The Bracelet

by Fredrica Alleyn

  The moment the front door closed behind him she turned off the oven, took out the lasagne and stood it on the side then raced into the bathroom for a quick shower. After that she put on a long, black, crushed velvet gown, sleeveless with a huge white shawl-style collar, threw a black lace stole over her shoulders and called a mini-cab. She arrived at the Crush Bar at Covent Garden with one minute to spare.

  ‘You made it,’ said Tarquin as he walked towards her from the bar. ‘Here, let me put this on you. The dress is beautiful,’ he added and then he was tenderly slipping the gold bracelet over her hand until it was once more nestling against her skin.

  ‘It should be a wonderful night,’ he said gravely.

  Kristina nodded. ‘Yes, it should.’

  ‘We’d better make our way to the box. The curtain goes up in fifteen minutes and Estelle and Sam are already in their seats. One thing, I’d prefer it if you removed your panties before we take our places.’

  She looked round the crowded bar. ‘Here?’

  He nodded. ‘No one will notice. Ease them down through your dress and then step out of them.’

  ‘I can’t!’ she whispered. ‘I’ll pop into the cloakroom.’

  ‘There’s no time. Do it here.’

  Kristina’s hands trembled but she managed to roll the panties down beneath her dress by rubbing against the sides of her legs and when they were at last round her ankles she stepped carefully out of them, then picked them up and put them in her evening bag. As she closed the clasp she saw that several men and women were watching her out of the corners of their eyes, and her face went scarlet.

  ‘That’s better,’ said Tarquin with a half-smile. ‘Now for the entertainment.’

  When they walked into the box, Estelle glanced round from her seat and smiled at Kristina. ‘What a gorgeous dress! Sam, I’m sure you’ve heard of Kristina but I don’t know if you’ve actually met each other?’

  The man next to her stood up and smiled warmly at Kristina. He was about sixty, but a well-preserved sixty and his grey eyes were warm with appreciation as he held out his hand. ‘I’m sure we haven’t met; I’d certainly remember such a lovely young lady.’

  ‘Then I’ll introduce you,’ said Tarquin, standing behind Kristina with one hand resting lightly on her shoulder. ‘Kristina, this is Sam Martin, chairman of Stoddart-Wades. Sam, meet Kristina Masterton, literary agent extraordinaire!’

  ‘Of course I’ve heard of you,’ said Sam, smiling even more broadly. ‘But I don’t think we’ve had any business dealings. Now that you’re representing young Laurence though, that will all change. Estelle here’s been telling me about his proposed book on diamonds and I really think we could make something out of it, but then you’re famous for picking winners!’

  Kristina felt like a goldfish as her mouth opened and closed helplessly. First of all it was a nightmare to find that the man who was sharing their box on the night she was wearing the bracelet turned out to be the chairman of Stoddart-Wades, and then to learn that Laurence had talked to Estelle about his book and claimed her for his agent was too much to take in. She saw Estelle, who was dressed in a long red brocade sheath dress with elbow-length gloves, watching her closely and knew that she was taking great delight in Kristina’s discomfort.

  ‘It’s very nice to meet you, Sam,’ she said with her most professional smile. ‘Your publishing house has had a very good year.’

  ‘And next year will be even better. Estelle here is going to make our non-fiction list the strongest in the country. There won’t be a coffee-table in the land that doesn’t have one of our books on it in twelve months’ time, you mark my words.’

  Much to Kristina’s relief, at that moment the lights dimmed and she was spared having to answer that even if Laurence’s book was one of those, she wouldn’t be representing him.

  Tarquin had been right in thinking that Kristina liked Tosca, but she didn’t like the soprano very much and when the first act ended she turned to him and pulled a face. ‘If that’s the new Maria Callas, I’m the new Sharon Stone!’

  ‘Your lack of underwear probably qualifies you for that rather more than our soprano’s voice qualifies her!’ he retorted with a grin. She smiled back at him, forgetting for a moment the thin gold chain that was encircling her wrist. Then he bent closer to her. ‘When the second act begins I want you to go down on your knees in front of me and give me oral sex,’ he whispered. ‘Don’t stop until you feel my hands cup your face.’

