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  She giggled, and it was cock-hardeningly exquisite. “What’s funny?” Logan’s gruff voice returned, and he cleared his throat to smooth it some.

  “That statement was ironic, don’t you think?” Coy Katie was here. Thank fuck. He knew how to deal with this one. The eager Katie had him wanting to rip her clothes off and screw her brains out on his couch, abandoning all his plans for tonight.

  Logan nodded his acknowledgment of her statement and chose to dismiss it. She’d scrambled his brain, so he got back on track for the evening. He sat next to her, turning his body to face hers. “Tell me about your favorite childhood memory.”

  She took a deep breath and blew it out. He wasn’t sure if it was in frustration or what, but she was clearly caught off guard. Perfect.

  “Okay. It was probably the Christmas my parents came back and spent with us. Walter loved it so much. It was the only time I remember us being a family after they left.”

  “Why did they go?” This was something he’d always wondered. To someone who knew Katie as an acquaintance, her parents globe trotted, sending the kids enough money to drown in to assuage their guilt for not caring to be around.

  “Dad is in oil speculation. They started out traveling for his business. Russia, Alaska, South America. But I think Mom liked it so much, they just stayed away. I’m fourteen years older than Walter, so they figured I was old enough to take care of him. Eventually, they just signed over guardianship to me since they were never here anyway.” She shrugged like it was no big deal, but the tone of her voice had gotten higher, as if she wished she were still a kid with her parents at home.

  “They signed over guardianship?”

  She sighed. “Yeah. Walter got the flu when he was in the third grade. I had a hard time getting the right medicine from the doctor’s office. Then I had a big struggle with the school when they found out he’d missed so much and there wasn’t a parent at home. It just made things easier. Gave me automatic Power of Attorney, or something like that.”

  No wonder she was a born submissive looking for a relationship. She’d been forced into a position of control at a young age, with life-or-death consequences. His heart went out to her, but he consciously reined it in and asked another question.

  “And your business? How did that happen?”

  “It was a reward. They knew I wanted to own my own shop on the square. I’ve always loved dealing with the tourists in town. When they gave me the start-up capital and bought me the storefront, it was a thank you for taking care of Walter. They didn’t like it when I turned it into a lingerie shop. That was sort of my passive-aggressive ‘fuck you’ to them.” Her voice held satisfaction, a slight, smug smile softening her face.

  “But it’s successful, yeah?”

  “Yeah, it is.” She was obviously proud of herself. He was proud of her.

  Ready to switch tactics, feeling like he’d learned a little bit about her family life—mostly that it was important and not at all what she’d imagined for herself—Logan lowered his voice threateningly.

  “Are you nervous about tonight?”

  Because he was stupid excited. Logan had squashed every opportunity with Katie, but since she’d needed rescuing from right next door, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her.

  Right then, he wanted to crawl inside her skin and be the only one who would ever be there.

  She licked her lips and nodded.

  He had to keep to the night’s plan.

  “Words, Katie,” he growled unintentionally. He inhaled deeply, trying to sort his suddenly lurid, raging thoughts and focus on the business side of things.

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “What is it you’re wanting? Be precise.”

  “Long term or short term?”

  “Whichever.” He didn’t want to know her long-term plans because he had a sneaking suspicion he would be perfect for them.

  Katie fidgeted, her hands twisting in her lap. “Normal sex isn’t always enough and quite often leaves me still needing something. I need the act of submission to feel the release. I discovered a long time ago I like a little pain, that it makes my pleasure so much better.” She paused, and Logan squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, wondering if she’d ever told anyone else this. “I like pain. I like pleasure. I like submitting, giving up all the control. But most of all, I like the release I get when it’s all combined. You’re the only one who’s ever done it for me.”

  “That absolutely makes sense to me.” And seconded his suspicions. He would be perfect for her.

  She let out a rueful chuckle. “It didn’t to a lot of guys.”

  “You told them?”

  “I tried to. I tried to have the interview, like what we did when we were together.” He remembered that interview in an Albuquerque coffee shop before their scene. He’d been captivated by her then. “But guys don’t want to talk before they get busy. They want to just do it. So I eventually gave up and hoped for the best.”

  He’d long ago given up the pretense of not looking at her face. For this part of the conversation, he needed to see what she was thinking, and this shit was written across her face, plain as day.

  “I’m finished, Katherine. What questions do you have?” He knew her limits already—he still had the list. He didn’t normally keep them, but he’d kept hers. It was also shoved into the drawer with her panties.

  “Why all the stuff? Your room is full of BDSM equipment. Like, full.”

  “I build it and sell it online. Most of it isn’t mine.”

  “You build that here? In this apartment?”

  “During the day when everyone else works, yes.” When she was silent, he asked, “You ready?” Because he couldn’t fucking wait.

  “To be punished?”

  He nodded.

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Good. Go to the room and prepare yourself. I’ll be in there in a minute.”

  She had prepared herself for him so perfectly last time. His pager interrupting them had ripped him to pieces. He’d been so ready to redden her behind.

