Dirty Little Secrets: A Stepbrother Romance (12 page)

“Me? Of course. My plan was, once you’re settled in, you can come with me to the office a couple of days a week. Get a professional environment around you, and you’ll respond that way. Also, Monica and Vince are great, and would probably be willing to help you as well. Just watch out for Vince, he’s got a thing for models. Although he already asked me to introduce him to Karla McDonald if I ever got a chance. I think it’s the accent.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I whispered back. “I’m already taken.”

“Please bring all purchases to the front of the store to check out, the store is now closed,” the woman at the front announced over the store intercom. “Thank you for shopping with us today.”

A
s we drove
home from the Lloyd Center, the air between Alix and me was thick with desire. She rode in the passenger seat with her hands politely in her lap, but twice, out of the corner of my eye, I saw her start to reach for me before pulling her hand back. For my part, I felt the same way, and was glad we’d discussed that rule. For safety’s sake, no touching in the car. At least, not while it was moving.

“Do you really think I can get through these books in time?” Alix asked to distract herself as we drove. “I mean, doesn’t it take a few weeks for you to get your scores back from taking the SAT or ACT?”

“It does, but remember, we can put in the application to a university before you even take the test, then forward the score to them once you get it back,” I replied. “As for the books themselves, I don’t think you’ll even need to. Like the math book: when I looked, at least half of it is stuff you’ll get in freshman or even sophomore classes. I got it, though, because it has lots of sample problems you can work through. I know doing it on a computer would be easier and cheaper, but you have to take the test the old fashioned way with a paper and pencil, so you might as well practice it that way too.”

“Yes, Kade,” Alix answered, sending a warm thrill through me. She knew how those two words affected me, and she smiled.

“When we get home, get changed. Something sexy that you bought,” I said, warm anticipation rushing through me. “I have something to show you.”

Alix nodded and didn’t question me at all. “Yes, Kade.”

Helping her with her bags, I immediately took them all to Alix’s room. An unfortunate side effect of the facade that we had to put on was that she would have to maintain her own bedroom. I had guests, employees, and other people over far too often for the fact that she wasn’t keeping her own bedroom to go unnoticed. In this case, though, it was probably a good thing, as it gave her more than enough drawer and closet space for her to not feel crowded. “You change here, I’ll change in my room. Wait for me to call you out.”

I left Alix in her room and went into mine. Opening my closet, I chuckled at the fact that I had exactly nine hangers inside, and four suits, each with two pairs of pants that were hung on a special hanger that kept the set together, a sport coat that I could wear with three different sets of other pants, each on their own hanger, and a tuxedo that I kept only for special occasions. Dress shirts I had laundered and folded at a dry cleaners, while my everyday casual and exercise shirts I just washed myself. Hanging up my pants and tossing my shirt into the laundry bin, I turned to my dresser, opening the third drawer down.

Each drawer in my dresser has a very specific purpose. The top drawer was reserved for socks, underwear, and pocket squares, mostly work stuff. The second drawer contained my undershirts and dress shirts in two matching stacks. I had a hand steamer that I used to make sure my shirts had no wrinkles before wearing them if I had to go jacket-less in a work situation, but other than that, I really didn’t care if Vince or Monica saw me with a fold line circling my body somewhere between my nipples and the bottom of my rib cage. I’m particular about my work attire and my clothing, but I’m not Patrick Bateman.

The third drawer, though, that one was very different, and very private. I looked inside and took out the handmade black silk pajama bottoms, which I tied around my waist since they had no elastic in their construction at all. While some Doms are into leather, that isn’t my sort of thing at all, but I do appreciate the power infused into the color black. I tied the drawstring with a square knot, not so tightly that I couldn’t get it off, but one that I could not just yank free easily.

Next came the lotion, which I rubbed over my chest and arms, and across my back as much as I could. Meant to moisturize, it also lent a gleam to my skin that made me look more powerful. Not quite baby oil, which I’d experimented with but hated due to the lack of friction, it would soon absorb into my skin to leave it touchable and tastable. There was no reason for Alix’s tongue to be dragged through nasty, chemical-laden residue.

The last items I pondered for a moment, wondering if Alix was ready, then nodding to myself. I would wear them, but remove them if she was worried or scared. The gloves came first, then the black mask.

