by Finley Blake
Nicholas reached out to squeeze my hand and my very much not-hard heart leapt at the contact. “You’re insightful about human nature. You knew exactly what I needed and focused on me instead of yourself. It’s hard to be so kind in the face of such an oppressive society.”
“At least you don’t have to worry about society here,” I said with a small smile.
“I don’t… but I do at the same time.” He waved in the general direction of the door. “All of this isolation can only go so far. Yes, it facilitates the walls I’ve built around my heart, but is that really a good thing? Before you came along, I was on the verge of being as cold and unforgiving as the tundra itself.”
“See? You’re not so shabby yourself when it comes to understanding human nature. So what changed since I arrived?” I leaned forward, perched at the edge of the chair.
“Music, color, warmth, love – all those things you brought with you. I’ve watched you day after day for weeks now, and trying not to care for you was futile.” His hand lifted from mine to caress my face. “You’re right about that window opening. With DeVille dead and his son destabilizing the Regime from within, we have a fighting chance. As long as you’re with me, I feel like I have something to fight for, and I’m a better leader and inspiration to the Constitutionals for it.”
I closed my eyes and leaned into his touch. “You don’t have to take it all on alone. Just tell me what I can do to help.”
“You’ve already done enough. If you continue to be here for me, that’s all I could possibly want.”
“There’s going to be more work, though. This is only the beginning of toppling the Regime – just one step in the direction to where so many of us want to be.”
A mischievous smile tugged at his lips and he said, “Since you insist, there is something you can do for me. Finish your dinner and I’ll show you.”
“I meant serious work!” I tried to sound scandalized, but I couldn’t help but smile too. What was it about these feelings that made me throw refinement out the window?
“Oh, this is very serious work, Violet. I don’t think I can take it another night – sleeping alone in that cold bed. You’re going to help me warm it up.”
Never had I left dirty dishes behind after dinner and, despite the needy sensation pulsing through my groin, I wasn’t about to start now. We ate the warm soup, and then I cleared the table and washed the dishes. Nicholas paced and grumbled behind me, until he finally stood pressed against my back. Resting his chin on my shoulder, he said, “Are you finished yet?”
“Do you see this?” I held up a spoon, soapy water dripping down my arm. “This little fella is dirty and needs to get clean, so he can join his friends in the drawer. He'll get lonely without them.”
“Well, this fella wants to join you in doing the reverse of getting clean. I have some very dirty activities in mind for us both, preferably more than once tonight.” He nipped at the back of my neck. “Now, Violet.”
“Dishes,” I said, my voice less firm than before, my body faltering back into his.
“Do as I tell you and go upstairs,” he answered, running his hands down along my sides. “The dishes can wait. I can’t. Now, be my good little submissive, go upstairs, kneel beside the bed, and wait for me.”
The command sent a deliciously heated thrill through me. I set the spoon back in the soapy water, dried my hands on a plain brown towel, and obeyed his orders. As I knelt, I thought about how much he wanted me. There was such a sense of power in that knowledge and it shook me to my core.
Furthermore, I knew it was more than lust, more than slaking his need, more than infatuation. The tension of the past weeks – trying to live with and be of service to someone who didn't want me – had taken on a new form. We were no longer uneasy roommates. I was the person who had drawn him from his remote little world and given him hope.
When I got to the room, I smoothed my hair back from my face, knelt beside the bed, and then brushed my hands down the front of my dress. The floor was hard wood – not at all comfortable on my knees – and I wondered if he would mind if I placed a pillow between myself and the floor.
Another minute passed and then he entered the room, shut the door behind him, and looked down at me with a smile. “I’ve always wanted to try this,” he said. “It’s very different to have a woman kneeling before me, ready to serve me.”
“It’s what I was trained to do,” I answered.
“But is it what you want to do? When I asked my wife to do it, she did not like the idea, and I never pursued it.” His brow creased slightly and he added, “Not that her reaction and preferences matter at this point, but yours do.”
I canted my head to the side as I looked up at him, then nodded. “Yes, Nicholas, it is what I want to do. I was born to serve and I can think of no greater privilege than submitting to you.”
“Violet, you are not the privileged one.” He reached down and used the backs of his fingers to lift a stray curl up and off my face. “I am the privileged one, the recipient of this gift of submission that you are giving to me. You have every right to decide what to do with your body, your feelings, your own life, and you chose to accept me. At this point, I don’t know why you’re still here after the way I treated you, but I am grateful that you did not give up on me.”
“We got past that,” I said, and turned my head to kiss the fingertips that lingered at my cheek. “I think we are both ready to do this.”
“What I am ready to do,” he said, drawing his fingers down along my jaw and tilting my head up slightly, “is show you how much your compassion and love mean to me. Sit up on the bed.”
I did as he ordered, unfolding myself from the kneeling position to settle on the edge of the mattress. It was Nicholas who knelt before me now, reaching for my shoes and untying them with deft fingers. When he removed my shoes, followed immediately by my tights, he feathered kisses up the insides of both of my legs. I sighed and leaned back against the bed, but remained propped up on my elbows so I could watch him. His fingers hooked around the sides of my panties and he pulled them down until they slipped to my ankles. The kisses moved higher, until his head was nudging up my plaid skirt and his lips brushed over my sensitized flesh. The excitement of bringing Nicholas to orgasm earlier, to helping him break down that wall, had left me not just aroused, but sensitive.
