Tempest (26 page)

“sajira, baby, calm down,” I cautioned her, feeling a negative vibe on her for the first time this entire trip. “There's no point in getting hyper over something that is so unnecessary.”

sajira heard my voice and instantly calmed down, lowering her head and closing her eyes to gather herself before she spoke again. “i'm sorry, Goddess; i guess it still pisses me off when he's made himself perfectly clear where things stand between us. Now he wants to change his mind with the prospect of losing his Mistress is over his head. Whatever.”

shamise shook her head. “Not according to tiger, sis. he is insistent that lynx isn't going anywhere, although he did say She was
going to put him through more intense training to break him of his habits to embarrass Her.”

“Sin never was one to give up on a project,” I noted, grinning a bit. “But if what you're saying is true, shamise, that means you've been holding out on us, amani.”

We turned in his direction, watching him sheepishly grin like a little kid who'd been caught trying to keep a secret. He looked all over the place, trying to find the words to figure out how to get out of the mess he'd gotten into.

shamise beat me to the questions I wanted to ask. “Yeah, bro, and the way tiger was fussing about, he's quite the cutie pie. What gives, amani?”

sajira's attitude changed when she heard her sister's remark. “Wait a minute, there's another submissive male on the island that we haven't met yet? Come on, bro, we're supposed to be closer than that!”

amani felt trapped in a corner, and it looked like he was going to shut down. I wanted to admonish him also, but I didn't want him in his feelings tonight, not when things were looking up. “amani, don't mind your sisters. you know how they get; anyone who is close to family is considered family to us.”

“i understand that, Goddess, but i wasn't sure if he would be ready to meet you,” he replied, shifting his body toward me. “he's been with Mistress Blaze all week, and things are really heating up between them. i promise i will make the proper introductions when we get to the formal later.”

“That's My boi.” I leaned down and kissed his forehead, watching his body relax now that the heat was off.

“No fair, Goddess, we didn't get to give him a hard time about it.” shamise laughed in mock outrage. “i'm kidding, amani. We can wait until tonight to meet your friend. If he's half as gorgeous as
tiger is claiming, he should help put a smile back on Mistress's face.”

“I really hope so. I know She wasn't particularly happy when Sin dropped you in My lap, baby boi,” I said, causing shamise to do a double-take. I laughed. “Sin must have spilled the beans to tiger, shamise?”

“Obviously so, Goddess, and i'm trying to figure out why You didn't?” She tried to be serious with her question. She continued to crack up, failing in her attempts to keep from laughing more. “Okay, okay, i get it, we would have done the same thing to tiger that he managed to do to me. But You know how he is, always enjoying the role of being four-one-one and everything.”

“I'm sorry, baby girl, I promise it won't happen again.” I kept laughing through my response. “It's not like I don't trust you three, I honestly do, but this particular piece of information was
supposed
to be limited to the women in that room at the time.”

“Well, i hate to be the one to tell You, Goddess, but Sin might have breached that agreement.” sajira pointed out the obvious, giggling at her contribution to the conversation. “At least You know we wouldn't have betrayed You like that, especially when
men
gossip more than women ever could.”

Ramesses remained quiet as we talked. His eyes were closed and his fingers were clasped over his lips as the conversations flowed around him. He was absorbing information the way he normally did, but he also got quiet when he's mentally preparing for his usual role as Master of Ceremonies. There was an expression on his face that gave me a slight pause, though. “Beloved, there's something on Your mind, isn't there?”

We turned in his direction as he slowly opened his eyes and regarded our curious stares. “There are some things we will all need to repeat if anyone asks about Lyrical and Korina.”

The mood changed quickly as the seriousness of his words sank
in. amani's body language shifted to one of protection as he instinctively slipped his arm under my thigh. sajira and shamise gave each other a look before their attention focused back to Ramesses.

“If anyone asks, Lyrical and Korina found themselves in a heated affair, so heated that they were compelled to leave the island and head off to an undisclosed location,” he stated. His face looked like it were made of stone, and it had us all on edge. “There is no other information to be had on where they went or anything on when they might get back to the States. You know how kinksters love their privacy.”

He cracked a smile to sell the story, and thankfully it worked. The tension in the room dissipated, and he went back to his meditation. “Now, what were you saying about Blaze and Sin, sajira? Oh, you said something about men gossiping more than women?”

sajira grinned at his ability to switch his moods at the drop of a hat. “Daddy, You know good and well what we were saying.”

“Doesn't mean I didn't want to hear the rest of it. I'm quite interested in learning how we gossip more than you do,” he mentioned, his smile widening by the moment. “At either rate, we need to start getting dressed. I think you have some show-stopping to do tonight, right?”

I smiled, realizing the time had almost gotten away from us. “your Daddy is right, ladies and gentlemen. We have some stunning to do tonight, so let's get to it.”

THIRTY-THREE
RAMESSES

“Man, when You want to do Black-tie Fetish, You don't play around, do You, Sir?”

One look at the House in all its fashion splendor and it was easy to see why all eyes were on us.

amani and I followed the ladies into the grand room, where everyone gathered for the Black-tie formal social that was meant to conclude the weeklong experience for the guests. We knew everyone would be dressed to impress, but the girls insisted on stunning the group.

Based on the stares of the men in the room, they got exactly what they were looking for.

