“Fuck them.”
She sank back against the couch with a smile. She looked so at ease, with her creamy shoulders naked above the dark-green fleece that he smiled back.
“I live here, you know. I plan on buying Wakefield and turning the vineyard around. So I’m thinking a ‘fuck them’ attitude might be bad for future business. But hey,” she waved her hand and sat forward, “I didn’t bring this up to have a personal cry-fest in front of you. I mention it because I want you to understand that I can’t and won’t…” She smiled and it tore at his heart. “Fall for you. Once the ten days is up, we’ll go our separate ways and no one will know the truth.”
“Truth?”
“Yeah, that this was just a PR thing. My friends have bought the fling idea. They think I’m a little tightly wound and in need of some cut-loose time. Who better to do that with than The Hypnotist?” It was her turn to wink before she focused her attention on straightening the blanket over her calves.
“And what if I fall for you?” He kept his tone light. Even.
Her clear blue eyes twinkled like fresh-cut diamonds in the sun. “Then we’ll need to invest in some steel umbrellas.”
He cocked his head. “For?”
“The flying pigs brought down in the rain. What smells so good?”
He gauged that she was suddenly uncomfortable so he let her change the subject. “Dinner.”
“I napped that long?”
“A few hours. Do you want to have a rematch in chess tonight?”
“Sure, but I think I should go put some clothes on before dinner.”
He caught her gaze and held it. “No. You can keep the blanket but I find the thought of you naked under it pleases me.”
She blushed and when he got up to head back into the kitchen she muttered under her breath, “You sure do love your board games.”
Normally he wouldn’t have responded to that comment but right now he wanted to bring her back to the place where it was just her and him and no fucked-up shit to mess with his plan.
“Do you know why I like to play chess with you?”
“No, but I think you’re going to tell me.”
He liked that she was confident enough with him now to tease a little. When she’d said no, she’d playfully drawn it out. “You’re a wood-pusher.”
She shook her head as if to clear it. “A what?”
“A wood-pusher,” he repeated. “And a greedy one at that. You’re more concerned about collecting those pieces than you are about winning.”
Her mouth dropped open and when she got over her shock she sputtered, “T-that is
so
not true. I strategize.”
“No you don’t. At least not further than two moves ahead. I’m not complaining. It gives me ample opportunity to see how your wheels spin. I love dangling my queen as bait.”
“Well,” she hugged the blanket up tight against her breast, “I’ll have to remember that.” She looked so miffed he grinned. “Honey, all you need to do is forget about the crowd on the board. The king is the one you need to capture. Focus in on him.”
* * * * *
The next day Ethan was fully prepared.
“This is no different than Spa Envy. That’s where I go in the city to get my massages.”
Ethan held the door open for Colin and followed her through. He’d just finished giving her a tour of the salon and elegantly appointed change rooms on one side of the mansion. She was right. One part of the resort was designed as an upscale spa that handled all manner of services for their clients while the other side catered to more intimate needs.
“Your hair looks beautiful today.”
“Thanks.” She stopped at one of the opened doors to her left and peered in. “Is that a doctor’s office?” Shooting a look over her shoulder she frowned. “It sure looks like one.”
He took hold of her hand and pulled her along. “It’s an examination room.”
“For when a guest gets hurt?”
“No.”
“But—”
“I’ll explain as we go. I want to start at the end and work our way back. It’ll ensure we won’t miss anything.”
He brought her to the very end of the hall and pushed opened a set of double doors. Flicking on the lights, he said, “Come on in.”
When she did, he closed the doors and led her to one of the two chairs directly in front of the desk. “Take a seat.”
“Is this your office?”
He sat and waited for her to look at him. “No.”
“It’s very imposing.” Leaning forward, she ran her hand over the gleaming mahogany. “This thing is huge. It even makes you look like you’re an average-sized guy.”
“This room is for an office scene.” Her eyes rounded and he explained. “Every room down this hall has a purpose. Including the examination room.”
“Really?” Her eyes roamed over the space. He watched as she took in the floor-to-ceiling bookcases, cut-crystal chandelier and ornate fireplace before she murmured, “It looks so normal.”