I wanted to pull away, but his hands moved up along my thighs, then beneath my dress. Those strong fingers held me in place as his tongue delved inside me, easily coaxing me into sensual need once again. For a brief moment, I wondered if he could taste himself inside me. “Nicholas,” I said as my breath hitched and my fingers fluttered down to grasp at his hair.
“Shh,” he soothed against my entrance. Then his lips moved over my clitoris and he sucked at it gently. The constant sensation left me trembling on the brink of losing control. Nicholas must have sensed this, because he inserted one finger, then another in my wet pussy. It was like nothing I had ever felt before – being full and gently pistoned while someone lapped at my needy flesh. As the ecstasy threatened to crash over me, I tried to hold it back so I could enjoy it just a little longer. All sorts of possibilities flashed through my mind, like begging him to add another finger, to drill my hole with his tongue so I could ride it to pleasure. But there was no holding back, and I cried out as I bucked against him, drenching his fingers and tongue in my orgasmic dew.
When my body finally settled down against the bed, no longer twitching with excitement, he kissed the insides of my thighs once more. “You deserved that,” he murmured. “I cannot wait to be inside you again and really take my time so I can feel you on every inch of me.”
It wasn't too difficult to grant him that request, as I sagged back against the bed, my knees weak. Goodness knew I had no reason to protest another possibility to come, to feel that wild elation. He rose to his feet and I watched with hungry eyes as he unzipped his pants. For the first time I saw his cock – long and thick and perfectly erect. As I w
aited, Nicholas inserted the head of his penis inside me. He moved very slowly, inch by inch, until he was only just past my entrance. Frustration and need thrummed through me, and I wriggled impatiently. What I wanted was for him to sink himself all the way into me now. The promised wall-banging seemed like the best idea ever…
“We need to establish some ground rules,” he said, running his hands up along my sides and holding me in place. “The first rule is I’m in charge here. If I tell you to do something, you will do it. Do you understand?” He started a shallow pace of thrusts.
“Yes,” I whispered, arching toward him.
“It’s for your own good. The second rule is you may not question my orders. Understood? Everything I tell you to do is either for your pleasure or for your protection.” His cock slipped out of me and he stroked it up, over, and along my sensitive cleft.
I whimpered and squirmed again, trying to guide it back inside me. “What you’re doing is unfair,” I said with a gasp.
“Yes, it is, but I need you to obey without question. Tell me you understand.”
“Yes!” I shouted, raising my head to glare at him. “I understand!”
He grinned and his hands tightened at my waist. “Getting impatient, aren’t you? I need someone who can control her impulses.”
With a growl, I squeezed my eyes shut and relaxed my body. He continued to tease me by gliding his warm, rigid member along my skin, and though I trembled and whimpered softly, I did not demand more.
“Very good,” he praised me.
As soon as those words left his mouth, he draped my legs over his arms and plunged into me. The sensation of him filling me, ramming deep inside me, tore a cry from my lips. It continued over and over, and I thought I would go senseless with the ecstasy of it. His cock was right here it needed to be, as far as I was concerned, his hands anchoring me in place so all I could do was take it.
Nicholas' gaze fastened on me lying there in my plaid uniform as he hammered into my depths. “So tight and warm,” he said between gasps. “I want you to want me, Violet, and I want to do this forever.” He slowed...
“No,” I whined, and thrust my hips against him. My fingers clutched at the blankets as I demanded, “More! Don’t you dare stop!”
“Ah, but who is the dominant and who is the submissive?” he asked. His hands stroked up over my breasts, along my neck, then the sides of my face. Each thrust brought me closer to the edge and then he would slow, backing me away from it. “You finally belong to me now. You come only when I allow you to.”
So that was his game? Oh dear…
“I’m going to spend every day fucking you as long and hard as I can, Violet. I hope you’re ready for me.” Those torturous strokes sped up once again, this time ramming into me so hard, he hit the very back of my pussy. “Come for me and I will make sure your cunt is overflowing with my cream.”
It was the dirtiest thing anyone had ever said to me, and also the hottest. What little control I had was gone the moment he spoke those words. My body shuddered and contracted around him. I belonged to him and so did my pleasure. Then Nicholas gave a groan and his warm seed shot inside me. He remained poised above me, his gaze locked onto mine. As our labored breathing calmed, he settled on the bed behind me and drew me back against him. Our eyes closed and we fell asleep entwined in each other’s arms, only to wake up an hour later to do it again. And again.
The dishes could definitely wait.
Chapter 7
The nights grew increasingly longer as the Alaskan winter settled across the tundra, until the forsaken land existed in perpetual dusk. I imagined anyone else, especially someone isolated and alone, might have gone crazy. Part of me wondered how Nicholas had managed to keep any shred of sanity in the fourteen years he’d spent in this deep, dark solitude.