  But the time passing and anticipation would make this so much sweeter. For one thing, he’d allowed his mind to wander and come up with a better punishment for her. He’d managed to get his anger under control. Plus, since he’d been working practically nonstop with calls, training, and the class, he had called in enough favors to guarantee zero interruptions.

  He walked to his bedroom and shed his t-shirt, looked himself over in the mirror, and took several deep breaths in preparation.

  This is going to be perfect.

  Chapter Nine

  Katie sat on the rug that had appeared since her last visit. With her hands palm down on her spread knees, head down, back straight, and eyes closed, she waited. It didn’t seem like that long before Logan came into the room, but in the time it took him, she’d already gone through every feasible punishment she could imagine. Would he flog her? Whip her? Cane her? He had all of those implements on the walls between the two windows in the room. Or would he do something different? Orgasm denial? The joke was on him. She’d heard of that, but she’d never been trained to control her orgasms, and truth be told, just looking at Logan’s dark burliness brought her to the brink, so there was no way she would be able to deny herself.

  Her training as a sub had been minimal, as she never had the time to regularly go to the fancy clubs in Albuquerque, certainly not the amount of time it would take to train her effectively. She had only gone to the one in Albuquerque a couple of times. The first was when she’d done the scene with Logan. He hadn’t been there her second or third visit, but by that time, she’d seen him at Mo’s with the rest of the PGFD and realized he lived here.

  Katie honestly couldn’t put how she felt right now into words—except green. She was overwhelmed by the fact he had changed his m
ind and decided to do more with her. It made her so incredibly happy she couldn’t stand herself, and it had her second-guessing her choices. Was she wearing the right underwear? Had she dressed okay? Did he have dinner plans she’d squelched by not being hungry? Had she answered his questions correctly?

  She normally wasn’t like this, and some logical part of her brain told her it was part of the games they were playing. Katie was being submissive, giving up control to this man so she didn’t have to think. But in giving up the control, she still wanted to please him and make him happy.

  Although, the fact they were doing this said something, right?

  She didn’t realize he was in the same room with her until his spicy scent overwhelmed her. His aftershave was the best and always made her insides hot. She opened her eyes and saw his feet in front of her.

  God, even his feet look strong.

  Straight bones, golden skin, clean toenails. Feet had never been so sexy. The cuffs of his jeans were slightly worn, and she knew they led up strong legs and fit like a dream. No saggy britches for this man.

  A small smile curved her lips.

  “What are you smiling about? You’re about to be punished.”

  Her smile dissipated. How could he see? “Your feet, Sir. They’re extremely sexy.”

  “Do you have a thing for feet?”

  “Not particularly. But yours are very nice, Sir.”

  “Stand.”

  Without a second thought, Katie was on her feet, her head still bowed. Logan walked around her as if taking stock. A cluck of his tongue was the only reaction.

  “Take off your top and skirt, slowly.”

  Katie relished the feel of his eyes on her skin, branding each exposed inch as she slowly stripped off her skirt and folded it. He took it from her hands, his fingers brushing hers. Then she peeled her tank top off as slowly as she possibly could. A harsh inhale of air was his response, and she could only hope it meant he liked what he saw.

  Katie had dressed in all black underthings, focusing on lace and straps—an effort at giving Logan ideas about bondage. The lace thong offered minimal coverage, yet it had two straps on each side. The bra was also lace and showed off her cleavage, but it had a strap that wound around her rib cage twice, emphasizing her bust size and small waist. She was proud of her body, and since she had access to the world’s sexiest lingerie at before-market pricing, she took advantage of it.

  “Turn around, slowly.” Logan’s voice was coarse, gritty, and sent a thrill of pleasure up her spine. She did as she was told, keeping her eyes down.

  He traced the straps of her bra around her body, sending tingles of awareness and need through her blood stream. She suddenly thought all the straps were a bad idea since Logan seemed intent on tracking each and every one with the rough pads of his callused fingers. A lot of straps meant a lot of touching, with Logan’s hot skin drawing lines across her flesh that left a path of goose bumps in their wake. A snap on her ribcage made her jump as he tested the elastic.

  “Is this comfortable?”

  She smiled at his question. “Yes, Sir.”

  “Okay.” He didn’t sound like he believed her but continued his tracings, walking around her in circles, his fingers never leaving her body.

  Her bra was suddenly gone, unfastened and lowered off her breasts with such a delicate touch, she almost didn’t notice. Logan gave the strings of her panties the same treatment before lowering them as well, and his hot breath was at her clenching, needy pussy. When he slipped her panties into his pocket without a word, Katie couldn’t stop the giddy feeling as she wondered what he would do with them.

  Clearly, she didn’t even need to look at him to spontaneously orgasm. She was so close to one, she clenched her eyes shut and squeezed her thighs together as the heat in her body pooled in a spot right below her tummy.

  “Spread your legs.”

  Dammit.

  She stood naked for his perusal, gnawing on her bottom lip, hoping like hell he was half as horny as she was. If not, she would feel stupid. Not like Logan would tell her, so she just stood still, wondering.

  His voice was back in her ear again. “You have an amazing body, Katherine.”

