Chapter Four
Cali was on fire. Her blood had turned to molten lava long ago, her bones slowly melting in the current of fiery liquid flowing through her system. She was so aroused, so incredibly turned on that she was almost ready to beg Master Jake to take her.
To throw her down and fuck her right there in front of everyone.
It wasn’t like anyone would care.
They had progressed through each of the downstairs rooms, the stage Scenes increasing in decadence, creativity and outright displays of sex until she ached for release. Oral sex, multiple partners, Doms and subs—at some point her mind had disengaged as she’d watched the Scenes until she’d finally let the last of her inhibitions go. She let herself respond to the acts on stage and to Master Jake behind her, touching her, stroking her skin, whispering dirty thoughts and desires in her ear.
A long time ago, in another failed attempt to perk up their nonexistent sex life, she’d talked her husband into going to a stage show when they were on vacation in Amsterdam. The Red Light District show had been nothing like these. There, the performers were obviously paid actors, or whatever they were called. The show had seemed so mechanical, the actions stiff and routine. It lacked emotion and had left her feeling empty.
The Scenes at The Den were filled with undeniable passion. Master Jake had explained that the rooms were open for members to reserve. It was one of the fetishes they catered to—exhibitionism. And in return, voyeurism. The desire of the performers to be on stage came across in the honesty of emotion simmering over the crowd.
It had been shocking and incredibly erotic to watch what was usually a private, intimate exchange between a couple—or more. To witness the decadence and arousal up close and personal had excited her more than she ever imagined possible.
“How do you feel, Cali?”
The deep timber of Master Jake’s voice rippled over her delicately balanced senses, almost pushing her over the edge.
She gasped then slowly released the trapped air. “On fire...sir.”
The last bit slipped out unconsciously. Her body—no, her mind—responded to that simple word as if it were an aphrodisiac. So much power held in one syllable.
Sir.
But it wasn’t the word alone. It was also him. The man who held her close had slowly, gently taken control of her desire. Made her want not only him, but what he offered her.
“What do you see?”
On command, her gaze drifted over the activity in the large open room on the second floor. The Dungeon. Her desire-fuzzed brain tried to focus. Long forgotten were her insecurities and hesitations of earlier. What did she see?
“Sex.” Everywhere. In different forms. At different stages. “Masters and subs. Acts of dominance and submission.”
His firm, controlling hands drifted up her sides and across her front, pulling her tight against his hard body. His hard cock. Her head fell back against his shoulder, the muscles in her neck incapable of holding the weight.
“Details, Cali.”
Really? How? Her brain could barely form logical thought at this point. She was a mass of over-sensitized nerves and he wanted her to talk. Logically.
What she saw was not porn BDSM. Not even close.
Just like the stages, everything in this room was real. Powerful and honest.
“Cali.”
God
. Her name had never sounded so erotic. He held her captive by her name alone. The soft, throaty purr was edged with varying levels of desire, command and authority.
“I see lust in every form,” she finally managed to say.
Erratic emotion-filled moans, grunts and whimpers filled the air with tension and expectation. The repeated hiss of a whip snaked through the noise in a consistent pattern of demand. In contrast, the deep smack of a paddle echoed off the walls like thunder on the edges of a storm.
She licked her lips and inhaled, getting a dose of the unique blend of sex, leather, sweat and the misplaced hint of lemon that cloaked the space and seemed to cling to the heat of the room. She forced herself to focus. She wanted to answer him. Someplace, deep inside her, she needed to answer him.
“More.”
She squirmed in his arms, his erection rubbing across her lower back in an erotic dance of invitation. She couldn’t hold still. Was incapable of simply standing there. Details, he’d said. She could do details.
“In the far corner, a woman is strapped, stomach down, to a bench. Naked,” she said in an almost clinical way. It was the only way she could get the words out. “Her legs spread. Ankles and wrists bound. Restrained. A man behind her is spanking her with a wooden paddle.” Cali stopped to breathe, the air escaping her chest in shallow gulps.
