This time she realized what he was doing. He was feeding her. The first bite had felt easy, she hadn’t even thought about it. But now for some reason it made her feel funny. Grown women didn’t let themselves get fed like a baby!
He lifted the bite higher, his eyes intently on hers.
Her eyes shifted quickly. Were people watching? There must be people watching. But the palm fronds of the plants were between them and the other diners. She could see them, but not very well. Maybe they could see her, but not very well.
Such a simple thing. But nervous excitement raced through her entire body. She felt alive. How could something so simple shake her like this?
Maybe it was because of Hunter, all gorgeous and staring into her eyes in that sexy, intimate way he had.
Slowly she leaned forward and took the bite of food from his fingers. As she was chewing, still watching him, he murmured, “Good girl.”
She raised her hand to hide the food in her mouth. “You can’t say that to me!”
“Why not?”
“It’s demeaning. Belittling.”
“I think you like it. It makes you all flustered and flushed, and I like you that way.” He leaned forward. “But you’re really such a bad girl. My bad girl…”
She felt oddly stroked and loved by the tenderness in his voice, yet she shouldn’t like it. But he might be right. It was certainly stirring up her insides like nobody’s business. It was all too confusing to sort out right now, so she just went with it. If she couldn’t handle eating a meal in a restaurant under his control, then she certainly couldn’t go any further with him. And she really wanted to see if they could go further.
So she went with it, sipping her water and wiping her mouth with her napkin, trying the dishes he suggested or eating from his fingers when he offered her a bite. At one point he held out his finger that was smeared with the curry sauce she loved. “Lick it,” he ordered quietly.
So she did, looking up at him as her lips closed over his fingertip.
He didn’t have to say it that time. The words were in his eyes, amused and proud of her for not fighting him. Good girl. He was always ready with a bite when she was, or urging her to try a dish on her own, so it flowed along very nicely.
Dessert arrived, a big square of honey-dripping baklava. Hunter cut off a huge piece with a fork and held it out to her.
“That’s too much,” she protested.
“I think it’s just enough.”
She examined the large chunk on his upheld fork. She did love honey, which she had told him during his earlier cross-examination of her food likes and dislikes. It looked delicious, and she really wanted some.
“All or nothing,” Hunter told her.
“Fine!” She opened up wide but could hardly get the baklava into her mouth. When she bit down, honey drooled from both corners of her mouth.
He laughed at her as she worked on the baklava to get it to a manageable size. Even before she was finished, she had to laugh along with him. “You are sadistic,” she told him.
“Oh, you have no idea.” But he was laughing, too, so she couldn’t take it seriously.
“My face is sticky now,” she said.
“Here.” He picked up the moist towelette and ripped open the foil package. “Lean closer.”
She put her face up to him and he carefully washed the honey from her lips. His other hand gently held her chin. Again she had the feeling of being a kid, of being taken care of by her parents. Of feeling safe and secure.
“There, all clean.”
She smiled. “Now my lipstick is gone.”
“Give it to me.” Again, just the hint of an order wrapped in sugar.
She went into her purse and handed over her Bert’s Bees lip balm, tinted just darker than her lips. He read the label, then sniffed it. “Do I smell peppermint?”
“I think so. There’s something in it that makes my lips tingle.”
“We’re going to get along just fine.” Hunter motioned her forward again. He carefully smoothed the shimmer over her lips. She rubbed them around make sure it was spread.
“How does it look?” she asked.
“Perfect.” His face was close to hers, and she realized he was going to kiss her.
“I want to see if that’s really peppermint,” he murmured as he leaned in and kissed her. His lips were hot against hers, urgent, striking a fire that ran through her body.
She forgot to breathe, lost in his mouth as he kissed her on and on. Then his fingers tightened in her hair, a reminder of last time, driving her higher.
Instantly she was ready for him. Maybe it was the long, slow build-up as he had fed her and took care of her through the meal. But when he claimed her mouth as his own, she felt it in every fiber of her body. It was pure passion sparked by a single kiss.
Finally Hunter drew back, his fingers still tangled in her hair. “I can’t tell if it’s peppermint, but something’s making my lips tingle.”
His lips were shimmering now, too. It looked great on him. She could imagine him wearing guy-liner and rocking it out in the kind of clubs he probably went to. It was strange and wonderful at the same time.
“And now I have to replenish you.” He stroked the tiny wand across her lips then handed it back to her. “There, you’re perfect again.”
Kali almost felt let down as he paid the waiter and they finally walked out of the restaurant. Out on the street, he suggested they walk around the neighborhood some more.
“How did you like your first scene?” he asked.
“What’s not to like? It’s different, but fun. I see what you mean by calling it a game.”
Kali tried to focus as they talked about music and what they liked to read. They had completely different tastes. Hunter went to bars where the music was so loud you couldn’t talk to anyone, while she preferred vintage pop—Backstreet Boys and R.E.M were her style. He read the Voice and the Free Press while she got the NY Times every Sunday and read every section in a long, leisurely ritual.
