Subspace

by Sierra Cartwright

  Closing her eyes, she tuned out the unwelcome thoughts crowding her mind and let the combination of mineral-rich mud and Marian’s fingers work their magic on her.

  * * * *

  “Miss Morton, there’s a message for you.”

  The receptionist caught Alyssa’s eye as she wandered past on her way to enjoy a dip in the relaxation pool. There’d been no need to dry her swimsuit overnight. Drew had ensured she’d never got it wet.

  “Thank you.” Alyssa read the handwritten note quickly. From Drew, it told her he’d ordered room service for both of them that evening, and she was to go up to his suite at seven. It gave her just over an hour before she needed to present herself. She knew better than to be late.

  So, no making an erotic exhibition of herself in the dining room tonight, but he still gave no clues as to what he had planned for her. She tucked the note in a pocket of her robe and went for her swim.

  At seven o’clock prompt, she knocked on the door of Drew’s suite, hair still damp from the shower and her swimsuit stuffed in a plastic bag. She hadn’t bothered to put it back on after she’d showered. Following Drew’s instructions meant she wouldn’t be wearing it for very long.

  “Come in,” Drew called.

  Alyssa pushed open the door, bare toes wriggling against the thick pile carpet. Drew sat on the big sofa, bare-chested, a bottle of vintage champagne, its surface beaded with water droplets, in an ice bucket on the table in front of him.

  He didn’t need to give the order. Alyssa shrugged off the robe to stand naked, just as he wanted.

  Drew took a long moment to drink in the sight of her, before ordering her to join him.

  “Seeing as it’s our last night together, I wanted to make it as special as I could.” He poured two glasses of champagne and handed one to Alyssa. Clinking his glass against hers, he made a toast. “To us, and to everything that happens when you give in to your deepest desires…”

  He gestured to Alyssa to make herself comfortable on the floor at his feet. From the room service menu he’d ordered a platter of cold meats and cheeses, served with water biscuits, creamy butter and a selection of fresh fruit. Breaking off pieces of cracker and topping them with slivers of ham or Lincolnshire Poacher cheese, he popped them between Alyssa’s lips. He followed those with juicy slices of kiwi fruit and mouth-watering little Kent strawberries.

  She’d never been fed in this manner before, almost as though she was Drew’s pet, but she wasn’t demeaned by his actions. Instead, it only made her feel strangely secure—and loved.

  They ate in silence for a while, happy simply to be together, cocooned away from the rest of the world. At this moment, there was nowhere else Alyssa would rather be.

  When he decided they’d both had enough, Drew wiped his hands on a napkin and helped Alyssa to her feet.

  “Tonight,” he said, “I want you to help me act out one of my fantasies. Something I can only do with someone I trust completely, and who trusts me.”

  Remembering everything he’d said about being used by Bianca, and suspecting there were other disappointments in his past, ones they didn’t need to discuss right now, Alyssa realised just what it meant for Drew to ask this of her. She nodded. “You know I trust you, Drew. And whatever this involves, I’m ready for it.”

  “Very good, sweetheart, but this is going to take you right out of your comfort zone, and I want you to know you can stop it at any time. If anything gets too much for you, just say, ‘Pumpkin’. You’ve got that?” She nodded, and he commanded, “Now, come and lie on the bed.”

  She did as he asked. He dimmed the lights, then switched on his iPod, which was cradled in its dock on top of the dressing table. Music oozed from the speakers, Gregorian chant set to a sensual, insistent house beat. Alyssa remembered the tune from her father’s CD collection, though she couldn’t imagine he’d ever listened to it in circumstances quite like this.

  Drew produced what looked like a black vinyl washbag from the dressing table drawer. From its depths, he produced a roll of thick black tape, and grinned at Alyssa’s wide-eyed expression of surprise.

  “Hey, whoever said a toy box had to be an actual box?” He pulled off a length of tape from the roll as he walked back to the bed. “Bondage tape. Easy to carry; simple but effective.” To prove the truth of his words, he wrapped the tape round Alyssa’s wrist, securing her to the bedpost. Working quickly, he bound her other wrist in turn.

