The flat of the hairbrush connected again, this time smacking the same spot it had hit before. Claire moaned, instinctively jerking away, before remembering the words just in time. “Thank you, Sir.”
“If you move again, this session will be postponed until tonight, and I’ll repeat it in front of the entire room while you’re tied to that bench so you can’t squirm away. Now, get your ass higher in the air.”
Claire reluctantly bent over the bed again.
“Look at me in the mirror,” he instructed and then brought the hairbrush down again and again.
Claire moaned, digging her fists into the comforter on the bed to keep her body in place.
“Thank you, Sir,” she managed to mumble each time through clenched teeth. The pain had gone from sharp stinging to blazing agony. Just when she thought she couldn’t bear another hard wallop, he stopped.
“That’s better,” he said calmly. “Now, it’s time to discuss your schedule for the rest of the day. We’re going to have breakfast together. Then you’ll get some sleep. When you wake up, you will report to Mistress Jade and her assistant to be fitted with the apparatus you’ll wear to tonight’s ceremony.”
“Apparatus?”
“Silence!” he said harshly, delivering two more fierce whacks to her tender backside. “Do not question me. From now on, when you are in this position, you will speak only when spoken to or when given my permission.”
Claire stared into the mirror, meeting the hard eyes of the stranger who stood behind her. Where was the tender Kyle, the smart, funny, intriguing man she’d spent the entire night talking to? Her head was spinning, her ass was on fire, and her throat was tight with the tears she’d tried valiantly to suppress.
Kyle put the hairbrush down and stepped forward, pushing her legs apart with both hands. He reached down to stroke between her legs, and Claire felt a jolt of pure lust shoot through her body.
“See how wet you are?” he remarked, casually running his fingers inside her dripping slit, then holding out his hand to her image in the mirror. “You’re loving every minute of this. You’ll be even wetter tonight. You’re going to appear in front of everyone and model your apparatus for us. Tonight you’ll wear a corset cut low to show off your nipples. It’s short, reaching just below your hips, so the apparatus that fits your naked pussy and ass will be on display for everyone to see.”
Claire shivered, trying to imagine what kind of item Kyle was describing. His hand probed again, this time teasing the tight opening of her ass.
“You’ll be all mine tonight, Claire. All mine to do with as I please. Say yes, Claire. Say ‘Yes, I will.’”
His hand slid further, rubbing the hard nub of her clit. Claire gasped as the fire of the spanking faded into the background and another kind of heat flooded her body.
“Yes,” she murmured breathlessly.
His fingers continued their assault on her throbbing clit, while his other hand picked up the hairbrush and gave her another sharp smack. This time, the impact only fanned the flames of her hunger. The pain was dulled, filtered through an endorphin-laced haze of lust.
“Sir,” he reminded her.
“Yes, Sir,” she repeated, hardly knowing what she was saying.
“Oh, and one more thing, Claire,” he said conversationally, as though his fingers weren’t busy bringing her to the verge of another shattering climax. “As I mentioned, while you’re here, your body belongs to me. That means you don’t come unless I give you permission to do so.” He stopped suddenly, leaving her frantic with need. She shoved her hips back wildly, seeking contact with his fingers once again.
“Beg me.”
She groaned, tossing her head frantically from side to side.
“Beg me to make you come.” His voice was rough. He grabbed her head, forcing her to meet his eyes in the mirror once again.
“Oh, please, Sir, oh God please, yes please, please make me come!” she babbled.
“Come, Claire. Come for me now.”
He drove three fingers deep inside her, while the other hand resumed his relentless assault on her engorged clit. Claire stared into the mirror and watched her mouth open in a muffled scream as she exploded.
Later, he met her for coffee on the terrace and they watched the sun rise over the mountains together. This time he was dressed in jeans and a casual V-neck black sweater. Once again, he was the perfect gentleman, chatting about the history of the mountains, telling an amusing story of the night he ran into the cast of “The Hunger Games” at a bar in Asheville when they were filming nearby.
