Chapter1
Kelsey
“Color, Kelsey…” Claudia grabs hold of my ponytail and pulls my head back when I don’t respond fast enough.
I lick my lips and meet her gaze.“Green, Mistress.”
“You’re sure?”she asks, her blue eyes narrowed.
“Yes, Mistress.”Claudia Renault is intense.She’s the best Domme I’ve witnessed since joining Edge.I’ve heard from other members that she also belongs to another local club called Surrender.Everyone knows her.Now I get why.
I joined Edge two months ago after I graduated from college.The membership for the second-floor tier is five hundred dollars a month, but it’s well worth every penny because Edge is a high-end, exclusive club with very strict membership rules.I feel safe here.
Mistress Claudia tips my head forward, forcing me to face the floor once more.She keeps her hand on my ponytail for a few seconds, her grip firm, reminding me to maintain this position.
I take deep breaths.Tingles race up and down my spine because I know she’s going to begin to strike me with more intensity.My butt burns from the flogger she’s been using, but she’s switching to a different one now, one with heavier falls.The thud will be louder.The pain will be deeper.
I brace myself, lowering my head a bit farther while adjusting my grip on the pegboard rungs.My arms are wide and at the same level as my shoulders.Mistress Claudia angled me so I’m leaning forward, my feet spread, my butt pushed out, my breasts hanging.
Being naked doesn’t bother me.When I first joined the club, I spent a few weeks watching, learning, and figuring out what made my blood pulse.This is how I discovered I’m a masochist.Not hardcore.I don’t want to bleed or anything.But I enjoy the release I get from the pain that comes from a flogger or a paddle.
A palm works, too, but being spanked is much more intimate to me.I consented to being spanked the first time I scheduled an impact-play scene with a Dom.I learned two things that night: I don’t take spanking lightly, and I prefer not to submit to men.
I’m a smart girl.I know why I prefer to scene with women.It’s because I can focus and really let myself go when there’s no sexual attraction involved.It’s all about the release.
That’s not the only reason, but it’s the one I verbalize when anyone asks.The other, deeper issue, is that I’m hung up on one particular Dom, and the thought of anyone else touching me makes my skin prickle.
The heavier flogger swishes through the air and lands hard on my ass.My lips part as I try to focus on my submission, trying not to allow myself to think about how much different this would be if it werehimstriking me.
When my mind strays to the Dom of my dreams, I have a tendency to get hot and bothered.There’s nothing wrong with that.Lots of people think about someone or something else when they close their eyes and submit, but I try to avoid it.Thinking abouthimisn’t healthy.
Focus, Kelsey.Concentrate on the pain.
My breasts sway with every swat against my heated skin, and I make the mistake of glancing at my nipples.They’re hard points.Part of me wishes Mistress Claudia would let the falls swing around to my front.The feel of the leather strips grazing across my breasts and teasing my nipples would drive me almost to orgasm.
I don’t orgasm at Edge.Not for anyone.At least, not yet.Maybe someday.
Images of my dream Dom pop into my head unbidden.His fucking hot body all built and tight and hard.His broad shoulders.His thick, brown, wavy hair.His deep brown eyes.These visualizations make my pussy wetter with each thud of the flogger against my ass.
The crazy thing is that I’ve only seen him once.One time.One evening.It was the night of my graduation.We had a house party in my rental home.It was very crowded.My parents were there.
I lusted over him.Ithinkhe flirted with me, but it’s been two months, so I can’t be sure my memory is solid on that.I may be making that up.We spoke for a few minutes near the end of the evening.He told me I should apply for a position at his company.Besides being ridiculously horny for the man, I nearly fainted at his suggestion.
Hollenbeck, Kennedy, and Associates.
No one gets hired by them straight out of college.It doesn’t even matter that my grades were stellar, I had an internship under my belt, and I’d belonged to several academic societies and groups.It was Hollenbeck, Kennedy, and Associates.
And yet, I applied, and I got the job.
Did my dream man have anything to do with my hiring?Maybe.Who knows?He was only in town for his daughter’s graduation.He’s been in Germany for the past two years working on some giant acquisition.He’s due to return next week.
There are multiple problems with my infatuation.Hendrix Kennedy is nearly twice my age.He was a young father, so he’s only forty-three, but that’s still pretty old compared to me.I’m a whopping twenty-two.Most importantly, he’s my friend Maddie’s father.That’s how I met him.We lived in the same rental house.We graduated together, and she came to my party that evening.
Even though I hadn’t met Maddie’s father before that night, she’d told me enough about him that I wasn’t blindsided by his younger age.I was, however, blindsided by his looks.I hadn’t been expecting a fit, young-looking, tall man to stroll into my rental house and take my breath away.
The next swat across my ass lands so hard I sway forward, a moan escaping my lips.Shit.I try not to make a sound when I’m in a scene, especially anything lustful.I don’t want to give anyone in the room the wrong idea.
Claudia comes to my side and strokes my back.“Color, Kelsey.”