“What does her face say?”
The women’s head was turned toward them, her eyes half opened. Her mouth parted in a silent gasp. The emotions on her face were clear.
“Ecstasy,” Cali whispered in amazement as the realization fully registered. Even though she was being paddled, her bottom a bright, startling red, the women looked beyond content.
“Describe another Scene.” The order, though spoken low, was still commanding.
She scanned the room, glossing over a man in a stockade, a woman gagged and bent over a pommel horse, a dildo strapped between her spread legs, before Cali stopped. “A woman cuffed to a cross...a St. Andrew’s cross, I think,” she mumbled as she desperately dug into her internet-learned lingo. “Blindfolded. Her nipples are clamped and weighted. Her stomach and thighs are striped in pink and red marks. A man is on his knees licking her...pussy.”
It felt wicked just saying that word. Especially when they were surrounded by sex and the heat of Master Jake’s body pressed into her back. He was touching her, but not
touching
her. God, she ached for him to rub
her
pussy, her breasts.
“And what does her face tell you?” Master Jake murmured into her ear.
Even partially covered by the blindfold, the emotion on the woman’s face was clear. “Bliss. Need.”
Trust.
For some reason, she couldn’t say the last one out loud.
“And the Dom—what do you see on his face?”
Cali forced her gaze away from the alluring face of the sub and focused on the man who was now standing before the tied-up woman. He had rugged features that would normally be classified as interesting, but not traditionally attractive. But right then, his expression held Cali captivated. Her knees weakened, and she was thankful for the strong arm of Master Jake holding her against him.
“I see tightly held control and...reverence,” she managed to whisper. That was the most fitting word she could think of. The Dom stared at the sub not in condemnation or scorn, as she’d seen on the bad porn clips. Instead, there was true respect and lust on his face.
“Do you see the difference?” Master Jake traced the under curve of her breasts with one finger, a teasing caress that taunted her with its proximity without actually touching where she craved. “What happens at The Den is honest. It’s open and involves deep levels of trust that only heightens the exchange and ultimate release that’s achieved.”
She did see it. Felt it. And God help her, she wanted it.
His breath caressed her neck, his lips brushing over the sensitive juncture where it met her shoulder. “What do you want?”
Did she have the nerve to say it? Now? When it was openly presented to her? Her head dropped forward, her gaze landing on the scratched surface of the polished wood floor. “I already told you,” she answered, her defiance rekindling with her embarrassment.
He nipped her skin, a chastising snip that caused her heart to race. “Do you still trust me?” The hard bite of his voice matched the tightening grip of his hands on her waist.
Why did she? She didn’t even know the man. But for some strange reason, with this, she did. More than she’d trusted her ex-husband in many, many years.
“Yes,” she finally managed to say.
She felt his chest compress with the slow release of his breath. He held her so close to his front that she could feel his muscles tense, his chest move, his cock twitch. Every movement, no matter how small, was amplified by her over-sensitive nerve endings until she felt like she was a part of him.
He straightened and turned her around. He kept her tucked tight against him, causing the hardened tips of her breasts to rub almost painfully over his chest.
“Look at me, Cali.”
Yes. Look at him.
Obediently, she lifted her gaze in a slow ascent that was killer on her blood pressure, but she couldn’t force her eyes to go faster. From the tantalizing bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed, over the firm square chin, past the equally firm but inviting lips to finally meet his deep, silver eyes.
“Let’s go upstairs.”
Upstairs. To the third floor, full of private rooms for individual use. Anticipation mingled with anxiety and sat like a rock in her gut. The moment of decision not so easily made. She was way too old and cautious to go into anything blind. No matter how much she wanted it.
“What will you—” she swallowed, “—we do?”
“Only what you want,” he reassured her. His fingers traced an intimate line down the edge of her jaw. “We’ll discuss details upstairs. Remember, a Dom/sub interaction is all about negotiation and honesty. No pressure. No expectations. It’s you who holds the power. I’ll only give what you’re willing and able to receive.”
