Command Performance (21 page)

Hm. At least the cake was good, and dinner had been delicious. Kai and Constance’s home was a showplace, and apparently there was a dungeon upstairs. No, what had Mason called it? An
odella
.

“What’s the difference between a dungeon and an odella?” she’d asked.

“An odella is less dungeon-y.” Mason went on to explain about odalisques and some code Kai and Constance followed. It sounded completely fantastical. Finally he just said, “You’ll see.”

What she saw were five people who were beautiful and uninhibited, and utterly at ease with one another. Then there was her.

She tried to play along and fit in. She was determined to stuff down the jealousy and let the sexiness happen. Maybe by the end of the evening she’d be as comfortable with them as they were with each other. Maybe it only took a partner-swapping party to break the ice. Mason said they would split into couples. So that meant Kai... Or Jeremy...

Of course she’d be safe with them. They’d know just what to do, like Mason. She knew all that, but anxiety whispered inside her, even in the face of Jeremy’s disarming smile and Kai’s polite manner. She kind of wished they’d get the “real” party underway before she lost her nerve. Then, like a birthday wish come true, Rhiannon was saying her good nights, her mommy and daddy giving her kisses as the nanny whisked her out the door.

Kai cracked open champagne, pouring it into six flutes in the kitchen. The cake was cleared away, the dinner dishes left stacked by the sink. Everyone gathered around Mason, raising their glasses. Constance pressed one into her hand. Miri smiled at her and thanked her.
She can’t hear you, idiot.
But Mason had told her Constance could read lips, so maybe she heard after all.

They moved into the living room and sat down, shooting the shit for a while. Miri wondered if it was for her benefit, to give her time to get tipsy and chill down her nerves. Jeremy told some tales from his current movie set, then Constance signed a funny story about Kai turning the pool water orange by accident, translated from sign language by Kai, who interjected his own commentary.

Then Nell looked at Mason and Miri and asked how things were going with them. Mason started talking about his movie, and she was glad because all she had to share were her adventures as his sex student, and her grandma’s problems. Oh, and the fact that she didn’t think her dad would be able to make the house payment this month.

The room fell silent. She looked around, not sure if she’d missed something. Mason was looking at her.

“It’s up to you, baby. Do you want to play?”

Five pairs of eyes stared at her.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to,” Nell said when the silence spun out. “It’s really okay.”

“No, I want to.” Miri could feel herself blushing red. “It’s just that I’ve never done anything like this before. So I want to, if everyone will be patient with me. Or whoever...” She blushed hotter. Pretty soon her face would catch fire and burn down the Chandler’s beautiful home.

“Don’t worry,” Kai said. “We’re a really safe bunch of pervs. You know, condoms and communication and all that.”

“Sure.” Miri nodded like an idiot. “Of course.”

“She’ll be fine.” Mason looked around at his friends with a smile. “She’ll try anything once. That’s what she told me.”

Jeremy chuckled. “I like her already.”

“Shall we draw straws?” Nell asked. “I think maybe one swap will be enough for Miri’s first time.”

Mason nodded. “I think that’s a very sensible idea, Little Miss Sensible.”

She snorted, a funny sound coming from such a polished, gracious woman. “You’re lucky I’m so sensible, cause the rest of you are nuts.” She grimaced and looked at Miri. “In the nicest way possible, of course.”

“Why don’t you go fetch the straws, darling?” Jeremy said drily.

Constance jumped up to help Nell, leaving Miri sitting there surrounded by the three guys. She had a fleeting impulse to burst into hysterical laughter, an impulse she barely managed to put down.

“Are you okay with BDSM play too?” Mason asked.

She nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

He looked at the other two men. “Lollipops is our safeword.” Kai nodded soberly, and Jeremy looked faintly amused. “She hasn’t used it yet,” Mason added. “She’s pretty tough, but we haven’t done much hardcore stuff yet.”

Jeremy scratched one cheek, his smile widening. “Me and Kai promise not to gun right for her limits.” He winked at her. “There are other ways to have fun.”

She swallowed hard. Where was Nell with those damn straws?

As if on cue she came back in, Constance at her heels. “Okay, here’s how it goes. There are only two straws, and Miri picks. Long is Jeremy, short is Kai.”

“Hey,” Kai protested. “My cock is longer than his. Bigger too.”

“In your dreams,” Jeremy shot back.

