Arranging Love (2 page)

Chapter 3

Crystal huddled in the darkness of the tiny back room, peering out through the one-way glass. The guests she stared at saw only the antique mirror hanging on the wall, not the eyes of staff members checking out their clientele. A person working in this profession couldn’t be too cautious when a customer asked for them by name.

Too many new customers didn’t understand the BDSM lifestyle. Her employer provided services at top dollar that other establishments found repulsive.
Crystal had stripped for a short time, but the money hadn’t been enough to satisfy both the bill collectors and the university bursar’s office. This job provided her that comfort and more.

Being a submissive to her Dominant wasn’t about being naughty just to receive punishment. Nor was it an opportunity to try and convert her and overpower. It was all about letting go and giving up control for the pleasure of oneself and another. The pain, when done correctly, increased the level of gratification exponentially. Some people just didn’t get that.

Pleased with the number of guests who had accepted tonight’s invitation,
Crystal had eyes for only one man. Her breath caught when she finally spotted the bandana hanging from his pocket. The man’s face said college boy, but the camel-colored coat and elegant way he moved through the room spoke of a maturity she hadn’t expected. In her two years working these private parties, she’d become an astute observer of people. And this guy with the butterscotch hair and mouthwatering physique surely had the means to pay big bucks for services. She’d done some digging into his background and understood enough about him to know she’d prefer meeting him in private, rather than display her talents in the presence of others.

Crystal wondered why he’d chosen to come all the way from
Maine
on a day like this and how much he truly knew about her. Whatever the reason—curiosity or a need for a relationship—she realized she wanted a more personal involvement in this man’s life.

Perhaps that was why she’d invited this guy to MIRL. After all, she already had enough fulltime customers who paid her good money, but somehow it still wasn’t enough. Her eagerness for a deeper relationship had overridden her normally cautious nature. Something about this guy’s conversations in the chat rooms had made him sound sad, lonely—desperate. At this point in her life she needed to be needed. A sigh escaped her lips. That was too deep for her to contemplate tonight.

Mima stepped through the door to the back room. “Did you spot the hunky guy asking for you?”

Crystal nodded and smiled, but didn’t take her eyes off the prize. “Did you explain the menu to him?”

“He understands what’s available, yes. He wasn’t very interested in the rodeo, but his eyes sparkled when I mentioned the braided eye candy.”

She turned away from the window to catch the wink from the hostess. “Very well, give me twenty minutes, then bring all my guests back.”

* * * *

The guilt mixing with his second scotch churned unpleasantly in Peter’s gut. He’d discussed his options with the hostess nearly fifteen minutes ago, and he was quickly loosing both his patience and his nerve. This whole thing had been a stupid idea. He didn’t need another woman in his life. Meghan and her family were enough. Peter slammed his glass down on the table beside him and stood.

“Now what’s your rush?” The question came from a diminutive redhead who had sidled up to his table. Her breasts seemed much too large for her petite body.

“I just stopped in for a drink,” Peter said, absently shoving the bandana back into his pocket before picking up the highball glass.

“But Mima mentioned you were interested in a little braided eye candy?”

He paused, the glass of scotch suspended halfway to his mouth. “
Crystal?”

The young woman stepped up to him. He could smell the floral shampoo and feel the heat of her skin pressed to his. “She’s asked me to show you to her room.”

He set the glass down and stared at her. A private room—well, when it came right down to it—it’s what he wanted. Though it probably wasn’t the best way to meet the woman, in
this
place, with so many people around, but at the moment, he didn’t see any other options. His fingers plowed through his hair, and nervousness burst from his lungs, puffing his cheeks. He needed to get a hold on his emotions. He’d come this far. Peter forced his lips into a smile and stared down into dark eyes outlined provocatively in black. “How do I know you’re taking me to her?”

She laid a gloved hand on his chest and tipped up on her booted toes, bringing her lips a breath from his. “Because, Single and Looking Twenty-one, she’s been waiting for you and your red bandana to come through that door.” The screen name slipped seductively over her lips before she nipped at his chin, and Peter’s cock jumped in reply.

