After the Fall Ch. 07

"Yes, I would. Thank you."

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Dinner was unusually well-attended because everyone wanted to meet Sarah. Marcus served a tasty ragout, sautéed green beans picked by Seth that morning, and a hearty cornbread with the kind of crust that only comes from being baked in a cast iron skillet. For Mariah, he had made stewed vegetables in a thick, savory broth. When Marcus finally joined everyone for dinner, he was thoroughly pleased to see how enthusiastically everyone was scarfing the fruits of his labors.

After the tensions of the attempted kidnapping and rescuing Sarah, everyone was ready to relax and laugh. When Sarah became flustered by being the center of attention, Ezra stepped in with jokes. Paula took advantage of having everyone in one place to conscript people into moving the last of the furniture into Sarah's new bedroom after dinner. Mariah was quiet during the meal, with her mind occupied by thoughts of the upcoming visits to The Center and what she would see there. Since Michael so rarely joined everyone for dinner, there was a general effort to engage him in the conversation. Michael returned the efforts with good humor and took a more active role in the conversation than he normally did.

Henry, by popular demand, was dining with the group. As had become his habit, Marcus had prepared something appropriate for Henry when he cooked for everyone else. This evening, it was the meat and vegetables he'd used in the ragout, but without the onions or heavy spices. Henry polished off his meal in short order and disappeared. It wasn't hard to figure out where he had gone. The twins kept reaching under the table with pieces of cornbread in their hands. A dish of minced meat waited in the kitchen for Julia and Duncan, so nobody was left out.

After such a pleasant meal, everyone seemed reluctant to leave the table. The conversation went on until Paula rousted her conscripts and led them off to furniture-moving duty. Mariah offered to help Sarah with whatever arrangements were needed, but Sarah quickly waved her off. Before Ezra and Sarah left, she took Mariah aside to explain that she and Ezra had decided not to move any of her things out of his quarters yet. Then she slapped at Mariah's arm for grinning about it.

Marcus accepted Mariah and Michael's help busing the dishes from the dining room to the kitchen, but once the dishes were deposited, he turned over the kitties' dinner and chased the pair from his domain. They rode the elevator up in comfortable silence. Duncan smelled dinner nearly as soon as they entered Michael's wing. On the way down the hall, his attentions were torn between trying to sniff Henry's tail and trying to weave in and out of Mariah's legs. When they reached Mariah's room, Henry jumped on the bed, belched loudly, and laid on his back to sleep with his head lolling back, his back legs splayed to the sides, one front leg folded, and the other paw stuck straight up in the air. He was done for the night.

They left Henry to his slumber and the cats to their dinner, and played heads-up Texas Hold 'Em in the lounge. Michael was looking forward to getting Mariah to his bedroom, but there was no need to rush. It was nice to enjoy each other's company. It was also nice knowing that she was surely anticipating what was coming. He enjoyed watching her squirm. He was so interested in watching her squirm that it took a couple of rounds before he noticed something.

"Sweetheart, is it my imagination, or is your poker game suspiciously better than last time we played?"

The corner of Mariah's mouth quirked, confirming his suspicion.

"You were hustling me!"

She laughed. "Hustling you? We've been betting on paperclips, and they're all your paperclips, anyway. Where's the hustle?"

"That's what I want to know. What exactly were you up to?"

Mariah shrugged. "Maybe I was just having an off-night."

"And maybe I'm the King of England. Now 'fess up."

"Sorry, Your Majesty, but you'll have to be more specific."

"You really want to play games with me?"

"I'm trying to. I raise you two of your own paperclips."

"I call."

She turned over her hole cards, adding two nines to the two sevens, nine, ten and jack on the table.

"If you had a full house, why did you only raise by two?"

"So you would call me. If you folded, I wouldn't ever get to see your cards. Now let's see them."

"You just wanted to see how I play?"

Michael added a red five and red queen to the red ace, red three, red six, and two black eights on the table.

Mariah smiled. "If you had a flush, why didn't you re-raise me?"

"I'll tell you if you tell me why you were pretending to be lousy at poker."

She avoided the proposition. "Was it because you thought I might have four of a kind?"

