The Plume: The First Anthology (6 page)

The Countess, meanwhile, had fastened the seatbelt around Joanna’s hips. She tightened the belt with a sure tug, letting the metal clasp fall against Joanna’s hip. Joanna wriggled, but she was securely trapped.

She saw the flash of dark silk in her peripheral vision, just before the Countess blindfolded her with another scarf. Joanna had noticed the loops on either side of the mask, just over the temples, but only now learned what they were for. Before she could move away, she was blindfolded, lost in a realm of black silk, and the Countess was knotting that scarf firmly behind her head.

“That’s for naughty,” the other woman whispered, laughter underlying her tone.

Joanna opened her mouth to protest, but that velvet clad finger landed against her lips. “Not a sound,” the Countess whispered, her lips close to Joanna’s ears. “Not a sound or I’ll have to give you to Rafael.”

She ran a fingertip down Joanna’s throat as before, but this time, all of Joanna’s nerves seemed to leap at the touch. Her entire body was singing, her other senses more alert now that she couldn’t see. She was sure she would drown in the Countess’s perfume.

The Countess’s finger slid over the garter belt, pausing to stroke Joanna’s belly, then eased between her thighs. The Countess made a sound of approval to find her shaved there. Joanna trembled and locked her knees together.

“Naughty,” the Countess said, pushing her knees apart. She threw her leg over Joanna wedging her knee between Joanna’s and Joanna felt the smooth leather of her high boots against her own skin.

“Never impede access,” the Countess instructed. “You have submitted.”

Joanna fought against her instinctive desire to fight.

“Do you want me to give you to Rafael, after all?”

Impossible. Unthinkable. Joanna couldn’t be given to a stranger as a sex toy. But she was bound and she was helpless and she had signed all of the waivers and contracts. Joanna shuddered as the Countess caressed her again, seeming to enjoy her agitation.

Joanna was sure the other woman was watching her closely and the driver too. She felt herself blush, but there was nothing she could do to stop the woman’s touch.

She jumped when the Countess caressed the hard bud of her clitoris. “I have to warn you that Rafael likes his women trussed so helpless that they can’t even shiver.”

The driver chuckled. “Gagged so tightly that they can’t even moan,” he added.

The Countess chuckled.

Joanna didn’t make another sound.

She didn’t dare.

Her heart thundered as the car accelerated.

* * *

Joanna was even more luscious than Rex recalled.

He was waiting in the foyer of the Plume, impatient as he seldom was. It wasn’t the first time that some journalist had tried to sneak in to reveal the Plume’s secrets to the world at large. He and Athena had a standardized procedure, taking turns to ditch the curious. It didn’t usually take much.

But this time was different.

Joanna
. She wouldn’t remember him, of course, or even recognize him now as the skinny kid at high school who had gazed after her in adoration. He’d recognized her instantly, probably because she’d filled his dreams and starred in his fantasies for twenty years, and had been haunted by the promise of her arrival ever since.

And she was coming to him.

To submit.

It was a lie, of course, and he had to do his job to protect the Plume.

But still. He hadn’t been able to think about anything else all week.

Rex’s heart stopped cold when Athena drove Joanna over the threshold from the private garage, blindfolded with her hands bound behind her back. The black made her skin look more ivory, more flawless. The stockings and heels made her look taller. The garter belt emphasized the narrow span of her waist and made her breasts look more ripe. Her hair shone as it swung behind her shoulders, so thick and luxuriant that he wanted to gather it by the fistful.

She was even more gorgeous than in the video. He loved the red lipstick. No one could have chosen a morsel more tempting to him. Her breasts bounced slightly as she walked, enough to fill his hands without an ounce to spare.

He had the impression that she was aroused.

That was unexpected.

Impossible.

But Rex could almost see the red glisten of her puss, could almost smell its welcoming heat from across the foyer. The blindfold would have heightened her other senses as well as taking the edge off her fear.

Her lips were soft, tempting. So red.

Was it just an act? Joanna’s lips were parted and she kept licking them nervously, giving many glimpses of a delightful little tongue. Her breath came quickly and she was flushed.

