Once Upon a Time

by Luna Doerr

  “He wants her to be willing. In his dreams, she’s as wanton as the girls in the brothel.”

  “Hmm. I think Erica is dying to be that wanton. If you’ll let her.” I push his thighs wider. “Will you let her, my lord?”

  “Yes,” Alaric moans, his eyes still shut. “Show me how wanton she wants to be.”

  I smile to myself. I was right. Alaric won’t refuse Erica. I press a gentle kiss to his cock. Erica would start slow, not sure whether Charles would allow her to continue. Alaric’s hips press forward, straining to get more of my mouth on him. I oblige, a little. I kiss the crown, teasing him, then lick off the tiny bead of moisture from the tip.

  Alaric’s breathing is growing ever more ragged, and it makes me unaccountably happy. I want to give him a better blow job than any of his other assistants ever have.

  I want Erica to be better than any of the women at the madam’s. I know how unlikely that outcome is, given that Erica and I are both fairly inexperienced in this realm. But I try, for Erica’s sake anyhow.

  “Shall I take you in my mouth, my lord?”

  “No. Not yet. Just … just lick me for awhile. I want to feel your tongue on my cock.”

  I do as he wishes. I run my tongue along his length from his balls to the crown, swirl it around his slit a few times, then lick him back down. A few minutes later, Alaric’s hips are rocking in the chair, his cock rubbing against my lips.

  Erica is having trouble holding back her wantonness.

  “I want to taste you, my lord,” I say. “I want you to feed me your come.” I close just my soft lips around the crown of his penis. “Will you do that for me? Feed me?”

  “Yes,” he rasps above her. “Fuck, yes. I will feed you as much as you can take.”

  “I will take it all, my lord. My husband’s seed should belong only to me.”

  I spread my lips and take all of him into the wet heat of my mouth. Alaric’s groan is long and deep, the sound of a man giving into sin. I suck long and slow, slowly building his desperation. I’ve sucked off other men before, those college hookups, but never had I wanted to do it as much as I do right now. In college, I hadn’t wanted anything else from those boys. Just a few cheap thrills and some free beer.

  I want more from Alaric.

  His approval. His friendship. His pleasure.

  I want to own his pleasure. Or at least rent it for a few hours.

  I tighten my fingers around the base of his cock and suck harder. Alaric moans louder, his thighs trembling with the orgasm gathering power inside him. His moans begin to sound as though they are being ripped from his throat and with each one, I take him deeper until the head of his cock is tapping the back of my throat. I brush my knuckles against the soft puckered skin of his balls and send him over the edge. My mouth fills with his warm, spicy come and I take it all before slowly letting my lips ease off his still hard length.

  I am licking a smear of come from my upper lip when he pulls me up and pushes me tumbling over his knee. I feel the hem of my dress yanked up, feel my ass—still pink from the earlier spanking—exposed to his gaze. Alaric rolls the fabric up and out of the way.

  “In his dreams, Charles always punishes Erica’s wantonness. He wants it, he encourages that wantonness,” Alaric muses as he runs his palm over the curve of my bottom. “But after, he is ashamed and takes that out on her.”

  “She knows she deserves it. Her wickedness is without bounds.” I push my ass into his hand, wanting what he’s about to give me. “But we need to get him to a place where he can accept the gift of her wantonness.”

  I feel the sting of Alaric’s hand on my ass and now it is my turn to moan as he spanks me hard and fast.

  “Mmm.” Alaric rests his hand for a moment. “I think he’s enjoying her wickedness too much at the moment.”

  He caresses my burning ass and I squirm over his lap, the ache between my legs surprising in its urgency. Then his touch disappears. When his palm strikes me again, I blow apart into an intense orgasm, the likes of which I’ve never experienced before. I scream as pleasure shudders through me, my back arching, my ass lifting up, needing him to spank me one more time.

  Alaric obliges.

  29

  Caterine

  “Ouch!” I cry out.

  “Sorry, babe. Couldn’t resist.” Sim chuckles behind me. “Figured one more can’t hurt.”

