The Innocent (14 page)

“Wait until the music starts.  It’s pure heaven.”

Gazing around at the smartly dressed men and women, Serena was taken to another time and place; a time when men were gentlemen and women were ladies;  a time when men held their hand out to their lady and waited for her to be seated before taking their own seats.

The lights dimmed and a hush fell over the elegant and ornate room.  A lone and low base note sounded, long and plaintive.  A chorus of cellos brought more drama to the deep notes, while a dozen violins made their slow and hesitant approach.

The instruments, big and small, deep and shrill, dramatic and lively came together and as they all escalated to a fevered blend of harmony and contrasts, Serena’s whole body shook.

At first she thought it was a particularly low base note that had shaken the entire opera house, but she then realized it was the vibrator lodged inside her.  She cast an accusing glance at Sebastian, and while he did keep his hand in his pocket, he simply looked down at the musicians, completely enraptured by the crescendo.

Silence filled the air for all of two seconds before the audience erupted in appreciative applause.

The next piece began and with every flick of the bow against the violin’s string, Serena received a quick jolt of tantalizing vibration.  Though Sebastian refused to look at her, she noticed the mischievous grin that often lined his lips and the light flex of his hand as he pressed on the remote.

When the orchestra turned to Strauss’ Napoleon March, the frequency of vibration increased and soon had Serena ready to surrender.

At intermission, Sebastian allowed her a reprieve as they exited the balcony and mingled with other music lovers.  They took the offered glasses of champagne as they chatted with an older couple.  With the bubbly liquid at her lips, however, Sebastian gave her a good long dose of thrilling vibrations.  She almost choked on her bubbles and the older woman looked at her with an odd purse to her lips.

Disdained, or disgruntled, the older woman led her husband away.

Amusement played in Sebastian’s eyes as he refused to let Serena off too easily.  With everyone around her, these ladies and gentlemen of high society with their high noses and pitched lips, Serena barely contained the shuddering quake that shook her as an orgasm built up in her body.

An involuntary groan escaped her, attracting the curious gazes of the people around her.

The vibration stopped a second, then resumed harder and stronger than before.

Flustered, Serena dropped her champagne as the full force of the unexpected orgasm shook her.

 “Maybe you should go for the ginger ale,” a blue-haired woman remarked.

“I am so…so very…moved…by the music,” she let out loudly. “Simply beautiful.”

 “I guess we better go sit back down,” Sebastian suggested as he took her arm.

“I can’t believe you just did that to me,” she whispered as they headed down their isolated corridor.

“You loved every minute of it.”

“Of course, I loved it, but I still can’t believe you did that.” She smiled, eager to see what else he had up his sleeve.

As they sat anew, the orchestra dove into a heart pounding Also Sprach Zarathustra.  Serena was swept away on the beautiful orchestration, dramatic flair and exquisite finesse of the slightest instruments.  While she expected her vibrator to come alive at any moment, it remained still.

And as the orchestra moved onto the Blue Danube, it was Sebastian’s fingers that gently played on her skin.  His fingertips ran along the nape of her neck, stirring emotions and bringing her a different release.

She looked at him and was surprised by the wealth of emotions in his eyes as he stared back into hers; love, yearning, hope.

As the last number of the evening came to a dramatic end, Sebastian leaned closer to Serena and whispered, “I love you.”

The emotions remained high as they drove home, and when they entered their bedroom, Serena saw a new, serene man before her.

Moved by the intensity of emotions he displayed, she leaned into him and tenderly kissed him.  He surrendered as she peeled off his jacket, loosened his bowtie and unbuttoned his shirt.  Letting go of all the power, all the authority and all the supremacy, he relinquished full control to her.

Chapter 17

“You know, you’ve just intensified my desire to concentrate on my musical career.”  Serena looked at Sebastian as he drove them home after the show.

“Lately, I thought I’d noticed your lack of interest.  I even thought you’d had a change of heart.”

She pressed her lips together and looked out the window.  The moon was full and high, guiding them home like a beacon.  The past days away from Price were also responsible for her renewed interest in music.  Far from his controlling fingers, she had the freedom to let her heart soar at will.

