The Plume: The First Anthology (3 page)

She had been.

She combed her hair back to order, re-establishing her trim appearance. She couldn’t do anything about her lips, though. Joanna straightened her shoulders, tucking her shirt in again. If this had been the entrance exam, she had to think she had passed. That was when she realized something.

The Countess had taken her riding crop.

She wasn’t coming back.

Which meant Joanna wouldn’t be able to follow her or see her car.

And she probably
hadn’t
passed the exam.

No! Joanna erupted from the room and flew across the restaurant so fast that she nearly collided with a waiter carrying a fully loaded tray. The older man called after her, but she pushed open the door and stepped into the street. It was still pouring rain, the pavement slick with water. Several blocks away, she could just see the red taillights of a car disappearing into the night.

She swore, just as the older man reached her side. He held up her raincoat, the coatroom boy standing slightly behind him with her umbrella. Joanna shrugged into the coat with his assistance, deciding what she’d ask him first.

But he was ready for her. As soon as she turned to face him, he retreated into the restaurant. “Good evening, Joanna,” he said and firmly shut the door between them.

She heard the deadbolt turn in the lock and knew he wouldn’t answer the door.

She knocked anyway.

There was no response. She might as well have been pounding on the door of an empty house.

Joanna stood there for only a moment, the chill of the night sliding into her bones. She swore, then turned and marched back toward the subway station, defiance filling her veins.

This wasn’t over. She was going to find a way into the Plume, no matter what it cost.

* * *

“She’s lying,” Athena said as she strolled into the back offices of the Plume. “Just as I thought.” She threw off her cloak with disgust, and peeled off her domino mask, casting it across his desk. “I like to suck men off,” she said in a high voice, obviously mimicking someone. Then she exhaled and shook her head. “What a lot of garbage. How stupid does she think I am?”

Rex would have to have been dead to not realize his partner was in a mood. She was always passionate when she felt badly treated. A dozen slaves would be screwed senseless tonight before Athena was satisfied.

He ignored her, just as he always did when she was like this.

His choice pissed her off, just as it always did.

Athena propped her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Did you hear me?”

“Of course, I did.” Rex put out his hand and she surrendered the pendant, slapping it into his palm. She threw herself into a chair, watching sulkily as he removed the recording device hidden in the pendant’s setting and plugged it into the USB port of his computer. The interview with the reporter Joanna began to replay and he froze in shock.

Not this Joanna.

He knew
this
Joanna.

He’d fantasized about this Joanna since high school.

The last thing Rex wanted was to let Athena guess the truth, so he hid his reaction even as he fixated on the video. His Joanna. Here at the Plume.

“Like I said, she’s lying. She’s so uptight that her secret fantasy must be getting bran cereal on sale.” Athena glanced around the office, petulant, her booted foot swinging as if she’d like to kick something. “Isn’t there any wine? I hate wasting my time.”

“We take turns with the journalists,” Rex reminded her. “That’s the deal.”

Athena exhaled. “Well, you get the next
two
.”

Rex touched his headset to talk to the bartender on the Plume’s closed communication system. He heard the volume of noise in the bar, the music and the laughter and the clinking of glasses, and was glad it was a busy night. Tony replied promptly and crisply. “Tony, will you have Sonja bring Athena a glass of champagne? She’s been working hard tonight and needs some solace.” Tony agreed and disconnected.

“Sonja?” Athena gaze sparked with curiosity. “Who’s Sonja?”

“New slave. You’ll like her, even though she only speaks Swedish.”

Athena smiled. “Not a gorgeous blonde Valkyrie, just for me?”

Rex winked. “Just for you. Do you want her gift-wrapped?”

“Not tonight.” There was a hungry gleam in Athena’s eyes now, and she leaned forward to brace her elbows on her knees. Rex could see all the way down her cleavage and knew it wasn’t an accident. She knew he loved lush breasts like hers.

“See what I mean?” she said, jerking her head toward the computer screen. “Liar, liar.”

“Were her pants on fire?”