  I’m lying face down and nude on the bed in Alaric’s second “office.” It’s after lunch and we are preparing to act out another scene. As soon as Alaric leaves the room to go get something, Sim smacks me on the ass. Needless to say, I am still sore and pink from the morning’s two spankings.

  “Well, it does,” I reply.

  “You two going off script a little?”

  I can hear the amusement in Sim’s voice.

  “I was just helping him get deeper into Charles’ character.”

  “Helping him get deeper into Erica’s character sounds more like it.”

  “Can it, Sim.” Alaric’s voice is pissed as he strides back into the room.

  I turn my head to see him. He drags a chair closer to the bed and sits down. He opens his laptop. I am so happy after the morning in Alaric’s office, but clearly he isn’t. For most people, an orgasm leaves them blissfully relaxed. Clearly, Alaric isn’t “most people.”

  “So what’s the scene, boss?” Sim asks.

  “So Charles has been having increasingly intense dreams about Erica. Now he has awakened in the middle of the night from one such dream and he goes to her room. He has no intention of doing anything. He just stands at the foot of her bed and watches as she sleeps. But as he watches, he imagines what he really wants to do.”

  “So the rest is up to me?” Sim asks.

  Alaric nods. I was hoping for a smile from him, some indication of what we had shared that morning, but none is forthcoming. Alaric is so pointedly ignoring me, I might as well not even be there.

  “All right then,” Sim adds.

  I feel the mattress sway as Sim climbs on behind me.

  “You need to close your eyes, darling. Since you’re asleep and all.”

  His hard weight settles on me as he straddles my body. Sim is a wall of muscle. As he leans over my back, I can feel his erection pressing into my spine. His breath tickles my ear.

  “You’re about to help me get deeper into Erica’s character,” he murmurs, too low for Alaric to hear.

  He slides back down my body and I wonder what’s going to happen next. I know what I want to happen next. I want Alaric to switch places with Sim. Even after the intensity of our morning together, he hasn’t fucked me. I am dying to feel him inside me.

  Erica isn’t the only one giving in to her wantonness.

  Zoe would never believe the way I’m behaving here with Alaric and Sim. My initial awkwardness is fading, as something else awakens within me. My sense of physical pleasure, of my need for physical pleasure, my need to be touched inside and out. Sim is good. Okay, Sim is great. But what I really want is Alaric touching me.

  I feel Sim’s long fingers part my thighs just an inch or two, then a moment later his hands grip my hips. He tugs on them, pulling my ass up and back. Immediately, a rush of wet heat floods my pussy.

  I wish I could open my eyes and see what Alaric is doing. I want him to know how much it turns me on to have him sitting there, watching me, writing about me.

  Sim runs a finger through my soaking wet folds. “Obviously, she’s dreaming of me.”

  “Just what Charles would do, Sim,” comes Alaric’s voice.

  “He wants to fuck his wife. But he needs to make sure she’s ready,” Sim spits back, clearly annoyed by Alaric’s chastisement.

  I bite back a moan as Sim’s fingers expertly spread me open. Please don’t lick me. I am so close to an orgasm already, if he puts his tongue on me I will explode.

  Instead, Sim gently fingers me, rubbing my folds, then slipping one long finger inside me. He strokes my inner wall and I feel an org
asm get that much closer. My hips undulate despite myself.

  “Don’t torture her, Sim.”

  Sim withdraws his finger. Before I can prepare myself, he rams his thick cock into me.

  “Ahh!” I cry out.

  He feels bigger today, too big. He begins to thrust in and out, each thrust causing a sharp pain deep inside me, like he’s hitting my other organs. I turn my face away from Alaric so he can’t see the tears building behind my closed eyelids.

  “Slow down, Sim,” Alaric commands.

  That doesn’t help much. With Sim’s slower thrusts, I can feel every inch of him sliding out and then pushing back in, stretching me, burning me. A hiccup escapes from my lips before I can bite down on it.

  Immediately, Alaric is next to the bed, kneeling beside my head. “Are you okay?”