We kept each other warm night after long night. We also stayed busier than I would have ever expected, me on my projects and Nicholas on his. News trickled in and Nicholas seemed more and more hopeful every time he learned something new. Just as the Regime had overthrown him, he believed he could now overthrow the Regime. As much as I hoped for the same thing, I had reservations, especially when he told me Constitutionals were actually moving against the Regime.
“I think it’s wonderful,” I told him one night as he pored over a handful of new messages, while I worked on a new quilt, “but it scares the crap out of me.”
“Why?”
“Well...” I set the knitting needles on the sofa cushions and tilted my head to one side. “First, Adette disappeared right after the DeVille murder. Why? She’s nobody important, but she was matched with his son. Did she do it? Did the son do it and somehow implicate her or get rid of her? It worries me that someone I know is involved. I lost my father – I don’t want to lose a friend or a lover too.”
Nicholas looked down his nose at me, then said, “I realize you’re worried about me, but I’m not the only person in this fight. There’s all kinds of possibilities with our numbers. What if I told you Adette did commit the murder, with Icharus’ help?”
Although my question had been rhetorical, I gaped at him. My chest felt hollow at the thought of my dear friend harming – killing – another living creature, even one as vile as a Regime supporter. “But why would she do such a thing?”
“She wanted revenge. Don’t you know how your friend ended up at that school?”
The way he peered at me gave me a chill and I shook my head. “I thought she was a legacy student, admitted because her mother attended the school.”
“Adette’s mother was both a well-known courtesan and fairly vocal Constitutionalist. DeVille had her assassinated for her views. Knowing the headmistress and her strategy, not to mention the information I’ve come by, I’m pretty sure Adette was placed with Icharus for the sole purpose of killing his father and giving the revolution a fighting chance.”
“So she’s a fugitive from the Regime now?” I pressed my fingers to my lips. This meant death for Adette if they ever found her, death to my dear friend. On the one hand, I couldn’t blame her for her actions. Even knowing just a bit of the story, I also knew Regime supporters were a sadistic group. Still, as courtesans we should have been immune to the problems of politics. We should have been able to simply hang on a man’s arm, feel wanted by him, pretend our world’s problems did not exist…
“That’s probably why you haven’t heard from her,” he said, pulling me from my thoughts. “But she’s not just a fugitive. She’s a catalyst for change.” He waved the sheaf of papers at me. “From Washington to L.A., people are rising up against the Regime. All it took was DeVille’s death to incite that change, underground at first, but I see more each day. Your friend isn’t the murderer or traitor the Regime will paint her as. She’s a hero and as we move against the Regime, everyone will know the truth.”
Something in his eyes made me catch my breath and the chill took hold of me once more. I wrapped my arms around myself and whispered, “What are you going to do?”
“Whatever I have to do,” he answered.
I lowered my gaze to the floorboards and tapped my toes against them. My father would have joked, “Them’s fighting words,” but I knew they were no joke coming from Nicholas. Something told me he was going to leave me to take part in the fight himself, and that it would happen very, very soon.
“What am I going to do?” I asked. I could do anything he wanted of me – patch up wounded rebels, carry messages, even hold a gun. Hell, I could use one if I really had to…
“Nothing.”
I looked back up at him. “Nothing?”
“Of course. You may have quite a few dogs in this fight, but you won’t be up there on the front lines with me. It’s too dangerous.”
“Front lines!” I yelped.
“Calm down, Violet.” He moved to sit next to me and pulled me into his embrace. My ear rested against his chest, where the steady thump of his heart did nothing to comfort me. “There will be a war. Yes, there h
as to be a war. It’s already started. In fact, it never really ended.”
“But you lost the war last time.”
“We had powerful enemies who knew how to strike at my heart last time. This time, the people are seeing that they themselves have the power. They are the ones who decide, and they want me back as president.” With one hand, he stroked my hair. “I know it’s a dangerous game, but don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
My fingers dug into his shirt and I tried to stop my heart from racing. “Will you go back to the states? Do you plan to leave me here where it’s safe?”
“I haven’t quite figured everything out yet, but when I do, I will tell you everything.”
That wasn’t comforting, but I decided it was the most I could expect out of him.
For now.
He pulled me into his arms and, for that moment, I felt the kind of warmth and security I had always wanted. Even though the future was uncertain, even though we had only just begun, I tried to appreciate that moment.
“Wait…” I drew back and glared at him. “I just realized how damn old you are.”
“How old I am?”
“You’re 46 now, aren’t you? Don’t you think you’re a little, well, old to be fighting with a bunch of rabble-rousing rebels?”
“Excuse me?” Nicholas’ eyes went so wide, I giggled. “Seriously, Violet, try saying that again ten times fast.”
“Rabble-rousing rebels, rabble-rousing rebels, rab–”
His mouth slanted down against mine, silencing me with a crushing kiss. “You kids today,” he growled when we finally parted. “What are you – 20-years-old?”
“I’m 22, thank you very much.”
“Well, Little Miss 22, let me show you a thing or two about what a man my age can do, especially when he’s been living without sex since before you could talk.” Nicholas rose from the couch, lifting me with him. “You are going to go upstairs, take off your clothes, and kneel beside the bed for me.”