  “How does that feel?” he asked. “Not too uncomfortable?”

  Alyssa shook her head, tugging at her bonds and feeling only a little give in them. “No, it’s fine.” Already, she felt a familiar tingling in her pussy, evidence that being placed in restraints turned her on like nothing else.

  Using longer lengths of tape to compensate for the fact her feet didn’t reach anywhere near the bottom of his king-sized bed, Drew fastened Alyssa’s ankles in place, splaying her out like a star.

  By the time he’d finished, she’d never been so vulnerable—or so horny. Eager for Drew to plough his gorgeous cock into her, just as he’d done when he had her tied to the pool lounger, she was surprised instead to see him take a couple of small white votive candles from the black bag.

  “Candles? As if the mood wasn’t romantic enough,” she quipped.

  “Oh, these aren’t just any old candles, little Alyssa. These are made from soy. They burn at a much lower temperature. It’s a lot safer for what I’m about to do.”

  As he lit one of the candles, Alyssa’s mind filled in the blanks. Now his comment about taking her out of her comfort zone made sense. He was intending to drip wax on her nude body. And she was going to let him.

  Even though he’d given her a safe word, she didn’t intend to use it just yet. The thought of the hot wax landing on her skin scared her silly, but it couldn’t be any worse than the bikini wax she’d endured before coming to the Hall.

  Oh, Kay, if only you could see me now, Alyssa thought. Bound, naked and about to let my Master introduce me to candle play. Not exactly the girlie break we had in mind.

  “Are you ready, little Alyssa?”

  Drew clearly needed to know he had her trust, her consent. She gave it with a nod, hoping her eyes told him more than words ever could about her feelings for him.

  He tilted the candle, letting the wax pool and fall on to Alyssa’s bare stomach. Pain bloomed briefly where it landed, and Alyssa realised she’d been holding her breath, waiting for the game to begin.

  Drew paused at the sound of her anguished little yelp, monitoring her reaction, but when she didn’t say ‘Pumpkin’ he held the candle over her once more, decorating her belly with another splash of white wax.

  Hissing between her teeth, Alyssa writhed against the bedcovers. He gave her a moment to recover—and himself the chance to consider where to place the wax next, she’d bet—then brought a glass of water, pressing it to Alyssa’s lips. She took a grateful swallow. For someone who’d only played out this scene in his fantasies, Drew seemed to be judging it perfectly, knowing just how to combine pain with pleasure.

  For there was pleasure, she was startled to discover, as wax continued to fall, drip by steady drip, on her belly and the fronts of her thighs. Having lit the pink votive, Drew splashed a tiny puddle of wax in her navel. He used both candles in turn, as though her flesh was his canvas and he was the artist, decorating her with a unique, sublimely erotic pattern. Part of the fun for him seemed to be in never letting her guess where the next drop would land. Though the wax seared her skin where it touched, the pain was brief and increasingly bearable. Endorphins were kicking in, sending a rush of exhilaration through Alyssa’s body. Her gasps had a low, erotic tone to them; their effect on Drew was obvious by the way his cock pushed at his tracksuit pants.

  Afterwards, she was never quite sure of the moment when her arousal had taken on a different quality, unlike anything she’d experienced before. When Drew had spanked her, pain had mixed with pleasure, but she’d been firmly aware of her surro
undings at all times. Now, though, it seemed like she was drifting away, her body tethered to the bed but her mind running free, exploring places and sensations she’d never thought to look for.

  Trying to express some of this to Drew, all she could manage was a dreamy moan. He must have realised she wasn’t in any kind of distress, but his first action was to set down the candles. The reason for that became clear as he picked up one of the butter knives from the table before rescuing a half-melted ice cube from the bucket where the remains of the champagne still chilled.

  “Hold still, little Alyssa. I’ll be very careful, I promise.”

  He pressed the ice cube to one of the crusting blobs of wax, bringing sharp cold where there’d been heat. Floating on waves of pure bliss, registering the sensation as though it was happening to someone else, Alyssa watched as Drew used the blunt knife to loosen the wax, prying it off with his fingers. Just as carefully as he’d applied it, offering her sips of water and words of reassurance from time to time, he removed every last scrap.