Athena snorted. “Hardly. It was glacial down there.”

Rex took the excuse to watch the video closely. Joanna was as beautiful as he recalled, and as much in control as he remembered. He’d never seen her surprised or doing something impulsive. Even her clothing was so crisply tailored as to be austere. She seemed bent on hiding her femininity and did it so well that he was shocked when her breasts were revealed.

They were magnificent, larger and creamier and rounder than he could ever have expected. He touched up the volume at her unwitting moan, feeling himself get hard. Joanna with secret fantasies. He realized belatedly that Athena was watching him intently. “Looks like you really got to her. Good job.”

“So, she’s not dead.” Athena’s eyes glittered with unhappiness. She hadn’t wanted him to notice that moan. “She’s still a liar and a journalist.”

“Which is worse?”

“Does it matter? We don’t need either around here.”

Rex couldn’t help himself. He played the recording again. Joanna’s voice had deepened since high school, turned a little bit husky in an enticing way. He found her innocence, the way that Athena had shocked her – and done it so easily – exciting. He thought about awakening her, proving to her that she was a sexual being, giving her a real taste of pleasure and desire.

On the recording, she confessed that she preferred leather. He smiled. Bullshit.

She liked to suck men off. Also bullshit, but her words planted an image in his mind, Joanna’s full lips locked around him, her eyes closed, that little moan…

The weight of Athena’s attention – and disapproval - bore down on him. “You like the skinny ones with big breasts,” she said, her tone unkind. “Always have. She’s just your type. Dark hair, dark eyes, swinging tits.”

Rex heard the jealousy in Athena’s tone. He knew he was right when she got up and came to his side, running her hands over his shoulders.

“You can’t convert them, Rex. She’s not one of us. She just wants to ruin everything.” She bent and kissed his ear, whispering. “Don’t let her.”

Rex didn’t respond. Athena was right about his tastes.

She was also right about journalists.

Too bad he could so easily imagine teaching Joanna a lesson or two.

He watched the video again. When she confessed to wanting to be enslaved to a relentless master, he became rock hard. Rex was just the man for the job. He’d crack her wide, break her open, teach her what and who she really was.

And love every minute of it.

He swallowed, as those full lips shaped the words, noticing when her voice became more husky, when she caught her breath. He wanted to replay the sound of that soft moan a couple of thousand times, the one she hadn’t realized she’d made, the one that had been torn free of her.

It might be the most erotic sound he’d ever heard.

No, he wanted to be the one to make her moan like that.

“You like her.” Athena’s tone was waspish as she rapped her fingertips on him.

Rex tried to hide his interest. “I see something, maybe a secret she doesn’t even know she has.”

Athena scoffed. “You see a snatch so tight that it’ll keep you coming all night long.”

The suggestion did nothing for Rex’s ability to pretend to be disinterested.

Athena – of course – noticed. She leaned down, pillowing her breasts against his shoulder, her perfume embracing him. “What you’re not seeing is the story she’ll write after she finds out your secrets.”

“No one finds out my secrets.” Rex smiled at the very idea.

“Well, you’d better take just as good care of the Plume’s secrets.”

“Don’t I always?” Their gazes locked and held, rare antagonism snapping between them. They seldom disagreed, and when they did, the tension made the air crackle. They’d defeated it with sex before, so Rex guessed what Athena would suggest before she did.

“We could share Sonja tonight,” she said, smiling slightly.

On another night, he might have been tempted. On this night, he wanted to think about Joanna – how he could have her without risking the club’s privacy.

“I have a better idea,” Rex said, knowing exactly how to change his partner’s mood.

“There are no better ideas.”

“You don’t even know about my surprise yet.”

She watched him, wary yet interested. She flicked a finger toward the screen, returning to their disagreement. “I say we shut the bitch out.”

Rex shook his head. “She won’t take no for an answer that easily. Look how much she likes to be in control.” He leaned back, artfully avoiding Athena’s hands, and braced his own hands behind his head as he watched the recording again. “No. We’ll teach her a lesson. That’s the only thing that will get rid of her.”

