An Expert in Domination (5 page)

She chose that moment to shift her weight, so that her thigh rested right on his crotch and her breast pressed against his chest. She looked at him, and her eyes widened. Had she noticed? Would she be offended? He wasn’t going to apologize.

Finally, she opened her mouth and said in a put-on Mae West voice, “So, is that a whip handle in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?”

“Well,” he drawled back, “it isn’t so much see you.” He slid his hands down her waist and gripped her around the hips, so that his fingers came to rest in the sensitive skin between thigh and stomach that some people found so ticklish. Tickling wasn’t his intent; he just wanted his touch to feel intense. “As happy to feel you.”

“Well then,” she said, still in the accent. She shifted her weight again, straddling his leg now, her thigh pressing up against his erection. “Then you can do some feeling.”

He slid his hands back up to cup her breasts. The blanket fell from her shoulders. She reached for it, which caused her to look behind her. She seemed startled to find herself in a room full of people.

“Forget they were there, little hedonist?”

“Kinda,” she said, pulling the blanket back over her shoulders. “Can’t believe I’m doing this in the middle of a crowded room. It’s like an orgy or something.”

“We could go someplace private, if you like.”
I’m not teaching her good habits. Playing in public is safer. Going into rooms with strange men isn’t.
As he felt her nipples harden against his thumbs, he rationalized he could tell her that later.

She moaned delightfully, tugging at his heart. He wanted to hear more. But he steeled himself to slow down.

“Sophia, tell me what brings you here to Bondage Ranch.” The fact she’d never had a flogging before made him wonder. Spankings and bondage were usually entry points to BDSM, but almost everyone who’d been to a club or a play party experienced a flogging at some point, unless they were a top so resistant to bottoming they couldn’t bring themselves to find out what it felt like.

“My friend. Remy. I met him at a burn, and he said they had a great bonfire here with lots of naked dancing and the like.”

“What’s a burn?” he asked. He was always interested in learning new things, and it occurred to him that Sophia had perhaps not less experience but simply different experience.

“Oh. Well, we set up a fire, and there’s dancing and art and music…”

He smiled. “Like Burning Man?” The large, fifty-thousand-person event in the Nevada desert was popular with a few people he knew.

Sophia’s eyes lit up. “Yes! Exactly. Have you been?”

He shook his head. “No.”

The disappointment in her face was obvious. “And you live so close!”

“It’s not really that close. Distances out West are different.” Well, not so much the distances but the size of the states. But he wasn’t going to pedantically correct himself.

“I guess.” She relaxed a bit in his arms. “Anyway, I’m not really into this whole BDSM thing, but…”

Ah, there might be worlds of possibility in that last word. He raised an eyebrow and prompted her to continue. “But?”

“Well, what you did to me on that post was interesting. My butt still hurts, and I ought to be all sorts of pissed at you. Why aren’t I?”

“Because it felt good?”

“I wouldn’t say good exactly.”

He put his hand on her hip and then slid it back just enough to make his intentions clear. “May I?”

She hesitated, then nodded. He slipped his hand around to her ass, where he had cropped her. He caressed her. “If you wouldn’t say good, what would you say?” asked Colby.

“Well, it was warm. And somewhere in there, well—have you ever taken molly?”

“Molly?”

“It’s kind of like ecstasy.”

He shook his head and scanned her eyes. Her pupils looked normal. Nothing of her behavior was out of the ordinary for a woman experiencing an impact play scene, although the flight into the rain was a bit odd. Still, he’d seen it before, where a sub just needed to get away and process by herself, or thought she did anyway. Still, his hand froze. He didn’t want to be playing with someone who was high.

If Sophia noticed his change in reaction, she didn’t reveal it. “I took it a couple of times, over a decade ago. The first time was good, and the second time made me decide never to take drugs again. Anyway, the flogging wasn’t quite like that, but it was a little. Even though I felt sore, I also felt kind of high. It was hard to sort out in my head.”

He breathed a sigh of relief and hoped it wasn’t too obvious. “And you’re wondering whether you want to experience it again?”

“Yeah. Like I said. The first time was good. The second time? Who knows, right? It’s crazy, letting someone do something like that to me.”