"If you want to know, you'll have to answer my question."

"I wasn't pretending to be lousy at poker. The lousy plays were coincidental to my objective."

"Which was?" he persisted.

"To see how you played."

"You're telling me that up until now, you've just been learning my style? That's an awfully long-term strategy over paperclips."

She nodded. "It would be. Your turn. Why didn't you raise me?"

"I thought you might have four of a kind."

"I knew it!"

"Now that you know, how about giving me a real answer. I know you don't want my paperclips. You obviously don't care about winning the game. You were trying to figure out how I make decisions, weren't you?"

"Yep."

"Hussy."

She smirked and made a show of raking the paperclips toward her side of the coffee table.

"Ezra's right. You're sneaky and devious. A thief, too."

"Because I steal your paperclips like taking candy from a baby?"

"Because you've confessed to robbing Hawley's safe once a month for years."

She shrugged. "I was helping him contribute to the medical fund."

"Okay, Robin Hood."

"What are you worried about? Afraid I'm going to steal your silverware?"

"I don't know. Should I check your pockets?"

"I wish I had pockets to check. My wardrobe was chosen by a lecherous man and consists entirely of pretty dresses with no pockets."

"Is that your way of asking me to check your bra and panties?"

She flushed. "No!"

He could never understand how she could still blush after he'd seen and touched every inch of her body, but he enjoyed it.

"Really? First you suggest that you're stealing silverware, then you tell me it's not in your pockets. What am I supposed to think? Maybe you're hoping I'll ask you to take your clothes off."

The flush deepened in her cheeks and crept down her neck. "I do not want you to ask me to take my clothes off," she said through gritted teeth.

Michael grinned. "That's too bad, because that's exactly what I'm going to do. Stand up and take your dress off, kitten."

She stood abruptly and began pulling her dress off as gracelessly as she could manage.

"Uh-uh. Stop what you're doing."

She dropped her dress back over her head. "Make up your mind."

He stood. "That's another spank. It brings you up to thirty-four. Since you want to be a brat about undressing, I'll do it for you. Come over here."

She came to where he stood, looking sulky. He tilted her chin up and smiled at her. "It's no good pouting, sweetheart. I already know why you're agitated. You don't like it that you're looking forward to your spanking."

She frowned, but he kissed her before she could open her mouth to deny it. He eased out of the kiss and brushed his lips across her cheek to kiss the corner of her jaw. His breath stirred the little flyaway hairs above her ear. When he spoke, lips brushing her ear, goose bumps formed on her arms.

"I'm looking forward to your spanking, and everything that comes with it."

He nipped her earlobe and tugged lightly, letting it slide through his teeth. The shivery feeling on the back of her neck ran all the way down her spine. He caressed her neck and throat, his touch lingering on the faint trace of the mark he made the day before. With a fingertip, he traced her skin just above the neckline of her dress. The rise and fall of her chest quickened as his finger slid from the dip of her neckline to the top of her shoulder, skimming just beneath the fabric until he traced its edge back to the zipper. The zipper slid down smoothly, nearly to the small of her back. When he eased the dress off her shoulders, it slid down her body until it caught on her hips. She shifted her weight, and it fell to the floor.

His palm was warm on her back as he drew her closer for another kiss. A day of repeated stimulation left her acutely aware of the ache in her nipples as they pressed against his chest through the thin barrier of her bra, and the fluttery constriction of her pussy clamping down on nothing. He kissed her slowly and deeply, demanding everything and leaving her wondering how she could forget for even a second the breathless headiness he made her feel.

The more urgently his mouth moved against hers, the hungrier she became for his kiss. His hand slid from her back to her panty clad ass to pull her hips against his, making her moan against his mouth. He drew her tighter to him for a long moment before he broke away from the kiss. He took her by the hand and led her to his room. He stopped her a little ways inside the door.

"Take your bra off for me, sweetheart."

