Twisted Hunger (14 page)

The more distance she put between herself and Brandon, the easier it was to analyze the situation. Was he being honest with her as he professed, or was he putting on an award-winning performance? Neither made much sense to her. Regardless of his intentions, however, she had no interest in a long-term relationship with any man.

Until she was seven years old, she had thought marriage looked pretty good. Her father ran a restaurant and her mother ran their home. Her parents smiled at each other a lot and they both spoiled her. Then her father was suddenly gone, and she and her mother were devastated—Ellery, because she believed she was to blame for his accidental death, and Audrey, because she had been totally dependent on him for everything.

As a young child, Ellery could not understand how her mother had gone from grieving over one husband to marrying a new one so quickly. The older she got, however, the clearer it became. Audrey wasn’t just dependent on her first husband for love—he’d managed her entire life for her. She had never even written a check or called a repairman, yet, overnight, she was responsible for fifty percent of a successful restaurant.

When Lewis Frizzell, the owner of the other fifty percent, immediately stepped in to help her, she was grateful… and vulnerable. Within the year he had convinced her to marry him, and he gained control of her half of the restaurant as well.

Unfortunately, Lewis’ skills had been limited to the kitchen. As a manager, he was a disaster. For a while the restaurant continued to flourish on its own momentum, but mismanagement eventually took its toll.

He never told Audrey what was happening. All she knew was that he came home drunk more often than not, then one day he didn’t come home at all. He simply left town with the family savings and the proceeds from loans he had taken against the restaurant’s assets and her mother’s house.

First the bank took possession of what was left of the restaurant, then it foreclosed on their highly mortgaged home. Audrey and her child moved in with her parents, and for a long time she spent her days and nights in an old rocking chair, staring out the bedroom window.

Ellery never did learn what sort of miracle took place, but a year to the date after Lewis took off, Audrey pulled herself together, obtained a divorce and started her own business making pies and cakes for restaurants. By the time Ellery reached her teens, her mother had a fairly prosperous catering company.

Considering everything Audrey had been through and had accomplished on her own, Ellery was stunned when she told her she was going to marry Ken Weiss twelve years later. Her explanation had been simple—she
needed
a man in her life. Even a man who was less than perfect was better than sleeping alone and having to do every single thing by herself. She had done what she had to do while Ellery was in school, but being an independent woman was simply not satisfying to her.

Being an independent woman herself by then, Ellery had presented a list of rational arguments against her mother’s old-fashioned way of thinking, but in the end, the wedding took place.

Ellery had to accept her mother’s right to make her own choices, but her decision not to ever allow a man to control her life was subsequently reinforced with steel. If she occasionally felt the need for a man in her bed, she could invite one to stay for the night, but she would never
need
a man to survive.

She certainly didn’t need Brandon, nor could she think of any reason why Brandon would need her in his life on a regular basis. On the other hand, she’d known for some time that a single woman in politics was an easy target for gossip that could take the public’s attention off her political platform.

After two decades of being positive she would never have a man in her life full-time, Brandon’s surprising reappearance had opened an avenue of thought she hadn’t previously considered.

Tonight was a perfect example of the worst part of being a single, passably attractive woman. The faces of all the men she’d met and smiled for and danced with swam through her mind and blended together.

The only one that stood out was the English teacher who’d had the balls to use Mrs. Jones to get the first dance with her. He was extremely good-looking and seemed to have an interesting personality, but he was probably just another married man looking for a one-night stand while he was away from the wife and kids. She’d learned about his kind the hard way.

Chapter 8

As soon as they were behind closed doors, he gave Vivian a long, penetrating kiss. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you enjoyed yourself tonight.”

She gave him an innocent smile. “Actually, there were several redeeming incidents.” Her hands slid down his back and squeezed his buttocks. “Two different men caused the most delicious pictures to appear in my mind.”

Her fingers dug into the crevice between his flesh, stretched it wider, and his sex stirred to life. “Tell me,” he whispered.

“Do you remember the handsome young man who walked me back to the dais after dinner?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Vaguely.”

“Well, I could see that he was quite entranced by our Miss Winters, so I exercised my authority over her by stealing her date away and ordering her to dance with my escort. Unfortunately, he was too obvious about his desire for her, as were most of the other men who danced with her after him.”

“It sounds as though you were watching her rather closely this evening.”

She tilted her head to one side. “Tell me, love, when you see her in the office, do you ever think about fucking her?”

“Never,” he lied.

With a doubtful look she reworded her question. “Do you mean to say you never once imagined her sprawled naked across her desk, with her long legs up over your shoulders, while you humped her until she screamed for mercy?”

“You know you’re the only woman I ever think of like that. Besides, Miss Winters is much too tall and thin. I much prefer the womanly way your body is shaped.” To prove his point, he cupped one of her full breasts in his hand and kneaded it lovingly. “But if it excites you to imagine it, we could pretend—”

“Oh no, you misunderstood. I was excited by the power I felt when I made her do my bidding against her will. It made me think of other commands I’d like to force the bitch to obey. She’s so tall and beautiful and sophisticated, I’d like to order her to get down on all fours, like a dog, and lick my cunt. And when I’m so aroused I can’t speak, I would kick her out of the way, and Brandon Ross would step in and finish the job. She would have to watch, of course, while he pleased me instead of her.”

