Beckon Read online

  Belinda woke up groggy and disoriented. Sensing Sahib’s presence, she raised herself upon her elbow and squinted in the half-lit room. “Sahib?”

  “Go back to sleep, Noukrani.”

  The voice came from across the bed close to the shadowy wall. She barely made out Sahib’s figure sprawled out on the winged back chair. His white dress shirt gleamed against the darkness. It looked partially opened though she couldn’t see his chest.

  Belinda brushed her sleepy eyes with the heel of her hand. She had no idea if it was dusk or dawn. “Is something wrong?”

  “No.”

  She frowned at his tired, ragged voice. Why wasn’t he sleeping? Why had he chosen to sit by the bed? Was he keeping watch over her? Maybe to prevent her leaving in the middle of the night?

  Belinda twitched off the sheets and rose from the bed. She still wore her pink dress, but the creases and wrinkles ruined the refined look. She padded barefoot across the carpet floor before Sahib could disapprove.

  She squatted next to his chair. “What is it?” she probed again, curling her fingers on his wrist. The white sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, exposing his sinewy forearms. She felt the tension and iron control underneath his hot skin.

  Sahib didn’t answer her question. He raised his hand and brushed her cheek with his knuckles. Belinda turned into his warmth and pressed her lips against the back of his hand.

  A tremor rippled through Sahib. He paused for an endless moment and then gently pressed his fingers against her plump lips.

  “Kiss me.” His request, low and raw, was barely voiced. “Kiss my hand.”

  Belinda pressed her lips against his knuckle. Then another one. And another. She reverently held his hand with both of hers as she covered him with kisses.

  Sahib accepted her quiet adoration. He didn’t move forward or pull way. But he wasn’t unaffected. He shifted in his chair and inhaled sharply.

  Belinda moved to his other hand. She gave his thumb undivided attention. Pressing rapid kisses against his heated skin, she covered his entire thumb and moved to the other fingers.

  By the time she covered his hand with soft kisses, Sahib radiated with wavering control. She scooted back, not sure how he viewed her actions.

  Sahib cleared his throat. “Continue.”

  Belinda knelt before him, realizing this was the perfect opportunity to show her love under the guise of devotion. She bent her head all the way to his bare foot and grazed her lips against his ankle. Her hair fell forward, sweeping against his foot like a silver broom.

  His muscles clenched. His silent response gave Belinda the confidence to continue. She placed slow, deliberate kisses over his foot. She copied the next foot, trying to appear like an obedient servant while her body rejoiced from the liberating action.

  She kissed his feet over and over. Open mouth kisses, slicking her tongue along the arches and bone. Tasting his male skin mingled with spicy soap. Puckering her lips against the head of each toe. Drawing the toe between her lips. She suckled, reveling in his choppy breathing, feeling the pull in the roof of her mouth and the twin tugging in her abdomen.

  She wanted to express her love even more. She straightened her back and crawled between his sprawled legs. Belinda felt protected and powerful between his lean thighs. From his hard arousal, the knowledge of her desirability zinged through her veins and bloomed through her nerve endings. She felt alive, beautiful and womanly.

  She concentrated on Sahib’s face, rising off her knees so she could place kisses on his forehead and temples. She dragged her lips across his cheekbones and nose, grazing his lips with her own before worshipping his jaw and chin.

  The heat from his chest was becoming unbearable. Belinda trailed kissed down his throat and across his collarbone. Sahib’s chest rose and fell. His nipples appeared as tight nubs in the whorls of black curls.

  She burrowed her face into his chest. The hard sleek muscles tightened from her intimate nearness. Belinda kissed his chest with abandon, showing no pattern but offering her complete and unfettered adoration. Every time she brushed against his hard nipples, her own tightened like flower buds waiting for spring.

  She glided her lips across the waistband of his trousers. Her own abdomen tingled with anticipation. She wanted to kiss him everywhere, but she knew she had to ask for Sahib’s permission. She pressed her fingertips against his waistband and looked at Sahib’s eyes. They were closed. Would he deny her? Would he find this as another form of punishment?

