Passion Flower: 1

Passion Flower

Sindra
van Yssel

Submission Island—where submissive
women can go to satisfy their deepest kinks. But Natalie’s there under false
pretenses. She’s a botanist looking for a rare orchid that blooms only at
night, and only on Submission Island. She just hopes she can escape the sexy
Doms who run the island long enough to find out the orchid’s secrets, and that
means pretending to be more submissive than she thinks she is.

Carter doesn’t know much about
orchids, but he knows a girl with a secret when he sees one, and he’s
determined to discover Natalie’s. To do that, he has to awaken her sexual
desires and satisfy her submissive longings—nothing wrong with mixing business
with pleasure. He works to earn her trust even as he excites her senses and
pushes her to do things she never thought she’d do—not even for science, or
love.

A
Romantica®
BDSM erotic romance
from Ellora’s Cave.

Passion Flower

Sindra van Yssel

Chapter One

Natalie Cavello, PhD, slipped her glasses on and took a
better look out the seaplane. The view was drop-dead beautiful. The island
below was a lush green paradise, the only indication of any kind of
civilization a large mansion with a dark solar-paneled roof at one end. Next to
the mansion was a swimming pool, a blue dot that echoed the color of the broad
Pacific, which stretched as far as she could see. She could no longer make out
even a trace of mainland coastline in the distance. She was going to be truly
isolated once the plane landed, presumably on the water somewhere since there
was no landing strip.

Somewhere on that island, she believed,
arthrochilus
nocturnem
grew in the wild, one of only two species of orchids to bloom at
night. Shown once at an exhibition in New York twenty years ago, its secretive
cultivator had refused to allow anyone to see it since. No one knew where he
got it, or if indeed he still had some. For all practical purposes, the species
was believed extinct and indeed, Natalie had little interest in a plant grown
only in someone’s greenhouse. She was a biologist, not an orchid fancier. But
the bigger question—what caused a plant to flower at night when its close
relatives all flowered during the daytime?—was of interest.

When her colleague at the University of Chicago, Alvin
Keller, had spotted the distinctive pink bloom in a nighttime picture taken on
a tropical island off the northeastern coast of Australia, he had tried to get
access, but the owners of Fleury Island refused. That had been that for Alvin,
but not for Natalie. She had done some poking around, trying to figure out
exactly what the four men who owned Fleury Island might be trying to protect,
hoping to get some kind of angle on them.

She’d gotten an angle, all right. The four men, all veterans
from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—two Americans and two Australians—were all
heavily into the BDSM scene. They’d turned the island into a very expensive,
very exclusive resort for women who wanted to act out their sexual fantasies.
Natalie suspected she was the first woman ever to go using grant money.

She glanced over at the other women on the small prop-driven
plane. One was a blonde, probably from a bottle, but with a perfect tanned
complexion and waif thin. She was wearing a pink business suit and had said
little during the trip. The other was a redhead with long, lush curls of hair,
a cute smile and generous curves shown off to good effect by a red halter top
and tight black denim shorts. Beautiful women, both of them. She felt very
plain by comparison.

“So where are we going to land?” asked Rhonda, the redhead,
in her broad Australian accent. There was a trace of concern in her voice.

“On the water, presumably,” said you-can-call-me-Amber, the
blonde from England. Her tones were clipped, dismissive. Clearly she thought it
was a stupid question.

“Oh,” said Rhonda, looking decidedly uncomfortable.

Was it just two days ago Natalie thought Australian and
British accents sounded almost the same? After an hour in a plane with Amber
and Rhonda, they seemed like night and day.

The plane did a broad circle around the island, slowly
losing altitude. It didn’t need to do that in order to land. There weren’t
other planes about or any reason for it to do anything but fly straight toward
where it wanted to be and touch down, so the whole flyover was for their
benefit.

At last the plane splashed down, skidding along the water
until it slowed to a gentle pace. Natalie watched out the window, feeling
guilty for not being more solicitous of Rhonda. But everything about the island
was important, from the density of the foliage to the types of other plants and
animals there, and she might get a view from this angle only once.

