Chapter 16

Grace paced their temporary bedroom later that evening. She'd unpacked everything and stored the boxes and duffels in the closet. Doing so had made their stay here seem more real and long-term.

"You okay, love?" Khai asked as he came out of the bathroom.

She nodded but kept pacing. "Nervous energy. I could feel my nerves growing more frayed as the day wore on." She lifted her gaze to his. "You feel confident the man was not a cop?"

"Yes, love. I really think he was posing as a police officer because he knew you would trust him. He lured you into that apartment, drugged you, and probably carried you out after the sun went down."

Her stomach was in knots. "And you think he did the same thing to Daffodil?"

"Seems probable since you and the others agreed she joined you a few months after your arrival. The guy was probably hired to find pretty young women, assess their innocence, and turn them over to the seller. I'm surprised he did it twice in the same location, but after getting away with it without a hitch the first time, I guess he thought it was the perfect location to do it again. Most of the residents in that building are older, retired couples. They probably don't stay up too late, which made it easier for him to transport his victims to his car in the attached parking garage without being detected."

Grace rubbed her palms together as she paced.

Khai sat on the edge of the bed and held out a hand. "Come here, love."

She went to him. The moment he pulled her between his legs, she calmed. He had that effect on her. He was the only reason she'd been able to sleep at night for the past month. Even asleep, he instilled a sense of safety.

"I can't believe I was so stupid and gullible," she grumbled.

He gave her a squeeze. "You're not stupid or gullible, Grace. The man was posing as a police officer. Anyone would've gone to his place to get a job walking his dogs."

She sighed. "He was so friendly and convincing. He coaxed so many details out of me about my life. It would've been easy for him to assume I was a virgin based on my story." She palmed her forehead. "I'm an idiot."

"Grace…" Khai gave her a shake. "Not even close. You trusted a man who should've been trustworthy. That's it."

"He even had a dog," she shouted.

"He was very prepared."

"It probably wasn't even his dog."

"Probably not," Khai agreed. He stroked her hips.

His touch was soothing, but it was hard for Grace to stop beating herself up. What-iffing was her life now.

"That's not enough information to help Jagger find Daffodil, is it?"

"Unfortunately, no. The FBI will continue to question everyone who lives in that building and was there two years ago to see if anyone saw anything on either date, your abduction and Daffodil's presumed kidnapping, too. But it's a long shot."

She chewed on her bottom lip. She was emotionally drained.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day. She had an appointment with the plastic surgeon who would remove the tattoo and the chip in the morning and the counselor in the afternoon.

Jagger had scanned the chip earlier in the day, but he'd told her before doing so that it would yield no information. He'd already hacked into all six of the chips and monitored them every day. Scanning hers did nothing but prove it was in her body.

It unnerved her that data was being stored and manipulated inside her body. She wanted it out. Luckily, no one blamed her.

Trembling, she lifted her gaze. "Will you do me a favor?"

"Anything."

She hoped he was serious because she'd be mortified if he turned her down. "Will you spank me now?"

He eased his hands around to her butt and pulled her closer. "Yes, love, if that's what you want."

She blew out a relieved breath. She'd been afraid he would turn her down. She slouched against him. "Have you done it before?"

He leaned in and kissed her neck behind her ear. "Yes, love. But not with someone I cared about. Not with someone as important to me as you." He grabbed her hips and set her back a few inches. "Can you remove your clothes for me, Grace?"

She shivered as she stepped back farther, pulling her shirt over her head almost before he finished asking. As she popped the button on her jeans, Khai removed his shirt, too. He took off his shoes and socks next, never letting his gaze wander from her.

Learned behaviors fought for dominance inside her—the urge to kneel in front of him, clasp her hands behind her back, or spread her legs and lift her arms to palm the back of her head.

"I'm not sure what you want me to do," she whispered as she fisted her hands at her sides.

He reached out a hand. "Come, love."