They weren’t alone on the terrace. A table here and there began filling up as several of the other women she’d traveled with trickled out, carrying coffee cups and plates from the breakfast buffet set out in the dining room. Each woman was clad in a simple short tunic, everyone a different color. Melody was in red once again. She sat alone, her back to the other tables. Marge was with the handsome young companion she’d been assigned to when they arrived. She looked prettier—even happy—as she chattered nonstop while he smiled indulgently at her.
Claire said very little, refusing breakfast and barely touching her coffee. Finally, Kyle reached for her hand. “We’re still the same people we were last night when we talked for hours in the moonlight, Claire. Don’t be afraid to face the daylight. What you did last night is simply one piece of who you are. It doesn’t define you. It doesn’t have to consume you.”
He went on, speaking softly as he stroked her hand. “This trip you’ve made to The Dark Side of the Moon is a voyage of self-acceptance. It’s okay to feel pure pleasure. And it’s okay if sometimes you find that there is pleasure in pain. It doesn’t make you a bad person, a shameful person. Not everyone is wired the same.”
He went on, looking into her eyes as he spoke. “I don’t believe that our past experiences or our upbringing solely define how we turn out. In my opinion, people are born with different qualities, different needs, even different aspects of their personality already in place. For example, most psychologists now believe that some people come out of the womb attracted to partners of the same sex. The whole point of our journey through this world is to find out who we really are inside and then live the best life we can with what we’ve been given. It’s all good, Claire.”
She nodded and took a sip of her coffee. Kyle could tell that she was still in turmoil. She’d been incredibly aroused by giving in to what she’d always been told were wicked, immoral desires.
“Go get some sleep, Claire. Things will look different once you’ve had some rest.”
Hours later, Claire woke suddenly, disoriented. She stared around the dimly lit room. As she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror, naked in the bed, the memories came flooding back into her head. She blushed, thinking of the scene she’d witnessed in that huge mirror a few hours ago. Kyle standing behind her, a hard-muscled dom in black leather, paddling her ass as she begged him for release.
Then she remembered his words at breakfast. I’ve lived too long worrying about what everyone else thinks of me, she told herself. I was always afraid to test the boundaries that I let everyone else set for me—afraid of being labeled as kinky or weird or slutty. But I came here because I was tired of going about my boring routine day after day, never feeling truly alive. I’ve never had the guts to make my darkest fantasies a reality. But here I can. No one else is judging me here, so why should I judge myself?
She slipped out of bed and found a tray on the drum table by the fireplace. There was a plate of sliced chicken, a croissant and a small salad, along with a carafe of iced tea with a sealed envelope propped up against it. Claire was surprised to find that she’d apparently slept right through someone coming into the room and leaving the tray. Curious, she tore open the envelope.
Mistress Jade commands your presence in the Fitting Room to prepare for this evening’s ceremonies. Her attendants will come at 5 PM. to escort you to her.
Claire glanced at her watch. It was near
ly three. She couldn’t believe that she’d slept away most of the day. Idly, she wandered around the room, looking for something to do to pass the time. No TV, no internet, no radio. No books or magazines that she could see. She still had no clothes of her own, but the silk robe was hanging in the bathroom along with the simple, short blue tunic-style garment she’d worn at breakfast. No underwear that she could find. Claire slipped the tunic over her naked body, grabbed her iPod and her lunch tray, and headed out the French doors.
The spring sun was warm at this elevation. Claire headed around the corner to the bench she and Kyle shared the night before. The wide expanse of lawn was empty. But at the edge of the woods, Lady Gwen and two of the male attendants were moving smoothly through what looked like a Tai Chi exercise. They were all barefoot, dressed in white karate uniforms. They stopped, and one of the men faced Lady Gwen and bowed. She bowed as well, then in a swift move, attacked. Her attendant was well over six feet tall and looked like he had 50 pounds on her, but Gwen performed a sweeping kick, putting him on the ground. She reached out a hand to help him up and found herself next to him on the grass.
