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She was carefully putting on her gloves. “What is your
name?”

“Trish, Countess.” The girl curtseyed low, displaying her
wet cunt.

“Trish, please go downstairs and fetch all of the maids.
I’ve assigned Anna a task, but I want all the others here in uniform, as
quickly as possible.”

“Yes, Countess.”

Another curtsey and Trish was gone.

Athena smiled. She took a straight chair from the desk, and
positioned it in the middle of the room. She reached into the Count’s drawers
full of supplies and accessories. She chose several lengths of braided black
leather, tossing them on to the floor beside the chair.

The Count was nearly choking with dread.

It seemed a thousand years until the seven maids appeared.
They were all so young and so beautiful that having them see him like this
nearly broke his heart. He’d chosen them purely for the eye candy of their
supple young bodies, pert breasts and delicious mouths. The black and white
uniforms suited them so well, the tight corsets, the lacey white aprons, the
little gloves, stockings and lace caps. The Count adored that he could see the
shadow of their pubic hair through the hems of the aprons and that when they
bent over, he could see the glistening red between their thighs. He’d enjoyed
many a morning, just watching them dust and clean.

“The Count must be placed on the chair,” Athena said, her
tone commanding.

The maids flocked to him, their hands fluttering over him
like small birds. It was exquisite torture. They tugged him to the foot of the
bed, then lifted him together. They were unsteady beneath the weight of him in
their heels, making the short ride to the chair seem precarious and dangerous.
That must have been why the Count’s heart was pounding so hard.

Athena watched with a small smile of satisfaction. “Bind his
legs to the front legs of the chair,” she instructed. “I want to see him
trussed from ankle to knee.” Several of the maids set to work. “Be sure you
bind one leg down before untying his current bonds.”

The Count caught his breath, realizing there’d be no chance
of escape. He glared at Athena. Didn’t she know that no one had tied him
helpless in decades? Didn’t she recognize how big of a mistake she was making?

Didn’t she appreciate everything he’d done for her?

“Put his arms over the back and bind his torso to the back
of the chair. Then his wrists and forearms to the back legs of the chair.”

The maids fluttered around him, their perfume enticing him,
their wet snatches tempting him, their breasts so close that he felt denied
beyond expectation. When they were done and he was harnessed to the chair, the
maids backed away to stand on either side of him in a neat row. They curtseyed
as one, but to Athena, not the Count.

He seethed at the injustice of it all.

Athena smiled then beckoned to Trish. “Straddle him,” she
instructed and the Count’s eyes widened. Trish did as instructed and the Count
found himself confronted with the sweet display of her small breasts. He could
smell her wet snatch and found his own cock hard and ready. Trish smiled shyly
at him and put her hands on his shoulders. The Count swallowed.

“The Count needs to be taught a lesson about surrendering to
the desires of women,” Athena said. “And I’m giving all of you the task of
teaching him that lesson. Do whatever you want to him. Do it incessantly. Keep
him helpless in any way you like.”

Trish cleared her throat. “I’ve always wanted to kiss the
Count, Countess,” she said so shyly that the Count would have moaned aloud if
he could have.

“Then, by all means, do so,” Athena said. “He’s your toy.” A
ripple of pleasure passed through the maids and several whispered to each other
in delight. The Count closed his eyes, hoping for strength.

Athena continued. “Remove his gag if you like, queen him,
kiss him, suck him off, sit on him, the choice is yours. There are only two
rules.” She held up two fingers before the rapt maids. “You will follow no
command he gives you.” She held up the second finger. “And you will release him
from your captivity only when he can’t sustain an erection any longer. He may
need a break, but as long as you can get him hard again within an hour, he’s
all yours.”

The Count couldn’t believe it.

Then he looked at Trish, at the anticipation in her eyes,
and knew this punishment could be a sweet and endless slice of hell.

Or heaven.

“It only seemed fair to ensure you had some pleasure with
the pain,” Athena said, her voice surprisingly close to his ear. “A master
taught me that once.” She kissed his cheek quickly, then stepped away.
“Goodbye, Mr. Rossini. I can’t make your fantasy come true myself, but maybe
they can.”

