Sculpt-Paige_Michaels-Becca_Jameson (2 page)

Lucinda: You want me to spend the whole weekend with you?

Theo: No. You’ll spend four hours with me. You’ll need the rest of the weekend to recover.

Lucinda: I’m tougher than I look.

Theo: I certainly hope so.

Lucinda: Should I wear anything special?

He thought for a minute. She was offering an olive branch, and he should probably take it, but he also wanted to establish the course of their play right from the start.

Theo: Nipple clamps and anal beads.

Lucinda: Jesus. You’re kinky.

Theo: Yes.

There was a long pause, and for the tiniest moment he thought she might back out. Disappointment flared. But then his phone pinged again.

Lucinda: Okay. But I like sushi and it better not be that store-bought stuff.

Theo: Stop texting now, brat. I’ll take care of you. Come to me on Friday.

Lucinda: If you keep calling me brat, I’m not going to call you Sir.

Theo: You will. You want to. Now stop texting, brat, or you’ll need more than a weekend to recover.

Lucinda: Bring it.

He laughed at her last text. She was one of those women who had to get in the last word. Theo ordered another scotch and this time tipped the bartender when she flirted with him, though he left the phone number she scribbled on a napkin untouched on the bar. At the moment, all he could concentrate on was how he was going to heel his red-haired beauty.

Lucinda put away the last of the pottery supplies in the back closet of Terra Incognita Studio and glanced at her watch. She’d been teaching pottery classes to preschool through third graders for the last six months, and while it wasn’t always the easiest job, it at least gave her access to the pottery studio to work on her own pots. She didn’t mind working with kids, though she was hoping to take on an older class soon so she didn’t have to keep just making clay masks and thumb pots.

Her class ended at five, so she should have enough time to get home and shower before she headed to Theo’s house in Eden Prairie. She worried what his neighbors would think when her POS car pulled up in their ridiculously posh neighborhood. And more, she wondered what Theo would think. But then she remembered her car was still out of commission and she’d have to pony up money for a cab anyway. The truth was she hardly ever drove the car anywhere. It was only marginally reliable, hadn’t been running at all for the past three weeks, and she didn’t need it to get to work or most other destinations on her route.

She wasn’t rich; she taught art for a living, and frankly after the mess with Julian and Morgan, she was lucky to have any job. Not that she needed to get into that with Theo. They were playing, testing each other out, and all the stuff in her past didn’t need to be drudged up just to do a scene or two.

So why did she still feel so guilty? Why did she feel the need to unburden herself with a guy she just met?

At her apartment, she chose her outfit for the night carefully. She shuffled through the left side of her closet, the side that contained her more risqué wardrobe. The majority of her fetish wear was black, and she thumbed through several before settling on her favorite. She grabbed the hanger and held it up, biting her lip with concern, trying to imagine what Theo might like on her. The man was demanding. Chances were she wouldn’t be able to please him no matter what she wore.

She decided this was her best choice. The tight bodice would hug her contours and accentuate her ass. It would land only a few inches down her thighs. The main section of the dress was a soft material, with the exception of the lace sleeves that extended across the shoulders. She’d always thought the nearly bare shoulders and arms made the dress one of the sexiest ones she owned. The solid section didn’t start until low on her breasts, accentuating her cleavage while being modest enough to wear almost anywhere.

Since Lucinda had no idea whether they would be going out or staying in, she wanted to be prepared for either eventuality. If she assumed too much and found herself underdressed for Theo’s evening plans, she would be embarrassed.

There would be no way to hide nipple clamps under the dress, but she didn’t own much of anything that would be discreet.

When he’d told her to come in nipple clamps and anal beads, she’d initially thought he was kidding. But his response was hardly a joke, and her clit pulsed just seeing the words on her phone. She pulled out her drawer full of toys and looked through them. Smitten Kitten was her favorite sex toy shop, and she always went a little crazy whenever they had a sale.

