Bound by Consent (15 page)

Cassie emerged from the bathroom wrapped in the complimentary bath robe just as room service arrived with our meal. My grilled lemon sole with a papaya salsa was perfect and I didn’t hear any complaints from Cassie who cleared her plate of steak, mushroom, tomatoes, and fries, and then polished off a large slice of chocolate gateau with cream in no time flat.

“Mmmm, that’s better.” Cassie sighed contentedly and topped up our glasses with the rest of the champagne. She leaned forward to peer at my dessert plate, frowning slightly. “What have you got there?”

“Key lime pie. It’s good, very tangy and not too sweet.”

“I’ve heard of key lime pie but never tasted it. May I?” Cassie picked up her fork and scooped up a small amount. “Oh, that is...” She shuddered. “...so not for me.”

I laughed at the pained expression on her face. “Not such a good idea on top of that sweet chocolate cake.”

“You may be right there.” Cassie joined in with my laughter. Anyway... I’d better make some coffee to take the nasty taste away.”

While Cassie made coffee I loaded all the dirty dishes onto the cart and then trundled it outside into the corridor ready for collection. I didn’t want any interruptions to spoil what I planned to do next.

Cassie had shed the bath robe and settled herself comfortably on the bed by the time I finished pottering around. “Come and keep me company.” She patted the space beside her in invitation.

“I will, very soon...” I promised before I ducked into the bathroom to freshen up. Last minute nerves almost getting the better of me. Although I’d rehearsed this in my mind the reality was still a daunting prospect but I wanted Cassie to see that I was taking our relationship seriously by doing something to demonstrate my devotion to her.

You can do this.

I took a couple of deep breaths before emerging from the bathroom, my nerves jangling. For symbolic reasons I’d chosen the same Giovanni d’Marco two piece that had featured in the disastrous first night strip.

God! My naivety and inexperience really sucked that night.

It wasn’t an easy task undoing all those tiny buttons on the jacket and trying to look sexy at the same time but I did my best. Then I adopted a couple of model style
poses as I discarded the jacket before I moved onto the skirt letting gravity take control until the garment pooled around my feet.

Pause. Breathe. Step out of the mess of clothes. Turn. Pose.

The litany ran through my head. I could feel Cassie’s heated gaze on me, branding my skin, but I kept my own gaze lowered deferentially.

I ran my hands over my body, hoping I was doing it right, then reached around behind me to unhook my bra and let it fall away. That offered me the chance to show off my tits, the one body part of which I wasn’t totally ashamed. I spent several minutes touching, tweaking, pushing and shaping until I began to get really wet. Dangerously so.

Okay, time to move on. Cassie doesn’t like me to come unless she gives her consent and I don’t want to incur her wrath tonight of all nights.

Concentrate!

Breaking new ground here.

I shimmied out of my panties and posed some more, showing off my cunt and my ass from every position. I knew Cassie favored certain angles and I employed all those as I carefully removed my shoes and finally my stockings.

“Come closer, honey.”

Cassie’s ‘Mistress’ voice penetrated my consciousness. I moved toward the bed keeping my gaze lowered.

“Kneel down.”

I did as instructed. Totally focused on Cassie’s voice, on her commands. I needed to show her I’d learnt from my previous mistakes.

“Look at me.”

I obeyed. My heart jumping up and down like a jack-in-the-box.

“Thank you, honey. That was awesome.” Cassie reached out and touched my lower lip then trailed her index finger down my throat and into the valley between my breasts.

“Thank you, Mistress.” My throat was really tight but I managed to force the words out. “I wanted to please you.”

“You did. Very much.” She paused, a slight frown crossing her brow. “Would you care to please me some more?”

“Yes, Mistress.” I rushed to affirm my willingness to serve her in any way she wanted.

“Fetch my bag.”

I leapt up again, crossed the room to the closet, and returned with her bag. Cassie unzipped the side pocket, pulled out the two hanks of rope and a small flogger. Then she dug deeper and came up with a narrow box.

I’d seen a box like that before. The breath caught in my throat and my thoughts returned to the night Cassie had given me a collar in recognition of our mutual desire to form a D/s relationship.

