Clifftop Fantasies [BDSM Menage Fantasies] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (30 page)

It was an echo of Jane’s earlier comment, and Allie felt herself tensing again. “What pictures?”

“Well, I have some ideas about that.” He smiled and came back to put an arm around her shoulders. “Do you trust me?”

She allowed her trepidation to show on her face. “What did you have in mind?” As if she didn’t have a pretty good idea already.

He shook his head. “I asked if you trusted me.”

“Then yes, I guess—I mean yes.”

“Okay. In that case, I have something for you.” He put a hand in his pocket. “Are you willing to wear my collar for the evening?”

“Of course.” Her eyes went wide.

“Then please kneel in front of me.” His voice was deep and soft, and the air between them seemed to thicken. Allie slowly lowered herself to her knees, putting her hands behind her back instinctively and raising her eyes to his face.

He was smiling in a serious way. “You are so beautiful, Allie. I am honored that you are willing to be my lover and my submissive. This is to signify our relationship and remind us of the bond that we are forging. I had it made especially for you.” He pulled a chain from his pocket and let it dangle in front of her face. She gasped. It was intricate and ropelike, made with interwoven silver and black rings.

“It’s the loveliest thing I’ve ever seen,” she told him, unable to take her eyes off it. He smiled and put it around her neck, fastening it with a small, heart-shaped lock. He pocketed the key and put a hand under her chin.

“It may be a little early to say this, but I love you, Allie.” He bent down and kissed her deeply and sensuously. Without waiting for an answer, he pulled her to her feet and turned her toward the house. “Now go and make sure that everything is ready. Send Brad here on your way, please. But you are not allowed back out here until I say so.”

Allie found Brad standing in the yard, talking to Jane. There was nothing suspicious in the way they were standing or laughing, but Allie felt a stab of worried concern. Brad had assured her that he had no interest in sleeping with other women, but Allie wasn’t at all sure that Jane would respect that, and as she said, she could probably be quite persuasive in that area. It was completely unreasonable to feel jealous over the way that she flirted with Brad, Allie knew. Jane probably flirted with every man she knew, and Brad had every right to look for another partner. But she told herself that it would be different if it was anyone other than Jane. There was just something about that woman that she didn’t trust.

She passed along Karl’s message to Brad, and as he walked away, two women came around the side of the house. They were wearing old clothes and chatting cheerfully, and it took Allie a minute to recognize Beth and april from the club. When she did she was amazed at how different—how
normal—
they looked. They might have been two housewives coming over to swap recipes and drink coffee instead of a lesbian couple who spent their weekends dressed in leather, attending kinky parties.

Behind them was Charlie and the man Karl had called Conrad. Allie had just been thinking how nice it was to have a community of people who would come and help with things like barn painting or to just hang out for an afternoon, but the sight of these two was a jarring note. She didn’t want to like or trust him, but Karl seemed to, and he was so friendly that it was hard to suspect him of plotting with Jane to get her house away from her. Still, she had promised her men that she would see what Charlie had in mind. She didn’t like the idea of having her pictures rereleased, but there wasn’t the same compelling reason not to anymore. If she was going to be kinky and polyamorous and run a sex-positive business, then she had to come to terms with nudity, even if it was her own.

She stepped forward and greeted Beth and april, surprised when they grabbed her for hugs. Jane had run to Charlie as if he was her long-lost daddy returning from war. He gave Allie a smile, but Jane had a firm grasp of his arm and was chattering away animatedly as she led him past, Conrad following behind.

“As you can see, we’re gearing up for a barn-painting party,” she heard Jane saying, but there was a fresh group of people coming up, so Allie went to introduce herself to them.

“It’s kind of odd welcoming you to my house when you probably know it better than I do,” she confessed to a grandmotherly woman who had introduced herself as Irene.

Irene laughed and put an arm around Allie’s shoulder. “We’re just happy to see someone opening the place back up. It’s such a beautiful property. It was a shame when Master Walker—your father—shut himself away from the community.” She shook her head, looking sad and serious. “We were all willing to help him, but he just seemed to give up. He wouldn’t even let people in the house toward the end.” Irene looked up as Jane approached them. Her eyes narrowed a little and her voice was cold as she said, “Hello, Jane.”

“Irene, good to see you. Thanks so much for coming. We’re getting everyone together over there to divide up the jobs for today.” Jane ushered the older woman off, putting a hand on Allie’s arm as she started to follow. Then she waved her fingers at three other people who were coming around the side of the house and pointed them toward the barn as well. “Allie, you won’t believe the news I have!”

“What news?” Allie pushed down a stab of annoyance. She should be the one to greet people and thank them for coming to help, but Jane seemed determined to establish herself as hostess. Now she was pulling Allie off to the side, not even giving her time to say hello to the newcomers.

“I had a great idea,” Jane was saying, almost bouncing in her excitement. “I told Charlie that he should do a photo shoot of the way you’ve been remodeling the house, and he agreed! He loves the idea of featuring us as female entrepreneurs in a male-dominated industry. It’ll be
great
publicity!”

“But—” Allie began. There were so many things wrong with what Jane had just said that she wasn’t sure where to start. Before she could pick one, Jane had given her a quick hug, gushing, “I know! Isn’t it great? I’ll get Brad to bring out drinks,” and rushed off. Allie heard her instructing Brad to get the cooler from the kitchen and issuing commands to the others as if it was already her house.

Allie joined the group, determined to take charge of the situation. She had always been easily overpowered by people with strong, forceful personalities like Jane, but it was time for that to stop and for her to establish her authority. She had opened her mouth to address the group when her attention was distracted by the sight of steven and several other people who seemed to be stripping.

