Fifteen
“Okay, here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to unlock those handcuffs, and you’re going to crawl to the bathroom to take a shower. Whilst under my instruction, you will crawl everywhere unless I give you orders to the contrary. Alain’s girls work under the same principle, so it will be good practise. When you’ve finished, you can come join me in the kitchen where we’ll go over your limits form. It’s a bit soggy, but it’s been on the radiator for the past couple of hours, so hopefully we’ll be able to piece it back together. Any questions?” There was an annoying twinkle in James’s eye that I didn’t much like. As he leaned over me to release the cuffs, I had to resist the urge to gouge his eyeballs out. He was well aware of my struggle. His lips didn’t stop twitching the whole time that he was bent down over me.
“Do I get a cup of coffee, Sir?” The instructions didn’t seem like much fun, but I hadn’t expected anything less. I also knew that things around here were very tame at the moment. He was going to open my eyes to a whole new world shortly, and the choice I faced was sink or swim. Sinking wasn’t an option I could live with.
“Only if you wiggle your ass on the way out.”
“I can do that.” I hit the floor rather hard in my scramble to get away from him, but I wiggled my booty to the best of my ability. If he was so anxious to get an eyeful of my backside, he could take his fill.
“You didn’t say Sir, Lois,” he called after me.
“That’s because you’re an asshole,” I replied sweetly, thankful I was already out of the room and well on my way to the bathroom. The loud sigh I heard made me smile, even though I knew I’d pay for my outburst later. Still, I was here to learn all about submission, and I was going to get spanked whether I liked it or not. Giving him the occasional reason to chastise me would serve me well for the future, I was sure. On the plus side, I hadn’t killed him for leaving me chained to the bed, even though the temptation to do so had certainly been there. Well, maybe not kill him. It would be a shame to destroy something that beautiful. Maybe I’d just mess him up a little one of these days. I had a feeling I’d happily endure a few hours of torture just to see him lose that mantle of rigid control that he always wore. There would be a man underneath the beast, unless I was much mistaken. Whether I’d like the man any more than the beast was questionable, though.
Shutting the door to the bathroom, I searched around for a lock, but found there was none. Why was I not surprised? If James wanted a touchy-feely session, he probably didn’t need to accost me in the bathroom, so I wasn’t going to worry too much about it. Thankfully, there was a shower and a couple of big, white fluffy towels, so life wasn’t all bad. Stepping inside the plastic shower door, I turned the faucet all the way over to the hot and steamy side and gave it a minute to warm up. Then I stepped inside… and nearly froze. The water was still stone cold. Fiddling about with the faucet from one side to the other got me nowhere, and there were no visible switches for hot water in the bathroom that I could see. I was just about to wrap a towel around me and go hunting for James when he stepped inside the bathroom. Being naked with an incredibly hot man in close proximity was a weird conundrum. I didn’t know whether I wanted to find a third hand to cover all of my exposed assets, or whether I just wanted to drape him all over me. The jury was out.
“There’s no hot water,” I squeaked as, thankfully, my indecision got the better of me.
“There was. There isn’t now. Just so you know, Lois, there are consequences to all of your actions around here. So, you will step in that cold shower, and you will get clean. I’m not leaving here until you do so.”
I pouted at him with my best Disney princess eyes and said, “Couldn’t you just not feed me for the rest of the day, instead?” I battered my eyelashes a couple of times for good measure. Belle had nothing on me.
“No. We’ve already had that conversation, and if you’re not inside that shower within ten seconds, I will be joining you. Let me assure you that I can’t wait to give you a very, very thorough wash, which should take at least twenty or thirty minutes, I think.”
“You’d endure a freezing cold shower for that long just to chastise me?” Unsure whether I was horrified or impressed with his devotion to the cause, I managed to eyeball him for an answer.
“Nine, eight, seven…”
“I’m going, I’m going,” I muttered, although I dearly wanted to test his resolve. I wondered how he’d fare under artic water conditions.
