Anything But Vanilla

by Ellis, Madelynne

  She knew the moment Zach’s glans poked above the line of his underwear because Ric’s spine straightened for a second before he became a dervish-like whirl. Kara began inching forward. It wasn’t that she meant to intrude upon the shots; she just needed a better look. She hadn’t seen all that many men masturbate, at least not as close up as this, and definitely not while someone voyeuristically photographed them. If only her careers adviser had suggested Ric’s line of work. She’d have been good at it, for sure, and job satisfaction would never have been an issue. Sadly, she barely knew one end of a camera from the other. Even her family snapshots inevitably suffered from glaring red-eye and cropped heads. The digital revolution couldn’t entirely counter ineptitude.

  Kara hadn’t realised how close she’d got in her quest for substantiating visuals, until Ric backed into her. He clamped his mouth shut over a bark of irritation, then stood, the camera held at waist level, and gave her an appraising look.

  ‘So this is what you want, is it?’

  ‘I just …’

  He snapped an image of her with her mouth hanging open, and then another of her blinking because of the first flash.

  ‘Hey!’

  He kept on taking pictures.

  ‘You said we weren’t serious.’

  ‘And we’re not.’

  ‘You said I should come in some time for you to photograph.’

  ‘That’s what I’m doing.’

  It was. He was still mad at her, though, even if she didn’t really understand why. ‘Come on, then. Look at him.’ Ric dragged her closer to Zach, until she stood right before him. ‘Work with me, Kara, if this is what you want. See him. Drink him down. Be my extension. Rough him up a little.’ He paused before adding, ‘But no actual bruises.’

  There wasn’t any way on God’s earth she could resist a command like that, not when Zach looked so utterly delectable.

  ‘What will you do with the pictures?’

  ‘That depends how they come out. I don’t know how well you photograph yet, and you’ve yet to prove there’s any chemistry between you.’

  There was plenty of that. She didn’t think convincing him would prove much of an issue.

  Zach didn’t move at all, unless you counted the muscle in his thigh jumping as she approached. Facing him square on, Kara found her viewing angle much improved. She no longer needed to strain in order to see what he was doing. All the explicit detail she could wish for lay right before her. Zach’s broad-tipped fingers were splayed over the long thick shaft, while his thumb curved over the tip, where it drew concentric circles in the shiny film of pre-come leaking from the slit.

  ‘Think about what he’s doing, Kara. Why’s he doing it? Are you demanding it? Who is in control?’ Ric filled her head with questions.

  Who was in control? Not her at this moment. Possibly Zach. He was certainly the centre of attention, given the way he was slowly circling his thumb. Yet she was also raring to see him do so much more. Like squeezing tight his erection and working himself into an absolute frenzy as if it were a race he was desperate to win.

  For whatever reason, Zach didn’t rush, even when she bent over him, getting as close as she could without making contact.

  ‘Don’t touch him,’ Ric commanded, only to rescind the instruction immediately. ‘OK, one finger, and you’d better sign a fucking release form afterwards.’

  Uncertain whether Ric would change his mind again, Kara immediately reached out. She placed the tip of her index finger halfway down Zach’s shaft in a space between his splayed fingers.

  Zach made a soft sound in the back of his throat. This time it was more than a simple catch in his breath. It constituted a full-on moan. He looked up at her immediately, his brown eyes wide, his mouth too. There was such need, such desperate urgency in his expression. His hand wrapped around her. He carefully brought her whole hand in contact with his shaft.

  She’d done daring things and stupid things, but she’d never before been watched like this. Kara’s cheeks burned. She snapped at Ric to keep the camera pointed downwards and not at her face. He took no notice.

  ‘You’re the model, I’m directing. I’ll snap whatever I see fit.’

  The heat of Zach’s cock filled her hand, causing a corresponding fire to awaken in her cunt. Mingled with that first flush of arousal was an intense buzz of nerves. She wasn’t camera-shy, but this was still a first, and lord knows where it would lead.

