Fever

by Jamie K. Schmidt

But he noticed she didn’t shove his hand away. So he moved it up under her skirt and traced circles on her inner thigh. She nearly choked on her drink, but instead of throwing it in his face, bless her, she shifted and spread her legs.

  Chase completely missed what the reporter asked him. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

  “Do you have any designing plans of your own?”

  Giving a chuckle, Chase shook his head. “Hell no. I’ll leave the creating to the people who have talent. Like Max and Colleen here.”

  When the reporter shifted his gaze to Colleen, Chase pushed his hand a little higher. Her skin was soft and creamy. He could touch her for hours. A slight tremor went through her, and he was hard pressed to hide his grin. She still wanted him.

  Luckily, the reporter was too captivated by Colleen’s face to notice that Chase’s body language was off. Colleen leaned forward to laugh at something the reporter said. Her body shifted closer to the table, effectively keeping the reporter in the dark. It also brought his fingertips in contact with her silk panties.

  He circled his fingers around until he felt wetness. Her thighs quivered against his fingers, but she wasn’t paying any attention to him. She had the best game face he’d ever seen. Colleen was enchanting the reporter with her bedroom eyes and her seductive smiles. If he hadn’t had his hand between her legs, Chase might have gotten jealous. As it was, he wanted to do so much more.

  “So how did you two first meet?” the reporter asked.

  Colleen tensed, so he flicked his fingers faster over the wet silk.

  “I met her at one of the casinos,” Chase said. He wasn’t going to mention that she had been a stripper or anything like that. “She was assigned to me. I think her job was to make me spend all my money.”

  “I made things easier for Chase to stay at the table.” Colleen shrugged. “He was pretty easy. He liked scotch and chocolate chip cookies.”

  “Not at the same time,” Chase cut in, pinching her thigh in retaliation.

  “We grew apart, our lives taking off in different directions,” she continued.

  “And now fate has brought us back together.” Chase found the edge of her panties and eased a finger in. God, she was molten heat. He couldn’t reach any further without it being obvious he was finger-fucking her, so he eased back to small little circles on that sopping wet silk. Those panties were going to be in his teeth tonight if it was the last thing he did.

  “Professionally,” Colleen butted in, shoving his shoulder playfully for their audience. He got the message and removed his hand.

  Colleen’s phone rang, and she dug through her purse to grab it. “Yes?…All right. I’ll be right there.” She turned to the reporter. “Didier, I’m so sorry, but I have to cut this short. I’m sure Monsieur Fairwood can finish off the interview.” She pushed him, and Chase didn’t have a choice but to let her out of the booth.

  “One moment, Didier,” Chase said, and escorted Colleen toward the door of the restaurant. When they were far enough away from the table so the reporter didn’t have a chance of overhearing, he said, “I need to see you later.”

  “No, you want to see me later. That’s not going to happen.” She pasted a bright smile on her face, but her tone could have poisoned a rattlesnake.

  “I’m sorry.” Chase looked down at his feet. “I was wrong. I’ll do anything to make it up to you.” He glanced up, hoping his sincerity was written all over his face.

  “Too little too late. Now let go of me before I cause a scene.” Colleen jiggled her arm out of his grasp.

  It was time to play his trump card. “Can you give me a sense of how hard you hit with a crop?”

  “Don’t tempt me, Chase,” she said, but stopped when she registered that his tone was serious and interested. “Why do you ask?” she whispered.

  “Are you a sadist?”

  She blinked. “I have tendencies. But no, I don’t classify myself as a sadist. Again, why are you asking this?”

  He had her on the run. Now she knew how flabbergasted he had been the other night when she threw all this stuff at him.

  “I want to talk about hard limits.”

  “Why?” She flicked a glance over his shoulder at the reporter.

  “Because I want to be your only sex slave.”

  Chase wished he had a camera to capture the expression on her face. This might be the only time she had ever been speechless. Then her eyes narrowed and she swept him a look from top to bottom. He resisted the urge to squirm.