  I nod without turning my face to him or opening my eyes. I just have to get through this. Whatever I’d thought was awakening within me is now running for the hills.

  “Jesus, Sim, stop for a minute,” Alaric yells.

  Sim’s thrusts stop but he doesn’t pull out.

  “Cat, are you okay?” Alaric asks me again.

  Again I nod. I have to be okay, or Alaric will fire me. I’ll never see him again, and that thought is more painful than Sim’s massive cock pounding away at me. I’m falling for Alaric, even as I know that’s the worst idea in the whole world.

  He doesn’t see me that way. Will never see me that way.

  “You’re too big for her,” Alaric says to Sim.

  “Not much I can do about that. Next time don’t hire a virgin.” Sim’s voice is laced with barely-controlled anger.

  “She’s not a virgin.”

  Sim laughs. “Yeah, no shit. My dick’s in her pussy right now. Did you fuck her when you hired her?” Sim rolls his hips into me again and groans theatrically. “Because, man, she’s got the tightest pussy I’ve ever had.”

  “Stop it,” Alaric grinds out.

  Sim sighs. “Are we going to finish this scene or what?”

  “Pull out of her.”

  “What?”

  “I said pull out of her. I don’t need to see this scene. I can write without it.”

  “Of course you can. But you never want to write without seeing it. This is like your own little porn studio here, isn’t it, Alaric? You like watching me fuck your assistants.”

  Sim thrusts into me hard and I gasp in shock.

  “She’ll be fine once I loosen her up a little. At least Annabeth didn’t need to be broken in. Keep that in mind when you hire a girl for the next book.”

  I open my eyes just as Alaric lunges at Sim and shoves him off me. I roll up into a ball at the head of the bed.

  “You just can’t stand to watch me fuck her, isn’t that it? I don’t know why you hired her if you can’t watch us together. Maybe you should fuck her and I’ll film it for you to watch later. Would that work?”

  Sim’s face is flushed with anger, and I hold my breath as the two men face off against each other. I hope against hope they don’t physically fight. Sim could beat Alaric into a pulp, by the looks of him.

  “Get out!” Alaric roars.

  He’s yelling at Sim but I’m the one who jumps up from the bed and runs for the door, stark naked, leaving my clothes behind on the floor. They are arguing over me, two friends. All because I’m not up to this job. I had tried to tell Alaric that back in Virginia. I don’t have enough experience to do this.

  I am ruining everything. Alaric’s book, his friendship with Sim … my own self respect. What the hell was I thinking? I run up the stairs to my room and bury myself in the bed right as the tears begin to flow.

  30

  Alaric

  I close the door quietly behind me. The lights are off and I leave them that way. There’s enough fading light from outside to make out the lump of covers on the antique four-poster bed, a lump that is shaking with sobs.

  Fuck. Maybe Sim was right. Maybe I should have hired someone with more experience.

  We are breaking her, and I don’t want that responsibility on my shoulders. Thoughts of this morning in my office push at my consciousness. I push them right back. God, it was fucking amazing. She gave me the most intense orgasm I’ve ever experienced. It took all my willpower not to fuck her senseless afterward.

  Fuck. I wanted to. Fuckfuckfuck.

  I can’t though. If I fuck Caterine, I’ll have to do it again. And again. Once won’t be enough. I know myself well enough to know that.

  It’s been a long time since I wanted a woman as much as I want Caterine Schwartz. But that isn’t what I promised her. Screwing the boss twenty-four-seven is not in her job description. I promised her sex with Sim and only for the purposes of the book. None of my assistants were ever expected to just randomly have sex with me and Sim. Most of them did anyway, with Sim, but it was absolutely not an expectation of the job.

  Of course, I broke that part of the contract with Caterine in my office that morning. Although I have to admit, it was helpful to feel things through Charles’ mind while those things were actually happening. Attributing the morning’s shenanigans to work eases my mind. Somewhat anyway.

  I sit down on the edge of the bed, next to the lump of covers.

  “Caterine?”

  The sobbing hiccups to a stop.