He smiled. “Some would say the same for going out into the middle of nowhere and dancing around a fire.”

She chuckled. “Some would.” She snuggled up against him. “So let’s call it a maybe. Most of my life is pretty quiet. Working, helping my kids with their homework, and reading books once they’re asleep. It’s hectic, but it’s incredibly damn normal.”

“You’re not married, are you?” He ’wasn’t going to help her cheat, although an open relationship was another matter. He could rationalize that a flogging wasn’t cheating, but in his heart, it felt like it.

She shook her head. “Not for quite a while. Still, he did me a favor. He taught me that all men are bastards. And here I am, cursed with being straight.”

“That’s a little cynical, don’t you think?”

“Oh, I’m a cynical woman. If it bothers you, run now. What makes you tick, anyway, Colby?”

This business of a sub calling him by his first name would take some getting used to. Or maybe she wasn’t a sub. But she sure felt like one. A tough nut to crack. She needed a good man to show her affection, and he wasn’t going to be able to do that over a weekend. Especially with a busy schedule. All he could hope to do was broaden her perspective a little. Defining his objectives more clearly helped release the tension in his shoulders. It always helped. That was the benefit of the limited contracts he liked to use in his relationships. They kept the goals attainable.

She was still waiting for an answer to her question.

“I don’t suppose in all that reading you do you’ve read any of my books?”

She shook her head.

It had been a while since he’d played with someone who hadn’t. It wasn’t that he was an egotist; it was that women who had were more likely to seek him out. And it simplified things not to have to explain his philosophy. The goal had always been to educate the community, but the fact that they served as a very long personal introduction didn’t hurt. “I’m not looking for love or a lifetime relationship or anything like that.”

“Are
you
married?”

“Divorced. Also for quite a while. Maybe I’m a little cynical myself.”

“Kids?”

He frowned. He really didn’t want to talk about that. “I don’t get to see them. Apparently I’m a kinky pervert who can’t be trusted around children. Even though—”
Even though I was the one who raised them when they were little, and I never once laid a hand in anger on any of them. Even though I was faithful, and she wasn’t. Even though I never touched a woman without her consent.
“We’re not talking about that.”

She reached up and stroked her face. “I can’t imagine not being able to be with my kids,” she said softly. “How that must hurt.”

For a moment, he wanted to spill the whole story for her. She looked so sympathetic. But he wasn’t ready to trust like that. “We’re not talking about it.” What to change the subject to? “What kind of books do you read?”

She chuckled. “Mostly young adult fiction, actually. I try to keep up with what my eldest is reading, and the books are usually fun. Now and then I’ll read a romance, but I think
Eragon
is more realistic.”

He hadn’t read it, but he seemed to remember that the book had a dragon on the cover. On the good side, she wasn’t expecting love, so he wouldn’t disappoint. “Well, then, since romance is a fairy tale, how about a weekend of fun?”

She grinned at him. “Now you’re talking my language. But I get the feeling you’re some kind of celebrity, and I don’t share so well. If you’re planning to squeeze me into a weekend filled with other girls, I’m likely to get ornery.”

He chuckled. “I’m willing to promise three days of faithfulness if you are,” he said. “I don’t promise not to touch anyone, but I won’t pair off with them or fuck them behind your back.”

“Three days, huh? I like the way you bowl a girl over with big, crazy plans. But I don’t promise to want any more flogging.”

He smiled softly. “I don’t promise to make it all about what you want. And yet, I will make sure you are pleasured.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I told you I’m no submissive.”

“For three days, would you like to give it a try?”

“Why would I?”

“Because I’ll show you new things, and it will be a glorious exploration. Because I know what I’m doing, and if we’re dancing for three days, it’s sensible to have me lead.”

She stared at him for a long time.

He stared back.
Do I sound arrogant? But I do know what I’m talking about and what I’m doing. And if you let me, I’m going to make you come until your insides ache from it.

“Oh, what the hell. The weather forecast doesn’t look that great anyway. Might as well spend the time indoors with someone freaky.”

Freaky? He didn’t think of himself that way, and he couldn’t stop his face from darkening.

