Knowing the Ropes (18 page)

Because the warmth of his breath made her shiver, because her nipples were still swollen and aching, echoing her swollen, aching clit—and because the pseudocorset, not the most comfortable garment to begin with, now felt like she was wearing a boned wetsuit—she took pity on him and, while he was still working on the lacing, she liberated herself using the hidden zipper in the back.

For a second, or an hour, he stared at her reverently in a dim room strobed by lightning flashes. “A water goddess,” he repeated, reaching out to stroke between her breasts and down her torso. “Pearl skin and mermaid hair.”

“Mermaid hair?” she sputtered. “Is that a poetic way of saying my hair’s a disaster?”

“Your hair style’s a disaster. Your hair is glorious, all damp and curly. And your skin… I want to lick those rain drops right off you.”

“Why don’t you?” she purred. Partly because she liked the idea, partly because the way Nick was talking sounded perilously romantic.

He didn’t mean it that way, she told herself, or maybe he did in this rain-soaked moment with lightning flashes illuminating the room.

Nick followed up his words with delicious, distracting action. He came around behind her, lifted her sodden curls and traced a rivulet of water down her spine with his tongue. Worrying about the future was
definitely
overrated when a gorgeous man was doing something like that to her. This relationship might grow into something more than sex or it might not, but now, she’d enjoy the sex.

The bag of toys sat neglected in the foyer as they licked and nibbled and stroked the rain from each other’s skin, tasting the lightning that trembled inside them. But as the storm picked up—the rain drumming like Niagara Falls, violent thunder following right on the heels of white-as-day lightning—Nick fumbled in the bag just long enough to open the new box of condoms, then bent her over the couch. “This way, we can both watch the storm out the window while we make love.” His voice was low and intimate in her ear.

Too low. Too intimate. Too scary, and not the roller-coaster scary of his evil-dom voice. She could fall for a man who wanted to watch lightning while they made love.

He’d never said “make love” to her before. Must be the storm getting to them both.

“Let’s try the tweezer clips while we fuck,” Selene suggested, maybe a bit too brightly and eagerly. Nick hesitated a second, his blue eyes dark and stormy.

Then he grinned. “Now why didn’t I think of that?”

Nick’s hands were hot on her breasts, the clips and the chain between them delightfully cool. Selene almost regretted the suggestion as he adjusted the clamps on nipples already tender from the jewelry she’d worn earlier. The weight, when he let go, was startling, tugging at her sensitive nipples painfully.

When he bent her over the leather sofa again and positioned himself behind her, though, the sensation changed. Just as painful in some ways, but it made her more aware of the cool, smooth leather, of the hard heat of Nick’s body and his hands firmly grasping her hips, of her own arousal.

He thrust into her. The movement jarred the clips, tugged on the chain, but now the pain mingled with pleasure and was good. No, great.

With each thrust, her need built. The thunder and lightning added to the sensation, making her head swim, making her body thrum.

“Edge,” she gasped, although Nick hadn’t actually said anything about telling him when she was about to come. It just felt right.

“Good girl.” Supporting himself with his strong thighs only, he slipped one hand between her legs, used the other to yank on the chain between the tweezer clips.

Selene exploded like the sky overhead, and Nick was close behind.

Then a hot shower, a glass of wine, and round two, because the storm’s unabated force was still making Selene’s clit quiver.

She refused to let herself consider whether emotion might have anything to do with that quivering.

The sound of a ringing phone woke them. Drowsy, lulled by the sound of rain still falling on the roof, by memories of last night’s sex and by Selene curled against him, Nick was inclined to make sure Selene let voice mail get it while he got on to the far more important business of discovering just how tender Selene’s nipples were this morning.

One good suckle and she began to moan. Pretty tender indeed. He gave a light slap, just enough to make the soft but firm flesh jiggle enticingly. “Hey!” she exclaimed, not sounding upset. “Is that fair?”