Something made
arthrochilus nocturnem
bloom at night.
She was determined to find out why, and the answer lay in the ecology of Fleury
Island. Or “Submission Island” as it was called in the brochures she’d read and
on the forms she’d filled out. To find out the island’s secrets was why she was
there. It might have seemed a trivial quest to the owners of the island when
Alvin had suggested he be allowed to study the place, but every bit of
knowledge humans gained about the planet fit into a larger puzzle. And besides,
finding out things that no one else knew was addictive.

Her fantasies of submission were entirely secondary. She
wasn’t
a
submissive, after all. No one she knew would say that she was
an acquiescent woman. She hoped her preference for Dominant men in books had
given her enough knowledge of BDSM that she could pull off the act that would
let her study the orchid.

The plane sidled up to a small wooden pier that jutted out
into the water. Birds scattered. They passed a sleek motorboat docked on the
other side before finally coming to a stop. Natalie glanced over at Rhonda, who
was looking a bit better. Rhonda flashed her a brave smile. Natalie smiled
back, nodding to acknowledge that she’d faced her fears, whatever they were,
and gotten through them. What Natalie was scared of was still to come.

She’d signed away all sorts of rights when she’d filled out
the forms for Submission Island. Surely most of those words were just meant to
be hot. They’d had their effect on her too. It had been the first time filling
out forms had ever made her grab her vibrator. But they weren’t to be taken
seriously if she really objected. She was a paying customer after all. And no
matter what, she’d be back in the normal world after a couple of weeks. If she
played along, she didn’t think she’d be pushed too far.

I can do this.

The pilot hopped onto the dock. He was a tall man, handsome,
with close-cropped black hair and deep-brown eyes. He walked down the dock and
opened the door to the passenger cabin.

“Wow, what a hunk,” said Rhonda.

“They’re all good-looking,” Amber said. “That’s part of what
we’re paying for.” She grabbed her mauve suitcase and strode to the door,
losing her balance momentarily as the plane rocked on the water. She righted
herself and didn’t look back, pausing only when she got to the open door.

“Just jump,” said the pilot. “I’ll catch you. You won’t need
your luggage.”

“Yes, I will.”

“I’ll get it later if you do.”

“Hmm.” Amber studied the man for a moment, set down her
luggage and then jumped. Sure enough, he caught her easily, although from the
way she jumped Natalie could have sworn Amber was trying to knock the pilot
over rather than be caught.

“She’s not very submissive, is she?” Rhonda asked Natalie in
a hushed voice.

“No, she isn’t.”
But then, neither am I. You might be the
one sweet one in the bunch.
“You can go next.”

Rhonda grinned. “Not sure about the jump but the landing
looks adorable.”

It did, at that. She wondered if Amber was right that the
men of Submission Island would all be as well-built. But then this guy was
probably a hired pilot and no indication of what was to come.

“Now you’ll get my luggage?” Amber asked. “I kept it to a
minimum, but there are essentials in there.”

The pilot put her down and shrugged. “You read the rules.”

The rules, as Natalie remembered, said that everything would
be provided, and that clients were to bring nothing at all with them except the
clothes on their backs and their passports. Medication was the only exception,
and she had her migraine meds in her pocket. Her purse was in a storage locker
at the airport.

“I want my luggage.”

“Sometimes we don’t want what we think we want,” said the
pilot. He turned toward Rhonda, who was waiting at the door and looking
doubtfully down at the gap and the water below. “Next!”

Rhonda jumped. Rhonda was a good bit heavier, but it didn’t
seem to faze the pilot any. He caught her and set her on her feet.

Rhonda moved quickly out of the way.

“Natalie, be a dear and toss the man my luggage, please,”
said Amber.

The pilot grinned. “Be a darn shame if I dropped it, now
wouldn’t it be?”

Natalie nodded. “Oh yes, horrible.” She resisted the
temptation to drop it in the water herself. She had no idea what Amber
considered so important about it, but she understood the desire to bring things
along. The requirement to bring nothing but a few personal items had almost
made her balk. If she hadn’t personally interviewed three women who said that
they’d had the time of their lives on Submission Island, she never would have
taken the risk of coming. But she supposed, in its own way, it was no worse
than the trips some biologists took into the Amazon or other wild places. Here,
the human threat was quite civilized, and such a small island wouldn’t be able
to support any non-human predators.

She let the luggage be, got ready to jump and promptly tripped
and fell headlong toward the dock. The pilot’s strong arms caught her under her
arms and pulled her forward, and her feet never touched the water, although her
right shin banged painfully against the edge of the dock. He lifted her up and
set her upright. There was something warm and safe about being in his arms for
the moment he held her.

