“Come! You said I could come.”
She was arching her hips forward against his fingers, seeking the stimulation. Each jerk and arch launched an almost unbearable cascade of pleasure from his cock down into his balls and taint. “Yes…yes…” he said, thrusting deep, stroking her clit and then pinching it so she bucked even harder. “Come for me. Come with my cock in your ass.”
She was nearly sobbing. He understood perfectly how she felt—his own arousal was reaching the breaking point. “Come, damn you. Come now. Come for me, you gorgeous little anal slut.”
With a cry and gasp she let go, gave herself up to the carnal decadence, to the brute insistence of his possession. Her back arched. Her ass squeezed him and set off white-hot pulses of pleasure that exploded out of him and into her. He held her hands, pressing to her. Even bound, she managed to scratch the back of his palm in the throes of her uncontrolled ecstasy.
It was awhile before he untied her. For a long time he just lay over her back, nuzzling her neck and shoulders, whispering, “Good girl.”
Chapter Nine
It was an unseasonably warm day for early February. Still cold, but warm enough. Kat and Ryan were at her parents’ home to celebrate her twin nephews’ seventh birthday and the weather was so temperate they moved the party outside so the children could run around and play. Later they would need to leave to pick up Ryan’s friends from the airport, a childhood pal and his wife with their young child. Kat was excited and a little nervous about meeting them since the guy, Dave, was Ryan’s best friend. What if he didn’t like her? And they were a Dom/sub couple too, Ryan told her. That freaked her out, but kind of fascinated her also. She wondered how other couples like them interacted on a day-to-day basis. So far, she’d just been stumbling along with Ryan’s guidance. She had no idea if she was anything approaching a “good sub”.
But for now they were awash in wrapping paper, punch and presents. The brothers-in-law milled around the barbecue, drinking beer and turning brats and kielbasa. They were speaking English for once in deference to Ryan. Kat watched, bemused, as her unflappable Dominant tried to blend in and act casual. Processed meats horrified him. She knew she’d have to listen to a diatribe about the evils of kielbasa all the way to Logan Airport.
While the men manned the grill, Elena circulated making sure everyone was having fun. Dmitri had long since retired with a headache. Children’s parties were never his thing.
Kat sat on the other side of the patio with her sisters. They were like feudal festivals, these family gatherings, with the women and men separated. But it always happened because the men liked to talk men stuff and the women liked to gossip the way women did. Before, Kat used to drift somewhere in between, on the outskirts, feeling detached and unwelcome in either group. Not that anyone had actually excluded her… She just hadn’t felt anything in common with them. Now her sisters huddled around her talking babies and husbands and work woes while Kat stared at Ryan and daydreamed about the night before.
He’d tied her up—again—the most intricate shibari yet. It had taken nearly an hour, not that she’d been keeping track. Watching his fingers, feeling the rope slide across her skin, waiting for his intent gaze to fall on her before it returned to the work at hand… All those sensory experiences had grown comfortable and familiar to her and were more than enough to keep her occupied and not bored.
He’d tied her on her back with her knees drawn up slightly, her wrists clasped to her front. He hadn’t even bothered with the collar—she felt submissive and restricted enough by the confining design. He had used yards and yards of hemp rope drawn from his copious supply. By the time he was finished, every part of her was trussed into a neat, secure package. The front of her had been an intricate web of beautiful macrame, and the back an ingenious crisscrossing design. His fingers were so beautiful, so deft as he worked. She’d thought, at the end, that he was like some kind of spider spinning a web around her, ensnaring her.
She was truly caught.
One of her sisters, Irina, nudged her. “Katyusha, you’re staring. I can’t say I blame you,” she added with a smirk. The other women emitted low teasing sounds of agreement.
Kat blushed and turned away, pretending innocence. “I’m just wondering when the kielbasa will be done.”
Olga made a suggestive comment in Russian about hot sausage, which sent the entire group into gales of laughter. Ryan looked over at them and Kat waved back.
