The Pet Shop (6 page)

Note: Pets are especially fond of bathing with their keepers, and they love fluffy towels and vigorous rub-downs.

Note: You will find oils and lotions specifically formulated for your Pet’s needs in the accompanying rucksack.

U
NDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ARE
Pets allowed to handle books, magazines, newspapers computers, mobile phones or any other information device or print media. Pets do not read, and do not engage with the media in any way unless they are in the company of their keeper and have their keeper’s express consent. Any engagement with any sort of media must absolutely be with the consent and full supervision of the keeper.

Without express permission, a Pet is never to browse, look through or disturb in any way any of the personal belongings of her or his keeper.

Both of the above offences are to be punished severely.

Stella didn’t think Tino had seen any of the film. She had seen damn little of it herself. Not only had she figured there might be some distractions, but she had counted on it. That being the case, she had picked something older and something she would never have gone to see without ulterior motives. Other than a few stragglers, they had the place to themselves. She found seats isolated in the centre of the cinema, a task not too difficult since everyone else seemed to be seeking out their own isolation.

Tino sat quietly in his seat through the adverts and trailers then he lowered himself onto the floor and rested his head on her thigh. She fed him popcorn and bottled water. The popcorn, he loved, but he preferred to pull back just as she tipped the bottle to his lips so that the water ended up soaking her thigh. Then he lapped the dribbles from her leg. The minute he had repositioned himself on the floor, he nuzzled her skirt up, so the fabric did not interfere with the thirsty lavings of his tongue. It was a bit of a shock at first, but she quickly discovered the feel of cool water licked from her bare thigh by a warm tongue did amazing things to her pussy.

Tino quickly lost interest in the popcorn and the water and found his way to his favourite thing to eat. She made little effort to dissuade him, grinding her arse deep into the plush seat, sliding down until she could open her legs enough to give her Pet unhindered access. He nuzzled and nibbled the minuscule crotch of her thong out of the way until she was bare and gaping for the long sensuous explorations of his tongue and the suckling and nibbling of the path up to her straining clit. She curled her fingers in his hair and held him to her with one hand while the other worked its way into her blouse, into her bra to play with her tits.

After she came, she commanded him back into the seat next to her. Then she opened his trousers and teased out his heavy erection. There was no easy way she could take him in her mouth without getting onto the floor herself, so she licked her palm until it was slick with her saliva and took him in her fisted hand. She loved the way his body tensed, the way his hips shifted and rotated to get the best benefit from her tightening grip. She loved the way he closed his hand around hers lightly as though he feared she might stop pleasuring him. He was amazingly quiet in his thrustings. She wondered at times if he was holding his breath. She slid one hand into her bag to find a handkerchief as he drew near his release, but her timing was off, and with a convulsive jerk he shot his wad against the back of the empty seat in front of him. It was an act that made them both snigger quietly behind their hands, an act that made her hot all over again.

‘You should have used the loo in the cinema,’ she whispered next to his ear. ‘The manual said you would. It specifically said that you were OK to use public toilets when we’re on an outing.’ When she had gone to the ladies after the film, he had refused the gents, and now, just a few blocks down the street, he was holding himself rather rudely. Though the street was fairly deserted, it still was a bit embarrassing.

She looked around, frantic to find a private corner where he could relieve himself. She wasn’t 100 per cent sure that if he got desperate enough, or mischievous enough, he might not just whip it out and have a pee right there on the street like some sodding drunk. ‘There. That’s a good place.’ Between a sandwich shop and a shoe repair, both closed for the night, she pointed to an alley cluttered with dumpsters. ‘Go on. Do it there. I’ll wait here.’

Still holding himself, shifting from foot to foot, he held her gaze expectantly for a few seconds as though he wanted her to go with him. But when she folded her arms across her chest and huffed at him, he trotted off between the dumpsters to get on with it.

She had always been a little shy about toilet protocol, even though he clearly was not. It was one part of the total Pet experience that she was quite happy not to share with him. She concentrated on the surroundings, taking in the night sounds, any of the night sounds that didn’t involve her Pet peeing behind a dumpster. She watched a hen party complete with sparkly headbands and fake feather boas trundle into the off-licence across the street laughing drunkenly. The bride, in a flimsy gauze veil, stumbled and nearly fell off her nose-bleed heels as one of her girlfriends shoved a shiny pink dildo in her face. They all laughed hysterically.

