Chapter Eighteen

Max

Max's private suite, La Decadente Cala…

Although known as a strict and demanding Dom, Max was equally loved by submissives because of his tender aftercare and his coaxing and guidance of a sub into achieving euphoric bliss. He couldn't remember when last he had so much fun just being with a sub. Scening was one thing, but this—being in the moment without an active scene—was a first for him. Enjoying every second of Wick's brattiness and her eagerness to learn to please him filled his heart with the kind of warmth he had been yearning for his entire life. She fulfilled the need he had to be seen. To be heard, even without saying a single word.

"Hmm, I love that spicy bouquet of yours, little bird," Max crooned as he sat down across from her. He reveled in the crimson bloom flushing her cheeks. "It strokes a Dom's ego when his sub is incapable of hiding her lust for him." Over the years, he had mastered the role as a Dominant seducer and tormentor, and with Wick, he relished it as a privateer would a letter of marque.

"You must be smelling the spicy Moroccan beef that was just served," she countered, stubbornly refusing to admit the effect he, combined with the beads inside her ass, had on her. Her response provoked a leer to cloud his face. Undeterred, he started eating, deliberately not indulging her need for further squabbling.

He was aware of Wick eyeing him with an insouciant look. Continuing to eat leisurely, he ignored her show of petulance when she snorted disrespectfully at him shunning her.

"I expect more from you, Wick. Our relationship is going to be intense due to the lifestyle we'll lead. Denying your lust and needs is a sign of immaturity."

"Then perhaps I'm not ready for what it is you want from me."

A curved eyebrow rose in a scornful arch as he studied her for a few moments.

"What I want from you? Maybe my memory is slacking, but where we are heading isn't a one-way street, Wick. You acknowledged it. Your reaction to me whenever we're close confirms it. Unless you can be honest and admit to yourself what it is you're truly after, this… us is never going to work."

She opened and closed her mouth, then settled on finishing her meal rather than responding. Her confusion was evident in the frown marking her face. His instinct told him it wasn't her emotions she was reacting to but rather the sensations spiraling through her body that her mind had no way of deciphering. More so, that she knew he was very aware of every reaction her body had to him.

However much she struggled with the concept of submission, her reaction pleased him to no end. She wasn't fighting to subjugate to him, but her instinct to be the strong woman she had always been fought every attempt her natural submissive made to come to the surface.

Which was why he had decided on this scene. Overpowering her conducive mind with a myriad of conflicting sensations would force her body to react instinctively. Once that switch had been lit, the submissive would always be superior when in his dominant presence.

Max was selfish in that aspect. He didn't want to force it from her. He wanted her to want it, to demand it, to offer it to him… unconditionally.

Leaning closer until his nose was nestled against hers, he brushed his mouth against her lips in an act of brazen trespass.

"I'm not going to play this game over and over again, Wick. You made a commitment earlier, and here you are… backtracking the first time I push your boundaries. Make your final choice. Do it now."

"I'm not backtracking, it's just—" she began but was cut off with a stinging rebuke.

"We're not debating this issue again. Choose, Wick."

Pushing his knee between hers under the table, he forced her legs apart and teasingly toggled her clit, staring at her with a devilish glimmer in his eyes. The flinty specks and concentric swirls in his topaz-colored eyes scoured her face for signs of mutiny. He was pleased when the spark of lust reiterated his assessment. His little Phoenix was high on endorphins already. It was time to flip the switch.

Slowly pushing two fingers inside her wet pussy, he rotated his hand to continue toggling her taut, erect nub with his thumb. He knew he wasn't playing fair, but this was his future happiness at stake… their future happiness, and he was prepared to bring out the big guns to make it happen.

"I already did. I'm not changing my mind."

"Good girl. Now, come sit on my lap, little bird."

His gaze was unwavering as she walked around the table to do his bidding. There was nothing unimaginative about this woman. Throughout the day, he had realized that if thoroughly inspired, the timid persona that camouflaged the layers of repressed desire could be peeled back to bare the heart of an ardent sensualist. In matters of mental acuity, the easy mask of an observable prey mutated into a voracious predator when provoked. What just a minute before seemed so recognizably docile suddenly shape-shifted with a look and a word to instantly upset the balance of power. It was extraordinary to watch those caught out of their depth to experience the zero moment of being ambushed and consumed by her acidic wit. She was extremely smart.

He loved how she was completely uninhibited and at once innately shy. It was mesmerizing to watch what looked like a lamb morph into a lioness. Enigmatic, mixed with equal parts of extrovert and introvert, he wondered about this idiosyncratic nature. It was those qualities in her that he found so beguiling.

Her expressive eyes blazed reactively as she settled on his lap, and his cock jumped in eager anticipation.