Neferterri was dressed in a crimson halter leather corset gown, a form-fitting piece which covered every curve from shoulder to mid-calf. She completed the look with a matching clutch, and rubies adorned her neck, ears, wrist, and left ankle. The crimson platform, ankle-boot heels were the envy of the women looking down at them, as though they were the only thing that mattered before they decided if they liked the outfit or not. I couldn't stop drooling before we left the cabin to even get there in one piece.

shamise didn't help matters, wearing a crimson halter leather dress, showing off her thick thighs and causing a stir of oohs and whistles as she struck mock poses to show off her body. She, too, was laced in rubies, wearing her collar with pride with matching
cuff-like bracelets. Not one to resist cuffs, her heels matched the theme, showing off double-buckle ankle straps, a stacked, platform heel and a crisscross over the top of her foot, deciding to show her toes.

The showstopper that had me grinning was sajira. Our little one decided she wanted to get the best revenge on her soon-to-be ex-husband by flaunting every inch of her body and leaving
nothing
to the imagination. She wore a leather, three-buckle corset, laced so tightly that her already-accentuated curves were even more defined, accented with a leather skirt that stopped above the knee. Her ample assets on display captivated the Dominants in the room, all paying close attention to when she turned around. The grins swept the room as she showed off the back of the skirt, or lack thereof, revealing to the room that the skirt was a spanking skirt, and she'd also decided to go commando tonight. There was no point in worrying about the footwear, but the clear “stripper heels” would be the proper turn of phrase to describe them.

Michael Kors, I need to buy some stock in your company ASAP!

Not to be outdone, amani and I had the ladies swooning with matching leather kilts and military-styled leather boots, freshly shined by the island bootblacks. I wore a sleeveless leather shirt top, while amani showed off his more toned physique by wearing a fitted zipped leather vest. Now, that's not to say I was a slouch and I didn't keep myself in shape, goodness, that wasn't it, but I was a bit less muscular than our male submissive. From the gasps of the women in the crowd, I made a note to get back in the gym at the first opportunity.

“Oh, my, I wonder if they're wearing those kilts in the traditional style or not?” I heard a woman in the crowd ask aloud.

I nodded toward amani as we walked in her direction. “Why don't you reach under and find out for yourself?”

The woman blushed profusely as she slipped her hands under both of our kilts. The slick smile and unconscious licking of her lips alerted the crowd of the answer to her question. “Damn, and so gifted, too…your women must be especially proud of you two,” she said as the other women in her immediate area giggled. “Would I need to…well, how do you say it…get permission to sample?”

I chuckled a bit, realizing she and her friends were part of the contingent that was invited from Nassau to witness some extracurricular activity, and it would be interesting to see what they were capable of handling. After she reluctantly removed her hands from under our kilts, I teased her by leaning closely to her ear and whispering, “This is the Island of Evil Pleasures, love. You never know what pleasures may await you tonight…if you ask the right questions.”

She wouldn't stop trembling as I walked away to join the girls at our table. I surveyed the room and marveled at some of the elegant formalwear being displayed, regardless of gender and regardless of station. To think that in an hour or so, all of these outfits would be shed in favor of lesser-clad ensembles in order to perform the scenes that would prove constricting otherwise.

Osiris and Amenhotep were the first to greet us once we sat down.

“Kid, You've done it again,” Amenhotep said. “How in the world did You get all of these people from Nassau to come out?”

“I would have to give credit to Osiris and others with regard to that, Sir.” I shook hands with Osiris as I deflected the credit. “The rest of the setup I can lay at the feet of Our submissives. The only thing I can take credit for is delegating the responsibilities.”

“Ramesses, this week doesn't go off without You putting the right people in place to make sure things go smoothly.” Osiris was always one to keep things as blunt as possible, without much room to wiggle out of it. “You should be proud, you all should be proud.
This was an absolutely marvelous week, despite some hiccups along the way.”

Amenhotep stroked his beard over that statement. He gave a quick scan around the room and took notice of a couple of glaring omissions within the crowd, even with the Nassau additions. “I wonder if I should ask about the whereabouts of Sir Lyrical and Domina Korina, or am I better off not asking that question?”

“Two words, Sir: plausible deniability,” Neferterri interjected as she eavesdropped on the conversation. She gave me a knowing wink before she returned to her conversation with a few guests that lingered around the table.

“You heard My Beloved, Sir. The less You know, the better,” I explained. I noticed others were trying to figure out what was going on, and I was not about to arouse suspicion, so I went into theatrics. “I would imagine the happy couple is enjoying themselves quite well, to be honest. The sparks between them were so obvious that they had to cut the trip short. It is a shame. It would have been nice to see the chemistry between them in person.”

I was laying it on thick for the outsiders listening in on the conversation in case someone wanted to figure out what exactly had happened to them. Unless they possessed the resources that we did, they wouldn't find out too much information, and by then it wouldn't matter. The Colombian Cartels would have taken care of one issue and Seti's associates in North Africa would have taken care of the other issue.

No muss, no fuss.

“Well, I wish them all the happiness they deserve.” Amenhotep followed my cues, playing along with the routine. Thankfully, no one on the island figured out what actually had happened between my Beloved and Lyrical since the encounter had occurred while everyone was enjoying the festivities of the night. The security
staff and the medical staff had a prearranged gag order, so they would be sworn by legalities to remain silent or suffer the consequences. “I've heard they decided to finish the rest of their trip in Fiji. Very sensual location, believe Me.”

A few people trailed away, presumably satisfied with the gossip they could advance to the next willing ears. We did what we needed to do to take people off the scent, and for the most part, there would be no curiosities to help unhinge the rumors.