  “You don’t have the slightest idea what it means to serve or offer up submission.”

  “Teach me. You’re the instructor.”

  He had her. He knew it by the set of her jaw that she was considering his offer.

  “Listen carefully, Chase. Because this is your last fucking chance with me.”

  Hope burst through him. He was in. He could kiss Anya for giving him the words to do this.

  “You finish up with Didier over there. You make it sound like I’m a genius and Max’s line is the next big thing. Then you’re going to come up to my office and we’re going to hash this out.”

  “Negotiate our hard and soft limits.” Chase grinned. He was getting the hang of it.

  “There will be no negotiation. I’ll take your hard limits into account. But you, as a slave, don’t get an opinion. The trust you give to me as a dominant is that you tell me what your hard limits are and then you trust me, no matter how close I push to that limit. You trust that I’m a professional and that I am seeking the same pleasure as you. Now, do you really understand the relationship you’re trying to get into?”

  “Yes,” he lied.

  “Then you’re going to try out.”

  “Try out?” Anya hadn’t mentioned anything like this. Chase didn’t like the idea that he might have competition.

  “To put it in football terms, I just selected you from the draft. You’ve got the rest of the night as your preseason. If you make the cut, you’ll be my sex slave. If you don’t, you only come here for Max, and you don’t ever touch me again. Do we have a deal?”

  Chase hesitated. He didn’t like thinking about not touching her again.

  “I’ll treat you as I would anyone new to the lifestyle,” she continued. “But if you think your actions in the dungeons will be any different from any other slave’s, you need to walk away right now.”

  “Will we have sex?” he asked.

  “On my terms,” she said.

  “I’m your man.” Chase winked.

  “We’ll see about that. I’ll be in my office waiting for you.”

  “Why not in the dungeon?” he asked.

  “You have to earn your way back into my dungeon.” Colleen perused him again, and he felt the heat in her gaze like it was her tongue taking in every inch of him. “Don’t keep me waiting too long.”

  He watched the confident sway of her hips and wondered just what the hell Anya had gotten him into.

  Chapter 8

  “Well, love me tender and call me Elvis.” Colleen waited until she was behind closed doors before sinking against it. Chase Fairwood was going to attempt submission. It would never work. She was crazy to take him on as a slave. He was used to being the one calling the shots. Hell, his modus operandi was to burn hot, go off like TNT, sulk, and then wonder why she was still pissed at him. He was a grenade, and she had given up throwing herself on those types of people a long time ago. Yet he wanted her. Maybe enough to let her take him to new heights. She was actually shaking with anticipation.

  This could be a turning point for her. With Max’s new line and Chase helping out, it finally seemed as if she’d get some good press from a Paris magazine. And that might trickle down to better coverage in the States. She’d like to get rid of the “gold-digging whore” mantle that she had been forced to wear ever since marrying Alfie. Finally she could be recognized for her abilities. Her public face would be as the head of Couture, the “it” place to be for fashion, and her private face coul
d be the head dominatrix of Club Inferno with a worthy lover at her side. She wanted that so badly it burned into her soul and took her breath.

  Unlocking the door to her office so that Chase could get in, Colleen checked her schedule to make sure she had nothing else planned for the night. Nefertiti was long off work, and Colleen hoped she was letting Istvahn pamper her. Her schedule, it turned out, was free. Now, to decide how to handle this.

  Should she get into her dungeon gear or let Chase strip her? Walking over to her floor-to-ceiling window, she gazed up into the night sky. No. This had to be handled as if he was a stranger coming to the dungeon for the first time. If she didn’t want to scare the crap out of Chase again, Colleen had to go slow.

  Although Chase sure hadn’t been thinking slow when he tried to finger her at the restaurant. It had taken all she had not to let him go further. Definitely not what she wanted Didier to report on, that was damned sure. Still, the fact that Chase felt comfortable playing with her again in public gave her some hope.

