A Starlet in Venice (7 page)

She frowned. My tone revealed that I wasn’t exactly serious, and my words weren’t really a threat, and I could tell she was trying to figure out what I was talking about. Finally, she sighed. “Okay, I’ll ask. Why won’t I enjoy it?”

“Because,” I took her hand, still cupped around my erection, and placed it above her head, holding it in place with mine. “Submissives need to follow instructions,” I told her. “Submissives don’t reach out and grab their Dominant’s crotch whenever they feel like.”

She pouted sexily. “Damn it, I knew there’d be a catch.”

I was still laughing as I dressed for breakfast.

Liam:

The rest of Christmas passed without incident. As I knew she would, Tia completely charmed my family. My parents regaled her with stories of all the crazy shit I did as a kid, which had her in stitches. ‘I’ll deal with you in Venice, Tia,” I warned her after one such bout of giggles, when we had a moment to ourselves.

“Yes Sir,” she replied sweetly. My cock was instantly rock hard at the promise implicit in her tone.

Margaret and Heather invited her to visit them in Dublin. Claire and Fiona both pumped her for information about all of their favourite actors, and whether she’d met them. She kept them entertained with genuinely funny stories about stuff that had happened to her on set, and they were completely entranced. Christophe, Claire’s boyfriend turned to me wryly at one point, and shook his head. “She’s way out of your league, Callahan,” he commented.

“And don’t I know it,” I replied.

He smiled and handed me a beer. “Still, that’s the general consensus among all my friends and family about Claire.” He eyed my sister fondly.

“Damn right,” I said firmly. Not that Christophe wasn’t a great guy, but Claire was my sister, and Christophe was lucky to be with her.

We slept next to each other at night. There was touching, because how could we lie next to each other and keep our hands from straying? But she was uncomfortable with the idea of sex underneath my parents’ roof, and I went along with her desires. We petted like teenagers instead. There was kissing. There was sucking those gorgeous nipples into my mouth, rolling them between my fingertips and watching her eyes fill with desire and her lips compress to keep from crying out. I ran my hands all over her body, and she ran her hands over mine, and when we slept, we spooned. Every morning, I woke up with a raging hard-on. I couldn’t wait to go back to Venice, have her spread her legs open for me, and sink into her hot softness. I’d never wanted a Christmas to go by faster.

We’d got out of the habit of exchanging Christmas presents in my family. However, my mother never saw a bar of chocolate she didn’t like, so Tia had brought her a big fancy tin of assorted chocolates as a
‘thank you.’
My mother beamed at Tia when she handed her the tin.

I loved my family. If it came down to it, I would pick Tia, of course. But I couldn’t deny that I was thrilled that my parents and sisters seemed to love Tia, and that she got along well with everyone.

***

We both flew back to Venice on the same flight. Tia’s TV show was on holiday break, and she had a week off before she had to be back in Dingle. On the flight, she looked at me. “Submissive training,” she said, her eyes bright.

“I hate the word
training
,” I replied. “You aren’t a pet. You don’t need to be trained. It’s just a big, elaborate game.”

“Ah,” she said. “But all games have rules, don’t they? I’d like to learn what the rules to this game are.”

Damn it. Tia was smart, and she wasn’t going to let this go. “A week,” I said. “Barely enough time to make a dent, really.”

“Why, is it that complicated?” She sounded worried and she wrinkled her nose. “Can I confess something? I saw you spank a woman a few weeks ago at Casanova.”

“Simona?” I asked, and her face fell. I quickly rushed to clarify. “I rarely do punishment sessions, rabbit. Or any other kind of session. I just set the rules of safe play. Simona’s the only person I’ve punished for months now, and that’s only because the person scheduled to do it didn’t show up.”

Her expression cleared, and I rolled my eyes at her. “You are special, rabbit. No other woman even comes close.”

She didn’t look convinced. “Anyway, I don’t think I can be hit that hard.”

“I wouldn’t hit you that hard,” I responded instantly.

She glared at me. “Liam, I don’t want you to take it easy on me.”