Easing back in his chair, he kept his eyes on her. “What were you expecting?”
“More leather.”
The fact that she didn’t hesitate to answer made him smile. “The chairs are leather and I imagine,” he indicated to the shelves, “the book bindings are too.”
“Oh, those weren’t the type of things I was referring to.”
She squirmed and he let her, waiting to see if she’d say more, but she didn’t. “Do you have any questions about this room, Colin?”
She shook her head.
“That’s surprising. Do you know what a scene is?”
“Yes.”
“And you have no questions?”
“Uh-uh.”
“
Hmm
… Maybe you best share with me your thoughts about what kinds of things you think people do in this type of environment during a session.”
He loved how her cheeks turned red. “I would think that the Dom plays the boss and the sub plays the secretary.”
He leaned forward and clasped his hands together on the desktop. “Very good, but I want you to be more specific. If I’m your boss and you’re my secretary what would we do in here?”
“You want me to explain it to you?”
He nodded and said, “Stop biting your nail and be direct.”
“I’d deliver the work I’d just done for you and you’d…”
“What?”
She looked away and then back. “You’d put your hand up my skirt and we’d wind up fooling around.”
He blinked. “Fooling around?”
Her blush deepened and she went on the defensive. “Yes. What’s wrong with that? It’s a perfectly good scenario.”
It wasn’t, but he didn’t want to piss her off so he kept that to himself.
“Have you ever had tapas?”
“The food?”
“Actually it’s a style of eating. You’re familiar with it?”
“Yes.” She looked around. “It’s small samples, right?”
“Exactly. What I want to do with you today is have a kind of BDSM tapas.”
She stared at him. Hard. As though she were trying to decide whether he’d lost his mind or not. “Come again?”
“I want to show you each room we have designed here for play. When I take you in I want to give you a little sampling of a scene you might encounter while in that room with me.”
“BDSM tapas.”
“It will be educational and fun.” And the perfect way to come at her with erotic play without any expectations. What better way to test the waters and see what floats her boat?
“Did you and John ever role play?” She brought her hand up, getting ready to bite that nail again. “Colin, please don’t.”
“’K.” Hastily she slapped her palms together and dropped them on her lap. “Yes, but I was always the boss.”
That gave him pause. He hadn’t pegged her for a switch. “Do you enjoy being in control of things sometimes in bed?”
“In bed?” Clearly she was having a hard time fighting the urge to chew on that nail because she shoved both her hands under her thighs and frowned. “I never really thought about it.”
“Well, take a moment to think about it now and give me your answer.”
“Um…no. I really never wanted to be boss when it came to sex, but somebody had to be and John? He was…” She shrugged. “He was too sensitive.”
Ethan wanted to disagree with her on that point because he happened to know for a fact that he was more sensitive than her ex-fiancé. The cheating fuckwad.
“Hey, can I ask you a personal question?”
Making note of her flaming cheeks and glassy eyes he guessed this was going to be good. “Absolutely.”
“Can you really… I mean is it true that you can, ah…”
“Colin, you can ask me anything you want and providing I know the answer I’ll give it to you straight.”
She nodded and then gushed, “Is it true you can make a woman come just by talking to her?”
He stared.
She squirmed.
He sighed. “Yes, but it takes a lot of time, training and commitment by both parties. Is this something you’d like to explore with me?”
“I’m not sure.” Tilting her head, she mused, “How much time are we talking?”
He could see the wheels turning as she whipped out her mental abacus, so he chose not to answer her. Instead he asked, “Are you ready to hear the rules for our tapas?”
Colin knew she’d probably regret it, but she said, “Okay.” Then added, “I do have my safe word.”
Standing, he grinned down at her. “Yes, but I highly doubt you’ll need that today. This is going to be fun.”
For whom?
she wanted to ask. And when he came around the front of the desk and sat back against it, her mouth dropped open. “Was this the desk that was in that other room? The satin room the night of the opening?”
“The dungeon,” he corrected as if he were speaking about the weather. “Now, the first rule, and this is important, is that you have to immerse yourself in the moment. No giggling, laughing or rolling your eyes.” She nodded and he narrowed a look at her. “I mean it. There is no reason two consenting adults can’t be adventurous.”
