Her throat suddenly dry, she nodded. Sam could smell his cologne as he came closer, and then his shirt tickled her arm. He rested his hand on her thigh and squeezed the muscle. She flinched as his hand moved upward. When he slid his hand between her legs and cupped her crotch, she gasped.
“You have to trust my touch. I should be able to touch you anywhere, and you will enjoy it.”
His hand pressed deeper into her crotch, and she was about to protest when he kissed her hard on the lips.
This time his kiss was insistent, forcing her mouth open, letting his tongue touch hers. While he kissed her, he kept pressing his hand into her crotch. Her resistance was melting, and she wanted to slip her arms around him, then felt the pull of the tie binding her wrists. His hand rose up from her crotch, over her stomach, and settled on her right breast, squeezing it.
On impulse, she pushed him away.
He broke off from kissing her. “I told you not to move,” he growled into her ear.
Before she knew what was happening, Doug flipped her over on her belly and then straddled her thighs. Her bound hands were trapped beneath her. The slap across her right butt cheek took her breath away. Although it didn’t hurt, she was appalled that he had hit her. As she struggled to get up, another slap connected with her left butt cheek.
“Move again and I will pull down your jeans and really teach you a lesson.”
The menacing tone of his voice made her stop squirming. He stayed on top of her, pressing her into the bed for several agonizing minutes. His hands worked their way up from her butt to her back.
Gently, he began to massage her shoulders and neck. His fingers deftly worked out a knot in her lower neck.
“You’re too tense.” His fingers skillfully manipulated her neck from side to side, searching for the slightest spasms. “We need to work on getting you to relax more.”
Relax? How was she supposed to relax with him spanking her one minute and massaging her the next?
“See?” he whispered in her ear. “You’re already enjoying this.” He kissed her ear. “Do you want more?”
Did she want more? Did she want to go on with this game of his?
Doug rolled off her. Pulling her back against his chest, he reached around and untied her wrists. Once freed, she expected Doug to get up from the bed, but he didn’t. He held her against him; his arms wrapped tightly around her.
To Sam, that was even more disturbing than being spanked.
“Answer the question. Do you want to do more?”
His arms felt so good. She figured whatever he had planned would be worth it if she could spend a few moments in his embrace.
“Yes, I want more.”
He kissed the back of her neck, sending a shiver down her spine. “That makes me very happy.” He rolled away and stood from the bed. “I hope you like pizza. I’m having one delivered in a few minutes from a great little place down the street.”
Disappointed, Sam slowly sat up. “Pizza is fine.”
Picking up his jacket, he stuffed his tie into his pocket. “What is your schedule tomorrow?”
“Ah, tomorrow I’m off.”
He tossed his jacket over his arm. “I have meetings most of tomorrow, but I will be back here after four. I want to have more time with you. We have a lot to work on.”
“What will you do to me tomorrow?”
The sound of her door buzzer rang throughout the apartment.
“That’s our pizza.” Doug dashed to her bedroom door. “I never disclose a lesson ahead of time, Sam,” he announced before ducking out of the room.
While Doug paid the pizza delivery guy, Sam set two places at her bar and refilled her wineglass. She had a strange feeling she was going to need it.
Sam said little while they ate. The incident in the bedroom had left her perplexed. She wasn’t sure why being with Doug was appealing to her, but it was. Having him puttering around her kitchen, serving her, and taking care of her made her feel special, almost wanted. She knew enough about Dominants to suspect Doug was treating her like she was already his.
“I have a few questions for you,” he said, after finishing his second slice of the spinach and artichoke pizza.
She snatched up her wineglass. “Why does that not surprise me?”
He wiped his hands on his paper napkin. “You never told me about your sexual experiences.”
She gulped back a large portion of her wine. “That’s right, I never did.”
He dropped the napkin on the counter. “Tell me now.” He retrieved his wineglass and took a sip.
Sam peered into her yellow wine. “There’s nothing to tell.”
“Nothing as in you don’t want to tell me, is that it?”
“Something like that.”
He thumped his drink on the granite countertop. “For this to work, you’re going to have to open up to me.”
“I thought I already did that in the bedroom.”
“All right, let’s start with something simple. Have you ever been spanked by a non-family member before, like a lover?”
She shook her head. “What you did to me tonight was a first.”
“Did you like what I did?”
Her hand tightened around her wineglass. “What would you think of me if I said yes?”
“It’s what you think that matters, Sam.” He moved closer to her stool. “There is no right or wrong here. My only goal is to get you to be comfortable with who you are and what you want.”
“Comfortable? I doubt that will ever happen. I’m an uptight minister’s daughter with a lot of baggage to unload.”
“Everyone has baggage. I’m not free of the past, either. I just choose not to let it affect me.” His emotionless eyes dissected her face. “You’re curious to discover what pleases you. That’s a beginning.”
“Or the beginning of the end, if you are looking at this from a biblical perspective.”
