Bunny and the Beast(Divine Creek Ranch 22)(77)

He nodded as he removed his dark gray suit jacket and hung it on the valet by the door. “You took a chance doing that, and I admire your…guts, for lack of a better word.” He loosened his necktie and pulled it from his collar. He smiled at it, realizing he’d chosen it for the same reason he’d chosen that color for her flogger.

A soft chuckle sounded behind him. “One of the subs, Shae, told me I was straight-up crazy for handling your tools. I wasn’t doing it out of disrespect.”

“I know you weren’t,” he replied as he unbuttoned the top two buttons on his dress shirt. He knew she’d done it because, whether she realized it subconsciously or not, she was ready to move to the next level.

“Are you going to punish me for doing that? Touching your stuff and teasing you?”

He kept his smile out of her sight and chuckled in that evil way that gave her goose bumps. “I should, shouldn’t I?”

“Um…”

“No, Bunny. I don’t want to punish you. That would be like…” Punishing the sun for bringing warmth and light. He closed his eyes and shook his head at the rather sappy thought as he unbuttoned the cuffs on his white dress shirt. “No, I won’t punish you for a spirited negotiation, which ended with you on your knees.” He looked over his shoulder, watching her as she beheld his tools displayed on the walls.

“I did that, didn’t I?” she replied softly as she ran a finger across the falls of his flogger collection, setting the strands to swinging. She paused at one that was comprised of small lengths of chain and had sharpened goat horn fragments set into the ends and at intervals throughout and gave him such a doubtful look it was comical.

“No, Bunny. Although I do plan to earn a level of trust with you that includes that one as an option. You’d be surprised what I can do with it as well as how it would feel.”

“That would be one hell of a negotiation, Sir. Hard limit, for now.”

“I assumed as much already. I would never do anything to you that even approached drawing blood or breaking your skin.”

He shook his head and smiled when she let out the breath she was holding and moved on to the green suede flogger. He was rolling up his sleeves to just below his elbow when he looked up to find her staring at his hands, even though a museum’s worth of BDSM implements hung or stood on display in the dungeon. She watched his hands…and she smiled.

He let out a slow, deep breath, calming his heart rate, attempting to marshal his self-control as his cock swelled and throbbed with need. “Does this frighten you?’

“What? All of this?” She waved a hand at the gags, masks, whips, canes, floggers, and other instruments of pain and pleasure. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I know the man. At least I think I do,” she replied as she came to stand directly in front of him. “And I trust him.” She bit her lip, and a twinkle came into her eye. “Except for the chain flogger. Use that on me and just know you have to sleep sometime, Mister…Sir.” She punctuated her sass with a big grin and bounced once on the balls of her feet, a move guaranteed to draw his eyes to her lovely breasts.

He cupped her breasts in gentle hands, and she drew a deep breath as he thrummed both reddened, still swollen nipples. “Ache?”

“You know they do, Sir. How may I serve you?” She lifted her wrists to him, which brought the big red lollipop front and center. Her eyes sparkled with warmth.

Wrapping his fingers around the stick of the mostly untouched lollipop, he said, “You done with this?”

She licked her lips and nodded. “Yes, Sir. I mostly thought it might help with the naughty-girl attitude tonight.”

Joseph chuckled. “I don’t think you needed any help with the attitude. But it was cute, and I definitely enjoyed the naughty girl. Very much,” he added as he tossed the lollipop in the waste can.

He pointed to the bed. “Face down, please.”

Bunny cast a look around the dungeon. “You have all these contraptions to shackle me to and you want me on the bed?”

“You and I are starting with a clean slate in my dungeon, but that is one.”

He unbuckled his belt and yanked it from his belt loops. At the snick and slap of the leather leaving the belt loops, she gasped and froze. She put up a hand and darted her eyes around the room as if looking for a place to hide. The hunted look was gone as soon as it appeared.

He quickly hung the belt on the valet with his coat and stroked her shoulders until she met his gaze. “I want you on the bed because it is late. I’m tired. And I can see that, although you’ve rallied, you’re tired, too. I want you relaxed for this.” He ushered her onto the bed.