“Jesus, Kingsley. That’s my best hairbrush. Do you know how expensive those things are?”
“Very good, ma chérie,” he said and pulled it out of her. “Such a good hairbrush is surely washable. That is one out of five. Next,” he said. The next object was cold and smooth and widened as it neared the top. She remembered dinner with Kingsley last night. It had been a party with several of Kingsley’s hilariously perverted friends. He’d let her have one glass of wine. Halfway through dinner he’d caught her staring at him. Winking at her he emptied the rest of the wine bottle into his glass and raised the bottle in a toast to her.
“It’s the wine bottle.”
“You’re a very smart little pussy, Charlie.” She laughed as he pulled the bottle out of her.
She tensed a little when she felt his fingers again.
Whatever it was he was putting into her was metallic and heavy. And it was big. It had a flat bottom and grooved sides.
“Can I get a hint?” Charlotte asked.
“You’ll find the answer very illuminating.”
She laughed. “It’s a flashlight?”
“Bien, ma chérie. Three out of five.” He gently pulled the flashlight out of her. “The next one I’m quite certain you’ve had inside you before.”
“Probably not. Never done the object thing.”
“Are you sure about that?” Kingsley pushed her open with his fingers again. Again she felt cold smooth metal. But this object was different. It had two parts. She heard something move like the turning of a screw and she felt her vagina start to open up.
She took a hard breath. “You have your own speculum?”
“Of course. I love to play doctor. Especially with such a beautiful and patient patient.”
She waited for him to close it and pull out. But he left it in her. She heard a click. “And the flashlight will do double duty for us.”
Charlotte’s heart pounded. Now she was mortified. She knew he was looking deep inside her.
Kingsley ran his hand up her stomach and stopped at her breasts. He pinched a nipple and her body responded with a hard contraction. Kingsley laughed. She knew he had seen the muscle contraction with his own eyes.
“That is four out of five. You only have one more and you win. I’m starting to get nervous.”
“I’m the one naked, spread open and being violated here,” she reminded him.
“Yes, you are. Therefore I’m expecting rather gruesome revenge from you.” He didn’t sound the least worried about the prospect.
He closed the speculum and gently withdrew it.
“Last one. If you don’t get this one right, I’ll be very disappointed in you, Charlie.”
“Do your worst.”
“I think I will.”
She shivered when something soft brushed her inner thighs. She felt warm wetness again. Oh, yes, she knew what this was.
“Your tongue,” she guessed and knew she was right. Kingsley pushed his tongue into her and out again. He kissed her inner lips with the same passion and dexterity he used to kiss her mouth. He sucked on her clitoris, ran his tongue up and down her. For what felt like an eternity his mouth devoured her. He pushed two fingers into her and with his tongue and hand brought her to a fierce climax. Her inner muscles rippled and shivered. Her back arched. She pushed her hips up and Kingsley’s fingers went deep into her. The orgasm seemed to last forever. She sank into the chair as her climax faded and left her tired and panting. Kingsley’s hand was at the back of her head. He untied the blindfold and she blinked when the light intruded. Kingsley gazed at her with a dangerous grin on his lips.
“My turn,” he said.
She rolled forward and went down on her knees in front of the ottoman. She unbuttoned Kingsley’s pants and took him in her mouth. For such an alpha male, King didn’t demand oral pleasure very often. He’d once said that if she’s already on her knees he would just fuck her doggy-style and give them both a good time. She couldn’t argue with that logic. But now she could tell he was definitely in the mood. He leaned back on his hands and tilted his hips toward her. She paused long enough to reach up and unbutton his shirt as well. Running her hands over his hard muscled chest, she kissed his flat stomach before taking him with her mouth again. He was always so dominant, so in control of everything, that it gave her enormous satisfaction to hear him gasp and feel him flinch with the pleasure she was inflicting on him.