  It surprised her how much she wanted this second chance. Before the dungeon fiasco, Colleen had just wanted to fuck him and get it out of her system. But…it had hurt to see him walk away. She wasn’t going to investigate her feelings too closely. Not when it could all blow up in her face.

  Kicking off her shoes, Colleen pulled out the couch by the window so it lay flat like a bed. With Chase’s bad knees, he couldn’t kneel, so they would probably be horizontal while they worked out a few things. She made the bed with thick cotton sheets, the thread count so high they were almost flannel, but they were softer than cashmere. Turning on the sound system, she put on some soft jazz, then dialed on the fake fireplace.

  Admiring her work, Colleen thought it hit the right amount of cozy. Then she activated a screen to block off that section, so that her office appeared professional, if a bit dull without the erotic art visible on the far wall.

  She was pretending to play solitaire on her computer when Chase walked in.

  “Close the door and lock it,” she said without glancing up. Her pulse sped, but she forced herself to remain aloof.

  “May I sit?” he asked.

  She couldn’t help the small lift of her lips at how hard he was trying to be deferential. Nodding, Colleen powered down her computer to give him her full attention. He sat across from her, staring intensely.

  Looking into his handsome face, all her plans flew out of her head. She was going to take whatever he was willing to give—if he didn’t fuck up this part. “So tell me again why you ran out of my dungeon like Michael Vick at an ASPCA meeting, and then two weeks later you’re ready to be my submissive.”

  Chase cleared his throat. “I was an idiot.”

  Colleen gestured that he should go on.

  “I wasn’t expecting the dungeon and the club under Couture. I figured we were going back to your room.”

  “I did come on a little strong,” she admitted. “I’m sorry if I frightened you.”

  “I was more freaked out than anything else.” He ran a hand over his face. “I should have turned around and begged forgiveness then.”

  “Are you still freaked out?” Colleen came from around her desk and stood behind his chair.

  “No.” He tracked her motion, but when she laid her hands on his shoulders, he stared straight ahead.

  “Tell me exactly what you’re looking for.” Colleen lifted his shirt over his head and tossed it on the floor.

  She caressed the hard muscles on his shoulders and arms. Ten years hadn’t changed his body all that much. Dragging her nails lightly down his back, she smiled at his contented groan. Colleen still remembered everything he liked, every button to push to get him to go wild. She wondered if he remembered her the same way.

  “This is nice,” he whispered. “I want to be your lover.”

  “Anything else?” Colleen ran her hands over his chest, leaning forward to lick his ear.

  “I want to please you.”

  “Good,” she purred in his ear. “I like that. What else?”

  “I want…” He sucked in a sharp breath when her teeth found his neck. “I want to experience this submission and dominance with you. With only you.”

  Colleen’s heart was hammering. This was what Dante should have said but didn’t. This was the right reason to work with a Domme.

  “Okay,” she said, pulling herself together. “Now, what don’t you want?”

  “I don’t want to share you,” he ground out.

  There was the exclusivity that she had wanted from Jake. “Agreed. We won’t have sex with anyone else. But…”

  He tensed under her hands.

  “You need to realize the difference between sex and sexual instruction. I will still work with my clients.” Before he could interject, Colleen added, “But you will be with me during these sessions as your schedule permits. And hopefully you will see that what I do is very satisfying and necessary, but it’s not cheating on you.” She yanked his head back so she could stare into his eyes.

  He smiled lazily and settled back against her.

  “What else don’t you want?” She flicked her tongue over his earlobe.

  Chase swallowed. “I don’t want to do fire, electricity, scat or water sports, or knife play.”

  Someone had been reading up during the past two weeks. Colleen bit back a laugh. She must have really given him something to think about. “Those are definitely things most beginners avoid. I’ve never started out with any of those. I generally don’t create scenes with them, either. If you were interested in those activities, I would have to refer you to another Mistress.”

  “Good,” he said. “No humiliation or pain.”