Slamming the shower door behind me so hard it rocked on its hinges, I nearly screamed as the cold water hit me full force. Gathering up the soap as I started shivering, I had the world’s fastest wash as James stood in the corner glowering at me. If I thought hell was going to start the minute I walked through Carte Blanche’s door, I was much mistaken.
“It’s really nice in here, you know,” I said through chattering teeth. “I bet there are few penguins who would kill to be in my place right now. Are you sure you don’t want to join me?”
The next thing I knew, James was tearing off his tee, and I think my tongue was stuck the shower door. Then his jeans followed suit, and I just about managed to compute that the man wasn’t wearing any underwear. That was the last thought in my head, because he then started heading my way, and he looked mad. I backed myself right up against the far wall of the shower and wondered if I should start praying. When would I ever get a grip on my smart mouth?
When the door opened, the bulk of his figure blocked out all the light and everything went dark for a moment. If there had been any possible means of escape out of that shower cubicle, I would have taken it, but there was no way I was going through James in the process.
“You wanted me here, Lois. Now what are you going to do with me?” The smile he wore was brutal. It said, ‘I have you cornered and exactly where I want you.’ I took an unsteady breath as I tried to unglue my jaw. I had it tightly closed at the moment, and I was afraid if I opened it, I might never get it back. There must have been one hundred and eighty pounds of hard, solid muscle within touching distance of my fingers, and I was struggling to rein them in. It took a bit of work, but eventually I managed it.
“Is this where I get my own back?” I asked breathlessly.
“Absolutely,” he replied. “Though don’t expect me to keep my hands to myself.”
Standing there, rooted to the spot, panic consumed me for a second. Where did I start? What should I do? Considering I’d been thinking of little else but jumping the man for days, now that the chance had presented itself, I was almost catatonic. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed the fact.
“Earth to Lois, do you read me?” James placed an arm either side of my head and brought his face up to the spray. Shaking the water out of his eyes, he then said, “You’re going to need to react quicker than that if you’re going to keep the gentlemen happy down at CB.” He gave me a patronising look, and it rankled. I had to get my head back in the game.
Pressing my body up close and personal with his chest, I nuzzled my face into his neck and slowly bit down on the tender flesh there, before my hands reached between his legs and dragged themselves gently up his upper thighs.
“I bet they don’t make me take cold showers, though,” I whispered in his ear as my teeth grabbed his earlobe. Meanwhile, my nails bit into tight, corded muscle, and I silently admired the construction beneath them. The man was solidly beautiful.
“I wouldn’t count on it, and that will be the least of your worries, Lois.” His fingers were then around my neck, gently caressing my throat before his teeth began returning the favour. Although my head rolled back in pleasure, I kept my focus on my objective. My nails softened as they slowly crept higher, tracing a delicate line upon his flesh. When they reached his balls, I gently cupped them in my hand and rolled them between my fingers. I didn’t get so much as a moan, but to be fair, I hadn’t expected one. I had a feeling James Leveritt would be extremely hard to please, but I was going to pull out all the stops trying to figure him out.
Pulling away from his grip on my neck, I looked up at him with eyes that were black with lust. He still looked perfectly calm and in control, but I hadn’t finished with him yet.
“Hey, vampire, can you put those teeth to good use anywhere else?” I whispered as my fingernails took a leisurely walk up the silken flesh of his cock.
“Where do you want them?” He grinned.
“Is my mouth off limits, Sir, or are you prepared to sacrifice a small part of yourself in this training plan?” My fist started gently curling around his cock, and I was happy to stand there, perfectly still, whilst it pulsed firmly beneath my fingers.
“Are you asking me whether I’m worried I’ll fall in love with you?” James lifted my face until I was inches away from his lips, and there was an amused look on his face.
“Isn’t that the reason you won’t fuck me?” It was a fair enough question, I thought.
