Page 22 of A Flash of Golden Fire

He tried not to laugh and barely succeeded.

“Very well. If you utter the word, I stop whatever I’m doing and untie you.”

“Oh. So I’m only to use my word if I wanteverythingto stop?”

He chuckled. “You sound disappointed. Oh, Simon, I believe we’re going to get along very well.”

“I’m just thinking that I might have to slow you down or stop you, but I might not want to stopeverything. Is that an option?”

“Of course. Let’s leave it open, shall we?”

“Aye.”

“Now go lay on the bed, on your back, and spread your arms and legs like a starfish.”

He tied my wrists to the carved posts of the bed frame, then folded my legs over my belly and fastened my ankles over my head.

“This is quite…undignified,” I commented, feeling well-displayed and expertly captured.

“Mmm,” he agreed, gazing at me with more than a twinkle in his eye.

I focused on breathing through my nose, my eyes on him, waiting for what he might do next. He had me at his mercy, and yet I’d never felt so free.

I watched as he walked to the drawer that he’d left open and took out what looked like a leather riding crop, returning to me with a look of mischief and excitement in his eyes.

I stiffened as if I might try to escape.

“Now, don’t worry. I know how to use this.”

“Are you an equestrian?” I asked rhetorically.

He had the grace to laugh. “Oh no. I meant that I know how to use this onyou, Mr White.”

“Now, remember, I’ve never ever—” I began but was startled when he ran the folded leather tip of the crop over the sole of my foot.

“Ah!” I cried out, trying ineffectively to pull away.

“Oh yes. We’ll start this way.”

“Oh, no, no, no…please, no,” I begged, squirming and writhing as I tried without success to get away. Propitious that he’d given me a word, because despite my frantic struggles and the instinctive protests against the tickling strokes, I didn’t truly want him to stop.

I didn’t say the word, even though I didn’t know how much more of this torment I could take. And he hadn’t even gone near my prick yet. All the same, my cock stood hard and leaking from his blatant control and sadistic goals. Pain I could have dealt with but the tickling was too much.

But I had waited so long to get into the captain’s rooms and his graces, so I did my best to persevere, even though I hiccupped with sobs by the time he took pity on me and stopped. A humiliating and sobering turn of events.

“And I haven’t even struck you yet,” he said with a level of glee that left me no doubt about where this was going.

I’d barely let out a squeak of indignation when I felt the first swipe of the crop against my bare arse.

“My goodness, but you are perfect, Simon,” he said, laying into my lily-white arse with a smug determination. The sounds of the crop slicing the air and landing with a snap filled my ears, followed by a sting so sharp the pain made me gasp.

“Oh, fuck…am I? Oh…ow, ow, stop, fuck! Captain, Captain, Captain!”

He paused. “Yes, White?”

His address took me by surprise.

“For fuck’s sake, ain’t we on a first name basis by now?” I asked from my captivity, my limbs trembling from the intensity.