It was her turn to narrow her eyes. “Define adventurous.” After yesterday and the way she behaved, she was trying hard to be normal or at least not a complete and utter mess. Which wasn’t easy because he was better-looking today than he was yesterday and she had no idea how that was possible…or fair.
“Even nice guys tell their girlfriends to strip, play with their nipples or masturbate in front of them.”
Okay, truthfully, she hadn’t been expecting this kind of bluntness, but she persevered.
“In fact, in most states it’s perfectly legal for said nice guy to fuck his lady love in the ass if they’re both so inclined.”
She gasped and grabbed on to the arms of her chair, sitting up straight. “You’re not going to do that to me.”
He pushed his hand through his hair. Looking thoroughly sexy and a little sinister when he said, “You don’t like anal?”
“I don’t—” Air whooshed from her lungs. She was totally flabbergasted. How could she answer that question? Sitting there completely stunned, she glared at a point on the wall behind his left shoulder and sniffed. “I…no.”
“Colin?”
She hated that his tone was calm and reasonable.
“Look at me.”
How could she refuse? Tilting her chin up, she stared right at him. “Yes?”
“Are you saying no because you’ve tried it and didn’t like it?”
She wasn’t going to lie to him. Even though every fiber in her being wanted to because a lie in this instance would be so much easier than the truth, she couldn’t. “I have never tried it, nor do I care to.”
“Let’s see about that, shall we? Second rule, are you ready?”
She knew what he was doing. Pushing ahead. This was probably a good thing, given that she was ready to run, so she wasn’t going to complain.
“You have to share information with me. Give me feedback and speak truthfully about the experience afterward.”
That didn’t sound too hard. She let go of her grip on the chair and was just settling back when he added, “No matter what.”
If he was trying to freak her out it was working. “Are you purposely trying to scare me?”
“No. Just the opposite. I want you informed, capable and ready to explore. Are there any things you’ve tried before and you don’t like? Anything that’s been done to you that instantly turned you off?”
She didn’t realize she was drumming her index finger on the chair arm until she noticed him staring at it. Meh, he could have been staring at her leg that was crossed over her other one, because that was bopping up and down too.
“Colin?”
She stilled and a spurt of nervous adrenaline made her confess. “I’m not going to spank you, even if you have a blindfold on. And I don’t like pretending to be a parent. I’m not anyone’s mother, okay?”
“I’m relieved to hear that.”
“What? That I don’t have any children?”
“No, that you don’t want to spank or blindfold me. That would be a deal breaker.” He gave her a pointed look. “You do realize that.”
Searching his face, she let out a breath. “So you never want a woman to do those things to you?” He shook his head. “Never?” He continued shaking his head. “Ever? Wow.”
“That surprises you?”
“Yeah, because John said all guys liked these kinds of things so I just assumed.”
“Are you disappointed?”
Hardly, it was more like impressed. Just the thought that there were guys out there who didn’t ever want a woman to baby them was encouraging.
“No I’m relieved.”
“I’m glad.” He stood and offered her his hand. “Let’s begin.” Walking her to the door, he explained, “You’re going to go out into the hall and stand there. I want you to slowly count to a hundred. When you reach a hundred take three deep breaths and then knock on the door. I’ll say ‘you may come in’ and once back inside here I want you to listen to what I’m saying and I want you to put yourself in a place—a believable place—where you can react to the situation I create. You need to relax and let your imagination take over. Okay?”
“I’ve done this before.”
“What did I say about rolling your eyes?”
Realizing her attempt to be cute was a bust, she swallowed. “Sorry.”
“I won’t tolerate that kind of behavior here. It ruins it for me.”
Hearing that, she wanted to crawl under a rock. Her stomach somersaulted and she nodded. She’d try. For him. So when he left her standing in the hallway counting out a hundred, she concentrated on keeping her nerves in check. She’d almost lost her count twice because all she could think about was how boring and stupid those playacting scenes were with John. Would this scenario Ethan called a scene wreck how she felt around him? She really liked the sexual hum she’d been experiencing since meeting him and she didn’t want to lose it. Not yet.