The Count tried to shout after her, but could only make a
moan. He wanted to tell her to come back, that he’d try to change, that they
could make it work, but Athena kept walking, right out of both the room and his
life. He would have strained for the sound of her heels on the stairs, the
sound of the front door opening and closing, but Trish eased closed, sliding
her wet sex over the length of his hard cock. The Count caught his breath just
before her perfect breasts collided with his chest. She smiled at him, so sweet
and innocent that his heart clenched, then she untied his gag.

And kissed him, with all the vigorous heat of youth.

This time, the Count did moan with pleasure.

* * *

Joanna was exhausted.

And she had doubts.

She sat in the passenger seat as Mike drove her home in the
early hours of Monday morning and stole glances at him. She hadn’t realized it
was such hard work to be the dominant one. She wasn’t used to anticipating
Mike’s reactions or maintaining the balance between pleasure and torment.

On the other hand, she’d found it thrilling to punish him.
She wasn’t sure she wanted this switching of roles to be an irregular
activity—she was thinking she could get used to a routinely scheduled
reversal.

But the last time she’d named her fantasy, Mike had tried to
fulfill it, even at the expense of the relationship. She wasn’t sure it was
smart to speak up just yet.

They’d had great slow vanilla sex in the shower after she’d
sucked him off and she knew he had to be exhausted, too.

Even if he looked euphoric. He flashed a confident grin at
her as he turned a corner and her heart clenched. She loved him so much.

“What’s with the boxes?” she asked abruptly. She knew it
would have been better to build up to it, but Mike hadn’t talked about it and
she had to know.

His smile faded. “Well, I’m moving. I took a job on the
coast. I don’t know if I ever told you about this guy I know, who’s always
wanted me to come and work for him...”

Joanna stared at him. “When did this happen?”

“While you were with Eric.”

“So, we fall out and in less than a week, you’re moving
halfway across the country? Just like that?” Joanna folded her arms across her
chest, wishing that was the truth. “Nobody makes big decisions that fast.”

“Well, I do. I figured you were gone and that we were done.
I thought you had what you wanted, and to be honest, I didn’t want to see you
being happy with him. I had to leave. Fast. So, I made a deal, and I got
lucky.”

“What about the paper?”

“I’m done there. There’s a new intern hot for my job, so he
got it sooner than he expected. I said I needed time to pack. Do you know how
much work it is to take a dungeon apart? I can’t list the townhouse for sale
with it still there.”

Joanna felt cold. “Are you saying that because we weren’t
together when you made this choice, we’re done too?”

“No!” Mike’s consternation made her feel better, and so did
the weight of his hand over hers. “I want to talk to you about it. It wasn’t
exactly possible last week.”

Joanna had to agree with that.

Mike gave her a rueful grin. “And you kept me pretty well
silenced since your return.” She glanced up, caught the warmth in his eyes, and
smiled. “How’d you like being in charge?”

“Better than I expected, but I was pretty mad.”

“It’s going to be tempting to piss you off on a regular
basis,” Mike said. “You were amazing.”

“I don’t think I’m as good at it as you are.”

“Don’t kid yourself. It was great. Waking up in the night to
you tying me down.” Mike whistled under his breath. “It was fantastic. Feel
free to do it again, anytime.”

Joanna had a million questions, so she chose one. “Why
didn’t you tell me you’d been to jail?”

Mike laughed. “I would have, if I’d known you’d do that when
you found out.”

“Be serious! It’s not a small thing.”

“But it was a small thing, Joanna. It happened when I was a
teenager. I just fell in with the wrong crowd and got a sense of entitlement.”

“What did you do?”

“Stole things. At first from the houses of other kids I
knew, then from strangers. It was a kind of a thrill to never be certain
whether I’d get caught in the act, and it turned out I had a gift for picking
locks.”

“Did you ever get caught in the act?”

“Well, yeah. That’s how I ended up in jail. It wasn’t for
long, but it was long enough to meet Eric.” Mike shrugged. “And to decide that
I never wanted to be there again.”

“So, they don’t know at the paper?”