  When nothing remained but a series of round red marks—the temporary brands proclaiming Alyssa to be his—Drew ran the melting remains of the ice cube down her body towards her pussy. Another new sensation, on top of everything he’d already done to her, it had her coming the moment he dropped the ice on the bed and pressed his chilled fingers to her clit.

  It felt as though she’d never descend from the heights of ecstasy Drew had taken her to. Surprised to feel tears running down her cheeks, even though she’d never been happier, Alyssa could only lie, limp and totally satisfied as Drew quickly unfastened her bonds.

  Pulling her into his arms, brushing away her tears with his fingertips, he murmured, “Wow. Just…wow! I never thought that would happen.”

  “What?” Alysssa whispered, finally able to find her voice again.

  Drew reached for the glass of water, encouraging her to take a sip. “You went into subspace, didn’t you?”

  “Subspace?”

  “Yeah. It’s when the submissive is so deeply into a scene, they go into a kind of trance. I’ve never experienced it myself, but they say it’s like a runner’s high, like you’re somewhere beyond your surroundings.”

  She couldn’t have described it better herself. “Yes, I went there. You took me there. And it was amazing.”

  The playlist on his iPod changed. Now, they listened to a Debussy piano suite. Not the kind of music Alyssa would expect Drew to enjoy, but there was so much about him she simply didn’t know.

  Slowly, she came down from her high, Drew stroking her back and shoulders and kissing her neck. His cock was still hard. Somehow, it didn’t seem fair she’d had such a wonderful experience, topped off with an explosive orgasm, and he’d had nothing in return.

  “May I suck your cock, Drew?”

  He nodded, clearly unable to resist such a politely worded request. She pulled his pants down and he sprawled back against the pillows, ready to feel her lips closing around his cock. Smiling wickedly, wanting to let him know he wasn’t the only one who could spring an erotic surprise or two, Alyssa took another ice cube out of the bucket, sucking on it for a moment or two. When she finally took him in her mouth, she saw him register the coldness, just as she’d done, and he widened his eyes in shock and delight.

  “You little minx,” he murmured, as Alyssa grabbed his shaft and the base and set to the task of licking him. His thickness stretched her lips wide, and she looked up at her Master, mouth full of his salty flesh, making her adoration of him clear. Cheeks hollowing, she took as much of him down her throat as she could. It took only a couple of minutes of that tight, wet suction to have him spilling his load.

  They kissed, Drew not shying away from the taste of his own cum on Alyssa’s lips. “Thank you,” he murmured. “For everything.”

  Alyssa disentangled herself from his embrace. Going over to the coffee table, she poured the remnants of the champagne into their glasses. “I couldn’t tell you the last time I was so happy,” she admitted.

  “You know,” Drew said, his tone reflective as he threw an arm around her shoulders, “I’ve never had a relationship like this before. Normally, we’d be going on dates and I’d be telling you all about growing up on the West Coast, and how I got my break in films, and my white-haired old mom—who’d absolutely adore you, by the way. But none of that seemed important. All that mattered was making the most of the time we’ve had together.”

  His words reminded her that time was almost up. Tomorrow, she’d be checking out and returning home. Thornton Hall—and Drew—would become a delicious memory, her experiences of bondage, spanking and wax play something to be relived in bed with the aid of her vibrator. And nothing Alyssa could do would change that.

  Chapter Six

  Alyssa scooped up the pile of post waiting for her on the hall table. Bills, from the look of them. Dragging her bag up the stairs, she let herself into her flat.

  First things first, she thought, dumping the post. A nice cup of tea, then I’ll ring Kay and see how she’s feeling. I’ve got so much to tell her.

  She’d done an awful lot of thinking on the train back to London, to keep her mind off the tearful farewell she’d shared with Drew. The words, ‘I love you’ had hovered close to her lips as he’d pulled her into his arms and kissed her with all the passion it seemed he possessed, but she hadn’t dared say them. It didn’t seem fair—meeting a man with the power to take her deep into the place he’d called ‘subspace’, awaking feelings in her she had never known existed—only to lose him within days.