  Zach guided her, his large hand clamped tight over her smaller one. Up slid her grip until his glans brushed the centre of her palm, then down, right to the base, so that his pubic hair tickled her fingers. Around them Ric buzzed like an irate bee. Only the sharp sound of their breathing competed on a noise level. She stared at Zach, knowing without explicitly being told that this is what he’d hoped to provoke, this weird situation where they were all linked and tension flirted close to breaking point … but they weren’t quite in it together. They weren’t yet a threesome.

  Ric had taunted her with that possibility. He knew what she wanted, what she liked. How far would he let this go? Had he realised yet? Did he know that she and Zach had prior knowledge of one another? It was possible the men had talked. Well, if they had, they were obviously cool with it, because otherwise this just wouldn’t be happening.

  Zach wouldn’t let go of her hand. That was probably a good thing, because if she was free to move, she’d probably end up astride him, or sucking him. If only Ric would give her an instruction.

  ‘Kara.’ She continued to work Zach’s shaft with firm sure strokes, while looking him in the eye. He only blushed when he started to glow. Then as his breathing slowed to a tremulous pant, he also dug his teeth deep into his lower lip. Too slow – she was reining him in, drawing things out when he wanted to race. Ric couldn’t help lapping up the struggle, even though his shoulders were lifted up around his ears and his face had become narrowed and serious.

  ‘Kara.’ Zach’s plea tore up his throat, sounding so husky that it must have come from somewhere down near his belly. ‘I need … Will you let me?’

  She didn’t really want to let him come. In her thoughts, she straddled his lap and sank down on to his cock. Ric didn’t have a camera either. Instead he was even more naked than Zach and nuzzled up against her back as she bounced astride Zach’s cock. He took possession of her breasts, rolling them in his palms as he kissed the side of her neck, and when Zach came Ric claimed her for himself. Entering her when she was slippery and wet, yet still making her groan.

  ‘God! Kara, please.’

  Ric captured Zach’s plea in close up. Its weakness was pitiful, yet it still had enough power to tie Kara’s stomach up in knots. Everything came down to her actions. If she let go and backed away, would Zach finish things off himself or beg Ric for a helping hand? Should she kneel down and suck him? What?’

  ‘What should I do?’

  Zach groaned. His eyelids fluttered closed only to open again at once.

  Kara sank into those two molten chocolate pools as she pumped her fist. There was little grace in the motion. She sensed what he wanted, could feel the strain in his muscles, in both his thighs and his stomach. The fact that she knew he was straining towards that goal increased the feeling of slickness between her own thighs, so that she jigged her hips as she stroked him, bringing her pussy lips together and giving her clit some welcome relief.

  Oh, God! She needed him so badly.

  Kara lifted the skirt of her sundress so that Zach could see what lay beneath. She had on the prettiest pair of panties in her possession. Just a tiny triangle of silk held on with ribbons that he took no time at all to undo. Kara shimmied forward. Their mouths met as she straddled his lap. Zach’s cock felt so smooth against the silk of her pussy. Her clit damn near burned with eagerness. Ric was in the way, though. He was damn well in her face and between her thighs with that camera. His instructions having completely dried up, he was sucking down sharp anxious breaths.

  Any moment … any mo
ment, she swore, he was going to join them. Then when Ric’s fist did wrap around Zach’s cock, effectively stopping her from sliding down on to him, she damn well nearly screamed with rage.

  Stuck between them, unable to see what Ric was doing yet perfectly able to feel it, Kara ground her teeth in frustration. To the side of her she could just make out their reflection in the glass-covered line of mounted prints. Ric was jerking Zach’s cock. No. Hellfire! He was on his knees sucking Zach, and still taking pictures.

  That was so unfair. She strained her neck, trying to look over her shoulder at him. No use, she could just see the back of his blond head.

  Zach broke eye-contact with her as he came. His chin tilted up, his head rested on the back of the chair so that he gazed up at the whitewashed ceiling, ecstasy stretching the tendons in his neck and adding a layer of savageness to his face. His body spasmed a millisecond after each jerk of his cock.

  ‘Fuck!’