  Sahib lifted his hips off the chair, silently granting her request. Belinda tore at his fastening, greedily kissing the newly exposed skin and inhaling the musky male scent. Belinda slowly unzipped his pants, one metal tooth at a time, mouthing what she uncovered.

  His penis sprang from his pants, hot and hungry. Belinda held his length as if he were a sacred object. She felt the deep pulsing under the heated velvet; it mirrored the throb at the very center of her. He twitched and flailed beneath her touch.

  Belinda kissed the rounded tip before raining kisses over every inch of Sahib’s penis. It stretched beneath her mouth, the branched veins bursting under the dusky smooth flesh. She teased him with the length of her hair, swishing it across his bare flesh. She then pressed her face against his wiry curls as she kissed his heavy, fragrant testicles.

  Sahib’s tense fingers dug into his chair. His head was thrown back, the tendons of his neck prominent. Belinda brushed her lips against the weeping tip of his penis, rubbing the moisture from the head to the base until it shone with the musky wetness.

  Belinda circled her mouth around the peak of his penis. She opened wide, allowed him past her teeth before withdrawing completely. Sahib hissed. “May I?” she asked knowingly.

  “Yes.” Sahib granted through clenched teeth.

  She surrounded him with her loving hot mouth, sucking him ferociously. She drew him in as far as she could, wanting him to fill her to the fullest. She squeezed and kneaded his testicles with her hands, encouraged by his raw, broken demands.

  “Noukrani…just like…,” he bellowed, rocking under her. “Damn…that’s it… I…your mouth…so hot…wicked…Noukrani!”

  Sahib grabbed the back of her head, scraping her scalp with rough hands and he held her fast. He thrust in her mouth with powerful jerks. An animalistic roar tore from his throat. She swallowed his offering, greedily milking his penis for more until he sagged back into the chair from exhaustion.

  * * * * *

  “Your first master…”

  Belinda closed her eyes wearily. They were together in bed, lying in a spoon position. They wore their clothes, mussed and twisted like useless armor. The heat of his body against her back made her defenses weak. Which Sahib probably knew as he brought up topics she didn’t want to discuss.

  “What was wrong with him?” Sahib persisted as he idly wrapped a strand of her hair around his finger.

  She stared at the framed watercolor on the opposite wall. “You’re assuming too much.”

  “I know many D/s relationships that last for decades.” She felt the length of her hair twirl around his finger. “I thought ours would as well.”

  Belinda refused to feel the bittersweet pain from his words. She hurriedly answered his question. “It turned out that my first master knew very little about domination. He didn’t understand the meaning of power exchange.”

  “And the second?” His finger drew closer to her skull. Around and around.

  “He was too weak. Too lenient. I couldn’t trust him to make exploring safe.”

  His finger rested right above her ear. “And me? What is wrong with me?”

  “Nothing.”

  He curled his finger, pulling the hair at her temple. She winced. Sahib took no notice as he said, “I told you not to lie.”

  “I’m not lying.” She kept her eyes on the bland watercolor. She wasn’t prepared for this. If she couldn’t walk away, she would hide deep within.

  Sahib tightened his grasp on her silvery hair. �
��There is nothing wrong with me as a master and yet you left. There’s no logic in that.”

  Belinda remained silent. Let him think she was illogical. She won’t be trapped into an argument; she would surely lose.

  The bed dipped. Sahib’s face was over hers. “Answer me, Noukrani. What makes me a poor master?”

  She didn’t give him a sideways glance. “You are not a poor master.”

  He grabbed her shoulder and turned her on the bed so she had to face him. “You are deliberately being disobedient.”

  “No, I’m not, Sahib.” She wasn’t. She was telling the truth. Well, part of it. Belinda lowered her eyes, taking refuge in the subservient role. “I promise.”

  “Then give me the truth!” Sahib eyes glittered with anger. His hands trembled on her shoulders as he obviously fought the urge to shake her. “Once and for all, why did you leave me?”

