The Plume: The Second Anthology (16 page)

Her orgasm lasted a thousand years, give or
take, and Louise was surprised at the fury of her own
resentment.

Rex watched Anna with a smile, and Louise
hated his self control even more. Only when Anna had spent herself
and was trembling in the plaster cast did Rex indulge himself. Even
that was superbly controlled. He drove himself into Anna more
quickly, then gritted his teeth and tipped his head back as he let
himself come.

As much as Louise resented his show of power,
she also admired it. Rex had to be the most attractive man she’d
ever seen. He was perfect. His body was so perfectly sculpted that
she knew he had to spend hours in the gym, making the most of what
he had been given. His muscles rippled as he drove himself onward.
The sinews in his neck stood out as he reached his release and he
made a low groan that Louise wanted to hear again and again. His
hands tightened into fists and his thighs were taut, his teeth
bared and a patina of perspiration all over his body.

She wanted to control him, to make him lose
his edge, to drive him to distraction over and over again. She
wanted to show him what it was like to be someone else’s toy.

She wanted to prove to him that participating
was far better than observing.

Rex took a deep breath, then arched a brow as
he met Louise’s gaze. He pulled out of Anna and the other woman
sagged visibly in relief.

Louise struggled again, pumping her hips in
an open invitation, and he smiled.

“You didn’t move,” he said to Anna. “So we
don’t have to do the cast again.” He removed his condom and
disposed of it.

Then he strode back to Louise’s side, so
casual that she knew he had to be aware of how badly she was
itching for him. He leaned over her, ignoring how she fought the
bonds and plucked the cloth out of her mouth. “Give me one reason
why I should take you,” he invited, his tone making it clear that
he had no intention of doing so.

His attitude made Louise angry. “Because I
want the central sculpture to be of you,” she said, improvising on
the spot.

He straightened in his surprise and glanced
back at the maquette.

“I want to make you the star, the focal point
of the Plume. Maybe you want to reward me for that.”

“I am the focal point of the Plume. You can’t
take credit for that.” Rex strode to the model, giving Louise a
superb view of his butt. He braced his hands on his hips, peering
down at the display. “There’s a gap in the middle,” he said, then
glanced over his shoulder, his gaze simmering. “You’re shitting
me.”

“No. There were no black male dolls at the
shop.”

“Liar.”

“I want to show you at the center, like one
of those illustrations in the
Kama Sutra
- the lord
entertaining his various wives simultaneously.”

Rex smiled and she knew she had him. “How
many women?”

“At least six.”

He caught his breath and Louise felt the odds
shift in her favor. He was trying to pretend otherwise, but he was
excited. His erection was back already and to Louise, it looked
even bigger and harder than before.

“I’ll need to take a casting of you.”

Rex caught his breath and when he turned to
face her, his eyes were flashing. “You think I’m going to let you
encase me in plaster?”

“I do.” Louise held his gaze unflinchingly as
he marched back to her side.

“I don’t trust you.”

“You should.”

“Why?”

“Because I know you’ll love it.” She smiled
with a serenity she wasn’t feeling and saw a flush rise over Rex’s
skin.

He
would
love it.

Rex was furious, so Louise knew she’d found a
nerve. She wasn’t going to back down now.

“The master conquered,” she whispered and
there was no denying how the words thrilled him. “Look at how it
worked for Anna. It’ll be even more potent for you.”

“You don’t know anything about me...”

“Bullshit. I know you like to control
everything,” she said, interrupting him. “I know that you like to
be in charge, that you’re always master and never slave.”

He was dismissive. “I’ve been dominated
before. Don’t start telling me how I am...”

“I also know that having control puts you
outside of the experience. It makes you an observer, not a
participant.” Louise noticed how his gaze locked upon her. She’d
found a truth. “It makes you a photographer, composing images but
not ever being part of them. Do you want to record life around you,
or live it?”

He glared at her, his gaze sliding over her.
She wiggled her toes, just because, and he caught his breath. When
he spoke, his voice was icy with control. “You don’t know what
you’re talking about.”

