“Don’t want to lose them in the crowd,” he explained over the din, pulling her along as he started to backtrack. “We’d never find them again.”
They’d fallen behind because Ivan needed a moment, it turned out. Not a moment to exert his dominance, but to duck down a less-crowded corridor and breathe into a paper bag that Cami produced as if by magic from somewhere inside her costume. She held up a finger to her lips when Ben and Lindsey approached, shaking her head to reinforce the gesture. They stopped several paces off, not wanting to intrude.
Cami wasn’t comforting Ivan, Lindsey was surprised to see. Wasn’t touching or talking to him, just crouching next to him as he slowly regained his breath and reconstructed his composure. Something in her demeanor told Lindsey this wasn’t a novel event for Cami. That, and the fact that she’d known to stash the paper bag somewhere, somehow, in the cleavage of that tighter-than-skin-tight corset.
The collar tugged around Lindsey’s neck as the leash swayed, reminding her that Ben was still keeping a firm grip on the leash handle. When she turned toward him he was studiously looking elsewhere, scanning the crowd as he leaned back against the wall with crossed arms, one knee cocked. His expression made it clear that no one should fuck with his hyperventilating friend.
He looked bigger, more intimidating. Lindsey told herself it was probably an optical illusion caused by the white shirt, which flattered his shoulders and made them look broader. Then her gaze caught on his tie, the same dark red-on-red stripe he always wore whenever he had to wear his suit. His power tie, he called it. As opposed to his Christmas tie and the one with computer circuits printed all over it. The fabric was creased where he’d knotted it. She reached up to finger the silk and Ben glanced her way for a second before resuming his vigilant watch on the crowd down the hall.
“Why did you have your tie in your suitcase?” she asked, vaguely curious and trying to make conversation. She didn’t expect Ben to look at her again, a look filled with complicated ideas she couldn’t begin to sort out.
He paused a long time before finally answering. “I had to change in and out of my suit at work a few weeks ago and I forgot to unpack the tie when I was done.”
“Oh.”
“I was interviewing with Dr. Schrader, and he still always wears a suit so I figured it might help. He’s giving me my slot back. I’ll be starting the PhD program in September. Back on track.”
She opened her mouth but nothing came out. It was too much to process, all the implications of what he’d just told her. And before she could answer, Ivan recovered and they all set off into the crowd once more.
Chapter Eleven
In the end, the Steampunk Borg Collective won. They deserved it, though, Ben had to give them that. The costumes weren’t just nicely done, they were stunning, not to mention creepy as hell.
“Second place is good enough for me if it means we don’t have to be assimilated,” Lindsey quipped, admiring the silver medal Cami was dangling over their table at the afterparty. “I know they’re Lin’s friends, but those guys gave me the cold willies.”
Ben snickered and leaned in to nip her earlobe. “Better than a Wet Willie.”
Not his most Dominant moment. He’d fallen badly out of character once the contest was over. Lindsey didn’t seem to mind, although she’d been unusually quiet since his revelation earlier. Not upset, he assessed, just thoughtful. She kept sneaking looks at him when she thought he wasn’t looking, almost like before they started dating. It was extremely fetching, especially given the contrast between the coy glances and her nearly naked state of dress in the Sub Red costume. She looked like a girl with interesting secrets yet to discover, and he was eager to go exploring. Mostly with his penis, because nearly naked was beginning to outweigh coy on the appeal scale.
On the other hand, she’d pushed him away earlier. He had to remind himself of that because she wasn’t acting standoffish now, so he wasn’t sure where they stood.
“What time are we leaving in the morning, again?” Lindsey asked Cami. It was barely ten o’clock, but she was yawning over her drink.
“Six. Ivan’s being magnanimous and letting us all sleep in.”
“Fuck,” Ben groaned. “How’s he doing, by the way?”
Cami shrugged. “Asleep right now, probably. But overall he’s better than I thought he’d be by this point. Honestly I’m amazed he didn’t reach his limit sooner. Good thing we’re going home tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” Lindsey agreed, “I’m ready too. This was so much fun but now I’m completely over it.”
