly amused by my reaction, and then quite casually told me that it doesn't really get any worse anywhere else if I didn't find the nipples that painful. At least she didn't feel like any of her other 27 piercings were much more painful. And of course I had to ask where else she's pierced, with her tongue, lip, and ears leaving another 13 unaccounted for.
Then one thing led to another, and welll-"
"You're rambling," I interrupt her gently, and Bella actually rolls her eyes at me.
"Yes, I know that I'm rambling! Sheesh! I've worked on that speech the whole way back and now you're interrupting me!"
"I'm sorry."
"Yes, I can see just how sorry! Stop smirking like that, or I'll insist on her fourteen days no sex safety instructions!"
Now that's a threat if I've ever heard one.
"Fourteen days?"
"Well, some people insist on that," she replies haughtily, before her previous grin wins over again. "Anyway, what I was trying to say is that after piercing my nipples was a nearly anti-climactic experience, as far as my worst fears went, I got a little light-headed. And cocky. Impulsive. Like I sometimes do when something I've been dreading turns out to be better than I've hoped for."
Very like her, I agree silently. I've seen it happen time and again, although right now I'm really wishing that she goes on and quits talking.
"Long story short, I finally got my courage back together after Mandy was done taping my nipples up and asked her right away just how much worse the more, ah, fleshier parts of the female anatomy hurt. And she shrugged and said that depends on just how sensitive I am, to which I replied not that much, and -"
"And one thing led to another?" I helpfully supply, causing her to emit a cute growl.
"Yes, it did! So while you were sitting out there, all white in the face and sweating like a pig I ditched the other half of my clothes, jumped up onto Mandy's chair and asked her if my labia were anatomicallysuited to be pierced. Happy now?"
"Very," I reply, now smirking at her defiance while my cock is begging me to just shut up as not to incur her wrath. "Outer or inner?"
"Outer," she huffs back, then in an unconscious move she crosses her arms over her chest, which in turn makes her wince when she brushes against her sore nipples. She tries to keep up her stubborn act but I can already see it crumbing, torn apart between her badly contained laughter and more wincing. "And seriously, that bitch must have a hell of a high pain tolerance, because that's so not true with the not much worse!"
"Aw, come 'ere!" I beckon her with my arms open, my belligerence instantly answered by her sticking her tongue out at me. But then she reconsiders her stance and crawls back onto the bed, letting me comfort her with a warm hug.
It has never been so hard to keep my hands mostly to myself, though.
Taking pity in me - or in herself as I am sure that even the soft fabric of her trousers must be irritating her - Bella finally peels the rest of her clothes off.
I grin at the sight of her white cotton panties, that choice telling me that she must have considered needing something less restricting than a thong when she got dressed this morning already, but wisely hold my tongue.
When they finally come off Bella remains lying on her side, her knees still pressed together, but at a gentle nudge from me she lets her thighs fall open so that I can catch a glimpse of the four rings now adorning her p-ssy lips, two on each side.
"No touching, tugging, playing around with. Cleaning two times a day, I have to keep them as dry as I can manage. No tight clothing that can cause friction, and when I do have sex again, condoms until the wounds are closed. Healing time between three to six months," she murmurs, sounding very clinical as she does.
"Fourteen days, eh?" I ask again, the implication of that meaning a possible twenty-six days since I let her come the last time if she really sticks to it kind of baffling.
"Well," Bella hedges, "some say two weeks without sex. When she realized that was about the only thing making me hesitate Mandy told me that she didn't last two hours herself when she got hers. But she advised, if possible, only doggie style, and still no touching of the piercings. Anal's okay, though."
That last part makes me chuckle, and Bella lets her thighs fall closed again, but in a way that keeps the pressure off her tormented p-ssy.
"I know you must find that incredibly funny, but seriously, twelve days is bad. Twice that much and I'll be a tight-wound bundle of insanity."
"Do you really think I would keep you hanging that long?"
"You might," she muses, then grins at my playful frown. "As punishment for not talking with you about getting pierced beforehand maybe?"
