WindSwept Narrows: #22 Erika & Vianne

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  “A question, Sir?” Vianne lifted the frosted glass and took a long swallow.

  “Go ahead.”

  “Why was he surprised at who I was?”

  Tanner drew in a slow breath. “Because Colin is an old friend and he knows I’ve had a crush on you for a while now.”

  “I…” her head flew up and then down again. How the man could make her heart hammer with words amazed her. “A crush? On me?”

  “On you,” he stood up and put a palm on her waist, the other hand lifting the pack from the floor and hitching it on his shoulder before taking his ale and guiding her further toward the large social area. “I won’t introduce you, Vianne. From now on, it’s as if you only exist to me. Unless a dom makes a request, just pretend it’s you and me. You’re doing well, pet. Very well.”

  “Thank you, Sir,” she murmured, holding her drink and stopping when he did. She followed his hand to the pillow, glanced quickly around at the other subs and sunk to her knees on the thick cushion. She set the juice on the table next to his ale and positioned her hands on her thighs, listening to the mixture of sounds that filtered through to her.

  Vianne took a long swallow, her eyes closed as the alcohol warmed her. Then Tanner’s palm came to rest first on her shoulder and then on her head, stroking gently, rhythmically as he talked to the people around the area. Some greeted him as all the others, a long time absent friend. A valued friend.

  And he’d had a crush on her?

  Vianne stared at the scuffed, comfortable boots he wore. Nothing about him made sense. She thought he was older when they emailed and chatted. He never once was obscene or forward. He was friendly and polite and funny. They must have talked for hours on end once they’d moved to text chat. And no topic seemed off limits.

  She wasn’t sure how long her thoughts drifted. It was nice, she realized. Peaceful to just be listening to the voices around her; soft strains of club music filtered around and filled in the gaps. Add to that, so very many scents from colognes, to lotions to foods.

  It wasn’t until she felt Tanner’s palm beneath her chin that she blinked and realized she’d been so lost wandering her own thoughts that she didn’t hear him speaking to her.

  “I’m sorry, Sir,” she responded instantly, peering into the dark, amused eyes.

  “Emma asked if you’d like her to show you where the restroom is,” Tanner said with a grin.

  “Oh, yes, please,” she sighed and stood up slowly, feeling the blood flowing into places she’d forgot about while she knelt there. Vianne looked at Tanner’s palm holding hers and then at his face and she smiled. “Thank you.”

  Tanner sat back down and watching her move with the small Asian woman chatting at her side.

  Vianne inhaled deeply. “Thanks for thinking of me. I’m not sure where my head went.”

  “Oh, it’s so easy to get lost in the feeling of the place, especially when it’s your first time here,” Emma led her along the corridor, slowing when Vianne stopped to look at the eerie hall filled with people. “He hasn’t taken you on a tour yet,” she guessed by the expression on Vianne’s face.

  “Umm…no…no…I’m sure it’s just a matter of time,” she cleared her throat and watched the man swatting an ample and very bare behind. “I…he’s catching up with old friends, I think.”

  “I know he’s chatted with Jeremy on a regular basis, but he hadn’t been to the club in forever,” she pushed the door wide to the plush and clean restroom, a young sub working to keep it that way. “I’m so glad to see him with you finally.”

  Vianne decided it was definitely easier to pee in the outfits they wore, the woman’s words catching her attention.

  “Finally?”

  “According to stories I’ve heard,” Emma began thoughtfully, collecting her thoughts in a time line. “I’ve been with Jeremy over four years, so this was before our time together. But Jeremy and some of the others have known one another since college. And you’ve been the topic of Tanner’s crush since he was seventeen.”

  Vianne stood washing her hands and started choking as she tried to find words. She accepted the glass of water offered to her with a smile, draining it and trying again.

  “Seventeen? I didn’t…I can’t even remember where I was when I was seventeen,” she decided to plunk down in the cushioned chair for a few minutes.

  “Oh, you were twenty-three,” Emma said with a bright smile. “And were doing news stories for Cal Tech. I think you were working on a journalism degree at the time.”