“I was saving this for a special occasion,” Cassie said softly. “I think that moment just arrived.” She opened the box and displayed a beautiful silver collar indistinguishable from the one that Esmée and Marisa subsequently stole from me.

“It is lovely,” I murmured, not knowing what else to say.

“As are you. You please me immensely.” Cassie lifted the delicate object from its satin lined case and held it out to me. “Will you wear it for me as a symbol of your devotion and of your willingness to explore our relationship with an open mind?”

“Yes, Mistress, thank you. You honor me with your trust.” I dropped to my knees beside the bed. “Will you put it on for me, please?” The cool metal slipped easily around my neck, the clasp settling perfectly into the hollow of my throat.

Suddenly, after weeks of suffering following that disastrous night at Out of Bounds, I felt whole again.

“I think this calls for a small celebration.” Cassie leapt off the bed. “Come with me!”

I followed her across the room to where I’d left my clothes. Cassie sorted out my panties, and stockings then handed them to me. “Put these back on and I’ll be right back.”

Cassie was full of surprises. She returned carrying the hanks of rope and the flogger, plus a substantial flattened metal hook-like object which she fitted over the top of the bathroom door before closing it.

My mouth dried in anticipation. A hook trapped by the closed door was the perfect height to tie my wrists above my head.

Cassie arranged me against the door, feet slightly apart, taking time to get me in just the right position. “Give me your hands.” She held hers together in demonstration before picking up one length of rope. With my wrists securely tied, Cassie looped the rope over the hook and tied it off on the door handle before she stood back to admire her handiwork.

I wasn’t suspended, just constrained, my feet were still in contact with the floor so the strain on my arms wasn’t as bad as it might otherwise have been. It felt good. Very good. Cassie picked up the flogger then paced back and forth. Sometimes touching me with the leather strands, other times standing just close enough for me to feel her breath on my face.

“You’re doing really well, honey,” she said quietly. “This will make it even better, I promise.” She wiped the flogger over my body, teasing my tits, then up my thighs and across my sex.

The eroticism of this softly softly approach drove me wild but I knew I mustn’t show any emotion or I’d incur her displeasure.

“Time to turn around.” Cassie supported me as she turned my body to face the door.

Not being able to see what Cassie was doing proved even more erotic. I could only feel the sensuous kiss of leather thongs on my back and my ass, then sweeping up my legs and thighs too. The urge to stick my ass out to meet the flogger was irresistible but I soon pulled it back in when Cassie whacked me hard across the cheeks of my butt.

“Stop that.” Another hard whack landed close to the first one.

“Sorry, Mistress.” I screwed my eyes shut and prayed I could hold out until she granted me relief.

Thankfully, Cassie turned me around again before I disgraced myself further. She set the flogger aside, employing her mouth, tongue, and fingers to caress my body. Cassie knelt before me taking my panties and stockings down and burying her face in my sex. Her tongue probed me. Her fingers too seeking out my sensitive spots. My limbs quivered with the strain of holding back on the orgasm that was hammering at the door.

Finally, when I didn’t think I could last another second, Cassie said the magic words. “Give it to me, honey. Let me have your juice. All of it.” She took me with her tongue, siphoning every last drop from my cunt like it was the most precious nectar. Never had I been so grateful for the support of the rope without which I’d have surely collapsed in a heap on the floor.

Cassie untied me quickly and carried me to bed.

“You were superb, honey.” She massaged my wrists and forearms slowly getting the circulation up to normal. “Let's have a quick shower and call it a night?”

I nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

Back in bed, after our shower, Cassie spooned her body to mine and kissed my neck. “Goodnight, honey. I want to take you shopping tomorrow for something special before we have to leave for the airport.”

****

Our arrival back in London early on Friday morning turned into my worst nightmare and lasted most of the day.

“Oh, my God!”

I barely registered Cassie’s exclamation of horror as I stopped dead just inside the front door barely absorbing the scene of utter devastation. Somebody had wrecked my beautiful apartment smashing anything breakable and daubing bright red paint over everything else. That included the picture window upon which the intruder had left a crude message.