Stella was so caught up in the antics of the hen party that she didn’t hear the man approach until he spoke.

‘You all by yourself, luv?’ The words came only seconds before an arm snaked around her waist and jerked her back against a thick body that smelt of stale curry and lack of soap. His fetid breath came in hot little whooshes against her neck. The light from the off licence across the street caught the glint of metal in his hand.

She froze. Her stomach lurched threateningly. ‘I’m not alone.’ She forced the words up through her tight throat, amazed that she could actually speak at all. ‘I’m with my boyfriend.’

‘Oh right. Watshe, then, the invisible man?’ The thug tightened his grip and slid his other hand inside her bag, which was still unzipped after her efforts to clean Tino and herself before they left the cinema. ‘Whacha got for me, hon? It better be good, or you’ll havta pay me some ovver way.’ He thrust against her lewdly. ‘Fact, I’m feeling a bit frisky tonight. I might just ’ave ... gaak!’ He finished his sentence with a choking rasp microseconds before his body heaved violently backward, releasing her with an involuntary shove as the knife skittered on the cobbles to land next to the nearest dumpster.

She yelped and scrambled to regain her balance. Through the electric buzz of fear still hammering her ears, she heard the scuffle, the flurry of grunts and hard breathing. Then suddenly Tino stood bathed in the diminished light towering over the thug he now held expertly in a choke hold. He cranked his grip until the man stopped struggling and went limp against Tino’s body. Then he shoved him to the ground.

Stella’s stomach threatened to rebel. ‘Oh dear God, Tino! You didn’t ... He isn’t ...’ But to her relief, she could already hear the man choking and sputtering as he regained consciousness. Working silently and with steady hands, Tino took off the man’s shoes and socks and tossed them hard in opposite directions then he did the same with the knife the thug had been sporting. That finished, he grabbed the man by the throat in a grip that could have easily crushed his trachea. He put just enough pressure on to leave the man breath to whimper. Then he shook a finger from side to side as though he were disciplining a misbehaving child. The man whimpered again, raised both hands palm up and shook his head, at least as much as Tino’s grip would allow.

Tino gave him a debilitating belly punch and a hard shove. Then he bounded to Stella’s side, encircled her in a strong arm and half dragged, half carried her away from the alley. He had her safely settled into a cab headed back to her flat before it hit her that in the midst of all the chaos Tino hadn’t uttered a single word.

Then the shakes took over. She tightened her grip around him and buried her face against his chest relishing the strong steady beat of his heart next to her cheek. He laid a warm kiss on the top of her head and pulled her closer.

The ride home didn’t take long. There wasn’t much traffic. Tino held her possessively as they climbed the stairs. Not entirely sure her shaky legs would hold her upright, she was thankful for his support. Inside the flat she made straight for the kitchen and a G&T, then decided to skip the T. She filled Tino’s bowl with fresh water, but he only sat listlessly on the floor staring into it.

‘Darling, you should drink something. You’ll get dehydrated, and I can’t have that.’ She plopped down on the floor next to him, slopping her gin. He licked the droplets from her fingers, and his eyes locked on her. ‘You need something stronger than water too, after tonight, don’t you, sweetheart?’ He continued to lick her fingers then flicked his tongue up the edge of the glass still holding her gaze. She pressed it to his lips, tipped, and he drank. He drank until it was gone.

She stood long enough to grab the bottle off the counter and refill the glass then dropped down next to him, sipping, and alternately holding the drink for him. ‘I know it’s against the rules. But I think our little outing calls for an exception to those rules. Just this once, don’t you? She sat the glass down and pulled him close until his large body curled around her. ‘I’m so sorry for what happened, Tino. But I’m so thankful you were there for me. I can’t even think of what might have happened if you hadn’t been.’ He took one last sip from the glass, then helped her to her feet and led her into the bathroom, where he planted himself in front of the shower.

He stood unmoving while she undressed him. He was erect as always, and she lingered to caress his balls and run a cupped palm over his thickness. The hard muscles just above his pubic curls tightened at her touch.

He watched while she undressed. His gaze on her made her feel sexy. It felt like a healing salve for what had happened. She took her time, loving the way his serious dark eyes locked on her breasts, her pubis, her face. Then she reached out her hand and pulled him into the shower.

She put her full concentration into bathing Tino, and somehow that made her feel immensely better. She soaped every crook, every exquisite crevice of her Pet’s delicious body. Tino was well-behaved except for the occasional shudder of delight or a growl or a nuzzle against her breast or bottom as she soaped and scrubbed.