Doug chuckled as he collected his wineglass. “I have something else for you to consider. On a scale from one to ten, how much pain do you think would be too much? How far could I go before I reached your limit?”
Tracing the rim of her wineglass, Sam thought about his question. “What have your other subs been able to tolerate?”
“Depends on their experiences. Some can tolerate a lot, some not much at all.”
“Have you had a lot of subs? I know you said you had a girlfriend recently move out, but I—”
“She was my sub, not my girlfriend,” he interrupted. “We were together for two years, until she decided to explore a … darker side in submission.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s something I don’t do with subs. It involves pain and severe forms of punishment.”
“Did you ever see her again?”
“Yes.” He took a hasty drink of his wine.
She put her wine down, dismayed by his tight-lipped answer. “Have you always been a Dominant?”
“I’ve always had the trait, but didn’t learn about the lifestyle until I graduated from college in Boston and came back home to New Orleans.”
Sam sat back a little on her stool. “So you’re from here.”
“My mother lives in the Garden District. My father died after I finished college, leaving me the family business to run.”
“The transportation business?”
He set his wineglass on the bar. “That’s right.”
“I don’t get it. What do you get out of this, Doug? Besides sex.”
“It’s not about the sex. It’s about the sense of fullness and happiness I get by providing the best direction for the relationship as possible. I enjoy the responsibility for the relationship, maintaining the parameters, structuring the training, and staying vigilant to the needs of my sub.”
“What about love? Did you ever love any of your subs?”
His face was like stone. “Love is something I avoid with a sub. Emotions have a way of making my relationships murky.”
“What abo
ut that woman who was with you for two years? Did you love her?”
“The less we talk about my former subs, the better.” He abruptly stood from his stool.
“Why can’t we talk about them?”
“Because I said so.” He went to her sofa. “I have some homework for you. I want you to think about your pain and pleasure thresholds. How much you can take of each.”
She followed him into the living room. “Is there such a thing as a pleasure threshold?”
“Sometimes, when a sub experiences too much pleasure it can become painful. I want you to think about how far you are willing to let me go. How much pain and pleasure you’re willing to let me give you.” He retrieved his jacket and flung it over his arm. “We’ll discuss it tomorrow night after our exercise.”
“You’re leaving?”
He checked his watch. “I have work to catch up on.”
“I have one more question.”
He waited by the sofa, his eyes intensely observing her every movement. “I’m listening.”
She came right up to him, standing below his chin. Without her shoes, she felt so small next to him. “When you kissed me tonight, did you mean it?”
“Did I mean it?” He tilted toward her, getting close to her face. “I always mean it when I kiss a woman.”
“Why didn’t it feel that way?”
He stood back from her. “Stop analyzing every little thing between us, Sam. You won’t enjoy yourself that way.”
Turning away, she went to her front door. “Sure you won’t give me a hint about what you have planned for tomorrow night?”
He strutted up to her. “Good night, Sam. Sleep well.”
For a second, she thought he was going to kiss her. Instead, he simply reached for the doorknob and strolled past, shutting her door. After her lock clicked, his shadow disappeared from under her doorway.
Facing her empty apartment, Sam wished he had stayed. Even if he never said a word to her, his presence was comforting. A lot more comforting than she had ever imagined possible.
Sam usually spent her days off sleeping in and running errands, but on this day all her well-planned activities were pushed to the wayside as she prepared for Doug’s visit. Rising early, she cleaned her entire apartment and then scoured the Internet for recipes. Sam knew she was no cook, and short of a few disastrous dinners for Phil, she had little experience in the kitchen. But she hoped that if she followed an easy recipe, Sam could prepare something that would please Doug.
Please Doug? “I already sound like a sub.”
After making a quick grocery list, Sam grabbed her purse and keys, ready to hit the store down the street. Walking into the hallway, she glanced over at Doug’s apartment door. Contemplating the fate that had brought them together, Sam pondered why him and why now? There had been other men who had wanted her, but she had turned them down, fearing where the encounter would eventually lead … sex. However, with Doug she didn’t have that same anxiety. She was drawn to him and spent more time thinking about what they would be like together than dreading it.
Reaching the elevator, Sam hit the call light. It seemed odd that of all the men she had encountered, the one she desired was into such a different lifestyle.
When the elevator doors opened, she sensed something was off. There was a presence, and then the aroma of a man’s enticing cologne encircled her. When the silver doors closed, a pair of cunning brown eyes materialized before her.
“Hello, Sam.” The translucent ghost of a man dressed in a tailored gray suit and cream-colored tie materialized before her. “Have you missed me?”
“Nathan?” she whispered. “Nathan Cole?”
His figure became solid, and it was as if the man himself were sharing the elevator with her.
Creeping her out—just like he had when he was alive—he studied the curves beneath her casual white T-shirt and blue jeans. Sam had heard about Nathan Cole’s reputation with women, and despite his chiseled, square face, toned body, and smooth charm, she had steered clear of her landlord. But despite his mysterious demise, it seemed the former owner of The Shallows was still hitting on her.
