Odalisque (25 page)

Firm hands stilled her hips, impeding her efforts. Constance looked over into Jeremy Gray’s implacable gaze. “No. I’ll tell you when you’re allowed to come.”

Constance swallowed a groan. It wasn’t fair. She’d been trained to be orgasmic. It was ten times harder for her to hold off orgasm than anyone else. She threw a pleading look at Jeremy, but he was rooting around in Kai’s cabinet again. Perhaps while his back was turned, she might twist her hips a little...just to take the edge off the nearly unbearable ache--

A searing line of fire erupted against her flank. She yelped and spun to find Jeremy beside her, brandishing a crop.

“I’ll let you know when you can ride the horse, little filly. Now, eyes front.”

Constance threw her head back in frustration, suddenly not at all excited about playing with Jeremy Gray. He was a sadist. A
teasing
sadist. The worst kind. Jeremy took his time landing biting flicks of the crop all over her ass and outer thighs. The orgasm was building inside her, teeming and expanding, with no way to break free. She arched forward and back in an effort to evade the stinging licks, but that only got her more worked up. She glanced back at Jeremy, her eyes begging for mercy.

He put his hands on his hips, unmoved. “If you can’t stop looking behind you, perhaps I’ll just stand in front.”

He came around her and, to her horror, started giving the same stinging series of licks to her front side. He flicked the underside of one breast and the nipple of the other, causing a sharp, agonizing pulse in her clit.
Oh, God, if he didn’t let her come soon…
She threw her shoulders forward protectively, but he would have none of that. He pushed them back and made it quite clear without words that she was to keep her breasts outthrust. She closed her eyes, racked by pain, tormented by pleasure. At last the cropping ended and Constance was left gasping for breath.
Please, please, let me come now!

Jeremy undid her bonds, helped her off the bench, and stood her before him. A quick assessment had him shaking his head. “I still plan to give you a thorough fucking, Constance, and you’re already way too close. I’ll have to find something to get your mind off that lovely ache between your legs.”
Please, not the clamps, not the clamps!
“Like maybe a nice wicked pair of nipple clamps.”
Damn!

She was quite certain Jeremy was enjoying her anguish. If his huge, upstanding cock was any indication, he was enjoying it very much. He returned from the cabinet with a pair of alligator clamps on a chain. Oh, God, she hated them, but if that’s what she had to wear to get fucked by him, so be it.

“Hold your breasts out to me,” he said. “Show me how much you want me to make them hurt.” Constance gritted her teeth and offered her breasts with trembling hands. Each clamp delivered searing torture. It was so hard not to just grab them back off, but that wouldn’t have been a very submissive thing to do. The clamps did achieve one aim. They got her thinking about something besides the overwhelming desire to come.

Jeremy was rolling on a flavored condom. One look from him was all it took to have her falling to her knees. He grasped her face between his hands, guiding his cock to her mouth and invading her throat without quarter. Any other woman would have probably gagged and threw up all over him, but Constance stayed calm and drew on her lessons from the Maison.
Breathe through your nose. Swallow if you start to gag. Open. Open. Stay open to the cock of your Master.

Within minutes, Jeremy’s stern and staunchly controlled veneer began to crack. He reached down, legs trembling, to tug at the chain between her nipples. She moaned against his cock, then pulled away to lap at his balls. After a moment, he stopped her with a jerky motion and pushed her back on the floor. He lowered himself to thrust between her thighs and fucked her hard, with the chain and the clamps trapped between them. Part of her wished to pull away, to escape the pain and intensity of his possession, while another part of her reveled in it.
More pain, more pleasure.
The pain in her nipples interwove with the pounding, grinding invasion of his cock. She lifted her hips, meeting each thrust. Her swollen clit ached in rhythm to his strokes.

He slid one hand under her hips and fucked her from up on his knees. Her eyes nearly rolled back in her head as he contacted her g-spot over and over again. She was shuddering, imploding, and then she felt him nudge her against the cheek. She could barely make out his words.

“Now, little filly. Finish the ride.”

Or something like that. It was all she needed to hear. She cried out from the force of her orgasm, racked with rollicking spasms of completion...and blessed relief. Jeremy pressed her down into the floor and went rigid over her, his head buried against her hair.