Inspired, she already had a few vague ideas playing through her mind.  The musical notes hung in the air as she visualized the music sheet in front of her.

“How ‘bout we work on something tonight?” Sebastian suggested.

Serena turned to him.  “You just about read my mind.”

Minutes later they arrived and Serena hurried out of the car.  “I have a melody that’s been running around in circles in my head and I want to get it down.”

Sebastian opened the door.  “I’ll go get us a nice bottle of wine and meet you at the piano.”

Watching him walk away, Serena was caught up in the moment.  The thrill of the last days with him, submitting to him, commanding him, pleasing him, and now the added thrill of composing with him.  It was more than she could have ever dreamed of.

Her first days in California with him came rushing back to her.  Their original arrangement had been borne of pure lust and a desire to fuck and be fucked.  Now the intensity of their relationship brought them both to a whole new level.

Setting her fingers on the piano keys, she took a deep breath before sounding the first notes.  She felt vulnerable, as if the music that was itching to come forth would open every vault of her life.  Tentative at first, the rhythm and movement of the music took over as the melody came to her clearer and stronger.  Swept up in the emotion of the music, the thrill of the creation and the need to rid herself of all the pent up passion, Serena pounded the keys with fervor.

When she finally brought her fingers delicately across the final notes of her composition, she felt drained, but ecstatic.

The lone last note resonated in the air a long moment.

Sebastian set a glass of red wine on the piano.  She’d not even heard his entrance and looked at him with surprise.  His eyes were misty and brow creased with a blend of emotions she’d never seen before.  Awe, rapture, inspiration, hope, promise, admiration… everything mingled in his eyes as he held her gaze.

“Was that what was playing around in your head?” he said in a hushed and reverent tone.

“Yeah.”  She brought her gaze back to her fingers, still atop the keys.

“That was absolutely beautiful, Serena.  I never would have imagined you had that in you.”

She smiled and looked at him.  He’d taken off his tuxedo jacket, loosened his tie and opened his shirt.  He was the living representation of all the notes she’d just pounded out.  “I guess the Swiss air agrees with me.”

He cocked a brow.  “And how.”

For the next two hours Sebastian helped her put every note to paper.  Aside from a few adjustments, a little fine tuning and a finishing touch, he left her work as she’d initially played it.

“That’s as perfect as it gets.”  Sebastian poured the last drops of wine into his glass and sat back in a fanciful Louis XVI chair.  “At this rate, you’ll be the one giving me lessons.”

Serena picked up the conductor’s baton lying atop the piano and slapped it playfully into her palm.  “And do you think you’d make a good student?”

Despite the late hour, a boyish gleam immediately came to his eye. “I’ve been known to be naughty every now and then.

“Do you disobey your professor?”  She approached him while repeatedly slapping the baton in her palm.

“Sometimes.”

“And do you talk in class.”

“Only when it’s a pretty girl who talks to me.”

“And do you do your homework?”

“Hardly ever.”

His response garnered him a sound slap of the baton across his shoulder.  “Take off your shirt,” she ordered.

When he hesitated, she brought the baton hard across his shoulder blade.  “I said, take it off.”

He pulled the shirttail out of his pants and shrugged it off.

Serena ran the tip of the baton over his nipples then down his hard chest, rippled abs to his navel and on into his pants.

A loud, controlled hiss came from his lips.

“Get up.”

He stood.

“Let’s practice our arpeggios.”  She tapped the baton against his shoulder, guiding him to the piano.

Sebastian sat at the piano and set his fingers over the key.

“C major,” Serena commanded simply.

His fingers slowly tapped out the notes of the chord.”

“Faster.”

He accelerated the pace.

“D flat.”

He shifted to the appropriate keys.

“D major.”

He faltered and hesitated.

“D major!” she scolded as she lightly slapped his fingers with the baton.  “Faster.  C major.  Faster.  Sharp major.  Faster.  Faster, Sebastian.”

His fingers flew across the keys, shifting from one chord to the other with ease.