“Tia,” I said patiently, “I have no intention of taking it easy on you. I wouldn’t hit any new submissive that hard. One hard spanking like that, and it’ll feel like a beating to you, and you won’t get any pleasure out of it. Pain tolerance is a process. You can’t build up to it in a week.”

I lowered my mouth to her ear. “Besides, there’s more to dominance and submission than being tied up and spanked. It’s much more about mindset. I know some Dominants who won’t use pain at all.”  

“So if it isn’t about being spanked, what is training?” Her eyes were dilated with arousal. I couldn’t wait for the damn flight to land. I wanted her desperately. Having her sleep next to me at my parents, her ass grinding into me as we spooned, and I couldn’t wait to get her all to myself.  

“It’s about focus.”  I was aware that it didn’t sound very exciting. “And awareness and trust.”

“How’s that different from a regular relationship?”

God, she was so smart, it was such a turn-on. “I guess it isn’t any different from the best kind of relationships. There’s a lot trust involved, and it’s more than just trusting someone with a riding crop. It’s a willingness to tell someone what you really want, and it’s about giving them the power to meet your needs.”

I pulled out my phone and flipped through my e-books, finding her a good basic reference book. “Read,” I instructed.

She grinned at me. “Trusting me with your phone,” she quipped, putting special emphasis on the word
trusting
. “I have to say I’m honoured.”

“Read, rabbit,” I chuckled. “There will be a test.”

***

Tatiana:

He looked at me as we made our way from the airport into the city. “How tired are you?” he asked me.  There was open heat in his eyes that promised pleasure.

There was no hesitation in my voice when I responded. “I’m not tired.” My voice sounded higher in pitch and somewhat breathless. I took a deep breath and tried for calmness. “What did you have in mind?”

Please, please, say sex,
I begged inwardly. I’d been curled up against his body every night for the last three days, and the most I could do was touch him a little bit. It had been the most trying three days of my life. Unused as I was to sexual desire, the frustration was doubly hard to take.

He grinned at me. “In Cork, I seem to recall a very beautiful woman tell me she wanted to be trained as a submissive,” he said. “No, let me correct that. She wanted to be trained as
my
submissive.” The note of possession was clear in his voice. “I thought we could start.”

Prickles of anticipation wound their way through my body, along with some nervous tension that I immediately banished. If I didn’t trust Liam perfectly, I wouldn’t have asked for this. For me, sexual curiosity only bloomed in an atmosphere of complete safety.

I nodded, and Liam shook his head. “I’d like all my instructions acknowledged verbally.” His voice had changed. It was smooth and dark and hard.

“Yes Sir,” I replied softly. Once again, as I said those words, I was enveloped in a feeling of serenity. It was so freeing to turn myself over to Liam.

“Very nice.” We’d pulled up in front of Casanova. “Why don’t you go upstairs to my apartment, shower and wait for me in my bedroom?” He glanced at his watch. “Will forty-five minutes be sufficient?”

I nodded, then remembered what he said to me about acknowledging his instructions. “Yes Sir.”

His lips twitched as he continued his instructions. “Kneel by the side of the bed, put your hands behind your back, and wait for me.”

“What should I be wearing, Sir?”

“Underwear,” he responded. “Any other questions?”

“No Sir.”

He pulled me towards him roughly, and wound his hands through my hair, kissing me on my lips with hunger and passion. “Such a good rabbit,” he said, nibbling at my lower lip, then nipping my tongue. “Are you going to be well-behaved, I wonder?”

At that moment, all I wanted to do was be obedient for him. “I’m going to try, Sir,” I breathed, and he smiled at me, warmth radiating from him.

“That’s all you ever need to do, rabbit. Give it your best try. Now, go. Time’s ticking.”

I nodded and headed to his apartment. My heart was beating in my chest.

***

Liam:

No matter what anyone said, the most important part of dominance and submission was the openness and the communication. I needed to know what turned Tia on. What she was afraid of, what she was intrigued by, what she wanted out of this.

