Paper Kisses (8 page)

And just like that she went from
heartbroken to
aroused
in the blink of an eye.
 
Yes, yes, for once in her life she wanted to
follow her fantasy, to do the thing that made no sense.
 
She wanted to let Sky do all sorts of lustful
things to her because she knew, deep down, she wasn’t frigid or boring.
 
She had just been with the wrong man.

“If you guys are done swapping
spit, food’s ready!”
CeeCee
called out.

Sky shook his head and helped her
to stand.
 
Then he stood in front of her
and wiped her tears away.
 
And when she
had her emotions under control, he took her hand and led her back inside to the
dinner table, where a small smorgasbord was laid out.

“Eloquent as ever,
Cee
,” Sky told her as held out a chair for Alannah before
sitting down himself.
 

“If you’re
gonna
do
it in front of the world then be prepared for the
comments,”
CeeCee
replied. Kevin elbowed her. “Ouch!”

“They don’t need a sidelines guru
giving them advice.”

CeeCee
lifted her nose slightly and moved to the head of the table.
 
“Well, let’s just get the meal underway
before it gets cold.
 
It took me forever
to make all this, by the way.”

Sky raised his eyebrows.
 
“It’s hot dogs with potato chips.
 
And store-bought potato
salad.”

“Tell me about it,”
CeeCee
sighed dramatically.
 
“It’s so damn hard getting them to plump just right.”

****

Once the meal was finished and the
dishes washed, Alannah went upstairs to pack an overnight bag.
 
CeeCee
and Kevin
were nowhere to be seen, and secretly she was glad.
 
She didn’t want to face her friend’s smirk
right then.
 
Sky took her bag and her
hand and led her to his truck.

It surprised her when he began to
drive out Grant Street and then turned into the Country Club community.
 
For some reason she pictured him still living
at his parents’ house down by the chicken plant.
 
She’d lived nearby so they’d been playmates
all their lives.
 
Living near the country
club was highfalutin’ indeed.

“When did you move here?” she
asked.

“About three years ago,” he
replied.
 
“I wanted something bigger.”

“Well, these houses definitely fit
that bill,” she mused, staring at the large homes passing them by.
 
Sky pulled into the driveway of a two-story
log cabin style home that had a wraparound porch and a huge backyard.
 
“Wow.”

“Thanks,” he said, smiling.
 
“This house used to belong to the Weavers and
when I was a teenager I’d mow their lawn every week.
 
I vowed to myself if the house ever came up
for sale, and I could afford it, I’d buy it.”

“Did the Weavers die?”

“No, retired to Florida.
 
When I heard that I swooped in before anyone
else could bid on it.
 
Come on. Let me
show you around.”

He took her hand and led her up the
steps to the porch where he unlocked the door and turned off the alarm.
 
The first thing she saw inside was the floor
to ceiling window that made up the back of the house and showed off a pond
surrounded by woods.
 
Alannah could only
imagine what it would look like when the sun was coming up.
 
Breathtaking, she suspected.

“Amazing,” she whispered.

“I know,” he agreed.
 
“Well, let me give you the quick tour.
 
“Den, library, kitchen is back there, along
with a laundry room and half bath, and on the other side is a bedroom I use for
my office.
 
Upstairs are three other
bedrooms and two bathrooms.”

“Wow, Sky.
 
I absolutely love this.
 
Did you decorate it yourself?”

Her interior designer eye was
salivating at the splashes of color that brought the house to life.
 
Of course there were wooden beams but the
frontier look didn’t overshadow the elegance of the furniture.
 
Sky had used forest green and dark red, to
bring out the darker tones of the wood.

“I did,” he said.
 
“I did a lot of research and it took me a
long time to find the things I wanted, but I like how it came out.”

“You should.
 
It’s a beautiful home.”

He smiled and set her bag on the
chocolate brown leather sofa.
 
He held
out a hand to her.
 
“Are you ready to
give me my
anything
promise
?”

She licked her suddenly dry
lips.
 
Oh boy
.
 
Here it was.
 
Was she ready for what they were about to
do?
 
She nodded and took his hand.
 
Sky led her upstairs and into what had to be
the master suite.
 
The glass wall had
extended up to the second floor and was the fourth wall in his bedroom.
 
He led her to the middle of the room, right
next to the bed, and dropped her hand.
 
She watched as he walked over to his closet and disappeared for a
moment, which she was thankful for because it gave her a minute to catch her
breath.

She’d only slept with three men in
her life: a college boyfriend who’d taken her virginity, a brief romance after
she graduated, and her husband.
 
And none
of those men had ever made her lose her mind like she did last night.
 
Her body hummed to life as she remembered the
ecstasy she’d found at Sky’s lips and fingers.
 
And tongue.
 
He had such a talented
tongue.

He walked out of the closet and sat
some things on the nightstand by the bed, but what held her attention was the
scrap of black material he held up to her.

“I want to blindfold you,” he said
softly.

She blinked.
 
“Come again?”

“I want to blindfold you,” he
repeated.
 

“Why?
 
Did you read that book?
 
Because not every woman is
into
BDSM
.”

He gave her the enigmatic little
smile that she was rapidly coming to love.
 
“Your mind wanders too much from one thing to another and if you think too
hard that hinders you reaching sexual fulfillment.
 
