We were alone, save for pesky neighbors merely a room away. There would be no chance for unleashing my pent-up frustrations but there would be opportunities for a more in-depth evaluation. Shuddering, I try not to react strongly. If I wanted to play, I needed to savor this. I wanted him to take me, to make me into whatever he wanted.

I can't help the excitement building in me as he presses slow kisses down my cheek to my neck. My pulse skyrockets and I resist the urge to react strongly to something so simple. We hadn't been truly alone in so long, I was hungry to have every piece of him. Capturing my lower lip in my teeth, I stabilize myself with my hands on the counter as he presses firmly against me.

 "Perhaps I can be persuaded into dessert?" I muse, causing his lips to pause. 

"Persuaded?" He questions, his voice rough with restraint. "I don't believe I was suggesting it." He knows me too well, his teeth drag against my skin as visions of his will flood my subconscious. I want everything he has to offer, I want to belong to him. "And-" Taking a long inhale, gentle inhale of my neck, he sighs at the satisfaction of a scent uniquely mine. "I don't believe I was asking your permission."

 Verando was meeting me at my level, stepping into the zone that I so willingly opened the door to. We hardly got to do much for my kink in recent times, to say I was starved for servitude wasn't far from an exaggeration. I needed more than just the physical release, I craved the emotional foreplay that came along with what he'd taken on a profession. 

"Will Alpha be attending this.. coming... of minds." I exhale, keeping my tone light as I rock back against his chest. 

My hand extended to turn the switches that would allow our dinner to not burn. We might sacrifice this serving of pasta but it seemed worth it if I got my wish. 

"We'll see how you feel when I'm through with you, you might find I'm a bit more tolerable than Alpha. Go to the kitchen island, put your hands on the counter, and wait for me." 

Doing as I'm told, I force myself to relax yet I keep my chin elevated in a slight act of defiance. I don't stand in a submissive pose, more so in stubborn resistance as it is my role to defy him. The enjoyment I received from bending to his will exhilarated me, setting my jaw, I pushed myself into my role of the spoiled prince that he sought to command over.

 Out of practice, I can't help the shy hue spreading over my cheeks. 

We were different people than when we last played, it almost felt out of character now.

The fridge door opens and closes, I hear the cap of a container and then he crosses the space to stand behind me in silent appreciation. I try not to jump as his fingers trail down my back, "I like these shorts. Did you pick them for me?" 

Glancing over my shoulder, coy, I shrug one shoulder only to gasp as the wooden spoon smacks one cheek of my ass.  "I like them even more, now." The feeling is like an electric jolt, not painful, more startling than anything. "I believe I complimented you earlier." 

I should have known better, I roll my eyes and the spoon makes contact again. My fingers close tightly on the counter, stretching up onto my tiptoes at the burn then cautiously settling back onto my heels. "I believe I asked you why you questioned my assessment of you. Do you find me wrong?"

"No, Rand-" Once more the spoon connects and I gasp, reaching my limit and relishing in the domination all at once. Bowing my head, I shut my eyes to center myself.

"Sir is fine."

My cheeks heat up and I feel the small hint of a smile curling on my lips. "No, Sir."

His hand briefly moves to massage my other cheek, groping me through my shorts. The warm, strong fingers caress the fleshy portion of my backside in an almost soothing manner. If my body weren't struggling to match his inferno, I might be comforted by such a gesture. Instead, it only brought me the ever-increasing anticipation. 

"Do you think I don't know your body?" His hand trails up my inner thigh and he wedges the spoon horizontally between my knees to spread my legs further apart. "Don't drop it."

"I already told you what I think," I respond shortly, his hand slips between my legs to grip me through my shorts. I sway my hips, eager for friction. Tracing over my groin, I fight against the spoon, wanting to escape or encourage a more enthusiastic effort. "Though I always appreciate your input." 

With a light chuckle, he pushes my shorts the to side, allowing my arousal to spring free as he slides his hand back to trace over my blazing skin. "My input..." He muses, his voice a low hum. "I suppose I can't force you to see yourself in my vision, but, perhaps there's another way to make you aware of exactly how much I enjoy your form."

