Hot, salty spurts coated her tongue. Jen groaned as she licked it all up.

When she looked at him, Stef’s head was thrown back. His hands stroked her hair, but his eyes were closed as he caught his breath. His cock was still big even after he’d given her all the cum he’d had.

Relaxed, he was still an impressive specimen. Jen couldn’t help but kiss him again, her mouth playing over the head. His cock twitched and seemed to come back to life.

It was perfect, because Jen needed to play. The ache in her body was becoming unbearable. She needed him so badly. A deliciously wicked feeling came over her. She would suck him back to life, and then he would fuck her hard until she screamed out his name.

Being Stef’s sub was going to be heaven.

“Very good, love,” he said, pushing the chair back. “You may stand.”

All of the warmth had left his voice. She looked up, and there was a hardness to his eyes that had been absent even when he’d placed the clips on her breasts.

Jen struggled to her feet, the plug in her butt an annoyance now.

She clenched her cheeks to keep it in. For the first time since they’d begun to play, she felt the chill in the air.

Stef quickly tucked his stiffening cock into his jeans and buttoned his fly. He took a deep breath and stood. He towered over her, his jaw set like granite as he stared down at her.

“You did well for a novice. No swats today, though if you disobey again you’ll spend some time on my whipping bench. You’ll wear the plug for the rest of the afternoon. I’ll take it out when we get home. If I find out you’ve removed it yourself, it’s twenty swats and I won’t take you with me tomorrow. Is that understood?” A sick feeling began in the pit of her stomach. She’d thought they were playing, but this felt like something else. She’d read about BDSM and the importance of punishment and reward, but she’d never realized how it would feel. As connected as she’d felt to him before, she felt alone now. Alone and naked and wanting.

A little smirk played at his mouth. “Oh, love, did you think I would take care of you? You disobeyed. Disobedient little subs don’t deserve their Master’s cock. This is what it means to be my sub. This is what it means to be with me. Changing your mind?”

She said nothing, very aware that the Jen of months ago would have told him to go to hell and walked out. Now, she just felt an aching sadness. They could be more than this, but he either didn’t see it or didn’t want it. Was she willing to give up? She stood there naked with signs of his possession biting into her and thought about what she’d said to Rachel. Whatever she decided, she couldn’t do it now.

Her pain was fresh. To walk out spewing expletives would simply start their cycle again. For the first time, Jen really understood that this was their last shot. She would be with him, or give him up.

Tears pooled in her eyes. She really needed to be alone for a while, to calm down, to think.

“Can I tell you later?” Her voice was soft in the quiet of the room.

Stef’s mouth opened and then closed. He seemed briefly out of sorts before he found that Dom stance of his again. “Of course. Take the time you need. I would prefer you keep the plug in, in case you decide to stay. It would be rough on you to have to start over again.” The damn plug was the least rough thing about this. Her anus might be stretched, but her heart was getting battered. She might have to accept that her love was no match for Stef’s childhood. She nodded. If she spoke she would cry, and that wasn’t what either of them wanted.

His hands moved to her breasts. She took a step back.

“Don’t,” he growled at her. “I’m trying to unclamp you. It’s going to hurt.”

He slid the first clip off her nipple. The blood rushed back in, stinging and burning. She gasped as he quickly slid the other off.

“It will only hurt for a minute,” he muttered, stepping back. “You should get dressed.”

Jen covered her breasts with her hands and nodded. “I will. Could I have a minute to myself?”

“Why?”

Trust and honesty. That was what a Dom required. Well, she’d given him everything else. He’d stripped her bare and left her wanting. Maybe he should have this, too. The truth was she was far too tired and aching to prevaricate. “So I can cry for a while.” His eyes flared. “Because I didn’t fuck you?” If he didn’t leave soon, she was going to lose it. “Because it was less than I thought it would be.”

He laughed, but there was bitterness in the sound. “You thought I would fall at your feet. You thought you could give me a blow job and I would just fall all over myself. It doesn’t work that way, Jennifer.”

“I didn’t think you would fall at my feet, Stef,” she said wearily.

