Safeword: Rainbow Read online

  The second strike hit before she was ready for it. Surely that wasn't thirty seconds? But, she trusted him, so it must have been. She cried out at the strike, and then screamed an instant later when it really hurt. But then she started talking (silently) to herself, realizing this didn't hurt as bad as the tawse, and knowing she could handle four more of these. She could do it.

  He gave her the third cut and she managed that one with only a short scream and then breathing her way through it.

  When the fourth cut landed she re-thought whether she could handle it or not.

  For one thing, it felt like he put more force behind it. For another, it came down in such a way that it crossed over where the first three cuts had landed. She heard herself chanting and screaming and moaning out, "It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it HURTS it hurts it hurts it hurts" over and over again. She felt his hand on the small of her back and it helped to center her, bring her back from the pain a little.

  He talked her through the next two cuts, telling her how much this turned him on, how good she was being. When she'd recovered enough from the final cut that she could breathe again without gasping for air he said, "Those strikes were all diagonal, Kitten. I'm going to give you two horizontal strikes with the stainless cane and then we're done. I'll give you time to recover from the first, but I'll make it as quick as I can."

  Viv didn't scream when she took the strikes from the stainless cane. They hurt too bad. They quite literally took her breath away, and screaming was impossible. He waited maybe fifteen seconds in between strikes, and as soon as he gave her the second strike he started releasing her. Before she knew what happened he was carrying her to the bondage table that was acting as a bed at the moment. He gently laid her on the sheet and reached for the straps at the side to attach her arms out to her sides. He left her enough slack that she could move her arms around and even bend them a little, but she wouldn't be able to touch him when he made love to her.

  She realized that he'd placed every hit to her lower bottom and the tops of her legs. When she was on her back with her knees bent, none of the skin that was touching the table had been hit. Otherwise she doubted if she would be able to handle being fucked while lying on her back.

  He placed himself between her legs and lowered his mouth to her clit and ran his tongue in circles around it. She moved her hips around and she felt him laugh before he moved down to her pussy and drove her crazy with his tongue and mouth. He pulled back just long enough to say, "Come as many times as you want. You don't have to ask permission or warn me, just orgasm when you want to."

  Viv gently placed her heels on his shoulders and then lost track of how many orgasms she had before he raised up and entered her ever so gently and started making love to her. As she wrapped her legs around him she felt her ass and the backs of her legs scream at her, but it just made her that much hornier, made her want his cock that much more.

  He made love to her slowly at first, looking into her eyes as he did so. She could swear she felt the two of them merge into one being for a while. It was like nothing she'd ever experienced.

  They made love together for a long time, and when she had a particularly long and strong orgasm, he came with her. When he'd recovered he disposed of the condom and went to the bathroom and got towels. He cleaned her up and then released her wrist cuffs from the table and had her lie on her stomach as he put a cold towel on her ass and the backs of her legs. He pulled the blanket up to her knees and then stretched out beside her and gently rubbed her back and shoulders and arms. They lay together like that for a long time, just relaxing into each other. At ten o’clock he pointed out the time and asked how she felt.

  She smiled, but didn't open her eyes. "Rough, Sir. But I'm not complaining."

  "I have a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt in your size that you can wear home. I didn't know what you'd wear here so I brought them in case it was something you might not want touching your sore ass."

  "Thank you, Sir. You think of everything."

  "Let me help you get into them, then I have one more thing we need to do. No more physical pain. I promise. But we aren't quite finished for the night."

  He helped her into the luxuriously soft clothes he'd brought and then asked if she could sit up or if she needed to lie down on her side. She said she thought she could sit with the extra cushion on the bondage table. She sat up and crossed her legs in front of her. It hurt, but she could handle it. He clipped her wrist cuffs to her ankle cuffs and used rope to attach her ankles to two rings, one at either end of the table, and both out of her reach. She was comfortable enough, but she wasn't going anywhere until she was released.

  He looked at the camera and said, "Ron, if you're still watching blink the red light once, please."

  The red light blinked and Master James said, "Good. Please continue to watch."

  He looked back at Viv and held his hand up so she could see what was in it. A butterfly gag. She looked at him, hoping her eyes showed that she didn't understand.

  "No more physical pain. No need for a safeword. But if it will make you feel better I can put a bell in your hand to drop if you want things to stop."

  She wasn't sure what was happening, but she knew she wasn't going to let him put that on her without an alternate way to safeword. "Yes, I need a way to safeword if you are going to put that in my mouth."

  He nodded and reached for a small bell and handed it to her. "Please understand Kitten, if you drop the bell, or throw it at me, or whatever, I'll turn around and walk out the door. Your friend Ron is watching, so he can come get you if that happens. But I will stop talking and walk out the door if you drop the bell."

  She nodded and he put the gag through a strap and then put the gag in her mouth. He fastened the strap behind her head and then inflated the gag. With most gags you can still talk enough to get a few words understood. But with this gag, no sounds at all would leave her mouth.