On fire.

Which meant that his own erection instantly became enormous. He loved the innocent slaves, the ones who were discovering the fullness of pleasure. Most of the applicants at the Plume had already been enslaved in private homes – they were looking for the next experience, not an entirely new one.

But Joanna was a novice.

An excited novice.

His favorite kind. Although Rex had explored all of the erotic possibilities himself, he found it incredibly exciting to watch another person experience the Plume’s delights for the first time.

That it would be Joanna tonight put him within a whisper of coming in his pants.

Athena halted Joanna in the middle of the foyer, grasping both of her shoulders and giving a quiet command. Joanna stood as bidden and quivered. Deliciously. She was vulnerable, delicate, aroused. An irresistible combination. That mouth opened and closed, and he remembered her confession. Rex could imagine her lips locked around him, sucking him dry. He wanted her to like it as much as he knew he would.

Members came out of the bar to have a look and there was an appreciative murmur from the crowd. Some brought their own slaves, shackled or leashed, others were in fetish gear looking for a connection, either permanent or fleeting. Although most members signed up as masters, some members chose to be slaves themselves. They were masked and gorgeous, each and every one of them, their eyes sparkling.

Rex tugged on his gloves, remembering Joanna’s supposed taste for leather.

He hadn’t believed it, not any more than he believed any more of her supposed confessions, but now he wondered.

Could his fantasy truly come true? His heart pounded.

“First dibs, Rex?” one of the long-standing members called.

Rex smiled. “I like them fresh,” he said and winked.

“You like the training,” that member teased.

“Because he’s the best,” Tony the bartender added. More than one member looked hopeful.

Joanna shivered when he halted in front of her, sensing his presence.

Rex was ready to split his pants.

Athena smiled at him, missing nothing. They’d known each other too long and played too many games together to have secrets any more. “Our new recruit is naughty,” she said in the dark voice that made all the sex slaves shiver. Athena ran a fingertip down Joanna’s spine, a proprietary gesture that made her nipples tighten and her back arch. Her mouth opened again, as if she’d gasp, then closed.

“You know how I like the bad girls,” Athena murmured. “I’m tempted to keep her myself tonight. Maybe have her for dessert.” She arched a brow.

“But we’ve agreed that she’s all mine,” Rex said and beckoned to the feather bearer.

Joanna caught her breath.

Rex lifted a trio of peacock feathers and brushed their tips across her breast. Joanna shivered in surprise, but he kept tickling and teasing, flicking their silken plumes across her skin. That mouth opened and closed, opened and closed, her color rising, her agitation becoming more clear with every stroke.

He didn’t know what she’d expected, but she hadn’t expected this.

She was loving it, and neither of them had expected that.

Although his own reaction to his first assault by feathers had been explosive. The tickling awakened every nerve, teasing but never delivering, making the body yearn for more and more. The awareness that others were gathered around, watching, assisting in the torment, had been what had driven him over the edge.

At his gesture, Athena took several feathers from the feather bearer, tickling Joanna on her buttocks and between her thighs. Joanna twitched and trembled, her breasts blushing as her pulse rate increased.

Rex beckoned and the other members closed around them, taking feathers and tickling Joanna with them. Rex knew she’d hear their footfalls, their breath, their heat. He watched her shake beneath the assault of silken plumes, watched her tremble and vibrate.

And he smelled her hot wet sex.

It was a hell of a ruse.

Rex reached out abruptly and cupped one of her breasts in his hand. Not a harsh gesture, just one Joanna wouldn’t be able to anticipate with the blindfold. He expected her to jerk away from him, but she didn’t. The feathers fell away, leaving her quivering in his grasp.

But she held her ground.

Had Joanna taken this job because of her own inclinations? Rex loved that idea. Or was he seeing what he wanted to see?

Rex deliberately caressed her nipple, then pinched it lightly. Joanna caught her breath, arched her back and swallowed. The flush that touched her skin revealed to him that she was tingling, aware of him, outside of her comfort zone.

