Katrina jumped at the touch. Apparently she was ticklish, and that broke the spell. Tom raised himself from the table, gently disengaging himself from her.
Katrina opened her eyes and smiled wearily at him. ‘I thought I had died and gone to heaven,’ she told him, speaking softly and looking directly at him.
Tom went to the bathroom for a towel and a basin of warm water. Returning, he wiped the sweat from Katrina’s body, then he sponged the remnants of honey from her breasts and crotch. Katrina lay quietly, looking steadily at him as he cleaned her. When he was finished, he stood back to admire her, taking in the fine lines of her body as she lay spread on the table as though offering herself to him. She lay quietly, letting him look. There was a long silence in the room that had so recently been filled with her wild cries. When he had seen enough, Tom untied her and helped her to climb down off the table.
There were red marks where the ropes had chafed her wrists and ankles, but Katrina made no reference to them. Instead she stretched out her arms to Tom and they embraced one another in the candlelight.
Tom poured wine for them both and they went through into the large sitting room. Katrina found the light switch, and the shadows were dispelled by the indirect lighting that highlighted various features of the room. The corner with the TV was left relatively dark, as was the long sofa. Katrina sat down and beckoned Tom to join her. They sipped their wine in silence, until Katrina asked him how Harriet was getting along. She hadn’t asked him about Harriet when they met, and he had thought it was because she didn’t want to introduce a jarring note into an otherwise cozy weekend arrangement – that she didn’t want to remind him that he was here by Harriet’s leave, or that this was just an interlude for both of them before each went back to their respective relationships.
For his part, Tom hadn’t wanted to bring up the subject of his dismissal from Harriet’s house. He wanted to go back, but he wasn’t going to be the one to beg. Too much face would be lost that way, and Harriet would take his request as a sign that they should continue as they had during the months she was training him as her assistant. Tom thought the time had come to alter the relationship. He wanted and needed some tangible indication that Harriet felt an attachment to him – something more than that between mistress and assistant/slave, which she had maintained up until that last Sunday. Nor did he want to appear like a spurned lover to Katrina. She might get the idea that he had turned to her merely because Harriet was being difficult. He was glad to be with her for her own sake, no matter what had gone on between him and Harriet.
‘Tell me what is going on back in England,’ Katrina said when Tom remained silent. ‘I get the feeling that something has happened there. You have been too quiet about Harriet. You can tell me. I will not be jealous or angry. When this weekend is over we will both go back home.’ Tom looked uneasy at this reminder, so Katrina hurried on. ‘Oh, do not look so disappointed. Of course we will see one another again – as often as possible. I like being with you. You know how to handle me. You know what I like. And we enjoy one another’s company, if that is not putting it too mildly. How many women do you know who would be sitting with you in the nude?’
‘Only another two or three dozen,’ Tom said finally. ‘All right. This is what happened.’ And he proceeded to relate the events of the previous Sunday.
Katrina found certain parts of the story funny. She laughed when Tom told her of Harriet’s attempt to dominate the situation even though she was bound and gagged. She found Harriet’s indignant remarks – after the gag had been removed – funny too. At the end of the account she offered her opinion. ‘She is – how do you say? – putting on an act. She likes you. I saw that when I was there. She will call you to come back. Wait and see.’
‘Not without some prompting – and not from me. She’s too stiff-necked to admit she needs someone else around – if she does.’
‘Do you want me to speak to her?’ Katrina offered.
‘I don’t know. Wait a bit. Let me think about it. If you call as soon as I leave she’ll know I put you up to it. And that may just put her back up again, as well as make me look weak.’
‘Now who is being stiff-necked?’ Katrina mocked him with a smile. Then she turned serious again. ‘What will you do? If neither of you will give in, how do you expect to get back into her bed?’
Tom didn’t like talking about Harriet when he was with Katrina, nor did he see much point in talking about a problem for which he had no solution, so he changed the subject. Since they were both in the nude, that wasn’t such a difficult task. He took Katrina into his arms and began to stroke her back, her skin warm and velvety under his hands. She fell silent, accepting his caresses. She stretched lazily, cat-like, and moulded herself to him. Tom wouldn’t have been surprised if she had begun to purr.