  “Thank you, Sir.” Her response showed her genuine gratitude. That was probably all she would get from the taciturn man. And it was more than she’d hoped for.

  Logan walked to a cabinet on the wall, opened it, and retrieved what Katie thought was a spreader bar. He turned to look at her. “Lie on the floor. On your back.” She complied, the cool floor a direct contrast to her already heated skin, and Logan affixed the bar to her ankles, spreading her open to him.

  He stalked over to the cabinet again and pulled open a drawer. She heard the chains before she saw them, and a shiver of trepidation mixed with delight raced up her spine. What was happening? She knew punishment typically meant pain, but for her, pain was pleasurable, so what was he going to do to her?

  Logan spent some time on the chain length, affixing one end to the spreader bar. The chain was split at the end, and he fastened another end to the spreader bar before walking to the corner of the room with a long, connected length of the chain. The ladder-type thing in the corner had a lot of rungs at various intervals, not something she’d ever seen before.

  “I’ve been wondering how this one would work. You’re going to be the perfect test subject, aren’t you, Katherine?”

  Oh God, yes, please. “Yes, Sir.” Her voice was ridiculously breathy, like she was trying to be a sex-kitten or something, but she couldn’t help it. Katie didn’t have the air necessary to speak properly. Period.

  He looped the chain over the top rung and pulled it tight. “I’m going to leave your hands loose for now since I may want you to do some things for me, but if you try to hide yourself or fight me in any way without saying red, we stop. Got it?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Nerves suddenly erupted inside her. What would he do to make her reflexively fight him? Reflex was the only reason she would struggle. Would he dunk her in water or something? No. He wouldn’t do something intentionally cruel. She hadn’t ever nixed water play, but she hadn’t noticed any buckets or hoses or anything.

  She was overthinking this. Forcing herself to relax, Katie made herself present again.

  When he continued tugging on the chain, his muscles tensing and relaxing with each pull, Katie realized she was about to be hanging upside-down from this ladder thing. She didn’t know how that would feel, and she suddenly couldn’t wait.

  She’d never imagined anything like this before.

  What would he do with her dangling from her ankles, completely at his mercy?

  As she started sliding toward Logan in the corner, her body heated, and it wasn’t the friction of the floor across her backside. No. It was the prospect of a new experience at Logan’s adept hands.

  What would she learn this time?

  Soon enough, she was exactly as she’d thought: dangling from the spreader bar, head down at the level of Logan’s knees. Not knowing what to do with her hands, she rested them on the floor, supporting herself a little. It wasn’t uncomfortable, just odd, with all her blood rushing to her face.

  Meanwhile, he’d walked across the room to look at her.

  Logan studied her as if she were a piece of art hanging on a wall. It was amazing. For once, his eyes weren’t filled with distaste or loathing. He was looking at her like she was beautiful, like a piece of food on a platter he was about to devour as soon as he figured out how.

  “You okay?” She nodded, and he sighed. It was a foreign sound for Logan—he wasn’t one to typically express his displeasure so subtly. Katie smiled at him. Logan’s voice snapped her out of her fond feelings. “Color, Katherine.”

  “Green, Sir.”

  He nodded, his eyes softening. It was ob
vious, based on the heat in his eyes, he wanted her. Just like this. And she was helpless but to comply.

  He wasn’t so hard to look at himself. Naked from the waist up, he wore a pair of jeans that hung low on his hips and nothing else. All the smooth expanses of skin didn’t do anything to help the heat in her body. As he slowly advanced on her, Logan took up more and more of her vision until his legs were right there, strong and big and everything she wanted.

  And then he touched her.

  “Let me hear you, Katherine. I want your moans. Your gasps. Your words. Tell me what you like and don’t like.” Logan put his hands on her legs, stroking them, rubbing them, slapping them softly as he worked his way from her ankles downward, gripping her inner thighs almost painfully.

  She obeyed, her whimpers becoming gasping moans as he worked her flesh. He spent a while doing this, his touch getting more intense with the caresses turning to gripping, pinching, and kneading. He stalked around the ladder contraption, his hands on her the entire time. Paying close attention to her ass, he delivered a series of blows through the rungs, eliciting sharp hisses from her. The stinging of her flesh brought a flood of heated wetness between her legs, and Logan bent forward and blew a stream of air across her sizzling folds. She didn’t try to stop her noises and whimpers.

  Logically, Katie knew he was warming her up. She didn’t know if more intense impact play was about to happen, but she knew making her blood rise to the surface of her skin would decrease bruising if he pulled out the flogger or the paddle. Sadly, Google was the majority of her experience. She was ready to feel it.

  Emotionally, she loved the intimacy of Logan’s bare hands on her body. His hands were large, hot, and rough. Working man’s hands. Hands that saved people. And right now, they were exhibiting the ultimate control by bringing her pleasure.

  A decidedly sharp sting to her breasts made her yelp.

  “Color?”

  “Green, Sir.”

  “Good, because this is fucking beautiful.” Logan padded away on bare feet and started opening drawers and cabinets and setting things down on the table next to the ladder. Katie couldn’t see the top of it from her angle and had no way of knowing what was about to happen, but the anticipation was killing her.