  Colleen felt it was time to give him a little reality check. “What about this?” She pinched his nipple and he groaned.

  “That would be all right.”

  She nipped his ear.

  “Yeah…oh God, do that again.”

  Colleen did and then breathed in his ear. “Seems to me a little pain is okay. So let’s make that a soft limit.”

  He nodded.

  “You say, ‘Yes, Mistress.’ ”

  “Yes, Mistress,” Chase said, with a trace of humor in his voice.

  “No humiliation,” she agreed. Chase wasn’t the type to crawl around on all fours while she verbally abused him. And they still had some baggage that she wouldn’t want to come out during play if they hadn’t resolved it. “You will wear a mask when we’re in public together as a Domme and submissive. That way no one will recognize you.”

  “They’d have to be idiots not to figure out who it is,” Chase blustered.

  “The people who know you and me, yes. Strangers will have no idea. It will free up your inhibitions.”

  “Okay,” he said. “I mean, yes, Mistress.”

  He was a quicker study than fricking Dante, that was for damn sure.

  “Outside of the dungeon,” Chase said, turning his head to look at her, “I don’t want to play games. I want you to be Colleen and me to be Chase. I’m not going to do housework naked.”

  Colleen’s lips twitched. “Pity. But fortunately, I already have a cleaning staff. And it’s tiring to Domme 24/7. I’m on board with all of that. You only call me Mistress when we’re playing and I’ll only expect your submission when we’re having sex. I know this whole thing isn’t your kink. I get that. I’m going to have a great time introducing you to the lifestyle. We’ll go slow at first. No more storming away. We stay and talk things out.”

  Like we should have ten years ago.

  “I’ll try and keep my temper in check. I know I can react first and regret it later,” Chase said with a nod. “Aside from all of that, I’m all yours. Now, what do you want?”

  Clever boy. Not many people asked that question. “I want your trust. Your absolute submission. I want to have earth-shattering orgasms with you.”

  Chase swallowed audibly. “Yeah.”

  “I demand fidelity.” She tugged his hair in warnin
g. “And you need to communicate with me. I need to know if what I’m doing is good for you. If you fake it or endure it because you’re thinking to please me, you won’t.”

  “What about the long term? Are we a couple now, officially?”

  “Let’s get through the week without killing each other first, hmmm?” Colleen chuckled in his ear, going back to nibbling on it.

  “I could come just from that,” he sighed, reaching back to stroke her hair.

  “That reminds me,” Colleen said, coming up for air. “You have to ask my permission to come, and if I say no, you don’t do it. Understand?”

  Chase shifted uncomfortably. “I suppose I have to trust you not to give me blue balls?”

  “You’re not fourteen, Chase, and I’m not going to keep you going for four hours. Teasing you isn’t a trip to Tiffany’s, for Pete’s sake.”

  He sniggered.

  “I’m going to train you to hold in your orgasm until the best possible moment. Being denied the need to come makes the next time, when you actually do, worth every agonizing moment.”

  “If you say so,” Chase mused.

  “If you please me, I’ll please you. Right now, you please me.” Colleen moved around to his front and straddled him on the chair.

  “Do I have to ask if I can touch you?” Chase’s hands twitched.

  “Yes.”

  “May I touch you?” His voice was hoarse.

  She nodded, leaning in to give him an openmouthed kiss that was all tongue and sweetness. The fever that spiked every time their mouths touched hit like a tidal wave. Chase wrapped his arms tight around her. Colleen held on to his shoulders, digging her nails in slightly and let herself go. They kissed until they were breathless and Colleen’s lips were puffy. Her clothes were askew from Chase’s manhandling her while their mouths made love. Chase’s cock strained against her panties, and it took all her effort to climb off him. She slapped at his hands when they tried to drag her back. Colleen pointed at him in warning. He held his hands up in surrender.

  “Do you like pleasing me?” she asked, stepping out of her skirt.

  “I want to throw you on that desk and fuck you,” Chase growled.