She took a giant step to close the distance.

He set his hands on her hips. "I'll never ask you to do anything without negotiating it first. I'm not your Master. No one will ever be your Master. You're your own person, Grace. You have free will. If, at some point in our relationship, you choose to turn some of that power over to me because you like how it makes you feel, we'll negotiate every detail."

She licked her dry lips and stared at him.

He wasn't sure she understood. "You were trained to obey without question, to do everything you were told at all times."

She nodded.

"We'll never enter that sort of agreement. It's not safe. It's not sane. It's not consensual. If you want me to spank you, first, we'll discuss it so I'll know what your expectations are; then, I'll check in with you often to make sure you're still enjoying it. Like I told you before, just like with sex, if you ever want me to stop something, you tell me to stop or say red."

She nodded. "Okay."

"Why do you want me to spank you, Grace?"

She inhaled slowly, trying to think of the right words. "Because Gemma says it helps her purge her bad feelings and leaves her feeling free and relaxed."

"Good. That's an excellent reason. I'll never spank you for punishment. That's not likely to ever be something that suits you. We'll give this a try. If you enjoy it and get the endorphin release you need, we can talk about doing it again. You can always ask me to spank you, and we'll discuss when would be a good time. If you don't like it, we won't do it again."

She understood, but she was so nervous and uncertain about what to expect it was difficult to focus on much more than the way his fingers were dancing along her butt cheeks.

He scooted back so he was more fully seated on the bed. "Come to the side, love."

She moved where he indicated, and he lifted her by the hips and settled her across his lap.

"I don't want to restrain you. Can you tuck your hands under your chest and keep them out of the way so I won't accidentally swat them?"

She did as he asked, feeling incredibly vulnerable. She didn't mind because this was Khai. She trusted him implicitly. She didn't mind being naked with him either, but she couldn't stop trembling.

He set one hand on the small of her back and smoothed his other palm on her butt. "I'll start slow and easy and see how you like it."

She rested her head on the bed and nodded.

Khai lifted his palm and swatted her gently.

Grace flinched and gasped, but her reaction was reflexive. It hadn't hurt.

He did it again.

This time, she didn't react as violently.

Three or four more swats peppered her bottom before he stopped and rubbed her heated skin. "How does that feel?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I think I like it," she answered honestly.

"Would you like me to use more pressure?"

"Yes, please."

The next spank was harder. It stung. She gasped. He did it again, several more times, and she held her breath and closed her eyes. Her body seemed to detach from her head. That didn't make sense, but that's the only way she could think to explain it. It wasn't like when she felt overwhelmed and out of her body. This was different. This was better.

"More, Grace?" he asked, jerking her out of her reverie.

"Yes, please." It seemed important to ask politely. The impulse was instinctive.

Khai spanked her harder, expanding his area to include the backs of her thighs.

It stung. Each swat had a bite to it. She liked it. Gemma had been right. She could feel herself rejecting the ugly negative thoughts as if it were as simple as telling them to go away. The sting of his palm on her bottom replaced the pain in her head. It felt like she was purging months of pent-up anxiety.

Suddenly, each swat felt like it was vibrating to her clit. Her pussy was pulsing with need. Her breasts felt heavy under her forearms. The nerve endings all over her body demanded release.

Grace lifted her head and moaned. "I need to come, Khai."

He stopped swatting her. "Okay, love." He flattened his palm on her thigh and rubbed up and down, his fingers getting increasingly closer to her wet folds.

She spread her legs wider, willing him to touch her where she needed it most. He'd said he would never tease her like she'd been treated, so she knew he wouldn't, but waiting for him to touch her was hard.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, he slowly stroked a finger through her folds and then thrust it up into her.

Grace lifted the top of her body clear off the bed and his lap. "Oh, God, Khai…" Nothing in her life had ever felt as good as his fingers on her, in her, all over her.

"More, love?"

She moaned.