When Katrina fell asleep in his arms, he thought at first that she
was
purring. He smiled to himself. Knowing that Katrina snored made him feel better. Her beauty was made more earthy by this small foible. And, still smiling, he too feel asleep. It had been a long evening.
‘You were snoring,’ Katrina said accusingly.
Tom woke up. They were still lying on the sofa in the front room. It was morning. Although the sun hadn’t risen high enough to shine in through the skylight, there was enough light in the room to make out most of the details. Katrina was lying on top of him, and his arms had gone numb from holding her. He shifted to restore circulation and Katrina sat up.
‘You snore too,’ Tom told her. ‘But I don’t mind. It makes you more earthy.’
‘I do not snore,’ Katrina denied vehemently. ‘And what do you mean, more earthy? I was not earthy enough last night?’
‘All right, all right. I give in. Get off me and I’ll see about some coffee and breakfast.’
Still naked, they went into the kitchen. Katrina pointed out where things were kept and Tom made breakfast for them.
‘What do you want to do today?’ he asked Katrina.
‘Well, this afternoon you are taking me to get my nipples pierced. Or had you forgotten?’
‘No. That would be hard to forget. But what time are we going to have you done?’ Tom leered at her as he pronounced the last word.
‘Not until three o’clock, so you have plenty of time to do me once more before then. We don’t have to go anywhere for hours. Are you rested?’ Katrina leered in return.
‘I think I’ll have just enough strength. But you’re hard on a man, did you know that? I don’t know how Ari keeps up with you.’
‘He cannot. Why do you think I wanted you to come over?’ Then Katrina became serious. ‘I want to spend the morning making love with you, then we will go out to the body piercing place in the afternoon. Afterwards we can eat out somewhere, and I would like to take you on a canal cruise tonight. After that we can sample the cultural scene in the red-light district just around the corner. The ladies should all be on the job by then. After going around all evening with me and knowing I have just had my nipples pierced, and seeing the ladies in the Oude Zijds Voorburgwaal, you should have developed a strong desire for my body again – which we can satisfy as soon as we get back here. Or in any dark corner you fancy in the street. But we will have to be careful. As you know, I scream when I come. That may bring the police – or the muggers – down on us. You will have to hold your hand over my mouth.’ Katrina smiled at him over her coffee cup. ‘Do you approve of all that? Or more important, can you keep up?’
‘I’ll do my best,’ Tom said manfully. ‘I just hope you won’t expect to be entertained all through the night as well.’
‘I will make you glad to get back to Harriet for some rest,’ Katrina said. ‘But for now, try to whip up some enthusiasm for a bit of morning sex. I feel ravenous.’
Tom smiled at the solecism. ‘Don’t you mean “insatiable”?’
‘Your language is full of confusing words. But you know what I mean.’
‘I was afraid I did,’ Tom admitted. Getting to his feet, he said, ‘Come on then. There’ll be no rest until you’re satiated.’
‘What makes you think I can be satiated?’
‘All right then, until you’re too tired to scream. Bring the rope along with you.’ He led the way back into the front room. There he looked up at the exposed beams in the roof. They might just do for the next stage in the entertainment of Katrina. Over his shoulder he could see her following him from the kitchen, the coil of rope in one hand and a mischievous smile on her face. Tom stopped in the centre of the room and waited for her.
She handed him the coil of rope and stood waiting for him to take the next step. Tom noticed that her hand trembled slightly as she touched him. She could guess what was coming, and she was excited by it. So was Tom. His cock was busily sending semaphore signals of readiness.
Katrina noticed. She reached to stroke him. Her hands encircled his stiff cock, squeezing gently, her fingers gliding along the sensitive underside. ‘I think you will do just fine,’ she told him. Then she let go of his cock and stood waiting for him.
Tom coiled the rope loosely on the floor at his feet. Then he stood back and took aim, throwing the rope over the beam. At the first try the end went over but did not come far enough down for him to grasp it. He pulled it back down and tried again. This time he was able to catch the end of the rope. He pulled it down and left it hanging. With one of the short pieces of rope he tied Katrina’s wrists together in front of her. Then he fastened the long rope over the ceiling beam to her bound wrists and pulled it until she was stretched tautly with her arms high over her head and her feet on the floor. He tied the free end to the door knob. As he did so he thought wistfully of Harriet’s well-equipped basement workshop. He wondered if he was ever going to see it again.