“I’m not usually that clumsy!” she explained quickly. She
didn’t know why she cared what he thought—no, she did. He was good-looking, and
she fancied the idea she could make an impression. Not that he’d be looking at
her with Amber and Rhonda around anyway.

“No worries.” He winked. “You okay?”

She took a step to make sure. Her shin hurt but it was
nothing serious, not even a sprain. She’d probably have an ugly bruise in the
morning. It was almost a shame. She wouldn’t mind being carried. “I’m fine.”

“Good. You three head up to the veranda and Tom will meet
you there.”

Natalie looked up the dock, which extended like a boardwalk
over the narrow beach and then ended on a broad porch in front of the island’s
only building. The house was two stories tall, with dark wood shingles and lots
of windows. At one end it jutted out over the water, held up by thick wooden
beams.

Rhonda was already heading there.

“What about my luggage?” Amber asked the pilot. “I can make
it very worth your while.” She winked.

Natalie decided she’d rather follow than listen to Amber
wheedle. Especially if he took Amber up on her implied offer.
Why do I care
what Amber does with the pilot? I’m here for an orchid.
But she quickly
brushed past the blonde and hurried down the walk. Behind her, she heard the
heavy door of the seaplane being closed.

The porch had glass tables and chairs made of steel and
canvas and a beautiful view of the beach and the ocean. The beach, while
narrow, was pristine—no litter to be found on it anywhere. Natalie sat down on
one of the chairs. She was aching to go exploring but she had a role to play
first, and she wanted to know more about the rest of the island before heading
into it. Just because there weren’t likely to be predators didn’t mean it was
completely safe. She pulled out a chair for Rhonda.

“You think we’re allowed to use the furniture?” asked
Rhonda.

“I think if we weren’t we would have been told not to,”
Natalie said. She could hear sounds in the direction of the plane, and she was
pointedly not looking that way. Although watching Amber humiliate herself might
be worth the sight of her making out with the pilot.

“I guess that’s a good point,” said Rhonda. “I’m so nervous.
I want to get off on the right foot, you know? And I’d really rather not be
punished.”

Natalie smiled. “I would have thought that would be part of
the attraction.”

Rhonda shook her head. “Not for me, thanks. I’m a good
girl.” But she sat down.

Natalie nodded. The sounds got closer and she couldn’t
resist anymore. Amber was being frog-marched to the veranda. Apparently the
pilot was more than transportation.

“Would you be so kind, Natalie, as to get a chair for Amber
here?”

Natalie started to move, but stopped when Rhonda hurried to
do it for her.

“I asked Natalie,” said the pilot calmly.

“Oh!” Rhonda bit her lip.

“It’s all right,” intervened Natalie, very much wanting to
keep Rhonda out of trouble.

“Sit down, Rhonda,” said the pilot.

Rhonda sat. Natalie got the chair and brought it to Amber.
The blonde glared at her. But Amber sat when the pilot put her in the chair,
recovered her composure and soon had her legs crossed and her back straight.
Her suit was rumpled, but other than that she was none the worse for wear.

“Thank you, Natalie,” said the pilot.

“You’re welcome.” Was she supposed to say Sir at the end of
that? She hadn’t been thinking of him in those terms, but she was starting to
reassess.

But he just nodded. “Stay here and relax.” He opened the big
glass sliding door and let himself into the house, locking the door behind him.
The curtains behind the door parted only for a moment, giving a useless glimpse
of the interior.

She couldn’t imagine that whomever they were waiting for was
unaware of their arrival. They could have been on the dock waiting for them if
they’d wanted to be, or on the porch or wherever. Making them wait was all
psychological. All part of the dance that for some reason people were willing
to pay for. Although she supposed what one was really paying for was a two-week
vacation on a tropical island, and that was well worth it. She was beginning to
suspect that was all Amber was here for, given the whole bit with the luggage.
Surely the woman didn’t want to submit to anyone.

“Well,” said Amber. “That went well. Seems these guys are
the real deal. Or at least the pilot is.”

“Excuse me?” asked Natalie.

“My suitcase was full of crap. I just wanted to see what
happened when they were challenged.” Amber smirked. “Real Dominant men here. I
hope you two can handle it.”