  Once he had her gagged he started putting his clothes on and talked as he did. "Kitten, the truth is that I was in town for three days, and I wasn't supposed to fall in love. But I think I did, and now we have to say goodbye to each other. I'm getting on a plane in a few hours to fly half way around the world. If this were a city I thought I'd be coming back to I would ask for a way to contact you later, but I don't see myself ever coming back here, so there is no point. I want you to know that you didn't imagine the connection, I felt it too. And I didn't want you to keep coming to the club and looking for me. I won't be back. I'm sorry, I wish things were different, but they aren't. My gift to you is showing you how far you can go, how high you can fly. And showing you how good it can be with the right person. I hope you find someone else who can make you feel this good. Please, take care of yourself Katrina. You'll always be in my heart as my Kitten, even if you can't be in my life."

  And he turned and walked out the door. She had seen his eyes watering when he said the last sentence, and she knew he meant it, he wasn't just feeding her a line.

  A few minutes later Ron came in and removed her gag first and then released the cuffs from the table without saying anything. He looked furious, but he was being very gentle with her.

  Viv broke the silence as he was unbuckling the cuffs from her ankles, "You heard that?"

  Ron walked to the camera and typed in a code that would turn the audio off so the control room wouldn't be able to hear them talking. He walked back and held her, "Yeah. He's a bastard. I'm sorry Viv."

  "I don't know about that, Ron. I mean, it would have been easier for him to just walk away. I'm glad he told me he felt it too. And I'm glad I know not to keep looking for him. It would have drawn this out if he hadn't told me, I'd keep hoping he would show up again. Now, I don't have to guess. I know he's not."

  He shook his head as if he didn't agree, but didn't argue with her. Instead he said, "I'm supposed to work until eleven tonight, let me see if I can leave a bit early so I can take you home. I can stop and pick Debbie up on the way so she
can help me get you into bed and asleep before we leave. Or you can come back to our house tonight. He did a job on your ass and you may need help getting around tomorrow."

  "Not necessary Ron. I just need some Coke, and then I can get my purse and coat from the locker room and whoever is working the door can make sure I get into a cab. Yeah, my ass hurts. And my breasts too, for that matter." She leaned into him as he hugged her and she said, "I'll be fine to get home, and my heart will survive this. We had three nights together and I just need to be glad that we had what time together that we did. I don't have room in my life for a relationship right now, anyway. You know that."

  "You were starting to figure out how you could fit him into your life."

  She took a deep breath, determined not to cry. "Yes, I was. But he's gone now and it's no longer an issue. You know how busy my life is right now. Between working on my PhD plus teaching and heading up the research projects I've been given I have more than enough to keep me busy and my mind off of him. And I've had more orgasms in the past three days than I've had in the past six months combined. I should be good to go for a while."

  "Do you want me to get Debbie to teach your early class for you in the morning? Her first class isn't until later in the day, and that will give you an extra hour of sleep in the morning."

  "No Ron. I'll be fine. Really, the last thing I need to do is hang out at home and feel sorry for myself."

  Chapter Three

  Three and a half years later

  Tyler Hastings stepped off the plane in Miami Florida. He'd just completed his last assignment for the CIA. He wasn't completely free of them; he'd be on retainer for a while. But still, just the fact that he was no longer full time with them was a fantastic feeling – he felt liberated.

  Tyler didn't have any family, which was one of the things that had made him such a good operative. He had been living overseas the past two years and had sold most everything before coming back to the States. The items he hadn't sold that wouldn't fit in his luggage allowance on the plane were being shipped back and would take a while to arrive. Meanwhile he was here visiting his good friend Mac. Mac still worked for the agency but was on a leave of absence right now because his dad had needed surgery and he had wanted to go home to care for him. Tyler had his choice of jobs now and he was going to spend a few weeks with Mac while he talked to the most promising possibilities and made up his mind of which job to take and where he wanted to live next.

  He collected his luggage and was on his way to find a taxi when he saw Mac. They walked to each other and shook hands and slapped each other on the back, that kind of pseudo hug that men do to keep from actually hugging.

  "I didn't expect you to pick me up at the airport, but it sure is good to see you. You look good, Mac. How's your dad doing?"

  "He's going to be okay, it takes a long time to bounce back from open heart surgery and right now he's just mean as an old coot because he doesn't have any strength and isn't supposed to pick up anything heavier than three pounds. My sister just got home from school so now she's helping out, too. She's better with him than I am, which is how I got out of the house to come get you."

  "Your sister? I've heard you talk about her enough but as much as I've been around, I've never actually met her. She's home for the summer?"

  "Home for good I guess, unless she goes back again. She just finished up with her second, or maybe third, PhD. I can't keep track of all of her degrees. She's got an invitation to work at several big name schools if she wants next year, but she doesn't really know what she wants to do at this point, I don't think. Says she's done with academia, but I'll believe that when I see it."

  "What's her degree in?"

  "This one’s in Zoology, with a focus on fish, I forget the official title. Her first one was in pollution or something, I don't know. She used to drive an electric car."

  "Growing up on a beach had quite an effect on her, huh?"

  "I guess. Though I think she's done a lot of stuff with freshwater fish, too. Come on, let me help you with your bags so we can head towards the house. We'll pick up something to eat on the way."