“He makes you happy,” Zinaida said. It wasn’t a question. Kat supposed it showed.
“Yes. He’s a good man. He’s very…focused. Patient. Kind.” Sexy. Funny. Trustworthy. Faithful. A genius. When she enumerated all his qualities in her head she wondered why she couldn’t let go of that last bit of self-preservation. Why she couldn’t believe, even now, that everything would be okay. She still waited for disaster, still waited to lose interest. Still waited for heartbreak and devastation that never came.
He was folding paper now, using discarded gift-wrap to make origami animals for the children. They milled around him, asking for this animal or that, and each time he produced it precisely as asked, holding it out to the eager grasping hands with a flourish. The children laughed and always begged for another. He complied, manipulating the paper with the same agile fingers that had tied her into knots the night before. The children watched every movement, open-mouthed and astounded. Even this endeared him to her, this silly origami obsession. The production of cranes at home had waned somewhat, stalled in the eight hundreds. Perhaps he believed his wish had already come true. He smiled at the children, truly smiled as he interacted with them. Not the fake smile adults put on sometimes, but a true smile. The only smile she ever saw from him. He was so honest, so true.
And she was so fake.
Or maybe she wasn’t. She didn’t know anymore. She had pretended so long in her life that she still wasn’t sure which of her feelings were fake and which were real.
“Auntie Katya,” said one of the twins, running over. “Look what Dr. Ryan made me!”
“Hmm. Is that a flamingo or something?”
He laughed. “It’s an elephant.”
“Oh yes, I see it now.” Kat gave the boy a hug and looked over at Ryan again. He was bouncing one of the toddlers on his knee now, trying to ignore the popping, fatty encased meats sizzling on the grill just across from him. She thought she might just die, her heart felt so much for him. She thought her chest might explode from what she felt inside.
* * * * *
“And that’s why processed meat is so bad, Kat. I mean, no offense to your family, but I bet there are more toxins in one commercially produced serving of bratwurst than an entire course of childhood vaccines.”
Kat put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing, which would only rile him up more. She put on an air of innocent curiosity. “So, I mean… You know that for sure? What kind of toxins are you talking about?”
“Toxins like fat, chemical additives and preservatives—”
“Fat is a toxin?”
He gave a frustrated exhalation. “Well, yes, Kat. If you consider its adverse effect on health.”
“Isn’t fat on the food pyramid? So it can’t really be a toxin. And all those fruits and vegetables you’re always pushing on me, they’re practically silly with toxic pesticides.”
“No, they’re not. Not the organic kind.”
“The orgasmic kind?” She purposely misunderstood. “Like…cucumbers?”
“Kat—” He screwed up his face, trying not to laugh.
“Mmm…zucchini…” He was looking positively apoplectic. “So…what about stressing over what other people eat? Does that have any toxic effects on health?” She finally let out the giggles bubbling in her chest.
He shook his head at her. “You can laugh all you want, but I work with a lot of sick people. I take this stuff seriously.”
“I know. I still like you though.” She reached over and patted the hand that rested on his thi
gh as they cruised down I-90. He trapped it and squeezed her fingers against his palm.
“Don’t you feel better now that you eat more healthy foods?” he asked.
“I do. But every once in a while, I just like to be…bad.”
He finally smiled, relaxing. “I know that’s the truth. Speaking of being bad, I expect you to behave yourself this weekend.”
“Behave? Surely you jest.” But her face clouded as she considered. “Do your friends… Do they follow a bunch of those… What are they? Protocols and stuff?”
“I’m not sure. I haven’t seen them in a while, since last year. Dave’s never been a real big protocol guy, but couples sometimes change over time. Look at how much more we do now than when we first started and it’s only been a few months. If they do protocols we’ll just deal with it.”
“What about us?”
“What about us?”
“Do we just act…normal? I mean…”
“Do you want to do protocols, Kat?” he asked with a grin.
“No, I mean—”
“All this weekend, every time I cough that means you’re to drop to your knees and take out my cock. Then when I blink four times, that means start sucking me.”
