The Plume: The Second Anthology (30 page)

He eyed her and nodded, a slow smile curling
his lips. “It’s the complicity that adds the heat,” he said. “The
willing surrender, even if the body instinctively struggles.”

The conflict within the captive’s mind. Leya
understood perfectly.

His fingers moved against her sex and Leya
squirmed then, writhing against him. Rex moved quickly, tossing one
leg over hers to pin her down. He slid the hand in her nape around
her head, pulling her into his grasp so that he could lock that
hand over her mouth. She gasped and opened her mouth, running her
tongue between his fingers as she wriggled. Rex inhaled but didn’t
close her mouth with his hand. He spread his other hand over her
genitals, two fingers inside her and his thumb still caressing her
clitoris. Leya bucked her hips, keeping her arms behind her
back.

“Mine,” he murmured against her throat. “If
you were mine, I’d bind you for display and take you when I chose.
Take you how I chose.”

“Take me now,” Leya murmured, dragging her
teeth across his palm. “Take me now how you want, then I’ll take
you.”

His eyes glittered and she thought he might
decline. Then he moved quickly, unfolding her arms from behind her
back and drawing them high over her head. He rolled on top of her
in one smooth move, pinning her against the floor. Her breasts were
crushed between them, his hands locked around her wrists. The water
streamed down over them and he kissed her nipples, licking them and
biting them as he eased his weight between her thighs.

Complicity, Leya remembered.

“What if I taught you how to hang a captive
safely? You could hang me at the right height then, take me as you
wanted.”

He inhaled sharply and looked down at her,
his eyes vivid green. “You would teach me?”

“I think you’d be the perfect student,” Leya
said. “Just as I will be your perfect captive.”

She parted her thighs then, inviting Rex to
claim her, then wrapped her legs around his waist. The hard
strength of him was against her, his grip on his wrists tightening
in his surprise.

He faltered for a moment and she guessed why.
“I don’t care about your rule about condoms, Rex. Not right here
and right now. Take me. Fill me. Claim me.” She smiled at him. “And
silence me with your kiss.”

He drove into her then, stretching her wide
as he filled her. Leya moaned with satisfaction and rolled her hips
beneath his weight. The move made friction against her clitoris, a
glorious friction that made her heart thunder. She moaned again,
wanting only more, then Rex’s mouth locked over hers once more. He
kissed her with savage force, even as he drove deep inside her.
Leya gripped his fingers with hers, tightened her legs around him
and encouraged him to ride her hard.

And when they came as one, their cries
swallowed by their kiss, Leya thought the orgasm would never
end.

* * *

Joanna was exhausted when Eric untied her and
swept her into his arms. She had been lost in a haze of pleasure
and pain for so long that she had no idea of the time. Eric had
left several times during the night, only to return to take her
again and again. She had no idea how many times she’d come or how
many times he’d taken her.

The last time, he’d taken her from behind and
it had been the first time she struggled. She’d thought he was
annoyed with her when he left, but she’d dozed in his absence.

The only mystery was what had happened to
Mike. Joanna was quite sure that he’d never taken her on this
night. She knew the size of him and the feel of him. She knew his
tempos and his habits. This had been all new, and a lot more savage
than her times with Mike.

She appreciated that he’d tried to fulfill
her fantasy, but she’d be glad when it was over. She was ready to
be only with Mike. Instead of being an intense emotional
experience, this night had been all about physical demands. Eric
had known how to ensure her pleasure, but she felt no real
connection with him. It was almost mechanical.

And that left Joanna feeling unsatisfied.

Surely, Mike would reward her for being such
a good submissive. She knew he loved when she did as he commanded
without question. Surely, she’d done everything right on this
night.

Surely, he’d reward her in the morning. The
prospect made her tingle all over again.

When the door to the room was opened again,
Joanna smelled the shower gel that Mike used and her heart leapt in
anticipation of his touch.

“Manage to sleep?” Eric asked, and Joanna’s
heart dove to her toes.

