“When you're ready, I'm taking you to my place. You're going to gather up everything you need to work on your thesis proposal and you're going to stay under my jurisdiction until it's finished. Kind of like house arrest.”
Kate's face popped up. “You're grounding me?” He could feel the mixture of giddy thrill and indignation from her. His lips twisted into a smile. “Yes. You're grounded until the paper's finished. Any activity other than working on your thesis will have to be pre-approved by me.”
He sensed happiness from her. Relief. Joy. Excitement, even. He had lifted her burden by taking charge. He was relieved. It was always a gamble to take a woman in hand like that. She could just as easily have taken it as high-handed or bullying. And even though he was born at the turn of the sixteenth century, he had certainly adapted with the times to support the modern-day woman on her quest for equality. He was not so patronizing as to believe that he knew what was best for her. Well, maybe he did believe it, but that didn't mean he thought it was his right to impose it on her.
~*~*~ a few pages later ~*~*~
“Okay, so here are the rules: no more than one hour total to shower, get ready and eat breakfast. Then you'll sit and work on your thesis. You may take a 10 minute break every hour, but that's it. Understand?”
She rolled her eyes.
“Did you just roll your eyes?” he asked in a “Oh no you didn't” kind of tone. She froze and then started backing away. He could feel her fear—real fear, not mixed with any sexual thrill that he could sense. She was probably so sore that the thought of a spanking was too terrifying at the moment.
“Oh no. No, Dom,” she backed her way into the kitchen table. “Huh uh. I do not consent. No.” He pinned her against the kitchen table and leaned down, looking into her eyes. “You still don't trust me?” he asked softly.
She faltered then, uncertainty crossing her face. He sensed her fear recede. She dropped her eyes. He turned her slowly around and bent her over the kitchen table, reaching around to unbutton her shorts. He slid his thumbs into the waistband of her panties and slowly slid them both down together. Her fear flared again, this time with a thrill of sexual energy and the wonderful smell that accompanied it.
Her sweet little bottom was still red from the spanking he'd given her earlier, although the color had started to fade from beet to blush. It was amazing how quickly that tender flesh could regenerate. He gave her three slow but hard spanks and then rubbed. Then he pulled up her panties and shorts. Her relief poured out of her in a rush. She turned around and fell against him in an embrace. “I love you,” she breathed. Then she froze, and fear of exposure came out of her like a blast. “I mean—I didn't mean it like—”
“I'm pretty fond of you, myself,” he interrupted her lightly, running a fang along the outside of her ear.
~*~*~ and a few more pages later ~*~*~
She woke up around 10 AM, with Dom's arm thrown over her waist, and she remembered with a smile that she'd curled into him when he'd come to bed. She got up and tried out the soap and shampoos in Dom's shower briefly before heading down to the kitchen. He had an espresso machine, which pretty much made her day. She made herself a steaming latte and sat down at her laptop.
And then stared at the thesis proposal. Getting a master's in music had not been her original goal, but she had enjoyed undergrad so much that she'd been drawn back to study more. She liked the university environment—pushing ideas around with musicians she respected and admired. After a few years of cobbling a living together teaching piano lessons and singing for The Morphs, she had decided she was ready to go back. She'd received a full scholarship, which greatly sweetened the deal.
She sighed and clicked open her email.
And then got on Facebook.
Then she returned to the proposal again. She sighed. She just couldn't think. She got up and started wandering through Dom's house, looking at the art on the walls, the sculptures, his books. She was shocked to find a diploma hanging on the wall saying that Dom had received a doctorate in Philosophy of the Mind from an elite university in 2005. She wasn't even sure what that was, but she was sure that she had had no idea that Dom had a Ph.D. in anything.
Whatever she might guess Philosophy of the Mind encompassed, his book selection seemed to reflect it. There were books on meditation, metaphysics, religion, natural healing, energy, quantum physics, and basically any alternative methodology you could name. Hearing music, she followed the sound of it through the sculpting studio and out another door that led to Fox's section of the compound. Fox was sitting on a couch playing folk music on an acoustic guitar. She'd thought Fox was a genius before, and still did, but now that she knew he was over one hundred years old, she understood how he had mastered such a huge number of musical instruments. The guy could play almost any style of music you could name. Sometimes it made her self-conscious because she knew so little in comparison. Not that he ever acted like he was better than her.
He looked up in surprise to see her there. “Kate!”