Standing behind him, Serena set down the baton and ran her hands over his shoulders and down over his chest.  “Don’t stop,” she ordered.

He sighed, stumbled a moment and went on.

She nestled her breasts around the base of his neck and brought her hands down to his belt.  “Don’t you dare stop, Sebastian,” she whispered menacingly into his ear.

Lightly trailing her fingertips over his skin, she tickled his navel, skimmed over his nipples and lazily dragged her hands over his shoulder then wrapped her arms around his waist.

Slow and deliberate, she worked to unbuckle his belt, unzip his tuxedo slacks and find his hardened cock.

He sighed again while his cock throbbed in her hand.

“Ah, Sebastian has been a good student, hasn’t he?”

His fingers slowed down and stumbled across the keys.

“What did I say about keeping the pace?”

He resumed the hectic pace.

She ran her thumb over the cap of his cock.

Sebastian faltered, but corrected himself.

“Music requires a lot of concentration, Sebastian.”  She left his cock and ran her hand across the breadth of his shoulders as she came to his side.  “You have to feel the music.  You have to live and breathe it.  Nothing else matters but your fingers on those keys.”

Staring at the keys, he sped up the arpeggios.

“Napoleon’s March,” she commanded.

He stopped, got his bearings and started the piece.

As the music that had brought her to such great heights that night emanated from Sebastian’s fingertips, she ducked under the piano, knelt before him and pulled his erection out of his slacks and guided it to her lips.

The notes pounded out his hunger and desire.

Serena slipped the length of his cock into her mouth and gently sucked.

“God!” Sebastian let out as he punished the keys of the piano.

With every variance in cadence, Serena followed, until, as the piece came to an end, she finally brought Sebastian his release.

Chapter 18

As the weeks passed, Serena discovered a new, more confident woman emerging.  She took charge, not only of Sebastian in the bedroom, but of every aspect of her compositions.  Life flowed through her fingers every time she sat at the piano and love flowed through her every limb when she lay with Sebastian.

Her years with Price had held her back, and kept her down more than she’d ever realized.  And the taste of freedom was better than she’d ever imagined.

She glanced at Sebastian as he prepared for their dinner out.  The degree with which he could completely submit himself to her every whim, to her every command…  it aroused her, and every time she took on the dominatrix role, she saw just how it aroused him.

It was a pleasure Price had never allowed her.

“I hope you're famished, because the food is going to be sensational.”

Serena slipped on the four-inch nude pumps that completed her look.  With her hair wild and loose, her make-up heavy and dark and her mini dress clinging to every curve, she was every bit the wild child Sebastian had requested of her.

“You look fabulous, Serena.  I don’t know how I’m going to get through the evening without dragging you out to some quiet corner to ravish you.”

“If there’s anything I’ve learned about you these past weeks, it’s the willpower, self-control and discipline you have.”

Though the restaurant was elegant and the food gourmet, the fashion word of the day was definitely sexy chic.  Men in sophisticated Armani suits were accompanied with women in fine designer frocks.  Long, lean legs were on display and cleavage was abundant.

“You fit right in.” Sebastian’s gaze darted around the room as he led Serena to a table.  “Though you are unquestionably the most beautiful and sexy creature here.”

Serena sat down in the chair Sebastian had pulled out for her.  “I do believe you're a little biased, Mr. Sorensen.”

He chuckled as he sat facing her.  “No.  I saw every male eye turn your way as I led you here.  Believe me.  Every man here would kill to take you home tonight.”

Sebastian ordered an exquisite bottle of red wine and took the liberty of ordering their meals.

“You can’t go wrong here,” he said.  “You could close your eyes, point to any item on the menu and you’d be delighted with the meal served.”

“Excuse me,” a handsome, dark-haired man said as he came up to the table.  “Miss Singleton?”

Serena looked at the man with a curious frown.  “Yes.  I’m sorry, but do I…?”

“Forgive my intrusion.  I am Prince Alandair… of Greece.  A recent royal tour brought me to southern California… to a very exclusive club.”  He looked knowingly at her.