With the second thrust, he rose up onto his knees and ripped his T-shirt off over his head so that his bare chest rubbed against her bulging breasts in rhythm to the tug and press of the knots. Then he cupped her bottom and impaled her still deeper. She could neither bear down nor press up to meet him, bound as she was. He wasn’t being gentle, nor did she want him to be. At the moment, she wanted him to rip her apart if that’s what it took to scratch the itch that threatened to drive her totally insane.
‘I think I’m gonna die,’ she gasped.
‘Not before you come,’ he grunted. ‘Not before we both come.’
And she did. She came in an exquisite convulsion of pain and pleasure. His orgasm spilled into her like a tidal wave, the weight of it hammering her insides even as the weight of his body abraded her tender flesh beneath the caress of the ropes.
She was still crying and trembling as he unbound her with efficient efforts that took far less time than she would have imagined. When she was free, and her limbs tingled with the returning ability to move, he took off her boots and rubbed her legs vigorously.
Then he lifted her into his arms and carried her into the bathroom. Someone had drawn a warm bath fragrant with lavender and other herbs she didn’t recognise, all making mountains of foam in an enormous roll-top tub. He settled her into the suds and, with a soft sponge, gently began to wash the tender places that bore the red marks of the ropes. And still she cried like she’d never stop. He said nothing, only silently, carefully tended her. At last, when he had done all he could do, he disappeared and returned with a sandwich and a bottle of cold water, which she drank down thirstily. Then he fed her until she had eaten her fill and the sobbing had subsided.
That done, he climbed into the bathtub behind her, pulled her in between his thighs and pillowed her head against his chest, where she dozed close to the beating of his heart. When she came back to herself, he was helping her out of the tub and drying her with a thick terry towel. He carried her to his bed, tucked her in, settled in next to her and pulled her close.
‘Are you all right?’ he whispered.
It was then she realised that inside her Eleanor was blissful. She nodded her reply, barely able to hold her eyes open. ‘It was what I wanted.’ There was a long stretch of silence, but she could almost feel him looking at her in the darkness.
‘You’re not sorry?’ he asked.
Eleanor’s bliss was expansive, or maybe it wasn’t all Eleanor’s bliss. Hadn’t she read somewhere that cathartic experiences could become ecstatic? It was too much to think about now. She sighed. ‘No. No, I’m not sorry, Finn. I’m not sorry at all. I just never imagined it would make me feel … like this.’
Chapter 10
‘There. You see, that wasn’t so bad, was it? In fact it was delicious, for her and for me.’
‘You were fairly subtle,’ Finn said. ‘That was a surprise.’
Instantly Jill knew she was dreaming, and yet it felt as though she were eavesdropping. She was sitting in the ladderback chair next to Finn’s bed. No, she was actually tied to the ladderback chair with dozens of elegant knots. From her bound position she watched herself, elbow bent, head resting on one hand, looking down at Finn who lay next to her. Of course it wasn’t her, was it? It was Eleanor. That was obvious to her from her position of observation in the dream world.
‘It was Jill’s fantasy, remember? And I get the most out of her body when I let her control the experience.’ Eleanor offered Finn a little pout. ‘Meinrad must have been terribly disappointed that, after all his efforts to bind her so beautifully, you didn’t allow him to fuck her.’ She lay back on the pillow, one hand stroking her erect nipple above the duvet. ‘Still, I suppose he’ll get his chance. She’ll want to fuck him, you know?’
‘Maybe not,’ Finn said.
‘She isn’t as fragile as you think. She would have been fine to shag Meinrad. She was in such a state, Meinrad would have only enhanced what she was feeling.’
‘It was my call to make, Eleanor, so just drop it.’ Finn shoved the duvet back and sat up on the edge of the bed, and Jill admired the straight lines of his back, ending in the muscular swell of his buttocks half hidden by the mattress and duvet.
Eleanor ran a finger down the length of his spine to linger at the crack of his arse, just exactly as Jill would have done if she had been lying there next to him. ‘I think you’re jealous. I think that’s why you wouldn’t let Meinrad fuck her. The same reason you wouldn’t let that bloke at Juno fuck her. You don’t want anyone else inside her, do you?’