“No. I’ve fucked a lot of women in my time, Lois. I don’t worry too much about falling for them.”
My face wanted to pull back as if stung, but I managed to hold myself still. Well, that smarted a little. I guess I was forgetting that James Leveritt owned Elite Encounters, among other things, and he had women pretty much on tap. The man was probably as cold as the damn shower we were standing in, so a little lip-locking wasn’t going to move the iceberg.
“So why do you have that rule in place?” I whispered, annoyed that my curiosity was getting the better of me.
There was no space for an answer, though. His lips crashed down on mine, and it felt like the man had shoved a Molotov cocktail down my throat. My head entered a swirling vortex of colours and light, and the chronic need I felt for the man in front of me was as scary as it was arousing. I’d never been hit this hard before, and he’d barely laid a hand upon me. He was that perfect line, where the sky meets the sea, and I was happy to drown in what he was offering. It’s not enough, my subconscious whispered, but what did I care? I might not be alive for too much longer, so that was a good enough reason to let myself go and live for the moment. It had been a long time since I’d indulged myself so completely and damned if I wasn’t going to enjoy myself. A lot.
It took a few moments for my hands to remember what they were doing, but when they did, I made sure they picked up their pace. Placing a vice-like fist around his cock, I began to work him up and down with renewed vigour. Who cared if the water was scalding hot or freezing cold? All I cared about was scratching an itch – and it was the stuff of fantasies. Feeling James harden in my hand, I began to lower myself to my knees, but his hand fisting in my hair stopped me.
“Uh, uh, uh. You have to beg for those kinds of privileges, Lois.”
The freezing cold spray rained down into my eyes, but I no longer felt its bitter, biting shards. His comment didn’t faze me in the least.
“Please let me suck your cock, Sir.” I even added a lascivious sweep of my tongue around my bottom lip for good measure. James was only human after all, and I needed this, needed him under my spell. Hell, I just needed sex.
“No.” His voice was soft, barely discernible above the sound of the spray, but there was no mistaking the conviction of his words. He meant what he said. What game were we playing now?
“No? Are you frightened you might not be able to control yourself, Sir?” The smirk that came to my lips was planned, and by my reckoning it would waive the red flag loud and clear. His grip in my hair tightened.
“Hardly. If I don’t want to let myself go, you could suck on me all day long and I guarantee I’d never come.” He gave me an answering smirk all of his own. Looking thoughtful for a moment, he then said, “Tell you what, you have two minutes to make me climax. If you accomplish your task, I’ll reward you with whatever you want… within reason.”
“And if I lose?” I had no intention of losing but knowing what the stakes were upfront was always a sensible plan.
“If you lose, you give up on this fool’s errand and get your ass back home.”
Weighing up my options, I had a feeling I was being played, and I was rarely wrong. Two minutes wasn’t all that long, and whilst I was reasonably confident of my talents, I wasn’t prepared to put my ass on the line. There was too much at stake.
“No deal.” I chewed on my bottom lip a little, showing him what he would be missing should he be stupid enough to deny me.
“You’re just not that good, huh?” The look he gave me was goading, but I wasn’t falling for that trick. I hadn’t forgotten the man back at Elite Encounters, whom I had a great deal of respect for, and, if anything, that respect had only grown. There was no way I was going to let myself be that easily manoeuvred, though. He’d need to try harder.
“I’m terrible, but you’ll find that out for yourself in your own sweet time, apparently.” Smacking my lips together, I blew him an insouciant kiss. It got me yanked out of the shower with my nose forced into the floor, but the realisation that I’d made him angry was a sweet enough reward. It almost made up for the fact that my body was burning more brightly than a meteor.
“Get your ass in the kitchen immediately, Lois.”
I felt a whoosh of air as the shower door slammed shut behind me, but I didn’t wait to hear it close. I shot through the open door in front of me and crawled down that corridor as fast as my ass would take me, with the idea of putting as much distance as possible between James and myself. Obviously it was a futile endeavour, but I needed to burn some tension off, and crawling was the only way I was going to be allowed to achieve that, apparently.
