Slow Surrender (13 page)

“Why don’t you go on and stroke her for me, Dinka,” he said.

“With pleasure.” She ran her thumb up and down my clit, going through the moisture that formed there and up over the sensitive bump.

“Is she wet enough?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Good. Put it in, please.”

She grinned at me and I nearly lost my grip on the phone when she said, “Tada!” and held up a glass statuette of a penis.

A glass dildo, I realized a moment later. I hadn’t even known you could make that sort of thing from glass. If I had seen it on a shelf, I would have thought it was a piece of art. Like the marbles, it was clear glass with swirls of color inside it. It was about five inches long, gracefully slender, and slightly curved, with a somewhat realistic shape to the head.

“Here you go, darling,” Mandinka said, rubbing it up and down my slit, covering it in my own slickness and moving past my clit over and over. I’d never felt anything like it. Cold and smooth, no friction at all, just pure delicious sensation.

“Enough teasing,” he said. “Put it in now.”

And then she pushed. I cried out a little as the bulbous head moved past the tightest part of my vagina, sliding right in.

“Fuck her with it,” he hissed.

I moaned as she moved it in and out of me five or six times.

“Good. Don’t hurt her.”

“I wish you were here!” I cried out, breathless, my hand shaking so much I had trouble holding the phone steady.

“Show me your face again,” he said. I turned the cell over to see him smiling at me. “I’ll see you soon. I have one more thing for you, though.”

Mandinka set the dildo aside and lifted up another box. She opened the lid and showed me what was inside: something shaped like a butterfly with short stubby wings and elastic straps.

“Oh,” was all I could say. I’d seen them in a catalog Becky had in her room. “It’s a vibrator, isn’t it?”

“Custom made.”

It was beautiful, even more gorgeous than the Ben Wa balls, with glittery specks inside it. “You can make these out of glass?”

“If you’re talented, I suppose,” Mandinka said with a chuckle. “Stand up and I’ll help you get it on.”

I stood up and she loosened the elastics. The straps were to go around my legs and hips, so the butterfly would nestle between my freshly shaved lips. A thin cord went from the body of the butterfly to a small control box that looked like an old-style phone pager.

It
was
a phone pager. As I got the butterfly into place, it began to vibrate without warning. I yelped in surprise at first, but then, just as my voice was dropping into a moan of pleasure, it stopped. I heard his chuckle.

“You’re controlling it!” I grabbed the phone and confronted him.

“Yes. A bit more sophisticated than my foot under the table.”

I sucked in a breath as the vibrations started again, but they only went for a few seconds.

“And now you’re more gorgeous than ever,” he said, his expression a bit wistful. “I can’t wait to see you. When you exit the shop, the car should be waiting. Stefan will take you somewhere to grab a bite to eat and then bring you to me. I have some business that can’t wait, but I’ll see you in an hour.”

“I understand. Should I wear the dress?”

“Oh, definitely not. That’s for a special occasion,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice before he hung up.

Mandinka was grinning at me. I couldn’t help myself. I had to ask. “Have you known him long?”

“Yes, dear. Years,” she said as she picked up one more thing and showed it to me. It was a pair of black briefs, more like a Speedo bathing suit than panties. “These will keep that from moving around.”

“Like, how many years?” I asked as I pulled them up, sucking in a breath as the toy rubbed against me. Even though the vibrator wasn’t turned on, it was right against my clit.

“Enough years to know that I shouldn’t discuss him with you,” she said. She patted me on the knee. “I will tell you one thing. If you’re worried, there’s no need to be. He won’t hurt you, except in the most wickedly delicious ways.”

There were a million questions I wanted to ask, but it seemed obvious she was under a gag order, too. Had he sent other women here? How did she meet him? Had he always been rich? Was she an ex-girlfriend? They seemed to know each other intimately, anyway. What had he told her about me? Apparently she knew of his wicked ways. How?

“Are you sure he won’t hurt me?” I asked, hungry for any crumb of information I could get.

“Well, not intentionally,” she said. “He’s very fond of you, darling. That much I can see. Now go on. Don’t keep poor Stefan waiting.” She picked up the glass dildo. “Get dressed while I clean up. The bill is all taken care of, of course.”