He also had a terribly casual view about his income, and was vague about the various odd jobs semi-related to the art field that he did to supplement his creative work. He said flat out that he didn’t use credit cards. She had a feeling he had cash stashed under his mattress, if he had anything at all saved for a rainy day.
She was shocked when he told her he’d been living in the same loft for nearly three years, and it wasn’t even legal to live there. She couldn’t imagine lying in bed at night knowing the fire department could kick everyone out at any moment.
Even worse, she kept thinking about their first kiss. As sexy and packing a punch as it did, it hadn’t been romantic. A first kiss should be romantic, shouldn’t it? Not the punctuation at the end of a kinky sex game. That wasn’t the kind of first kiss you had with your husband. That was the kind of kiss you had with a one night stand. And she had never had a one night stand.
A panicked feeling was rising inside of Kali at every word he said. They were worlds apart, but the blazing chemistry kept engulfing her in the tone of his voice and the way his hand grazed hers as they walked. He was nothing like her dream guy, in fact on paper he scared her a little, but she wanted him in a way she had never felt before. Like they were standing on the edge of a cliff, and she wanted to hold his hand like they had in the subway, and jump over the edge together.
It was such a strange feeling, knowing that she could abandon all restraint with this unrestrained man. Nobody would know—now that she was away from her family and her friends, she could do anything she wanted to without having to worry that the entire town was going to talk about it. He wasn’t the right man for her, but did that matter? Why move to the city if she was just going to do the same, boring things all the time?
No, they weren’t right for each other. But it was right for her right now.
Standing under a streetlamp in a pool of light, Kali suddenly made up her mind. Even though it was doomed to never go further than tonight, or mayb
e a week, or if she was lucky to the end the project. But she couldn’t let him go without a real taste.
She knew she was playing with fire. She would have to keep telling her heart this was only sex, fun and sex. An exciting exploration on the wild side that she could remember when she was older and sitting across the dinner table from her husband and teenaged kids who would try to tell her she didn’t know anything about kids today.
“Do you want to come to my place?” she asked.
Chapter 6
Hunter wasn’t expecting that. He had felt her moving further and further away from him as they walked after dinner. He thought it was the natural withdrawal that sometimes happened in response to intimacy. People often felt vulnerable when they were played with, and she had played wonderfully well with him during dinner.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yes.” Kali turned to walk back toward her apartment.
He was surprised, and he didn’t get surprised too often. People revealed everything about themselves if you just watched and listened to them. And everything she had done up to now indicated that she was not the type of woman to invite a man back to her place on the first date.
“You have to be honest with me,” he said slowly. “I need to know what you’re really thinking and feeling, or we can get badly off track.”
“I want you to come home with me.”
He didn’t get it, but he wasn’t going to argue—he wasn’t that much of a saint. Even if he was getting a gut check. He tried to keep it casual and talk to her about her neighborhood on the way back, but she seemed distracted, so he let the conversation lapse into silence. She still didn’t say a word as she let him into the front door of her building, and all the way up two flights of stairs to the top floor.
With one glance, he took in the minimalist décor of her apartment, clearly the beginning of a life in New York City. Some Ikea furniture with a convertible couch in the front room that looked out on the street, and a narrow galley kitchen with the bath and bedroom in the rear. She had chosen subtle stripes and polka dots as patterns.
Kali offered, “Would you like some wine or a beer?”
“Wine, please.”
This whole thing was her idea, so Hunter took the wine and sipped it with a pleasant smile. He couldn’t wait to see what she was up to.
“This way.” She led him into the living room to sit on the couch. She had turned slightly as if to keep him from sitting right next to her. He sat down at the other end.
“My friends who live on the first floor are going to call me in a little while to be sure I’m okay. They watched us come in.”
“Very smart,” he said. “There are people out there who don’t care about your consent. You have to protect yourself.” He didn’t even want to think about some stupid jerk trying to take advantage of her. She was so curious and open. The idea of crushing her spirit just sickened him, but some men would want to do that to her.
Now she seemed surprised. “You think I’m wrong to bring you here?”
“Me? I’m a coworker. That gives you a layer of protection, right there. Your friends are another one. But if you were my sister, I would tell you to never bring a man home on the first date.”
Kali glanced away. “This is my first time.”
Hunter smiled. “That’s a compliment.” When she didn’t reply, he asked, “Why did you ask me back?”
“I want to find out more about this kinky stuff.”
His dick instantly swelled in anticipation. But he pulled hard on the reigns. He didn’t mind about moving fast, but she did. This was all new to her. He wanted to be sure she understood what she was agreeing to.
“That sounds romantic,” he said lightly.
“I don’t expect it to be romantic.” She considered it. “Can it be romantic?”
“Don’t you think it was at the restaurant?” He edged over closer to her. “I was looking into your eyes, taking care of you, feeding you the best bites, making sure you were happy…”
“I guess.”
“But?” Clearly she didn’t want to answer, so he urged, “This is how you find out about the kinky stuff, Kali. We have to talk about it first if you want to go further.”
