Learning the Hard Way (9 page)

Troy shook his head. “Not kidding.” He took off his shoes and took them to his closet. “I like taking control, during play and during sex.”

“Play?”

He nodded. “It’s what I did during dinner with your hand.”

She wrung her hands together. “What else do you do?”

“You want to experience it for real?” Before she could answer, he shook his head. “No. You’re not ready. This is not how this works.” He stood directly in front of her. “We should sit down and have a conversation about this.”

“We’re talking now.” Although fear gripped her, she smiled. “Teach me.”

He stared at her, studied her. She could almost hear him weighing the pros and cons in his head. To encourage him, or maybe show him how far she would go, she removed her shoes.

“No.” He shook his head. “What I do will mess with your perception.”

“Of what? Of you? Of me?”

“Everything.” He removed his keys from his pocket. “Let me take you home.” Troy turned to the door.

Ava had other plans. She slipped out of her dress, showing him her nude body. Even with Richard, she had insisted that the lights be off whenever she’d gotten naked. With Troy, all of her fears and resistance went away. She didn’t know if what he did to her in the backseat of the limo had anything to do with it, or his hand-holding game. No. Not a game. Play. He had manipulated her with a couple of cues.

“Put your dress back on.”

“You’re a Dominant, right?” Ava ignored his directive and continued with her education.

Troy didn’t respond. He continued to glare at her while she stood in his bedroom naked.

“What would that make me?” She had to know.

He undid the cuffs on his shirt. “A fool if you think this is as easy as getting naked in front of a stranger. It’s more than that.”

“So tell me. I’ll teach you about ethics.”

“Is this ethical? Tell me, Professor.” He approached her. “If I said that I knew a man who was a Dominant and he met this woman who wasn’t in the Lifestyle but wanted to learn on the fly, what would you say? It’s crazy, isn’t it?”

She looked into his crystal blue eyes. She didn’t find anger or regret or even fear. He had hope in his return stare. He searched for something that she had been looking for since her last relationship. She wanted someone honest.

“I don’t think what you do and what I want are crazy. I think to deny our desires is crazy.” She reached out to touch his arm, but he jerked back.

He turned his back on her like he wanted to leave again, but stopped himself. After a beat, he turned back around to her. “Fine. You want to do this? We will.” He approached her again. He placed his hand on her stomach, which made her gasp and flinch, but she stood her ground. “Bondage, domination, sadomasochism is what I’m into.” His hand crept up her body until he rested his hand on her chest and closed his eyes. “You’re scared.”

Ava took in a deep if not ragged breath. “No, I’m not.”

He opened his eyes. “If we do this, we do it honestly. You have to tell me the truth no matter what, understand?”

When Ava slowed to answer, he asked her again. “You have to tell me what you want.”

“I thought this whole thing is what you wanted.” What she had seen on TV and movies, it seemed like the Lifestyle centered around the one in power.

“I decide when we play. I decide what kind of play we do. I administer the discipline.” He pointed to her chest. “You regulate it.”

The connection of his finger against her body felt like he sent electric sparks through her.

“How?” Standing naked in front of him felt like she’d given up all of her control.

Troy slid his hand down to her breast. “If there’s something you like, you say green.” He cupped her breast and twirled her now hardened nipple with his thumb.

She exhaled. Ava could barely keep standing while he played with her tit. Her breathing increased as she closed her eyes. If this treatment defined BDSM play, she wanted more.

“If you like something but it’s getting intense, say yellow.” Troy pinched her nipple between his thumb and index finger.

The feeling sent a sharp bolt of pain from her breast to the top of her head and down her body. She sucked air in between her clenched teeth and got on her tiptoes to endure it. She did feel like she had to endure this. She couldn’t give up or give in no matter how harsh. Deep in her heart, she knew Troy would want more from her. Ava wanted to give him more.

He continued squeezing until she had to grab his arm. “Are you okay?”

She nodded her head while holding her breath.

“Breathe. It helps with the pain.” He pinched harder. “Exhale. Breathe.”