Kingsley reached out and slipped his fingers into her hair. He caressed the side of her face and her neck. It always amazed her how depraved he could seem one moment and how gentle and caring the next.
Charlotte took him deep in her mouth and sucked hard. She teased and caressed him with her tongue. Licked, stroked and did everything in her power to make him moan as helplessly as he made her. Finally Kingsley took a hard breath and came. After swallowing his semen with more pleasure than she would ever admit to, she leaned back to look at him. With his shirt pulled open all the way to his shoulders and his bullet-riddled chest and stomach on display, he was undoubtedly the most erotic man she’d ever met.
He buttoned his pants and stood up. He took Charlotte’s hand and pulled her to her feet. He kissed her long and hard. She loved that she could still taste his saltiness on her tongue.
“You won the game, Charlie. Whatever will become of me?”
“You said I get to do anything to you I want?”
“Oh, yes. Put me in a dress and take pictures. Make me walk down the street naked. Shave my testicles with a straight razor. Do you need time to decide?”
“Oh, no. I already know what I want to make you do.” Charlotte wrapped her arms around Kingsley’s shoulders and ran her hands through his long unruly hair.
“Charlie, no.” Kingsley’s voice was hard as iron.
“You don’t get to say ‘no’ if I don’t get to say ‘no.’ You never told me your safe word. And, need I remind you, you said I got to do anything I wanted to you. I want to cut your hair.”
“I’m getting a new dragon.”
“Not a chance. I’m all yours for another week and you are having a haircut. Stop being a coward. I’m one of the best stylists in the city.”
Kingsley exhaled and shook his head. “Steele was right. You are trouble.”
“He lets me cut his hair.”
“He also lets you breathe fire when you’re drunk. His is not an example we should be following.”
Charlotte looked at Kingsley and turned the corners of her mouth down.
“Mon Dieu, don’t pout at me. I can’t resist a beautiful woman pouting. I’ll have to spank you and let you cut my hair.”
“Spanking later. Haircut now. We’ll do it in your bathroom.”
Charlotte threw on her robe and ran to her bedroom. She gathered all her supplies and took them back to Kingsley’s room. Standing in the bathroom, he looked as pathetic as a child who’d lost his dog.
“Shower,” she ordered.
“Only if you join me.”
Charlotte sighed and pulled off her robe again. She’d probably spent as much time naked in King’s house as she had clothed. Kingsley took off his shirt and pants and stepped into his large steam shower. The glass box was so full of steam she could barely see him when she entered. She laughed as he grabbed her and dragged her to him. He kissed her under the water and lifted her up. He pressed her back to the tile wall and penetrated her.
She wrapped her arms and legs around him and pushed her hips into his. She loved how strong he was, loved how easily he could lift her and take her like she weighed nothing.
He drove into her as the water poured over them. She only meant for them to get his hair wet so she could properly cut it. As she climaxed around his hard length she decided Kingsley was definitely her favorite client of all time.
Kingsley lowered her to the floor and turned her around. He pushed into her from behind. Resting her face against the wall, she relaxed into the wet heat as he buried himself deep inside her and came again. He pull
ed out and Charlie turned around.
“On your knees.”
“Charlie, you devil.” Kingsley dropped to the floor. He didn’t seem to mind the position. Taking a fistful of shampoo she washed his hair. He kissed her stomach and hips as she lathered and rinsed his hair.
“None of that. You aren’t going to fuck me until I forget what I’m doing. Up and out,” she said. Kingsley stood up and left the shower. She followed and found a towel and her robe again while Kingsley pulled on his pants without bothering to dry off. God, he looked even better wet than dry. Running out to her bedroom she found a chair of just the right height. She brought it back, set it in the middle of the bathroom floor and pointed it to it.
Kingsley sat in it with obvious reluctance.
“I think I’d rather be back in la Légion getting shot at again.”
“If you keep acting like a big baby, I will shoot you. I’ve never known a man so in love with his hair before.”
