Plaything: Paolo's Playhouse, Book 4 (5 page)

He quickly undressed. His erection was dark red, long and thick, veins bulging with the blood feeding his desire. She watched as he took it in his hand and stroked long and hard, the skin stretching with each pull. Her mouth watered as she remembered tasting him, remembered the weight of him on her tongue. She wished she could have spread her legs wider for him, but even that silent invitation was not possible. So she lay there and watched. And waited. And wanted.

A thin sheen of sweat covered his skin. A few random curls lay on his forehead. His hot gaze ran over her body then rose to her face. A small smile lifted his lips. He pulled roughly on his cock again and groaned. Her mouth was so dry from panting that she ran her tongue along her lips. His eyes darkened, his jaw tightened.

“I can’t wait any longer,” he groaned. Why had he waited at all? He grabbed a packet from a nearly overflowing basket on the side table she hadn’t noticed before and quickly rolled on a condom.

With one foot on the floor, he placed a knee on the cushion. He grasped her hips, still lifted on the pillow, and plunged into her, shoving her body even harder into the corner of the sofa. She gasped, barely noticing the pain in her shoulders over the slide of his shaft into her core. His cock stretched her, filled her.

She moaned as need overwhelmed her again. His fingers dug into her flesh, yet she wanted him to hold her tighter. He plunged over and over, dragging his hard cock along her sensitive inner walls, yet she wanted him to fuck her harder. She stared at his beautiful face and saw the tension building there. His eyes closed, a near-grimace tightening his features.

He picked up the pace, thrusting faster and with even more force. The angle at which he was holding her hips let his cock rub up against that most sensitive spot within her. When the deep spasms started to overtake her, she was taken by surprise. She clenched around him and he shouted out as he came, still plunging into her, deep and hard.

Then he collapsed on top of her, his head resting between her breasts. He must have been able to hear her heart galloping in her chest. He pressed a soft kiss onto the side of her breast and she melted a little into the cushions.

Her arms were crushed beneath her, though. Her shoulders screamed and her butt burned. She didn’t want to say anything, but a groan escaped her lips anyway. Paolo pushed off her and she was immediately cold. After he disposed of the condom, he grasped her shoulders and lifted her to her feet. As she struggled again to balance in her heels on shaky legs, he drew her into his arms. He was so warm and strong and male, she sighed as she leaned against him.

“I’m so sorry,” he said as he brushed his lips along her ear. “I should have thought about your arms before falling on you with all my weight.”

“I’m fine.” She took in a deep breath. Mmm, he smelled good. Had he put on the exotic cologne to confuse her? It may have worked for a while, but now she could detect his unique scent beneath the cologne. He’d never fool her again.

Not that she would ever see him again. Or touch him. Or smell him ever again. She held back a sigh.

“Can you stand now?” She nodded and he released her. She missed his warmth, his strong arms around her. He turned her around and quickly uncuffed her wrists. Her stiff arms flopped to her sides. He rubbed her shoulders and arms before turning her to face him once again.

“You were magnificent as you gave yourself fully to me. I am so honored that you gave me your trust along with your control.” He speared his fingers through her hair and pulled her in for a hard, passionate kiss. She parted her lips for him and drank him in, trying to memorize his taste. After he lifted his lips from hers, he combed out her hair around her shoulders. “Your hair is the color of a majestic sunset, all those incredible shades of red and gold. I would love to paint its fire someday.”

“You paint?” Why was it so hard to picture him outside these walls?

He shrugged. “I have many interests besides tying up beautiful women.” He studied her, as if wondering what she was thinking. As if he was wondering who she was when she wasn’t someone’s plaything.

She was suddenly nervous. This was too strange a conversation to be having with a naked man she was never going to see again. An incredibly sexy, naked man who’d just given her the most intense orgasms of her life. Who treated her as if she was someone special. She couldn’t get used to something she would never have again.

It was time to say thanks, grab her clothes and walk away. Did she tell him her bondage experience was more than she ever hoped? That it would always be a special memory? That it was because she had been
his
plaything?

She couldn’t tell him that. Maybe he did this all the time. He probably tested out all the new playthings.

He brushed his fingers along her cheek. “Thank you,” he said, surprising her again.

“I should be the one saying that,” she replied. “For bringing my fantasy to life.” She looked around for her clothing. “I…um, I should get out of here. I’m sure you have someone else waiting for the room.”

“No. No one. Not tonight.” He touched her again, lightly, on her arm. “I hope I wasn’t too rough. I tried to take it easy for your first time.”

First time?

She stumbled backward. “I can’t do this again.”

He frowned. “I
did
hurt you. Or did I frighten you? Tell me.”

His concern was touching, but she couldn’t let it affect her. “No. I’m fine. You didn’t hurt me. You didn’t frighten me. The experience actually wasn’t as rough as I imagined it could be.”

He stepped closer to her then and his eyes sparkled. “There is much more for you to experience. I would be delighted to show you more another time.”

Chills of excitement skimmed along her skin but…no, she couldn’t do this again. This wasn’t who she was. “I explained to you that I came here for a one-time experience. I wanted to know what it was like. That was all.”

“And what did you discover, Julianne?”

He pinned her with his gaze and she felt naked and exposed in more ways than one. She turned away from him and grabbed her panties from where they lay on the floor. Her thoughts were so jumbled it was as if once her mind gave up control, it didn’t want to take it back. She ignored him and stepped into her thong. When she turned around, she found Paolo had come up silently behind her.

“Don’t tell me you can walk away after what you experienced tonight,” he said darkly.

She absently rubbed her wrists. She swore she could still feel the cuffs wrapped around them. “Of course I can.” She would ignore the crazy desire to feel them again.

