Melodie's Song [The Black Dahlia Hotel 3] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic) Read online

  “Yes, Master.” Melodie unhurriedly removed her dress and placed it neatly on the floor. She was now naked except for the red play collar he had given her to wear at the club and the killer black spike heels. That look turned him on like flipping a light switch. She sank gracefully to her knees and assumed the slave position with her eyes down, although she just had to peek up through her long, dark eyelashes to try to see what Logan was up to.

  “Disobeying already, sub? Eyes down. When I want you to know what I am doing, I will tell you. I think you have earned a couple more strokes added on to your punishment.” He was grinning internally, although he did not let it show. His naturally stern expression and his hawklike profile did the work for him. Although they had scened together a number of times now, she was still far from experienced. It was easy to manipulate her, and somehow that didn’t sit right with him, although his hand itched to connect with that gorgeous ass of hers.

  “I’m sorry, Master.”

  “Funny, but you just don’t look very sorry to me.” The fact that she was acting like a little brat just showed how comfortable she was. She was trying to manipulate him, and here he had just been feeling bad about manipulating her. He would have to see what he could do to discourage that habit. It wasn’t a trait he intended to encourage.

  “Topping from the bottom, sub? For a newbie, you seem to have picked up that trick very quickly.” He reached down to deliver a smack, and she jumped as his hand connected with her bottom in a smart slap.

  “Ouch. I didn’t do anything,” and she quickly added “Master” as he moved to smack her again.

  Logan reached into his rolling toy bag the monitor had delivered to the cross station they were using. The service at Le Club Eastside was exceptional. He picked out a set of leather suspension cuffs lined with sheepskin and a soft suede flogger. He returned to Melodie and gestured for her to raise her wrists. He buckled on the cuffs and carefully checked to be sure they fit properly. He took her hand, raised her to her feet and guided her to the St. Andrew’s Cross. He quickly fastened her wrists and ankles to the frame and checked to be sure she was comfortable. That wasn’t going to last. He planned to make sure of it. Her ass was going to be red hot in the car on the way home tonight. He adjusted the bindings until he was satisfied. The delay served to up her anxiety level as well.

  “Now, sub, remember. You are not to speak or come without my express verbal permission.” He always reiterated his instructions so there would be no misunderstanding.

  Melodie looked like she wanted to say something, but was obviously restraining herself, although Logan knew that was hard for her. She was a self-possessed woman, and true submission was not easy for her. To Logan’s mind, that just made it all the more valuable.

  Logan ran his hands down her back and over her butt, enjoying the silky feeling of her skin and sleek muscles under his hands. She smelled delicious as well—like Light Blue, if he wasn’t mistaken. He patted her butt tentatively a few times. I love that jiggle. He looked forward to turning her butt a lovely, bright shade of pink.

  Her legs were spread open for him by her position on the cross, and her butt was tipped out by the high spike heels of her shoes. He stepped up close behind her and slipped his hand down between her cheeks until he found her moist, hot center. “Good, sub. I like it when you’re nice and wet for me.” He slid his fingers through her wet cunt and lightly over her clit. She jerked and then tried to reach for his questing fingers. Another quick smack connected with her ass, and she stopped moving. “I’m in charge here. If you keep topping from the bottom, your ass is going to end up being as red as my favorite chili peppers and twice as hot. Submit, and I will give you pleasure in my own time.”

  “Yes, Master. I’m sorry.” He could see she was getting excited and getting itchy—just what he wanted. He slapped her ass with several wicked upward swings, and smiled as the impact rippled through her round cheeks, with just the right amount of sting to get the festivities started. Her ass jiggled temptingly.

  He picked up his favorite suede flogger, the one with the small knots braided into the strips, and ran if softly over her back and butt, readying her for the first strike. Logan could see that she was trembling in anticipation as she waited for him to continue.

  * * * *

  Melodie had visited several toy websites recently on the internet as she tried to educate herself about the lifestyle, and she had seen several versions of floggers. However, she had not yet experienced one. She’d read that although they looked scary, they weren’t necessarily harsh, that it depended on the material they were made of. Patent leather strips would sting, while soft suede was reported to have a more thuddy feeling. She had to admit she was a little scared, and her heart was racing. A shaft of dark need spiraled down her spine to her pussy, but she was unable to close her legs. Her clit was pulsing. She was dying for him to touch her there, but she was helpless. She knew she couldn’t ask him for what she so obviously wanted. If she did, he would make her wait that much longer.

  While Logan might punish her as part of a scene, and her butt might sting, he would never really hurt her. The first lightly stinging strike of the flogger landed full across her round, vulnerable butt. He alternated sides, landed several hits on her upper back and across her thighs before the last one came down square on her butt again with a few of the strips landing between her legs on her mons and wet pussy. An orgasm washed over her like a firestorm. It flowed through her system as she braced helplessly against the cross.

  Before she had completely recovered, Logan knelt down behind her and spread her cheeks. She pushed her ass out toward his mouth as far as she could in her bound position. She knew she was taunting him, plain and simple. He slipped his tongue into her hot channel, and she bucked against his mouth. She glanced down at him over her shoulder with lustful, hungry eyes and continued to push her hot, pink bottom toward him. Her movement was restricted and she didn’t have much leeway. “Please, Master, I need…” She was begging for another release.