“But…”

“No.” Rex glared at Athena, pulling rank.

She looked away, tightened her lips and swallowed. Then she turned a smile on him and sauntered closer, clearly intent on making up. She threw one leg over him, sitting astride him and planting her hands on either side of his shoulders. He felt her softness against his erection, even through the layers of their clothes. She smiled and moved her hips, grinding herself against him.

“What about putting that to good use?” she murmured. “We could kiss and make up.”

Rex caught Athena’s nape in his hand and gave her a deep kiss. He wrapped his other hand under her butt and stood up, carrying her with him. She would have wrapped her legs around his waist, but he set her down on her feet and headed for the door.

Athena pouted. “When are we going to have fun together, Rex?”

“Trust me. You’ll think this is fun.” Rex opened the door, finding Sonja just arriving with a glass of champagne. “Come with us,” he said to her, caressing her under the chin as if she were a cat. “The more the merrier.” She looked blank, not understanding, but he beckoned to her with a finger.

“Oh, I like the sound of that.” Athena snagged the glass of champagne, gave Sonja a kiss and followed him down the corridor to the club.

* * *

Athena was glad she hadn’t told Rex everything. If she’d mentioned the way the bitch’s kiss had changed, the way she had softened, he would have been lost forever.

As it was, he was far too interested in the little liar for her taste.

But she still had hopes for the evening ahead. She loved the look of Sonja, her fair hair hanging like silk to her waist, almost disappearing against the pale perfection of her skin. The woman was all milk and gossamer, with eyes so blue that a lover could drown in them. She was slim, her breasts small and pert, and Athena couldn’t wait to see Rex’s dark hands on her.

As for Rex, he was the dream lover of just about every member of the Plume. Well over six feet tall, built of almost pure muscle, Rex could have modeled anything for a living. His skin was as dark as ebony, flawless and smooth, and his eyes were the color of jade. He was the most handsome specimen Athena had ever seen – and she saw plenty of gorgeous people at the Plume.

Beauty was an unstated pre-requisite for membership. No matter what the members and recruits did, who they fucked, how they responded, their primary reason for being accepted was that they improved the view.

The thing with Rex was that he was also mysterious – and brilliant. If he had just been gorgeous, Athena could have had her fill of him in a month, tops. But he was clever and he understood people, and he was the greatest secret-keeper of all time. The truth about every member of the Plume, what they really desired and what really kept them coming back for more, was locked between Rex’s ears, not saved in computer file. He was the heart and soul of discretion, but his attention to detail also ensured member loyalty.

Athena had spent a great deal of time trying to figure out whether he had any secrets himself. If he did, they were so well buried that she suspected no one would ever find them.

That didn’t stop her from trying.

He strode through the bar, prompting admiring glances from every side. Athena made Sonja lock her hands together behind her back, then landed one hand on the woman’s nape, driving her after Rex. Athena saw the glint of chains, the gleam of leather, the luster of satin and her heart swelled with love for all of these people who were brave enough to admit to what they really wanted – then sign up at the Plume to get it.

This place was a slice of heaven, one protected by herself and Rex forever.

The champagne was delicious, cool and sweet, the bubbles dancing down her throat.

Rex headed for the kitchen, a surprising choice, and halted beside one of the stainless steel prep tables. It was almost painfully bright in the kitchen after the muted light of the bar. The kitchen staff clustered around, expectant, their aprons crisp and white. More than one erect cock made a tent in white cotton.

So they knew what Rex was going to do. Athena finished her champagne and handed off the glass to a slave. She ran a finger down Sonja’s back, imagining possibilities.

“Special order, just arrived today,” Rex said with pride. A pair of slaves set a large platter on the prep table with some effort. It looked like a platter for serving a roast, its bottom shaped with curves and a furrow for juices all around the perimeter.

But it was enormous, at least five feet long and nearly as wide. It had handles around the perimeter, six of them, presumably so it could be carried. It was thick, its surface burnished gold.

They put a silver one just like it on the table beside it.