Black Orchid (11 page)

'Do you like your job, Maggie?' Antony asked unexpectedly.

'Of course,' she replied automatically, frowning as it hit her
that her career had slipped in her order of priorities recently.

'Would you consider a change?'

She turned to Alexander, perplexed.

'Such as?'

'Antony has a proposition for you.'

Maggie looked questioningly at Antony and caught the tail
end of the affectionate glance which passed between him and
Alexander.

'I need an assistant,' he said, smiling at her.

'An assistant? You mean here, at the club?'

The idea would have been funny if she hadn't sensed the
sudden watchfulness of Alexander beside her. Suddenly the
relaxed atmosphere evaporated and Maggie felt a curious
tension curl in the pit of her stomach. She was careful not to
glance at Alexander as Antony went on.

'My present girl, Jackie, works behind the scenes. You won't
have met her. She's leaving at the end of the month and I need
a replacement.'

'And you think that
I'm
qualified for the job?' Maggie was
incredulous.

'It's a live in post,' Antony told her, ignoring her disbelief. 'I
think it would suit you.'

'Live in?' Maggie repeated stupidly.

She felt the heat of Alexander's body as he reached out and
turned her away from Antony and towards him. As she had
expected, his expression was intense and she shivered under
his startingly blue gaze.

'You'd be living here. With Antony and I.'

Maggie replayed the scene in her mind as she sat at her desk
on Monday morning. After she had torn her gaze away from
Alexander, she had glanced at Antony for confirmation. He had
smiled, nodding encouragingly as if it was the most normal
thing in the world to ask a woman to move in with yourself
and your male lover. Suddenly she had felt the urge to get out,
to get away from their all pervasive presence.

She felt claustrophobic and she knew that, if she didn't step
back from the situation and spend some time alone, she would
have agreed to anything. Neither Antony nor Alexander had tried
to pressure her when she had mumbled her excuses and got up.
They both watched her lazily from the bed as she pulled on her
clothes.

'I'd better go,' she'd told them awkwardly. 'Thanks for the
offer. I do appreciate it, it's just . . . I need some time to think.
I'll call in next week and let you know.'

Neither spoke. They both smiled at her and Antony blew
her a kiss as she left, covered in confusion.

She hadn't been able to stop thinking about the strange
offer since. For the rest of the day she had replayed the evening
in her mind. The memory of her reluctant subjugation to
Janine, the exhibitionistic tendencies she had never guessed
she possessed, the frustration of being made to watch while
Antony and Janine and Alexander . . . and the final humiliation
of masturbating in front of them.

'Maggie? Maggie I'm beginning to wonder if you're with us
these days!'

She jumped as Jim Thurlstone, her immediate boss, tapped
her on the shoulder. Seeing him standing there, frowning down
at her, she felt like a schoolgirl caught with her hands in her
knickers. Mumbling an inadequate excuse, she took the file he
handed to her and immersed herself, red faced, in the paperwork
which she had allowed to pile up in her 'in' tray.

It wasn't that she hadn't had offers before, she mused the
following afternoon. She had lived with a guy once, in fact, but
two together? Her mind skittered off to the possibilities and
she had to squeeze her thighs tightly together to stop the
trembling which had started up between them.

To her profound relief, Janine had stayed out of her way. She
didn't know how she would react to that knowing smile for
she still hadn't quite come to terms with what had happened
between them. Catching Bob's eye at the next desk, she tried
to concentrate.

Her concentration span seemed to have shrunk to the point
of extinction. She sighed as she sank back in her chair less than
half an hour later. After the mess she'd made of the Jefferson job
a few weeks before and her increasing distraction, she was aware
that she was going to have to watch her back. Hers was a cutthroat
industry and Bob, for one, would be more than happy to
step into her shoes.

It came as no great surprise to her when she received a
summons from on high not two days later. As she left the MD's
office, she wondered with strange detachment, why she wasn't
devastated. The phrase 'summarily dismissed' skittered through
her mind, swiftly followed by the realisation that she didn't,
in fact, really care.

She cleared her desk, working on autopilot and nodded courteously
at Bob when he offered her his insincere condolences.
Little sod was already eyeing her desk, probably trying to decide
the best spot for his aspidistra. She grinned suddenly, startling
him, and he scurried off muttering some excuse about having
to keep his head down in the light of what had happened to
her.

Janine came by with genuine concern in her voice.

'But Maggie, what will you do?'

