Vignettes of a Master (9 page)

Flirty and Dirty

April,
7
th
.

Jonah Noble alone in Leticia
’s apartment.

When I woke the next morning, Leticia was gone. There was a note on the pillow, written in her large looping handwriting. I read the card and then crumpled it into a tight ball. I threw it against the wall and flung myself out of bed.

Leticia was on her way to a sex shop!

She would be back in an hour.

I dressed quickly, and scraped my fingers through my hair. A sex shop! The woman had no idea. She didn’t yet understand that everything a man and woman needed for endless sexual opportunities was right there in the home.

I went to the bathroom first. Leticia’s hairbrush
was on the vanity basin. It had a long smooth handle, several inches long and quite thick. I put the brush into a plastic bag and took another glance around the room. She had stockings drying, pinned to the shower rod. The clothes pins were wooden. I snatched up two of them because they make perfectly useable nipple clamps.

In the kitchen, I found a plastic spatula that would make an excellent riding crop, and snapped the long slim handle off an old plastic sieve.

Finally I went back to the bedroom. I cut the crotch from a pair of Leticia’s lace panties, and then found several silk scarves that I could use to tie her wrists and ankles. The last thing I did was re-position the mirror. I wanted to see her every expression when I began to use the items to tease and arouse her.

Flirty and Dirty

April,
7
th
.

Jonah and Leticia learn the name of
book 2 and approach Jason Luke.

I pushed open the dungeon door and stood in the threshold of Jason Luke’s office. Leticia was right beside me, holding my hand. I felt her fingers squeeze mine. She was nervous.

Jason Luke was sitting behind his desk. I noticed a couple of large Egyptian statues, one at each corner. I glanced over my shoulder at the dungeon door.

“It’s stupid,” I said. “No one has a dungeon door to their office.”

The author shifted his weight in the chair. “I do,” he said simply. “Now, what the hell do you two want?”

Leticia stepped out from behind me. “We want to talk to you about the title of the sequel,” she said. There was a firm tone in her voice that surprised me. “In love with a Master? What kind of title for a book is that?” Leticia sounded frustrated. “Why isn’t the master the one in love?”

Jason Luke said nothing. I felt Leticia’s anger beginning to boil. It was in the sudden tension of her body, and the strained sound of her voice. “And what about the cover? You’re not going to use the same image are you? Dammit, Jason Luke, why can’t I be on the cover too?”

Slowly Jason Luke sat forward at his desk. He reached into a drawer and pulled out a piece of paper. On it was an image. It was a photo of a grave, and a woman dressed in black standing nearby. “Here’s the other option,” he said. I turned the image around and Leticia and I both went white with shock. The title on the image I held in my shaking hand read,

“Ungrateful Characters Killed Off! Author returns to peaceful private life.”

I put the page down slowly, and Leticia and I left the office.

The Book Bellas

April,
9
th
.

Jonah runs into Claire after all these years.

I recognized her instantly – the same feline grace, the same exotic almond shape to her eyes. It was Claire Moreland, and she looked as though she hadn’t aged. She still exuded the same sexual energy that she had all those years ago when she had made me her sex toy… and then I had made her mine.

She was sitting at a table with an older man. The guy was overweight, with thinning hair. He had the useless, harmless look of an accountant or a middle-level manager
… which is what he was.

I waited for the music to end and people to leave the dance floor. The band launched into a cover of a U2 hit and I strode across the room and leaned close to Claire.

“Hello,” I said softly. “I think I’ll take you home with me tonight.”

Claire looked up and sudden shock spread across her face. Her eyelids fluttered like beating wings, and then she began to smile.

“Hello, Jonah Noble,” she purred. She reached for my hand and made to stand up. The guy she was with looked furious. His face turned red and a sheen of sweat blistered across his forehead.

“Who the fuck are you?” he growled.

“I’m the man who is going to take this pretty woman home tonight. I’m going to strip her naked and make love to her till the morning. I’m going to leave her exhausted and satisfied in my bed. That’s who I am,” I said, and then pointed a threatening finger at the man. “And you will sit there and finish your drink.”

The guy got up, flung himself out of his chair. I grabbed his meaty arm and pulled him close so that my voice was nothing more than a harsh whisper. “I’m Jonah Noble, you fat bastard,” I hissed, “and you’re Tom Smith. You work for me downtown as a mid-level accountant. Now, if you want to keep your job, and your wife, and lovely home, you will sit down right now and smile. Otherwise you will be standing in an unemployment line on Monday morning. Got it?”

The guy sat down. He was white.

I left the bar with Claire. She was red hot.

The Book Bellas

April,
9
th
.

Jonah at his father’s grave trying to make amends
.

I crouched down in the soft grass and ran the palm of my hand across the headstone, feeling the lettering inscribed there as though I were blind, reading brail. My fingers played over the ridges and hollows.

I knew the words by heart.

‘HERE LIES JACKSON NOBLE…’

Weeds had begun to grow near the grave. I pulled them from the earth and tossed them aside.

“I haven’t been here much,” I confessed, talking aloud, talking to my father. “I’m sorry about that. I guess after all this time those things that happened between us at the end… those things should have faded, hurt less… but they haven’t.”

I thrust my hands deep into the pockets of my pants and stared down at the marble slab. There was a small glass vase near the headstone, with a couple of plastic flowers inside. The flowers had faded and drooped from the sun.