“Exactly.”
“Completely over it?”
Lindsey turned to look at him, a poorly suppressed smile tweaking the corners of her mouth. Ben’s body responded to that hopeful sign even before he registered her words.
“I probably have a few scraps of enthusiasm left somewhere. Master.”
He tried to keep a serious face, but knew he likely failed. “Bet I can root those out for you.”
“I’m counting on it.”
“Y’all, I’m still sitting right here,” Cami reminded them.
Chagrined, Ben offered to walk Cami back to her room, and she accepted. So there were no elevator or hallway shenanigans, but Ben didn’t mind. He had a longer-range plan, and it started as soon as the door had closed on Cami and Ivan’s room, leaving him and Lindsey alone in the hall.
Lindsey had kept the collar on, but the leash dangled from Ben’s pocket. He took it out and clipped it into place, pleased that she didn’t object. He loved the way she tipped her chin up to allow him easier access, loved the visible shiver that swept over her when he trailed his fingers from her neck down past her collarbones. Unable to resist, he slipped one finger farther still, right under the black band covering her nipple. Lindsey’s gasp, the perfect shape of her mouth as she responded to his touch against the tight bud, hit Ben like an erotic punch.
But the hall wasn’t nearly private enough for what he had in mind, so with iron determination he pulled his hand away from Lindsey’s deliciously willing body.
“Follow me, slave.”
Down the hall they went, but they didn’t stop at the door to Lindsey’s room. Instead he kept going, past the ice alcove, all the way to the stairwell. Pausing as he opened the door and held it for her, he dared her with a look to ask what his plan was. She bit her lip instead and cast her eyes down, the picture of obedience as she passed through the doorway.
The stairway was quiet, no telltale echoing of fellow guests’ footsteps or voices. Perfect.
“Take these off,” he told her, tugging at one leg of Lindsey’s tiny black swimsuit bottom. It was risky, they had many a flight to climb, but he was feeling lucky. Extremely lucky.
After a second she nodded and dropped the trunks, scooping them off the floor gracefully and holding them out for Ben to take.
Three flights up, Ben was beginning to wonder whether he should have opted against the element of surprise and taken the elevator instead. Eight flights, and he and Lindsey both broke into exhausted giggles.
“Ben, seriously.”
“It’s Master, dammit! Keep climbing, we’re almost there.”
“Will there be a masseuse waiting at the top to handle the cramping in my legs?”
“Oh my God, I so fail at this.”
“No, you don’t,” she protested, “you’re awesome! You’re new at it, that’s all. But you’re doing great for a beginner. I mean you managed to get equipment and everything. Where did you even find all that stuff?”
“A store. Please don’t make me go back. It was so pink in there.”
“We’ll find you one that’s less pink.”
“We will?”
She bit her lip and pointed to the Roof Access sign on the landing above them. “Almost there.”
At the top they turned in unison, collapsing on the highest stair to recover.
“Are we going out to the roof?”
“No, this is it. I figure nobody’l
l be up here this time of night, and I’ve wanted to bang you in this stairwell for the past day and a half.”
“That is so romantic.”
He shrugged. “I aim to please.” But at Lindsey’s hesitant smile, he shook his head. “But that’s not why I’m doing it. I mean I do want that too, I want you to be pleased, but—”
“Ben.”
“Yeah?”
“Are you really going back to school in the fall?”
“Yep.” He ran a hand through his hair, then sank back on his elbows, contemplating the grayish-beige ceiling at the top of the stairwell. “It’s gonna suck to be poor again, but at least my car’s paid off.”
“So eventually you did follow through on your plans...what changed your mind?”
Ben thought through his answer carefully before he spoke. “When I looked ahead, I didn’t like the person I saw myself turning into. And it seemed like that feeling dated back to the moment I opted for instant gratification and money instead of working harder and waiting for what I really wanted. Not just the job and school, but the way things went with us, too. I was just...not happy, and looking for any reason other than the real one. And I’m sorry I tried to blame that on you. I’ve regretted it ever since.”
