Power Trip: Double Helix, Book 1 (5 page)

Her stomach tightened. She knew nothing about this man other than he was capable of killing with his power and her brother trusted him, which actually was saying something because Jake didn’t trust anybody, especially with her.

Cal got out of the car and walked around to open her door. She also knew he had good manners. She slid out of the car and stood next to him. And that he made her skin hum in a pleasant and distracting way. He made her feel…lively, that was the perfect word for the way her heart was thumping blood through her veins. But that didn’t mean she should go into the house with him. It had been a weird night, and it promised to get weirder unless she got back in the car and drove home, which was getting less likely every minute.

He reached around her to shut the car door. Then his hand touched her lower back again and she could feel it through her clothes, a little hum between them. He did feel like a vibrator, and she wanted to wiggle around and put him in just the right spot. Lord knows she had done enough of that over the years as boyfriend after boyfriend came up with a reason why it wasn’t her, it was them. It was impossible to believe them, of course. It had to be her. But if she had something else in her life, like talent, she wouldn’t care. He seemed so certain she wasn’t normal. Could Cal help her discover a hidden gift?

She allowed him to usher her to his front door, where he removed his gloves and touched a metal plate set into the brick. She heard bolts slide. He opened the door. “Allow me to go first.” He stepped into the darkness and the hall filled with light.

“You don’t believe in leaving a light on for your return home?”

“I suppose I could, but I’d have to re-wire the house. The floor is made out of conductive tile and my shoes have metal in them. I
am
the light in this house.” He walked down the hall and she watched lights illuminate his path.

“Whoa,” she said, gingerly stepping into the house but being careful to stay on the hall rug. “Is it safe?”

“I won’t bore you with the intricacies of molecular structure, but yes, that’s the tricky part of my research. Creating a material that has enough resistance to be safe for normal bare feet, yet conducts electrons well enough to carry a current. You are perfectly safe in my home.” His eyes glowed with blue fire. “In every way.”

He held out his hand and she took it, biting back the moan that leapt into her throat at his touch. Was it the electricity that was making her so responsive? If so, she was going to buy a dozen electric blankets when she got home.

“You feel that too?” His eyes held an arrested expression.

“I feel a very pleasant buzz. It makes me feel, um, energetic.”
Like jumping your bones and having wild, swinging chandelier, monkey sex.
“Restless, but kind of cheerful,” she finished, as they entered a kitchen. Dim light began to glow from recessed bulbs in the ceiling. No chandeliers, thank God.

He let go of her hand and leaned against the counter. “Touching you makes me feel drunk. I haven’t unintentionally touched bare skin without causing someone pain since I came into my powers. I am terrified. Elated. And incredibly aroused. Are you hungry?” he asked, abruptly switching subjects.

She shook her head, feeling dazed.

“Thirsty?”

“I’d love a glass of water.”
To pour over my head.

He pulled a glass from a cupboard and opened the refrigerator. He poured water from a pitcher. Scientific curiosity forced her to ask, “What happens if you get water on your skin?”

“Nothing, if the water is electrically neutral. Sparks sometimes, if it has minerals or impurities in it. It depends on how juiced I am.”

“How juiced are you now?”

His voice was rueful. “About as wired as I’ve ever been in my life.”

His answer gave her pleasure. “Thank you,” she said, accepting the glass.

“You’re welcome. It’s the least I can do to thank you for the ride.”

She almost choked on her drink, as her thoughts spiraled into the gutter. His eyes were on her, which made it difficult to conceal the turn her thoughts had taken, but if the intense look on his face was anything to go by, she didn’t have to. He was right there in the gutter with her.

“Are you ready to begin?” he asked, with a gleam in his eyes.

She nodded slowly.

His grin was a quick flash of white teeth, while the lights brightened around them. “My dungeon is in the basement.”