He added another finger and found her clit. "I love how your pussy grips me. Come on my fingers, Grace."

As if her body was trained to come at his command, she did, pulses of her release making her entire frame tremble.

He stroked her gently, slowing down as she let her body collapse over his lap. She was still trying to catch her breath when she murmured, "That is the best feeling in the world."

He picked her up, rolled her over, and turned to deposit her on the mattress. "I'm glad you agree." He smiled down at her. "Watching you come is going to be my favorite part of life."

She smiled and reached out to stroke his arm, where he supported himself next to her. "Not as good as when you get to come, too."

He shook his head. "Nope. I don't even need to orgasm for my heart to be full. Watching you fall apart brings me to my knees." He patted her thigh. "How was the spanking?"

She lifted her butt off the bed and dropped it back down, wincing at the contact. "Perfect. I get it. I agree with Gemma. It releases something inside me. She says Damon spanks her every day. Will you spank me every day?"

He shook his head and chuckled. "We'll see how things go. You might not want me to spank your bottom when it's still sore from the last time. I spanked you pretty hard."

"I liked it." She grinned, hoping he would do it again soon.

Khai rose, tugged the covers from under her, and covered her up. "I'll be right back." He bent to kiss her and then padded to the bathroom.

She watched him, still grinning like a loon. Was it reasonable for her to have feelings this strong for him? She'd only known him a month. It sounded like Kally had known she felt strongly for Jagger much sooner than a month. Nora and Gemma had both known their boyfriends before they were abducted.

Grace was grateful she hadn't met Khai before she'd been kidnapped. It seemed like it would have hurt far more and been harder to endure if she'd known love and lost it. How depressing.

She rolled onto her side and curled into herself. The best part about being free was sleeping in any position she wanted on a soft mattress with clean, soft sheets. She'd had this alone for two months in Khai's cabin, but it was even better now that he'd been added to the bed.

Tonight would be the second night he'd sleep under the covers with her, holding her against him without anything between them. She couldn't stop smiling. She felt lighter. It was hard to say if it was from the spanking or the orgasm, but she thought it was a combination of the two.

She felt giddy when Khai emerged from the bathroom. He'd removed everything except his boxer briefs, and he turned off the lights before climbing into bed and pulling her closer so she was facing him.

"Did you put a nightlight in the bathroom?" There was a faint glow coming from the open door. It illuminated the room just enough for her to see him.

"I found it in one of the drawers. I thought it would be helpful if you woke up in the night and needed to use the bathroom." He lifted her fingers and kissed them, rubbing them against his cheek when he was done.

"Are you always going to let me come after you spank me?" she blurted, changing the subject.

He smiled. "Probably. If it's what you need. Some people get aroused from a spanking and need the added release. Some people compartmentalize their spankings and don't like to mix them with sex. But, Grace, I'm never going to withhold orgasms from you. I've told you that. It's a common enough practice in the fetish community, and lots of women enjoy orgasm denial as part of their kink play. It makes the orgasm that much sweeter when they finally come. But your background gives me tremendous pause. I would never want you to be triggered by something those animals did to you. I'll do everything to avoid anything similar."

"That's why you didn't want to hold my wrists, too."

"Yes. You were restrained for very malicious purposes, Grace. If you like me holding your hands while we have sex, that's one thing, but cuffing you to the bed or even encircling your wrists and holding them at the small of your back seems like tempting fate."

"Okay." He was so thoughtful. It was shocking how much had changed in the last two days, yet he was still here with her—committed to staying. He could have put her in that SUV with Jagger and waved goodbye to the naked, strawberry-blond Goldilocks he'd found sleeping in his bed.

But he hadn't. He'd come with her to face her demons, and he was dedicated to making sure the leader of this human trafficking organization was brought to justice.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. "Do you feel safe, love?" he asked softly.

"Yes. Safer than I've felt since I was a little girl in my grandparents' house." She hadn't even felt safe while working in Denver and living in an apartment in a less desirable part of town.