We needed to discuss styles and expectations as well. I was obviously kink-inclined – I worked in a BDSM club, after all – but I didn’t want a full time submissive. I didn’t want a slave. What I wanted was something very much like what I had already with Tia, an easy, untroubled friendship, marked by laughter and conversation. But I also wanted a loving, committed relationship. Oh, and in the bedroom, I wanted to be her Dominant.  

Basically, I wanted to have my cake and eat it too.

I didn’t have any sex toys in my apartment. I never bothered; Casanova was better stocked than most stores. Had I been involved with someone seriously, I would have amassed a collection, of course, but it had been casual sex and nothing else ever since I moved to Venice. My writing career had occupied most of my time, and Casanova had occupied the rest.

Then I’d met Tia, and slowly fallen in love with her as we became friends, and all of last year had been filled with painful celibacy, as I ached for the woman who was upstairs in my bedroom, kneeling and waiting for me.

I grabbed a set of glass butt plugs from one of the cabinets, a vibrator, some tweezers-style nipple clamps, where I could adjust the ring to lessen the sting of the bite, some leather restraints for her wrists and her ankles and a leather collar. I didn’t need a collar to proclaim ownership, but sometimes, a new sub found the physical weight around their neck a helpful reminder of their submission.

I glanced at my watch. Forty five minutes were up, but I wanted to keep her waiting a few more minutes, not because I was being a dick, but because that quiet time of kneeling was an important transition point from the outside world.

Was I nervous? A little bit. I didn’t want to push Tia into something she didn’t want, and I really thought her worries about sexual compatibility were overblown. Two people’s kinks rarely lined up perfectly – there was usually plenty of room in the intersection for pleasure to be had.

But if I were being perfectly honest, I was kind of thrilled that she wanted to try exploring this with me, and I was determined to make sure this was an experience she would enjoy.

***

The instant I saw her kneeling by my bed, wearing a black lace bra and panties and nothing else, her hands locked behind her back, lifting her breasts out in offering, my dick jumped.
Should have jerked off, Callahan,
I thought. Oh, but control was going to be difficult.

She kept her eyes demurely on the floor as I walked towards her. “Look up,” I said. I wanted to see every emotion flicker through those eyes. “Very nice, Tia.” I bent down and brushed my lips across hers, the briefest of touches, assurance that I was pleased with her compliance with my directions.

“Thank you, Sir,” she exhaled.

I tossed the armful of toys on the bed, and then went across the room and sat on the chair in the corner. “Come here,” I ordered.

She made to rise, and I shook my head. “Crawl.”

She looked startled for a second, and then she smiled, a faint upturning of her lips that had me wondering what she was thinking. “Yes Sir,” she said, and crawled towards me on all fours like a particularly beautiful sinuous cat. When she reached the chair, she once again knelt on her haunches and clasped her hands behind her back.

Oh god, she was already sweet perfection, and we’d barely done anything yet. “Come here,” I bid her, my voice gruff, as I picked her up and positioned her on my lap. She relaxed into my shoulders, and I shook my head with a smile. “Sit up straight, rabbit,” I chided, and she smiled at me again and whispered an apology.

“Okay, rabbit. Let’s pause for a bit,” I told her. “I’m going to ask you some questions, and I need complete honesty from you.”

***

Tatiana:

I had three secrets; he already knew two. I only hoped the last one, the most painful one of them all, wouldn’t come up, because I was already too naked in front of Liam. And if he saw how much of me was just a shell slicked on over deep, gashing wounds, he would be kind. But he would want to run.

“If we were at Casanova,” he said, “I’d give you a very detailed form that would probe at all your hard and soft limits. But I don’t want to give you a form, I want us to talk. So tell me, what would you like to try? You saw Simona being punished, did that excite you?”

I nodded. “Yes Sir.”

“Did it scare you?”

“A little, Sir.”

“And do you want to be punished?” he probed.

“If you were doing the punishing,” I replied. My nipples hardened as I thought of Liam, carefully walking around me with a riding crop, letting it strike my skin in lightning quick, unpredictable strikes.

“She had an audience,” Liam pointed out. “Do you want one?”