  “Cal Tech,” Vianne stared at Emma and searched. “I was there when I was twenty-three,” she admitted slowly, trying to put things together. Things Tanner had said. Things he had done because of a female. She’d assumed it had been a female in his life.

  “Tanner and a couple friends had created the first robotic units to help with difficult surgeries. Gabriel was one of the programmers at the time. They made a mint of money on it,” Emma told her with a casual shrug. “I think it was an interview with him over the success of the training tools and robots.”

  “Eric T. Clayton,” Vianne whispered in disbelief. “He was barely seventeen. He asked me out to dinner. He was so sweet and…almost innocent. He talked about the corporations after their ideas and I told him…oh, god…I told him he was too sweet and too kind and if he wasn’t careful, they’d chew him up and drain him like vampires.”

  “You didn’t date him?”

  “I…no…no, he…I’m five-six years older than him! I…I’d had a bad marriage when I was…god, a kid myself…I wanted nothing but to wrap myself in journalism and not think about guys,” Vianne brought both palms up over her face.

  “Honey, he never forgot you, no matter how old you were,” Emma jumped onto the counter, her feet swinging slowly. “From things I’ve overheard, he’s been crushing on you since that interview. Some said he quit coming to the clubs because of you, but if you didn’t know him…”

  “I…we started talking in email and chat a little over four months ago,” Vianne said slowly. “We’re working together in the documenting of the reclamation. I…why wouldn’t he have contacted me? Talked to me before…” she sighed, Tanner’s words coming into her mind in bits and pieces. “He didn’t want to intrude on my career. I know the twenty-three year old me was a bit on the gung-ho side as far as journalism was concerned,” she sighed.

  “Guys aren’t always bright,” Emma shrugged. “I have to lecture Jeremy now and then for doing something he thinks I find important…when it’s just a passing thing.”

  “I didn’t know,” Vianne said softly.

  “The age thing might have bothered you when you were twenty-three but you can’t tell now. You look younger than him. I’m thirty-eight…four years older than Jeremy, but we age well,” Emma said with a little chuckle and a wink at Vianne. “The club is all new to you, isn’t it?”

  “Yes…being married is all new to me…” she leaned back in the chair, her head against the back and eyes closed. “Tanner is so completely new to me.”

  “He looks happy,” Emma said honestly. “I’ve been peeking now and then while they’re talking and laughing. He hardly takes his eyes off you.”

  “I’ve noticed the same thing about Jeremy with you,” Vianne smiled and sat up with a shake of her head. “Maybe it’s a Master thing.”

  “Which…we should be getting back. A reprieve is only so long,” Emma walked with her back into the more dimly lit corridor. “It’s this way, Vianne.”

  But she frowned at her new friend and looked down the corridor, the sounds of groans, whispers, wails and definite pleasure striking a chord in the journalist in her.

  “I want to see things.”

  “Oh…you should be with Tanner…”

  “Yes. You’re right…” Vianne started back with Emma and grinned. “Tell him I’ll be a few minutes longer.”

  “Vianne!” Came the hissed whisper.

  “Guess I’ll earn a spanking,” she said over her shoulder, cau
tiously picking her way between people, pausing at each scene like an excited child on Christmas morning.

  She had to admit the excitement at some of the scenes was undeniable. Watching live action blow jobs; another had a woman getting paddled while another man suckled her breasts and thrust his fingers into her pussy; still another had a young man strapped into some kind of harness with people taking turns swatting him.

  Okay, Vianne thought, some of it didn’t quite give her sexual shivers, but other things were curious. Some used dildos, some plugs, some switches and others their bare hands. Clamps nipped at parts that had her uncertain and wiggling, remembering what she wore and wondering when she’d become used to the jewelry Tanner had adorned her with.

  But everyone was definitely enjoying what was happening, even those begging someone to stop. She’d glanced more than once at a monitor who just nodded and continued on.

  Then she came to a room just a little different. Almost normal. One she’d come across in a spa. Almost, she amended, stopping in the doorway to watch the massage, absently listening to the young man’s chatter.