She seemed to see it and shrug. “I need a way to bail if I hate it. A safe word.”

“Of course. Thunderstorm.”

“Thunderstorm?”

“As in what you run out into when you get scared.”

“I wasn’t scared.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“Maybe,” she admitted. “Fine. Do I have to call you Sir?”

He shook his head.
This one is going to take a different approach. And the best way to do that is to take something she already does and turn it into a command.
“No. Call me Colby. Say my name with respect, and we’ll be fine. Say it with mere familiarity, and there will be consequences. Understood?”

“Yes, Colby. What if you can’t tell?”

“You’ll just have to make sure I’m sure, then, won’t you?”

She thought about that for a moment. “I suppose I will.” She paused, and then a little smile played in her eyes as she added, “Colby.”

“Now, would you rather play in public or in my room?”

She cocked her ear a moment and then sighed. “It’s still raining, isn’t it? So outdoors isn’t a possibility. I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but I really barely know you. Maybe your reputation is such that girls can go to your room without hesitating, but for me, well, it’s safer here.”

Smart girl. He didn’t know why that made him proud—her intelligent caution wasn’t anything he’d taught her. Still, he liked playing with strong women. And truth to tell, he wasn’t averse to showing off.

“Ever been tied up?”

“Once. With scarves. I got free.”

Of course you did.
“Spanked?”

“Yep. That’s fun. This one time I got spanked while I was tickling this guy, and he was trying to wiggle away and whack my ass, but he kept laughing instead. I ended up leaving him on the ground.”

Oh, that’s so not going to happen to me.
“Done any other kind of BDSM?”

“Scratching, biting.” She shrugged innocently. “I just can’t help myself sometimes.”

In other words, she’s given as good as she’s gotten, or maybe more.
“Got it. Let’s go, little hedonist, and we’ll play some.”

* * * *

What have I gotten myself into? Sophia asked herself as she climbed out of Colby’s very comfortable arms, away from his snuggly chest, to stand up naked except for a blanket wrapped around her. Now Colby was maneuvering her toward a frame made of dark wood. They brushed past a woman leading a naked man around by a leash attached to his cock, and Sophia would have stopped to gawk if Colby hadn’t guided her on with a firm arm around her waist.

The frame was simple, a couple of posts with supports to hold it up and a crossbar eighteen inches over her head with big metal rings set in it at regular intervals, a foot or so apart. A thick pad, like she’d seen at wrestling events when she was in high school, was underneath the frame, and it was squishy to walk on.

“First lesson,” said Colby. “Kneel here.”

“Kneel?” she asked. She was no expert, but even she could see that the frame was set up for a standing person.

“I need to get my rope. And other people will want to use this station. By kneeling under it, you’ll stake our claim to use the frame while I fetch my toys.”

“Can’t I just stand and look natural?” She aped a pose next to the frame that she hoped looked seductive. Even in her blanket, which she held in place to keep from falling.

“No.” He grabbed the blanket and pulled hard, jerking it out of her hands. In a moment, she was naked, and he dropped the blanket on the mat. “Now. Kneel.”

She stared at him. She didn’t obey any man, particularly one as arrogant as Colby. But she had agreed to something, she wasn’t quite sure what, for the weekend. It was either say the word he’d given her—thunderstorm—or kneel. Either one was giving in. She gritted her teeth and bent her knees. At least kneeling shielded her pussy from view. She started to fold her arms over her chest as well, and that got a cold glare. She sighed.

“While you are kneeling, I want you to think about why kneeling might be appropriate. And what do think you are supposed to say when you receive orders?”

“Um, yes, Master?” She couldn’t say it without a touch of irony. It seemed so trite and belonging to some other century.

“I am not your Master. Never call a Dom that without permission. It implies that you are in a relationship with him. Remember what we agreed.”

Oh. “Yes, Colby.”

His face softened. “Good girl.”

She would normally slug a date for saying that. Okay, maybe not slug, but give him one of her patented looks that could kill. But Colby turned away before she could deliver a withering glance, and she was left alone, naked, kneeling, and waiting. She put her hands in her lap—surely that was allowed, and if it happen to put her arms over her nipples, that was all to the better.