Verando leaves me there, clutching my hands into fists, finally, he returns and I jump as something cool touches my neck. Pursing my lips, I try to remain still as the sensation melts through me. I'm overly charged and heavy with desire. "Good boy." He praises. The cold is replaced by the warmth of his tongue as he traces up to my ear. In a quick motion, he spins me around, slipping my shirt up to offer me the hem. "Bite." 

I take the bottom of the shirt in my mouth, exposing my abdomen to him. I realize the cool substance had been some chilled chocolate syrup and flush at the intention as he captures some of the excesses from the tip of the bottle and cautiously licks it from his finger. Carefully, he applies a drizzle to my chest and stomach, amused by the almost concerned expression on my face. 

"I was prepared to tell you all that I find endearing of you but..." He slides down my body, starting at my nipple as he begins to slowly lick the chocolate from my chest. 

"A proper demonstration would suit you best, only I'd like to make this interesting. Since you like to deny my claims and act like a prude," Verando trails his nose down my chest, making another pass with his tongue as I tilt my head back at the minimal contact. My body pleaded for more, the slow and heavy was my true weakness, I had no patience for anything other than my preferred method of satisfaction. 

Panting, I try and fathom how I'm going to survive this. "I don't think I'd like to hear you at all. Remain silent while I appreciate what's mine. Do that, you'll get a reward. If you don't, I'll stop."

Wanting to argue, I straighten, meeting his gaze as he looks at me with that boyish grin. With another pass, he traces up the line of my abdomen and I resist the urge to plead with him. Pleading would only get me more torment that I wouldn't be able to resist, I knew him well enough to understand that he was trying to make a point while catering to my desire. 

I could admit that I wasn't easy to love physically, my trauma prevented anything beyond a mild intensity yet I craved domination. More than anything, I craved the way he made me feel, completely at his mercy and yet entirely safe in his capable hands.

He tortures me, worshipping me with his tongue as he sinks to his knees and places the chocolate on my thighs in strategically thin strips. Every part of me he explores with his mouth until finally arriving at my arousal. Wetting his lips with a slow pass, he catches my gaze with a slightly arched eyebrow. 

"Someone seems to appreciate my affections." 

Hoping to end the torment, I nod, feeling the tremble in my legs as I fight against the spoon holding them apart. The wicked man watching me only seems to revel in my lack of self-control. "I could watch you looking at me like this for hours." His lips press against the side of my erection, the vibration of his smooth, low voice almost my undoing as I hold back a groan. 

Ice creeps from my fingers, freezing the countertop as I struggle to keep my composure. 

As it creeps down the cabinets, I know it will only be moments before he sees. Once that happens, my punishment would surely ensue and it wouldn't be the impending release that I was hoping for. I'm an impatient creature if not an opportunistic one.

Seizing my opportunity as freedom from the torment, I ride the ice shelf down the floor to slip in between his legs. Sliding on the slick surface, he grips the countertop to support himself, muscles taut with surprise. I grin up at him from my position, resting beneath him as innocently as I can manage while managing to freeze his wrists in perfect cuffs to the counter.

 Pulling on the restraint, he growls low in his throat. "Nicolas." His voice sends a chill down my spine as I hurriedly reach for his boxer briefs. 

"Yes, Sir?" Releasing his arousal from its confinement, I peer up at him curiously as his hands tighten into fists, slowly popping each knuckle with the weight of the maneuver. 

"Release me immediately." 

Considering this, I shake my head, squirming lower for better access. "No thanks. Maybe once I'm done with you." I want to provoke him, I want to encourage him to act on those pent-up emotions once he is out of his icy shackles. If I was to be punished, I'd rather it be thoroughly than by slow torment. 

Running my fist up the length of him, his hips flex as his breathing catches in his throat. I consider the chill on my hand, reacting to the inferno of his skin. 

Taking him into my mouth, I prop myself up on my elbow as I cling to him with my opposite hand. Using his thigh for support, I greedily swallow all that I can manage, merciless in my assault on his cock. Refusing to respond, I glance up to see his flexed pectorals through the tent of his shirt. 

