“I thought about you a lot today,” she murmured, wiping at the corner of his mouth with her thumb. He was probably wearing half her lipstick now.

He smiled. It felt natural to smile when he was with her. He never felt that way with anyone. He always felt on guard, but not with her. With her he felt… safe? Comfortable? Understood? Something. “Oh, yeah?”

She nodded. “Did you think of me?”

“Constantly.”

She tugged his shirt over his head and bent to press her lips to his collarbone.

“I’m afraid to look at your back. Are you sore?” Her fingers trailed gently over his skin.

He’d had a hard time crawling out of bed that afternoon, but he was ready for more now. “Not really. You’re not going to take it easy on me, are you?”

“Whatever you want, baby. You’ll do the same for me, won’t you?”

She wouldn’t ask him to hit her, would she? He didn’t have it in him.

“What did you have in mind?” he asked.

“Whatever you want to do to me—I trust you.”

Jace’s heart stumbled over a beat. She’d give him the freedom to do whatever he wanted to her? He needed to get her to the tour bus. His suitcase of pleasure-inducing implements was stored in a closet there. He’d been collecting things to inflict pleasure on a deserving lover for years. And every woman he’d tried to initiate had ultimately disappointed him.

Aggie unbuttoned the fly of his jeans. She squatted as she pushed his pants down his thighs. She placed a tender kiss on the head of his cock. It twitched, rapidly engorging, growing thick, long, and hard. Wanting to be buried in her voluptuous body—in her slick warmth—where it belonged.

Aggie wandered over to her table and selected a paddle. She turned to look at him and winced when her gaze fell on his back. “You’re really bruised,” she murmured. She moved to stand behind him and traced the thick bands of damage along his upper back. “The cane. Why didn’t you tell me I was doing that much damage to you? I would have stopped.”

“I didn’t want you to stop. I needed it.”

“I’m not hitting you with a cane again,” she said. “You’ll have to settle for a good paddling this evening.” She kissed his shoulder and circled his body to face him. She caressed his bare buttocks and then struck him on its fleshy cheek with her paddle.

It cracked against his tender flesh. Stinging pain shot through his ass, settling as pleasure at the base of his cock. That other pain—the pain in his heart, his soul—eased slightly. The only time it left him was when he was distracted by physical pain. The physical always hurt so much less than the emotional. It became a reprieve. Aggie struck him again. His toes curled in his boots. Again. His nipples tightened.

Ah God, Aggie. Hurt me.

Take the pain away. Hurt me.

Watching his face, she struck him again and then kissed him deeply, her tongue mingling with his. He didn’t usually experience a blend of pain and pleasure. In the past, he did his best to keep the two separate. But even the night before, Aggie had given him what he needed and hadn’t judged him for it. Jace’s excitement mounted quickly. He wrapped his arms around her, tugging her against him and deepening her kiss.

He groaned in her mouth when she struck him again. Fuck, he was hard. He wanted her. No, more than that. He needed her.

Like he needed air.

She turned her head, breaking their kiss, and spanked him again.

“You like that?”

He couldn’t form a coherent thought. “Huh?”

“A touch of pleasure with your pain?”

“Yeah.”

She slid down his body, settling on her knees at his feet. She licked the head of his cock. He shuddered, pleasure rippling through his flesh. She drew his cock into her warm mouth and sucked gently. When she struck his ass again, he cried out. She sucked him harder, rapidly bobbing her head to rub her plump lips over the sensitive rim. She paused frequently to swat him, before returning to pleasuring him with her mouth.

The sweet pain blended with agonizing pleasure until he couldn’t take it anymore. He twisted his fingers into her thick, silky, black hair and held her head still. “Aggie,” he whispered. “Don’t. I can’t. Too much.”

She reached between his legs, cradling his nuts in one hand. She squeezed. His stomach roiled as the pain left him breathless. She loosened her hold, and while Jace breathed through the pain, she sucked him deep into the back of her mouth and worked her throat muscles and tongue around his cock. He forced his hands from her hair, knowing he’d pull and hurt her if he got too excited. And she was quickly getting him way too excited.

He looked down at her, submissive at his feet, his cock down her throat.

“Oh fuck.” He gasped, his breath catching. He shifted his gaze to the mirror across the room. Her waist-length hair swayed against her back as she pulled back, sucked him deep, and pulled back again.

Setting the paddle on the floor, she released his cock from her mouth. She reached into her tight leather bustier and retrieved a condom. After ripping the package open with her teeth, she unrolled it over his cock. It wasn’t one of those little ones he’d been forced to use the night before.

He grinned down at her. “Thanks for considering my comfort this time.”

“Went out and bought some larger condoms just for you, big boy.” She slapped his ass with her bare hand.

He chuckled. “I think you should know the drummer of my band calls me little man.”

“Little man?” She eyed his cock appreciatively. “Hardly. What do you call him? Blind?”

Jace didn’t want to talk about Eric. He wanted to put the condom to good use. He tugged his boots off and kicked his jeans aside. He glanced around. “There’s no bed in here.”

“No, but there’s a table.”

He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her across the room. After he removed her panties, she perched on the edge of the table. He squatted between her legs and suckled her clit until she was dripping wet. Her scent drove him crazy. He inhaled deeply through his nose while he lapped at her sweet nectar, his tongue dancing over her slick flesh. Her excited breaths, hitching in the back of her throat, alerted him to her impending orgasm. He stood and carefully inserted his cock into her body. Her back arched, and she shifted her hips off the table to drive him deeper, holding most of her weight with her arms. Her heat engulfed him. He groaned, bracing himself with his feet wide apart to hold her on his throbbing shaft. She shifted back onto the edge of the table, and he surged forward to fill her again.

“Jace,” she whispered breathlessly.

He thrust into her slowly and watched her reactions as he methodically increased his tempo. When he found her perfect rhythm, evident by her writhing and mewing, he maintained it relentlessly, drawing on the same consistent cadence that served his music.

She reached behind her and grabbed a flail off the table. She struck him lightly across the chest. Each of the dozens of slender strands released delicious stings in his flesh. His breath caught. He drove into her harder. She met his thrusts with lashes—matching both his rhythm and his intensity. The harder he fucked her, the harder she struck him. He pounded into her harder and harder. He let the excitement carry him, losing all conscious control of his motion, giving his craving for pain full control over his attainment of pleasure. How did she know exactly what he needed? Quickly, his need for release built to the breaking point. His balls ached with heaviness.

He forced his eyes open to look at her. Was she close to orgasm yet? Her entire body shook with each hard thrust, her beautiful tits jiggling each time their bodies came together. His chest was raw and red from the lashes of her perfect retaliation. Her mouth fell open with wonder as he watched. She was closer than he’d realized.