‘FUCK YOU BITCH

THIS IS JUST FOR STARTERS’.

“Come away, honey. You can’t do anything.” Cassie tugged at my arm, urging me back. “You...we...can’t stay here. This is now a job for the police.”

I’m ashamed to say I was too numb to be of much use. I let Cassie call the police and deal with most of the questions. As to how the culprit got in the only possible explanation was that my keycard had somehow been forged, copied or skimmed. Cassie voiced her suspicion of Esmée and Marisa to the police who said they would follow up on it once the forensic examination had been completed and any other leads eliminated.

I was even too bemused to register where Cassie took me after the lengthy police interview, fingerprinting, and DNA swabs were done. Only that it was somewhere in the center of London, to an old-style apartment block in a narrow street rather than a hotel.

“Where are we?” I asked Cassie, finally emerging from my stupor to take in the apartment. It had the same look and feel as Auchtercairn, a clutter of mismatched antiques – Georgian, Victorian, even early Edwardian, nothing later, with no period particularly dominant.

Cassie shrugged and concentrated on pouring drinks into heavy cut-glass tumblers. “A family apartment.” She pushed a glass of something amber into my hand. “Drink it straight down. It’ll make you feel better.”

Assuming it was brandy, which I sort of liked in moderation, I did as instructed and practically choked on the fiery spirit. “What on earth was that?” My head swam and I quickly handed the glass back to her for fear I would drop it.

“Single malt.” Cassie’s laughter lightened the mood. “A mature Talisker to be precise. What did you think of it?”

“Powerful stuff,” I gasped. “Too powerful for me. I told you I wasn’t into spirits.”

“I know you did...” She shrugged nonchalantly. “But you were in need of something to take the edge off your shock.”

“It certainly did that.” I brushed the tears from my eyes and sought the nearest chair before my legs gave out. “Do you really think Esmée and Marisa were responsible for all that mess?”

“Yes, I do. Not that the police seemed keen to believe me. It might take them a while to come around to my way of thinking. In the meantime we will stay here, in hiding, until your next trip.”

“You’re coming to Berlin?”

“Too right I am.” Cassie reached down, drew me to my feet and kissed me hard. From now on, certainly until the person responsible for this attack is safely locked up, we are joined at the hip, where you go I go too.”

“Thank you.” I yawned loudly.

“Come, honey.” Cassie took my hand and led me down the hallway to the bedroom. “I think we both need some sleep.”

Sleep, however, wasn’t so easy to come by. Whilst Cassie snored quietly beside me, my brain wouldn’t rest or even begin to come to terms with what had happened.

I thanked providence that I always kept my most precious work with my awards and other valuables locked away in a safety deposit box. And that most of my photographic gear was safely stored in the Tavistock Street studio. The insurance would probably cover new clothes and all the other ruined stuff.

One question remained. How could anybody have got into the apartment in the first place?

Security was pretty tight with an outer door that required a four digit pin code then the keycard for the apartment door itself.

Okay, so people regularly circumnavigated the outer door by barging in when another person was coming or going. Or getting buzzed in on the pretext of delivering a package or even a pizza. Cassie had done just that when she hunted me down. No doubt the CCTV at the entrance would give the police some clues on that score.

There were only two keycards to my door – although I assumed the building manager kept a master keycard for emergencies. I had one which was never out of my possession, and Cassie the other – the police had checked them both for clues – and we were in New York at the time of the incident so...

Oh, shit! I flung the duvet off, sweating profusely. My keycard had been out of sight on one occasion recently, in Amsterdam when I left my purse in the RV and guess who was in there all alone?

“Why so restless, honey?” Cassie roused from sleep and threw her arm across my body.

“I need to tell the police.”

“Tell them what?”

“About my keycard. You remember that confrontation I had with Marisa in Amsterdam?”

“Yes?”

“I’d left my purse in the RV with all my other stuff and, when I went back after Marisa left, it had been moved. I didn’t think anything of it at the time but now...”

“It may not mean—”