Naked Canvas (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (16 page)

“There is an outfit hanging just outside the bathroom door,” he said. “Retrieve it and put it on.”

More outfits. Well, I had enjoyed wearing the last one. Hopefully, this one wouldn’t be too bad. I hurried to the bathroom obediently. Hanging from a peg on the wall was another strange mix of clothing. Thigh high leather boots with long spiked heels, a pair of pink satin panties, and a see-through mesh tank top.

I dropped the towel to the floor and hurried to get the skimpy clothing on. The outfit wasn’t nearly as complicated as the corset from earlier, and I was glad that I didn’t need Dominic’s assistance in putting it on. I wasn’t angry with him, exactly, but I was tired of him looking at me like some pitiful lamb that needed his shepherding. I was a grown woman, dammit.

I slipped the panties over my hips and the tank top over my head. I was just zipping up the second boot when Dominic stalked up behind me. I turned to face him and he looked at me with approving eyes. He handed me a white, featureless mask that looked like a mannequin face. I slipped it on and put the elastic band across the back of my head.

He held out his hand and I took it. We walked over to the mirror so that I could see myself. My breasts showed clearly through the mesh top and the pink panties hugged my sex tightly, revealing the line of my slit. I should have felt exposed with all of my parts on display, but the mask changed the whole feel of the outfit.

Behind the thin molded plastic, my face was completely hidden. Angie was gone. The woman who looked back at me in the mirror could have been anyone. I was anonymous, and in that anonymity, I found a surprising fearlessness. Without a face for the world to see, I was safe from judgment and constraint. I could face anything he put in front of me.

“Are you familiar with performance art?” Dominic asked.

“No, sir.”

“As the name suggests, the art being created is a performance. There’s no painting, no drawing, no sketching. You are the subject and the medium and it only exists in one time and one place and then it is gone forever. In some ways, this entire day is a type of performance art, although you may not agree. Regardless, what’s coming next is absolutely performance art. Follow me.” He walked me towards the door to the hallway.

“Wait,” I said.

He spun around with a severe expression on his face. I snapped my mouth shut.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, sir, but are we leaving the studio?” I gestured at the clothes I was wearing which hardly covered me at all.

“We are going across the hall.”

I raised my hand like a child in class. He frowned.

“What?”

“Sir, who lives across the hall?”

He smiled. “I do. I own the whole building.”

I relaxed.

“Any further questions?”

“No, sir.”

“Good.” He turned around and kept walking.

We stepped out the door and into the hallway. The air was colder out there. Even though I knew we were alone, I felt exposed outside the studio. It had become a place of security for me, where my actions were kept secret and separate from the rest of the world. Now I stepped into the unknown. I steeled myself behind the privacy of the mask. No one could condemn me as long as I wore it.

Dominic opened the only other door in the hallway and gestured me through. I wandered into darkness. It was similar in size to the studio across the hall, but unlike the studio, which was full of warm, natural light, this space was shrouded in gloom. Vague shapes loomed in the inky blackness, made only slightly visible by dim lamps smoldering in distant corners.

I heard a switch flip behind me and a glaring spotlight beamed a column of light down into the center of the room. I gasped at the sight of a naked woman bound to a large metallic frame.

Chapter 17

“What do you think?” Dominic asked from beside me.

Contrary to what I first thought, the bound woman was not entirely nude. She wore a black leather mask that completely obscured her features except for the tuft of blonde ponytail sticking out of the back. Her wrists and ankles were attached to the frame with leather cuffs, forcing her arms out to her sides and her legs spread wide. Studded leather straps crisscrossed her body, but they did nothing to actually cover her breasts or her hairless sex.

“I don’t know what to say, sir.”

“She’s a present for you. I made the arrangements earlier.”

“A present, sir?”

He grinned. “Yes, despite your recent doubts about what we’re accomplishing today, you have been an excellent subject. So I arranged something special for you.”

He walked over to the bound woman. Her eyes watched him as he approached, but there was no fear in them. I saw longing there. He ran his finger along her arm and trailed it down to her breast.

I felt an insane stab of jealousy watching him touch another woman. In that moment, I hated her. We had made it very clear that we would not have sex with each other, but I realized then that he had made no such promises about other women. Would he make me watch as he made love to her? The thought made me feel sick.

I knew I shouldn’t care who he had sex with. Dominic and I were done romantically, despite my lapse in judgment earlier. Whatever small spark I thought had rekindled as he painted me had been snuffed out by his rejection. Still, I had an irrational desire to keep him all to myself, even if I wanted nothing to do with him.

He turned to face me, watching my expression carefully.

“Earlier, I told you about letting go of control. I told you about letting go of your fear and about letting go of your past.” His voice boomed throughout the darkness. “This is a continuation of those lessons. I want you to let go of all your preconceived notions about who you think you’re supposed to be. Which is why you’re wearing the mask.

“You are under my control right now. Make no mistake about that. But as a reward for how well you’ve done so far, this woman is now under your control. Do you understand?”

“I’m not sure, sir. What am I supposed to do?”

“I’ll tell you what to do. Here.”

He held up a riding crop. I had never seen one in real life before. My family was too poor for me to have ever ridden a horse, and the whole bondage thing was way out of my comfort zone.