"Why the hell should I do that?"
"Just a thought."
While she shrugs that off I feel like she needs a little more reassurance, so I wait until she looks at me again, gnawing on her bottom lip. Again.
"Of course I wouldn't. It's your body, you can do with it whatever you want to. You don't need my permission for that, or anyone else's."
I'm glad she doesn't seem surprised at my words, but definitely relieved.
"Thank you for being so thoughtful."
"Thank you for being such a smart-ass," I retort, then kiss her with more heat than before as I let my mind run high with the possibilities her quest for rebellion - or whatever it is, I really don't mind either way - now opens for me. Her answering moan makes me want to just f*ck the living shit out of her - which right now I obviously can't.
F*ck.
She looks at me weirdly when I disengage myself from her, chuckling under my breath, but she doesn't protest when I ditch my own clothes in turn. My arm is burning under the bandage and the urge to rip it off and scratch is at the forefront of my mind even with my cock screaming for attention, and I wonder for a moment just how much worse that all must be for her. That makes me somewhat obliged to help her scratch that one itch I can, at the moment.
"So what do you want to do about that twelve days situation?"
"You're really asking me this?"
Her disbelief causes another chuckle to escape me, this one a lot darker.
"I'm open to suggestions. But if you don't want to offer any, we can just roll over and go to sleep -"
"No, no, suggestions sound good!" Bella muses about that for a few seconds, then frowns. "You know, this new temporary living arrangement is one huge cockblock!"
"Last time I checked it was just the two of us here."
"Yeah, but we can't really do anything downstairs!"
"We still have the bed," I offer. "Most people don't even know you can have sex outside of it."
"Very funny." She considers the soft, dark duvets we're right now lying on, although I wonder if she's not just stealthily eyeing my cock. "Do you just want to f*ck, or more?"
"Do you?"
She grins, then shrugs, the motion ending in a slight wince that I presume hails from the sore skin on her shoulder blade.
"I'd love to say I'm in for everything you wanna dish out, but right now I think that would be a moment of massive delusion. And quite frankly, I'm way too horny to just make sweet, sweet love here."
That is quite obvious from the perpetual flush on her cheeks, and when my eyes keep wanting to zoom from her face down to her tits, I get an idea.
The sad fact is, if I f*ck her from behind kneeling on the bed, I'm taking half of the fun from myself. But there are ways to avoid that. Taking her hand I draw her off the bed and to her feet, then start walking us towards the bathroom.
"Uh, you heard that part about not spending ages in the shower, right?"
Bella reminds me, earning a stern look from me in turn.
"I'm not stupid. And I don't want to ravage you in the shower, either."
Leaving her standing at the door I hunt down the low plastic stool we keep under the sink so that Bella can reach the upper part of the towel rack herself and doesn't need me to fetch them all the time.
"Up with you onto the stool, and your other leg goes up onto the countertop," I tell her in a quiet but firm tone, and have to hide a smirk at how she visibly snaps from her tightly wound state into a more relaxed, meeker demeanor.
Having her naked ass right in front of my cock calls for a lesson in restraint from me, but I do my best to try to ignore her juicy bits for the moment. The way she is standing now leaves her not only open and available to me, but at the perfect height so I don't have to slouch, a definite advantage for me -
and in the end for her, too. Yet instead of doing what I really want - to grab her hips and f*ck her senseless - I reach around her on both sides of her body to switch on the faucet, washing my hands with soap while her eyes never stray from my face.
A light shiver runs through her when she feels my wet fingers on her shoulder, then another when I slowly peel off the bandage over her tattoo and clean it gently with more water, before I do the same with mine. Her skin is slightly red and irritated but less so than mine, and it takes a lot of me not to lean in and ghost my lips over the lily petal blooming across her shoulder blade. I know enough about basic hygiene - and way too much about the serious implications of not keeping it up - to know that my mouth has no place anywhere Mandy's glove covered fingers went today, but it's still hard not to touch Bella wherever I want to. I nevertheless take my time admiring the design in the right light, before I turn my head so I can look at her face in the mirror.