“A little, Master Eric.”

“Good girl.” He unfastened her bonds and she
braced herself for more of the same. Instead, he lifted her in his
arms and carried her out of the room. Joanna knew better than to
try to remove the blindfold herself—she didn’t want Mike to be
disappointed in her now. Eric went up some stairs, then into a
bathroom. It was only there that he removed her blindfold, and
Joanna realized they were in Mike’s townhouse.

Eric was wearing jeans. He kissed the tip of
her nose. “You were awesome,” he said, then winked at her. “An
addiction in the making.” Then he turned and left her there
alone.

She heard him speak to someone, then leap
down the stairs to the main floor. A few moments later, the front
door opened and she heard him whistling as he left. She peeked into
the bedroom to find Mike buttoning his shirt.

He gave her an intent look. “You’d better
hurry. Don’t you have to meet your sister?”

Joanna was shocked. The times they spent in
the shower after a session in the dungeon were sweet and powerful.
They balanced the pain with pleasure and after Eric’s last
possession of her, she’d looked forward to being with Mike
afterward and cementing their bond. “But where are you going? It’s
Saturday.”

“Things to do.” He gave her a smile that was
cursory, then headed for the door. Joanna had the definite sense
she’d disappointed him. “You can let yourself out, right?”

She trailed after him, feeling uncertain.
What had she done wrong?

What hadn’t she done right?

“Aren’t we going to talk about this?”

“Talk about what?” Mike was curt in a way
that wasn’t typical of him. How had she let him down? She had lost
interest in Eric’s possession of her once she’d realized Mike
wasn’t going to participate—had Mike wanted her to show more
enthusiasm? “Your fantasy has come true. Solved.”

Joanna folded her arms across her chest.
“Well, I’d like to talk about it a bit more than that.”

“Shoot.” He leaned on the bannister, looking
so tall, masculine and sexy that Joanna yearned for him to come
back to the bathroom. She’d had a lot of sex, but she hadn’t had
enough because she hadn’t had it with Mike.

“Where were you?”

“I was there,” he said tightly.

“So, you watched?”

“Does it matter?”

It did matter, but Joanna couldn’t make sense
of his attitude. “Is this going to happen again?”

Mike turned away abruptly. “It’s not up to
you, is it?”

He started down the stairs again.

“I want to talk about this some more!” Joanna
called after him.

He gave her a look she couldn’t interpret.
“Okay, we’ll go for brunch tomorrow.” Joanna had a moment to be
relieved.

And then he was gone.

Joanna leaned back against the door of the
bathroom, chewing her lip. There was only one possible conclusion
when he said it wasn’t up to her.

Mike had liked it.

He must have realized that she didn’t like it
as much, which was why he was curt with her.

Joanna frowned. That meant that being shared
with Eric might become a routine. The prospect wasn’t thrilling.
She remembered that neither she nor Mike had liked the threesome
with her roommate, Louise. Maybe it was different for Mike if the
third person was a guy.

How could she tell Mike that she’d rather
just have him?

When could she tell him?

It seemed that he didn’t want to hear what
she thought. It seemed that he wanted to command her to do what he
wanted.

Mike said he had watched. Was that one of his
fantasies? To watch her being shared? To have her be so submissive
that he could give her away? On the one hand, Joanna really didn’t
want Eric to become part of their routine. On the other, she was
afraid that if she challenged Mike, that might ruin everything.

What was she going to do?

* * *

Three

Eric knew what he had to do, but he still
couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t a selfless person, but he was going
to have to play fairy godmother all the same.

He’d seen the desolation in Mike’s eyes over
Joanna being shared. He hadn’t been strong enough to resist
claiming Joanna as he’d been promised, but Eric knew the situation
couldn’t continue.

It was Joanna or his friendship with Mike.
Eric knew himself well enough to recognize that his fascination
with any woman didn’t last—even if she might be the perfect
submissive. He and Mike went way back and he knew he would miss
having one good friend to call no matter what was going on in his
life.