He stroked her back. "Good. I want you to feel safe. I don't know how long we'll need to stay here, but I think you're safe here."

"I'm holding you back," she murmured. "Your life is on hold while you deal with my problems."

He leaned back and tipped her chin back. "You will never be holding me back from anything, Grace. I know it's hard to trust me and know that I have your back, but you will with time. I'm in no hurry to find a job. In fact, I sometimes wonder if the reason I haven't accepted any offers yet was because I was meant to find you. I would've been too busy for a job right now."

"You didn't mean to take off months or years, Khai," she protested.

"Love, I'm not rich by any stretch, but I have plenty of money to get us by for as long as it takes. I don't want you to worry about this subject. Put it out of your head." He threaded their fingers together and brought their combined hands to his chest.

She leaned into him, set her lips against his, and whispered, "How did I get so lucky?"

"I'm wondering the same thing about myself, love."

Her body stirred as her breasts rubbed against his chest. Now that she'd seen the light and been taken to nirvana, she was insatiable. "Make love to me again, Khai."

He kissed her lips gently. "You're not too sore?"

She shook her head. "No. I want to feel you inside me again. I felt like I could climb a mountain when you were inside me. Show me again."

He grabbed her neck and kissed her deeply, so deeply that she lost all train of thought as he rolled her to her back and hovered over her. He kissed her all over her face and down to her neck before moving to her breasts. There was an urgency in his movements as though he'd been waiting for her to ask, and now that she had, he let loose to devour her.

Grace writhed as he wrapped his lips around her nipple and sucked. A twinge of pain made her tingle all over. She liked it. She liked the way he was taking from her this time, not being quite so careful and gentle.

"Khai…" She reached for the erection bulging inside his briefs and rubbed her hand boldly up and down the cotton-covered length. She hadn't had the chance to explore him last night. Tonight, she wanted to see and touch and even taste.

Khai slid his hand up to cup one of her breasts while he circled the other nipple with his tongue. "You taste so good," he mumbled against her skin.

"I want to taste you, too," she pleaded.

He lifted his head, releasing her nipple with a pop. "You may do anything you want to me, Grace. Always. But don't push yourself to face your demons. You had a traumatic introduction to blowjobs. You never need to let your mouth stray anywhere near my cock if you don't want to. It's not necessary."

She flinched. She'd been under the impression it was kind of important to men, not just because Master J and his band of depraved trainers had told her so. She'd gotten that idea from the high school locker room and just about any other space where men bragged and women talked about taking their boyfriends' cocks.

Khai rose onto his knees and tugged his underwear off his body before stroking himself from base to tip.

Grace watched, mesmerized. She reached out and glided a finger along the underside of Khai's erection. It bobbed in front of her as she watched. The head had a small slit in it, and a white substance was leaking out. She wasn't entirely ignorant. She knew his cock was hard because he wanted to have sex. She also knew the white substance was semen.

Determined to taste him, she lifted a hand, dragged her pointer through the slit on the head of Khai's shaft, and brought her finger to her mouth. She sucked his precome from her finger as she watched him groan.

When he didn't tell her to stop, she returned her finger to his erection and grazed it up and down the shaft. Soft and hard. Rough and smooth. Everything at the same time. "I'm not ready to take you into my mouth," she whispered, "but someday, I'll want to. Someday, you'll let me explore you with my mouth."

He reached for her hand and brought it to his lips to kiss every finger. "Okay, love. We'll cross that bridge in the future. For now, you need to know I'm totally satisfied without your mouth on me. More than."

She smiled and tugged her hand free so she could toss the sheets back and spread her legs. "Show me how you feel when you come. I was too distracted to watch last night."

He bent over to grab a condom from the nightstand, rolled it on, and climbed between her legs. He gave her a strange smile. "My love, you're going to be too distracted to watch my orgasm tonight, too."