But enjoying it.

So was he.

He flicked a glance at Athena, whose gaze was considering.

“Sensitive, too,” he murmured, running his thumb back and forth across that taut nipple.

“Don’t spank that out of her completely,” Athena chided. Joanna was listening, trying to hide her dismay, but those nipples told no lies. She did like the idea of being spanked.

“It’ll take more than one night to do that.” Rex watched her, fascinated by the sight of her arousal.

He decided to push her a little more.

He caught Joanna’s shoulders in his hands and drew her closer, letting her breasts bump against his chest. He was taller than her, broader than her, and she was bound. He was wearing leather, supposedly her fantasy. He slid his hands down to her elbows and back to her shoulders, holding her in a resolute grip, reminding her of her helplessness as he held her against him. Those lips worked as if she would protest, but had been warned of consequences if she did.

“Welcome to the Plume,” he murmured, using his deepest darkest voice. He felt her tremble against his chest. “I am the Master. Now you’re mine.”

Joanna trembled in his grip, licked her lips.

“I threatened to give her to Rafael if she talked,” Athena contributed amiably. “Maybe we still should.”

“Maybe I’ll let him share,” Rex murmured. He kept running his hands over Joanna, showing her that she was a possession,
his
possession.

Joanna gasped at his words, her cheeks turning red with outrage.

Rex chuckled, knowing that he’d found a secret, perhaps one he could work with. “It’s not up to you,” he murmured.

Joanna’s blush deepened and she looked discomfited now. He fully expected that she would bail soon and demand release.

But he’d have one kiss first, the one he’d been dreaming of for years.

He hauled her closer and caught the back of her head in one hand, enjoying the contrast of his strength with her femininity. He liked the look of his dark skin against her fair skin, the look of the black leather glove around her pale nape. She was so slender, so delicate that he could have broken her – instead he caressed her, letting her feel his power and that he had it in check. He felt possessive and powerful, yet tender as well.

She trembled, wobbling slightly in those fabulous heels. She smelled like the body lotion they gave all the recruits, the familiar mingled with the distinctive perfume of her own body.

Sweet and hot and low.

As potent as dynamite and as pervasive as cinnamon.

He wrapped his other arm around her waist, pulling her to her toes, crushing her against him. He lifted her toes almost from the ground. He ensured that she felt the size of his erection, watched her lips part in surprise, before he bent and kissed her.

It was a thorough kiss, a mark of ownership, a kiss that gave fair warning of his intent to take her submission at its word. He kissed her open-mouthed, demanding more, claiming and possessing and asserting his ownership of her body. It should have terrified Joanna. It was sure to make her bolt.

She stiffened in surprise, made to close her mouth against him, then seemed to think better of it.

Remembering her cover story, maybe.

He felt her heart skip, the thud of it against his chest.

He smelled her arousal, wild and wet and sweet.

And he felt something change. She shuddered, right to her toes, then stretched against him and opened her mouth to him. The gesture sent fire through his blood.

She was his for the taking. Whether it was real or feigned, Rex didn’t care.

He deepened his kiss, sampling and savoring her, taking more with his tongue and teeth. She kissed him back, grinding her breasts against his chest, her tongue tangling with his as if she’d been born to be his sex slave.

The members watching gave a cheer.

Rex broke his kiss, framing her face in his hands and holding her so that she was on her toes. She wasn’t quite able to balance unless she leaned against him. When her breasts collided with his chest, she sighed. Then she licked her lips again, that tongue dancing over the swollen redness of them, the sight shorting out his brain.

Joanna as his sex slave.

Just because Rex wanted it to be true didn’t make it so. He had responsibilities. He had to think of the Plume and its membership and his job of defending the borders. His own desire couldn’t be the undoing of everything.

She was a journalist.

There was a ripple of applause, but Athena silenced it with a gesture. “You have a plan for our bad girl. I see it in your eyes,” she charged.

He did.

Rex focused on Joanna. “Repeat after me,” he instructed her. “I surrender to desire.”

“I surrender to desire,” she said, breathless but without hesitation.