Ivorie's Surprise [Golden Dolphin] (Siren Publishing Classic) (4 page)

He tries not to be unfair. Now that’s news to me!
Actually Ivorie thought it sounded very reasonable…and totally unlike Drew Blessingame. She didn’t know what to think. “That sounds fine, sir. I reserve the right to change my mind at any time.” She knew she had to assert herself with him, at least to some extent, or she would end up being his doormat for the next three weeks.

“Call me Drew. Good. In case you haven’t noticed, you are not a prisoner aboard a slave ship. You can leave at any time. Let’s order dinner and have a pleasant evening—maybe get to know each other in another context. I am willing to answer any other questions you have.”

Ivorie didn’t know if she could ask any intelligent questions without burning up with embarrassment. She hadn’t been living in a cave. She was a New Yorker after all, and she had heard of several underground fetish clubs and of the book
Fifty Shades of Grey
, although she had not yet read it. Now she wished she had read it. Who would have thought that could be considered educational! “Where does all of this activity take place? No one is running around naked or anything. Everyone looks normal. Uh, I didn’t mean to imply…”

“They are normal, just maybe a little more sexually adventurous than the average person. To answer your question, there is a large room that’s called a dungeon. I understand it used to be the cinema before the current owners bought the boat. That is a public venue. Anyone can scene there or watch the action. A sexual encounter with BDSM overtones, possibly with a role-playing element, is called a scene. There are also some smaller rooms called theme rooms. Those are private and can be dressed to fit a particular fantasy. There is also a small wardrobe department for costumes.”

“Costumes? Really? What kind of roles?” She was starting to find this interesting.

Drew laughed. “I can see that caught your attention. It’s not all whips and chains, you know. Some people don’t do the D/s or Dominant/submissive thing at all. My friend Jamie and his wife love to role-play and dress up in costumes. Pirate, cabin boy, Scottish warlord, French maid, all different kinds of things that people might have read about in a book or fantasized about—capture fantasies, forced seduction. Some of them are just for laughs, and some are more serious.”

“I can see how that might be fun,” she said uncertainly. Then she laughed. “I’m really not a prude. You just took me completely by surprise!”

“Well, for me it’s mostly for fun and games. Greg Dempsey and Natasha Romanova, the security officer and his assistant who run the BDSM club aboard, are into the somewhat more extreme things like bondage and whipping. But you have to remember, they
both
want to do it. Sometimes I think she’s more extreme than he would like.”

“Really? They both look normal.” She blushed again. “I keep saying that. I don’t mean…”

“It’s okay. I know you were blindsided by this whole concept, especially in relation to me. I sort of fell into the lifestyle while I was in college. Jamie Devereau and I roomed together at Harvard. I visited his family home in New Orleans and his father’s BDSM club in the French Quarter many times over the years we were at school. That’s an impressionable time of life. To be honest, it’s a preference for me, not an addiction.”

“Do you think I will see…”

“Not unless you want to. If you decide you might be interested in seeing for yourself what goes on, let me know, and I will take you into the dungeon.”

A steward approached the table. “Can I freshen your drinks or take your dinner order, sir?”

“Yes, fresh drinks, please. Ivorie, do you know what you would like for dinner, or would you like to see a menu?”

“I think a rare steak and a baked potato with Caesar salad would be lovely.” She caught herself checking out the steward’s wrist for the rubber bracelets and saw that he indeed wore a green one together with several thinner, colored bracelets. She would have to read the information packet when she got back to her cabin.

Drew ordered their dinners, and their conversation drifted toward more conventional topics. Ivorie had to admit that away from the office Drew could be very pleasant company, and he certainly was easy to look at. She was still a little nervous in his company, waiting for the other shoe to drop so to speak, but he had definitely been humanized in her view. That was really a huge step considering she had never viewed him as anything but a beautiful demon in a three-piece suit.