Before I’d managed to get even halfway down the seriously and most ridiculously long corridor, I felt something ferociously sharp swat my backside. Turning around, it was to see James in all his naked glory, wielding a riding crop with a near perfect aim.
“Ow,” I said, wincing at the resulting sting. “That hurts.”
“It’s supposed to, and it’s just one of the many things you can begin to look forward to once you get inside Carte Blanche. Alain has a fondness for the crop.” He arced the black leather strip in the air once more, and the whooshing sound it made as it came down was almost worse than its bite. Almost.
“Jesus.” My eyes started to water, and even though I didn’t think I could crawl much faster, somehow I did.
“What do you think the odds are of Jesus coming down to save you right now?” Although my face was pointing forwards, I could hear the sound of the crop being tapped against flesh - his, not mine - and I was very glad of the brief reprieve.
“Probably better than my chances of making you orgasm in less than two minutes?”
Reaching the end of the corridor, my head swivelled around madly, trying to find out which room I should aim for. There was a sitting room to my right with lots of low, easy leather chairs, and an Aga to my left. I scrambled madly into the kitchen with the sound of his laughter following behind me. Taking refuge under the big oak table that resided there, I wondered if I was going to get into trouble for my little display of defiance.
“It’s probably a close-run thing.” As I sat there panting, the sound of the crop crashing into the tabletop above scared the living daylights out of me. Holy shit. I’d signed up for an indeterminable stint of kinky sex training with a madman. This might have been the stupidest thing I had ever done, and I had done some stupid things in my time.
There was a long pause of painful silence as I waited to see what would happen next. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and that was as good an indication as any that it wasn’t going to be good.
Slowly, the pair of legs in front of me bent down, and it was almost in slow motion that I met the pair of ice-blue eyes that always beat me into submission long before his words did. As my eyes blinked and my mind swirled in a drugged-like stupor, I felt each individual beat of my heart that seemed to explode in my chest, and still he made me wait for the sound of his voice. When it finally came, it was soft and deadly.
“Lois, Mr. Nice Guy has to end here. I’m doing you a disservice if I don’t train you properly, and Alain won’t play nice. He has only one set of rules, and you’re not going to like them.” His expression was sympathetic, but I didn’t take that for weakness on his part. James might have had a conscience, but if he was in my line of work, he’d know how to contain it by now.
“What are they?” I whispered. Though the room wasn’t cold, I started to shiver as the water began to evaporate from my body. Trying to hide it, trained not to show weakness, I struggled to keep my body under control. It wasn’t something that happened very often, and I found myself annoyed that James could reduce me to this so easily.
“Alain is a sadist. He enjoys watching people suffer, very much.”
James’s voice became even quieter, and I caught my breath as my ears strained to hear him. When the silence stretched out again, I felt the need to fill in the gap.
“Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black? You’re a sadist. Alain is a sadist. What’s the difference?” A tremble escaped me, and I closed my eyes, regrouping my senses as I tried to focus.
James tilted his head to one side as he thought about his answer, before saying, “I respect safe words. Alain doesn’t. I also use sadism primarily as a means to increase pleasure. Alain gets his kicks in a different way.”
“And what’s that?” My voice had more of an edge now. My fighting spirit was back, thank God.
He shook his head at me. “You’ll find out soon enough, Lois, but let me give you a piece of advice. Never, ever run.” The look James wore was serious enough to make me question it.
“Why?” I didn’t normally run from anything, but it might be useful to know why I shouldn’t.
“Because he’ll hunt you down. He loves the chase. When he’s found you, he’ll torture you, and believe me when I say you’ll wish you were dead. So, don’t give him the satisfaction. You get in, you take what he doles out, and you sob where necessary, to the very best of your acting abilities. You do what you’ve got to do, and then you get out. You won’t get a second chance, Lois. You’ll be dead.”
