Fleur de Nuit: Bourbon Street Bondage, Book 1 by Cat Montmorency Page A

he whispered. “It all stops with your word. Allons-y.” The flogger dragged lightly down her back. “We’ll start slow. I want you to understand the flogger.” He let it slide down all the way to the curve of her ass, making Moira want to squirm. And then he dropped it on her shoulders again and repeated the movement. “Mais I also want you to understand that there can be pleasure with pain. Spread your legs.”
    Adrian’s feet knocked against Moira’s, and she moved them without protest. The flogger’s light touch disappeared for a second before reappearing between her legs with the lightest of flicks.
    Moira gasped at the slight bite of the suede fingers, and the rush of wetness her body responded with. “Oh God.”
    Adrian chuckled. “Oui, ma chère.” The flogger landed between her legs again. “Gets those endorphins moving.”
    She swallowed, her hands closing more tightly on the back of the chair. “So I see.”
    “Don’t lock your knees.” Adrian returned his attention to her back. He repeated the light caress and then followed it with a less gentle flick. Moira gasped, her body twitching against the soft sting. He did it again, a little harder. Her body flinched more.
    Adrian’s hands closed on her hips. “Hold yourself steady. Don’t anticipate, don’t flinch. Breathe and let your body relax.”
    Relax. Right. While he’s whipping me.
    “Give me a minute.” Moira let out a shaky breath and tried to remember her breathing exercises. Adrian’s thumbs rubbed circles on her hips, relaxing her and keying her up at the same time, before they dropped away from her. Anticipation jolted through her and Moira forced herself calm again.
    Calm. Quiet. Centered. I can do this. “Okay.”
    The sting, when it came, wasn’t bad. A small bite that made her suck in her breath. It came again, and she fought the urge to squirm. The flogger flicked between her legs again, before landing with a much harder burn across her back.
    Moira gasped. But before she could even say his name, Adrian returned to light rotational flicks. He settled into a rhythm, and she began to relax with the steady flak flak flak up and down her back, buttocks and thighs. A not entirely unpleasant burn began to build up.
    The pressure changed without warning, coming faster and harder. Moira’s teeth clenched.
    Oh God. Breathe. Relax and breathe.
    “Remember to breathe.”
    The image of Justin standing over her, arm raised to strike out, invaded her mind. Moira’s hands clenched on the chair, and her body stiffened.
    She shoved the image away, forcing herself to breathe. In and out. Calm. Slow. He wasn’t Justin. Moira’s jaw clenched tighter. She could do this. A gasp escaped and one knee buckled at a particularly hard strike. Fuck this, no she couldn’t. “Adrian, please, I can’t… Chimera, dammit. Chimera!”
    The flogger hit the floor with a resounding thud. “Are you all right, ma chère?”
    Moira squeezed her eyes shut. “No, dammit, I—” She stopped, biting her tongue, and took a deep breath. Her entire body shook as Justin’s memory invaded her mind again. “I’m fine. It just got to be too much.”
    Adrian ran his hands up her buttocks and over her back, making her shiver. “And that is precisely why we have safe words. Do you simply need a moment, or do you feel you need to leave?”
    Moira took another deep breath, letting it out slowly as Adrian pressed against her, his hands continuing to massage the new welts on her back. It felt good, a strange, erotic, sting. Already her moment of panic was fading. Even at his best, her ex had never been this caring with her, and Adrian’s hands were gentle and sensual.
    And that was it, wasn’t it? Adrian wasn’t Justin. She wasn’t her father. And this… Flogging wouldn’t ever be something she enjoyed, but until it had gotten too much, it hadn’t been bad. She could begin to understand how a person might enjoy that. Especially when followed with the kind of