Louise smiled. “Then prove me wrong. Be a
participant. Pose for the sculpture. One hour out of your life is
all it will take.”

Rex was livid, which told Louise a great deal
about the power of the idea.

He would adore it.

But she wasn’t at all sure he’d do it.

“You are a manipulative, provocative,
troublemaking bitch,” he began, his voice low and thrumming with
anger.

“Yes, absolutely,” Louise agreed and again he
was surprised. “I’m an artist. I like to challenge things, and
people.”

“You piss me off...”

“Because you are a domineering control freak.
But between us, we’re going to mount a show that blows the minds of
everyone in this town - because when you get right down to it,
we’re the same.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about...”
Rex was clearly prepared to argue but Louise wasn’t interested in
words.

She interrupted him. “We’re two of a kind,
whether you like it or not. Go ahead, control the next five minutes
of our lives, just to prove that you can.” She lifted her butt and
he looked, his gaze burning with heat. “See how wet I am. See how
much I want you. See how you’ve tied me up for yourself and
punished me.” She dropped her voice. “Now go ahead and walk away.
Get yourself a coffee and forget all about this.” She widened her
legs and lifted her hips. She clenched hard and her wet nether
mouth closed before it opened in invitation.

Rex swore. He spun Louise around, then drove
himself into her welcoming snatch. She was startled by his size and
his hardness, never mind the speed of his move. “I’ll teach you to
tempt me,” he growled, his eyes alight.

“Go ahead. Teach me more.” Louise bared her
teeth as Rex filled her to capacity. She had a moment to feel
triumphant, then he started to withdraw and she understood that he
meant to tease her. Louise clenched her toes, knowing that her puss
was tightening around him.

Rex exhaled abruptly.

He shuddered.

Then he plunged deep inside her once
again.

“Who’s in charge now?” Louise whispered.

Rex, to her delight, couldn’t stop himself
from banging her, not once she had locked around him as tightly as
she could. She could see the truth in his expression. She smiled up
at him as he drilled her hard and fast, giving her exactly what she
wanted. She held herself tightly around him, gripping him with all
her might as he gasped. His eyes glittered and his fingers dug into
her hip. He was hers and he knew it.

He was also about to explode.

“Share the joy, Rex,” she whispered in the
last moment and he caught his breath as he laughed against his own
will. “Make us come together.”

“Witch,” he muttered, but his warm hand
closed over her. He couldn’t deny her. He couldn’t step away from
her. He couldn’t stop himself. Louise was jubilant and she hadn’t
even come yet.

Rex caught her clitoris between finger and
thumb just as he drove so deep that she thought she’d taste his
semen. He pinched harder than before, sending her straight to the
moon. Louise shouted as she came in a rush. She knew she locked
around him even more tightly than before, and loved the way he
bellowed when he came.

He collapsed over her, panting, and she could
feel his perspiration against her skin. Maybe it was her own,
mingling with his. She didn’t care. It was the nectar she wanted.
She wanted to lick him from head to toe and taste it all. She
tasted salt on her own lip and smelled the sweet heat of his skin,
felt the press of his hard chest against her breasts.

She wanted to do this daily for the rest of
her life.

Louise caught her own breath with an effort.
“Tomorrow at ten I have an opening,” she managed to say.

Rex almost laughed, his eyes sparkling as he
looked her. “I thought I said no.”

“I thought that was a resounding yes.” She
grinned at him. “Or are you afraid of a woman who weighs less than
half what you do? What do you really think I could do to you?”

His eyes narrowed. “Whatever you wanted.”

“In just an hour?” Louise shook her head.
“But what I want is to see you come. How bad can that be?”

Rex studied her for a moment, his gaze
flicking over her. Then he straightened and spoke more quietly. “I
don’t trust you. You’re a pitbull.”

“It’s been said before. And what exactly do
you have to lose? You’re the one who told me that you’ve done
everything before.”

“And some of those things I don’t want to do
again.”