Instead of watching, he went to his nightstand and opened the drawer. When he turned back around, he was holding the emerald green silk belt he used to tie her hands on her first night with him. Her bra was draped over the back of a chair. He smiled when her eyes went to the belt as he walked back to her. He draped one end of the belt over her breast and let the silk brush over its upper slope and across her hardened nipple. Her breath caught. He did the same to her other breast, watching her face as the smooth, cool fabric trailed over her skin and teased the sensitive nub. Then, he pulled a length of the belt taut between both hands and rubbed it back and forth across one nipple and then the other, back and forth until she felt like she couldn't stand it anymore.

"Give me your wrist."

She held her right wrist out, and he tied one end of the belt around it. He pulled the bedroom door to a forty-five-degree angle and led her to stand with her back against the edge of it. He raised her wrist high and laid the belt across the top of the door.

"Other wrist."

When she gave him her left wrist, he raised it and tied it with the other end of the belt. He kissed her before he stepped back to look at her, with her hands tied high over her head, wearing only panties and kitten-heeled sandals. He stayed in her field of view as he undressed, knowing she liked to watch, even when she pretended she wasn't. This time, she didn't pretend. Every time he glanced up, her eyes were following every move. Once he was bare-chested, he caught her biting the corner of her lip and letting it slide through her teeth. He watched her as he unfastened his pants. Her eyes darted back and forth between his face and his hands. As soon as he freed his cock, it kept her full attention while he finished undressing.

"See something you like, kitten?

He squeezed his cock before he walked back to her, just enough to ease some of the ache. He ran his fingertip through the fluid beaded at the tip and held his finger to her lips. Her tongue slipped out quickly to lap at his fingertip. He stroked his shaft and collected another drop.

"Open for me, sweetheart."

He slipped his finger between her open lips and rubbed the pad of his finger over her tongue. Her lips closed around his finger and she began to suck it. The way her tongue rubbed his finger while she sucked made it impossible not to think about the way she sucked his cock. Although he had already satisfied that particular appetite of hers twice today, he suspected that she would happily indulge a third time if he let her. He slipped his finger from her lips and ran his hand down her body, sliding from her throat, down between her breasts, and over her stomach. He slipped his hand into the top of her panties to cup her pussy.

"You're soaking wet for me, Mariah. You always are. I think you love what I do to you."

He slid a finger between the lips of her pussy and stroked until she was angling her hips for greater contact. Then, he moved to her clit and began stroking it. Before long, she was whimpering as he brought her closer to the release she had been ready for since morning. He pulled his hand from her panties and smiled at her disappointed sigh. He painted her lips with his slick fingertip before he kissed her. He licked and sucked her taste from her lips and kissed her again, his tongue delving deep as he explored her mouth. She looked dazed when the kiss ended.

He caressed her face and tilted her chin up to make her look him in the eye.

"You know when I'm going to let you come, don't you?"

"Yes."

"When is that?"

"When you spank me."

"Mmhmm. Are you looking forward to your spanking?"

She looked away and shifted her weight to one leg, then back again. He waited patiently until she gave in and answered his question.

"Sort of."

"Only sort of, huh?" His smile made her shiver. "I'll see what I can do about that."

He knelt in front of her and eased her panties down her legs. When she stepped out of them, he guided her legs so that she stood with her feet nearly shoulder-width apart. He teased the insides of her thighs, stroking them so lightly that it made her shiver. When he reached her pussy, he spread it and leaned in to kiss her clit. He lapped the length of her pussy and returned to her clit, alternately kissing and sucking it until she was panting. Each time she neared the edge of climax, he stopped and licked her lightly.

"Are you ready for your spanking?"

She nodded.

"You can have it as soon as you ask."

She whined in frustration as he returned to tormenting her clit. After two more rounds of being brought to the brink of an orgasm, she'd had enough.

"May I please have my spanking?"

"Of course you can, sweetheart. Do you remember how many spanks you're getting?"

"Thirty-one?".

"I think you know it's not thirty-one. It's thirty-four."

As they spoke, he helped her out of her sandals and rose to slide the belt off the top of the door. He left her wrists tied and used the belt between them to guide her to the bed. At the edge of the bed, he untied her hands and kissed the inside of each wrist after he freed it. He laid the belt aside on the bed.

"Get up on the bed on your hands and knees for me."

When she was in position, he reached for the belt. It brought him close enough to her face that Mariah could lean sideways and rub her cheek against his shaft. He allowed it until she turned her head in what was surely an attempt to get her mouth on his cock. He stopped her.