  Kristina stared at him. ‘What about Sam?’

  ‘He’ll be very envious,’ said Tarquin placidly.

  ‘But he’s in my line of work. I mean, he and I are likely to meet again. I can’t possibly …’

  ‘Then take the bracelet off,’ said Tarquin casually. ‘Make up your mind though. The lights are going down again and I want you to join them!’

  Kristina didn’t even smile at the joke. She felt frantic with fear. Normally what he’d asked of her would have been exciting and erotic, but the presence of Sam added another dimension and she knew that this was why he’d been invited. The additional danger that his presence added made the entire episode far more meaningful, but if she did as Tarquin asked, then she would have passed yet another test.

  Except that it wasn’t a test, she thought wildly. This was meant to be an escape, sexual fantasies played out in the safety of a society where anything was possible and pleasure was all that mattered.

  ‘Give me the bracelet,’ said Tarquin, his voice very low.

  All at once a surge of desire coursed through her and without replying she waited until the theatre was dark and then slid to her knees between his parted thighs. The long velvet dress rustled as she moved, and she knew that Sam Martin must be aware of what was happening, but the moment she took Tarquin’s huge penis into her hands and felt the soft skin of the glans she was so hungry for him that nothing else mattered.

  Carefully she licked all along the shaft of his erection, spreading saliva everywhere in order to make her movements easier. His erection strained upwards at the touch of her tongue, and this made it simple for her to lick along the underside of the shaft before pressing her lips against it and rubbing them up and down towards the head. His thighs spread further apart and although he kept his eyes fixed on the stage his breathing was becoming audible in the confines of the box.

  Warming to her task, Kristina licked very lightly on his frenulum, that highly sensitive place where his glans joined the shaft on the underside and as he caught his breath she rose a little higher on her knees. Then, after sliding a finger inside her mouth, she drew his glans between her lips so that she could stimulate it with both her tongue and her finger even as she sucked in a slow steady rhythm.

  Tarquin was having trouble sitting still and, once, a tiny groan escaped from between his clenched lips. When she heard that, Kristina used the fingers of her free hand to stimulate his shaft while she continued to suck on the head of his erection, and she felt a tiny rippling sensation beneath her fingers as he neared his climax.

  Frantically Kristina began to suck harder on his glans, but suddenly she felt his hands cupping her face and she could have wailed with disappointment when she realised that he wasn’t going to come in her mouth after all. Reluctantly she released him, her body shaking with excitement and arousal.

  Tarquin’s hands tilted her face up and he bent his head down to her. ‘Raise your dress and sit on my lap,’ he whispered. ‘I want to come inside you.’

  Kristina was driven frantic by his words, but when she glanced round the box she realised that both Estelle and Sam were watching her, although Sam quickly looked back to the stage when he saw her head turn.

  As quietly as she could, Kristina manoeuvred her dress upwards, and then she was struggling to rise sufficiently for Tarquin to pull her on to his lap. For a moment the tip of his penis remained poised at the opening of her vagina, and then he pulled her down on to him with one quick movement and suddenly he was deep inside her, filling her
totally and immediately easing the ache of frustration that her manipulation of him had caused.

  She sat quite still, waiting for his instructions as she felt his breath, warm on the nape of her neck. ‘Use your internal muscles to bring me to a climax,’ he muttered. ‘Keep quite still, do it all internally.’

  As she tightened her pelvic muscles the pressure inside her pelvic area increased and she felt a spiral of tight pleasure spread through her lower abdomen. When she released the muscles the spiral died away, but the more she worked the greater her own pleasure grew and soon she was very close to a climax herself. Greedily she worked at Tarquin’s enclosed penis, tensing and releasing her muscles in the rhythm that suited her best until at last the pleasure was constant and the ache of the approaching climax almost overbearingly sweet.

  Then, just before she reached the point of no return, she felt Tarquin’s hips jerk helplessly and when she tried to continue contracting her muscles around him he lifted her upwards from the hips, forcing her to climb off him and return to her seat, her whole body swollen and heavy with the thwarted orgasm.