“So it’s been you all along.”
“I’ve been trying to contact you, my dear girl.”
She backed into the corner of the elevator. “What are you doing here, Nathan?”
He slipped his hands into his trouser pockets. “I’m just keeping an eye on my building, Sam.”
The elevator car shifted and then started its descent. “Why haven’t you moved on, like the others?”
Nathan chuckled, sounding more sinister than amused. “I have unfinished business. Business you can help me with.”
“I can’t help you, Nathan. You’re dead. Everyone in the city knows it.”
“But where is my body, Sam? Wouldn’t you like to know?”
She stared at the grinning apparition. “What are you after, Nathan?”
His brown eyes analyzed her for several seconds. He was mulling something over … that was obvious.
“I could tell you many things. Things about your new neighbor.” He inched closer. “I can sense your attraction.”
“Do you know something about Doug?”
He nodded. “I do. Care to find out what?”
The elevator slowed to a stop. “I’m not interested in games, Nathan. You damn ghosts always like to play games with the living.”
Nathan Cole floated to the side just as the doors opened. “A shame we never had this little chat when I was alive, Sam. I could have used someone with your ability.”
She glared at him as she exited the elevator. “Leave me alone. I can’t help you.”
“I think you can. And you will,” he uttered right before he vanished.
Rushing to the leaded-glass doors that led to Julia Street, Sam cursed her ability. What would Doug think if she told him she talked to the dead?
“He’d think I was fucking nuts.”
* * *
It was after four when a knock took Sam away from the marinated chicken she had brought home from the grocery store. Having ditched her recipe idea, she had purchased every premade item in the grocery’s delicatessen, determined to pass it off as homemade.
After opening the door, she found Doug decked out in a crisply pressed gray pinstripe suit and black silk tie.
“You look like you’re just going out, not coming in.”
“We’re going out. I’m taking you to dinner. After we’ve finished our lesson, of course.”
He strutted in the door as she gaped at him. “But I was going to cook. I went to the grocery and bought a shitload of food.”
He stopped mid-stride in the hallway. “First rule of being my sub, no cursing. I don’t approve of women using foul language.”
She slammed the door. “Do you get to curse?”
He unbuttoned his jacket. “When the need arises, yes.”
She walked up to him. “That’s chauvinistic.”
“Being a Dom isn’t about equal opportunity. It’s about being the one in charge.”
“What other rules do you have?”
“You like to push people, don’t you, Sam?”
“When people push me, I push back.”
He slid his jacket from around his shoulders. “I’m not your father, so please don’t treat me with the same hostility.”
The comment took her by surprise. “I’ve never treated you like—”
“My guess is when your father set rules, you always set out to break them,” he cut in. “Please don’t do that with me. It will make both of our lives extremely difficult.” He tilted closer to her. “And whenever you address me from now on, it’s to be Sir. You can only call me by my name when invited to do so.”
“I don’t think I like the sound of that … Sir.”
With a smirk on his lips, he went to her sofa and put down his jacket. Clapping his hands together, he inspected her apartment. “You cleaned.”
She walked up to the sofa, sliding
her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. “Yeah. So?”
“You cleaned for me, admit it. Just like you planned on cooking for me.” He came up to her, placing his hands on her hips. “That’s good. I like my subs to cook, clean, and get my dry cleaning.”
The nearness of him made her insides shrivel up. “That sounds more like a maid than a sub to me.”
“I already have a maid.” His arms went around her.
“You do?” She leaned back from his embrace. “Since when? I’ve never seen a maid coming or going from your place.”
For a moment, Sam swore she saw a hint of worry in his eyes, and then it was gone. “My maid comes during the day, when you’re at work.”
She relaxed in his arms. “Can’t wait to pick her brains.”
“That’s never going to happen. Any questions about my lifestyle, you come to me. Understood?” He let her go and returned to the sofa.
“Yes, boss.”
He glanced back at her. “Sir, not boss.”
“Technically, there’s no difference.”
He retrieved something from the pocket of his jacket. “Technically, there is. I’m not paying you.” When he came back to her, Doug was holding a small clear bottle in his hand.
“What’s that?”
“Almond oil.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
“I want to see how comfortable you are with being nude.”
Sam’s face dropped. “Excuse me?”
“How much time do you spend naked?”
“Other than in the shower?”
He chuckled. “Yes, other than in the shower.”
“I don’t know. Short of getting dressed and undressed, that’s about it.”
“That’s what I suspected.” He motioned down her white blouse and jeans. “Take off your clothes,” he ordered in a snappy tone.
She held up her hands. “What a minute. I never—”
“Sam,” he injected. “Do you want to be mine?”
She explored his cool eyes, trying to come up with an answer. Unfortunately, the only reply she had was the funny sensation rising from her belly. Even though her mind was vehemently urging her to protest, she kept her mouth shut and simply nodded her head.
Dark Attraction: The Corde Noire Series Page 7