"Not right now, kitten."

He tilted her chin up until she was looking at him. The light caught the shine of a wet arc across her cheek where she had rubbed against the tip of his cock. He held her chin in his hand as he trailed the silk belt down her spine. Her back arched slightly, following the trail of the fabric, followed by a shiver when the fabric brushed across her buttocks. He brought the belt back within her line of sight.

"I want you to pay close attention to what you feel during your spanking, so I'm going to tie this around your eyes, okay?"

She looked from him to the belt, then back up to him before she nodded. He smoothed her hair back from the sides of her face and lowered the belt around her eyes. He tied it carefully, just tight enough to be snug.

Her tongue ran across her lips, whether nervously or in anticipation, he couldn't tell.

"Is that comfortable?"

"Yes."

"You have to tell me if it starts to hurt. Okay?"

"Okay."

He ran his hand down her body, starting between her shoulder blades and following the curve of her back. He caressed her ass lightly before he kneaded each cheek in turn. She started slightly with each touch, expecting the spanking to begin. Instead, she felt the bed dip with his weight as he sat on the edge of it. He stroked the backs of her thighs, coming tantalizingly close to their joining without touching the sensitive flesh. His hands slid in tandem down over her calves, all the way to her ankles.

His weight on the bed shifted as he moved to kneel near her other side, toward the center of the bed. She could feel his body heat as he leaned over her to run his hands from her wrists up to her shoulders. He straightened to stroke her sides, lingering to caress the sides of her breasts and pausing to clasp the dip of her waist. She felt his hand below her chin next, sliding down her neck. She tilted her chin up and he stroked her throat. When she felt his hands on her breasts, she unconsciously leaned into his touch. He let them rest lightly in his hands, her hardened nipples pushing against his palms. Her back arched when he gently squeezed, his fingers sinking into the soft mounds. She missed the warmth of his hands when they left her breasts.

She gasped when he flicked her nipples. They were already so swollen and sensitive that the sensation bordered on pleasurable pain. A few flicks of his fingers back and forth across the tips of her nipples stiffened them further. She groaned when she felt his thumbs and forefingers close around them. He squeezed her nipples in gentle pulses, sending sparks of sensation through her stomach to her pussy. When he rolled her nipples back and forth, the sparks became a current. She dropped her head and whined softly, growing desperate for more. She felt his hand sliding down her stomach until he reached the top of her mound and stroked it softly.

"You're doing so well, baby. I just need you to move your knees a little further apart for me."

She moved one knee outward and then the other. The air felt cool between her legs.

He squeezed a buttock and kneaded firmly, then drew back and landed a thudding spank. Her breath caught. It didn't hurt, exactly. It was just a feeling of impact, a jolting force. He did the same on the other side. He flattened his hand for the next spanks, causing a sharper sting as he layered one over the other in quick succession on one buttock and then the other. The louder smack from his flattened hand was startling, and the sting made her squirm. It wasn't painful so much as it was uncomfortably intense. She had an instinctive urge to move away from the sting, but it didn't actually hurt.

He paused, and she felt her skin heating where he had spanked her. It left her skin sensitized, and his light touch made her shiver as he caressed her ass.

"That's my good girl. Now, I want you to lower yourself onto your elbows. You can stay like that, or you can fold your arms in front of you."

She lowered herself to her elbows and then folded her arms in front of her and rested her cheek on them. He spent another minute stroking her back, her ass, and the backs of her thighs. Her position left her ass high above her spread thighs, framing her pussy between them. He took a moment to enjoy the view as his fingers glided up and down the slick lips of her pussy. At their apex, he gently circled her clit until she was moaning and straining for more contact.

The next two spanks were firm thuds against the bottom of her cheeks. She felt the impact in her pussy even though he didn't strike it directly. She shifted, raising her ass for more. He obliged with two more firm spanks on each side before he switched to sharper spanks that stung and warmed her skin. The discovery that with her head down, she couldn't lean forward away from the spanks heightened her feeling of vulnerability. The heated skin where the spanks had landed was sensitive, and his light caresses made her shiver.