He was about to expound on the meaninglessness of the concept of fair in the context of their peculiar relationship when the answering machine began to spew forth a message.

“Selene? Please pick up if you’re there. Please. This is Natalie, and I need you to get a message to Nick…”

At the sound of Natalie’s voice—at the edge of tension, even fear in it—Nick froze.

Selene pushed him off her and in the general direction of the phone. He grabbed it before Natalie had gotten much further. “This is Nick, honey. What’s up?”

A sob, quickly suppressed. “I’ve screwed up. I thought I wanted this. I really did. I do want it, but not like this. I’ve given Master everything, and he still wants more.” Another sob. “And when your new girl called like I was some kind of role model, I just knew… I’ve been trying to call, but it took a while to get permission. I guess I’m not a slave. Not the way Master wants. I don’t know if I can do this, and I just wanted to talk to you. I’m so confused.”

“What do you need? Try to stay calm.” Selene had picked up the other line, her voice calm and soothing. For the first time ever, Nick was glad that the cell reception was iffy enough in his condo that he’d kept a landline.

Natalie drew a deep breath. “Are you Selene? You don’t sound…”

“Yeah, it’s Selene. Long story. Are you in danger? Can you get to a safe place?”

Another deep breath, the kind that was definitely holding back the urge to fall to pieces. “I don’t know. I don’t think I’m in physical danger, but I’m in way over my head. I’m scared, I’m losing my mind and I can’t leave. I don’t have a car. I don’t even have a license anymore. I don’t know anyone up here except for Master, and he’s not going to let me go, and we’re in the middle of fucking nowhere. I’d try walking to town, but it’s six miles, and my only shoes have five-inch heels.”

“What? You had fifty pairs of shoes, and most of them were flats.”

“He threw them away when I moved up. He wants me either barefoot or in really high heels. Same with most of my clothes. The people in the grocery store must think I’m a hooker. It’s probably good I don’t get to go out too often.”

The professional tone in Selene’s voice cracked. “He threw out your shoes and clothes? Girlfriend, that’s not quite like killing your cat, but it’s pretty high on the seven-warning-signs-that-you-should-run list.”

Natalie laughed bitterly. “Someone should have sent me that list before I hooked up with Master.”

“We tried,” Nick said. “We all tried. I know I did, and I know Betsy did too.”

“But it was what he wanted. I tried to give him everything. I tried. I tried to do the right thing. But I’m a failure. I don’t know if I can live this way. I know I should be able to if I’m a real slave, but I guess I’m not. I’ve failed him, but he won’t let me go. Says he’s going to make it work, but I can’t take it. I don’t
want
to take it. I know that’s not my choice anymore, but I don’t know…”

“Can’t you talk with him?” Nick asked, trying frantically to put the concepts into terms that Natalie could accept. “Explain it’s too much, too soon, see how some of the rules might be modified?”

“I’ve tried. He’ll let me talk, but he does what he wants to anyway. All it does is prove to him that I need more discipline, which I suppose I do.”

“Do we need to get you out today?” Selene asked. Nick felt a thrill he couldn’t quite place at Selene’s assumption of
we.

“He won’t harm me. I’m his property, and he values me. I don’t know why I called. I need this. It’s what I always wanted, isn’t it? I’m just having a bad day. Lonely, I guess. It just gets so boring sometimes stuck in the house by myself, and when Master gave me permission to call Selene…”

“Stuck in the house?” Nick had to ask, although he suspected what the answer would be.

“He’s eased up,” she said. “For a while, I was locked in the closet with a camping potty when he wasn’t home, but he decided I needed to start doing housework and besides I was getting too fat and soft because I wasn’t moving around enough. But I can’t go outside without him.”

Yup, that was what Natalie had always wanted, being half house pet, half object.

“Yes, you can!” Selene said, her voice a little strident. “You made the choice to follow his rules. You can make the choice not to follow them or to leave. That’s in your hands. It’s always in your hands.”