  * * * *

  Logan continued the slow torture, tasting and teasing her pulsing pussy and then backing off. He let her stew, knowing that sooner or later she would erupt into another hot orgasm. After a few more minutes of his unrelenting teasing, he felt the quickening of her pulse. “Okay, sub, come now,” he said as she blasted off toward another orgasm. He opened his leathers and quickly entered her from behind while playing her clit from the front. She screamed another release as he pounded into her over and over. He buried his face in her neck, trembled as his balls pulled up against his body, and he shot his seed into her tight passage. She pulsed around him as her pussy milked his shaft for every drop, and she hung helplessly from the frame of the cross.

  * * * *

  Melodie was drained. Her pussy hummed and pulsed with each heartbeat and rippling wave of pleasure. She felt Logan kiss her shoulder as ecstasy continued to shudder through her. She knew in her heart that this was her man—a man who would take everything she had to give without apology and give her everything in return. She knew he would always dominate her in bed or in a scene with his easy, powerful grace, but that he would always do it with care. They had not yet said the “L” word, but she felt it in everything he said and did. She knew she would usually submit to him, but not always, and he would respect her enough to know when not to push it. He was a man who was confident in his own judgment and would make most of the decisions for them, but would always consult her wishes on the important ones. The struggle for dominance between them had put a sharp edge on the sweeter moments. He had liberated her walled-off emotions and opened her heart and mind to new experiences.

  * * * *

  Melodie relaxed back in the plush leather seat of Logan’s SUV. She reached over and put her hand on his thigh, and he immediately covered it with his own. She was tired, but relaxed. She always enjoyed a trip to the club or his private dungeon. When she felt his big hand on her butt, she relaxed into the sting. She loved it now, b
ut she was still too embarrassed to say so.

  “How do you feel, babe?”

  “Great. I never would have believed that a flogging could be relaxing until I experienced the feeling for myself, but it really is just like a deep muscle massage.” She giggled. “And the other massage wasn’t bad, either.”

  “Not bad? I thought I was superb.”

  “You would! Men.”

  “On another subject besides the magnificence of your Master, Barbara Brown suggested that we try her cousin Jack’s new BDSM hotel in Fort Lauderdale. The grand opening is Christmas day. Do you think you can get away? I know it’s the holiday season and all, but Jasper—”

  “Jasper is perfectly capable of handling the gallery for a few days. I’d love to go. That sounds great.”

  “I was thinking of more like two weeks. Your surgery is scheduled, and we have the tour. I’d like to be able to spend some quality time with you before the shit hits—”

  A car crashed into Melodie’s side door. It bounced off the side panel and then bumped it a second time. Logan looked into his side view mirror quickly and then changed lanes and hit the gas. He pulled ahead of the dark van in the right lane and without taking his eyes off the road, asked, “Are you okay, Mel?”

  “I think so.” She was stunned. What the hell? That had been deliberate.

  The van sped up and hit the side of the SUV again. When it came up alongside, Melodie looked to her right to see who was driving the van, but the windows were heavily tinted. She couldn’t see the driver.

  Logan pulled ahead again, swerved, and cut the van off with inches to spare. He exited the highway onto the convenient ramp. The van, unable to react quickly enough, continued down the highway and out of sight.

  “What the fuck, Melodie? Could you see who was driving?”

  “No. The windows were too dark. I could only see a vague shadow.”

  Logan parked the car and released both their seatbelts. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He ran has hand over her upper body and then pulled her into a tight hug. “Thank God for good old heavy, American-made cars.” She could feel his heart pounding, and hers was hammering away as well.

  Logan looked around and located the street signs, and then he reached into his pocket for his cell phone and dialed 9-1-1. After reporting the accident and being told to wait for a cruiser, Logan leaned back and expelled a huge sigh. He reached for Melodie’s hand and held it tightly as she burrowed into him.

  Within a few minutes, a police cruiser pulled up behind them. The officer approached the car, walked around to the passenger side and surveyed the damage. The passenger side door was freshly and deeply gauged and dented, and bare metal glinted under the paint.

  The officer then came to the driver’s side window. “Is everyone okay here?”

  “We’re okay. Just shook up.”

  “License, registration, and insurance please, sir.”

  “I have them right here.” Logan passed the documents out the window and then shook his head. “I have to say, that was damn scary.”

  “Did you get a license plate or see the driver? Can you describe the other vehicle?”

  “It was a late model blue or black van. I don’t know what make or model. The windows were dark, and I was too busy taking evasive action to try to see the license plates. I was lucky to be able to exit and that the driver of the van wasn’t able to follow.”

  “We’ll get this written up for your insurance claim, but I doubt we’ll be able to find the driver without a license plate number or description. Do you have a problem with anyone that would want to injure you? Had any altercations with anyone lately?”

  “No…but I do have a restraining order out against a stalker. I can’t imagine she could have…”

  “Give me the name and any information, and we’ll look into it.”