If you think you have to make a certain face
or do a certain thing during sex, then your mind locks you up.
 
The reason why you came so hard last night
was because it was so dark you couldn’t see me, and you knew I couldn’t see
you.
 
This blindfold will take away that
thinking.
 
All you have to do is
feel
.”

For some strange reason that made
sense because the only time she could get intimate with Bryce was if all the
lights were out.
 
Slowly she nodded and
turned around.
 
Sky placed the material
over her eyes and tied it tight.
 
She
couldn’t see a thing.

And then his hands were on her
blouse, working the buttons free.
 
Was he
going to turn off the light?
 
He could
still see her and
God,
she hadn’t lost those last ten
pounds.
 
In high school she used to be a
skinny little thing.
 
Not so much
now.
 
When the material fell of her shoulders
she tensed.
 

“Are you going to turn off the
lights?” she asked.

“Hush,” he ordered.

She felt him walk around her and
unhook her bra clasp and ease the scrap of lace away.
 
With a sense of modesty, because she could
feel his eyes on her, she brought her arms up, crossed over her chest.

“No,” he said, and peeled her arms
off her breasts, placing them at her sides.
 
“You’re beautiful.”

“I’m no longer that skinny girl,”
she mumbled, feeling heat scorch her face.

“Good.
 
I’ve already told you I don’t want a girl in
my bed.
 
You, Alannah, are one sexy
woman.”

Oh, good line.
 
She had to give him points for that.
 
Along with his law degree he must have picked
up an award in smooth talking.
 
His hands
moved to her slacks, unzipping them and pushing them down her legs.
 
He helped her take them off by lifting one
foot and then the other.
 
The only thing
left were her panties, a mere bit of silk that didn’t cover much.
 
Those he left on.

“Now, I’m going to tie your hands
together.”

She jerked back.
 
“What?
 
Why?”

“Because this is all about making
you feel and another way to take away your thoughts is to restrict your
movement.
 
Without your hands you have to
rely on me, and I want you to give me your control.
 
Just free your mind to feel, Alannah.”

“Um.
 
Wait.
 
Are
you into
BDSM
?”

“No, Alannah,” he answered,
sounding amused.
 
“I only practice
bondage.”

Her mouth dropped open.
 
Holy crap
.
 
What’d she
get herself into?
 

“Why?”

“Some people need freedom that only
corporal passivity can provide,” he told her using that tone again, that
commanding voice that turned her on big time.
 
“By giving over your control to me, it allows you to concentrate on your
inner spirituality and to feel peace.
 
Trust me, Alannah.
 
I know how to
take care of you, baby.”

Chapter Five

“Now,” he said.
“For the rest of the night, the only communication I want from
you,
is when I ask you a direct question about these
bonds.
 
Do you understand?”

“What if I have to
pee?
 
Or if I don’t like what you’re
doing?
 
Or…”

He slapped her on
her ass cheek and she jumped, yelping in surprise.
 
“I told you, I only want you to answer direct
questions.
 
Do you understand, Alannah?”

“Um,
yes.”

“Good.
 
Now hold out your hands.”

With her stomach doing flip-flops
and her heart pounding, she held out her arms.
 
Something looped around one wrist and she felt it being buckled.
 
Then the same thing happened on the other
wrist and when she tested them, she realized a very short chain linked the
cuffs together.
 
She flexed her wrists
and realized either soft cotton or linen wrapped around her skin, so at least
she wouldn’t worry about chaffing. Sky slipped his arm around her and helped
her forward and from her brief glimpse of the room, Alannah knew he was
escorting her to his bed.
 
A second
later, she felt the soft duvet brush against her knee.
 
Sky helped her onto the bed, settling her
toward the headboard, and then he raised her arms and hooked her bound wrists
above her head.
 
She pulled at them, but
whatever he had chained her to
was
unbreakable.

She felt disoriented and a little
uneasy at not being able to see or having the movement of her arms.
 
She was open, totally exposed except for a
bit of lace covering her sex.
 
She
squirmed even more and tried to get to her knees in an effort to gain some
leverage.

“Stop moving,” he ordered and she
obeyed immediately.
 
“Tell me how you
feel.”

“How I feel?” she mimicked sharply.
 
“How do you think I feel?
 
I’m uncomfortable. My wrists are bound, I
can’t see.
 
Damn it, Sky…”

He rolled her over and slapped her
ass cheek again.
 
Hard.
 
She gasped and wiggled her bottom, shocked to
realize her pussy was beginning to get wet.
 
Being spanked turned her on?
 
What
the hell?

“That’s not what I asked,” he said
calmly.
 
“Shut off what your mind is
telling you.
 
How do you feel?”

“I feel…vulnerable,” she said.

“Good.
 
What else?”

When he asked the question, his
hand caressed the burning spot where his hand had smacked, creating a blanket
of pleasure that smoothed over the pain.
 

“I’m…turned on?”

She hadn’t meant to make it sound
like a question but he took it as one and again lifted his hand to spank
her.
 
Fire licked her skin and she buckled
a little, but as soon as he began caressing the area she calmed down.
 
Holy
firecrackers, she did like being spanked
.

“I’m turned on,” she assured,
although she was a bit breathless.