He laughed aloud. “It never ceases to amaze me how you can turn the simplest encounter into a sexual fantasy. Be honest now, when you took so long returning from the ladies room, you were relieving yourself in more ways than one, weren’t you?”

She gave him an exaggerated pout. “I couldn’t help myself. But you know that’s never enough. It only holds me over until you and I can be alone.”

He chuckled again as she rotated her pelvis against his.

“Well, my little nymph, I can certainly pretend to be Brandon Ross for you tonight. But you’ve surprised me about the other. You never expressed any interest in being with other women before.”

She shrugged. “Miss Winters is different. She… fascinates me somehow. And tonight, seeing all those men slobbering over her and her being so cruelly indifferent to all of them, as though her pussy were Fort Knox… I would truly enjoy seeing her naked and submissive.”

“Then I’ll just have to pretend I’m Miss Winters first, then I’ll be the charming Mr. Brandon Ross.” He nipped her earlobe. “I’ll play any role you have in mind, you know that.”

“Hmmm. Delicious proposal, my darling, but one that must be postponed. I insist on fulfilling the promise I made to you earlier.”

He inhaled sharply as he remembered how she had put him off when he had suggested a quickie before the banquet. She’d promised to play out his favorite fantasy afterward, giving it her all despite the fact that it was the one she liked the least.

“You go ahead and get started,” she said softly and stroked his cheek. “It will take me a few minutes to get ready.” She went into her walk-in closet and closed the door.

Nervously he took off his clothes and hung his tuxedo on the gentleman’s valet. He heard the sound of a hanger rattling inside the closet and his heart picked up its pace.

Quickly, he padded to the dresser drawer where she kept her lingerie and pulled out the set of red satin underwear that was overlaid with black lace. He stifled a moan as he pulled up the high-cut hipster panties and the elastic band caught just below the head of his semi-hard penis. He was going to tuck it down, but he glanced in the mirror and decided Vivian might get a kick out of a slight variation in the play.

He had just slipped the push-up bra’s straps over his shoulders when she came out of her closet. As required by the fantasy, her face froze in an expression of horror when she saw him, and she did it well enough for him to easily slip into his role as an adolescent boy.

At first, the shock of having Mommy discover him doing the unthinkable immobilized him. He should have been too upset for his erection to remain hard, but her Japanese silk robe was hanging open down the middle and he saw
it
, the secret patch of curly hair that all his friends kept talking about, and he nearly came without touching himself.

She yanked the robe closed and tied the belt. “What in God’s name do you think you’re doing? If your father saw you right now, he’d take a belt to your bottom until you were bleeding! You’re nothing but a little queer, aren’t you? Perhaps I should be the one to punish you. You might enjoy it too much if your father put his hands on you.”

He fell to his knees at her feet and began to sob.

“Get up, you little faggot! Get up and bend forward, with your hands on your knees.”

“But Mommy—”

“Do it. Now. Or I will call your father.”

Imagining how vicious his father’s punishment would be, he got to his feet and presented his backside to her. “I’m so sorry, Mommy. Please don’t tell Father. I’m not a queer.
Really.
I was just… curious. I swear, I’ll never do anything like this again.”

Roughly, she yanked the red panties down his legs and he stepped out of them. Her breath hissed through her clenched teeth as she tried to calm her anger. She made him hold his position, exposing his puckered anus to her view, for a full minute. She gave no warning before delivering the first swat across his buttocks.

Slap. Slap. Slap. Slap.

She stopped and examined the marks she’d put on him. It was adequate, but not quite enough punishment for what he had done. She raised her hand high and brought it down with all the force she could muster.

“Owww!” he cried, and she struck him even harder. This time, he fell to his knees. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry! Please don’t hit me anymore. I’ll do whatever you want, just please don’t hit me again.”

His desperate plea instantly dissolved her fury and she stepped around to see his face. She loved that beautiful face much too much to be angry with him. Gently she passed her fingers through his hair and leaned down to plant a soft kiss on the top of his head.

He sobbed loudly then wrapped his arms around her thighs and pressed his cheek to her stomach.

She sighed heavily then stroked his face. “My poor, sweet darling. Don’t cry. I won’t hit you again. I can’t stay upset with you, no matter what you do. I suppose I need to be more understanding about a boy’s natural curiosity.”

He rubbed his cheek against the silk material as she continued to trail her fingers over his head and neck. It hadn’t been his intention, but the movement loosened the robe’s belt and suddenly that part of her was exposed again, only millimeters from his face. He inhaled the musky scent of her and moved enough to let the hairs tickle his nose.

“I suppose you’ve been fondling yourself as well,” she said with another resigned sigh.

He nodded against her, and she shifted her hips so that her mound was right next to his mouth. When she shifted once more, he lost his mind and kissed her…
there
. Instantly she slapped him across the face, and he began to weep again. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

She knelt down beside him on the floor and hugged him hard. “There, there, my darling. I’m the one who should be sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you so hard. I love you.” She cradled him in her arms and rocked him back and forth for a while. “When you were a baby, you used to love to be rocked like this while you were nursing. You were such a hungry little thing. You would have sucked on my tits all day if I’d allowed it. Is that what you’re thinking about now, sweetheart? Tell Mommy the truth.”