Ava puffed out some air and had a gasping breath as she tried to breathe normally. Out of nowhere, she felt Troy grip the back of her hair and jerk her head back while pinching her nipple hard enough to produce tears and pressing his knee against her pussy.

“If you can’t take this, if it’s too hard, say red and I’ll stop.” He growled this information in her ear.

“R-r-red.” She shook her head, ashamed of herself for quitting.

Troy released her breast first before letting go of her hair and taking a step back. He shouldn’t have done that. His knee provided her the support she needed.

Ava nearly fell to the floor until Troy netted her in his arms.

“I got you.” Troy helped her to sit on his bed. “Intense?”

Unable to talk right away, Ava nodded.

“Need some water?”

She shook her head.

“Need something to eat?” Troy’s accommodating nature right now seemed out of place for what he had just done.

Ava shook her head again. She didn’t know how to answer because she didn’t know what she wanted. How could this lifestyle be real? Moreover, why did she like it? Why did she like her boundaries pushed?

“Are you ready for more?” Troy asked.

Ava glanced up at him. “There’s more?”

Troy laughed. “Absolutely. I’ll be right back. Get yourself together. You’ll be standing soon.” He left the room, leaving Ava to stew in her thoughts.

What else could he do to her? Would she want it? She dragged her hand up her arm. Everything about her felt electrified. If she felt that alive now, she couldn’t imagine what else he could do to her.

Troy returned to the room carrying what looked to be a leather handle with streamers coming down it. “Stand.”

Ava rubbed her hands over her thighs first before she stood.

He pointed to a waist-high dresser. “Put your hands on that and bend over.”

She padded to the dresser and gripped the top.

“Hopefully you’ll find this cathartic.”

She craned her head around. “What?”

Before he could answer, he raised his hand and allowed those same streamers to hit her back and slide down to her ass.

“This is a flogger.” Troy administered another hit and another while he talked to her. “It’s made of deer-hide leather. I had someone in North Carolina make this for me.”

Smack.

Smack.

Smack.

It sounded worse connecting to her skin than it felt. With each hit, she allowed her mind to roam. She graduated the top of her class and now she let this man—this stranger, her student—flog her, discipline her like she imagined slaves or an animal would be. She clawed the dresser with each hit the more she thought about it. Just when she started to turn around to stop him, he stopped her with his voice.

“Remember. You’re controlling all of this.”

Smack.

“I’m not doing this very hard. I’m making enough of an impact for you to feel it and for it to sound worse that what it is.”

Smack.

She flinched. A tear rolled down her nose and clung to the tip for dear life.

“If you want this to stop, say red.”

Her back started to sting more with each hit. It also felt hotter than normal, like he must have been flogging her with those streamers on fire.

As soon as she’d gotten used to his rhythm, he stopped for a moment so that he could now use two floggers on her. He smacked her back with a crisscross pattern.

For as odd as this seemed, especially on a first date, Ava hadn’t thought about work or her friends or Richard. Her concentration stayed on Troy, the floggers, and her feelings.

“Red.” Uttering her safe word had nothing to do with feeling pain or humiliation. She experienced something new.

Troy placed both floggers on the dresser next to her hand. “You okay?” He put his hand on her back.

The coolness of it shocked her more than anything else. She flinched and turned to look at him. “More.”

“More discipline?” He continued rubbing her back.

She shook her head and hoped he knew what she desired right now.

Ava wanted Troy, a strange reaction after he had just tortured her tit and whipped her like a stubborn mule. Her nipples hardened so much that they ached. Only the touch of his hand or a lick from his tongue would soothe them. Her clitoris hadn’t stopped throbbing since she stripped down. She felt her intimate juices running down her legs.

He held her hands and put them on his pants. “Take them off.”

Ava pulled her hands back. “We did things your way. Can’t we do things the way I want now?”

It was bad enough he had gotten her to do so many things she’d never let Richard do. Allowing him to finger her in the backseat of the limo and bringing her to orgasm pushed her way out of her comfort zone. The treatment in his bedroom had really tested her. She couldn’t deny that she had loved the entire treatment from beginning to succulent end.