"Beautiful," I murmur, then kiss her shoulder - well away from the irritated skin - before I reach around her for the drawer where we stash the lube. I am aware that she is following every motion of my hands intently, but when I glance up to her face her eyes snap straight ahead again, causing a sly smile to appear on my own.
"I don't mind you watching me. As long as you know your proper place."
"Yes, Master."
"Good girl," I whisper into her hair as I squirt a generous amount of the viscous liquid onto my fingers. Bella tenses a little when I reach down and spread her ass cheeks with one hand unceremoniously, then sighs softly as she feels two of my fingers push into her rectum, her own fingers clenched on the stone of the counter until she's able to relax around the intrusion. I take my time rotating my fingers inside of her to spread the lube everywhere, before I begin f*cking her like that for a while. She can't really contribute much friction of her own as she's already on her tiptoes to keep the strain off her raised leg, but from the moans and cut off sighs I can tell how much she enjoys this - while I enjoy the way her swollen nipples bounce along with her breasts with every breath she takes and every thrust she responds to.
Long before I expect her to she starts begging me to let her come, and I slow down a little to drag out her sweet torment. Then again it has been twelve days since last I let her come, and it's obvious that the slight pain from the piercings is taking a heavy toll on her stamina. When she realizes that I have no intention of letting her off the hook - yet - Bella looks ready to snarl in my face, earning herself a hard slap on her ass after I withdraw my fingers.
"I can stop right now, you know," I taunt, snorting when I see the panic in her eyes. Exhaling loudly, I watch her intently as she closes her eyes and tries to regain what little calm she can muster, trying hard to appease me.
"I know, Master."
"Then why are you acting like a petulant child? Maybe you want to be tucked in like a little girl, too? I think it's way past your bedtime anyway."
Heat surges into her cheeks at my condescending tone, this kind of humiliation obviously not her thing.
"I'm sorry, Master. It wasn't my intent to act like that."
I'm mollified by the raspy quality of her voice, speaking plainly of how much she wants to grit her teeth and curse at me but doesn't, and slide my fingers back into her, but even before I feel her relax again something else occurs to me. Grabbing her hair with my free hand I wrench her head back so that I can easily growl into her ear, and the suddenly triumphant look on her face just underlines my suspicion.
"You think you deserve some kind of mercy or leniency from me because you're hurting right now?"
She doesn't reply, just sinks her teeth into her full bottom lip, but that's enough of a response for me.
"You manipulative little piece of shit."
Definitely not the reaction from me she has been hoping for, and I can feel her whole body go rigid with indignation. Even though turning her head must hurt her scalp from the way I'm holding her, she tries to look at me directly, her gaze heavy with need and trepidation alike. We keep up the staring duel for at least ten seconds, then her lids threaten to flutter closed when I resume f*cking her with my fingers. I have to admit, the fact that she doesn't just roll over and plays meek is a turn-on for me, but at the same time I'm starting to resent that double-edged game she thinks she can play with me. I know it's a very fine line between playful defiance and ungrateful mutiny, but she can't really learn to hit the right spot without me drawing the lines, right?
"Look at me. I haven't allowed you to close your eyes."
Immediately her lids open again and she glares back at me, but from the way her throat constricts convulsively I know she's trying hard to get a firmer hold on her temper. And as I keep thrusting my fingers into her, her will slowly wins over her temper, her glare soon toning down to a pleading look that is only moderately laced with resentment. Not much of an improvement, but still progress.
Placated yet not satisfied, I finally let go of her completely and take a step back, and notice with new amusement how she rolls her shoulders in discontent at the loss of contact between us. Part of me is tempted to just leave her like that and take care of my hard-on myself - or f*ck her throat -
but while I love indulging my cruel streak, I think she has finally started to learn the lesson, and a little bit of positive incentive might help a lot more than pushing her to her breaking point.