Chapter Five

Cal led her down the stairs, sending enough energy into the floor to light the room ahead of them, hoping it wouldn’t look completely perverted and deviant to her, but it was a dungeon, so he didn’t expect to have much luck. He didn’t cater to vanilla down here. He didn’t even cater to middle of the road kinky. He served his needs with experienced submissive women who loved electrical play and would allow him to restrict their sight, hearing and movement. He didn’t want to have to explain sparks and flashes or the occasional boom of thunder. An accidental touch could cause injury, so the leather table in the center of the space was rigged with full-body restraints, not just ankle and wrist manacles. His table could immobilize Frankenstein’s monster. It had straps every four inches that adjusted for every body type. One willing sub had clapped her hands at the sight of his table, but he was afraid Audrey was going to say something more along the lines of—

“Holy shit.”

He grabbed her hand, fearing she would turn tail and flee back up the stairs. She allowed him to draw her forward, but her eyes never left the table. He feared her response wasn’t going to get any more positive when she started looking around.

He hadn’t been kidding about the geek stuff in the car. Most of his co-workers at the university shunned him, thinking he was more than a little odd. He encouraged that. He didn’t want anyone getting too close and asking about his gloves. The new insulating material he had designed was nearly invisible, but still. He wore thick glasses, treated with anti-glare to hide the occasional glow of his too-blue eyes. He called in sick when it rained. He knew they thought he was a freak, but he didn’t care. He was used to that.

His friends at the Lair thought he was a freak too. They just thought he was their kind of freak. They assumed his bright eyes were contacts, his leather stemmed from a love of hardcore kink, and any stray sparks or shock were attributed to too much time with the violet wand.

Upstairs, his house was filled with the normal minutiae of daily living, once you got past the fact that it was powered by him. But his enormous basement held his real life, half-dungeon, half-research lab, separated by a wall and a locked door. The dungeon was his playground and the lab was where he did the research he couldn’t afford to be caught doing at work. Naturally, Audrey’s eyes were drawn to the door separating the rooms.

“Good God, what’s on the
other
side of the wall?” she asked.

“My private lab.”

Her eyes lit up. “Can I see it?”

“Only if you are a very good girl.”

She bit her lip, eyes skating over the whips and canes displayed on one wall. Her gaze stopped on the hoods, modeled on wire heads above the couch.

Cal chuckled. “How on earth is it that Jake Fallon’s sister looks like she’s never seen a dungeon before? Your brother never showed you—”

“Eww, no! Jake did his thing and I did mine, and since he was always in trouble, I sort of went the other way, hoping if I was good enough, our foster parents would put up with his crap.”

“Ah, I know how that is. I was raised by my aunt, so I had to behave too.” He drew her forward, toward the black leather beneath the shelf of hoods. He was walking on uncertain ground with her. His previous sexual partners had all been pain sluts into electrical play and extreme restraints. Audrey was an admitted vanilla and the kid sister of a guy who could kick his ass…and shred his mind. Jake could suggest he spend the rest of his life cleaning toilets with a toothbrush and that would be that. Speaking of which. “Text your brother.”

“What?”

“Text your safe call. I want a full hour once we begin.”

She pulled her phone out of her purse and touched the screen. When she was finished, she held up the screen.
I’m safe in Bluebeard’s cave
. She pointed at the hoods on the shelf and grinned.

“Very funny.” He patted the couch next to him. “I’ll let you decide whether you want to be blindfolded, but I’ll have to insist on the table restraints and the monitors. Safety first. I don’t want to hurt you accidentally.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Monitors?”

Now it was his turn to grin. “Not video monitors. I have a heart monitor, temperature sensors and an EEG built into the table. I’ll keep a very careful eye on your vital signs. Each person’s response to electrical stimulation is unique, and I want you to know that your safety is my first priority.”

“Jake says I can trust you. I’m not worried.”

“Well, you should be.” He was flattered, but informed consent was the only kind he was interested in. She had to understand what she was agreeing to do.