“It’s a juvenile record. They seal them if you behave, so no
one knows.” He cast her an easy smile. “Except you and Eric. Feel better?”

“I wish you’d told me.”

“I didn’t think you’d take it very well. I mean, have you
ever made a mistake, Joanna? It seems as if your whole life is one planned step
after another.”

“Is that a criticism?”

“No, it’s admiration. I never know what I’m going to do next
year, let alone next week, and I sure as hell didn’t have a clue when I was
fifteen as to where my life would go. We think differently.” He smiled at her
again, as confident as she was not. “Maybe that’s why we get along so well.
Opposites attract and all that.”

And Joanna realized that it was easy for him to impulsively
decide to move more than a thousand miles. They were so different from each
other. Maybe that was a good thing.

She chose another question. “What happens next?”

“We need to talk about this,” Mike said. “I’d like to take
this job, because it’s a good opportunity. What do you think about moving, too?
We could start over again, in a great new place.”

“But my family is here...”

“We could visit, Joanna.”

“And my job is here.”

“You could get another one. You’re brilliant and totally
under-utilized at that paper. They’ve got you slotted in where you’re useful to
them, not in a job that’s best for you.”

Joanna started to protest, but Mike shook a finger at her.
“You’re better than five must-have shades of lipstick and you know it. Take a
chance on yourself and come with me.”

He made it sound so easy, but Joanna wasn’t sure it was.
“Even if I did, I might not get a job quickly.”

“Well, you can be my sex slave in the short term. I’ll put
you to work rebuilding the dungeon in our new place.”

“Mike! This is serious!”

“And I’m serious.” He parked in front of her apartment and
took her hand. “I love you, Joanna. I want to marry you and spend my life with
you. We can solve anything if we’re together, so let’s do it.”

“Sounds like you want to do what you want and I need to deal
with it,” she said quietly. “You didn’t do well dealing with what I wanted.”

Mike grimaced. “I know and I’m sorry. Look, let’s get some
sleep and then talk about it. I’m screwing this up and I don’t want to.”

Joanna would rather have had it all out, but she understood
his point. She smiled, then leaned closer and kissed him.

“So, dinner? I have a conference call about the new job
tomorrow night, so how about Tuesday?”

“At night?”

“With the time change, it’ll be business hours for them, but
from six on for us.” Mike was speaking quickly and his eyes were alight,
evidence that he was looking forward to this new challenge. Joanna was happy
for him and didn’t want to rain on his parade, but she wanted to make decisions
that were good for both of them.

“Sounds good.” Joanna didn’t sound enthusiastic and she knew
it.

“Here.” He dug in the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a
business card. The corners were a bit bent and he smiled when he looked down at
it. “I found this place about a week ago and was regretting that we’d never get
to go there together.” His eyes sparkled with mischief when he met her gaze and
Joanna’s heart squeezed with hope. “I think you’ll like it.”

It must have a big coatroom.

He must be planning to tie her up and take her there.

Joanna licked her lips, her optimism returning.

“I’ll make a reservation for six.”

“Okay.” Joanna fingered the card, wanting to say more but
not sure what it was.

“Just trust me a bit,” Mike whispered and she nodded, then
he kissed her deeply. His touch reassured her, as it always did, and she found
herself wishing they could step back in time.

“Things were so much simpler when I was just been your
submissive sex slave,” she said when he lifted his head. She smiled at his
confusion. “You could have just commanded me to come, but now we’ve mixed
everything up.”

He sobered and studied her. “You sound like you have
regrets.”

“No, not really. But I’m confused.” Joanna smiled for him.
“Maybe I’m just tired. It’s hard work being in charge.”

Mike smiled but she knew he was thinking about what she’d
said. He didn’t say more, though, just watched as she went into her building
before he drove away.

Maybe she should have commanded him to spend the rest of the
night with her.

* * *

The contract had been drawn up by Julius and arrived by
overnight courier. It was perfect, showing the attention to detail that
distinguished Julius. It delineated more rights than Rex had expected and some
he hadn’t thought about. He could afford the support payments. Even though he
doubted Leya would want his money, Julius had pointed out that the payments
evened the exchange.