  “I’m telling you, seeing the guy wanting to be senator cuffed to the cross,” he shook his head, hands kneading the solid flesh of another man. Oil glistened as he worked the muscles. “I’ll be another ten minutes, pet,” he said with a glance at her.

  “Oh, thank you,” Vianne sat on the bench and pretended to watch the large collection of scenes outside the small cubicle.

  “I saw Adam with him,” the one being massaged answered with a shrug in his voice. “They usually hide out in the smaller clubs uptown. Nothing new there.”

  “Oh, but it gets better,” the masseur continued, working his way over the man’s shoulders. “I thought Adam was going to have a fit when he saw an older man with Mistress Louisa. Him and the guy with him were both definitely in shock.”

  “You know him?”

  “No. Not outside the clubs, at least.”

  Vianne listened to the observant man’s description and felt her jaw drop open.

  “Excuse me?” She cleared her throat and smiled, hoping she wasn’t breaking some hidden rule. “What does Mistress Louisa do? I mean…your story was just getting interesting…” she flattered and hoped it worked.

  “Oh, hon, she’s really good about tying up, demeaning and flogging. And she doesn’t use love taps, let me tell you,” the man lying on the table answered with a shudder.

  Both men chuckled at that comment and Vianne offered a weak laugh.

  Vianne listened as they wandered to other topics and gossip from another club. She got up and quietly wandered back the way she’d come, considering what she heard.

  Now it was all making sense.

  The missing pieces. The why part of what Adam Wayne held over Neil Vincent. So who was the one to lose the most if all this came out?

  Mostly political alignments, she thought. Vincent’s company…the stockholders might be a little shaky, but since he’s been incredibly profitable, most investors wouldn’t care. He’d lose influence with the political party, maybe. The candidate had the most to lose and if they had used what they knew, it would explain Vincent’s involvement in a candidate and vice-president who chose a lifestyle as edgy as his own choice to use an actual mistress to get his rocks off.

  Vianne made it to the entrance to the large social area before she did an impromptu little dance, twirling and laughing to herself. Until the sharp buzzing began and she gulped in air and froze in place.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “Oh, crap,” she whispered, her hands really itching to press the vibrating section closer to her clit. She turned slowly to face the center, her eyes immediately dropping to the floor when she caught sight of the wicked grin on Tanner’s face. Bare feet moved swiftly over the thick carpeting and she dropped into position at his side. “I’m sorry, Sir, I was…detained.”

  “And the happy dance?” He tapped the remote in his palm, taking the sensations up a notch. He watched the realization register in eyes that flew to his and then down again. “No lies, pet.”

  “I was just happy I found my way back,” she murmured, gritting her teeth and remembering his whispered order not to come without permission. “Oh, god…”

  “I think it’s time I introduced my sub to some of the pleasures of the club,” Tanner stood up and hitched the pack on his shoulder. “Gentlemen…Mistress…I’m sure we’ll be crossing paths again.”

  “Enjoy, Tanner,” Jeremy chuckled softly.

  “Let’s go, pet.”

  “Y-yes, sir,” she managed as she let his strength pull her to her feet. She felt her eyes cross and tried not walking like a duck or falling to the floor and giving up holding it in. Vianne sagged against him when the vibrations stopped in the corridor. “Oh, god…”

  “Want to tell me why you lied to me?”

  “It’s not something for this aspect of our life,” she answered instantly, relieved she could look up into his eyes. And suddenly she saw that eager, honest seventeen year old with the brain a dozen times more potent than a normal human and so many ideas in his mind on how to help the world. So eager and so young, she remembered thinking. So sweet and caring. She’d brushed it off as a puppy crush. Someone chasing a college girl to impress his friends.

  “This aspect…” Tanner said the words slowly, the grin fading. “This has to do with Erika?”

  “You are incredibly brilliant,” Vianne smiled up at him. “Have I mentioned that to you before?”