The anal beads she’d picked up last January were pretty small, as Lucinda hadn’t ever played with anyone who was all that into anal. The truth was, she’d never had a full-time Dom. She knew she wanted one. She’d played in the scene long enough to know how much it suited her, but it seemed like every time she got close to finding the right guy, he backed out. Lucinda didn’t want to start getting a complex about it, but she did wonder if there was something about her that turned them off.

She glanced at her full breasts and hourglass figure in the mirror. There wasn’t anything wrong with her body. She did “Free Pilates Fridays” every week to make sure she stayed toned, and her constantly breaking-down car forced her to walk a ton. She was in good shape, and she knew guys loved her red hair. It was the first thing they asked her about when they suggested a scene. She even kept a strip above her pussy so they knew it was her real color.

So why couldn’t she find someone who wanted to keep her?

She took her lube and anal beads with her into the bathroom and lifted her leg onto the edge of the tub for easier access. She’d fingered herself enough in the past year to know she sort of liked ass play, which is why she’d tried out the anal beads in the first place. The small size allowed them to slide in with little resistance. Lucinda made sure the ring at the end was flat as she slipped her black lace thong over it.

The nipple clamps had tweezer-like pinchers at the end, but Lucinda barely flinched as she put them on. Whether it was dealing with really big boobs through middle and high school gym class or because she had a high threshold for pain, she could have her nipples tugged on or abraded for hours and it didn’t really bother her. Adjusting herself in front of the tiny bathroom sink, she felt a low hum in her body. Excitement and a hint of hope. Maybe Theo would be able to really give her what she wanted. At least for the night.

»»•««

When the taxi driver deposited Lucinda in front of the large Eden Prairie house—er, mansion—her tongue almost rolled out of her mouth. What the hell? What was a guy who owned this kind of spread doing trolling a bondage, theme-night bar? Surely he knew that every woman in the continental United States was looking for her very own Christian Grey, and all he had to do was murmur “Charlie Tango” and they’d be stuffing their panties in his pockets.

He had the largest house by far in the entire neighborhood, and it backed up to a large pond that looked like it would be filled with exotic fish. Lucinda paused at his front door and considered what she was about to do. All sorts of warning bells went off in her head. No way could a hot-looking rich dude be single without some sort of serious baggage. The question was, could she overlook it?

The door opened before she could decide, and the man himself stood before her with no shirt and a pair of holey jeans. So maybe he was Christian Grey, except holy shit, his muscles. He was built like The Rock. She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Nice of you to dress for our date…
Sir
.”

“Get in the house, brat. I don’t need to dress. Clothes won’t be required for the next four hours.”

He dragged her inside, and her eyes widened. His house was stunning inside as well. Like a gallery with the most beautiful art she’d ever seen on the stark white walls. She gasped when she saw a small Degas ballerina statue on a table next to the base of the front staircase.

“Is that…?”

“It’s a replica. Real Degas statues are very hard to come by.”

“Your house is beautiful. The artwork…” She waved a hand in the direction of the art-covered walls.

“Do you like art, Lucinda?”

She nodded. “I teach pottery to kids. And I dabble in it a bit on my own. Not sculpture, but making pots and vases and stuff like that.”

She suddenly felt incredibly shy and unsure of how she’d ended up there. She hated the feeling and was determined to figure out her way back to more solid ground, so she asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

He didn’t even blink. “Pardon?”

“Well, you’re hot. And rich. And you have amazing taste in art. So you’re either married and this is your second home where you bring your cabal of pick-ups to play, or you’ve got something wrong with you. So which is it?”

“I’m not married,” he answered, pulling her coat off her so smoothly she almost didn’t notice until her skin pebbled with goose bumps from the cool air. “And this dress is spectacular, though a bit tight around the legs for my taste. In the future, only wear skirts that are full enough for me to reach your pussy without difficulty. If you can’t spread your legs as wide as possible, the dress is too tight. Now take it off.”

She fisted her hands on her hips and shook her head. “Don’t you think you should offer me some water and a safe word first before you get me naked?”

He grinned. “Are you thirsty, brat?”

“No.”

“Good. Lose the dress.”

