Surrender (12 page)

He looked a little uneasy when he finally raised up enough to look at my face.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked hesitantly.

My chin wobbled in spite of all I could do. “No … sir,” I managed finally.

Not surprisingly, he didn’t look convinced. He got off of me. When he did, I hopped off the couch and virtually raced from the room and up the stairs, fearful that one of the others would catch me if I didn’t get to my room quickly enough.

It wasn’t quite eleven yet, but I decided to cheat a little. I needed a time out.

SURRENDER Kimberly Zant 53

I finished my first week at the mansion of ill repute by starting my period. It had been a hell of a week already. It seemed an apt ending to it.

A definite pattern had emerged, and I supposed the routine was sort of a comforting thing, because I knew pretty much what to expect. Kaelen came in to help, or watch, me bathe and dress—I decided that was because he was a perfectionist and was determined to see that one, I used good hygiene and two, I dressed exactly as he wanted me to dress. I went down for breakfast and was damned lucky if I managed to get it because someone was always laying in wait for me, usually all of them—except Kaelen.

I got to ‘rest’ for an hour before lunch, which I suspected was more of an opportunity for me to get myself cleaned up from ‘breakfast’ than actually because they thought I needed rest because that didn’t seem to occur to that randy lot. I was on the lunch menu. Even though Kaelen seemed to frown on foreplay at the table, most of them blithely ignored his displeasure and used the opportunity while I had my hands full to fondle me and one or another would decide to drag me onto their lap and feed me and/or have me feed them while they fondled me—because, I suppose, their hands were busy doing something else.

From luncheon to my afternoon rest period, everyone who hadn’t managed to corner me and fuck my brains out, took the opportunity to do so. The time between the end of my rest period and dinner was when they got competitive, because, like the pool game, ranking was determined by who was best—mostly this was cards or pool, but a few times they went outside and tried to beat each other to death over the football. After dinner, I got my phone call to my girls, which generally depressed me, because every night I had to listen them begging me to come home and tell them again that it wouldn’t be long at all before I was.

And then there was bed sports until I was exhausted, always beginning with Kaelen, and ending with Kaelen, who began to stay longer and longer, though he hadn’t once spent the whole night in my bed.

This, of course, was in the spirit of fairness, because they paired off, and there were five, so Kaelen had to step into the breach.

I was forbidden to cum at any time during the day, whatever any of them did to me, and I began to suspect that this taboo was more because Kaelen worked during that time and couldn’t participate than for any other reason—if the others worked, they were obviously on vacation because they rarely left the mansion. I feared that the effect on me was that I was turning into a nympho because none of the men thought there was any reason to deprive themselves only because I wasn’t allowed to cum and they needed to fondle me to arouse themselves sufficiently to cum, or just wanted to. I wasn’t sure which. My ‘apparel’ was enough by itself to make it impossible for me to get my mind off of my two main erogenous zones, my breasts and my clit. Their constant stroking and kissing and fondling throughout the day only made that
more
impossible, stoking my engines until I was ready to blow by the time the curfew was lifted. I supposed it was SURRENDER Kimberly Zant 54

also
because they had taught me how to enjoy my body and what it was capable of, but I thought it was mostly the other things.

I was sorry Gareth had enlightened me about their past. It complicated a situation that shouldn’t have been complicated. I had been curious. I had wanted to know, but knowing made it impossible, I discovered, to look upon them with the distance and objectivity I had had before when they were just strangers who had hired me to entertain them.

I couldn’t get that distance back, and, as hard as I tried, I also couldn’t prevent it from changing the way I felt about them or behaved toward them. I tried, lord knows I did, but I couldn’t, and I felt horribly guilty because both Gareth and Dev seemed to be laboring under the impression that I was mad at them and were very cool toward me because of it for days. They hadn’t abstained, but I thought that was because they felt guilty somehow and didn’t want the others to know, because they were very distant even when we were having sex.