“No, it’s not,” Natalie said quietly. “Not anymore. I gave that up. The last choice I made was to be with Master. You don’t understand, do you, Selene? This is the real deal. I’m property. No rights, no privileges. The only reason he can’t just kill me is that he wouldn’t want to deal with the consequences. This isn’t role-play, and at the moment, it’s not fun, but it’s my life. That’s why I had to call you, to say to listen to Alison when she says to take your time and figure out what you really want and need, because this isn’t for everyone.”

Natalie took a deep, sobbing breath, then went on. “Nick…I miss you. You might not have been the right master for me, but you’re a great guy. I just wanted to say that. And Selene, I don’t know if you’re really as much of a newbie as you came off as in your message, but in any case, you’ve got one of the good doms. Hold on to him because there are a lot of ass…” Suddenly Natalie’s tone changed completely. “Slave must go now. Slave’s master is home. Good-bye, Selene, and remember what this girl told you. This girl would love to chat again sometime when her master permits.”

The phone went silent.

“Oh shit.” Nick buried his head in his hands. “She is
so
in danger, whether she can admit it or not. What do we do now?”

Selene walked in from the other room and put her hand on his shoulder. “That’s the suck. We can’t do anything yet except worry and try to keep in touch. She hasn’t actually asked us to help. She’s not happy, but she’s still trying to make it work, although I can’t tell if that’s because she wants to or because she’s scared not to.”

“With her, it could be the same thing. Natalie…well, you heard her. She’s not dumb in the usual sense, and I don’t know that she’s mentally ill, but she’s extreme. Hardcore. She wants to give her all to someone.”

“Maybe it would be all right with someone who’d take good care of her, but this guy sounds like a prime grade-A asshole. I see what you meant about a sex nun. Only she’s like Sister Mary Fruitbat who thinks she’s seen Jesus on a taco shell.”

Guilt and regret washed over him, leaving him queasy. He’d tried, or thought he’d tried, but his efforts hadn’t been good enough. If Natalie destroyed herself or let this still-nameless so-called master destroy her, would it be his fault? She’d been willing to give him control of every aspect of her life.

What if he’d taken it, then made her take some of it back? Pushed her but in ways that would have been healthy for her? Pushed her to get back into doing photography instead of contenting herself with being a model? Made her get some counseling and figure out if she really wanted the complete surrender she thought she craved or if she was running away from something—responsibility, adulthood, mortality?

Could he have turned her around when they were together?

Could he do so now, if he had the chance?

And should he? It would wreck the fun he was having with Selene, but they were friends and play partners, in lust, not love. If Natalie needed him, if he could help the woman he’d loved and lost, wasn’t that more important than hot monkey sex with someone who, with her good looks, sexual curiosity and level head, could find another playmate at the drop of a hint?

Selene sat on the bed and snuggled next to him. Her body was soft and delicious and should have been tempting, but when he pulled her closer, it was more to enjoy the comforting contact.

“Besides,” Selene added, breaking into his reverie, “we’re still not sure where she is, so even if we’re convinced she needs rescuing, we can’t just sweep in and do it. We have to wait for her, and that sucks.”

“Sure does.”

Damn, he needed to stop thinking, needed a distraction. He pulled Selene down onto his lap and began to spank her idly. Focusing on her lovely ass under his hand, the curve of her spine, her brown curls still wildly tangled from the rain, spread out on her back and the bed, let him breathe again.

At first, she was obviously going along with him for the same reason he’d started it—because it was better than worrying about a situation they couldn’t affect. After a while she softened and relaxed into it. Her ass started to rise up to meet his hand, and her yips were punctuated with gasps. “Harder, Nick,” she begged. “And then let’s try out that new butt plug. I need to stop thinking.”

Nick couldn’t agree more. “You get the butt plug; then I get your mouth on my cock.”

Chapter Eighteen

For a few weeks, Natalie remained as absent as she had been before the bizarre phone call.