She picked up her skirt and then lifted her chin as she stared at him. If only she could forget the way it had felt to kneel before him, his cock plunging between her lips. If only she could forget the way it had felt to be hanging from the ceiling, the spanking he delivered warming her body, heating her need. Her body heated even now as she remembered, as she longed to experience it again. But this wasn’t her life. It couldn’t be. “I’ve had my fantasy. Now I have to walk away.”

“Don’t go.” He reached out and wrapped his long fingers around her arm and she dropped her skirt to the floor. “Please.” The stark emotion in his voice surprised her. “I saw your reactions, Julianne, felt your submission as soon as you walked in the door. Bondage is more than a fantasy to you.”

She couldn’t move and it had nothing to do with his hand on her arm. “I don’t know what you mean.” But she did and the implications frightened her.

He ran his hand over her hair, stroking her as he had when she first came into this room. It seemed as if that had been a lifetime ago. “You crave the bondage, Julianne. You need it now, like you need food to eat and air to breathe.” He traced her bottom lip with his finger. “To deny it will leave you hungry. Thirsty. You may not die without it, but you won’t really live either.”

“But what does that make me?” she cried. “I am more than a man’s plaything.”

He drew her into his arms and she went willingly, resting her head on his muscular shoulder. “Of course you are. You are a strong, intelligent woman. You run a successful business. None of that will change. But to recognize the need you have to surrender to the bondage, to find your pleasure when you please another, will only add another dimension to your life.”

She relaxed as he rubbed her back and spoke the reassuring words in his musical voice. He made her believe it might be possible.

He stepped away and looked into her eyes. “Let me show you how you can weave this part of your life into the rest. Let me show you how you can actually live out your fantasies.”

She did want to know if it was really possible. She also realized how much she wanted to see Paolo again. “Do you help a lot of women with their fantasies?” She hoped she didn’t sound as jealous as she was afraid she did.

“Let me rephrase,” he said quietly, seriously. “I have helped many women with their fantasies, in the past, when I used to attend play parties at BDSM clubs. That’s not what I’m interested in with you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The women I seem to have met in the past have only been interested in the fantasy.” Up until now, he’d seemed so self-assured, dominating. Suddenly he seemed hesitant. “I would like to help you make this more than a mere fantasy. If you’ll let me.” He bent down and retrieved her skirt then handed it to her. “I’ve never become personally involved with a client at the Playhouse. In fact, it has been a rule of mine never to do that.”

She frowned and looked up from zipping her skirt. “Why did you break your rules with me?”

He shrugged and quickly stepped into his trousers. “I was intrigued from the moment I spoke with you on the telephone. The yearning in your voice called to me. And then as soon as I laid eyes on you, I knew you were special. I’m afraid I wanted to be the one to make you
feel
.”

“You did, Paolo. I’m glad it was you.” Damn, she wasn’t going to tell him that. Before she began to feel more than she should for this man she’d just met, she pulled on her sweater and handed him his shirt.

He stepped away from her, his expression guarded. “But you didn’t know it was me. Not until the end. I could have been any man who gets turned on by tying up women.”

Didn’t those other women realize how special Paolo was? Had the fantasy mattered more to them than the man who’d taken them there? The flare of anger she felt was dissolved by shame when Julianne realized that
she’d
given no thought to the man who would be playing with her until she’d talked to Paolo.

Had he been used by those women? Had they given no thought to him as a person? The anger flared again. Damn, she cared about him too much already. But she couldn’t let him think her experience would have been the same with someone else, even though she’d used him just as much as all those other women had.

She closed the space between them. “I knew it was you. It may have been on a subconscious level, but I knew you were the one controlling my body tonight.”

His expression lightened, just like that. “I’m so glad.” He shrugged on his shirt but left it hanging open. “As I told you, I would like to show you more about bondage, about submission, about making your life fuller because of those things.” She could feel the wonderful heat from his body again. “But I don’t think it will be a good idea for you to be a member of the Playhouse any longer.”

She’d started to reach out to fasten his shirt but pulled away as if the little buttons were going to burn her. “I don’t understand.” He didn’t want her here? After all he’d just said?

“The rules, you see.” He grasped her wrists and clasped her hands against his bare chest. “They are for my employees as well. It wouldn’t be right for the boss to break them. It would be so much better if you were, perhaps, the woman I was dating.”

Her breath caught and the sincere smile on his face tempted her. It wasn’t that easy for her. “But are you only interested in a woman who is nothing but a sex toy for you to play with?” She glanced away from him, not sure what she wanted his answer to be. She’d begun to like this man as well as lust for him.

“
Nothing but
a sex toy?” He cupped her face in his hands and brought her gaze up to meet his. “Julianne, do not ever make light of the gift you gave me.” The seriousness of his expression, the passion in his voice, took her breath away. “It took great strength and courage to do what you did tonight. I was honored. To trust me with your body is not ‘nothing’. It is everything.”

“But if we were dating, would I never get to touch you?” She touched his face for the first time with a trembling hand. “Would I never be able to tell you what
I
enjoy? I don’t think I could be in a relationship like that. In fact, I know I couldn’t. Yes, I can admit I crave the bondage, but I would want to be a partner in any relationship I was in.”

He relaxed his grip and began to stroke her hair again. “For any relationship to work there must be give and take. We’ll talk about everything. Of course I want to know what you enjoy. We’ll try new things together. We’ll learn more about each other and discover what we need from each other. Isn’t that what dating is all about?”

She couldn’t stop the stupid grin from spreading across her face. Could this really work? “You really want to take me out on a date?”

He slid his hand around to cup the back of her neck. “Unless you already have a boyfriend who pleases you in every other way.”