Katrina said nothing while this was being done to her, but her agitation was revealed by the trembling of her legs and the raised tempo of her breathing. Tom remembered that she had been excited by the actual mechanics of being tied up on her first visit. She was now effectively tethered to the spot since there was no slack in the rope over the beam. She gave one experimental tug and then stood quietly once more.
Tom left her hanging and went into the bedroom. He wanted to find something to gag her, as well as a strap or a switch with which to beat her. He and Harriet had not explored her reaction to a combination of mild pain and sexual stimulation, and he planned to do that now. It should be interesting for both of them. But he wanted her gagged before he went ahead.
He searched the drawers of the bureau first, finding several scarves which obviously belonged to Katrina’s friend. He laid them on the bed while he looked for something with which to lash her. In the closet he found an old-fashioned broom made of twigs fastened together. That would do. He didn’t want anything too long since he didn’t want to mark Katrina’s body or cause her to suffer any great pain – but he wanted her to know that she was being lashed. If she showed signs of liking it, he could always hit harder. Alternatively, he could stop if she was in distress. This was where Harriet and he differed. Harriet didn’t stop once she got started, and she didn’t mind if she struck too hard. He had to admit, though, he found it exciting. Tom pulled three or four of the longest switches from the broom.
He went back into the large sitting room, pausing in the doorway to look at Katrina strung up to the beam. She looked exciting. And excited. Merely being left alone and helpless for a short time had caused her nipples to erect and a flush to spread to her face. Her breasts were rising and falling rapidly as she breathed deeply. She was facing the door when he entered the room, and Tom saw the look of relief and anticipation on her face. He went to her and touched the taut nipples, drawing a loud gasp from her.
‘Are you wet too?’ Tom asked with a smile.
Instead of answering, Katrina moaned. Her legs jerked spasmodically and she made a thrusting movement with her hips.
‘So you like it when I talk dirty, do you? Would you like me to whisper into your ear what I’m going to do to you?’
‘I’d like it better if you just did it,’ Katrina gasped out. ‘Can’t you see I am burning up?’
‘All right,’ Tom agreed. ‘We’ll get on with it. I’m going to gag you now. Open your mouth.’ When she did, he thrust one of the scarves inside, binding it in place with a second one.
Katrina looked wild, her nostrils flaring widely. He used the third scarf to blindfold her. Tom debated whether to tie her ankles together. It would make a more striking scene, but he decided against it. He wanted her legs free. Briefly he stood back from her, admiring the tableau he had created. Without any warning Katrina arched her back and threw back her head, so that her face was towards the ceiling. Her hips were thrusting steadily and she made a continuous mewing sound. Tom realised that she must have had a spontaneous orgasm, brought on by the excitement of being strung up.
He moved closer to her, waiting for her to finish. Then, standing behind her, he cupped her breasts, weighing the firm round shapes in his open hands, his fingers squeezing her taut crinkly nipples.
The effect on Katrina was electric. She had another climax, merely from being touched. A long muffled cry came through her gag, a scream that emerged as a moan. She pressed herself backward against Tom, rubbing her bottom on his erect cock. She seemed to be trying to take him inside her, or to urge him to enter her. Her bound hands were twisting above her head, as if she were trying to bring them down and guide him into herself. The muscles in her forearms stood out starkly as she tugged madly at the rope that held her prisoner.
Tom shifted one of his hands to her stomach, caressing her, rubbing her mons veneris and her pubic hair, pressing a fingertip into her navel. He felt the tightness of her stomach muscles under his hand. When he slid a finger into her and touched her clitoris Katrina had another long orgasm, shuddering and moaning against him. In his other hand the weight of her breast seemed to increase as it became engorged. He could trace the course of a blood vessel in her breast as he held her. It ran to her nipple area, and when he looked down he could see it plainly under her warm, smooth skin, fat and pulsing. He knew this was another sign of her excitement, since normally the vein was not visible.