From this angle, he was quite a sight and I marveled at my view while I savored every inch of him. 

Digging my nails into his thigh, I remove him from my mouth to run my tongue up the length of him to survey my handiwork. Music to my ears, I listen to him pant and scramble to get to my knees as I grind my body against him in the cramped space. Sliding on the slick ice, I dare not remove it for fear of him gaining purchase. Mere ice cuffs could not hold him here but the fear of slipping and falling on top of me might do the trick. 

"You are in so much trouble." The rough voice against my ear causes me to press back against him as I shimmy my shorts off my hips. 

"You talk too much." I retort over my shoulder, slipping my legs around to rest beyond his own and prevent his escape. I buck my hips back against him, earning a raspy growl. "I thought I wanted to play, actually I think I just want you to make me forget my own name. I want you to fuck me." 

I was not allowing him to get away, not when I was so close.

Avoiding my gaze, he sinks his teeth into the base of my neck and I gasp, willingly exposing my entrance to him as he shoves all of himself into me. In the cramped space, I'm forced to release his wrists from their prison as my hands shoot forward to grip the counter and prevent my faceplant into the cabinets. 

I can't help the grunt that leaves my lips as he takes me, unyielding in his intentions. My body couldn't help its reaction, faltering under the assault. I couldn't keep him trapped and hold my own against this beast of a man. When I think I can't take anymore, he manages to fill me further.

For a moment, I wonder if I'd made a mistake, my unprepared body recoils from the invasion. I'd forgotten how much he's foreplay did for the ease of his entry. Whimpering, it's tempting to tap out, each thrust forcing past my resistance as I struggle to keep from begging for mercy. 

I feel his nose trace the back of my neck as he takes me again and I fight to find support in the space, cursing under my breath as the ice prevents me from resisting. We moan together as he moves, my body shakes from the intensity that such an angle provides. Penetrating me deeply, fully with each stroke, he's still succeeded in punishing me.

The depth he achieves coupled with the deliberate tone of his pace, I fight with myself to even remain coherent. I needed the pain, I needed to feel had and taken, and I wanted to be reduced to exactly how I'd envisioned myself. Helpless and at his mercy.

Even when I fight for control, he still manages to come out on top. Verando dictates the space, my body bends to his will as I always end up in a position to serve him. I can't help the smile that curls onto my lips as I rock back against him, wanting more, needing more. 

"What am I going to do with you?" His endearing tone melts me just the slightest and I bow my head to block out all else as I savor my climb to completion. "Gods, you feel incredible." Gripping my hips, and yanking me back into him, I struggle not to crumble from the intensity. 

"Randy!" I beg, yelping as he slams into me again. "Sir." I correct, wishing to press my thighs together and yet being stopped by the position. 

"Where do you think you're going?" Verando growls, sinking his teeth into the base of my neck while I struggle through the haze of my desire. 

It was too much, and yet I never wanted it to end. "Please come. Please. I'm at my limit." I manage, surrendering to his lips as he cranes my head back and invades my mouth with his tongue. I hook my arm weakly around his neck, so close to the edge, whimpering a plea against his lips as my body trembles.

Verando finishes deep within me and it's his satisfaction that is my undoing.

 As I ride the waves, pressing my cheek against the cool cabinets and panting heavily against the chill of the ice shelf, I hear the calculated tapping of his fingers on the counter as he waits for his release from my ice prison. 

The ice spread halfway across the floor, climbing up our thighs, and over the counters, I'd effectively welded us to the floor. My hand wearily tracks the wooden surface and rests between his, absorbing the ice as I slump down onto my hip in a stupor. 

"Gods..." I murmur, running my hand through my hair as it slips back into my possession. I'm startled as I'm scooped up into his arms and carried towards the bed. 

For a moment, I'm worried he'll have me again, starting to consider how to plead my case, and yet he seems too tender for a man intent on decimating me. Cautiously, I steal a glance, peeking up at him as I rest my head on his chest. "You're not mad?"