'I don't know yet.'

Janine regarded her shrewdly.

'You don't seem that cut up about it.'

Maggie looked her squarely in the eye and smiled.

'I've had other offers,' she said airily, gathering up her
belongings.

She started in surprise as Janine suddenly leaned forward
and placed a restraining hand on her forearm.

'I know what you're thinking of, Maggie, but please – think
very carefully before you commit yourself.'

'Oh?'

'Yes.' Janine removed her hand and frowned, seeming
suddenly unsure of herself. 'I . . . I wouldn't like to see you hurt,'
she said unexpectedly, her voice small.

Maggie thought of Janine's little black bag and what it
contained and raised an ironic eyebrow at her. Janine had the
grace to blush.

'I mean emotionally hurt.'

Maggie was brisk.

'I can take care of myself. Don't worry – I won't rush into
anything.' She smiled, feeling carefree suddenly. On impulse
she kissed Janine's smooth cheek.

Then she half-walked, half-ran out of the building to her car
and headed straight for the Black Orchid Club.

Maggie lay back in the warm, bubbling water and closed her
eyes. Bliss! Seven a.m. and there wasn't a soul in the club to
disturb her. She had exclusive rights to the Jacuzzi and she
revelled in the unaccustomed pleasure of her own company.

She had been living at the club with Antony and Alexander
for six weeks now and she was beginning to wonder if she
was losing her sense of reality. Today she was taking over from
Jackie and a new batch of trainers were coming in for her to
interview.

Each man had been personally selected by Alexander and
Antony; they had conducted the preliminary interviews and
weeded out those who were obviously unsuitable. It was her
job to decide which of the five shortlisted would be most
popular with the other women.

Judd was leaving after spending almost a year at the Black
Orchid and Dean was being released after breaking the 'no
outside relationships' rule. In addition, Antony had decided
that the club membership had grown sufficiently large to
consider employing more trainers. So that meant that Maggie
could set on all five candidates she was to put through their
paces if she so desired.

She smiled to herself and sank deeper into the Jacuzzi. The
bubbles gurgled and fizzed around her legs, tickling the inside
of her thighs as they rose upward. She was naked, her dark
hair piled up on the top of her head and secured carelessly
with a cotton scrunchy. She never bothered with make-up this
early in the morning, so she didn't have to worry about the
warm water splashing her face, trickling down her cheeks with
a lover's caress.

Maggie closed her eyes and, taking a deep breath, submerged
herself in the warm water. As she resurfaced, she gripped the
padded bar which ran around the circular pool and allowed
her naked body to float on the surface of the water.

It was so peaceful with only the light chatter of the watery
bubbles and the gentle hum of the air conditioning around
her. Slowly, Maggie parted her legs, revelling in the controlled
pull of her well toned muscles. She had never been so fit, her
body so trim and toned as she was now. And her skin – so soft
and blemish free.

Since she had moved in with Antony and Alexander she was
rarely allowed to bathe herself. Invariably, she would find the
water had been run for her and one or other of them would
appear, arms full of perfumed soaps and lotions and talcum.
All that was required of her was that she lay back in the water
and submit to their gentle ministrations.

Alexander was the best, lingering over every process, polishing
her skin as if it were the finest, most valuable porcelain. Yet
there was never any sexual contact, even though he was often
visibly aroused by touching her. And Maggie . . . Maggie had
learned never to make overtures to him for fear of making him
angry. No, not angry exactly, she mused. She opened and closed
her legs in a scissor like action which forced the bubbles to travel
between them with more force, languidly enjoying the way they
bumped and popped, unobstructed, against her sex.

Angry wasn't quite the right word to describe Alexander's
reaction to the few times she had tried to initiate sex with
him. Disappointed in her, perhaps. Certainly, she always felt
contrite, like a child who has tried to take one more cookie
from the jar.

The most unsatisfactory thing about living with Antony and
Alexander was that she was only ever allowed to make love
with Antony. They didn't seem to mind if she stayed while
they made love to each other, she had, on occasion, even joined
in. But she was never intimately alone with Alex.

Maggie sighed as she switched off the Jacuzzi and wrapped
herself in a huge white towel. Snuggling into its luxuriously
soft warmth, she padded back to her private bathroom, part of
her office, which adjoined the pool room. Antony was waiting
for her when she went back upstairs to the apartment.

'Ready for the interviews, Maggie?'

'Do I get to eat breakfast first?'