His penis, very much at full attention, bobbed gently in front of her. She wondered how one man could possibly have so much stamina. He let her wash his hair and sculpt his dark pubic curls into soapy white mounds around his erection. He let her soap down the inside of his thighs past his knees to caress his calves and ankles as though she were rubbing down a fine stud. That was exactly what she was doing, she thought, soaping down the stud who had probably saved her life.

While she was kneeling, he pushed forward until his cock pressed against her cheek. Chuckling softly, she ran a soapy finger down his crack and slipped it into his anus, an act which made his cock surge. She took him into her hand and gently stroked the length of him lingering to kiss the helmeted tip. When she stood to scrub herself, she enjoyed the hungry way he watched as she soaped her breasts and her belly. Then she ran her fingers down over her mons and opened her pussy lips, pushing her hips forward to give him a good view while she washed herself.

Afterwards they both stood dripping on the mat while she towelled him dry, and he lapped droplets of water from her shoulders and breast and belly, working his way downward to her centre until she gave up and threw the towel on the edge of the tub.

‘Come to bed with me, Tino,’ she breathed. ‘I want you next to me tonight.’

She led him to the bedroom, then pulled back the duvet and settled in, the thirsty fabric of the sheets lapping up the last of the droplets from her back and butt. She patted the space next to her. He slipped in beside her then covered her with his body. He entered her without foreplay, with a gentle upward thrust. She sheathed him with amazingly little effort. Her body had become accustomed to the size of him, the shape of him, as though her pussy had somehow been remoulded, reformed so that it fit him perfectly. He barely moved, and yet each little shifting of his pelvis, each little rocking of his hips sent warm, trembling heat up through her body.

She lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist in an effort to get closer to him. He was insider her. He couldn’t get any closer. She was overwhelmed by just how far insider her he really was. He shifted his weight to his knees and lifted his body just enough to run splayed hands up over her ribcage onto the swell of her breasts, caressing her nipples between thumbs and forefingers. Then he slid his hands up under her armpits and onto her biceps lifting her arms over her head. He held her wrists in one large hand while the other returned to caress her face, thumb moving across the flutter of her eyelid, down her cheek, over her parted lips.

The orgasm took them both by surprise. It came out of their lazy, sleepy, tender joining and shook both of them to their core. Stella watched Tino’s ecstatic face through misted eyes and wondered how anything could possibly feel this good.

‘T
HIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT
acceptable!’ O’Kelly paced the floor of her office, then turned and half shouted at the speaker phone. ‘What was he thinking?’

‘Calm down, O’ Kelly.’ The Boss’s voice sounded so matter-of-fact that she would have slapped him if he’d been there in person. ‘It was a mugger. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. You can’t blame Tino for that. In fact, I’d say it was a damn good thing he was there. I shudder to think what might have befallen Stella if he hadn’t been. Why are you so upset about this?’

‘The handler said when he came for him, Tino wouldn’t leave, and Stella had to keep reassuring him that she was all right. Even then she practically had to force him out the door. It took ages to get Tino away from her. The handler was not happy.’

‘Dogs are protective of their masters, O’Kelly. Possessive of their pack, as it were. Tino’s behaviour was not un-pet-like at all really. As for the handler, well, Pets can misbehave. He was told that when he took the position. But just to smooth things over, give him a nice little something in his next envelope.’

‘And what if that thug had had a gun? What if he had been stronger than Tino?’ She swallowed hard and felt an icy knot tighten in her gut as she contemplated what might have been.

‘But the thug didn’t have a gun, and we knew Tino was that sort of a bloke when we hired him. He’s cavalier, reckless, he’s headstrong, and has a very powerful sense of fair play. I think those were the words you used, weren’t they?’

‘And you hired him anyway.’ O’Kelly recalled the argument they’d had over Tino. An argument that, not surprisingly, she had lost. The very first sight of the Pet had caused her heart to beat a little faster and the muscles below her belly to clench. It wasn’t that Tino was good-looking, oh he was good-looking enough, but she worked with good-looking Pets all the time. It was the ease of the man, his totally unassuming comfort at being in his own skin. Somehow, just shaking his hand had made her want to have that skin he was so comfortable in up against hers with nothing in between.

