Read Online Rich Pickings by Ashe Barker - Free Book Online Page A

arrived back at the apartment. I complied, naturally. I was equally acquiescent when he instructed me to lean on the cross, facing it, and position myself in the restraints. Satisfied now that I am in place and ready, Dan pats me on the bum before turning away to open the chest at the foot of the bed. Craning my neck to see, I watch as he leans in to pick something up. He straightens, and I see he’s selected a suede flogger. It’s made up of a bunch of separate strands, each one tipped with a small bead. They click ominously against each other as he returns to my side, the flogger dangling from his hand.
    “Do you want me to tell you what’s going to happen? Or would you prefer me to just get on with it? In the future I’m not likely to offer you a choice, but I’m making allowances right now, in view of your inexperience.”
    How generous. I consider my options for a few moments. “Just do it please.”
    “Good choice. I will want to talk to you after, though. Now, I’m going to blindfold you.”
    It’s a statement rather than a question. He’s not asking permission, but even so I have just enough time to nod my agreement before he slips the blindfold over my eyes and my world goes black.
    “Safe words. Are they still red, amber and green?” He’s close up behind me, his breath brushing my neck as he talks to me.
    “Yes, Sir.”
    “Fine. Use them if you need to. Especially don’t hesitate to use amber. I’ll be happy to slow down, or explain. This is meant to be edgy, you’re meant to squirm a bit. But if you get scared, or it’s too intense for you, I want to know. Got that?”
    “Yes, Sir.”
    “God, I like you, Summer. You and your pretty little swallows.” I jump as he touches my bottom with, I think, the handle of the flogger. It feels hard, cool. He trails it up the edge of my right buttock, across my tattoos. “You still have faint stripes from yesterday. Very pretty, but I think we’ll avoid them today. I want your skin to heal properly before I spank you again.
    “That’s very kind of you, Sir. Very considerate.”
    “I’ll tolerate a little sarcasm from my subs, but not too much. You’re at your limit now, Summer. Remember that before you let your cheeky mouth get you in bother.”
    I detect the subtle shift in his tone, a cool hardness. His Dom voice. I know when to keep a low profile—learned that a long time ago.
    “I apologize, Sir. It won’t happen again.” I drop my head, slumping in my restraints. He said he’d just get on with it, yet here we are, still talking. Every time I open my mouth I seem to stick my foot in it. And he scares me far more with his words than with his whip.
    “Summer? You seem unhappy suddenly. Is something wrong?”
    “No, Sir. Please, I’m fine.”
    “Don’t lie to me. You’re not fine and I want to know why.” His tone is harder now, all Dom, all demanding. Stern and intolerant. He believes I’m lying to him, or deliberately evading his questions and either is unacceptable. Either will earn me a punishment.
    The situation is spiraling away from me and my heart continues to sink. How has this happened? Where did my easy confidence of a few moments ago disappear to? In the face of his implacable insistence I have no choice but to attempt to explain.
    “You’re angry, and that scares me. I want to please you, but I seem to irritate you without intending to.” I can hear the catch in my voice, the wavering that usually precedes tears. I don’t want to cry, not again, not now.
    He says nothing, appears to be waiting for me to finish. I can’t see him, but I feel his breath on my neck. I consciously raise my chin and stiffen my shoulders before continuing, “I don’t feel to be in control…”
    “You’re not in control. I am.”
    “But of me, of what I feel, what I do…”
    “You handed control to me. All of it. You can get it back with your safe words, but until you do, unless you do, I’m running this show and you just accept it.