All Of Her (Fantasy Heights) (4 page)

It took them quite some time to pull themselves back together. Amanda wasn’t eager to part from him, nor he from her. They ended up tangled together on the chaise. He vacantly twirled a few long strands of her hair around his index finger, resting his cheek on the top of her head while Lily and Tony, long since spent, murmured quietly to one another on the bed.

After a time, a memory of her mystery client’s note resurfaced. The thought planted a seed of discomfort. Loath as she was to leave Derek, she really shouldn’t linger on this set. And it wasn’t as if their clients would miss them. Those two were so lost in one another it almost made her feel jealous, until another memory barged in. This time, she recalled how she felt when her ex-fiancé confessed his affair with her stepsister.

Borrowing some resolve from it, Amanda wriggled to free herself and draw Derek back to reality. “We should go.”

He nodded. The pair of them, still a bit on the dreamy side, floated back to wardrobe, into the showers, then out to the parking lot. Derek offered to drive her home, but given how drugged she still felt by their connection, she decided she better walk it off.

She regretted the decision a moment after passing Gail Warnous’s condo. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement. Someone was coming after her. A blonde. Tall, thin, gorgeous, dressed in a pale pink sundress and pretty gold sandals. No question. The woman coming after her was Gail Warnous. Thomas’s maybe-girlfriend, and Marla’s lover. Robert Warnous’s ex-wife. The one she was supposed to stay away from.

Fantastic, she thought to herself. Back to work for one day, and already she’d run into two of the women she was supposed to avoid.

She tried to keep going, to avoid making contact, but the woman would not stop, clearly intent on catching up before Amanda could reach the safety of her own home.

She’d never make it. Better she should get this over with.

Amanda stopped walking. Instinct and everything else told her to ignore the woman and march straight for her house. Slam the door in Gail’s face, if need be.

Instead, she had not yet marshaled uncertain body language into something less vulnerable by the time Gail caught up. Gail was still ten feet away when she blurted out the question.

“You work at Fantasy Heights, right?”

Unsure how to respond, Amanda opted for her usual tactic, and said nothing.

Gail waved a dismissive hand. “Cut the crap, princess. Of course you do. Were you there? Is it true? Did he really sing?”

Strict confidentiality clauses had their bright side. She couldn’t tell Gail Warnous anything, even if she wanted to.

Widening her eyes in feigned innocence, Amanda made a big show of digging her cellphone out of her jeans pocket. The act sent a clear warning that she might be alone, but she was by no means unprotected. One phone call and lawyers would descend like an unholy cavalry. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“God, I fuckin’ hate you people. I have a right to know what happened. And I’m gonna find out, one way or another.”

The way Gail said it raised every single tiny hair on Amanda’s body. The back of her neck, her forearms, everywhere. There was something manic, something primal and predatory in the woman’s eyes that tripped every alarm in her system.

And then suddenly, miraculously and much to Amanda’s despair, another familiar blonde appeared. Marla this time, hurrying up the sidewalk in a stuttering half-walk, half-run.

Great, Amanda thought. Not one, not two of the women she was supposed to avoid, but a perfect hat trick. She’d managed to run into all three in as many days.

“Gail?” Marla called. “Gail! What are you doing?”

Gail turned to face Marla. “I’m trying to get a straight answer out of someone, only Thomas’s shiny new pet thinks she’s better than me or something.”

“Oh, God.” Marla, finally reaching them, fell all over herself to apologize. “Amanda, I’m so sorry. Please forgive her. You... This is really upsetting for her and... Please go inside. I’ll handle this.”

Amanda made a scoffing noise and made a hands-off gesture. “All yours.”

As quickly as she could, she dashed inside, but was not above peering through the blinds long enough to make sure Marla got Gail off her lawn. Only very briefly did she consider calling Steph to report the incident. So far, none of this had anything to do with her. If she wanted to keep it that way, she should do her best to obey her mystery client’s note in future.

For the next week, that proved easier than even she could have hoped. She worked four days, each time as an extra on set. One night she spent with Josh, who did not try to defend himself when she accused him of breaking her confidence.