I think the worse of it was that I
wanted
to smooth things over, and at the same time knew it was probably for the best if I didn’t. This was a job. It would be ending in a few weeks, and I would never set eyes on any of them again. I was trying not to be stupid and grow fond of any of them. Knowing that didn’t make it any easier though, or make me stop wanting to try to explain.

I felt like hell when I woke up, but then I never felt really good first thing in the morning, and every night since I had arrived at the mansion had been a rough night. My belly felt bloated and uncomfortable, but, again, I had romped half the night and since bigger than average cocks seemed to be a family trait, that wasn’t surprising either. I was damp in my feminine area, also explainable.

Some sixth sense, plus a general idea that it was close to my time, told me it was none of the above, though, and when I checked, I saw it was that time. I had known I would have my period while I was away and about, but when I had considered that insurmountable obstacle before, I hadn’t had a very clear idea of how things were going to be once I arrived. Now that I did, I realized it was going to be a lot more than an inconvenience to me.

No one was going to be happy about, especially Kaelen, who really disliked having any of his plans interfered with.

I was expecting a nasty scene, therefore, when Kaelen arrived.

He stopped abruptly and gave me one of his looks when he saw I was still in bed.

I reddened. I really, really didn’t like having to tell him, of all people, what the problem was.

“I’m … uh … indisposed,” I said delicately in answer to his questioning glance.

His lips tightened. “We all feel the urge to be lazy from time to time. However, having a job is a privilege and a responsibility.” As if that pompous lecture solved the problem then and there, he headed toward the bathroom. I sat up in bed, pulling the covers over my breasts. “I’m on the rag,” I said baldly, realizing nothing was going to get through to him but bluntness. And I wasn’t about to get up in my condition with him in there.

He jolted to a halt and swiveled around to look at me as if I had grown two heads.

I suspected that it was disbelief that I had had the audacity to inconvenience him.

“What?”

SURRENDER Kimberly Zant 55

I gave him a look. “My period? Menstruation? That thing that women do once a month before they get PMS?”

He reddened. I could see his mind working, turning over the possibility that I was only claiming to be indisposed to oppose him. Or maybe he thought I had just
done
it to oppose him? My ex had certainly seemed to think I did it deliberately to inconvenience him. “I can’t help it,” I said sullenly.

He looked discomfited. “Ah … how many days do you think—expect this to be a problem?”

“Three or four … maybe five, but usually not,” I added when he looked appalled.

“There’s no … it’s not …. You can’t pin it down any better than that?” he demanded.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “No I can’t pin it down any better than that. It’s not

… a switch. It starts when I reach a certain point in the cycle and it ends when it’s done.” He shoved his hands in his pant’s pocket. “Is there anything you need?” I looked at him in surprise. It was so sweet of him to ask! I had to wonder, though, if I asked him to run down to the store and get me some tampons if they would all be downstairs fighting over who had to go for the rest of the day. “I brought what I need.”

He gave me a look. “So … you were prepared? You didn’t think to mention this?”

I glared at him. “Women’s cycles are monthly! It didn’t occur to me that I’d
need
to mention it.”

His lips tightened, but he reddened even more. Turning abruptly, he left the room.

I settled back in the bed, fuming. Why, I wondered, hadn’t it occurred to me that they might not have thought about this?
They
didn’t have to worry about having one miserable week out of every frigging month!
They
didn’t have to worry about bloating, cramping, seepage, and/or unexpected ‘arrivals’ at the worst possible time!

I knew men never gave it a thought unless it inconvenienced them. My ex hadn’t.

He had, in fact, accused me once of deliberately starting my period to keep from having to give him any.

It dawned on me after a few moments that Kaelen was appalled because it hadn’t occurred to him at all, and if it hadn’t, then he wasn’t used to having a long term relationship.

He hadn’t been married, and I doubted any of the others had, either. They came from a well-to-do family. There was no incentive to be in a great rush to settle down, and a lot of incentive not to.