“Boys, boys.” Nell held up a hand. “We knew you were going to fight about it. Jeremy’s the long straw because his name is longer.”

“My real name is Kaivalyan,” Kai muttered. Constance gave him a quelling look.

“Anyway,” Nell said. “Whoever Miri picks gets to play with her in the odella. Then Constance and I get whoever isn’t our spouse. One of the couples can grab some toys from the odella to play in the guest room, and the other couple gets to play downstairs in the bad girl room.”

“You have a bad girl room?” Mason asked Kai. “Since when?”

“Since two months ago when we ‘remodeled’ that creepy storage area in the basement.” Kai shot a lurid look at his wife. “For the record, it was Constance’s idea.”

“I bet.” Jeremy laughed.

“I call the bad girl room,” Mason said, “and I will fight anyone who opposes me.”

Nell and Constance looked at each other and rolled their eyes. “Come on and pick,” Nell said to Miri. “Before a riot breaks out.”

Miri swallowed one last sip of her champagne and set the glass on the table beside her. Long straw, Jeremy. Short straw, Kai. Okay. She took a deep breath and chose the straw on the left. It was clearly the long one. Nell smirked and did some flirty eyes at Kai. “You’re mine, lover boy.”

And Constance was Mason’s, down in the bad girl room.
Don’t be jealous. She’s married to someone else. This is just play.
She lifted her eyes to look at Jeremy. He smiled at her, not moving, not approaching. Not rushing her. She was thankful for that. He really,
really
was handsome. Almost scarily handsome. His smile broadened and she melted a little bit. Wow, Jeremy Gray. Okay.

“So, we’re upstairs in the odella?” she asked. She knew they were. She just said it to have something to say.

“We’ll come too,” Nell said, taking her hand. “Me and Kai need to get some toys to take to the other room. Wait until you see the odella. It’s
so
cool.”

Mason slid an arm around her waist and leaned to give her a kiss. “Have fun,” he whispered in her ear. “Jeremy’s really good at this stuff.” A little louder he said, “We’re off to the bad girl room. Later, peeps.”

Constance grabbed a notebook off the counter and the two of them headed toward the back of the house.
Don’t be jealous. Don’t be jealous!

Nell guided her forward, up the stairs, while Jeremy and Kai trailed behind them. So this was what all the tabloids had screeched about. It felt about as sordid as a panty raid at summer camp. It felt fun and exciting, but pretty harmless. It really was okay.

Nell threw open the door to the odella and Miri gasped. “Cool” didn’t even cover it. It was beautiful, breathtaking, ethereal, tricked out in burnt orange and aubergine scarves and wall hangings, with a large curtained bed in the center adorned with satin sheets. “There’s more over here,” Nell said, urging her to an adjoining room set up as a BDSM play room. She showed Miri around while Kai helped himself to an assortment of implements and toys from an armoire on the far wall. There was another bed...well...more of a platform with a smooth, taut black sheet. The headboard was a criss-cross lattice rigged with several bondage attachment points. The footboard was lower and padded. Miri could guess for what. It was perfect bending-over height.

There was also a spanking bench, a cross, and an iron cage in the corner. Like their dungeon at home, there were random attachment points in the ceiling and walls. Miri guessed they all had a purpose.

“Wow.” It was all she could think of to say. “Wow.”

Nell squeezed her hand and smiled. “You’re going to have fun. And please don’t worry about, you know... Jeremy is my husband and I adore him, but I’m perfectly happy sharing him for the evening.”

“You don’t—” Miri couldn’t keep the question back. “You don’t ever feel jealous?”

Nell thought a moment. “In the beginning, sometimes I felt jealous. But it turned him on so much, and that turned me on, and then we brought all that excitement and tension home to our bedroom and it ended up bringing us closer. Once I let go of the jealousy, I was able to simply enjoy it. I’ve come to love the occasional variety, and it’s close friends, our little closed group, which makes it more okay to me. But in the end, of course...” She stole a glance at her husband, consulting at the armoire with Kai. “He’s the love of my life. We’re just that strong. Nothing will ever change it.”

“That’s wonderful. Wow.”

Nell blushed, looking a little embarrassed. “Well, enough blathering. In the end, you have to try it for yourself.”