“Talking about it isn’t romantic. Maybe I’m not very good at this.”
“What better way to show you care about someone other than finding out what they want? What they feel? What they’re afraid of.”
He took hold of her hand. She held on, as if that helped her.
“What do you want?” he asked her.
She sighed. “I… want what you did to me at your place. Only… more.”
“’More’ is very open-ended. You want to feel sensations, but not pain. Yes? And you liked being dominated, I could tell. What else?”
“I’m not supposed to get tied up.”
“No, you’re not. Because it’s our first scene, and you should never agree to be tied up on a first scene.”
He was having to work hard to keep himself in check. He hadn’t been so turned on by a woman in years, not since his first real submissive. Claire. The lovely Claire. They had both been so young, not quite sure about how to do rough sex, but knowing deep inside that they both wanted the same thing. They had figured it out together, but she was like other high school girls and wanted a relationship, while he always wanted to try more girls.
He wasn’t so sure about Kali. He wanted her, yes! Loud and clear on that one. But he still wasn’t sure what she wanted.
“How far do you want to go? Sexually, I mean,” he asked.
“I don’t know. What’s the usual thing?”
“You can do whatever you want. Some people have scenes without any sort of sex. Like we did at the restaurant. Sometimes people play with breasts or genitals. Or masturbate. Or use dildos. And of course there’s oral and anal …”
“Oh.”
She looked even more beautiful, a little lost and overwhelmed. So vulnerable. He loved it, but it also made him nervous. Did she really want this or not?
“If it was up to me,” his voice raw with honesty. “I’d take you right here and right now. And then I’d do it again. I want you so badly I can taste it. But it’s probably not a good idea. As much as I want to ravish you within an inch of your life, we need to go slowly.”
Now her eyes were fastened on him. “We do?”
“Yes, we do.” He was already building their scene, though she didn’t know it.
“Why?”
“So you’ll come back for more.”
She nodded, smiling slightly.
“Stand up,” he said quietly.
He stood up with her, still holding her hand, turning to face her. “You can always stop me, at any time. Do you understand that? You just have to tell me.”
She shivered slightly. “Okay.”
“I noticed you like to be pushed a bit. You can say no as part of the game. But say ‘stop’ if you really mean it. That’s your safeword.”
She nodded. It was as if she had taken the first step, and had released everything that had been holding her back. He could tell she was already feeling rather than over-thinking everything.
Hunter ran his fingertip down her cheek. Then he pulled her close and kissed her again. But this time it wasn’t playful. He let himself go in this kiss. He knew he wouldn’t get nearly the kind of satisfaction he wanted from this scene, but he was going for much bigger game. He wanted her. He wanted her to give herself to him completely. And that couldn’t happen in one night. Not if it was real.
So he kissed her in promise of all that was coming, the passion and romance she wanted, and the kinky sex he craved. That she would crave, as long as he held himself in check and didn’t frighten the horses.
So he tried to calm his breathing, resting his forehead against hers for a moment. He could feel the fluttering pulse in her neck, where his fingers were clutching her hair. He hadn’t even realized he was doing it.
Her eyes were dark with desire,
with only the thinnest rim of gray-green around the edge. Large and shining with desire.
“Much as I love looking into your eyes, I want you to relax.” He gently swept his fingers down her face, making her close her eyes. “Keep them closed,” he murmured.
His hand continued down to her shoulder, sweeping down the curve, then further down, just grazing her breast with his arm. “I’m going to take off your shirt and your bra, but everything else will stay on.” That would make a nice hard limit he couldn’t let himself cross. And he needed a good hard limit right now.
She peeked, as he knew she would. Because she was a bad girl. He let her see it in his eyes, smirking at her.
“Oh!” Then she started to laugh, surprising herself.
“That’s better.” Now she was even more relaxed. He hooked his fingers in the hem of her shirt and slowly began pulling it up.
Her laughter stilled as she realized what he was doing.
“Close your eyes,” he whispered.
He pulled the silky material up until it covered her face, making her lift her arms. But he left her shirt covering her face, with her arms trapped, folded over the top of her head at his gentle pressure. Now her head and arms were covered by the ivory silk, leaving only the impression of her nose and cheeks and chin, like a veil pulled over her face.
She squirmed a little at first, holding her elbows over her head. She was exposed, but not able to see. Her breath made the silk flutter faster in front of her mouth.
He scooped her up, lifting her off her feet in one motion. She let out a little cry in delight and fear. But she couldn’t do anything with her arms trapped over her head but kick her feet slightly.
He laid her down on the coffee table with her feet on the floor. He had been eyeing the coffee table since he came in. It was very low and sturdy, and the top was a bit scarred up so he didn’t think she would care if a few other things happened to it. It was just tall enough to make her arch her back to get her feet on the floor. With her arms trapped over her head by the ivory material and her pale gray bra with delicate embroidery on it, she was laid out for him to do with as he pleased.
Good Girl Page 7