“I’m in love with all of me. I’m a very lovable pervert.”
“Well, you’re going to be a very sexy pervert when I’m done with you. Now hold still.”
She combed his hair and made a study of it. It was a good base haircut already, only too long. Clearly he hadn’t gone to see his French barber in some time. She decided to cut it fairly short in the back and leave the top nice and wavy and purposefully disheveled looking.
He recoiled as she brought up her scissors.
“Big baby,” she said again.
“The more you taunt me, the more you’ll pay for it tomorrow.”
“Your punishments are the most fun I’ve had in years. You’re going to have to find a better threat.”
“Any suggestions?”
Charlotte thought about it. She took her first snip of his hair. It fell in a wet clump to the floor. “I guess you could kick me out earlier than we talked about.”
She saw Kingsley’s face in the mirror turn. The mask of the playful pervert temporarily dropped.
“I will not kick you out, Charlie. This was a business arrangement, recall? You are here to learn and then meet my client.”
She continued to snip away.
“I know. I’m not complaining. I’ve had the time of my life. I’ll just, you know, miss you.”
“I warned you that if you made me take my clothes off you’d fall in love with me.”
“Don’t get so cocky. I’m not in love with you. I just like you. A lot.”
“You know, you may like my client even more than you like me.”
“Is he less arrogant than you are?”
“Slightly.”
“Then I probably won’t.”
Kingsley laughed and she continued her work on him in silence. When she was done with the back of his hair she moved to the front. She blocked his view of himself in the mirror as she snipped away at the sides and top of his rich brown hair. He had only a hint of a few gray hairs and no balding at all. Along with the arrogance gene, he’d gotten the great hair gene, too. She set her scissors aside and ran her hands through his hair over and over again, tousling it this way and that. She took a tiny dab of hair serum and ran it through his waves.
“Perfect.” Charlotte stepped aside. She watched with anticipation as Kingsley studied himself in the mirror.
“My God,” he said. “I’m even more handsome than I thought.”
Charlotte slapped him on the bottom, and he pulled her into his arms. It was a very good haircut. He looked younger and even more roguish. In fact, he looked very French. Très even.
“Your revenge is complete. You won the game and got to play barber.”
“Stylist,” she corrected. “If I beg can I get to do one more thing tonight that you never let me do?”
“Beg away and we’ll see how magnanimous I’m feeling.”
“Can I sleep with you in your bed tonight?”
Kingsley sighed and kissed her on the forehead.
“Charlie, while I adore hurting you, I must admit I don’t actually enjoy hurting you.”
“It’s okay. Thought I’d ask.”
“You may stay with me tonight and every night until you leave,” he said.
She grinned up at him. “Really?”
“Oui. Now take off your clothes and get into my bed. I need to start punishing you for all your insubordination.”
“Yes, sir.” She took off running to the bed. Kingsley came in after her and crawled on top of her.
“Admit it,” she said as he opened her robe and kissed her nipples. “You like me, too.”
“I do. A good barber is so hard to find.”
* * *
On her last day at Chez Kingsley, Charlotte woke up alone in his big red bed. She was surprised he was up so early considering how late they’d stayed up playing and fucking last night.
Tired and lonely, Charlotte showered in Kingsley’s bathroom and dressed. She returned to her own room and packed her things. She had a feeling she’d be back at her own apartment by tomorrow. She’d promised Kingsley she would keep an open mind about his client, whom she would meet tonight. Kingsley had told her very little about him. All she knew was that he was, as Kingsley said, “not unattractive,” “wealthy,” and was “longing for a deeper connection than his previous relationships.” She didn’t know how deeply she could connect with this guy when her heart ached at the thought of leaving Kingsley behind. But he’d trained her well. By now she was used to doing what King told her to do. She’d meet him. She’d give him a chance. And then she’d go back to her old life.
At least she’d have some very good memories.