I still don't hurry as I put on a condom and slather my cock with lube, stroking my shaft until I'm fully hard. Bella keeps watching me, her brows knitted as if she's afraid I will just keep her like this another day, but when I step back up to her and push the head of my dick into her ass without further ado the frown is quickly replaced by a look of bliss. Picking up a leisurely pace I push into her a little more with each thrust, always withdrawing until I'm on the brink of sliding out of her, ending up with slow, deep thrusts that make her whole body rock. Wound up as she is I feel her bear down on my cock very soon, but I keep up the slow rhythm, one hand around her hip, the other on her raised thigh, as much to steady her as hold her in place.
"Do you think I should let you come today?"
I can feel her clench harder around me as she contemplates the idea, but instead of the onslaught of pleas I've expected, she holds her tongue. I'm about to bark at her for not answering me when she drops her head, the motion bowing her back enough that for a moment it is pressed flush against my chest. I halt, buried balls deep inside of her, when I hear her voice low and husky as she's talking more to herself than to me.
"I really don't want to be so defiant, I don't want to feel like I'm fighting you every step of the way, but I can't help it! I am a spoiled little brat, so used to getting what I need in abundance that suddenly deprived of all that I can't not feel partly rejected and treated unfairly."
I wonder for a moment if she wants me to stop entirely, or at least step out of playing as she hasn't used any form of appellation, but when she goes on it's obvious that neither is the case.
"Master, I'm sorry that I can't be your meek little slut. Well, at least not the meek part." She laughs, a breathless, cut-off sound, and finally she raises her head again, pushing it against my shoulder so that her face is next to mine as she catches and holds my gaze over the mirror. "I've tried, so hard, but I just can't! If that's what you want, I'm sorry, but I'm failing by such a long shot, it's ridiculous. So if you'll only let me come if I overcome that will to rebel, you can stop right there because I know I'll never really get there. I can play meek and docile, but I'm not, and I won't lie to you, Master."
By the end of that her voice is low and shaking, and it's obvious that it's costing her a lot to admit defeat. Yet there is no hint of dejection in her tone
- it's not defiance that's making her say this, but honesty. And with honesty I can always deal.
She is surprised when I turn my head and kiss her cheek softly, but she relaxes when she feels my lips skim over her ear.
"I'm not asking you to be all docile and meek if you don't feel comfortable with that," I tell her, letting my nose continue to caress her jaw. "Any form of your submission is a wonderful gift to me." That paints a smile onto her face, a smile that is still on her lips when I reach up and wrench her head back until she gasps. "But if you don't give me what I'm asking from you, I'll just have to take it, right?"
I don't wait for my words to sink in but start f*cking her with fast, deep thrusts right away that push her hard against the counter, Bella nearly losing her balance except that she can't slip away with my body pinning her in place. My fingers still twisted in her hair I push her head to the side so that I can scrape my teeth along the side of her neck, then bite into the soft flesh there hard enough for her to cry out - and leave a hint of a mark.
Her whole body is tensed up by the time I look at her face again, but her eyes, half closed now, are dark and full of lust, showing me what I want much more than the act of subservience she has been talking about - her true enjoyment of being made to submit to me.
That as much as the wonderful sensation of her clenching so hard around my cock makes me come, and I finish with a few last, rough pumps into her. Her whole body is shaking when I sag down on her, forcing her to take part of my weight as well, adding a different kind of physical strain to the one she's been under for nearly two weeks now. She grunt in turn, the sound turning desperate when she feels my spent cock slip out of her when I pull her raised leg down, and for a minute or so I enjoy watching her war with the knowledge that yes, she will go unsatisfied for yet another day. No longer hiding her struggle I see the emotions run over her face, not for the first time feeling that sense of power that I have over her - and loving every second of it.
She grunts again and tries to turn her head away when I kiss her softly, a silent gesture that so many guys use to apologize to their girlfriends when they, once again, didn't get their needy women off, but she knows that I'm just gloating at her this way, and that doesn't sit well. But I persist, and eventually she turns her head enough so that I can press my lips against hers, and after a little prodding she lets my tongue in.