'Only a light one, darling – I wouldn't recommend you have
sex with five men in a row on a full stomach.'

He poured them both a coffee and Maggie frowned slightly
at him. His tone had been ever so slightly cutting and she
sensed an air of resentment about him that she had noticed a
couple of times before.

'Is everything all right, Antony?' she asked as he handed her
a mug.

He looked up and smiled, somewhat ruefully.

'Don't mind me. I got out the wrong side of the bed this
morning.'

He left her alone and Maggie reflected that Alexander had
not returned home the previous evening. She had a shrewd
idea that that was what had put Antony in such a prickly
mood. The lounge door opened at that moment and Alexander
appeared, as if her thinking about him had conjured him up.
As was often the case when he disappeared on one of what
Maggie privately termed his French Leave, he was in high
spirits, kissing her exuberantly before sinking down beside
her on the sofa.

'Phew, I'm exhausted!' he exclaimed.

Maggie slanted a look at him sideways, through her lashes
as he helped himself to coffee. He never seemed to feel the need
to explain himself or his actions. Didn't he see how his behaviour
upset Antony? She could feel the tension emanating from
him as he came back into the room, could feel the effort it cost
him not to question Alexander about his movements. Yet Alex
merely smiled at him before turning to her.

'I want you to try out each of the guys I've selected for
you and mark them on a scale of one to ten. Their general
attractiveness, their attitude towards you, their confidence
and general level of skill, etc. Remember, you've got to bear
in mind the needs of our members – don't judge the guys
purely on your reaction to them. OK?'

'I think so. What about if one of them gets out of hand?' She
blushed as Alexander raised an ironic eyebrow at her. 'I mean,
if I don't want to and he . . . well, you know.'

'Antony and I will be behind a two-way mirror. Any problems,
give a signal and we'll rescue you.'

Maggie raised her eyes heavenward. She might have
known!

'Won't you two get bored, watching me all morning?' she
teased gently.

'We'll find something to do if it gets too monotonous, won't
we, Antony?'

There was a slight challenge in Alexander's voice as he
turned to the other man, but Antony just shrugged. Maggie
had no doubt that Alex would talk him round – he always
did.

Later, in the large, luxuriously appointed 'office' she had
been given, Maggie began to feel nervous. She leaped up from
the comfortable leather chair which sat behind the heavy,
masculine looking old oak desk and paced to the other end of
the room, her high-heeled mules soundless on the cream
carpeted floor

By the second-floor window which overlooked the city, there
were two rattan chairs and a glass topped table on which she
had placed an assortment of drinks and crockery. A coffee percolator
hissed and fizzed on the small counter in the corner, filling
the room with the aroma of coffee beans.

Nervously, she drew the butter yellow silk curtains and
walked round switching on the softly shaded lamps placed
strategically round the room. The large, comfortable, lemon
chintz covered couch faced the two-way mirror on the opposite
wall and she went over to it and switched off the privacy switch
so that Antony and Alexander could see the room.

Glancing at the grandfather clock, ticking sonorously in the
corner by the desk, Maggie saw that it was time to begin. Yet
still she procrastinated. It all seemed so cold, so clinical,
preparing to make love with five men she had never even
seen!

She was wearing a cream silk robe, belted at the waist, which
brushed the floor as she walked. She was naked underneath
and she suddenly felt vulnerable.

'What's the matter, Maggie?' Alexander's voice over the
intercom made her jump.

'I . . . I just feel a bit awkward, that's all. Er . . . maybe this isn't
quite such a good idea.'

'You knew what the job would entail, Maggie, are you having
second thoughts?'

Alexander's tone was cutting and Maggie stopped her pacing
and took a deep breath. He was right, she knew what she was
taking on. She trusted him to help her if she couldn't handle
anything, and there wasn't much she felt she couldn't cope
with. And she really didn't want to lose this job – apart from
anything else, she loved living with Antony and Alexander. She
wanted to please Alex and the idea that he was becoming
impatient with her made her reply hastily.

'Of course not.'

'Just get on with it, then, Maggie, there's a good girl.'

Maggie pressed the buzzer on her desk and the heavy oak
door opened silently on its well oiled hinges. Maggie's eyes
widened in surprise as the open doorway was filled by an
enormous, broad shouldered hulk. His skin shone like well-polished
ebony, his shaven head as smooth and well shaped
as the rest of him. The whites of his eyes showed up in startling
contrast to the blackness of his skin and as he treated her to
a slow, confident smile, her eyes were drawn to the perfection
of his strong white teeth.