When they had finished dinner and shared a decadent “Death by Chocolate” dessert, he said, “Would you care to take a walk around the deck? It’s a beautiful evening.”

“That would be nice. I would love to walk off some of that chocolate.”

* * * *

Drew offered his hand as she rose from her seat. They stepped out the starboard doors onto the deck. The sun had set some time ago, and the moon had risen. The sky was a canopy of sparkling stars. Drew pointed out some of the constellations. He took her hand in his, and she didn’t seem to be uncomfortable with the contact.

“Do you know what that bright star is?”

“That’s Venus. And that’s the Big Dipper and the North Star.” He continued to hold her hand, and they started walking. After a few times around the main deck, Drew turned her toward one of the wide lounges. “Let’s just sit for a while.” After they were seated and had relaxed in companionable silence for a few minutes, he asked, “How are you feeling about all of this? Not uncomfortable, I hope.”

“No…more curious than I would have expected, but I’m not horrified or anything. I’m not planning on grabbing my suitcases and the next tender to the dock, if that’s what you want to know.”

He smiled. “It was a concern. Believe it or not, I have some serious work to do while on board, and I really do need your help.”

“Well, in that case, maybe we should call it a night.” He could see she was anxious about what his reaction would be. Even though he was not really ready to retire to his suite for the evening, he didn’t want to give her any cause to be more nervous than she already was, or he might still find himself without an assistant.

Drew thought maybe cutting the evening short was for the best. Ivorie had been bombarded with a lot of unexpected information in a short amount of time, and she had to be a little on edge over the whole situation. He walked her to her cabin door. After she had put her security card in the door lock, he turned her around, pulled her into his chest and kissed her cheek. He was glad that she didn’t struggle or pull away. “I’ll see you for breakfast in my suite. How about ten o’clock? Tomorrow is Sunday, after all. I think we can relax the office schedule a little on weekends.”

“Okay. Ten o’clock. Good night, Drew.”

Ivorie walked into her cabin and immediately leaned back against the closed door. Drew’s close proximity all evening, him holding her hand, and then the gentle kiss on her cheek had her heart pounding. She found herself wishing he had done more than kiss her cheek.
Now that is just ridiculous. This is Drew Blessingame. I have to keep reminding myself of that fact because he certainly seems like someone else.
She giggled.
Who are you, and what have you done with Andrew Blessingame?
She sobered again.
Tigers don’t change their stripes that quickly, if at all
. And he was definitely a tiger.

Ivorie removed and hung her dress and then prepared a bubble bath. She really needed to relax and think. She had a feeling she also needed to armor her heart. It was easy to see how charming Drew could be when he chose to make an effort. She also knew from bitter experience just how cutting and cruel he could be for no good reason at the drop of a hat.

She lit the jasmine candles and lowered the overhead lights to mere twinkling pinpoints. Once she was neck-deep in the luxurious tub with a generous dollop of the ship’s signature jasmine-scented bubble bath, she leaned against the curved back of the tub and turned the jets on low. She could smell the lavish flower arrangement on the vanity table. Her mind began to drift as she relived the evening, from the heart-stopping moment when he first noticed her across the lounge to the sweet kiss on her cheek at the door to her cabin. His disclosure about the nature of this cruise and of his BDSM leanings had been a shock. He certainly was a paradox of conflicting moods and attitudes. As the swirling water did its work, she began to relax. Her eyes began to get heavy.

When she was almost asleep, Ivorie realized her hand had drifted of its own accord through the water to the delicate skin of her smooth pussy. She had had a Brazilian wax before the cruise in anticipation of wearing the several scanty bikinis she had purchased for the trip. She was not surprised to feel the slick evidence of arousal between her thighs. Her thong had been damp when she had undressed. Memories of Drew and what they had discussed at dinner flitted through her mind as her fingers glanced over her little pleasure button and slid down to her yearning center. Her deepest secret, one she did not even freely admit to herself, was that although she had never liked him, she had always found him to be extremely sexy. He had starred in more than a few nocturnal fantasies over the last year.