“Look,” he told her. “If you’re fishing for an apology, you won’t get one. This place and the people in it can be just as petty and grasping as your average high school. I was simply trying to warn Thomas that you’re too observant for your own good, and prone to put two and two together to make twenty-two.”

She considered telling him about her mystery client and the note, then thought the better of it. Passing notes was straight out the high-school playbook. Was that all it was? Just the same old social politics? Had she blown things out of proportion, fearing bigger threats than simple human foibles?

There was room for doubt. Thomas was a great actor, to be sure, but when he’d told her that bit about opening doors around here, she didn’t think he’d been dramatizing. But maybe he had. Maybe he and this mystery client were amusing themselves with the nosy noob-let, and secretly laughing at how gullible and naive she could be.

And what about Josh? Was he part of the alleged popularity contest? A bystander? One of the judges?

The thought left a dull gray pall over dinner with Josh, but lifted later when he took her across the resort to the shop where he and other contractors built and repaired the resort’s custom sets and apparatus.

“The workroom on this end is mine.” He unlocked a thick steel door and reached in to flip a light switch. “I was hoping you’d be willing to play guinea pig tonight.”

Whatever else he might be, Josh was one of the resort’s three owners. He was also her client. Technically, she was on the clock, and even if it were true that she was surrounded by cliques didn’t mean she had to conduct herself that way. Not very long ago, she’d been a bank manager, and prided herself on being professional. All the time. Not just when it would gain her anything.

It was, in fact, the high-school bullshit that had cost her job. It would not cost her this one. She slammed the door on the personal nonsense and gave her entire attention to Josh, who wanted to test the apparatus that would one day be the centerpiece of Thomas’s outdoor set.

The core of it didn’t look like much, just a round base two yards in diameter. On it, a pair of six-inch-thick metal rods rose up to waist height. They stood evenly spaced halfway between the center and edges of the base.

As she watched, Josh fiddled with the end of each post. A thin bar about nine inches long flipped up and over the end to point toward the center of the platform.

“Those are the handles,” Josh explained. “Climb up there and grab hold.”

She climbed onto the platform, stepped between the posts and took hold of the handles.

Josh leaned over a nearby table to pick up a metal box. “The controls are still analog, but don’t worry. It’ll all be digital and pre-programmed before this goes live.”

She made a scoffing noise. He didn’t have to explain himself to her. So far, everything he’d built seemed brilliant.

He told her, “The handles are supposed to be overhead. Tell me when you’re ready and I’ll raise them up.”

She nodded and held onto the grips. “Go ahead.”

Josh tinkered with switches. Silent hydraulic jacks extended the posts at her sides like two big car antennae until they’d lifted her several inches off the ground.

“Good, good.” Josh let her dangle while he scratched his chin and tilted his head, eyeing the structure.

Watching him in return, Amanda felt a spiral of industrial-strength desire take its first primal breaths. Josh frequently had that effect on her, and it was hard not to let the engines rev when she realized this apparatus was merely restraints in disguise. If she let go of the handles, she’d fall. Every bit as effective as handcuffs.

Her eyes crept to the three-foot titanium spreader bar she’d spotted on the floor not far away. The spiral exploded into flames.

“Stop that,” Josh said. “I can’t concentrate when I know exactly what you’re thinking.”

She laughed. “Oh, like you’re really concentrating. And I can’t help it. I love the spreader bar.”

“Be patient. We need to make sure the controls work, first.”

She gave him a nod and braced herself as he picked up what looked like an old joystick game controller. He cranked the lever to the left, and the platform began to spin very slowly. The farther it spun, the farther the two steel antennae spread apart. By the time the platform stopped spinning, her arms, instead of being directly over her head, were now a wide
Y
.

She smiled and felt her pussy heat up to the first stage of wet at the thought of everything Josh could do to her in this position.

But there was something missing. “Why isn’t there anywhere to put my feet?”

Josh bent to pick up a heavy, complicated-looking piece of metal. It was curved on one side, bent into a
V
, and partially covered in padding. Josh stepped forward and fitted it onto the post on her right. Then he picked up a nearly identical piece and fitted it to the other post.