There was one more item in my drawer, which I took out last. The silver key glittered in the light of my bedroom, and I palmed it before turning and going to the door to my playroom. Officially the third bedroom of my condo, I had spent quite a bit of money customizing it to my needs and desires, including the lock on the door that Alix had not seen at first. I put the key in the lock, then stepped away. “Alix, come here, please.”

“Yes, Kade,” she said from her bedroom, which I mentally reminded myself to help her redecorate to her liking over the weekend.

As soon as she stepped out of the room, my knees turned to jelly she was so beautiful. She hadn’t added any makeup, Alix is so naturally beautiful it isn’t needed, but she had brushed her hair out from the simple ponytail she’d been wearing to go shopping, letting it hang freely around her face and down her back. Even more alluring was the red slip, which hung from her body just enough to hide her intimate areas, but little else. Not lace or see through at all, it still revealed enough of her ripe, beautiful body to me that I had to struggle not to sweep her off her feet right there and take her back to my bedroom to make love to her again. Only the promise I made to her and to myself that I would let her in when she was ready let me stay in control of my passions.

“You look very beautiful,” I said, reaching up and taking a strand of her hair between my fingers, rolling the silken strands and then inhaling their subtle scent. “Is that orange?”

“Just some. I remembered you said you liked the scent in the bookstore,” Alix said, looking me in the eyes but still demure. She was learning so well and so quickly, it was eerie and a bit frightening at the same time. How had I gone so long without someone so perfect for me? “Does this please you?”

“Very much. You’re a vision of an angel right now,” I said, brushing the hair in my fingers back behind her ear. “I asked you here because I’m giving you a choice. There is a key in the lock of this door. You didn’t notice yesterday, but I keep this door locked for a very specific reason. Any visitors who ask are told I keep legal files in there, but that isn’t true, as I’m sure you know. It’s my playroom . . .
our
playroom. First, a question. Do you want this tonight?”

“Yes, Kade. Very much.”

Her eyes were so wide they looked a deeper blue. She was so aroused, and I couldn’t deny it, I was too. “So here are your choices. We can go to my bedroom, and make love with no control, no Dom or sub or any of that. Or, you can unlock the door.”

I saw the questions in her eyes as she thought about what to do. I hadn’t told her anything about what was going to happen in there, and was asking her to trust me and my judgment, as well as my control. That was a lot for someone who’d only had sex with me once before. On the other hand, she was worried that if she said no, that I would be disappointed in her. I was just about to reassure her when she reached forward and twisted the key, the lock to the door making a small
snick
as it opened.

“I trust you, Kade,” she said simply, looking into my eyes. “What else is needed?”

I blinked, tears blurring my vision for a second as I nodded, then smiled. “Thank you. And as a reward, you may ask questions tonight. But there is only one way to refuse, as you know.”

Tudor Rose
. Her safe word, it flashed through her eyes before she mouthed it silently. I nodded, and she smiled. “May I kiss you, Kade?”

“Inside,” I countered, twisting the door handle. I pushed it open slowly, letting Alix see the playroom. “You first.”

My playroom is painted in reds and blacks, red walls and black molding, with the various implements installed on black rails. In one corner I had the spreader bar attached to a heavy-duty pulley in the ceiling, used normally on the wrists, but Rita had, one time long ago when she had visited Portland and we were both feeling adventurous, let me use it on her ankles. There were eyelets in the floor as well for attaching to ankle cuffs, but I found them more of a hassle than anything else. They were only useful for restraint when inflicting pain, which if you needed to be restrained for, was too much in my opinion. I had no plans of ever using the floor eyelets with Alix.

In the other corner was my wall of toys, including handcuffs, leather arm and leg hobbles, and my cat o’ nine tails. Alix’s eyes fixed on it, looking at me with trepidation. “There is a technique to it,” I said simply, leading her over and handing her the device. “First, I never swing it full strength. Secondly, the lash must land on your back flat, not wrapping around or the tips getting a last second turn into your skin. That can tear and cut, which I’ll never do.”

Alix nodded and handed the cat back to me, where I hung it back on its peg. Her eyes then found another of the toys on the wall, a vibrating dildo. She shuddered and backed away, her already creamy skin going pale. “No . . . ” she said, fear in her eyes.

“Alix,” I said. “Stand still. Trust me, and stand still.”