Eric also had sensed Joanna’s surprise when
she realized that only he was taking her. It made sense that she
knew Mike’s body well enough to recognize him even when
blindfolded. It also made sense that the emotional connection
between them was what made the whole scene hot for her.

She’d been driven to distraction when Mike
had not just been present and watching, but commanding her to
submit to Eric. After his departure, she’d had pleasure—Eric had
made sure of that—but it hadn’t been as intense for her.

And that was the kicker. Choosing Joanna was
doomed to failure in the short term, because she wanted Mike.

It should be simple, because Mike wanted
Joanna, but no. The two idiots were not only in love, but so nuts
about each other that they were both sacrifice their own desires to
ensure that the other one got what he or she wanted.

Which just meant that Eric was going to have
to push the situation way past the bounds of sanity in order to get
them to admit the truth.

No safe word. In a way, they were begging for
him to do this to them.

Eric would suggest his fantasy. In fact, it
was like kismet. He’d been making preparations himself in the hopes
of finding the perfect submissive—a hunt that had consumed the last
ten years of his life—and now it was perfect that he had the ideal
site, already prepared. It was risky. It was hot. It violated
bunches of rules. That was why Eric adored the idea and the
place.

Mike and Joanna were more conservative,
though. They’d probably freak out as soon as he suggested it.

Then actually talk to each other.

But if they didn’t...well, Eric’s imagination
was already running wild. And if he had Joanna again as a result of
their romantic delusions, even for a short period of time, that
wouldn’t be a bad consolation prize.

He had some arrangements to finalize, just in
case.

* * *

Rex lay on the floor of the men’s shower,
letting the water flow over his exhausted body. He couldn’t
remember when he’d last had vanilla sex.

He couldn’t remember when he’d last come so
big.

He turned to look at Leya, who was still
reclining on the tiled floor beside him. Her eyes were half-open
and she smiled slightly, the expression making her look exotic and
decadent. “All that excess energy,” she murmured and propped
herself up on her elbow to survey him. “I knew we had to get rid of
it.”

Rex smiled despite himself. “All gone?”

“I don’t think it will ever all be gone.
That’s part of your allure.”

Instead of explaining herself, she got to her
feet and washed with care. Rex watched her, admiring the femininity
of her body. When she offered her hand to him, he stood up and
washed beside her, stealing a sweet kiss under the shower.

“Come upstairs with me,” she invited.

“I need to pack my things...”

“Pack later. Come up to my studio for a
while.” When she offered her hand and smiled softly, Rex couldn’t
think of a single reason to refuse.

They turned off the water and gathered their
discarded clothes. Leya waited while Rex packed up the contents of
his locker, then again as he packed his messenger bag in the
Plume’s office. He took one look around the administrative core of
the club, knew he’d never be back, then took her outstretched
hand.

They walked up the stairs to her studio,
naked and together.

* * *

Joanna dressed with care for the brunch. She
was determined to have Mike desire her again, and wanted to do
whatever he wanted. He hadn’t even called on Saturday night, had
just sent her a text message about the brunch reservation. He
hadn’t told her what he was doing that made him too busy to even
talk to her. That wasn’t like Mike.

She knew he was disappointed in her, and she
was going to fix it.

He wanted her to be enthused about his friend
taking her? Well, Joanna was ready to do whatever needed doing to
get back into Mike’s bed—and his heart—again.

She wore a burgundy corset, one made of kid
leather that was new and sleek. It encased her smoothly.
Fortunately, Louise was home so she could ask her roommate to tug
the laces even tighter. She knew Mike liked it when her waist was
small enough that his hands fit right around it. This corset was
cut high in the back to showcase her butt, then came to a point at
the front. The point rested against her pubis and when she sat down
the right way, it prodded between her thighs and rubbed against her
clitoris. The corset had no cups, but was designed to lift her
breasts from below, as though displaying them to the viewer.