  ‘Vissi d’arte, vissi d’amore’ sang the soprano, looking up towards the top circle. Kristina shivered, not at the beauty of the music but at the words. I have lived for love. It was like her life now, and she knew it, although in truth it was probably less romantic. She was living for lust.

  When the opera was finally over Sam Martin and Estelle left separately. Sam was unable to look Kristina in the eye, but Tarquin kept a firm hold on Kristina’s elbow.

  ‘You did well,’ he said pleasantly. ‘I imagine that you’d like a reward. After all, we are both meant to get pleasure from our meetings.’

  ‘I did get pleasure from it. I enjoyed every moment,’ replied Kristina honestly.

  ‘But you didn’t manage to come, did you?’

  ‘No, not quite.’

  ‘Then we must rectify that. My car’s just round the corner, we’ll go back to the house and continue the evening there. What did you think of the opera?’

  ‘The bits I saw were quite good, and yes, I liked Scarpia best!’

  Tarquin lightly touched the bracelet round her wrist. ‘Sometimes, you know, I think I’d like to spend an evening with you without this bracelet for company, but then I tell myself that perhaps that isn’t such a good idea. Maybe it would change things too much. What do you think?’

  ‘When I’m wearing this bracelet I don’t think very much at all,’ replied Kristina, anxious not to fall into any trap and give the wrong reply, although the very fact that he’d mentioned such a thing gave her a warm glow.

  He nodded. ‘Absolutely, I can see that would be the case. Well, I shall think about it further another time. For now we’ll go home. I have another surprise for you there. I hope it adds to your evening’s pleasure.’

  Kristina hoped so too.

  Chapter Seven

  TARQUIN LET THEM into the house and then preceded Kristina up the stairs. This time they returned to the room they had used for her first visit, only someone was there before them. Sitting in one of the lattice-backed chairs, settled deep into the soft cushion, was Sam Martin.

  Without thinking, Kristina began to finger the bracelet round her wrist. Sam ran a large publishing company, and they were interested in Laurence van Kitson’s book. Even though she wasn’t going to act as Laurence’s agent there was still a tenuous connection, and this clash between her real life and the fantasy world of the society troubled her.

  Sensing her inner turmoil, Tarquin stood to one side leaving the doorway clear. She looked at him, and once again his head was tilted to the side as he considered her response with interest. She searched for some hint of reassurance in his eyes, confirmation that this was safe, but she could read nothing from his expression except curiosity.

  Then, very slowly, he bent down and began to drop light kisses on her parted lips. Kristina’s body reacted instantly, and she went up on her toes, silently begging him to use his tongue. He did, but not in the way she’d expected. Instead he cupped the back of her head with one hand, bent it backwards and then with a firm tongue licked along the length of her mouth in a slow sensuous movement that quickly had her moaning with desire.

  ‘Take off your dress,’ he whispered. Quite forgetting the watching Sam, she let him unfasten her zip before removing the long velvet gown and placing it over the arm of the nearest chair. Because she’d removed her panties before the opera she was now wearing only black silk holdups and high heeled black suede shoes. ‘Now the rest,’ he commanded.

  When she was naked, Tarquin moved behind her, and his hands clasped her lightly on each side of her bare waist. ‘I gave an interview to a journalist friend of yours earlier today,’ he whispered. ‘It was about friendship and the differences between men and women in this area. Your name came up, and she let slip that you’d confided in her that you’d always wanted to make love to two men at once. Of course, she had no idea that I could make that come true for you, but I thought it was a very fortunate coincidence. I hope it proves as exciting an experience as you’ve always imagined.’

  Kristina knew at once that he must have been interviewed by Jacqueline, and she knew too that it wasn’t any coincidence. Jackie had sought him out on the excuse of getting an interview, and then deliberately let drop something that she knew was the exact opposite of Kristina’s true wishes.