He closed the door behind him and Maggie's eyes were
drawn to the way his shoulder muscles rippled under the tight-fitting
black T-shirt. There was a glint of gold in one earlobe
and around his thick, strong neck. As he walked slowly towards
her, Maggie's eyes were drawn to the thigh muscles which
bulged in the tight blue jeans and the unmistakeable fullness
at his crotch.

Her eyes snapped up as he stopped, standing in front of
her, waiting. She swallowed, wetting her unaccountably dry
throat, her former nervousness forgotten. This was one hell
of a guy.

'Hello!' she smiled, holding out her hand, 'and you are?'

'Constantine G. Winchester the Third,' he said, his smile
flashing at her look of astonishment, 'but my friends call me
Con.'

His voice was beautiful, rich as dark treacle, yet as smooth
as a good brandy. Maggie felt the compulsion to make him
talk more, just for the pleasure of hearing that strong, well
modulated voice. As he enclosed her soft, well manicured hand
in his larger, stronger one, though, the attractions of his voice
faded into insignificance.

Maggie allowed him to pull her slowly towards him until
they stood, breast to breast. Even in her high-heels, she had to
crane her neck to look up at him and she was glad when he
lowered his head to hers and covered her mouth with his.

His kiss took her breath away, his tongue wrapping itself
around hers and drawing it into the hot wet cavern of his
mouth. His chest was solid, immovable as her soft breasts were
crushed against it and she felt herself being lifted up, off her
feet. His sheer bulk made her feel tiny, powerless in his arms
as he held her to him with one hand while he opened her robe
with the other.

He balanced one trainer clad foot on her desk and literally
sat her on his bent knee, cradling her with one arm as he
covered one quivering breast with his hand. Maggie sucked in
her breath as she contemplated the erotic contrast of his dark
hand on her white breast as he knowingly coaxed her nipple
to hardness.

She ran her hand tentatively over the smooth dome of his
stubble free skull as he bent his head to her breast. The skin
felt warm and velvet soft under her fingertips. Maggie closed
her eyes as his lips tugged at her responsive nipple, sending
little shocks of reaction along the nerves connecting it to her
innermost centre of pleasure.

Con pushed the robe off her shoulders and she shivered as
it fell to the floor in a silky heap, leaving her skin exposed to
the air. It was comfortably warm in the room, yet she felt little
goosebumps form all over as he ran the palm of his hand down
her side from her armpit to her hip. The rough skin of his palm
lightly snagged her skin as he polished her hip bone before
gripping her thigh, lifting it up so that her leg was bent at the
knee.

Smiling slightly at Maggie, Con used his free hand to
unbutton his fly and release his tumescent penis from the
constriction of his jeans. Maggie unconsciously licked her lips
as the monster reared up and pointed its succulent tip at her.
Her mouth watered as she contemplated savouring the musky,
salty teardrop which had appeared in its centre, but Con was
holding her fast and she had no chance to move.

Easing his jeans over his taut buttocks, he left them stretched
around his thighs as he sat her on the edge of the desk and
he positioned himself between her thighs, feet planted firmly
apart. His large hands parted her sex and he framed the tender,
moist pink fold of flesh with his two hands, touching her
almost reverently.

Maggie watched with bated breath as he ran his two
forefingers along the insides of the outer lips, exposing the
glistening flesh leaves within. As he reached the most sensitive
point, he squeezed the labia firmly together, making her
pleasure-bud tingle in anticipation.

She was disappointed when he removed his fingers,
though not for long. His large hands slipped under her
bottom and cradled each buttock, forming a warm cushion
between her and the cold, hard wood of the desk. Then he
was lifting her up, balancing her entire weight in his palms
as he held her, poised, the entrance to her body opening
above his swaying shaft.

Maggie gasped as he lowered her slowly and she was
impaled on the hard rod which filled and stretched her to
capacity. Her arms flew around his neck as he took her entire
weight on his hands and moved her pelvis up and down,
rubbing her clitoris firmly against the fine line of black hair
on his lower belly as he did so.

He was so strong, so solid, he seemed immovable as Maggie
clung helplessly to him, powerless to resist his determined
manipulation of her body. His eyes were closed now, his lips
slightly parted. A fine line of perspiration glistened on his smooth
upper lip and the cords in his thick neck stood out as he neared
his release.