Then Nell was off, summoned by Kai’s beckoning finger. His other arm was laden with a set of cuffs, several whips, and a pretty scary paddle. The handsome dark-featured man took Nell’s hand as they sailed out the door. It closed behind them with a click that sounded really loud. When she turned back, Jeremy was undressing. “Music?” he asked. “Or silence? Which would you prefer?”

“What do you prefer?”

He smiled, draping his shirt over a wooden valet stand in the corner. Or maybe it was another spanking bench. “I prefer silence,” he said. “It will help me hear you better. It will help me gauge things, since we’ve never played before.”

That sounded like a good thing, so she nodded. He started unbuckling his pants, and at that point she realized she was standing there totally dressed. “Do—Do you want me to—?”

“Yes. Everything, if you don’t mind.”

She unbuttoned her shirt, fumbling a little, and pulled it over her head. She could do this part. She was an actress. She’d gotten naked in front of people before. Hell, she’d gotten naked in front of Mason the first day they’d met on the set of
Revelation
. By the time she took off her pants, Jeremy was stark naked. He nodded toward the wooden valet thingie. “You can put your clothes over there.”

To put them “over there” she had to walk right past him. As if sensing her shyness, he walked to the wall and played with the lights until they were dimmer, but still bright enough to see. She watched him furtively as she arranged her clothes over top of his jeans and cotton shirt. Apparently the man didn’t bother with underwear. Holy hell. He probably couldn’t fit them over his package. His cock was lying down but it was thick already. She was kind of afraid of what it would be like upstanding and hard.

“So,” he said in a businesslike voice. “I’m going to start slow, since this is our first time playing together. I’ll try to make you feel good. I’d like you to trust me to do that.”

“I do. I mean, I will. I mean...” Her gaze dropped to his cock again. “I mean, yes.”

“Okay.” He smiled again. Somehow that smile was much brighter and more gorgeous in this half-lit room than emblazoned across a sixty-foot screen. “So, Miri. I would like you to bend over the foot of the bed and lace your hands at the back of your neck.”

“Yes, Sir.” The words slipped out, prompted by nothing more than the voice he used to address her, the same type of voice Mason used when they played together. Apparently it was the right thing to say, because he replied, “Good girl.”

Miri scurried forward and bent over the padded edge of the quasi-bed. It was too firm to be a real bed. She rested her front on it and tried to figure out what it was made of. Foam rubber, maybe? She put her hands at the back of her neck while Jeremy visited the armoire again. God, she’d love an hour or so to look through those shelves and drawers. She closed her eyes and waited, her mind drifting to lurid places. A short time later, she felt the heat of him on the backs of her thighs. He said nothing, just nudged her legs wider. Through the nerves, through the curiosity, through yes, the embarrassment, she felt a pulse of erotic fear—erotic being the operative word.

Jeremy started out with a riding crop. She recognized the fiery little slaps. Like Mason, he warmed her up first, landing slightly-ouchy-but-not-too-bad strikes on her ass and the backs of her thighs. When they started to feel harder she fidgeted, drawing her legs up at one particularly sting-y swat. God, the crop. Her nemesis.

“Toes on the floor,” Jeremy said sternly. “Legs spread. Don’t make me say it again.”

She felt a weird sense of guilt that his reprimand turned her on so much. The strap came next, a slap of fire against her already-aching cheeks. She was definitely feeling the sting now. Jeremy didn’t hit as hard as Mason, but they were solid cracks delivered right to the part of her ass that was most sensitive. He’d given her twenty with the crop, and now seemed to be building to another twenty. She’d taken as much or more from Mason during their sessions, so she could handle this. Miri cried out at the worst ones, but she tried hard not to move, an effort that was rewarded by a soft approving sound from Jeremy. Something about that small sound settled right between her legs in a warm, fuzzy throb. He ran his hands over her ass cheeks and then down between her legs. She tensed, she couldn’t help it.

“It’s okay,” he said. He paused a moment and she knew he was giving her a chance to stop him if she wanted to. Uh, no. It was incredibly hot being spanked and groped by a near-stranger. A
safe
stranger, but still.

Jeremy parted her pussy lips and delved forward with a light, skillful touch until he found her clitoris. She was so wet, engorged and sensitive to the lightest touch, and he clearly knew how to use his fingers. She moaned against the sheet, ashamed but helpless to stop it. That moan was followed by the first pangs of confusion. He was turning her on—but that scared her. She was afraid this man could very easily make her lose control.