She tried not to blush. “Hi.”
He let her off with just a grin. “Wanna play?” he said, nodding to another guitar.
“Sure.” She picked it up out of its case and tuned it.
“Do you know any Grateful Dead?” he asked with a grin, plucking Uncle John's Band.
She tried it out, listening closely to his notes. He played slowly so she could catch it. She was so engrossed, she didn't know how long Dom had been standing there when she caught sight of him leaning in the doorway, his arms folded across his chest. Oh shit. This break had been much longer than ten minutes. Busted.
He caught the smell of her fear when she saw him. Unfortunately, Fox caught it too. He put his guitar down and looked from one to the other of them.
“What's going on?” he asked sharply.
“Relax, Fox,” he said to placate him. “Kate is fine—it's just a little game we play.” He looked over at Kate and couldn't help that his fangs elongated a little in anticipation. She saw it, and the sweet smell of her arousal suddenly bloomed.
He tried to hide his smile. Fox, probably catching the same smell, waved his hand, cringing. “Okay, okay, I don't want to know.”
“Come on, Kate,” he said with gentle authority. She came at once. In the kitchen, he stopped and rummaged in the drawer, deciding on a rubber spatula. “This should be interesting, shouldn't it?”
Kate couldn't seem to answer. She just gave him an anxious, pleading look. He took her hand to reassure her as he led her downstairs to his bedroom.
“Clothes off, on your hands and knees,” he said, indicating the bed.
She was quick, like a scared little bunny, throwing her clothes off and climbing up on her hands and knees. He ran his hand over her baby soft bottom. The spanking from yesterday had faded completely, except for a few red finger marks. He dipped his fingers between her legs and she shivered. She was already wet.
“Tell me why you are being spanked, Kate.”
“For taking too long of a break.”
“That's right. Did you make any progress on your paper this morning?”
She paused and then sulkily admitted that she hadn't. He considered her beautiful little bottom, formulating a plan. “Let's see… I've changed my mind. I actually want you on your belly.”
She looked over her shoulder at him with wide, frightened eyes before she lowered herself down to lie on her belly.
“Put your hand between your legs and pleasure yourself.”
He watched as she timidly complied, moving her hips slightly as she worked her sex with her fingers.
“Now,” he drawled. The spanking won't stop until you come. But there's no faking. If you fake it, you're going to find out what my belt feels like.”
Kate orgasmed. He laughed. It was so easy to wind her up. “That one doesn't count. Now, let's begin.”
He started slowly, using the spatula to swat her sweet little buns. She flinched and jumped and ground her hips into her hand. The sight of her wriggling, her head turned to the side, mouth open, eyes closed, had him rock hard. As her undulations grew in intensity, he picked up the pace of his spanks, but that seemed to throw her off her game completely, probably because the pain had outbalanced the pleasure. He stopped and rubbed her hot flesh and she moaned, starting to wriggle again. He aimed the spatula low, where the buttocks meet the thighs, and in the center, directly over her pussy. He went slowly and watched as her writhing picked up. He picked up pace with her, but this time lightened the force considerably, trying to guess at a good balance. She bucked and tightened her legs and butt, crying out, and he gave her several hard smacks until the orgasm was over.
When he rolled her over, she was limp with satisfaction. Her face was flushed and her eyes looked a little glazed. She gave him a happy sigh and a slow grin. He lifted her knees to her chest and licked into her hot core, making her groan with pleasure. He coaxed her toward a climax again until she was moaning and pleading with him and then he quickly pulled off his pants and entered her.
He wouldn't last long—he was ready to come before he even started. He drove into her and struck her neck at the moment of orgasm, causing the most intense explosion of sensation he had ever felt. It was like a completed circuit of energy—semen out/blood in—and the effect was mind-blowing. Kate had wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck and she clung to him through it, gasping.
He licked her wounds closed and was struck suddenly by his conscience. “God, I shouldn't have bitten you again. Is your neck getting sore?”
She reached up and felt her neck and then made a cute snorting sound. “Why are you worried about my neck? How about my butt? You've spanked me three times in the past twenty-four hours!”
“No no,” he said gently, rolling her onto her belly and stroking the offended cheeks. “There's no sulking. Didn't I tell you that?”
She tried to roll back to the safety of her back, but he held her in place, which made her clench her bottom in fear. He laughed and kissed one of her cheeks and released her.
Just Right!