  It was a brilliant piece of revenge, but Kristina wasn’t in the mood to appreciate it. Here she was, naked and frantic for Tarquin, and there on the other side of the room was a second man. A man who would watch them and was one of the worst men Tarquin could have chosen.

  She shivered. If she took off the bracelet now then Jackie would have won. Jackie must have been certain that Kristina wouldn’t go through with it, knowing how strongly she felt about the risks of one woman with two men, and would have been equally certain that by creating this situation she would end Kristina’s relationship with Tarquin.

  ‘Sam,’ called Tarquin softly. ‘Would you like to touch her?’

  Sam Martin got out of his chair. He was still wearing his dinner suit and seemed unable to believe that this was happening to him. Tentatively he reached out and ran the fingers of his right hand in a line down the centre of Kristina’s breasts until he reached her pubic hair. She shivered with a mixture of excitement and fear.

  ‘Stand quite still, Kristina,’ continued Tarquin, walking round to join Sam. Then he flicked at her quiescent nipples with the tip of his tongue until they were erect. Once they were fully extended he turned to Sam. ‘Suck them gently, Sam,’ he said with a half-smile. ‘I want her to come just from that.’

  Sam looked at Kristina’s tense, aroused body and without any further instructions hurried to do as Tarquin had suggested. As he sucked carefully on the highly sensitive tissue, occasionally running his tongue round the rigid peak, Kristina stared deep into Tarquin’s eyes and she felt the first tremors of an orgasm beginning deep inside her.

  Tarquin continued to watch silently, and then he nodded in encouragement as despite his instruction for her to stand still her head went back and then she was shuddering as her body was overcome by a small but intense climax.

  ‘Very good!’ exclaimed Tarquin. ‘Remain there Kristina while we both undress and then we can start to satisfy you more fully.’

  She watched each of them undressing and her body felt more sensuous than ever before. She was no longer worried about the fact that Sam was a publisher, or that this might affect her work, all she could think about was the look on Tarquin’s face when Sam had made her come, and the delights that she was about to experience.

  ‘Sam, would you lie on your back on the bed?’ asked Tarquin politely. ‘I want to position Kristina on top of you, then with Lydia’s help we should be able to stimulate almost every part of her at once. How does that sound, Kristina?’

  She smiled at him. ‘It sounds incredible.’

  He moved close to her. ‘Was this really something
you’d always wanted to do?’ She shook her head, and to her surprise he smiled in satisfaction. ‘I thought not. In that case, it will be all the more exciting for everyone. We must make quite sure that it works out well.’

  Sam Martin was already lying on the bed. Kristina saw that his body was in very good shape for a man of his age, with no trace of any spare flesh, and he had an extremely impressive erection.

  ‘Lie face down on top of Sam,’ said Tarquin. ‘Support your weight slightly on your forearms and spread your legs out on each side of his legs. Then rub your pubic bones together in order to stimulate yourself, but don’t come.’

  Kristina felt as though she was in a dream. Although she obeyed him promptly it seemed that her limbs were moving in slow-motion, like an erotic love scene in an art film. The fact that she had only been introduced to the man beneath her earlier that evening was no longer of any importance. All that mattered was the thrill of obeying Tarquin’s instruction, and the fierce consuming need driving her on towards the pleasure that awaited her.

  The other Kristina, Kristina the brisk, no-nonsense literary agent, ceased to exist as raw sexuality took over and she revelled in the freedom that the so-called bondage of the bracelet gave her. Because she wasn’t allowed to make decisions herself, she was able to lose herself in the freedom Tarquin’s orders gave her. Freedom to do things that she would otherwise never have done, and freedom to enjoy them. Jackie had been right, she realised. By removing all responsibility from the women, the bracelet allowed free reign to their natural sensuality without any feelings of guilt.

  ‘What are you thinking about?’ asked Tarquin, looking down at her as she prepared to spread-eagle herself over the publisher.

  ‘What a strange paradox the bracelet is,’ she replied honestly. ‘It doesn’t really enslave me, it frees me.’

  He nodded. ‘Precisely. Not all women find that to be the case, but for many, and particularly women like you, it is the truth.’