Lindsey leaned back next to him. “Heh. Me too. Has this weekend been your way of apologizing?”
“Never accept an apology that somebody makes with their dick, Linds. That’s hardly ever gonna be sincere.”
She snort-laughed, leaning into his shoulder, and Ben felt his world click into place. Back on track.
“I think...I think you just convinced me.”
“The school thing?”
“Yeah.”
“Not the part where I got all duded up and paraded around in front of God and everybody with you half-naked on a leash, so you’d know I was down with the kink and didn’t care who knew it?”
Lindsey shook her head. “No, pretty sure it was the school thing.”
“I love you.” It came out easily, that thing he used to struggle to say. He was no longer second-guessing himself.
“I love you, too,” Lindsey mumbled into his shoulder, still laughing.
“This weekend wasn’t an apology, though. More like a plea for—no, not a plea, that’s not masterful. A demand for readmission. You will take me back.” He performed a Jedi hand-wave in front of Lindsey’s face.
“I will take you back,” she echoed, in the time-honored fashion.
“You will let me escort you to the secret sex club when we get home.” His tone was light, but his intent wasn’t.
Lindsey tilted her head toward him, then half turned, stretching one leg over his lap. “Yes, I will. I’m going to insist on it.”
“Oh, you’re going to insist, slave? I don’t think that’s how this thing is supposed to work.” He ran his hand up her thigh and around the curve of her ass, loving the lack of impedance. Confiscating all Lindsey’s underwear was high on his agenda for when they got home.
“I’m thinking I might turn out to be a bit of a bratty submissive, rather than a slave,” she confessed. “Go figure. We’ll have to figure out new pet names.”
“I think I might not be much of a Master, but I still plan to enjoy punishing you for that brattiness every chance I get, regardless of what we call each other.”
“You promise?”
His fingers roamed, finding her sleek, willing wetness. “I promise. I really do get off on whacking your ass. And you’ll never be a unicycle to me, Linds.”
She looked ready to deliver a witty reply, but words failed her when Ben slid two fingers into her body. He captured her gasp with a greedy kiss, growling impatiently as his physical and psychological needs began their dance. One urged immediate action, the other counseled patience for a greater payoff at the end. He was learning to trust that second voice, the one that spoke to the vein of darkness inside him. The slightly off-kilter, twisted heart of him that he’d always tried to suppress. The part that made him so painfully hard when he spanked his girlfriend, the same part that dreamed of chaining her to his bed and forcing her to read his dissertation drafts to earn her pleasures. The part that wanted to take her in the hotel stairwell just because he knew he could.
* * *
Lindsey melted under Ben’s kiss, his touch, actually forgetting where they were for a few moments. Then the cold of the concrete step registered on the exposed skin of her hip, and she levered herself up to straddle Ben’s lap fully. His thighs felt hard and strong under her bare butt. The movement had ruined what was left of her modesty, hiking her costume up and exposing her completely.
Ben’s fingers played in and out, spreading her wider still. It wasn’t nearly enough. He used his teeth to yank a costume strap down, exposing her breasts and sucking hard on one nipple. Still not enough. But his arm was in her way when she tried to reach his zipper.
“Patience,” he reminded her, after freeing his mouth with a pop.
“Someone could still come up here,” she countered. “It isn’t that late and we’re probably not the only ones with this idea.”
“Fair enough. At least tell me what you’re impatient for, then, if you want me to give it to you. Go on, talk dirty to me, little slave girl.”
She sighed, pouting like the brat she was toying with becoming. “I’m too embarrassed.”
Ben smirked, flicking his eyebrow up in the delicious Spock move she loved so well. “Get over it. If you want some of this you’re gonna have to ask for it. Not nicely, either.”
“Fine.” Fine. “I want sex.”
“Body parts, Linds.”