At seven that evening Kingsley came to her door. His too-handsome face wore a somber expression that pained her to see. They kissed in silence before Kingsley pulled away and whispered, “Time to go.”
Offering her his arm, he escorted her to his Rolls-Royce, and she cried against his shoulder on her way to the restaurant where his client waited.
The Rolls pulled in front and parked. Charlotte wiped her face and gave King a sad smile.
“I’m only doing this for you,” she said.
“I know, chérie. But give him a chance. I think you’re exactly what he’s been looking for.”
“Okay. I’ll see you in six weeks though, right?” Charlotte straightened her hair and her dress.
He raised his eyebrow at her.
“Your next haircut,” she reminded him.
He smiled. “Bien sûr.”
Charlotte took a deep breath and walked into the restaurant. Old and elegant, it reeked of money, and she felt completely out of place. She gave her name to the maitre d’, who escorted her to a private table in the corner of the restaurant. She didn’t want to eat anything. She didn’t even want a drink. She just wanted to run from the place and straight back into the arms of—
Staring down morosely at the floor, she saw her face reflected back at her from a pair of riding boots polished to a mirror shine.
Charlotte looked up and smiled at Kingsley’s mysterious “client.”
“Bonjour, monsieur.”
* * * * *
SECOND TIME AROUND
Portia Da Costa
What is it with him? Why is he looking at me like that?
I glance across the assembly hall, and he’s staring at me as if I’m some hot chick he’s just spotted in a bar. A total stranger, but one he fancies. He’s undressing me with his eyes, the way men who know exactly what to do with a woman do. Men who know they can get away with it too.
I start to sweat. My heart flutters like a bird inside my rib cage. Down there, oh, God, in my crotch, I can feel myself getting hot and slippery and aching and tense.
I can’t believe it. He’s my ex-husband. I shouldn’t feel like this.
A server hovers at my elbow with a tray of glasses and I grab a glass of sparkling plonk and take a long swallow from it. The wine’s pleasant, but I barely taste it. Even the alcohol doesn’t register, I’m so shaken...so...so aroused.
; Get a grip, Willa. Stay in control. It’s James and you’re bound to feel a bit weird seeing him again after three years. But there’s nothing to get in a tizz and go to pieces over.
Yes, that’s right. It’s just surprise. Nothing more. Physical signals a bit scrambled. Bound to happen when it’s a man you’ve been intimate with.
But he never used to look at me like that, not even when we were first married. Or even when we were high school pupils here, boarders at exclusive Walton Wood College and two randy teenagers just crazy-mad for one another.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have come here? School reunion, not my thing really. Everybody playing at one-upmanship, my career’s better than your career, my marriage is better than your marriage, my kids are better than your kids.
Yes, stupid to come here when my marriage foundered and even the career I thought I wanted isn’t turning out to be as spectacular as I’d hoped.
And I really don’t like feeling out of control like this!
It’s all James’s fault. For being different. For being...new somehow.
Oh, hell, he’s coming across again. What shall I do?
As my ex-husband weaves across the hall, amongst my former classmates and teachers, his blue eyes narrow and assess me. By the time he reaches me, he’s covered every inch of my body, and he’s retracing the journey, flicking back to hover explicitly at my breasts, at my crotch. Blushing harder than I ever did in school, I want to toss my head and look away, outraged. But I can’t. I just can’t. It’s like he’s hypnotized me.
My mouth drops open when he quirks his lips, lifts his drink to me in an insolent toast, then takes a long swallow in a way that makes my sex flutter as his Adam’s apple works in his long tanned throat. Is he ever going to speak, or just keep on staring me down, making me hot?
“Enjoying yourself, Willa?”
“Yes...sort of. I’m not sure...”
I sound like an idiot. God, I’m never like this. What is he doing to me?
He takes another sip from his glass, eyeing me over it. “That’s not like you, love. You always know what you feel. What you want.”
The word want makes me shudder. Right down there again, in my pussy.
10 Shades of Seduction Page 5