She stomped her foot, and he stepped closer, sliding his hands up her chest until he reached the nipple clamps pressing through the fabric of her dress. He rubbed them with his thumb and whispered, “I want to see these. Lose. The. Dress.”

She stepped back, and the stark need in his gaze left her slightly breathless. She pulled the dress over her head. For the briefest moment his eyes widened in wonder, and she grinned at his response to her. At least she was bringing something to this party. Before she could spin around and show off all her assets, he schooled his features and stepped forward, reaching for the clamps again.

“Does it hurt?” he asked, rubbing his fingers over the pinched tips of her nipples. He watched intently, seeming to measure her body’s reaction to what he was doing.

“No.”

He looked at her face. “Not at all?”

She shrugged. “High threshold for pain, I guess.”

He grinned. “Oh, brat, you better give me your safe word, and you better be ready for me because I’m about to test that.”

∙•∙

She was magnificent. Theo knew she would be. He’d caught a hint of it the other night at Exotica, but without clothes, her nipples pinched, and her breath coming in shallow gasps, she was absolutely stunning. And seemingly unaffected by the clamps.

“Is no enough of a safe word?”

“No,” he answered. “Not for someone like you. You’ll tell me no a dozen times before I’m through with you. But you’ll want it all the same.”

“What do you mean, someone like me?”

She didn’t know. She didn’t realize who she was and what she needed. And he wasn’t about to tell her so she’d go researching it on the Internet and gather herself a whole new bag of grief to give him. Better for her to find her own way on this, trust her instincts, and act in a way that was natural for her, not a way some website advised.

“Turn around,” he said, ignoring her question.

“Not until you tell me.”

“You won’t give me ultimatums, brat. This isn’t how this is going to go. So you can turn around like I’ve requested, or you can put your clothes back on and lose my number.”

She stood for a moment, glancing between him and the house around him. He was rich. He worked his ass off as a commercial broker in one of Minneapolis’s top firms. He took huge risks with money, and so far it had all paid off. But money could be lost overnight, and he didn’t want her to stay if that’s all she was interested in.

“Is my money going to be a problem for you?”

She tipped her head to the side. “In what way?”

“In the way that you’re going to cost me lots of it.”

Her nostrils flared, and he almost chuckled at her indignation. “Fuck you, Theo. I’m not interested in your money. The only problem with you having it is that I don’t want some judgy uptight asshole neighbors of yours calling the cops if I park my shitty car is in your heated driveway.”

“How did you know my driveway was heated?”

Her mouth dropped open. “I was kidding, for fuck’s sake. Your driveway is heated? Jesus, what am I doing here? Seriously. What do you want with me?”

“I want you to turn around, brat. Don’t make me ask again.”

She rolled her eyes but did his bidding. It was clear this was solid ground for her. Pushing him, wanting him to push her right back. He could tell she liked it, and she would learn to love it if he had anything to say about it.

He stepped up close and slipped his fingers into both sides of her thong. He dragged it down and let it drop at her feet. He grabbed both globes of her incredible ass in each hand and heard her release the smallest sigh. He squeezed harder, almost punishing her cheeks, and she moaned. Yes. Better.

He dropped to his knees and tugged on the ring connected to the beads in her ass.

“I’m going to pull these out now,” he said.

“No.” She tensed and looked down at him, her gaze full of desire. Jesus. This woman was going to kill him before the night was over.

“Do you see why no isn’t the best option for a safe word, brat?” He pulled one bead out and she groaned, widening her stance and reaching down to her pussy. He grabbed her wrist with his free hand, stopping her from touching herself.

“Theo.”

“Lucinda. Have you ever been trained as a submissive?”

“I’ve read a lot. I’ve done scenes.”

He shook his head. “Jesus fucking Christ. This body and that mouth and no one has claimed you yet.”

Her expression cleared, and her face cracked open into a smile. “I know. It’s like they don’t know what they’re missing.”

He swatted her ass, and she moaned again. “More like they don’t want to get involved with this,” he mumbled, but she must have heard him because her face flushed like he’d struck her. He stood up quickly and turned her.