  * * * *

  Mac's dad still lived in the house that Mac and his sister Vivian had grown up in. It was a nice older house on the beach about an hour outside of Miami. Mac called a restaurant when they were about thirty minutes away to order food to be picked up, so when they finally entered the house it was with bags of what smelled like home cooked country food. Tyler was pulling the cartons out and opening them while Mac pulled out place mats and plates and yelled through the house that dinner was served. Mac heard a woman saying "Dad, wash your hands before you eat, the last thing we need is for you to get sick right now." And then Tyler heard Mr. MacNeill coming down the hallway muttering something under his breath about raising such a bossy daughter.

  "Mr. MacNeill, it's good to see you again. What can I get you to drink?"

  "I'll have a beer, son. David tells me you're out now, going to try out life as a regular person?"

  Mac spoke up, "Nice try Dad, you know you can't have a beer with the medication you're still on. I'm already bending the rules by letting you have food from Mrs. Stanley's place that's loaded with salt. How about some water or juice?"

  And then Vivian walked into the room and Tyler had to look down to keep from staring. She was beautiful. She had her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail and she was wearing khaki shorts with a loose pink t-shirt tucked into them, and her feet were bare. She had the most exquisite crystal clear blue eyes he'd ever seen. But what made him want to stare at her wasn't what she had on, and it wasn't even that she was beautiful. It was how she moved and how she carried herself. Self assured, graceful. Like liquid in motion. Tyler busied himself with drinks while reminding himself that you don't look at your best friend's sister that way. But the truth was, he was mesmerized by her.

  "David, you could introduce me to your friend. But I forgot, you have no manners. I'll do it myself. Hi there, I'm Viv, I hear you do the same kind of secret stuff my big brother does, maybe the two of you can go work out together or something, get him back to the level of testosterone he's used to. He's seriously on my nerves trying to be all domestic, it's not his thing."

  Mac lightly swatted her on the back of the head. "Dad and I did a good enough job of it while you were off finishing school. But I gotta admit, you're better at it than I am, that's for sure."

  Tyler spoke up. "Hi Viv, it's nice to meet you, I'm Tyler Hastings."

  She smiled at him. "How long are you staying?"

  "As long as he wants,” Mac answered. “He's retired from the government so now he's going to talk to some prospective employers and decide which job offer he wants to accept. He'll be flying around the country doing interviews, but dad and I told him he could stay here as kind of a home base while he's doing that. He's a good friend Viv, be nice to him. Besides, he's a helluva cook, he'll go to the grocery store and get food and then we won't have to keep buying food from Mrs. Stanley's place and pretending it's home cooked food."

  Tyler finally got a word in-between them. "Speaking of groceries, I haven't figured out what to do about a car just yet. Until I know where I'll be moving there is no sense in buying one. If I take the job in Portland I won't want to drive it from here to there, but I'm not sure it makes much sense to rent one, either. I may just see if I can find a cheap motorcycle somewhere, but it's hard to go to the grocery store on a motorcycle."

  Mr. MacNeill had an answer for that. "I've got a perfectly good truck out there you can use to go to the grocery store if you want, son. I'm glad you're here to cook, can't wait to get something decent to eat. These two never managed to pick up that particular skill."

  "I wouldn't have pegged you for some kind of gourmet cook,” responded the beautiful Viv. “I guess I figured all of Mac's friends would be Neanderthals like he is."

  Mac threw a dinner roll across the table at his sister and she caught it and took a bite, grinning at him.

&nb
sp; Tyler missed having that kind of a family. It hadn't been so bad when his life had been one mission after another. But now that he was kind of at an in-between point in his life it would have been nice to have family to fall back on. Of course, Mac was pretty close to being family; they'd been friends since college and had been drawn into the government at the same time. They had even managed to work some missions together for a while. They made a good team.

  When they finished eating Vivian volunteered to do the dishes while Mac helped their dad with some of his therapy. Tyler said he was going to go downstairs and work out. He started to volunteer to help Viv with the dishes, but he needed to put some space between them. Plus, with four plates, four glasses, and four sets of silverware, he didn't think it would take two people to put those into a dishwasher.

  Vivian had other ideas though, and when she was through with the dishes she went downstairs and got on the treadmill and watched a few minutes as Tyler worked with the free weights.

  "Are you seeing anyone, Tyler?"

  Tyler hesitated, this was getting on dangerous ground. He couldn't take his eyes off of her, but there was no way he could fool around with his best friend's sister. "No, I'm not seeing anyone, relationships don't really mix with my line of work."

  "But you just retired, right? So, you could have a relationship now, if you wanted?"

  "Why, you got a friend you want to set me up with or something?"

  She gave him a very direct look. "No, Tyler, I don't." There was no mistaking her meaning. Time to take the bull by the horns and get it out into the open. "Well, no offense, but you are my best friend's sister, so you're kind of off limits to me. Besides, you seem like a nice girl, and I'm not exactly a nice guy. So..." He shrugged his shoulders.

  "Define, ‘not a nice guy', please? Do you mean you're a bastard, or do you mean you engage in the kind of sex games that good girls shouldn't engage in?"