Their passion spent, they both relaxed by slow degrees. As always, reason seemed to flood back to Constance at the most inopportune times.
Who is this stranger on top of me? What am I doing here? And when is he going to take off the clamps?

Jeremy moved away from her, stood to remove his condom and throw it away. He was back in a moment with her notebook and an apologetic smile, the dominant sadist replaced by a smiling gentleman. “I guess I should have taken those off first, shouldn’t I? What a good submissive you are, not to take them off yourself.”

Constance moaned softly, then sucked in her breath as he removed the biting clips, bringing feeling back to her tender nipples. Jeremy licked each peak gently, a soothing touch of warm tongue. He leaned back then, regarding her with curiosity. He was probably having the same thoughts.
Who is this stranger I just took to heaven and back?

He asked, “How much longer will you be with Kai?”

She raised an eyebrow and took up her pen.
Why are you asking? Are you in the market for an odalisque?

Jeremy chuckled. “I have to admit I find the
Code d’Odalisque
fascinating, but my wife is enough for me. No, I was thinking that Nell would probably like you. Perhaps, if you’re going to be with Kai for a while, the four of us can arrange our own little party.”

Constance felt a curious ache in her chest. She forced a smile for Jeremy, and wrote,
My year is up in February. So I don’t know. Maybe.

Jeremy scrutinized her for a long moment. “Don’t you think he’ll want to keep you beyond that?”

Constance thought, and then wrote as honest an answer as she could muster.
I’m not sure I could survive another year.

Jeremy nodded. “I thought so. You’re in love with him.”

It was pointless to disagree. Constance wrote,
That doesn’t matter. Love isn’t part of the code. Anyway, we don’t belong together. I’m deaf.

“I’m quite sure he doesn’t care about that.”

And I have plans. Dreams. Things I want to do. Kai wants children, and I don’t. There are a lot of reasons it wouldn’t work out.
She put a heavy period at the end of that line and tucked the pen into the edge of the book.

Jeremy waited a moment for her to look up at him. He pushed the pen back toward her. “But are there any reasons it
would
work out? Say, for instance, if he was in love with you too?”

God, she was in trouble. He had that implacable look again.

*** *** ***

Kai and Nell were relaxing down in the living room after a very rousing session. If Constance had the most spankable ass in the world, Nell certainly ran a close second. Kai went to get her a drink, and on the way back was waylaid by Veronica.

“Oh. You.” He looked down his nose at her, all the satisfaction of the past hour’s scene ebbing away. “Can I help you with something?”

Veronica batted her eyes at him in that passive-aggressive way she had. “Why are you avoiding me, Kai?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because I hate you?”

Veronica pouted, folding her arms over her pert breasts. “Are you still angry about that old stuff?”

“That old stuff?” Kai gave Nell’s drink to Mason to deliver, and took his ex-wife’s arm and steered her toward the back hallway. “That ‘old stuff’? Is that how you refer to the fact that you secretly deprived me of three children?”

“Oh, you never wanted children,” Veronica spat at him. “You just wanted a reason to be mad at me.”

“You grifting me out of 35 million dollars wasn’t a good enough reason? Why are you here?”

Veronica stuck out her chin. “Jessamine invited me. You and I have a lot of the same friends. I don’t know why we can’t get along together. I had kind of hoped we might stay friends.”

Kai stared at her, his jaw open in disbelief. “Really?”

“I miss you, Kai.”

It was unspeakably rude, but he laughed out loud. “It’s New Years Eve, Veronica, not April Fools Day. Sorry. I was stupid enough to fall for your games once--”

“Games? What games?”

“The games where you pretend to care about me in order to take my money and abort my kids. Those games.”

“Kai--”

“What about your date there, your handsome Mr. Universe?”

“I don’t care about him. Being with him has made me realize how much I need you. How much I miss you.”

“Is the money gone already? How do you buzz through 35 mil in one year?”

“The money’s not gone. This has nothing to do with that. Can’t I have a change of heart?”

Veronica blinked up at him, lower lip trembling, in full blown delicate-flower act. How he’d loved her once. For a moment he was that impressionable young man again, who couldn’t believe such a beauty would be interested in him. But he was wise enough now to look past the delicate flower to the thorny stalk beneath. “Not a fucking chance, woman. Give it up.”