“What are those?” she asked.

Her heart began to pound at the way Josh’s pupils dilated. He stepped in her direction and took hold of her right leg. “Lift,” he commanded.

She lifted her leg but let him guide the way. He pulled her leg to the side, hooking her knee over the padded
V
. Leg restraints. They were leg restraints.

He did not have to help from there. She could hardly get her other leg hooked into the other support fast enough. Angled as the supports were, they forced her legs to remain spread wide apart. The curve secured her knees, preventing her from either slipping off, or closing her legs again without one hell of a mighty struggle. Even better, her pussy and anus would be wide open. Exposed to view and touch.

To hell with the spreader bar. This would be even more fun.

“I have way too many clothes on,” she decided.

His smirk widened, and she could see a deep flush redden his golden skin. Gaze locked onto hers, he moved closer, notching his hipbones between her legs like an arrow. She could feel the warmth of an erection through his jeans.

“Mmm, way too many clothes, Mr. Taylor.”

In agreement, he helped her down from the frame. Left to her, clothes would have gone flying, but Josh clipped her heels. He did drag her shirt over her head, but then he gathered her against him, seeking a deeper connection that night, kissing her in a ponderous, exploratory cadence.

Drugged. It made her feel drugged with passion and a sincere longing to make him feel good. She wriggled enough room within his embrace to peel his shirt off. She applied her mouth to his neck, peppering him with feathery kisses and tasting his skin. The smell of him made her close her eyes, absorbing something cedary and sunny, the very essence of male.

She was having an effect on him as well. When she lowered her hands to his belt, he did not resist. Still, she took her time in unbuckling, unzipping, and stripping away jeans and boxer briefs. Then she knelt to lick the tip of his cock.

The effect was the same as striking a match. She felt Josh go rigid. He gritted his teeth and dragged in a deep breath fighting, as he usually did, his body’s ferocious sexual response.

She enjoyed the surge of power she felt at eliciting such a strong reaction. His cock pulsed against her lips and she sucked him into her mouth, reaching up to cup his balls. She wanted him inside her, but she could wait. It might even be fun to see how far she could push him before he cracked, or made a grab to regain control.

Not much farther. She opened her mouth to take him in deep, and took a lingering, strong pull on his cock.

“Oh, God,” Josh breathed.

His control snapped, and he hauled her bodily to her feet and onto the platform. He lifted her arms up and held on until she’d gripped the handles once more. With help from his shaking, insistent hands, she spread her legs wide over the knee restraints, and felt her own arousal leak out. A fresh, hot surge of desire billowed to life as Josh took a long look at her cunt.

He might as well have lit her on fire. Her heart began to pound and a sharp heat swelled through her pussy.

“Please, Josh.”

His dark eyes flicked up to hers momentarily, and for the second time in their acquaintance, he took her, quick and forceful. His cock was fully engorged and much bigger than she was used to in this position. Their joining was not without pain, a little punishment to go along with the luxuriant amount of sweet, scalding pleasure rampaging inside. The two of them together felt like plugging in an electrical cord, the current bright and crackling and flowing freely between them.

So lost in the sensual decadence he’d fed into her bloodstream, she didn’t notice at first that they were no longer alone. Realization came when a familiar dark head appeared in her peripheral vision, very close as Neil, Thomas’s friend and her blue-chip client, pressed his mouth into her neck.

Startled at first, she felt her brow wrinkle and a torrent of adrenaline join the potent cocktail already boiling in her veins.

Neil made the intention of his surprise appearance very clear with one eloquent touch. A warm and very lubricated finger wiggled its way into her ass. The combination of Josh’s enormous cock already in her pussy, and the promise of Neil adding himself to the test drive, sent her over. She let her head fall back against Neil’s shoulder and she came so hard that Josh made himself pull out, lest she make him come as well.

He did stay close, kissing her chest, murmuring something about coming as hard as she could so she could hold out longer next time. And she did. She came so hard she saw stars. Only once she’d partially caught her breath did she think to ask the question.