Kat tsked.
“And of course,” he added, “when I lay my finger alongside my nose, you know what that means.”
“Um, you’re going up the chimney?”
“No. Double penetration, silly.”
Kat laughed but then sobered as his words sank in. Ryan cleared his throat, glancing over at her.
“I guess I should tell you that this is a couple I’ve played with. We all played together, just once, back before Dave and Sophie married. As it turned out, it was the weekend Hunter was conceived.”
Kat raised her eyebrows. “Oh, really? Sure he’s not yours?”
Ryan laughed. “Pretty sure, since he’s a mirror image of Dave and since it was Dave whose condom broke.”
“What did you do?”
“Well, he actually forgot to tell her it happened, and then—”
“No, I mean… What did you do when all three of you played together? What kind of…activities?”
“We played some kinky games, had a lot of horny silliness.”
“You double penetrated her? You and Dave?”
“Yes. But don’t freak out, Kat. It was a fantasy of hers so we did it. I would never expect it of you.”
She was silent, not sure whether she was scandalized, disgusted or horny as fuck about the idea of double penetration. “What…so what… What will you expect of me?”
He scratched his neck and thought a moment. “Nothing. I won’t force you into anything. But have you ever been with more than one person at a time? Does it interest you at all?”
“Um… I don’t… I mean…in what way?”
“In any way.”
Kat thought about gangbangs, group sex, orgies. Then she imagined herself participating in something like that and her mind rebelled. “I don’t know.”
“Well, don’t worry about it right now. If things happen, they happen. If they don’t I won’t be disappointed. I wasn’t even going to bring it up.”
“You were just going to spring it on me?”
“No. There are really no plans at all. Dave and I have never been planners. And like I said, I haven’t seen them in a while. I don’t know if he even still shares her. You’re still pretty new to this so I’m not going to force anything on you that you don’t want.”
“But will you…if I don’t… Will you still sleep with her? Without me?”
Kat’s throat felt tight and her face felt hot as she asked it. This is just more kinky weirdness, she told herself. Like the spanking and the hardware and the shibari. Like the hummus and haricots verts, the twisted stuff she put up with in order to be with him.
He caught her hand again and brought it to his lips. “I won’t sleep with her unless you’re with me. No.”
She let out her breath in relief, hoping he didn’t hear it, hoping he didn’t realize how jealous she felt and how much she really cared.
* * * * *
They had takeout pizza for dinner with their guests, a special treat. Kat liked the pizza she and Ryan made from scratch with whole-grain crust, organic sauce and low-fat cheese, but she’d forgotten how greasy and downright delicious real New York-style pizza was. They’d ordered it because the baby liked pizza. Little Hunter, who was not really a baby anymore but a headstrong toddler of one and a half. He chomped on his cheesy slice with his little toddler teeth and gums while Ryan, Kat, Dave and Sophie chatted and caught up. Conversation came easily. Before an hour passed, Kat’s face ached from laughing at Dave and Ryan’s interplay and their reminiscences about their boyhood craziness. Kat had been prepared not to like Dave, and especially Sophie, but she found them impossibly friendly. As a couple they were completely loved-up and connected, and they were wonderful, doting parents. When Sophie teased Ryan it just seemed fond, not flirty. When Dave talked to Kat she felt at ease.
She found herself, against all odds, thinking seriously about Ryan’s suggestion that they might share a more decadent intimacy. There was no pressure and no expectation, just as he’d promised, but Kat found herself more and more attracted to Dave—and shockingly, Sophie too. Perhaps it was only because Dave was so much like Ryan. Not in appearance—Dave had longer hair and light hazel eyes that were nothing like Ryan’s dark brown ones. No, it was Dave’s secure, caring demeanor, his intelligence and humor that reminded her so much of Ryan. And Sophie was, really, so much like her. Quiet, dark-haired, with a tendency to introspection that Kat recognized in herself.