Claire watched, fascinated, as they sparred. At one point, Gwen took on both men, hands and feet blurring in a flurry of kicks and strikes. Finally, she dropped her head and held up one hand. Then she bowed to each man, shook hands with them and walked away slowly. Claire could see she was obviously in pain. But who wouldn’t be, she thought, after being slammed into the ground over and over, taking blows like she did? Gwen is tough. I know she’s older than I am, but you’d never believe it to see how she moves. Kyle said Gwen had her own demons. I wonder what brought her here, what drove her to create a place like this. What motivates her to keep going through such a grueling workout?
Claire picked at her lunch, too nervous about what was in store for the evening to eat. Turning on her iPod, she played back Kyle’s music from last night. She gazed at the layers of mountains all around. The fresh green of new leaves on the trees gradually gave way to a darker green-blue in the distance, finally disappearing in a haze of smoky blue-gray on the horizon. She played Kyle’s song over and over as the quiet calm of the mountains slowly filled her, driving all fears, all worries out of her mind.
Phrases popped into her head, flowing with the chords of the song.
Sweet music fills the night
My secret dreams take flight
And then another.
These ancient hills have power
She’d written a lot when she was younger, even dreamed of being a novelist. But the day to day tasks of living crowded out her girlish dreams long before she married Jim. It had been years since she tried her hand at putting anything creative down on paper. When did I give up on myself? How did all of my dreams fade away? She shook her head, feeling as though a long-lost part of her was awakening, forgotten dreams and wishes bubbling to the surface along with the strange erotic hungers this place stirred.
Claire shivered a little, suddenly realizing that the sun was dipping lower in the sky, taking with it the warmth. She glanced at her watch and jumped up. She had only a short time to draw a bath and get ready for whatever forbidden temptations this night would hold.
Promptly at five, there was a knock at the door. Claire opened it to find the same two men who had been sparring with Lady Gwen standing in the hallway. But now they looked like they had just stepped out of a frieze on an Egyptian temple. Dark hair slicked back from finely chiseled features, bare-chested, skin glistening with scented oil. The fragrance was strange, yet somehow tantalizing. Both men wore only a loose white garment that rode low on their hips, stopping just above the knees like a kilt. They had wide gold cuffs around their wrists, leaving the rest of their powerful arms bare. The men wore flat leather sandals, but even so, they towered over Claire.
“You have been commanded to appear before Mistress Jade,” one of them announced formally. Not waiting for a reply, he took her by the arm and led her down the hallway, with his partner flanking her other side. Claire suddenly felt like a prisoner being led to the guillotine. Even if she wanted to get away, one look at them told her resistance would be futile.
They escorted her silently down the hall to another, smaller staircase leading to the lower level. There, a door at the foot of the stairs opened onto a long narrow passageway. Claire was amazed. Apparently the underground areas at The Dark Side of the Moon were much larger than the mountain lodge they first saw. The lower hallway was dark, lit only by flickering bulbs in simple iron holders here and there along the wall, like torches leading to a Pharaoh’s tomb. They stopped at a heavy double door at the end of the passageway. One of the men knocked sharply.
“Enter,” said a low voice. The attendant pushed the thick door open and motioned to Claire to step inside.
If what she’d seen before at The Dark Side of the Moon was unusual, the sight that greeted Claire’s eyes here was truly bizarre. The room was large, lit only by more of the flickering torch lights. With no windows, a stone floor, and thick plaster walls, the room felt like the inner sanctuary of some ancient temple. Adding to the illusion, Mistress Jade sat regally at the opposite end of the room on a high-backed, padded wooden chair raised three steps above the rest of the room. Claire tried hard not to stare. Today Jade wore a bronze metallic skin-tight corset. Copper eye shadow with chocolate liner accented the cold green eyes, which were regarding her as though she were a timid rabbit tossed into the cage of a hungry but haughty lioness. Around her neck, Jade wore a twisted gold chain with what looked like an ancient coin dangling from it and another pair of thigh-high patent leather boots with stiletto heels, in bronze this time to match her corset. Claire wondered fleetingly where in the world she got her clothes. Maybe somewhere in this warren of underground rooms there was a whole army of dressmakers and cobblers, laboring away in the torchlight.