Despite her reluctance, his insistence was wearing her down. She didn’t want to admit it turned her on, being ordered to say stuff she hated saying. But it did. And strangely, not wanting to admit it was part of the appeal. That, and having to finally break down under pressure and say it anyway.
She ground against his hand, whimpering when he crooked his fingers into her G-spot. “Okay, okay! I want cock. I want your cock, inside me repeatedly, in a sex-like fashion.”
“Good to know. Inside where, exactly? Your ear? Belly button? Please say it’s not the nose.”
Oh, he knew she hated saying all the words he was fishing for. But the pressure of his fingers was maddening, almost as maddening as the smug look on his face. “You’re just being cruel.”
“And now that I know you love it, I’m going to do it all the time. Say it. Or we go back to the room and you get a cold shower.”
He was rock-hard under her and must be ready to explode. Where he got the forbearance, she had no idea. Lindsey was dizzy with lust, with unsatisfied need. Finally she forced the words out of her lips, going for broke.
“I want your cock in my pussy. I want you to fuck me. Please?”
“You’re on the right track. More begging, though. And you’re sounding a little self-absorbed about it.”
Bastard! Sexy, sexy bastard. “Please fuck me, Master? Please, please let me make you feel good!”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
He had his jeans and boxer briefs down in seconds, just far enough to let his cock spring free into Lindsey’s grasping hands. A condom flew into play from somewhere—she never noticed where he’d stashed it—and together they rolled it into place with eager haste. Another second, and she was rising to take him inside her, sinking down onto him in relief and anticipation. Giddy bubbles of excitement threatened to burst forth as giggles. Lindsey bit her lip to stop them, then gave up and let it all out.
“What?”
“I can’t believe we’re bonking in the stairway.”
“Believe it, slave. I’ll bonk you anywhere and any time I choose. So be ready...oh, Jesus fuck that feels good!”
Giggles turned to laughter, then to gasps of delight. Her orgasm took her by surprise, came on fast and hard, stealing her breath away. But she was still aware enough to feel Ben tensing beneath her, using her hips to lever himself into her for a final thrust that joine
d them more tightly than ever before.
* * *
Cami was astute in some ways, not so much in others.
“Ouch, you have bruises on your knees,” she remarked as Lindsey mounted the steps to the RV. “Where did those come from?”
“She just bruises easily,” Ben said as he followed her into the vehicle and ushered her toward the banquette with a firm hand on the small of her back.
It was still hot inside the camper, and after days in the parking garage it smelled of over-warm upholstery and carpet. Stifling, really. Lindsey was actually looking forward to getting back to Houston for the weather, a genuinely rare feeling.
Not that she dreaded the ride home the way she’d dreaded the ride to Phoenix. A few rough days and insane nights had made all the difference in the world to her outlook, and she was going back home a different person than she’d been when she headed out for BeastCon.
Lindsey knew what she wanted now. And, just as importantly, so did Ben.
She’d awakened that morning a few seconds before the alarm, startled from sleep by a wash of cold air on one foot. Ben had rolled over, taking the covers with him. She supposed she would have to get used to that again. But it was a small price to pay for the warmth, the rightness of falling asleep with his arms around her, his breath soft on her hair.
He woke up when the alarm clock buzzed, and was immediately adorable, giving her a sleepy smile as he rubbed one hand over his already ruffled hair. Then he reached for her and pulled her into a hug, snuggling her into his embrace like a teddy bear. Like he wanted nothing more from that moment than to cuddle her. And he was going back for his PhD.
Then he told her he wanted to wake up like that every day for the rest of their lives. So as far as she was concerned, he could steal all the covers he liked.
There were other, new things to get used to. The way Ben smiled at her now, more self-assured than before, and also more appreciative. His hand on her back, nearly always in contact from the moment they left the hotel room. Ben, who’d never been more than moderately attentive, was ushering her around like an old-school gentleman. She thought that would be easy to get used to, actually, as she enjoyed it quite a bit. She enjoyed seeing Ben act like a grown-up.
The Seduction Hypothesis Page 12