She had always maintained a certain distance with Pets, and even when she did take a Pet for her own pleasure, it was only for pleasure. Never anything else. But Tino was different. Tino invaded not just her fantasies, but her dreams. She was in charge, though. She knew what was going on. She knew how to handle it. She had kept away from him. She had never taken him for a Pet. She suspected what might happen, even if she took him for only a couple of hours. But poor Stella was broadsided. How could the Boss have not seen this coming?

Then there was the unconventional way Tino had approached the Pet Shop. He just went right into the website and announced that he wanted to be a Pet. The Boss had promised to take care of it. He had reassured her it was probably just some rich nutter wanting to reverse the Pet experience and be the one in the collar for a while. And then, all of a sudden, the Boss was Tino’s biggest advocate.

‘O’Kelly? I know you’ve grown attached to Tino, but he’s safe now. And so is Stella.’

His words jerked her back from her ruminations, and made her feel like she’d been caught in the act. There were times when his intuition, the way he read her, was almost frightening. ‘Of course I’m attached to him. He’s our most popular Pet. We’d lose a fortune if anything happened to him.’ She fought back an irritating tremor with the last words.

‘If you’re only concerned about our investment then you can relax. Tino’s fine. You said so yourself. Not a scratch on him.’

O’Kelly huffed an exasperated sigh and plopped down into her chair. ‘Did you not hear me? The handler could barely get Tino away from Stella. If Tino had not obeyed Stella, then what? And here’s the real rub, Stella has scheduled Tino again in two weeks. He’s made room for her in his schedule by cancelling paying customers.’

‘What do you mean, he made room for her? He’s a Pet, O’Kelly. Pets have no say in who we schedule them with.’

She squared her shoulders and sat up straight. ‘That’s right. Pets don’t, but someone clearly does, and it certainly wasn’t me.’

‘If you’re accusing me of something, you’d best come out with it. You usually have no trouble accusing me of all sorts.’

‘Sir, Tino’s falling for Stella, and Stella for him, can’t you see that?’

This time the pause was so long that O’Kelly feared they’d lost their connection. ‘Sir?’

There was a heavy release of breath. ‘Really? You really think so?’

She frowned at the phone. ‘Isn’t it obvious?’

Another pause. There was the slam of a car door, and suddenly she could hear traffic noise in the background of their call. Was he actually carrying on this conversation while strolling down a busy street somewhere? Then the rushing wind of his breath filtered into her ear. ‘But he’s a glorified paid fuck, O’Kelly.’ She could hear him struggle with the words. Every time she had reminded the Boss that they actually ran an online brothel with giant Pet carriers, he got angry at her. The Pet Shop was always something more to him. Most of the time it was something more to her too. ‘Stella knows this,’ he continued. ‘Frankly, I was just as scared as you were that she wouldn’t accept our little gift. And now, after only seeing him twice, you think she’s falling for him? It doesn’t make any sense. Besides,’ he added as a quick afterthought. ‘Tino’s not the kind to fall in love.’

‘I wouldn’t have thought so either.’ She measured her words carefully. There had never been any hiding her emotions from the Boss. He had never had to see her face to read her. ‘But Stella is vulnerable for the takeover. And if you ... if we want her primed and ready for the task at hand, the one thing we don’t need is her thinking clouded by the stars in her eyes for one of our Pets.’

There was a series of noises that sounded like doors slamming, and suddenly the traffic sounds disappeared and the Boss’s voice seemed cocooned in soft silence. Today was Monday, so he was in a hotel room in Sweden. ‘Perhaps you’re right.’ He continued. ‘Perhaps we should ... pre-empt the situation for a while.’

She felt the tension between her shoulderblades loosen noticeably. ‘What did you have in mind, sir?’

‘Stella’s off to Portland in the morning. I can keep her there a few extra days, but not long enough to force her to cancel her weekend with Tino.’

‘Perhaps we could force the issue. Cancel it for her. You know, say Tino had something come up.’ O’Kelly moved to her desk and pulled up the Pet Shop website.

‘I’d rather not do that.’ There was the sound of running water and a rustle of cloth, and O’Kelly’s stomach clenched and skittered down below her navel. It wasn’t the first time the Boss had stripped for a long soak in the tub while they talked business. She suspected he’d done more than that on a few occasions when stress levels were high and they were both exhausted. It was a thought that brought back memories. It was also a thought she had endless fantasies about. At last he spoke, his voice echoing off what she suspected were bathroom tiles. ‘Let’s just send her another Pet.’