I looked up into the blue clear sky, and then one last time down at my father’s grave. “I’m glad you’re dead,” I admitted. “It’s the truth, painful as it is to say. You weren’t a good man – you weren’t a good father… and I can’t forgive you. But I love you, dad, regardless…”

The Book Bellas

April,
9
th
.

Jonah gives Leticia a spanking in the kitchen
.

There was a hot flush of defiance in Leticia’s eyes, and the fine peppering of freckles across her nose glowed like flakes of gold from the heat of her temper. She folded her arms and her eyes became narrowed.

“I won’t tell you again…” I warned, and my voice rumbled like thunder.

Leticia didn’t move.

Quick as a snake, my hand lashed out and gripped Leticia’s shoulder. I pulled her to me. “I warned you!” I said.

Leticia’s eyes grew wide as saucers and a cry of protest rose in her throat. She was shocked and outraged. I slid my hand down her arm until it was wrapped firmly around her wrist, and then bent her forward, over the edge of the kitchen table. Leticia began to squirm and thrash. I pinned her to the table easily and with my free hand I reached down and tugged the hem of her skirt up until it was bunched around her waist.

“No!” Leticia cried out, not in pain or fear, but in abject humiliation. I heard a sound like a sob, and then she kicked her legs and twisted her head helplessly from side to side.

I reached for the elastic of her panties and snapped it. The silky lingerie fell down around her thighs.

Leticia’s bottom was firm and perfectly rounded. I smiled mirthlessly, and cupped my hand to maximize the sound, but minimize the sting. “You asked for this young lady. Now you’re going to get a spanking until you apologize and learn some discipline!”

Two Ordinary Girls and their Books

April,
9
th
.

Jonah watching Leticia at her nude photo shoot.

She was self-conscious.

Painfully so.

The photographer turned to me, set his camera down and shrugged. He wedged a cigarette in the corner of his mouth and mumbled, “I’m taking five. Talk to her, please!”

I nodded. I waited until the man had left the studio, and then I stepped close to Leticia. I shrugged off my jacket and stood there silently for long seconds, my hands thrust into my pockets and my shoulders hunched in deep thought. Finally I looked into Leticia’s face.

“Play a part,” I said softly. “I don’t want nude photos of you… I want nude photos of your alter-ego… the sexy sultry woman that turns me on.”

Leticia looked crestfallen. The nude photo shoot had been a disaster. She stood staring up into my eyes, wearing a pink bra and panties. The fabric was sheer – I could see the dark shape of her nipples and the shadow of her sex beneath the gossamer fabric.

“Leticia, every woman is self-conscious of their body. But you need to set that aside and become someone else for an hour – you need to become a character – imagine yourself as a famous sex siren, or a well-known female porn actress. Try to imagine how they would move, and how they would look. I want you to pose for these photos, but I want them to be spectacular… and I want you to be spectacular.”

Two Ordinary Girls and their Books

April,
9
th
.

Jonah walks in on a girl touching Leticia in his office.

I pushed open the office door slowly, soundlessly, and stood in the threshold, staring at the sensual scene being played out before me.

Leticia was standing with her back against the far wall, and in front of her I could see the back of a dark haired woman. I saw arms entwined, and then heard the sounds of soft desperate whimpers of desire.

The two women were kissing.

They moved slowly. The dark haired woman had her hands on Leticia’s hips, pulling them close together so that their bodies ground against one another. I could hear Leticia’s breathing becoming more urgent, more hectic.

Finally the dark haired woman broke the kiss with a long contented sigh and turned to look at me over her shoulder.

“Well?”

Leticia’s eyes blinked open. She saw me, and there was a deathly pale look of horror on her face. “Jonah!”

I held up one hand and smiled. “Relax, Leticia,” I said, and then nodded at the dark haired beauty
who had seduced her. “Thank you, Mary.”

The dark haired woman left the room. She gave Leticia one long last lingering look from the doorway and then blew me a kiss. I closed the door behind her and stood staring at Leticia. “That was fun,” I said. “I hope you enjoyed it too.”

Leticia frowned, then pressed at her hair and straightened her clothes. “You set that up?”

“Of course,” I said simply. “Leticia, arousal comes in many different forms. Erotic, sensual, physical, emotional… you need to explore them all. Understanding what turns you on is a journey of discovery… there is more than one destination.”

Two Ordinary Girls and their Books

April,
9
th
.

Leticia straddling Jonah in the back of a car.

It was an impulsive gesture – something I knew she gave no thought to. As the traffic thickened and the congestion became worse on the city street, Leticia suddenly threw herself at me with a gasp of reckless abandon. I flinched, and then felt Leticia’s legs straddling me, and the press of her breasts against my face.

“Is this what you want, Jonah Noble? Is this how you want your woman to be?”

Leticia rocked her hips back and forth, sliding them in a slow sensual grind so that she brushed the dampness of her sex against me and I felt the sudden thickening and hardening of my own desire.

She wrapped her arms around my neck, weaving her fingers in my hair and holding me close to her. The press of her breasts was a temptation too great to refuse. I bit the top button from her blouse with my teeth and my hungry mouth hunted beyond the cotton of her top, searching for her breast.

My hands went around her hips, and I pulled her harder against me. Leticia gasped and there was a lust-filled purr of deep desire in the back of her throat.

Finally, when her breasts were exposed, when she was sighing and undulating in my arms, I eased myself clear of her body and smiled. Leticia looked down at me. There was a glazed sexual urge in her eyes.

“You realize everyone can see you,” I said calmly. “This isn’t the town car – remember. This is my Alfa Romeo. It doesn’t have tinted windows. You’ve been on display for every other driver to see…”