I wondered abruptly if this little house party was some elaborate send off for one of them that was thinking about taking the plunge. It was a bachelor party on a staggering scale if that was true, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be.

It also didn’t mean that it was, and, even it was, it was none of my business.

I got out of bed after a few minutes and went to take a shower and brush my teeth.

Dragging my suitcase out of the bottom of the armoire, I got what I needed and got my own clothes to put on.

I discovered when I got downstairs that Kaelen had made the announcement that the party was on hold. It had cleared the house. Feeling like a leaper, I went into the SURRENDER Kimberly Zant 56

kitchen and fixed myself some breakfast. As I ate the solitary meal, I thought about the situation. I hadn’t been bored since I had arrived because I had hardly had a moment to myself. Three or four days of having nothing to do, no one even to talk to, was going to be really, really boring.

It occurred to me that there was really no point at all in being there if I couldn’t entertain, which led me, naturally enough, to thinking about the possibility of going home for a few days. By the time I had finished eating, I was excited. I tried to tamp it as I headed for Kaelen’s office, because nothing had been said about me taking leave during the six weeks, but I couldn’t help but be hopeful when it was patently obvious they didn’t even want to be in the same house with me.

My heart nearly failed me when I reached Kaelen’s sacred sanctum. The office was off limits, and no one was supposed to disturb Kaelen when he was working.

Gathering my nerve, I tapped on the door anyway.

“Come!”

A little surprised that I had been admitted, I turned the doorknob and peered inside. The room was huge, but then all of the rooms in the mansion were huge. What surprised me, though, was that there nothing temporary looking about the office because I had assumed the mansion belonged to the company that had hired me. It looked neat, clean, well kept, but well used.

Kaelen was seated behind a huge desk with papers stacked all over the place. He looked up frowningly from a paper he had been studying and seemed to go catatonic when he discovered it was me.

Obviously, when he had said ‘come’ he had thought it was someone else at the door.

He sat back in his chair after a moment, studying me appraisingly. Lifting a hand, he flicked his fingers at me in a summoning motion. I went in and closed the door, crossing the room to stand in front of his desk.

The sense swept over me as I stopped of finding myself in the principal’s office for some transgression. Not that I ever had but once, but once had been enough to make a deeply unpleasant impression on me. “You need something?” he prompted when I merely stood in front of the desk, fighting the urge to wring my hands and trying to figure out what to do with them. I finally put them behind my back.

Discovering my mouth had gone dry, I cleared my throat uncomfortably. “I was just wondering ….”

His dark brows rose.

It wasn’t really encouragement to continue. “I just thought … since I’m indisposed anyway and … not really of any use around here … I thought, maybe, you wouldn’t mind if I went home for a couple of days,” I stammered.

He studied me in silence for several minutes after I had finished, making me more and more uncomfortable. “What makes you think you’re of no use?” he asked coolly.

I was taken aback. “Well … uh … I can’t … you know.”

“Can’t what? Have sex? Give head? You’re suggesting both ends are out of commission because you’re on your period?”

I reddened. “Oh,” I said lamely, feeling stupid and miserably disappointed.

Nodding, I turned away, heading for the door. “I’m sorry I bothered you,” I threw over my shoulder.

SURRENDER Kimberly Zant 57

He got up. I could hear his long stride as he followed me. Unnerved, I moved a little faster, but he caught up to me before I got to the door. Catching my arm, he pulled me around to face him. “Did you
need
to go home for some reason?” I dragged in a shuddering breath. Need? I didn’t
need
to. The girls were fine. I knew my mother was taking good care of them. It had been a stupid idea anyway. If I went home, it would just upset me and the girls when I had to leave again. I shook my head.

He caught my chin in his hand and forced me to look up at him. “Why did you ask, then, knowing you’d be penalized?”

I stared at him. I hadn’t thought about being penalized for being gone a few days, but I didn’t think it would’ve weighed with me even if I had considered it. “I miss them,” I said finally.

His dark brows drew together. “Who?”