“I know this feels good to you.” He stroked one finger down her bare arm, sending a low current to greet her. She sighed and leaned toward him. He had to force himself not to rush her. “But at higher voltages, electricity can stop your heart, cause internal burns and seizures, neuropathy…”

“I’m a doctor, Cal. I know the risks. But I’ve lived my whole life in Jake’s shadow, wishing I was talented too. Tonight I started to wonder if my lack of talent might be something more. I want to do this. I want you to push me, to see if I respond the same way everyone else does. Maybe we’ll discover I’m special too.” She glanced above her head at the hoods. “Although, can’t we just…fool around? See what happens? Do we have to use all the props? You use this stuff to keep your partners from realizing you’re electric, right? You don’t have to hide that from me.”

An image of them naked, making love in the missionary position with nothing between them, rendered him incapable of speech for a good fifteen seconds. He shook his head. “No, but I have to control myself, which isn’t easy considering I haven’t touched a woman on purpose in at least fifteen years. Your skin is so soft it makes me dizzy. Hungry. And violent.”

She licked her lips, and he thought of kissing her. Her mouth looked soft. Her full lips were a natural dark pink and he could tell from the way her face creased when she smiled that it was something she did often. His eyes dropped to her breasts, round and full beneath her cotton top, her slim waist, her full hips, that plump ass he couldn’t wait to mark with his whip. Impatience and desire tinged his vision with blue sparks. He couldn’t kiss her, not now, but if their session went well and her vitals were strong…

He fought the swirling mass of energy back into his center. His vision cleared. “No, I’m sorry. There is only one way I can do this.” He couldn’t risk allowing her to touch him, even if she begged. Actually, he hoped she begged, but it still wouldn’t make it safe. Maybe after they had come a half dozen times, he’d be steady enough to think about giving her some control over their play.

He forced his hand back into his lap. She needed to make these decisions without the influence of his touch. He’d had the twenty minute car ride to create a scenario that would bring her pleasure and give him the release he needed. Electricity buzzed and itched along the surface of his skin. Could she see it? How would she handle it? Her brow wrinkled and he realized he was taking too long to explain. “Sorry. I’ve never played with a novice before, and there is just no polite way to phrase what I want to do with you.”

She dipped her chin and looked at him from beneath lowered brows. She raised her hand, palm up, and made a
bring it on
motion with her fingers. “What would you do with a more experienced partner?”

He took a deep breath. “I’d make you strip and drop a hood over your head. Then I’d strap you to the table so that you absolutely could not move a muscle. I’d whip you if you liked it, but you already know what I can do. I don’t have to pretend. I probably don’t need to use a conductor, either, but I will.” He wanted to touch her; he didn’t want to harm her. “I’m wired so tight I can’t move without shooting sparks. I need to get rid of energy somehow. I don’t know how long it will take. I don’t know how much it will hurt. I don’t know how much energy you can handle or if you even have the pain threshold to consider taking me on tonight, but I hope you do.”

Her eyes were wide. Maybe he should break it down another way. “Do you like pleasure?”

“Yes.” Her voice was soft but certain. She didn’t look frightened.

“Pain?”

“I have no idea.”

“Fair enough.” He had to clamp down on his loose wires again. “I think we should approach this scientifically and keep all of the variables the same but one. You are the first variable. Will you submit to my commands tonight?”

Her nod was slow.

“Are there any limits you would like to place on what I do to you?”

“I don’t know enough about this to imagine limits. Tell me what your goal in this is.”

An excellent question. “To bring us pleasure. Extreme pleasure,” he qualified.

“I don’t know what girl would say no to that.”

His heart began to pound, pushing fire through his veins. “It will probably leave some temporary marks. Are you okay with that?” She nodded. “Okay, here’s the biggie—sex.” Why did he feel like such a cad bringing this up? “I’d like to bring you to orgasm. With my fingers and my mouth and then I’d like to put on a nice, insulating condom and fuck you. How do you feel about that?”