  It was easier to concentrate on the things she did have the power to affect, and she’d decided that when she went into work the following morning, she was going to hand in her notice. Kay would cheer when she found out. She’d been encouraging Alyssa to do just that long before cocky Ryan had arrived and she’d been passed over for promotion. Maybe she’d get out of marketing altogether and retrain for a new career. Being around Thornton Hall’s therapists and fitness instructors, who all clearly enjoyed their jobs with a passion, had convinced her there was no longer any point working in a business she hated.

  Distracted by the kettle boiling, she almost didn’t hear her phone ring. Kay, most likely, too impatient to wait for Alyssa to ring with all the gossip.

  Flipping open the phone without paying attention to the caller display, she said breezily, “Hi there!”

  “Hey, little Alyssa. Couldn’t wait to hear your voice again.”

  Alyssa almost dropped the phone at the sound of Drew’s deep, sexy voice. The last thing he’d done before she’d peeled herself out of his embrace and clambered into the taxi was urge her to give him her mobile number. She’d done so on autopilot, assuming Drew was only being polite and had no intention of ringing her. How wrong she’d been.

  “Drew. Is everything okay?”

  “Fine, sweetheart, if a little lonely. I just tried out the sanarium, and I was sitting there thinking how much more fun it would have been if you were in there with me.”

  “Mmm.” Alyssa’s thoughts flashed briefly to her fantasy of sucking his cock while the sound of tropical birdsong rang out around them. The thought sent a fierce pang of desire and loss shooting through her. “It’s a real shame I can’t be there.”

  “But there is one thing you can do for me.” Drew paused. “And that’s strip.”

  “I’m sorry?” Had she heard him correctly?

  “I’ve decided to change the rules a bit. Just because we’re not together doesn’t mean you get to keep your clothes on.”

  “Yes, Drew,” Alyssa found herself responding. Even though Drew couldn’t see her, she didn’t dream of disobeying. Not when he’d decided to continue their relationship in such a delicious way. Phone submission. Why hadn’t the idea occurred to her before now?

  She walked over to the window, preparing to pull down the blind, conscious of the builders renovating the old school across the road. They’d be close to packing up for the day, but even so,
she didn’t want to run the risk of letting them see her with nothing on.

  “Oh, Alyssa. A word of warning. If you’re thinking of closing the curtains, don’t.”

  Could the man read her mind? “Yes, Drew. I’m going to have to put the phone down while I do this.”

  “Take your time, little Alyssa. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Alyssa undressed quickly, letting her T-shirt and jeans, bra and panties lie where they fell. It felt strange to be naked in her own living room, ordered to undress by a man over a hundred miles away, but already her nipples were stiffening into peaks and her pussy pulsed with excitement.

  Once she announced to Drew she’d done as he asked, he said, “Now, you remember my toy box?”

  Oh, that naughty wash bag, packed with tape and candles and all manner of other goodies! How could she forget it? “Yes, Drew.”

  “Do you have anything similar?”

  “Not exactly.” All she owned was her vibrator, tucked away in her travel bag.

  “But you do have toys of some description?” He didn’t give her chance to reply before ordering, “Go and fetch one.”

  Digging deep in her bag, Alyssa retrieved the vibrator. “What should I do next, Drew?”

  “Describe it to me.”

  She hefted the toy, enjoying the feel of it in her hand. “It’s a pink vibrator, six inches long, ridged along its length. Oh, and it’s waterproof.”

  “Now, there’s an image. You in the bath, naked and covered in foam, easing that vibrator into your tight pussy.” He groaned. “But not today. Today I just want you to use it to make yourself come—with my permission, of course.”

  Alyssa reached for the base of the vibrator, turning it on.

  “Let me know what you’re doing,” Drew told her.

  “I’m lying on the couch,” she said, mirroring her words to her actions. “My legs are spread, and I’m running the vibrator up my thighs, closer and closer to my pussy. I—oh!” Guiding the buzzing toy over her lips and down into the wet cleft between them, Alyssa briefly lost the power of speech. Submitting to Drew, even if only on the other end of a phone line, made her so horny she could hardly stand it.