“I want you to use this on her. Let me be clear. You are not trying to hurt her. Not too much anyway. Start lightly. Like this.”

He swung the riding crop behind me and grazed my ass with a light slap. I jumped and my hands flew to the stinging spot. It hurt more than I expected for such a light blow. The pain began to fade and some of the tension drained from my body.

“Move your hands,” he commanded.

I did.

“Bend over.”

I leaned forward with my hands on my thighs. The tip of the riding crop caressed the back of my thigh and up to my ass to the place where the first blow still stung. The sensation made me shiver. He traced lingering circles across my skin with a delicate touch.

“This is entirely about pleasure.” He slapped me lightly on one cheek. My body shivered again, and to my surprise, I felt myself getting aroused. “There is pain, yes. But the pain is just another gateway to pleasure.”

He whipped me lightly again. And again.

“Keep that in mind when you start on her. Now stand up straight.”

I did as he said, standing with my shoulders back and my head held high. He ran the riding crop along my arm and down to my hand. He slapped my palm lightly. I instinctively clenched my fist and just like that I was holding it.

“Your turn. Approach her and begin.”

I walked hesitantly over to the bound woman. The sound of my heels echoed loudly in my ears. The woman trembled at my approach. I stood staring at her for a moment, trying to wrap my head around what I was supposed to do.

“I can assure you that she is here of her own free will and she consents to everything you’re about to do. Isn’t that right?”

The faceless girl nodded.

I ran the riding crop along her arm, the way Dominic had done with me. She quivered in her bindings. I drank in the sight of her. I had, of course, seen other women naked in my life, but I had never really studied a nude woman this closely before.

I have never been attracted to women, but I had to admit that her body, at least, was quite beautiful. She was tight and toned and much thinner than me. Her breasts were smaller and tipped with rosy pink nipples. She looked ripe.

I ran the end of the riding crop along her neck, tracing the lines of her. Then I skimmed it along the curve of her breast. First one, then the other. Her nipples hardened. I flicked the end of the riding crop at one nipple. It made a tiny slapping sound. She inhaled sharply, and a flush crept over her chest.

“Harder,” Dominic said softly.

I flicked her nipple again, and she groaned behind the mask.

“Have fun with her. She wants you to do this.”

I trailed the riding crop down her stomach and between her legs, circling around her hairless sex. I ran it along her thighs, punctuating the movements with little slaps. Her body tensed with every blow. I could see it in her eyes that she liked it. I could feel myself warming up to it as well.

I turned to look at Dominic. He stood just outside the column of light with his arms crossed. He was drenched in shadow but I could see his eyes burning as he watched my performance. He was enjoying the show.

Despite the animosity I had felt towards him earlier, I liked that he enjoyed watching me. The thought of pleasing him excited me. I wanted to please him even more. I wanted to drive him crazy like he drove me crazy. I could do that by continuing to tease the bound woman before me.

I looked into the woman’s eyes and stepped closer to her.

“Do you like this?” I asked her softly.

She nodded.

I reached out my hand and caressed her breast, skimming my fingernails over her erect nipple and then pinching it between my fingers. Her eyes scrunched shut and she gasped behind the mask. The fact that I had this effect on her was intoxicating. I wanted more.

I walked around behind her. A few leather straps looped around her body, but her flesh was otherwise uncovered. I struck her across both ass cheeks, making her skin quiver with each strike. I could feel the vibration of her flesh in my wrist.

I whipped her harder. And harder still. Drinking in her cries like a rich wine. She writhed against her bindings with every blow. I eased up and caressed her tortured ass gently, just lightly running my fingertips over her reddened skin. Even my delicate touch was enough to get her squirming and moaning.

Without even knowing I was going to do it, I thrust the riding crop horizontally between her legs and rubbed the length of it between her lips. The knotted shaft slid smoothly with each back and forth stroke, and I knew she was soaking wet, all because of me.

I watched Dominic’s face as I worked the knobby shaft of leather back and forth along her slit. He was loving it, which spurred me on even further.

I let go of the riding crop. It stuck fast for a moment before clattering to the floor between her bound feet. My hands massaged the raised flesh along her ass and she moaned delightfully. I wrapped my arms around her from behind. One hand gripped her breast and the other slithered between her legs. She was warm and wet, and I stroked her flesh. I pretended that her body was my body. That it was my own breast I caressed and my own dripping slit that I teased.

She moved her hips into my hand, and I pulled away. She groaned and whimpered, wordlessly begging me for more. I continued stroking, and when she moved against my hand again, I pulled away again, drawing out her pleasure. Making her wait for it. Making her ache for it.

Exhilaration pulsed through me at the total control I had over her. She was totally dependent on my will for her enjoyment. The rush of power was like a drug. I understood why Dominic liked this so much.

I kept teasing her. I ran my fingers through her slick folds and circled her hard clit. I worked her body as if it were my own until she was breathing heavily and trembling in ecstasy.

My own breath was coming fast now, too, warming my face behind the mask. I knew she was close to orgasm. I felt powerful and sexy, knowing that I could evoke this reaction from her. I took her right to the edge, then stopped. Then right to the edge again. Then I stepped away. I felt an intense thrill at her pitiful moaning at the loss of my touch.