  Belinda’s heart quaked. She wanted to dissolve his anger and soothe his frustration, but she couldn’t give him the answer. She couldn’t tell him that she loved him. She might as well serve her identity on a silver platter. Giving Sahib her love would destroy the power exchange and he would gain total control. But if she didn’t tell him, he would punish her.

  He would punish her, but she would still hold all the control.

  She risked a glimpse of his face. He was angry, a frustrated anger that stretched his skin over his skull. But he wasn’t enraged or overwhelmed with fury.

  Belinda knew she could accept his anger head-on and handle his punishment. She trusted him and knew he would not abuse his position.

  As her heart pounded in her ears, Belinda purposefully pressed her lips together. Sahib’s eyes widened from her blatant disregard of his order. Belinda looked away.

  Her courage dripped away as Sahib’s anger vibrated across her. She heard the ticking of his wristwatch and focused on the sound rather than her master’s disapproval.

  “Stay here,” Sahib ordered as he bolted off the bed. “Do not move.” It was only when he slammed the bedroom door that she had the nerve to exhale.

  * * * * *

  Amir stormed into the sitting room and to the door. He had to leave. He had to step away from Noukrani’s infuriating existence before it was too late.

  He stood before the door, his hand on the knob. Amir wanted to punish her. Punish her for hiding, for lying. Punish her for leaving.

  And that’s why he had to get out of the room quickly. His punishment would be for revenge. It wouldn’t assist either of them in their sexual exploration.

  Amir stepped away from the door and raked both hands in his hair. He had almost become a monster a few minutes before. He realized that Noukrani would never reveal the reason behind her disappearance.

  Knowing it had to do with something he did – or didn’t do, Amir wanted to rip the reason out of her. He wanted to whip her. Beat her. Humiliate her. He wanted to destroy her.

  The darker side of him was frightening, but he held it together before he gave life to that sinister side. Amir stood still, hands on his hips as he pondered his actions. Somehow he managed to gain control over himself when he was at his most primal and emotional.

  He did it. After three months, he managed to regain his iron will, his rock hard discipline. He could stand firmly at the top of his world and not fall to his knees. He wielded power and reined in his impulses.

  He was controlling himself better than he controlled her. But that was good. That was what it really was all about, disciplining the self.

  Amir aimlessly wandered around the sitting room. He was an imbecile. He had made an almost fatal mistake by focusing on Noukrani’s secret. Their last few days would be spent in a selfish battle of wills.

  He had to accept defeat and repair his mistake. If he were a good master, he would forget about getting to the truth to calm his soul. It will always linger in his mind, but the more he forced it from Noukrani, the more she would hide.

  And hiding is what she did best. It might make her feel stronger, knowing that no one knows her. He had to prove that revealing her true self to another would not make her a slave to her emotions or to another. It would set her free.

  * * * * *

  Amir returned to the bedroom an hour later. He was calm and in control. Noukrani was in the same position. She did not look up as he strode next to her.

  “You have been very disrespectful. I cannot allow it to go unpunished.”

  Noukrani’s muscles hummed with tension as he waited for her response. “What is the punishment?” she whispered.

  Amir stuffed his hand in his trouser pockets. “You must remove your clothes and be naked for the remainder of your stay.”

  Startled, Noukrani jerked her head up and stared at Amir’s face. He fought to keep his expression unreadable.

  “Why?” Noukrani continued to spluttered, fisting the fabric of her dress and drawing it closer to her chest. “What’s the point in that?”

  “I choose to remove your hiding places,” he explained in a gentle voice.

  She looked away. “I’m not hiding.”

  “You hide the truth, you hide your reasons, and you hid from me. No more hiding.”

  Noukrani remained silent.

  Amir frowned. “What are you so afraid of?”

  Her jaw stiffened, as if calling her afraid was a vicious word. She straightened her shoulders and raised her chin. Her eyes gleamed with challenge. “I am not afraid of anything, Sahib.”

  She rose from the bed with defiance. Her nose flared as she wrenched down the collar of her wrinkled pink dress. The light from the other room slammed against the gold necklace. It reflected sharply like Noukrani’s anger.