I could see her eyes flicker from the toy to me, then back to the toy, then back to me. She was fighting herself, her inner will to say her safe word, and I was heartened when she regained control and stood still, her hands by her sides. “Yes, Kade.”

I took the dildo down and looked at it. “Tell me why you’re afraid of this.”

“Not afraid. Ashamed,” she replied, looking down at her feet. “The blackmail photo and video that Sydney has . . . he had me use one just like that.”

The idea that such a monster had done such a thing to my Alix caused my blood to boil, but I let my temper die, seeing that even with such pain, she trusted me enough to not run away.

“Alix, look at me,” I said. She raised her eyes, and I held it up slowly. “I can’t say I haven’t done the same thing with some of my subs. But only because they enjoyed it. If you didn’t, that’s fine. We never have to use this at all. But we won’t be doing anything with that tonight. In fact, I’ll put it away,” I said, as I tossed it into a drawer and closed it.

“Do you feel better now?”

“Yes, Kade,” she said, her eyes glistening in relief. “Thank you.”

“Now, you did break some rules today,” I said, mock growling as I came closer. “I do think you need a bit of punishment for it.”

“Please tell me how I broke the rules, Kade,” she asked honestly. There was such a desire to fulfill my needs in her voice and in her eyes, I couldn’t even pretend to be play angry any longer.

“At the mall, you were teasing me again,” I said with a smile. “The shorts?”

“Oh,” Alix said, then smiled back at me disarmingly. “I thought you liked them.”

“I do, they looked amazing on you. But, we can’t be romantic in public. As much as I’d have loved to have swept you into my arms and kissed you so many times while we were shopping tonight, we can’t. It would be disastrous,” I explained. “So please, for both of our sakes, remember the rule.”

Alix nodded, then looked up at me. “And you’ll punish me?”

I grinned, catching her drift. “Oh yes. Turn around.”

Alix turned to see the last piece of equipment in my playroom. Originally a preacher curl bench that came from a local gym, I’d reupholstered the cheap vinyl with oiled leather and had the chromed steel frame refurnished in black, and made a few other adjustments. “What is that for?”

I took Alix by the hand and led her over. The curved pad, which was supposed to support your arms, was just a little low, so I pulled the adjustment lever and raised it to the proper height. “You’re going to bend over this pad,” I said, indicating the curve which would support her hips and legs nicely, “and then grab onto the handle that is on the other side.”

Alix looked, seeing that I’d replaced the cupped bar holders with a single welded bar. “And then?”

“And then, my naughty little love, I’m going to spank you. You can let go of the bar at any time and halt the spanking there. No punishment for that.”

Alix looked at me, her lower lip trembling in a mix of desire and trepidation. “I’ve never been spanked before, by anyone. Even as a child.”

I smiled and stroked her cheek. “There’s a first time for everything. Now bend over and take the handle.”

Delight and desire filled me as Alix bent over the pad, wrapping her fingers around the smooth steel handle and taking a deep breath to calm herself. “Yes, Kade.”

I stood back, marveling at the sight in front of me. I had set the pad so that, in order to bend over the pad comfortably, Alix had to stand on her tip toes, which both made her long legs look even better than before but also raised her butt up slightly above her head. Her lingerie was pulled tight in the front, the thin fabric molding to her breasts and pulling high on her thighs, which were already almost totally exposed due to her height. The slip had a deep v-cut in the back and thin, almost invisible red straps. My cock, which had spent the past five minutes already at half mast, grew painfully hard inside my trousers. One of my fondest fantasies, and here it was in front of me.

“I’ll be gentle with the spanking tonight,” I assured her, running my hands up and down the exposed skin of her back. “And this slip, it’ll not be harmed in any way. I want you to make sure that this article of clothing stays pristine, special between us.”

“Yes, Kade,” she whispered, her fingers trembling on the bar.

“What’s your goal?” I asked, tracing the shape of her spine through her skin. I rubbed gently, massaging, and both of us chuckled when her spine let loose with a deep pop. “That sounded good.”

“It was,” Alix answered. “And my goal is to make you happy. So right now, that means to me taking all you want to give. And one other thing.”

“What’s that?” I asked, working my way down lower. I was nearly at the edge of the slip, and wanted to wait until she answered to move the fabric.