He shook his head. “No. My house. My rules.”

Ava counted to ten in her head before she continued speaking. She had to take control of this situation. “I need…you.”

Troy regarded her for a while before reaching into his pants pocket and retrieving her phone. “I don’t want this to break when my pants falls to the floor.” He placed it on the dresser. Then he swung her panties back and forth. “I can’t decide if I want to tie your hands with these or just keep them as a souvenir.” He took a deep whiff of them. “Smells so good.” He circled her as she remained cemented in her spot.

“Please, Mr. Whitten.” Ava didn’t bother turning around to face him, not even when she felt him brushing her panties across her naked backside.

“Good. Keep calling me Mr. Whitten. I’m starting to like that.” He feathered the panties up her back and over her shoulders.

Ava, to her surprise, didn’t stop him or fight him. Her body knew what it wanted. After he dropped her panties to her feet, Troy stood in front of her. Considering she was completely naked, she didn’t try covering herself up or reaching for her dress. She had allowed this man to flog her…and she loved it.

With a gentle tap on her side, nonverbally Troy got Ava to acknowledge her dress and panties on the floor. She peered down before regarding him again.

“Pick them up and hang them in the closet.”

Without question, she picked up both items and hung them with care in his closet. That was way different from Richard. Knowing Richard, he would have had sex on top of them and wouldn’t have even cared if they got stains on them.

Troy had more instructions for her when she returned. 

“Shirt first, then pants.” Troy stared at her with his intense blue eyes.

“No.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

This time Troy blinked. “No? You’re standing here naked and you’re saying no?” He chuckled. “I think you’ve lost your leverage. Or are you bucking for a spanking next?” To give her a taste of that treatment, he swatted her ass cheek and squeezed it for good measure.

As much as she hated to admit it, Troy was right. She hadn’t been in his home for more than two minutes and he managed to get her naked. Nothing about Troy reminded her of Richard or even Vartinucci, except for the fact that the men were all white.

As though he willed it, Ava started to take off his shirt.

“You have a wonderful body.” Troy brushed her hair from her face. “You did well with the flogging. I know most play bottoms who would have called their safe word way before you did.”

“Safe word.” Ava shook her head.

Nothing about this day or situation felt safe. She went to a university function with a student, one who worked as an escort. She had that same student disciplining her as a part of his fetish. Now she wanted to fuck him.

She couldn’t blame her deviant behavior on her past with Richard. Ava wanted all of this. She wanted him.

His touch sent a shiver down her spine. With his shirt off, she tossed it on the floor.

“No, hang it up.” He pointed to his closet. “I’m here all night. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’m not some submissive shrinking violet. And I’m not your maid.” Even in the nude, Ava wouldn’t buckle.

Troy didn’t respond. Without his shirt on, he put his hands to his hips and stared at her. From his stance, she knew nothing would happen until she did what he said.

She snatched the shirt from the floor and hung it in his walk-in closet next to her dress. When she returned to him, he now stood in front of his bed.

“Pants,” he said simply.

Without arguing this time, Ava undid his pants. She saw his hardened cock pushing against it. Eager to see if he’d stuffed his underwear, she started pushing his pants down without unzipping them at first. When she hit resistance, she struggled to undo the zipper enough to get his pants down.

With his large hands, Troy stilled hers. “Slow down.”

That was a first. Usually Ava would have to tell Richard to take things slow with her. After a deep breath, she pulled down his zipper and pushed his pants and boxers down. Once she got his garments down past his knees, Troy sat down on his bed.

Ava couldn’t stop staring at his cock. Troy had Richard beat by being longer and slightly thicker. She got down on her knees and removed Troy’s shoes and socks. With him completely naked, the playing field should have been even; however, Ava still felt he had home-court advantage. Maybe because all this happened in his house.

Once she had secured his remaining clothing in his closet, Ava returned to the bed.