By the time Sophie left to settle the baby in his portable crib in the bonus room, Kat was nearly to the point of fearing something wouldn’t happen. Ryan passed around beers, another rare treat for a special occasion, although he warned her with a wink that she would only get one. Kat barely drank it. She didn’t care for beer. She just drank a few sips to take the edge off her nerves. Ryan and Dave seemed to be suffering from no such anxiety. They were working together to clear the living room, pushing the furniture to the walls and putting away the few breakable knickknacks. By the time Sophie came back down the men were sparring, facing each other across the cleared space with their legs braced apart. Both men balanced practically on their toes, light stalking menaces as they lunged for each other. They deflected blows so lightning-quick Kat didn’t even notice them until one or the other had repelled it. Sophie returned to sit by Kat on the couch, leaning close to her with a chuckle.
“They’re already at it, huh?”
“Do they do this often?”
“Every time,” Sophie said. “They met in a karate class as kids. They’ve got some weird ‘wax on, wax off’ thing going on.”
Kat erupted in laughter. Ryan looked over, momentarily distracted, and Dave capitalized by taking Ryan down to the floor in some kind of awkward grapple. The men struggled, hissing good-natured insults at each other. Kat had no idea who was winning, although Sophie whooped when the men flipped over in a convulsive explosion of movement. “Get him. Get him!”
“Why don’t you come help me, O faithless one?” Dave gasped. “Instead of sitting there gabbing?”
Sophie laughed and crossed to the men and then Kat’s mouth fell open as Sophie did a move with her leg that flipped Ryan over. He protested indignantly. “Double-teamed! No fair.”
With a wicked grin, Dave rolled away and then Sophie—slight, submissive Sophie—actually put Ryan in a submission hold.
“Totally owned. Owned by my girl,” Dave taunted. “Hell yeah!”
“Oh please,” Ryan gasped, his face reddening from Sophie’s chokehold. “I’m letting her win for a minute so her feelings don’t get hurt.”
“Lies—” Sophie yelled, just before Ryan broke her hold and flipped her over into an entirely different position of submission. Kat snorted, suppressing a laugh.
“Mercy,” yelped Sophie. “Your elbow’s
on my hair.”
“‘Your elbow’s on my hair,’” Ryan mimicked in a high-pitched voice, releasing her with pretended disgust. “Girls. Can’t live with ’em, can’t put ’em in an ultimate death hold.”
“You can shove your ultimate death hold where the sun doesn’t shine,” said Sophie, stepping away and combing her straight black hair back to rights with her fingers, all feminine subby again. “We girls will watch from over here while you guys strangle each other, thank you very much.”
The men went back to wrestling while Sophie picked up her beer again. Kat stared at her in awe. “Where did you learn to do that? That would sure come in handy around here sometimes.”
Sophie smiled and shrugged. “Dave taught me. There was a guy… An ex-boyfriend he thought I might need some protection from. And he was right.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“It all turned out fine in the end.” The small shadow in her gaze brightened again. “It never hurts to know how to defend yourself and it’s not hard to learn. I’m sure Ryan would teach you if you asked him.”
“That might be fun.”
“It’s definitely fun. But yeah, to be honest, Ryan was just letting me beat him. I couldn’t take him for real. He and Dave are pretty good at this stuff.”
Kat looked down with a rueful smile. “Yeah. Ryan’s so good at everything. Sometimes it makes me feel so…”
“Hopeless? Helpless? Pointless?”
“Yeah,” said Kat in amazement. “Exactly.”
“I used to feel the same way with Dave. It took me a long time to understand that he liked me just the way I was. Maybe it’s a submissive thing, always wanting to be better for your Dominant. To live up to his expectations. When really, usually, their main desire is just for you to feel loved.”
Sophie’s words made so much sense and Kat was anxious to really talk to Sophie about these matters, about Dominance and submission and relationships while she had her ear. “How long did it take? I mean, for you to really feel at ease with each other? For everything to feel…sorted out?”
Fortune Page 14