“Kai--”

She grabbed his arm and he pulled away. “Either leave my house, Veronica, or leave me alone. Just stay out of my face--”

Jessamine’s shriek interrupted their argument. With a muttered curse, Kai pushed past Veronica and into the living room. All the conversation had stopped, the various couples clustered on the outskirts of the room. In front of the New Years telecast, Jessamine was waving a fistful of papers in front of Mason’s face.

“You fucking bastard. Explain this. Explain it to me!”

“What’s there to explain?” Mason yelled back. “You’re an intelligent woman. I’m sure you can fucking figure it out.”

“Oh, I figured it out all right.” She slapped Mason upside the head so hard Kai flinched. “You’re fucking Kai’s little deaf girl right under my nose. How many times have you had her? I knew it! I knew it at that Lincoln Center bash in New York. Where is that little whore?”

“Jessamine.” Kai crossed the room. “Look, calm down. It’s twenty minutes to New Years. Sit down, have some champagne--”

“You knew about this?” Jessamine turned her fury on him. “I should have known. The two stooges. He’s always loved you more than me. What are you, a couple of closet homosexuals?”

“Jess,” Mason warned.

“What are you even talking about?” asked Kai, prying the pages from her hand. He scanned them, recognizing Constance’s handwriting, and Mason’s. “Where did you get this?”

“They were sitting on top of the piano,” Jess fumed. “Apparently Mason spent one of his hours plotting the end of my marriage with your sanctimonious, whoring little bitch.”

“Enough,” Kai snapped. “Don’t talk about Constance that way.”

Jess spun on Mason again. “How dare you? We promised never to keep secrets. Where
is
she?”

With impeccable timing, Jeremy appeared at the door to the odella with Constance at his side. Jessamine went tearing up the stairs. Jeremy positioned himself in front of Constance, but Jess went pushing past, into the odella. Mason and Kai ran behind, along with the other guests.

Jessamine took in the bright bed, the harem-like curtains and decor, and spun toward the saray. She looked inside, and when she turned around to Mason, her face was white and drawn. Her voice shook with the force of her rage. She pointed at Constance and barely spoke above a whisper. “Is that woman an odalisque? Answer me. Is she your odalisque?”

Mason shook his head. Kai held Constance close and said, “She’s mine. I went and got her on my own. Mason had no part in it.”

Jess fixed her gaze on her husband. “And you slithered over here behind my back to be with her. For how long?”

“I invited him, Jess,” Kai interjected. “Don’t just blame him--”

“You stay out of this. Just fucking shut up.” She gave Constance an eviscerating glare before she turned back to Mason. “I’ll ask again. How long?”

Mason looked as enraged as his wife. “Since summer. Six months ago--”

“You fucking ass!”

“Since you started spending all that time with your fucking
Out of Bounds
co-star!” Mason’s voice rose, hoarse and tortured. “Since you started hooking up every other night with those slutty waitresses from Eau de Vie. Since you started swinging with your fucking personal trainer and your bodyguard. Since you left me!”

“I never left you! You knew about every one of my lovers. You agreed! We agreed to an open marriage.”

“What choice did I have, Jessamine?” Mason’s voice cracked and broke. “Yes, I agreed. But I don’t agree any more. I’ve had enough.”

In the frozen silence that followed, Kai heard, with a sick sinking feeling, his sister’s bright voice from the stairs.

“Constance! Hey, are you up there?”

Satya’s face appeared in the door. She took in the sixteen naked bodies and Mason’s stricken expression, Jessamine’s rage and Kai’s flustered scowl.

“Brother,” she asked softly. “What’s going on?”

Kai swallowed past the tightness in his throat. “We’re having a little party.” His voice sounded strangely normal, considering the circumstances. He belatedly remembered to put a hand over his genitals, after seeing the other men covering up. “What are you doing here?”

Satya was looking anywhere but him, anywhere but at the naked party guests. “It’s New Years Eve. I was lonely and I wanted to come spend it with you and Constance.”

“I thought you were spending it with your boyfriend.”

Satya’s eyes were shining, like she was about to start crying. “We actually just broke up.” From downstairs, the sound of the countdown blared up from the TV.
5...4...3...2...1...