Maybe she had responded to his dominant nature without even realizing it. This startling information certainly added a new dimension to the puzzle. As she thought about Drew, her busy fingers continued to play in the slick folds of her pussy. She wished she had brought her vibrator into the bath with her. Getting out of the tub to retrieve it would shatter the sensuous mood. She sank back into her fantasy, embroidered now with a BDSM theme. She pictured herself tied to a bed and Drew leaning over her as his fingers played with her aching pussy. She continued her wet caress until her toes curled, her pulse quickened, and she slid over the edge into sated bliss.

As the water cooled, she got out of the tub, wrapped herself up in the thick white terrycloth robe, and padded to her bed.

Ivorie slipped between the sensuous silk sheets and settled back against the fluffy goose-down pillows. She opened the drawer of the bedside table and took out the packet of information about the ship. Also included in the envelope was a selection of brightly colored rubber bracelets. The red and green bracelets were about a half inch wide, and the other multicolored ones were much slimmer. She opened the booklet entitled “The
Golden Dolphin
Pleasure Club Rules” and began to read. It provided basic information about BDSM and an explanation of the color-coded bracelets. It listed a telephone extension for reserving theme rooms and costumes as well as other pertinent information. It was interesting, and she found the concept ingenious. A person never had to say a word—just wear their bracelets. She slipped the red one on her right wrist. She didn’t know if she would ever be interested in trying BDSM, but the safer choice at the moment was to wear the red bracelet.

Ivorie turned out the light and slipped back into the fantasy she had enjoyed in the bathtub. She relaxed and was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

New York City, October 5, 2013—Saturday Night

Eugenia Cartwright was not in a happy mood. She tossed her long, straight black hair over her shoulder as she stalked back and forth across the floor of the bedroom in her opulent Fifth Avenue duplex. Her startling blue eyes snapped with temper. The apartment was costing her far more than she could really afford, but a girl had to make an investment in her future. She had thought that once she was Mrs. Andrew Blessingame her financial problems would be over. She couldn’t believe she had let the spat with Drew escalate to the point where he had broken their engagement. Sometimes her temper got the better of her. It was one of the more stupid things she had ever done. And that little bitch, his
second
administrative assistant for God’s sake, had caused the whole thing. If she had only put Eugenia’s call through in the first place, he might have been momentarily annoyed at being interrupted, but they would not have had the fierce argument that had erupted when she had barged into his office on a tear. That scene had apparently been the last straw. She had thought she had a better grasp on Drew’s balls than she apparently did. Now, she had to try and figure out how to fix it. Letting a catch like Drew Blessingame get out of her clutches was not an option. After all, how many bona fide billionaires fell into a girl’s lap in one lifetime?

Well, she could book an early flight to Miami tonight, rent a car, and drive to Key West. She was sure she could talk her way aboard the
Golden Dolphin
before it left port. After all, she had been on the passenger list until a few days ago, and for all she knew, she still was. Eugenia was sure that if she could get Drew back in bed, she could have him back under her spell. And this time she wouldn’t fuck it up. She would be unerringly sweet and contrite about their fight, and she wouldn’t say a word about the little bitch…for now. Eugenia’s ice-blue eyes narrowed. Ms. Ivorie James was in for a surprise at some point. Eugenia never forgot a slight.

The
Golden Dolphin
, Key West Harbor, Key West, Florida, October 6, 2013—Sunday Morning, Day One of the Cruise

Ivorie knocked on Drew’s door promptly at ten o’clock. He was still in one of the white terrycloth bathrobes, which was hanging temptingly open when he opened the door. Thank goodness he had a bathing suit on beneath the robe—skimpy though it was. When she stepped inside the opulent Master Suite, she could see that breakfast had been set out on the deck, and the steward was just about to wheel his cart out into the passageway.