He would perpetually think of her as a selfish child. “I just thought we would be together. I felt so connected to you. It was like I was a part of something special—something just for us—but you can’t have felt that. You wouldn’t be able to walk away if you felt the way I did. It hurts to be alone when I thought, just for a minute, that I wasn’t anymore.”

He didn’t seem to have a Dom homily to give her for that. He stared for a moment and then turned to go. Seeing his back to her made her heart clench. She had to turn away. He was forever walking away from her. Why couldn’t she do the same? Even when she’d run from him, she’d seen him in her dreams every night. He’d come between her and the men she’d thought about dating. She’d been like a nun because he was always in her mind, in her work, in her heart.

She heard the door close behind him and couldn’t help the sob that came out of her throat. It was time to get dressed. She needed to compose herself. She couldn’t walk around the festival like this.

Maybe she could find a ride home. She wanted to sink to the floor and sob, but then she might lose that goddamn plug. Her breath hitched.

She felt so stupid.

“Don’t.”

She turned suddenly, crossing her arms over her breasts. Stef stood there, his face as open as she’d ever seen it. There was no Dom to him, simply a man who looked like he was on the verge of heartbreak.

“Stef?”

He shook his head. “I can’t.”

It sounded like an apology to her, something final. She didn’t try to stop the tears that flowed. She felt them fall down her cheeks, hitting her naked chest. She wished she had gotten dressed. Hearing him say he couldn’t even try to love her would have been a slight bit easier if she weren’t so naked.

“It’s okay, Stef.” He looked utterly miserable, his composure gone. She hadn’t meant to bring him to that. He needed his control.

She wouldn’t take it from him. She should have stayed in Dallas. She would never have come back if she’d known it could hurt him this way.

“It’s not. It’s never going to be okay.” Stef’s hands clenched at his side.

It would be once she stopped pushing him. He’d been all right before she came around. He’d been all right before she forced her way in. She wouldn’t leave Bliss, but she would respect his needs from here on out. “It will be okay. You’ll see. Give it time.”

“I’ll never be okay when you cry, love.” He moved forward, but it was jerky, as though he’d lost all grace. His hands came out and hauled her into his arms. “I can’t leave you like this. I don’t even want to. Forgive me.”

He pulled her close, pressing her against his chest so she was surrounded with him again. This time, though, she could hear his heartbeat, feel the uncertainty in his breath. This time he was here with her in spirit as well as body, utterly and completely.

Jen turned her face up, a deep relief in her soul. “I love you.” His eyes closed for a brief moment as though the words had a physical impact on him. “That means the world to me, love. I want so much more for you, though. You deserve to have so much more.”

“But I just want you.” It wasn’t true. She wanted more. She wanted a life here with him, and she wanted kids someday in the not-too-distant future. She wanted what she’d never had—roots. It all started with him. He was her foundation. His strong, giving heart was everything she’d ever wanted in a man.

“I know you think you do.” He brushed his lips against hers. “Can we not fight about this now? I want very much to erase the last couple of minutes. I want to take care of you.” His hands trailed down to the globes of her ass, cupping her, pressing her against his core where his cock was stiff and full again. “Let me take care of you.”

“Yes.” She wanted him so badly. The weary sadness that had taken her over was shoved aside by rampaging desire. She needed him.

He took her mouth, plunging his tongue in and dominating her with a singular purpose. His tongue glided against hers in a silky imitation of what she wanted his cock to do. He rubbed his body against hers as though he could imprint himself on her.

“This is so wrong,” he said.

“It’s not,” she tried to plead.

“Not the sex, love.” He chuckled, an open grin on his face as he pulled at the buttons of his shirt, revealing his rock-hard chest. “I’m talking about the fact that my club is going to request that I turn in my leathers. I’m being a terrible Dom.”

He kicked off his boots hastily and shoved his jeans off. He dropped them and left them on the floor in his hurry to get back against her. His cock stood straight out, and then it was pressed between them as he hugged her to him.

“I won’t tell,” she assured him. She let her hands roam for the first time. His skin was soft over the hard pack of his muscled frame. Only his hands were rough and callused from work. Those hands thrilled her as he explored her body.