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She moaned pitifully.

The flogger smacked the under curve of her butt lightly, the falls pattering over her skin. With each strike, they fell harder and faster, until fire simmered in every molecule of her being and erupted in her center. She clenched and released on the inadequate tampon, wishing he’d take it out and give her the thick, rigid length of his erection instead.

Thoughts disintegrated into sensations. Pain evolved into bliss so acute, she barely felt the thud of the leather against her flesh, only the ethereal rise as something broke inside her and set her free.

Higher and higher, she rose away from the sound of flogger on flesh, her whimpers and moans, her own breathing. The only thing grounding her was the erratic beat of her heart in her ears, keeping her from floating up, up, up where there was no return.

Pain snapped between her legs, fire severing that tethering link.

From an eternity away, she heard a high, plaintive scream before she spiraled into the light, breaking into a thousand pieces on the way.

*

Merrick

He caught her before she slid off the end of the bench.

That beautiful scream was the most erotic thing he’d heard in his life, spearing through his body and forcing his already erect cock into a permanent state of hardness. Watching her submit to the pain and pleasure he gave her… that was just fucking priceless.

Pinning her carefully to the bench, he quickly released her arms, pleased there were no marks from the rope. She was completely limp; a check of her eyes told him she was flying high, riding the orgasm for all it was worth.

Roaming her back and ass with his hands, he was satisfied with his work. The velvet flogger suited her, turning her pale skin a dark shade of pink over her back and shoulders, red on her ass and thighs. There were no welts, no bruises, no broken skin.

In a few hours, she would be tender without any lasting marks.

Her ass, however, would be sore.

Gently, he deflated the plug and extracted it. The tiny ring of muscles wasn’t quite as tight as it had been, and he’d continue to loosen it up in the coming weeks. He wanted to take that final piece more than he needed his next breath, to finally claim all of her, but just like he’d procrastinated over taking her virginity, he was willing to starve his own desires until she was ready.

“Did you send her into orbit?”

Merrick lifted his head, annoyed at the interruption, then grinned as Fordham slipped out of the shadows with a blanket in his hands. “Thought you were babysitting the Nursery tonight.”

“I was. Mack offered to cover the last couple hours of my shift while Sierra finishes some projects in the Sanctuary. Apparently one of the guests brought in some fixer upper stuffies for her attention, and they need to be done by Monday.”

“She works hard.”

Fordham smiled, sharing a knowing look with him. “Did you know Levi finally got all the edits done on the photoshoot from that night? Evander asked him if he wants to set some of them up in the reception area as a display. There are some damn good shots.”

That nightwas the night five Masters teamed up to prove to Sierra that she was worth so much more than she believed. That what she saw as her physical flaws wasn’t a deterrent to find love and keep it, that she was just as sexy with a beard as any woman without one.

Those photos, however good they might be, were not something Merrick wanted Tamsyn to see. The sex had been raw, the sexual tension off the charts. It hadn’t been a case of fucking a sub for fun; there’d been a purpose, and the experience had created a special fondness for Liam and Mack’s wife.

Knowing Levi, he’d captured every nuance of it.

It was part of Merrick’s recent history, so he’d have to explain it to Tamsyn before she got wind of it from outside sources. Slapping her in the face with photographs wasn’t the way he wanted to handle it, which meant collaring Levi and asking him not to display any of the shots with him in them.

“I think Levi was planning on asking everyone involved for permission first,” Fordham continued, tossing the blanket over as Merrick straightened, “but your expression tells me it’s a definite no from you.”

Merrick snatched the blanket on the fly, briskly bundling Tamsyn’s limp form into it before shock set in and chilled her damp skin. “Can you blame me?”

“That depends. Are you ashamed—”

“No. Hell, no. We did a good thing and it all panned out the way it was supposed to go. I need to talk to Tamsyn about it before she gets an eyeful of explicit photos and writes her own narrative out of context.” He hefted her into his arms, a contented feeling warming his chest as her head lolled onto his shoulder. “Sierra was a one-off favor, Ford. This one here, she’s my forever, the one I’d be happy to spend the rest of my life with. God willing, Iwillspend my life loving her until the day I die.”

Fordham’s eyebrows vaulted into an arch. “Damn. When you go in, you go all in.”

“Apparently,” Merrick said dryly, then froze when he saw a familiar couple descending the stairs. “Fuck.”