Jade nodded her head, and both men stepped forward to kneel on one knee in front of—well, there was no other word for it—her throne. Claire stood behind them, surreptitiously peering around the room. The wall behind Mistress Jade’s seat was lined with dark wood cabinets. On her left stood the padded bench from last night’s performance. On her right was a table that looked like it belonged in a doctor’s office. Waist high, built in sections that could be raised or lowered.
Jade clapped her hands, and the two men rose, grabbing Claire by the arms. They led her to the table. “Lie face down,” she said. Claire stood there trembling, uncertain of what was to come next. Jade waved a hand, and Claire found herself bent over the table, held down by a pair of strong arms. Her blue tunic was yanked up, baring her ass, and the other attendant delivered half a dozen hard swats so fast it took her breath away.
“You have a great deal to learn,” Jade declared. “When I tell you to do something, I expect to be obeyed—immediately. Kyle has requested that you be outfitted with two of my special devices tonight for your initiation into your new status. You will be his private sub for the remainder of your time here. Now, get on the table.”
Legs shaking, Claire climbed awkwardly up onto the table. Her bottom was burning from the unexpected spanking, and she didn’t know which was more terrifying—the idea of submitting to whatever Mistress Jade had in mind for her or the thought of getting an even harsher spanking by trying to resist. She had barely stretched out on the table when her arms were seized and pulled forward. Wide leather straps fastened her wrists to the front legs of the table. Behind her, the other attendant who had spanked her pulled her tunic up again, tucked it in around her waist, and then bound her ankles to the table with more restraints.
Claire blushed, embarrassed to have two strange men ogling her bare behind. But when she felt the back half of the table being pulled apart, spreading her legs wide, Claire realized her shame was just beginning. Jade came to the table, manipulating a lever that controlled the sections of it. The front suddenly dropped, lowering Claire’s head and raising her naked ass high in the air. Jade stepped between Claire’s leg
s and pulled on a pair of latex gloves. One of the men walked over to the cabinets on the wall, bringing back a tray of gleaming silver implements. With a shudder, Claire recognized them as butt plugs, like the one that invaded Melody’s private parts last night, in a variety of sizes, from short and slender to impossibly huge.
Jade stepped to the front of the table, rubbing more of the strange scented oil onto her gloved hands. “Pay attention, Claire,” she demanded. “I want you to be aware of exactly what is planned for you all along the way. You’ll be fitted with a vibrating plug that Kyle can operate for his amusement later. But first we must find the correct size,” she went on. “Theo will spread you for me, holding the cheeks of your ass wide apart while I test the fit of these implements, one by one.”
She moved back around the table, and Claire felt the bare hands of the attendant called Theo run over her ass and then firmly pull her stinging cheeks apart. Jade’s probing gloved finger rubbed scented oil all around her tight hole. Claire gasped when the finger suddenly invaded her. She squirmed around, panicking. She’d never had her ass played with before, although she’d fantasized about it sometimes, alone in the dark. Now she was tied down, unable to move, as two sets of hands took possession of her most private parts.
A firm hand whacked down sharply on her tender ass, which was already stinging from the earlier spanking.
“Do not move,” Mistress Jade commanded. “You will learn to submit willingly to whatever is being done to you. Resistance will only result in more punishment—and then we will simply resume doing whatever we choose to do to you.”
Claire shivered, forcing herself to lie still despite the powerful sensations. Her ass was burning. Rough fingers were spreading her wide. Strangers were touching her, violating her.
The slick gloved finger resumed its slow, tantalizing penetration, sliding nearly all the way out, then in again, each time a little farther. In spite of her shame and embarrassment, Claire felt her body beginning to respond, hips involuntarily grinding into the hard padded surface of the table. When the finger was withdrawn, she moaned.
Her Darkest Desires Page 5