This way her cry is muffled when she feels three of my fingers push back into her abused ass, but I feel her melt into me a second later. Smirking at her for a moment as I pull my head back I see her smile at me with gratitude, but that is drowned by another yelp when I push her upper body down onto the cold, hard stone of the counter top, forcing her to lose her balance. I hold her securely enough so that it doesn't matter that she can't reach the stool anymore, and after a moment of flailing her legs she goes still, thankfully not kicking my shin or knee.
"You like that, don't you?" I hiss into her ear, then stop with my fingers deep inside of her to let her calm down enough so she can answer.
"Yes, Master!"
I laugh at her, trying to sound derisive but can't quite pull it off, and hear her chuckle between two pants. In retaliation I pull my fingers out of her and spank her hard a few times, hard enough to make my palm burn, but her shrieks are definitely worth it. Then I'm back to making her come on my fingers while I lean over over her, my nose only inches away from her face.
"I want you to hold out as long as you can. We both know that you're so close, and that you can't win this if I forbid you to come. But because you've been such a good little whore these past weeks I won't be that mean this time. Although if I feel like you're not trying hard enough not to come, I won't be so lenient next time."
Unable to really formulate a response she nods her head frantically, and her whole body seizes up when she tries to fight her impending orgasm.
Without a watch it's hard to tell how long it takes her to lose the fight against herself but it's longer than I've expected, making it obvious that I'm still going too soft on her. When she finally comes it's with a loud, drawn-out shout, her whole body bucking underneath me. While impressive in its force, I assume that one climax is not everything I can get out of her, and when I just keep on she reaches a second one a minute later. Only when she sags down in herself completely do I stop, leaving her as a shivering, spent mess, half slid down from the counter.
She's still breathing hard when the sound of a door falling loudly into a lock downstairs startles us both, and the deer caught in the headlights look on her face makes me laugh.
"F*ck! Do you think Jazz, ah, heard any of that?"
I have no doubt that that is the case if he got here minutes ago already and just slammed the door now to let us know, but I don't state the obvious. I don't even mind him hearing us, as it's just a way for me to mark my territory, although I don't think it needs to be marked. My home, my girlfriend I can bang in the bathroom, after all. And because I'm still not quite down from my high I don't even hide that knowledge from Bella.
"Why, want me to ask him right now?"
"Don't be such an ass!" she grunts in return, then tries to shove me off her, but to no avail. I still enjoy letting her struggle for a while before I pull away.
Bella sneers at me before she stalks over to the shower, slamming the door in my face to keep me out. Grinning at her through the hazed over glass I turn around and go back to the sink to clean myself up there instead. Bella is still fussing around in the shower when I'm done treating my tattoo, although from the sound of it she's no longer under the spray but just keeping the water running until I'm done. Not really intent on angering her for real I finally retreat to the bedroom, although I leave the door ajar so that I can watch her strutting around from the bed.
When she finally joins me she seems mollified again, although she still tenses up as if to shove me away when I curl myself around her, spooning her body with my own. In a silent peace offering I kiss her neck where I've bitten her, noting that my teeth have barely left a bruise worth being called a hickey. For a moment I'm tempted to suck on her skin until she has one for real but then refrain from acting that childishly. As much as she seems to appreciate certain souvenirs from our play time, 'normal' marks don't seem to count.
A few minutes into my musing, Bella derails my train of thought when she clears her throat.
"Are you going to punish me for that bit at the end?"
"You calling me an ass?" I ask, already laughing against her shoulder.
She sighs as if my mirth is answer enough, but then nods. "Yes, that."
"Do you think I should?"
The fact that she gives the question some thought makes it easy for me to decide not to go for it, as I feel like we have stopped playing the moment it got apparent that we're not alone anymore, but I like that she doesn't just jump to conclusions.
"Not really. But I won't protest if you think otherwise."
"Good."
"Good?" she hedges, then turns around enough so she can steal a glimpse at my face. "Good as in we're good and you will let the matter slide, or good as in it's good I won't make a fuss if you tan my hide?"
I let a lopsided grin be my answer for a few seconds, but then lean in to kiss her languidly.