He made it seem so simple. Safe.
His fingers tightened on her jaw. “But
I
want to see you beg. I want you aching for a release that only I can give you. I want you tied up and bowing to my desires to get yours.” His eyes darkened to a deep gray and were filled with all the passion and need he expressed. His look, his words triggered that deeply buried longing she’d denied for so very long. A tremor raked her body as she fully accepted that she could have this.
A high-pitched wail reverberated through the room and surrounded her with the pure pleasure of the seemingly tortured sound. She wanted that even if she doubted she’d ever find it. Even if the very thought of actually reaching it both enticed and scared her senseless.
And Master Jake was offering it to her.
“Yes.” Cali breathed. She licked her lips and nodded, attempting to put some conviction into the movement. She could do this with him. More importantly, she wanted to do this with him. It was now or never. “Let’s go upstairs.”
* * *
His boots thumped low and hollow across the hardwood floor, projecting an ominous feel to the thick tension cloaking the small room. Jake walked a slow circle around Cali, touching her shoulder, stroking her arm, inhaling her scent that had turned deeper, muskier with her arousal. She shivered at his touch, but her body was once again stiff, her nerves seeming to resurface now that they were alone.
Jake had purposely requested one of their less intimidating rooms. This one contained nothing shocking outside of an unobtrusive spanking bench along the far wall. Everything about the space spoke of seduction with a subtle hint of dominance, the primary item being a large bed with black sheets and iron headboard. The cuffs attached to both ends of the bed were tucked away and all the toys and other equipment were hidden behind the closed door of the armoire.
“What do you want, Cali?”
Jake would keep asking her that question until she answered. They would only proceed if she had the courage to voice her desires. Her hesitation, and almost immediate defensiveness to his direct questions, told him she needed to overcome the fear—or maybe it was shame—she seemed to associate with her needs. Otherwise, she would be filled with self-loathing and recriminations in the morning.
She’d come to the club willingly, asking to be dominated without fully understanding what that meant. Her courage called to him, even as her natural submissive tendencies began to show. The way she melted under his touch, how she automatically followed his commands as she began to trust him. They were like lures, reeling him into her charms until he was unable to pull away.
Despite her hesitations and obvious inexperience, the mysterious Ms. Reynolds had him completely enthralled. The odd mix of courage, tempered with vulnerability, made her far more enticing than the young twenty-somethings who came into the club, brazen and cocky in what they thought they wanted, or even his seasoned clients who knew exactly what they wanted. She was like an exquisitely wrapped present just waiting to be stripped of the bows and ribbons to reveal the hidden prize beneath the tightly held pretense.
She stood before him, illuminated by the light strategically placed around the edges of the room. Her hands were clasped tightly in front of her, her chin lifted, shoulders back, but her eyes refused to meet his despite his instructions.
He grabbed the back of her hair and gave a soft, but firm tug. Her head jerked and her gaze flew up to meet his.
“Look at me and answer my question. What do you want?”
Her eyes widened, the green depths deepening as her pupils dilated more.
“Answer, or we’re done.”
After a brief, tense pause, she spoke. “I told you, I don’t honestly know.” Her cheeks flushed. “I want a man to make me come. No vibrators. No toys. I want...” Her gaze darted away from his, but with a tug on her hair it returned. “I want a man’s touch. His control. His confidence in owning my body and giving me everything I want. I want sex that is also about me...not just him.”
A good start. He could give her that. Easily. But he sensed there was more. “And...” He let the question trail off.
She swallowed, her lips working as she gathered her courage. “I don’t know,” she admitted, the honesty projected in both her voice and eyes. “My sexual experience is so embarrassingly limited that I don’t honestly know what I want outside of what I just told you. I don’t know what I like or don’t like because anything outside of vanilla sex has never been given to me.” She sucked in a breath of air like she was shocked at the admission.
Jake clenched his free hand behind his back, the hidden action his only break in the calm, controlled facade he displayed. The desire to do exactly as she asked was so overwhelming it took everything in him to hold himself still.