  “I’d have to wonder if you’re trying to get out of being punished,” he commented with a relaxed grin. “You shouldn’t wander on your own here, Vianne. Not without permission.” He stopped when she kept her smile in place. “Hmmm…”

  “I like your friends. They missed you, Sir,” Vianne sighed and thought about the teenager she’d interviewed over twelve years ago. And why hadn’t that shown up in her background check of him? He must have done some serious rearranging of his history for her to have missed it. She’d have to check on that. And promptly yelped the next instant when the large palm clapped smartly against her ass. “Oww!”

  “Where do you keep vanishing to, Vianne?”

  She managed to look genuinely embarrassed. “I’m sorry. Sir. I…was thinking of your friends and…Emma said they’re all surprised.”

  “Really,” Tanner stopped her in the space he’d reserved earlier and one he’d helped design. It was made up of a large square with the two back corners being floor to ceiling mirrors. In the center was a wide PVC pipe with rings for cuffs to be attached. On the floor beneath it, another set and a place for their feet.

  “Oh…my…” Vianne swallowed, her eyes on her own image reflected back at her.

  Tanner let the pack on his shoulder drop to his hand and then onto the floor, his palm up and on her waist.

  “Forward, Vianne, hands up,” he didn’t wait for her to act, but lifted one hand and quickly latched the cuff she wore into place at the side of the pipe. He adjusted it where he wanted it for her size and quickly did the same to the other wrist. He arranged her facing the mirrors, which put her delectable ass facing the main room and anyone who chose to watch.

  That’s when Vianne realized the same thing. She twisted, tried to see behind her and jumped when the palm came down against her ass.

  “Oww!”

  “Eyes front, darling Vianne or I’ll blindfold you,” Tanner told her, standing firmly behind her. He hadn’t raised the top rail high enough to stretch her out yet so her feet still rested on the floor. He gave his palms free rein, beginning along her thighs and up her ribs. His cock hardened and stretched against his jeans and pressed into her behind. Every little gasp, every increase in her heartbeat rippled through his senses.

  Vianne closed her eyes, the sensations he was arousing taking her breath away. His palms flattened over her ribs, splayed over her stomach and stopping. Then his hands were gone and her eyes slammed open. Her face tipped down in time to see the top of the dr
ess fall from her.

  Tanner waited while she twisted.

  “Yes, Sir or no, Sir, Vianne. Nothing else,” he whispered against her throat. “If you have a question, you may ask. What else do you have to remember, baby?”

  “Oh, god…I…” Vianne jumped when his palm slid down her front just as the vibrations began. “Oh, god…no orgasm…no, no, no…”

  “Good girl,” Tanner stepped back and very quickly took the waist of the skirt and drew it down her legs and out from beneath her feet, tossing it to the bench. This time she did stop breathing and would have kicked out if he hadn’t moved and cuffed one of her feet and then the other. He adjusted the distance between her feet and went to the side so she could see him as he raised the bar. “Beautiful display.”

  He moved behind her again, holding her close.

  “Open your eyes, Vianne. You’re beautiful, pet. Amazingly beautiful and all mine,” he whispered against her throat. His palms stroked gently, feathery soft along her sides to each cup a breast, fingers scraping over each nipple.

  Vianne looked at the woman in the mirror in front of her; arms stretched out to the sides and legs spread and gold glittering down from her waist to the etched piece displaying every inch of her genitals. There was no hiding her arousal. From anyone. Her eyes slammed shut and heat flamed to life in her face.

  “Let me down,” she whispered.

  “Are you in pain?” Tanner drew his fingers along the cleft outlined in gold.

  “I…no, Sir…”

  “Vianne…I’ve seen you in rituals you’ve involved yourself in all over the globe and some you weren’t very modest. Why is this bothering you?”

  “I…this isn’t how you should see me,” she answered, shocking herself with her feelings. Her temperature rose when he pressed himself closer, the hard length of his cock against her thigh.

  “How do you think I see you, pet? I could easily take you right here a couple times in a row without losing the erection. All because it’s you…willing…beautiful and mine.” He felt her heart beat quicken beneath the hand that held one breast firmly, the nipple aroused to a little point. He loved how her breasts seemed to tip upward toward the sun, the nipples aroused and eager.