Page 56 of The Souls We Claim

“We aren’t done yet,” I say as I climb to my knees, then I see the shimmer of tears.

“Ah, sweetheart.”

“No. No. It’s because it was good. I’m fine. It was…”

She smiles and it’s so beautiful I swear my heart cracks open a little. I take her hand, massage her palm with my thumb, and savor this moment of connection with her. It’s fucking rare.

In this life or any other.

“Please. Don’t stop,” she says.

When I finally open the drawer to get a condom, I see a new pack of nipple clamps and grin. If she wants a new vision of what sex should—or perhapscouldis more accurate—feel like, I’ll give her one.

“What are those?” she asks.

“Nipple clamps. Will you try them?”

“I’ve never used them before.”

“I’m certain my little girl can take them for me.”

Little girl.

She nods, the mix of apprehension and need in her eyes a heady mix.

I suck one nipple into my mouth hard. Arianne moans. Before she can relax, I pinch the end and clamp her nipple.

“Ah,” she gasps and glances down. “It burns.”

“Too much?” I ask, feeling generous.

“Yes…no…it’s…” Her words peter out, and she gasps.

“Another?”

Her cheeks turn deep pink, and she looks away from me as she nods. We’re going to have to work on that embarrassment and shame. I want her to look at me and beg me to put them onher. Maybe I’ll get a chain to link them together. One I can hold on to and tug on like a rein.

Then I remember this is it.

One time.

Some other man will show her how pretty her breasts can look with chains and charms dangling from them.

I suck her other nipple into my mouth. Harder this time. Normally I ask questions about how easily a girl bruises and how she feels about marks.

But I’m breaking all my own rules. This is less like a scene and more like something…natural.

Organic.

I’m trusting my ability to read her body.

“How does that feel?” I ask, tugging on the clamps slightly.

Arianne’s chest is flushed. “Better than it has any right to.”

“They look really fucking pretty on you.” So does the pink of her cheeks and the wide-eyed look that reminds me of that first moment I met her at Mercy’s funeral.

I grab a condom from the side table and put it on. We should both get tested so we can?—