I went back to the dressing room and pulled my jeans on over the black underwear, stuffing my previous pair into the shopping bag. I put my T-shirt and sweater back on, wondering where Stefan was going to take me and whether I was appropriately dressed. I’d never thought about clothes as much as I had since the night we met.

Mandinka handed me a bag with the boxes for the sex toys in it and unlocked the front door for me, and I waved good-bye as I went out to the curb. It was just starting to rain and I ran to the dark car at the fire hydrant.

As I opened the back door and tossed my bags inside, I had a sudden idea. I closed the door and opened the front door instead, slipping quickly into the seat and slamming the door behind me.

Stefan looked at me in surprise. He had switched the stereo off suddenly when I’d pulled open the door; he’d been blasting one of the Lord Lightning songs I often heard coming from Becky’s bedroom. I supposed he was allowed to listen to whatever he wanted when he wasn’t actually ferrying someone around. He seemed a little embarrassed about it and a bit perturbed that I was in the front seat.

“You shouldn’t sit up here,” he said, a frown curving his thin brown eyebrows.

“Why not? You’re not a taxi. I told you, I think we should get to know each other better.”

He made a dismissive noise and pulled the car away from the curb. “If you think I’m going to tell you anything about him, you’re wrong.”

“Did you not hear what I said? I want to get to know
you
better.”

“Don’t bother,” he growled. “It’s not going to last, you know. The second you step out of line, you’ll be gone.”

“Who says I’m going to step out of line?” Besides, James had said if I made mistakes, it was just a chance to punish me, right?

“When he tires of you, same thing,” the driver said as we pulled to a stop at a traffic light. “As soon as he gets bored, he has no reason to keep you around.”

“Well, I’ll just have to keep it interesting, then.”

“I predict he’s going to fuck you right in the back of this car. You’ll see.” He gunned the engine waiting for the light to change. Then as the light turned green, the car rolled forward. “When he can’t hold back any longer, he’s going to do it, and once he blows his wad, he’ll kick you to the curb wherever we are. He’ll leave you lying on the sidewalk with his come leaking onto your thighs and forget you ever existed.”

Stefan’s face was bright pink as he said this. I got the feeling he was supposed to be shocking me, but instead he was only succeeding in embarrassing himself.

I folded my arms. Would James really end things when we finally had sex? “Did he tell you to say that? Why would you say such a thing?”

“Because it’s true!”

“That really doesn’t seem his style.”

“You don’t know him.”

If Mandinka hadn’t told me what she had, I might have been more worried. “How many women has he done it to?” I asked.

“I’ve seen it,” Stefan insisted, but he seemed to be wavering.

“If it’s a game and that’s how it ends, presumably you weren’t supposed to tell me that.” I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and kept my voice light.

He didn’t answer.

“So does that go for you, too? Will you be gone if you step out of line? How many rules did you just break, talking to me like that?”

His knuckles went white on the steering wheel.

“Come on, Stefan. What’s this all about? I won’t tell him if you—”

He jerked the car to the curb and slammed on the brakes, jarring me but bringing the car to a complete stop. “You need to break it off with him. Tell him you can’t see him anymore.”

“Why? If he’s going to dump me anyway, then why not let it run its course?”

He cursed in a language I didn’t know and pressed his forehead against his hands, which were still gripping the steering wheel. He was hyperventilating but after a few moments seemed to gather himself. He let his hands fall to his lap and hung his head. He murmured something I couldn’t hear over the sound of the rain on the car roof.

“What did you say?” I asked, somewhat cautiously.

“Please don’t tell him,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “Please.”

“Tell me what this is about and I won’t tell him unless he asks me directly,” I said. “You know I can’t lie to him.”

Stefan took a deep, steadying breath. “You know that I’m not just a driver,” he said. “Part of my job is to protect him.”

“I know.”

“And we think you’re dangerous. I was…I’m supposed to try to scare you away. If you went away on your own, he wouldn’t question it. Things would go back to how they were.”

I was fairly sure James would question it. And I wondered who “we” was. Did he have other bodyguards? Other staff? Had my presence changed a lot in their lives?