  As for his cry, it seemed that each note was torn from the bottom of his soul, as if he were a wounded animal and not a man at all. Either way, he was undone, and Ric, not she, had got him there.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Ric’s camera had finally fallen silent. He placed it on the stand beside his open laptop.

  ‘Why? What the hell did you do that for?’ she asked as she removed herself from Zach’s lap. There had to be a reason beyond the fact that he could.

  ‘Why is it a problem?’ he shot back at her. ‘It’s meaningless after all.’

  To Ric, maybe. But not to her. Sex had never been meaningless. It had always had a purpose, even if it was as simple as finding a release.

  Beside her, Zach remained silent. He slithered from the chair, and sprawled with his head resting against a chair leg. He touched her ankle, but she didn’t look at him. Her gaze remained fastened upon Ric’s back.

  ‘There are some forms I need you to sign.’

  ‘Are there?’ He could stuff his consent forms where the sun didn’t shine. How dare he derail things like that, just because he hadn’t wanted it to happen? He hadn’t capitulated at all. He’d fooled them. And now he dared to talk business with her as if nothing had happened.

  ‘I’ll arrange payment for the modelling work the same as I do for Zach, but you forfeit all rights to the pictures, OK?’

  No. It fucking wasn’t OK.

  Despite her anger, desire still ran through her body in hot streams, but Zach lay spent and all the hints of a threesome happening had evaporated – assuming there’d been any chance of that in the first place.

  Ric placed the contract on the edge of the computer desk along with a ballpoint pen. Something told her he wasn’t going to let her out of the building without signing. Kara gritted her teeth and scrawled her signature. ‘Tosser,’ she hissed under her breath as she made the final flourish.

  ‘What did you say?’

  ‘You heard me.’

  ‘My studio, my rules.’

  Kara raised her hand to strike him, only for him to catch her wrist before she’d properly made a move. He backed her up against the wall.

  ‘Bastard,’ she cursed.

  ‘Rules, Kara. I make them for a reason. While you’re in here what I say goes, and you accept that or you don’t get invited back. Now, maybe you’d like to explain what’s got your knickers in such a twist?’

  As if he couldn’t guess. They’d been just shy of penetration when he’d taken it upon himself to get Zach off; now her nerves were in shreds, her temperature was running hot and cold and there was no sign of satisfaction in sight, and that was before she got on to the derailing of her major fantasy.

  Suddenly, Ric’s expression softened. His grip slackened a fraction too, although he still held her so close that his mouth lay just shy of her lips as he spoke. ‘The shots I have of you are good. This was always about work, Kara, nothing else. I’m sorry if you feel I’ve been cruel.’

  ‘You didn’t have to do that.’

  ‘No.’ He kissed her softly, thus transferring the taste of Zach’s seed on to her tongue. ‘Perhaps not, but I always like to incorporate a little of the unexpected.’

  ‘You weren’t trying to stop us?’

  ‘Of course not.’ The taste of Zach made her groan. ‘Why would I?’ His hand cradled the swell of her breast. He caught her nipple between the sides of his fingers and gave it a welcome squeeze. ‘You need to come. I understand that. There was never any question of leaving you wanting.’

  Wasn’t there? She blinked at him, bewildered by the way he made her emotions ebb and flow. Ric turned her hand so that the swell of his erection pushed up against her palm. He was hot and needy too. Of course, he hadn’t come either.

  Damn him! For someone so pretty, he was a proper devil, but she couldn’t … didn’t want to resist.

  Arousal thickened once again between her thighs. The blunt tips of Ric’s digits speared between her curls, heading right to the source of her pleasure. He rubbed, focusing solely on her clit, until she was stretched up on tiptoe, one hand splayed against his chest as if to hold him back.

  Kara released his fly. When he lifted her, she wrapped her legs around his waist, so that he could thrust right up into her, filling her in a way that caused a delicious rush.

  ‘Yes!’ This was what she needed, what she’d desired all along. Her heart flapped wildly. The pulse between her thighs grew ever stronger.