  Damn. Amir grinded his back molars as Noukrani reached behind her back and pulled down the zipper. She’s going to do it. Normally she would try to talk her way into a less stringent punishment, but she managed to throw one over on him. Only he couldn’t show that; he had to appear in charge and prepared. Amir shifted his stance and struck an unaffected pose.

  “I am not worthy of your thoughtful lessons, Sahib,” Noukrani said in a perfectly modulated voice. Mockery edged her words, but she was too smart to be obvious. “I am humbled by such a generous teacher.”

  Amir folded his arms across his chest. His plan had already made a sharp, unexpected detour. He might be wrestling with the wisdom of his punishment, but he couldn’t back down now. Especially in front of her effective guilt trip. “I did not give you permission to speak, Noukrani.”

  Her eyes narrowed. Amir responded by raising an eyebrow.

  She leaned forward as her dress gaped open. Amir belatedly realized some emotion flashed through his face when Noukrani gave a superior tilt of her chin. She slowly shimmied out of her dress, revealing her curves inch by inch.

  Heat roared deep in his gut as she revealed the pale pink bra. It was barely there, nothing more than a wisp of lace and cotton. Her blush colored nipples stood proudly, tightening under his gaze.

  His groin tightened painfully until his skin stung. Amir shifted with discomfort, stopping in mid-movement as he saw a trace of a smile on Noukrani’s lips.

  She bunched the dress in her hands and skimmed it down her stomach. Amir wished it were he undressing her. There would be no slow dragging of cloth over warm flesh. He would pluck off every scrap and then tear off his own. His wishes added another dimension as Noukrani wiggled the dress over her hips.

  His breath caught in his throat when the pink material slithered into a pool by her feet. Her pink underwear was sheer, offering a tantalizing glimpse of pale curls between her thighs.

  She placed her hands on her hips and jutted her breasts forward. Desire kicked him in the small of his back and roared through his veins.

  Noukrani tossed her hair. The silvery mane rippled under the soft lights. The necklace mocked and beckoned. Amir wanted her. Wanted her badly.

  Control, his mind barked out like a drill sergeant. Control yourself.

  “That’s very nice, Nouk
rani,” he said, aiming for a holier-than-thou attitude, but he wasn’t quite sure if he met it. “Please continue.”

  Noukrani paused. She grabbed the front of her bra and fumbled with the clasp. Just when Amir was ready to offer assistance, the bra gave way. Noukrani held the fragile lace in her fists before pulling the bra from her breasts.

  Amir’s body ached. His hands craved the touch of her small curves. He could taste the flesh that held the scent of Chanel No. 5 and sweat. Her heartbeat would thud loudly in his ear.

  Noukrani leaned forward, her breasts swinging as she sluiced her underwear down her legs. Amir hastily swallowed his groan as his gaze lingered on her naked hips.

  She kicked the underwear away and slowly straightened to her original pose. Only this time there was no challenge; it was all defense. Amir dragged his sight up to meet her eyes. His heart swelled as her feminine arrogance was diluted with vulnerability.

  He couldn’t take it anymore. He had to touch her or burst into flames.

  Amir stepped forward. She jerked back.

  He raised a gloating eyebrow and walked around her, his arms casually clasped behind him.

  Noukrani glared at him. “I am not afraid of you.”

  “You’re watching every move I make,” he replied, stalking slow, methodic circles around her. “Either you’re nervous or you can’t keep your eyes off of me.”

  She snapped her head so she could stare straight a head. Her mouth twisted in a scowl. “I’m being cautious. That’s a big difference than being nervous.”

  “Glad to hear it. But I didn’t ask. Please refrain from speaking unless it’s requested.” He pressed a silencing finger against her lips.

  He dragged his finger across her lips, gently pulling the soft pinkness toward her chin. He felt Noukrani resist his touch. Amir removed his hand. She pressed her lips closed, her blue eyes flashing defiantly.

  Amir placed his fingertip at the seam of her mouth. He drew small circles on her tight lips. Around and around. Soft, teasing circles that slowly ate away the tightness. Her bottom lip began to relax. He stroked it with lulling slowness until her top lip peeked out from hiding, pleading for attention.