  “Are you okay?” I tug gently at the covers, not sure whether she’ll let me pull them off. I quietly let out the breath I am holding when she does. She is still nude and my eyes skim over her curled up form. Her face is now as pink as her ass.

  “I can’t do this,” she says into the pillow.

  “Can’t do what?” Though I know very well what she’s referring to.

  “This job. Sim’s right. You should have hired someone like Annabeth. Someone who knows what they’re doing.”

  “I told you, I don’t want someone who knows what they’re doing.”

  “I tried down there. Really I did. But I just can’t relax enough to take him in.”

  “We won’t do that again, Cat.”

  “But see? I’m screwing up your book. You hired me for a specific purpose and I’m no good at it. And I’m ruining your friendship with Sim on top of that.”

  “Sweetheart, we’re men. We fight. We get over it. Right now Sim is probably on his third beer, watching some crappy reality television show.”

  I smooth her long blonde waves over her shoulder, then go into the bathroom to fill the tub. I add a slug of the lavender bubble bath my sister left the last time she was here. Then I go back out to the bedroom and lift Caterine from the bed.

  God, she weighs nothing. I carry her into the bathroom and gently set her down into the foaming bath.

  I rummage through a drawer until I find a package of hair elastics, also courtesy of my sister. I pull one off and gather up her long blonde hair into a messy ponytail-bun thing. Caterine laughs quietly and the sound cheers me.

  “I’m glad I can’t see that,” she says.

  I tweak the messy ponytail-bun thing. Truth be told, nothing—no messy hair, no tear-streaked cheeks—could make her look unattractive.

  And to hear her laugh? I would embarrass myself in the hair department over and over just for that.

  I uncap the bottle of bubble bath again and pour some into my hand, then proceed to wash her shoulders. Her lovely, perfect shoulders.

  “Has anyone ever told you that you have perfect skin?”

  “My mother used to tell me that. She used to slather sunscreen all over me when I was a kid.”

  “But has no man ever told you that?”

  “No. I’ve never really had a boyfriend. I told you that.”

  Elation swells in my chest. I am the first man to compliment her on her skin.

  “So you’ve never been in love?” I run my soapy hands down her back, my thumbs rubbing soapy circles along the ridge of her spine.

  “No. Not yet. What about you?”

  “Once.” My hands are at her waist now, and I pull
them back out of the water. “In college.”

  “What happened?”

  “The relationship just ran its course. There was no spectacular breakup or anything.”

  “Do you ever hear from her?”

  “Not anymore. I went to her wedding a few years back.”

  I move along the side of the tub so I can face her. I look down at her breasts and hold up the bottle of wash. “May I?”

  She laughs. “After everything that’s happened today, you’re asking permission to touch my tits?”

  I smile ruefully. Yes, I can see why it might seem like a pointless question. I’ve already touched her most intimate spot, spanked her—twice—and let her suck away all my defenses. Then I watched my best friend nearly split her in two with his giant cock. An argument could certainly be made that we are way past the permission stage.

  “Hold out your hands.” I pour the wash into her palms.

  She smiles a sly, sexy smile as she understands what I am asking her to do. She places her hands over her breasts and begins to wash herself. Her breasts fit neatly into her palms. I love the size of her breasts. Any larger and they would look out of place on her slender frame.

  I watch as she touches herself, squeezing and cupping the undersides of her breasts. I’m glad for the tub’s wall between us. It hides the erection growing in my pants. When she glances up at me and pinches her rosy nipples just for my benefit, I nearly come in those very same pants.

  “Caterine, I think you are one of the most naturally sensual people I’ve ever met.”

  She rolls her green eyes at me.

  “No, really. And I’m impressed with your bravery in coming here. You haven’t held back in any of the scenes.” I pinch her chin between my thumb and forefinger.

  Fuck, what I wouldn’t give to kiss her right now, to climb into the tub with her and wash every last inch of her body.

  “But if ever you’re in pain during a scene again, you have to stop. Getting hurt is not part of your job description. Understand?”