‘Of course, sir.’ O’Kelly pulled up the profiles of the male Pets, biting her tongue to keep from telling him she told him so.

‘We’ll send our apologies and let her have the weekend at the Pet Shop’s expense, of course.’

‘It’s all been at the Pet Shop’s expense,’ she reminded him.

‘Yes, but Stella doesn’t know that, does she?’ There was a splashing of water and the sound of waves hitting what she could imagine to be the sides of a bathtub.

Suddenly O’Kelly’s pulse sped up and she was aware of the clenching in her knickers. She couldn’t keep from picturing the man stretched out naked in what she imagined was a huge bathtub. Maybe he was absently playing with his cock as he spoke to her, a cock she had played with more often than she could remember back in uni. At these most intimate moments, moments that were somehow audibly acceptable to share when she would have never allowed it visually – not now anyway, now that they worked together – she indulged her fantasies, imagining him stroking his erection, cupping his balls, thinking of her.

She forced her mind back to the subject at hand. ‘So, who did you have in mind? How about Dan?’ Dan was a pretty-boy blond with icy blue eyes and broad, tanned shoulders. ‘He’s pretty popular with the ladies.’

The Boss grunted. ‘Dan looks like he came straight from the pages of a bodice ripper. I can’t see him and Stella together.’

‘Jack?’

‘A little bit too submissive for our Stella.’

‘Liam?’

‘I don’t know.’

She rolled her eyes and shoved her hands onto her hips. ‘Well who then?’

‘Hmmm ...’ she heard another shifting of the waters and felt her nipples tighten to press against her bra. ‘How about ... How about Audrey?’

O’Kelly nearly knocked over the tepid cup of tea at her elbow. ‘You want me to send Stella a woman?’

‘Why not?’ There was water running again, and she imagined him warming the bath, the water lapping at his thighs and buttocks.

Damn it! He wasn’t making it any easier for her to concentrate. ‘How about because there’s absolutely no indication that she’s attracted to women?’

‘O’Kelly, you told me yourself all women are actually bi, and men too. Most of them just don’t know it, you said. Well, it’s about time Stella embraced her inner bisexual, don’t you think?’

‘It’s more than that, sir. You always use Audrey–’

‘I always use Audrey for recruiting, yes I know.’

‘Well? Are you? Recruiting Stella?’

‘Possibly. Depending on how things go. It occurred to me the other day that actually putting Stella through the recruitment process for the Pet Shop might be a great way to observe our unknowing protégé in action. And there’s no better way to teach her the ropes.’ The water stopped running and it was replaced by dripping and splashing. He was washing himself, maybe with a sponge, maybe with a soft washcloth, down along his cock, over his balls. In spite of herself, she closed her eyes, held her breath, and listened. Almost of their own accord, her hips rocked very subtly, so subtly that anyone coming in to her office would have never noticed, so subtly that the friction being created was a slow burning whisper, a hint of total combustion to come. After she got home, she told herself. After she got home.

‘What do you think? O’Kelly? Are you there?’

She caught her breath. ‘I’m here, sir. I think it might be a good idea.’ Her pulse hammered in her throat and in her pussy.

His laugh overlaid the energetic splash of water. ‘What’s this, my partner actually agreeing with me? I can’t honestly remember the last time that happened. O’Kelly, are you all right?’

‘I’m fine, sir.’ Did she sound breathless? Oh God, she hoped not.

‘Are you still at the office? You are, aren’t you? O’Kelly, go home, take a nice long bath, have a glass of wine, get yourself a Pet. I think you could use one. You’re entitled. And stop stressing.’

‘Of course, sir. Shall I make the arrangements with Audrey then?’

‘Let me think about it a bit. We’ve got time.’ The splashing crescendoed again. ‘Now go home. That’s an order.’

‘You can’t give me an order. I’m your partner.’

The splashing stopped. ‘Then how about if I ask you as a friend.’

She caught her breath in a sound she knew was shamelessly audible on the phone, and she felt a lump rise to her throat. God, why was she so damned thin-skinned today?

‘O’Kelly?’

She steadied herself. ‘I suppose I could do it for a friend.’

She heard him release a heavy breath. ‘Good. I know for a fact Liam is available tonight, and you know how much trouble he can get into if he’s bored. I suggest you see to him and put him through his paces. It’ll be good for both of you.’

‘Oh, right. Liam.’ She shook herself. ‘Good idea.’

‘Good night, O’Kelly.’

‘Good night, sir.’