“I know the risks,” I said, biting down on my lower lip and rolling it between my teeth.
“You don’t. You don’t know what he’ll take from you, and once he’s taken it, you might never be able to get it back.”
“No one man can destroy me,” I said, and if there was fire in my eyes, so be it.
James held his right arm out to me, palm up, and I hesitated for a moment before taking his hand.
Pulling me up gently, he said, “You have no idea.” Placing me in one of the hard wooden seats that surrounded the oak table, he then said, “Wait here. I’m going to get dressed and then we’ll begin. The hard way. Prepare yourself.”
Having no clue what that meant, I watched his naked ass disappearing out of the doorway before putting my head in my hands. Rubbing my eyes vigorously, I decided that the hard way couldn’t be all that bad. Certainly not where James was concerned, in any case. It seemed I’d completely lost my appetite for anything except sex, and that focusing on anything other than him was almost impossible. Still, when I got inside Carte Blanche and found Alain - an ugly old toad - my life would realign itself. It was distinctly off kilter at the moment.
With nothing better to do, I decided to take my time and have a look around the kitchen. The view was a lot more impressive from my new vantage point, and the lack of table and chair legs made for a much more pleasant outlook.
There was the Aga that I’d previously noticed, in charcoal black, nestled neatly in a brick archway. Two twin hoods stood covering the cooking plates, and they were a bright, shiny silver colour. Clearly someone took good care of this place. There was also matching accessories in the form of a black toaster, coffee machine, and kettle, all with similar silver accents to match. How very… stylish. A few pictures graced the walls, mostly still-life paintings of fruits and flowers, but none of them appeared to be worth very much. There was an array of oak cupboards and drawers, and the work surfaces were a pale cream marble. Other than the appliances already mentioned, there was a fully stocked knife block, a twelve-bottle wine rack filled with red wine, a stand mixer, and a microwave. It looked decidedly incongruous with the old-fashioned surroundings. Over by the windowsill there were a few wooden utensils, and a stainless-steel bin was hidden around an inconspicuous corner. Entertainingly enough, even though I wasn’t in any danger, I was already looking for weapons. It was a force of habit, I guessed, and being naked certainly increased my feeling of vulnerability. Still, thankfully, there was a nice array of knives should I need them, though I suspected they’d be blunt.
Tapping my fingers against the table impatiently, I tried to envision what was going to happen next. Limits? James had said something about discussing my limits form, so hopefully my next session with him wouldn’t be too taxing. I wouldn’t count on it, though. Speaking of the devil, my ears strained to hear the soft sound of footsteps approaching, and I knew that my brief stint of solitude was about to come to an end.
Watching him, as he strode confidently through the door, I lapped up the sight of him in his tight black tee and jeans again. Clearly it wasn’t about what you wore, but how you wore it. Lucky him. I was still completely naked, although a little less self-conscious about it now. It was time I got used to it.
Pulling up a chair, he sat across the table from me and slowly spread a rather familiar form out on the table in front of him. Thankfully, I’d used biro, because judging by the crumpled look of the form, anything else would have melted off the page after its long stint outside.
Studying the form for a moment, James pursed his lips together and frowned. Looking up at me, his eyes caught mine as his thumb dragged itself back and forth against his lower lip. That was such an unfair tactic. I didn’t know where to look.
“Lois.” The word was left hanging, and with no question to answer, I was forced to respond. This I did using my eyebrows - I had a feeling there’d be a tremor in my voice should I need to use it. Thankfully, my eyebrows proved worthy enough.
“Why did you come here?” The sexy, far too quiet voice was back. It made me feel like I was under a one-hundred-watt spotlight whilst the rest of the room was pitch black. Oh well. Eyebrows wouldn’t be enough this time. Breathe, open wide, speak, I instructed myself.
“To be trained.” It was succinct but sufficient. It was also all I could manage.
