Page 49 of No Going Back

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

At the sound of the double rap, Guy automatically glanced at his watch. Precisely on time, but he hadn’t expected anything different. She’d always taken orders well. He tugged the bottom of his waistcoat straight, and took the half dozen strides to the heavy wooden chair at the far end of the room, opposite the door. The raised platform on which it stood gave it an intimidating, throne-like appearance. For Guy, it was more a prop than a piece of furniture to be used, but tonight the darkness within him demanded the illusion.

He took his seat. With his elbows resting on the chair’s arms, his fingers laced together, and one ankle resting on the opposite knee, he was ready for the game to start. “Enter.”

The door handle lowered, and Maddie slipped into his domain, semi-naked as he required. He sucked in a breath. He’d known every inch of that stunning body in their first life together, but now he adored its more mature beauty. In the name of heaven, why had she made it so difficult for him to see her totally naked when she was the exquisite essence of grace and loveliness?

And in this lighting, subdued to enhance the mood, she was spectacular. More so, as she assumed the position he’d demanded of her. Her hands rested palm-down on her thighs, and even from this distance, the pressure of her fingers digging into her flesh was obvious.

She was nervous.

As she should be.

“Give me your safewords.”

“Red to stop, yellow to talk, green to affirm, Sire.”

He didn’t expect the words to be a trigger. A flash of wounded ego reminded him of what he’d believed was their first time to play. Oh yes, she’d dipped much more than a toe into the lifestyle…

He quickly shoved his ego aside—that episode was in the past, and this session would deal with it.

But if her safewords reminded him of his first scene with Maddie, they also reminded him of his first scene with Liz and what preceded it, at the club they’d visited long before he’d ever heard of Aegis. He remembered her asking for that whipping as if it were yesterday. The negotiations that followed. The way she’d felt in his arms after the scene ended, when he’d cared for her afterwards…

“Do you have any medical conditions I should be aware of?”

“No, Sire.”

“Good. You’re here of your own free will?”

“I am, Sire.”

“Crawl to me. And look straight at me, not to the side. Do not speak again unless I ask you a direct question or give you a command that requires a response.”

His cock twitched and hardened even more as she came towards him on her hands and knees. Her full breasts, cradled in the delicate lace bra, reminded him of how she’d both loved and hated nipple clamps. A magnificent pair awaited her, once she was on his table.

She stopped about four feet in front of him, but remained on all fours. It was then, from his elevated vantage point, that he saw it, the scarring that explained why she’d done her utmost to prevent him catching sight of her back.

Scarring that he highly doubted was the result of an accident.

In a heartbeat, Guy was on his knees at her side. She flinched when he traced the disfigurement with his fingertips—her pain became his. “What happened?”

“It was a long time ago, Sire. I’d rather not think about it.”

She might not want to think about it, but Guy was no fool. Those scars told a story, a series of lines he could read like a book, and he didn’t like it. “Tell me.”

“It happened in the accident.”

Like hell it did. From what she’d told him, for that to be true, the laws of physics would have to be rewritten. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. You have one more chance to tell me the truth.”

She shook her head. “I can’t.”

She couldn’t tell him but she could remember. A spasm of trembling betrayed the force of those memories. While he couldn’t ignore the matter indefinitely, perhaps it would be best discussed during a less emotionally charged occasion.

And it would be discussed, both at length and in detail.

Guy stood. With calm deliberation, he removed his waistcoat and draped it over the chair in front of the side table. His tie was next, placed with precision on the table top. He unfastened the top two buttons of his shirt, before removing his cuff links and rolling up his sleeves to mid-forearm. To emphasise the atmosphere of intimidation, his movements were careful and unhurried. That way, Maddie’s imagination would have plenty of time to conjure up a multitude of scenarios around what he might do to her on the table with its covering of thick, white towels.

What he planned would be the catharsis they both needed, to clear away the spectre of the past and work out where they went next. He pushed away all thoughts of who might have enjoyed feeding her masochism since Guy had last left his mark on her body. If the bastard was responsible for those scars…