“Because you’re afraid?”

“Because they don’t work.”

“There’s only one way to know for sure.”

Rex didn’t answer: he just unbound her then
got dressed, his expression veiled. But Louise noticed the steady
look he gave her as he left the studio, and hoped she might have
changed his mind.

He was gone before she managed to get
unbound. When she sat up and turned to Anna, she was surprised by
the animosity in her lover’s eyes.

There was something else she’d changed.

* * *

Rex was shaken.

He hated losing control. He particularly
hated that it was happening more frequently. The rules of the Plume
demanded the use of a condom for all sexual acts, for hygiene and
safety. He always followed the rules. He’d made the rules. He knew
how sensible they were.

But he’d taken Joanna without a condom that
one time, unable to resist her. He’d rationalized that as a single
incident, a slip in his game due to his long-standing attraction to
Joanna. That was all very logical - except that he’d just done it
again.

With Louise, who did not fascinate him as
Joanna did, but certainly had a gift for making him mad. He
couldn’t remember being so angry as he had been in her studio.
She’d taunted him and tempted him, and she wasn’t a member of the
Plume. He’d told himself in that moment that she wanted him and her
lack of membership meant that no rules applied.

It was a justification for what he couldn’t
have stopped himself from doing.

Even worse, she’d practically blown his mind.
She was even tighter than he recalled and she seemed to have
grabbed on to him as if she’d never let him go. It had been
thrilling and irresistible. He’d been both captor and captive.

Come to think of it - ha - that was how
Joanna had driven him over the edge as well. When she’d sucked him
off and changed the balance of power by taking control of the
moment, even though she’d been soundly trussed, he’d lost
control.

The fact was that he couldn’t have done
anything other than drill Louise until she begged for mercy.

Except that she hadn’t, exactly. She’d asked
to have an orgasm too, and with his blood boiling and his body
straining, Rex hadn’t been able to deny her.

Worse again, just ten minutes later, he
wanted to go back to the studio and take her again.

Everything was wrong with Louise. She had
small breasts. She was too petite. She was mouthy and defiant. She
liked being naughty and challenging expectations. She was no
submissive and she didn’t want to be. She talked back to him and
provoked him.

And Rex knew he would dream about her that
night. Because she was vital and alive and she challenged his
expectations.

She could do that because she understood him,
and that was something he couldn’t rationalize away. Joanna had
destroyed his control inadvertently - her response had been
intuitive and she hadn’t known it would work so well for him.
Louise, though, had deliberately set the trap to push him out of
his comfort zone.

Never mind that her idea for the sculpture
installation was brilliant. Rex could see it clearly and it made
him even more excited about the opening night show. He couldn’t
wait for midnight, to see those sculptures come to life and feel
the thrill in the room.

Maybe a little panic.

He couldn’t help wondering what Louise would
do to him if he did pose for that case.

If she had him helpless.

Yes, he would dream about it - but he
wouldn’t do it.

Rex strode into the Plume’s offices, more
than ready to make the final choice of photographs, only to find
Athena there, tapping her toe with impatience.

“About time you showed up,” she said, in as
bad a mood as he’d ever seen her. “We have to talk.”

* * *

Men were full of shit. Athena was certain of
it. First there was the Count, with all his pretty talk about love
and having missed her. He’d disappeared without a trace after that,
which meant all his words were lies. Again.

Now there was Rex, with all
his
talk
about integrity and protecting the identity of members of the Plume
and secrecy being so critical. But he was showing his photographs
in a public exhibition, the photographs he had taken at the Plume
of its members.

They both were talking out of both sides of
their mouths, saying whatever was necessary to allow them to do
whatever they wanted.

Worse, Rex seemed to have forgotten his
duties at the Plume. She had a helluva time even finding him these
days, and when she did, he was always immersed in arranging his
show. He appeared to have forgotten that he was supposed to be part
of an exhibit in Japanese bondage techniques, that the instructor
brought by the Plume at considerable expense had chosen him as a
model.