  Ric moved a step further away from the wall, so that she was leaning away from him, her back supported by the brickwork. It was a position worthy of a circus performer. More acrobatic than she’d ever attempted before, and definitely somewhat precarious, but boy, did it feel good, especially when the head of his cock tap-tap-tapped against the front wall of her pussy.

  His hands kept her steady. Kara’s muscles strained as her breathing transformed into a pant. She kept her eyes open, looking at him, loving the fact that he maintained her gaze, and that he was feeling the same build-up that she was.

  ‘That’s right, baby. Give it up.’

  Her hand clasped and opened. Her fingernails tore against the wall.

  ‘Let go.’

  Her head jerked back. She came hard, inner muscles squeezing tight his cock until she felt him peak too.

  His mouth opened, gasping her name. He panted throughout the whole ejaculation. Then, all done, he closed up the gap between her upper bodies and gave her a long deep kiss.

  It was only when Ric lowered her back to the floor that Kara realised Zach had watched the whole performance. His dark eyes were two shiny black pools that writhed with shadows. It didn’t take a genius to work out that this hadn’t been the outcome he’d been looking for when he’d suggested they got it on.

  ‘I’d better go,’ Kara said, not sure what else to do. Tension saturated the air, producing a static-like charge that caused prickles right along her spine. She didn’t want to be here for whatever row was about to break out. ‘I’ll see you both soon.’

  ‘Count on it.’ Ric guided her towards the stairwell.

  ‘Zach?’

  He nodded, and managed to form a tight grin.

  Kara shakily trotted down the steps. ‘Are you two going to be all right?’ she asked Ric as he showed her out of the front door.

  ‘Of course.’ He kissed her. ‘Goodbye, Kara. I’ll bring some of the photos over to show you.’

  ‘Thanks. See you soon.’

  Ric closed the door behind her.

  Zach went up to the battlements when Ric and Kara left the studio. He needed air. It didn’t matter how hard he rubbed, he couldn’t work all the cricks out of his face. Hunched into a wind-resistant ball perched beside the canon emplacement, he watched Kara worm her way down into the valley.

  It was his own fault, what had happened. What the hell had he expected? He’d foolishly thought he could provoke a reaction out of Ric. Well, he had. Just not the one he’d wanted.

  The idea was to incite jealousy, not to have Ric turn the tables on him.

  He�
�d always hoped that Ric felt more for him than he let on. Now he was no longer sure. Things had gone to plan to begin with. Ric had seen how much fun they were having, and had probably realised that they were both into the idea of having one another. That’s why he’d got down on his knees and given Zach head. He’d come – man, had he come – and Ric had supped him right down. That should have been the end of it. Point proved. Ric cared enough to act. They could squabble over the details later. Only Zach hadn’t properly factored Kara into the plan.

  Ric had soothed her.

  Ric had fucked her in front of him. Something he never ever did. Ric had never hidden the fact that he had other women, even sometimes other men, but he’d never flaunted that fact quite so brazenly in front of Zach.

  It cut. It hurt like he was being stabbed repeatedly in the guts. He’d watched them both come and then share a post-orgasmic kiss. He’d realised as their tongues tangled and they clung to one another that Ric really didn’t care. No, worse than that. He didn’t care for Zach, but he did care about Kara.

  Ric had spent the night with her. Something he never did with any lover. Zach could count on his fingers the number of nights he’d spent in Ric’s arms. All of them had happened by accident because they were too exhausted to move. Maybe that had been the case with Kara last night and maybe not. Not being sure was eating him up.

  Reviewing things again in the light of the fact that Ric seemed to prefer Kara, well, the whole scenario took on a different aspect. Suddenly it wasn’t a case of Ric blowing him in order to stop Kara having him. Rather, Ric had done it to stop Zach having Kara. The difference might seem small, but it was significant.

  The stairwell door creaked as it swung open to let Ric on to the battlements, carrying two bottles of beer. ‘What have you come up here for?’ he asked, as he passed one of the drinks to Zach.

  Zach tactfully kept his silence. He took a sip of beer and watched Ric rest his bottom against one of the crenellations. His lover tucked his legs up against the side of the cannon so that he hung in mid-air with minimal support.