With nostrils flaring, he watched her slip a hand into the unzipped crotch of his jeans. Compressing his thick shank, she milked a pearlescent bead of seminal fluid from the knobby head and swabbed it onto the tip of her finger without spilling it. She stared vacantly into his eyes with a dissipated look and capped the private spectacle by smudging his essence onto her lips, then tasting it with a salacious swipe of her tongue.

This, right here, was what excited him about her. Gone was her timidness, her conservativeness of the previous night in Club Decadent Skies, to be replaced by an unconscious seductress.

She followed his eyes as they glazed over in an indulgent retreat behind closed lids. Her eyes sparkled with victory.

The little subbie had no idea the danger she was inviting with her forwardness.

"Did I tell you to touch me, sub?"

"No, Master M, but you didn't tell me not to either."

"Hmm, let me set the record straight so there is no confusion in the future. Once the powershift happens, you only act on my instructions. Unless I tell you to do something, you do not take the initiative, including touching me intimately. I'll let this one slide, but going forward, any disregard of my rules or expectations will invite discipline or punishment, depending on the severity of your actions. Understood?"

"Yes, Master M." Her lips pursed into a pout. His little Phoenix clearly didn't like to be pushed into a box. It was going to be so much fun watching her pride and resistance crumble as she gave over to the desires deep inside her. Her submission was going to be incendiary… for both of them.

"I don't appreciate sulking either, Phoenix," he growled as he parried back with a nudge to her loins again.

"I'm not sulk— Ohhh!" The carnal moan rose half an octave as Max stroked and probed her fleshy succulence while at the same time brushing his thumb over the anterior end of her vulva, gently toggling the anal beads. A smile brightened his face when her pussy muscles spasmed around his hand.

"Ah, I see you like these anal beads. Next time, I'll use the bigger, longer ones."

"I'll call red on that for sure."

"Would you?" His grin was plaguingly devious. "Perhaps you should postpone your decision on that until after I fucked you with these still stacked up your ass."

Wick

Wick envisioned bigger beads inside her ass. The war her brain fought with the excitement that bloomed inside her was radical. How could she even think it would be pleasurable, especially since the jury was still out on how she really felt about these foreign balls inside her rectum? Him fucking her with them there… it boggled her mind.

"Since I suspect you're just pulling my chain, I'll ignore that statement."

"Au contraire, little bird. I'm not prone to saying something I don't mean or have every intention of doing." With a deep growl, he caught a tuft of her hair in his fist and forced her face closer. "Now, I believe our little experiment at the club last night left you feeling a little… neglected?"

And frustrated, she smirked in her mind. Don't forget sexually depraved. Her breath caught in her throat as his smile turned even more devious.

"Maybe, but I had a very satisfying bath using the spray from the showerhead this morning, so I don't need you to—"

"Indeed?" It annoyed her that he didn't seem bothered that she had masturbated. "It seems your showerhead didn't do the job properly, little one, since the decadent bouquet of your lust has been teasing my nostrils throughout the entire hike." His grip on her mane turned uncompromising as he gently tugged her face closer. "Not to mention my intense need to taste your lips, Wick."

He captured her mouth, kissing her deeply as he parted her lips with his tongue, teasing the edge of hers, leaving her shivering under the onslaught of the tantalizing sweeps. She dared not think to deny him as she found herself completely enslaved by the libidinous capture of her mouth. With a low moan ignited by a cunning display of his sexual prowess, she melted into him. She twisted in his hold to wrap her arms around his neck, opening her lips wider to his invitations. Mounted atop the hard musculature of his left thigh, her hips twitched and careened to lubricate a restless pelvis against the rigid contours. His hands spanned her back, maneuvering her so that she straddled him. Every touch of his hands sent a flash of fire to rage through her. That this man had such a profound effect on her was inconceivable. That she had no defense against him discombobulated her.

"You're a little overdressed, my pet," he murmured against her lips, then deftly rid her of the silk dressing gown… a second time.

The sound of rippling material as it drifted to the floor destroyed the final layer of resistance Wick had been holding onto. She mumbled with impatience as he caught her lips with his again, but she refused to be denied or teased as he did in the dungeon. Ignoring his earlier warning not to act without instruction, she reached between them, and with a growl of feline carnality vibrating between their lips, her palm curled around his hard length. Raising her hips, a small triumphant cry crawled from her lips as she impaled herself with his turgid cock.

"You've just elicited your first punishment, Phoenix. However, since I intend for it to make an impact, it'll stand over ‘til later."

Wick was already too high on endorphins to give in to the ripple of fear his words elicited. When his hands clamped around her hips to stay her frantic movements, nothing else mattered.

"I don't care. Just fuck me already," she demanded hoarsely, enraptured by the peculiar allure of his gaze as he watched her spiked arousal with interest.

"Say it right, little bird." The resonance of his deep, timbre voice vibrated over her like the dance of a magic cloud.