He says nothing for a moment, slowing to stand beside the bed. "No. I might have been, but I saw how much you were enjoying yourself. I'm a masochist, darling, I know exactly how it feels to need to be brought to the brink."

Why did this surprise me so much? Had I truly lost my 'Alpha'?

I wasn't the same boy who had needed a master. I was his equal, more so, he now lived to provide me happiness. "It just doesn't bother me anymore, as it used to. I love you, your disobedience, your cheeky behavior, the look you get when you defy me. I thoroughly had you, I'd say you learned your lesson."

Catching my lip between my teeth, I trace my finger over his chest. "So no punishment?" For a moment, he considers this, then promptly tosses me onto the hard bed. I groan in complaint as I land on the squeaky mattress, rubbing my aching shoulder from the impact. "Ass!" I snap back instantly. 

Shrugging, Verando grins back in response. "Punishment given." He climbs in behind me, rolling his eyes dramatically as my fingers snake under his shirt to push it off his body and gain exposure to his warm chest. Slipping under the covers, I curl up to his side, clinging to him in grateful appreciation. My fingers trail through the spattering of chest hair, I memorize every inch of sunkissed skin. 

I trace his scars, the lines of his chest, the beginnings of his abdominals. In my entrancement, I'd almost forgotten my dinner. "Oh! My pasta!" I quickly maneuver out of bed, grabbing myself a plate and doing my best to salvage the chilled pasta with the still-warm sauce. I quickly return to sit cross-legged beside him, hungrily stabbing at the sauced noodles as he grimaces at my attempts. 

"You're, truly, going to eat pasta in bed?"

Nodding, I take a manful bite and chew in ridiculous satisfaction at his disgust. "Mind-blowing sex and pasta in bed, I'm a king, damn it. This is how my kingdom shall be ruled, best get used to it, babe." I offer him a bite but he refuses to take part in my savage ways. "And you say I'm a prude."

 I suppose that I can be, my methods for earning his affection could be a bit unorthodox. It was hard for me to accept his love as it was, to believe that he could love me for me even after all these years together. I was still healing, still overcoming pieces of my past. 

Much as he thought I was a beast for devouring dinner like a starved peasant in the holiest of churches, he seemed content to enjoy my company and watch the ceiling, deep in thought.

 Why couldn't I do the same? 

Slowing my assault on my dinner, I swallow back my pride. "You really are done with this whole 'dominant' role, aren't you?"

Making a face, he scoffs at my lack of know-how in his mental state. "Not in all aspects. I'm just past the point where I want to punish you. You enjoy it, that's what matters to me." 

I tested the words in my head, considering how they sounded to me. I didn't find that too intolerable; it was almost a relief. While I enjoyed most of his punishments, I was needing them less and less. I mostly wanted his incredible ability to satisfy me to the fullest extent in which I could feel pleasure. I wanted him to take me at his command, the thought brought a flush to my cheeks and he rewarded me with my favorite look.

 "Sorry... I'm not getting much blood flow to my brain." 

Taking another bite, I sigh contentedly. 

"Don't worry darling, I know you're a kinky little minx. I'll still tie you up and what have you. I just rather not have to punish you for it. Rather just do it for the fun, is all." He manages to bring the color back to my cheeks once more and I shake my head at my innocence, I was never one to be so shy about things like this. Perhaps it was because he was truly seeing me, not this front I had created.

Climbing over him, I set the plate on the nightstand and straddled his hips with a playful grin at his wary expression. "I keep thinking there is no possible way I will love you more than I do and you always surprise me."

With an innocent shrug, he smirks, "It's the accent."

I could practically giggle as I bent to lick the hint of chocolate from the corner of his mouth. Tangling my hands in his hair, I kiss him, grinning against his ever-stilling lips until I finally can't take it anymore and shove my hands against his chest in exasperation. "Are you seriously looking at that plate?" 

"Plates don't belong by the bed, love. Also, pasta and chocolate are not a flavor I fancy."

Shoving off of him, I stand to snatch the dish. "I can't believe you." I scowl, storming into the kitchen.

"I love you with all my heart." He chuckles as I flip him my middle finger and get to work putting away the leftovers.