James cleared his throat, then re-examined the paper in front of him. Returning his gaze to me, letting me face the icy-blue invaders yet again, he said, “It doesn’t appear that way to me. You’ve answered ‘no’ to nearly every question on this limits form.” He gave me a stare that would have had a mass murderer begging for mercy.
Clutching the bottom of my seat to stop myself squirming, I swore. Fuck it. I was going to have to talk. Throwing my head back and gulping in a lungful of air, I said, “Last time I let you off the leash, I got into trouble. I’m just doing what you told to me to.” I even added a smile. En garde, thrust, parry, and wait for the riposte. There was no doubt it would come.
He bit down on the thumb that had been playing with his lip. I had half a mind that it was to control a smile, but I couldn’t be sure.
“Well, judging by this form, there’s no way I’ll be able to get you trained up to the standard required to get you into Carte Blanche, so you might as well go home now, Ms. Reeves.”
We were back to Ms. Reeves again. How interesting. “I’m not going home. I think we’ve ascertained that much, Mr. Leveritt.” I returned the dark stare he was lavishing upon me with interest.
“Well, if I can’t train you, we are at an impasse, Lois. I can’t put you inside CB without instructing you in the basics. To do so would guarantee your death, and I have enough deaths on my conscience.”
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion when I was around James. I swore I saw the flutter of each individual eyelash as he tilted his face to stare me down. There was an instant of pain in his eyes before the emotion was quickly concealed. The average eye wouldn’t have spotted it, but I’d been trained to notice these things. He was hiding something, but then I hadn’t expected anything less. It was part of the job description in this line of work.
“Can’t you just tell me about them?” There were several items on that list that I did not want to get up close and personal with. The cane, for example, was something that was not going to happen. Ever.
“No.” He folded his arms across his chest and looked supremely amused. “Would you really have wanted to try anal sex for the first time under Alain’s hand?” He sighed. “These fingers are gentle.” He flexed them, one by one, in mid-air for my benefit. “Alain’s will not be. He’ll expect you to be experienced. You won’t get in there without him testing you in several different disciplines, Lois. You know this.”
I did know that, but it didn’t make it any easier to swallow. “Fine. I’ll fight you for each item on that form. If you win, you can tick the box and do the training. If I win, I get to cross the box off and you get to explain it to me.” I waited with bated breath for his answer. When it came, it was not what I was expecting. The man laughed at me. He actually laughed! Obviously he’d not had the pleasure of me in combat before, but seriously… there weren’t many people who laughed about my skills and lived to tell the tale. Inwardly, I crushed his skull between my two bare hands. It made me feel slightly better.
“We can do it that way if it makes you feel better, Lois, but you’ll be sore. On top of everything else, you’ll have to contend with, I’d say that was taking it to the edge, but it’s your call.” His arms were crossed again, and he wore a deadpan expression as he waited for my response.
“It’s not just me who’ll be sore, James. I suspect it’s a lot harder to wield a whip if your right arm has had my leg thrust through it.” It was my turn to smile smugly. So what if I was naked?
“You’re that good, huh?” By the tone of his voice, it was clear he didn’t believe me. That wasn’t my problem. He’d find out soon enough.
“You’re about to find out, Sir. Which item are we fighting for?” If there was an enthusiastic gleam in my eye about the prospect of battle, that was too bad.
Sighing again, James rolled his eyes. “They told me you’d be difficult.”
“You have no idea,” I said, flexing my limbs, already preparing myself for the onslaught to come.
“Fine. The first item we’ll be considering is the ball gag, and to be honest, I could do with some peace and quiet.”
I wanted to kick him. “Are you so confident you’ll win?” I didn’t care a hoot for all of his bravado. I knew what I was capable of, and I’d taken down bigger men than James in the past.
“Talk is cheap, Lois, but silence is golden. Now get up and put your money where your mouth is.” His chair scraped sharply across the floor as he said it, and I watched as he began to flex his fingers.
The fight was on.