"Please, Master M, fuck me."

"If only you were such a quick learner in all aspects of submission," he whispered as his hands tightened around her hips and with a smooth motion, pushed deep inside her, eliciting a tiny mewl that, to her shock, along with her body twitching and jerking in his hands, was an outpouring of emotions that she never expected to feel with any man, let alone by a man who was in many aspects still a stranger. She was conquered by a sense of impotence that filled her from the inside until her entire body trembled under the weight of it.

"Eyes on me."

She was a heartbeat away from coming when the low growl floated toward her through thin lips. One hand moved to clamp around her ass while he toggled her clit with his thumb.

"Sweet heaven," she gasped, her eyes fluttering closed, but they were forced open by his harsh order.

"Keep your eyes on me, Wick."

She became lost in the depths of his eyes as her lips opened in a wide exclamation, "Ohh!" As Max slowly pulled out one of the beads, a shower of titillating sparks burst inside her as she succumbed to the climax. Her raw voice resounded through the vast space as she fell apart in his arms.

"Gaawd," she gasped and was caught by the raw, animalistic quality of his growl, distorted in torturous rapture as he rammed ruthlessly into her.

She struggled to breathe as he slowly tugged on the second bead. His eyes glowed with wicked intent.

"Again, Phoenix." One hand forced her to ride his cock. "Come. Now."

"Holy shit," she gasped as the primal shock of yet another orgasm tore through her.

"Again." With every bead he popped out, he fucked her harder, faster. Every order caused Wick to careen into an abyss of pleasure where she swirled in mindless eroticism, harder, deeper, and with complete abandon.

"No more," she whimpered as she struggled to breathe, her body tossed about like a ragdoll upon his pumping cock. "I can't anymore. Stop. I beg you… stop!"

"Now, my sweet little fire bird, I want you to soar. Ready?" His hips snapped in rapid succession, lifting her feet clear off the floor as he fucked her with a wildness that surpassed any imaginary dream she'd ever had. The final bead popped out—hard. "Come."

"Ahh, fuuuck!" Her scream slammed against the wall as his climax tore open another seam of lust in her to set off a chain of orgasmic tremors to shudder through her. She collapsed against his chest, her loins continuing to clench in sharp spasms around his thick cock that twitched inside her.

For long moments, neither of them moved, then he pulled her head back with a fisted tuft of hair. Exhausted and disheveled by the intense brevity of their lovemaking, she stared at him with heaving breaths. His savage expression startled her, but as it dissolved into a devilish smile, her heart melted.

"Still feel the same about those bigger and longer anal beads, love?"

Before Wick could form the words her brain frantically sent to her lips, Max's cell phone lying on the dinner table vibrated.

"I'm sorry. I have to take this."

Wick scrambled off his lap and sat down in her chair. His face changed as he barked into the phone. Within a blink of an eye, he turned into a dark stranger, his expression morphing into that of a demon ready to strike anyone in his way.

"I believe I made it clear I want nothing to do with you." Wick was taken aback at the hate emanating from deep within. Rising, he disappeared inside the room. Whoever was on the call wasn't someone who counted in Max's friendship pool.

Minutes later, he came back, fully dressed. His voice sounded distant, almost like his body was present, but his mind had already boarded the plane and was off to the wild yonder.

"We're leaving."

"Leaving? But this is only day one. What about the other islands we're supposed to go to? I'd love to explore Ibiza, Bini Beca, and—"

"Then stay, have fun, but I am leaving." The curt voice sounded colder by the minute. Wick was still scrambling in her mind to make sense of the sudden shift in him when he walked out of the door.

"Wait! Max, come back! I'm going with you…" Her voice dwindled off as she rushed after him, only to find the hallway already deserted.

He was gone… leaving her behind.

"So much for working on our future together." Disappointment turned her voice hoarse. Stefan had been the same. It was the one thing Wick promised herself would never happen to her again. Feeling desolate and alone. It hurt that Max didn't care enough to share whatever was chasing him with her.

"Well, fuck you too, Max DuPont," she shimmered as anger at his attitude boiled over. "I'm no one's puppet, and I refuse to be treated as if I don't matter."

What if whatever chased him was a ghost from his past? One he needed her help to overcome. Fighting personal demons was a lonely battle. A loved one shouldn't have to fight that war alone.

"Well, as I said, fuck you, Max DuPont. We just committed to each other in a relationship. So, whether or not you want me to, I'm going to be there for you." Within minutes, she was dressed, packed, and ready to go.

"Now, all I need to do is find a way to get back to the U.S." Her spirits dropped. It was a small island, and chances were that Max took the only available aircraft other than the GoldenEye to get back home. "Shit-shit-shit," she muttered as she walked briskly out the door. "Wait! There are a couple of speedboats. Yes! I'll take one to Valencia and from there book a flight. Easy peasy."