All I could say was, “I’m not dangerous. I’m just a grad student. I’m letting him set the rules, right? You guys know all about me and who I am, apparently, but I don’t have a clue who he is. How could I be the dangerous one? There are lots of rich guys in the world. It can’t be only because of the money. That’s not what you’re worried about.”

“We all suffer when he—” He broke off, folding his lips between his teeth.

“I apologize for saying upsetting things and trying to scare you. I’m not good at this sort of thing.”

“He must mean a lot to you.” Was his staff trying to protect him from getting hurt? From heartbreak? If so, that was kind of endearing. “It sounds like you were trying to do what you felt was your duty,” I said. I felt a little sorry for him.

“Thank you for understanding.” He took another breath and then looked around. “I’ll have to pretend none of this happened.”

“So will”—I sucked in a gasp as the vibrator began to buzz without warning—“I.” My cheeks flushed instantly as I tried to sit very still.

Stefan did not seem to notice anything was happening to me. He put us back on the road, moving easily into light avenue traffic again. “Would you rather have Chinese food, pizza, or something else?”

“Are you eating, too?” I asked, one hand gripping the handle on the door tightly as the vibrator wound my arousal up.

“No, just you.”

“Then, um, let’s pull over at Ray’s and I’ll grab a slice or two,” I said. “There’s one up there.”

He pulled to the curb and made as if to get out.

“No, wait.” I stopped him with a hand on his wrist. “I have an idea.”

He turned to look at me.

“You want him to think we’re getting along? Do this. Take the phone and video me walking over there to get the pizza and coming back.”

Stefan took the phone. “Why?”

“Because he’s…he’s buzzing me right now. I think he’ll enjoy watching me try to do it while I’m like this.”

“Oh.” His eyes widened as he understood what I meant. He handed me some money and took the phone. “Okay.” He tapped on the phone screen a few times until the camera came up. “Go ahead.”

He filmed me getting gingerly out of the car, then leaned out the window to follow me getting two slices to go. I had to walk slowly, trying for a sexy saunter, but really all I wanted to do was curl into a ball and let the sensation wash over me. The speed on the vibrator kicked into a higher gear while I was trying to give my order to the man at the service window on the sidewalk. He must’ve thought I was on Ecstasy or something as I gasped and threw my head back.

“Mmm, I
really
love pizza,” I said in a comical attempt to cover the true reason for my rapturous expression as he handed me the slices on a paper plate.

He took the money with a “whatever, honey” sort of look. As he handed me my change, the vibrator suddenly quit and I sighed in both frustration and relief.

When I returned to the car, I was flushed and horny. Stefan continued filming me as I took the first cheesy, luscious bite of the pizza and then he stopped. Between bites I told him how he could send the video. Then we got on the road again, this time headed uptown.

“Where are we going?”

“A hotel,” Stefan answered. “Which reminds me, I’m to tell you to go to room 324. I hope he’s pleased by the video.”

“I have a strong feeling he will be.”

Stefan laughed nervously. “It’s a good thing you enjoy doing such things. If he asked me to, I’m sure I would fail.”

“He doesn’t?” I had one brief moment of wondering if the reason his staff was so loyal to him was because they’d been seduced like I was.

“Oh no, thank God, no,” Stefan said. “He’s very demanding of me, but not for
that
.” His cheeks reddened visibly as he said it. That made me wonder what else Stefan did, though. He had been behind the wheel every time—could he hear anything that was going on in the back? Did he get aroused knowing what was happening? It occurred to me that based on what he said, he knew that we hadn’t had sex yet. If he took his job protecting his employer seriously, then I had to assume he heard everything that went on in the car. If he got turned on by what he heard, did he go home and jerk off? Did he have a girlfriend, or a boyfriend, for that matter?

He pulled over on a side street in front of an unremarkable brownstone. “You should move to the backseat,” he said. “Here, I’ll get the door.”

He came around to my side and opened both doors, just as the vibrator turned on again. He held out his hand to steady me. I slipped into the backseat with my shopping bags, trying to keep my breathing even.

In the next block we pulled up to a small, old hotel, and two bellmen in long coats with impressive rows of gold buttons helped me from the backseat, one taking the shopping bags while the other opened the door to the lobby.