Jane gave a merry laugh and turned to her. “You don’t mind if some of the submissives work naked, do you?” She slapped steven’s ass as he bent over to put his shoes back on after removing his jeans. “It’s not like they could be seen from the road or anything. And I know our boy here
hates
to get his clothes dirty. Don’t you?”

He stood up and gave her a look that Allie couldn’t interpret. She forced herself to stop staring at the four men and two women who were looking around for the best place to stash their piles of clothing. Taking a step forward, she raised her voice to make sure everyone knew she was addressing the group.

“Hello, and thank you all for coming out today,” she began, putting out a hand to stop Jane, who was opening her mouth to say something else. “I am Allie Walker, for those of you who don’t know. My father was Allen—I mean Master Walker—and I’ve inherited his house. I want you to know you’re welcome to work in whatever state of undress you wish, as long as you’re comfortable. Please let me know if you need anything.”

There was a murmur of acknowledgement and congratulations from the group. Allie started to continue, but Brad joined them, setting the drink cooler on the ground next to her, and Jane immediately opened it and began handing around bottles of water.

“Now, make sure you keep well hydrated,” she was instructing the group at large. “It’s going to be unseasonably warm today. Let’s not have any cases of heat stroke. We don’t want the poor ambulance drivers to go into shock when they come back here.”

Amid the chuckles, Allie made another determined effort. “I just want to say that Brad and Karl and I are very grateful to you all—”

“Where is Karl?” Jane interrupted, and Allie turned to her, about to ask angrily if she could address her own guests, when she heard Karl’s voice behind her.

“Here I am. Thanks, everyone, for coming.” He stepped up and put an arm around Allie’s shoulder and a hand on Brad’s arm. Jane seemed to be starting to say something else, but Karl drowned her out effortlessly. “Many of you met Allie last weekend at the club. This is her boy Brad. The three of us have entered into a partnership and are opening the house back up to the community, with plans to turn it into a kinky bed-and-breakfast resort. To do that, however, we’re going to need the support of the local community. We want to think of this place as belonging to all of us. It’s a great start to have people helping us get the barn ready for public use again. We want you to feel free to start having meetings and parties out here, and I’m planning to start photography and painting lessons again.”

There was an excited buzz, and Karl took over handing out brushes and giving instructions. Brad came to stand next to Allie, his face puzzled.

“What’s with the nudists?” he asked in a low voice.

“I guess they don’t want to get their clothes dirty.” Allie smiled at him. “It’s not a bad idea. Should I have you join them?”

He gave her a startled glance then decided she was joking and turned back to the odd collection of people who were sorting themselves into small clusters of work groups. “At least it’ll make for some interesting scenery. I have a feeling this is going to be quite a day.”

Chapter 26

They worked most of the day, stopping at noon to eat pizza in the backyard. By five o’clock the barn had a very nice coat of bright-red paint and looked as if it was ready for cattle and hay to be brought in for the winter.

“It’ll take another coat, but this one needs to dry first,” Karl said, standing on the back porch with Allie, contemplating the results of their work. “They’ve done a good job. If you have Brad set up the grill, I’ll go into town and pick up some food for dinner.”

“That’s a great idea.” Allie smiled at him, and he kissed her before going back into the house. Allie sat on the top step, waving at two naked men who came over to sit on the ground under the tree next to their stacks of jeans and T-shirts. They looked completely comfortable, as if they spent all of their time wandering around other people’s backyards in the nude. Their names, she’d learned, were Tony and Chuck, and they were part of a triad with Dave, a large, serious-looking guy with a beard. She didn’t know if it was the nudity or just their personalities, but somehow they had kept the group laughing all day. They’d had so much fun playing and joking that she had been half tempted to take her own clothes off and join in. But the thought still terrified her. Maybe someday I’ll be able to lose my inhibitions and walk around naked in a group of people, she thought, but not today.

Charlie came out of the barn and walked up to join her on the porch, smiling. “Quite a party,” he said as a greeting.

“Yes, it was.” Allie regarded him curiously. “You didn’t need to work, you know,” she said.

He laughed. “I know, but to be honest, I haven’t had this much fun in a long time. I hope you don’t mind, but I got a few shots of the progress over the course of the day.”

She looked at him in alarm, but he held up his hands. “Don’t worry. I know the protocols. I didn’t include any people, at least not in ways they’d be recognizable. But I did want to talk to you about a couple of ideas. I know you’re uncomfortable with the topic, but you really should hear me out.”

“Yes, I know.” Allie sighed in spite of the fact that she knew this was probably a good thing. It was just that it would give Jane even more power over her.

He looked at her in surprise. “Did you already talk to Conrad?”

“No, but Jane told me.” She looked around as she said it, realizing for the first time that she hadn’t actually seen Jane in hours.

“How did she know about it?”

Allie stopped scanning the backyard and turned to look at him. “Wasn’t it her idea?”

He shook his head in bewilderment. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I brought Conrad here to talk with you. He’s with an exotic travel magazine, and they want to do an article about your new business, including extensive pictures of how you’ll be decorating the place. I also want to talk to you about a new photo shoot.”

Allie was confused. “You mean me and Jane as the owners? Because—”

He looked stunned. “So it really worked? You’re taking Jane on as a partner? Are you crazy?”

They stared at each other. Finally Allie began again, slowly. “I thought that
you
and Jane were partners.”

Charlie blinked at her. “Me and Jane? Hell, no. Where did you get that idea? Never mind answering that. I can imagine. She told me you were giving her half interest in the place and making her the manager. I’ve wanted to have a talk with you about that. That didn’t work out so well for your dad.”

“Give her half interest? Not a chance!” Allie shook her head. “Although Karl is going to help us run it.” In spite of the fact that she wasn’t really sure where Charlie’s loyalties lay either, she found herself watching him to see if there was any kind of reaction to that statement.