  By the time they had finished with the police and the traffic investigators, it was well after midnight. “Where do you want to spend the night, honey? Your place or mine?”

  “Let’s go to my place. I have a good security system. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to sleep tonight. Logan, that was no accident. That van deliberately crashed into my door.”

  “I know, baby. I know. That could have ended very badly. Why would someone deliberately damage their own car to hit us?”

  “Do you think Karin is that crazy? Could she have done something like this?”

  “I don’t know. The letters she sent me…I’ll show them to you. I think they were the reason I was able to get the restraining order. They are really out-there.”

  “Take me home, Logan. I just want to go to bed.”

  Logan secured her seat belt and then his own, pulled back out onto the street, and headed for Melodie’s brownstone.

  * * * *

  Saturday morning, Logan walked Melody to work before he headed over to the loft. He had an early appointment with the insurance adjuster and some meetings with the record company uptown. Then he was going to talk to his attorney again about Karin Sanders. Maybe he could get the distance on the restraining order increased to three hundred feet, as if that would help.

  Shit. There she was—standing on the other side of the street, watching him. He was sure she was the requisite one hundred feet away, but he didn’t like it. Hell, a hundred feet wasn’t going to save him or Melodie from a bullet. He really did think she could be dangerous, but he hadn’t wanted to frighten Melodie any more than she already was. She was still working through the aftermath of the knife attack two years ago, and now this. It didn’t seem fair. Logan didn’t know if he should try to talk to Karin, try to reason with her, or if that would only make matters worse.

  When he got upstairs to the loft, Billie was waiting for him. He had already put on a pot of coffee, and a box of donuts was open on the table in the rehearsal area. Although Billie was the one most likely to ride his ass about shit, Logan knew he could depend on him for anything. The other guys would be there for him as well, but he and Billie were particularly close.

  “Hey, man. What’s shakin?’” His shaggy, curly brown hair was still wet from a shower, but he was wearing his usual uniform of T-shirt and faded jeans with high-top sneakers. This one was a Guns N’ Roses shirt of which he was particularly fond. The droopy, brown bedroom eyes that got him more attention from women than he deserved were at half-mast. Apparently, he’d had a late night at the club.

  Logan filled him in on last night’s events. “Yeah, I saw you and Mel at the club, but I didn’t want to interrupt the scene.” He looked shocked. “So, someone actually sideswiped your car?”

  “The whole right side is scraped up. We couldn’t see the driver—blackout windows. The insurance adjuster should be here any time now. You can walk down to the garage with us when he gets here and see the damage.”

  “Do you think it might be Karin? I know she’d a nut, but really…that’s going way far over the line.”

  “I was wondering that myself. I don’t know if I should talk to her or if that might just give her something to hang her delusions on.”

  “I don’t know, man. That’s a hard one, when you’re dealing with someone who is a brick short of a load, you know? Maybe if we both approached her together, it would be harder to interpret that as a romantic overture on your part, plus you’d have a witness as to what was actually said.”

  “Good idea. Let’s see if she’s around after the adjuster leaves.”

  * * * *

  Karin was sitting on a bench outside the coffee shop across and down the street from Logan’s loft. She was watching the door. She had seen him go in alone, but she had also seen Billie Crockett go up earlier, carrying a box of donuts. All the guys in the band were fit, even though it appeared that they lived on donuts and pizza. But Logan was absolutely magnificent. His body was a temple—her temple.

  Wow. And here he comes. Too bad that Billie is with him. Maybe she had finally gotten his attention. Maybe this was her moment at last.

  “Karin
. Got a minute?” His face was hard, and his eyes were like chipped ice. He didn’t sound particularly lover-like. In fact, he sounded supremely pissed. That was not the reaction she was hoping for.

  “Sure. What do you want?”

  “You know you’re not supposed to be within a hundred feet of me.”

  “I wasn’t. I measured the distance to your door. It is exactly one hundred and two feet. You came over here to me.”

  “I’m talking about last night when you rammed the side of my car on the West Side Highway. That was way closer than a hundred feet.”

  “What? I didn’t do any such thing. You’re crazy. Why would I ever do something like that?”

  Billie grinned. “Methinks the lady doth protest too much, or whatever the fuck Willie Shakespeare said.”

  Logan just shook his head. “Karin, this has to stop. I don’t know how it got so out of hand. We never had a relationship. I’m sorry if you misunderstood our scene after the bachelor auction, but that’s all it was—one scene. There isn’t going to be another. You need to get on with your life before you get yourself into something you can’t get out of. Understand? That’s it. Stop this. Leave me alone.”

  “But, Logan, I love you. I can’t give up on us, even if you’re with that bitch now. You’re mine. I bought you at the auction. We’re going to have a life together. I’m going to have your baby.”

  “Karin, there is no us. You’re delusional. We are not going to have anything together. You are not pregnant by me. If you were, it would be the second coming since we never had intercourse. I don’t want to be cruel, but that never happened, and it could never happen. You need to get a grip. I’d be willing to refund your charity donation if that would get you to leave me alone. Think about it.” He backed up and turned to Billie. “Let’s go. This is not making things better.”