"Good as in I'm too tired to do anything now, and tomorrow morning I would probably feel stupid about still insisting on it."
That makes her laugh and snuggle back into my embrace, although she still makes sure that her shoulder blade isn't pressed into my chest.
"Does my little admission mean that you won't go on with pushing my mental boundaries now?"
I shake my head.
"No, unless you want me to?"
"Not particularly, no. But will that still work? I mean, me not being all meek and selfless and all that shit."
As usual, her blunt words amuse me to no end.
"There are so many ways to play this game, I don't think that will be a problem. And I can still keep you hanging dry for weeks at a time whether you grovel for my appreciation or curse me to my face. In face, the latter makes it so much easier for me."
The way she stays pointedly quiet makes it obvious that she's only now realizing just how much she's been playing into my hands with being honest - but when she finally answers with a sigh I know she doesn't necessarily consider that as a bad thing. Neither do I.
"So what, you'll now tease me into losing my calm, then you punish me for being a brat and don't let me come because I haven't been a good girl?"
"Pretty much, yes."
"I can only repeat myself, you're such an ass!"
"I know," I chuckle, then rub my crotch over her ass until she's giggling and I feel my cock start to get hard again.
"There's no real way I can win this, right?"
"There's never a way to win for the sub of the Dom doesn't let her. You know that."
Bella nods, then quiets down in a way that's nearly alarming.
"Something wrong?"
"No, it's just -" she sighs, then shakes her head. "Nothing. I'll just have to wait and see."
"See what?"
"How I can handle disappointing you like that."
My mind grinds to a momentary halt, and it takes me a few seconds to come to the same conclusions as she must have. It has been quite a while since I've been on the other side of an arrangement like ours, and I think the fact that things have been going so well between us has let me become complacent about catching any possible pot holes in the road ahead.
Nudging her softly at first, I wait for her to look at me again, and when she doesn't I roll her over so that she's facing me. Her eyes are fixed on my chest rather than my face, and I nudge her chin up gently until she's really looking at me.
"Bella, you're not disappointing me. This game is set up for you to lose, not win, being unable to best me doesn't mean you're disappointing me."
I want to add that as long as she doesn't deliberately f*ck up she won't be able to disappoint me ever, but I know that I won't help her by admitting that. I still remember the psychological woes of being an overachieving type of submissive, your own worst enemy.
"But it feels like that, you know? Maybe I've gotten too used to trying to get everything right, but -"
I silence her with another soft kiss, this one lingering as she doesn't seem too intent on continuing to speak. When we finally part she looks a lot less dejected, but doubt is still lurking in her eyes.
"How else should I handle things if not like this?" I try a different approach.
"Either you excel at bowing yourself to my will, you enjoy submitting to me body and mind and find satisfaction in being selfless. Or you don't, you like every step to be a challenge, a battle of wills where eventually I force you to give in and yield. If you know a third way, please tell me, but you giving in grudgingly doesn't leave me with the feeling that you've failed me, but instead that I've pushed you into giving something to me that you don't fling away easily. Just two sides of the same coin."
Although she obviously agrees with me she still mulls things over until she shakes her head.
"Can't think of any option C here. But I really don't see us playing in that meek and gentle way. I just love you acting like a mean, domineering bastard too much. And you can never go wrong with hair pulling, down holding, rough sex!"
"Yeah, for some reason whenever I do that your protest isn't really all that convincing."
She laughs at my dry remark, her previously glum mood lifted.
"So, how do we handle it if Jazz really heard us?"
"We just ignore it and pretend it didn't happen? I don't really think he'll be gloating at us; at least from the way he's been avoiding us today I'd say he's trying hard not to appear as a nuisance."
"True. Let's just hope that our attempt at don't ask, don't tell works better than it does for the Army. And it's not as if he doesn't know how we sound when we f*ck."
That doesn't deserve an answer and I kiss her good-night without commenting on her abashed look, either, before I close my eyes. Not much I could say to that, as quite frankly, yes, he knows.