One elegant eyebrow arched. “She thought that was you.” The woman shot a look over her shoulder at the mirror on the wall. “She’s been watching.” She smiled as understanding dropped his jaw. He was too dumbfounded to speak, so she continued. “
Crystal told me all about you. How lonely you are. How you need a little extra attention.” Like a cat in heat, she slithered against him, pressing her caged pubic bone against his thigh. Blood pooled in his groin.

“I told
Crystal only her.”

“And she sent me to retrieve you.” She pointed to several people being escorted out of the main room. “
Crystal is a little busy
tying
up some loose ends at the moment, but as you can see, her other guests are already making their way to her.”

“Where is she exactly?”

The seductive smile slid over her full lips. “In one of the private viewing rooms, of course.”

Even with his limited knowledge of strip joints, Peter knew this would cost him a lot of money. “How much?”

“Tonight she offers you a sample viewing. If you choose something more,” her hand slid up his bicep, “that can be negotiated.”

Guilt clogged his throat, but curiosity had him extending his hand in an invitation for the woman to lead the way.

She turned, the opaque thigh-highs making a pleasant sound as she led him through the maze of chairs and couches toward the side door; his gaze focused on the garters and her naked ass swaying pleasantly in front of him. It kept him from catching the eye of the other patrons. He’d jumped so many hurdles to get here, there was no turning back, but he didn’t need to know that others watched him. Peter’s need to meet
Crystal outweighed any compunction he had to retreat from his embarrassment—or the unknown.

He followed the redhead through the door into the semi-darkness of a large, converted bedroom. Comfortable chairs tucked into the shadows lined the wall to his left. He shot a glance to his right, swallowing the swell of lust that bubbled through him.

“Over there will give you a wonderful view.” The redhead’s voice dropped to a husky whisper as she pointed to the far side of the room.

“I prefer to be near the door.” Peter indicated the chair next to them, nestled in the shadowed corner.

“Whatever you wish.” When he was settled, she bent low, her lips a whisper away from his ear, her peaked nipples brushing pleasantly over his shirt sleeve. “Is there anything else you desire of me?”

“Another scotch.”

“For the safety of all, alcohol is not allowed in the private rooms. The show will be enough of a stimulus.” She dragged her nail down his chest and retreated from the room.

Peter leaned back in his chair, unsure what to expect, but the unhurried activity in front of him took him by surprise. He’d been told
Crystal would offer her guests
braided eye candy
this evening. He’d figured he’d get nothing more than a nice bump-and-grind striptease against a metal pole, but the scenes laid out before him brought back—in stark reality—to where he’d chosen to MIRL.

A dark-haired man knelt in a metal cage in the corner, his head sticking up through the top. Even from this distance, Peter could see the ropes knotted around his sizeable erection, and the eager anticipation in his eyes.

Next to the cage, the brunette who had winked at him in the great room stood bound and gagged in all her naked wonder. Her arms were lifted high above her head, tied at the wrists to a contraption hanging from the ceiling. Ropes snaked around her torso, tightly enveloping her breasts, making them jut out proudly from her body. Her rosy nipples were peaked with excitement. A pole held her legs wide, leather straps binding it to her ankles, exposing the shaved mound of her sex. Even now, just bound and exposed, her thighs glistened with her excitement.

Peter shifted in his chair, making room in his pants for his expanding erection.

A lithe Dominatrix checked the ropes on the woman. Leather sheathed up the length of one leg, wrapping around her hips, in a tiny bikini-type bottom. The top was a mirror image, with the scant leather barely covering her breasts, extending to encase one supple arm down to the fingers deftly tying a blindfold on the woman. Her mouth moved, but Peter couldn’t hear the words, but as the brunette nodded her head, clenching and unclenching a fist, he wondered if they were going over the woman’s safe signals.

It disgusted him that he should be so mesmerized by the swish and sway of the Dominatrix’s long, blond hair. She bent to check the bindings around the bound woman’s wrists and ankles before taking a leather flogger from a second man stepping out of the corner. Black leather came down hard, a flash of fuchsia straps appearing as the flogger spread wide over the woman’s ass. Interesting visual.

These must have been the men in business suits who had been with brunette. Who knew they’d be part of the show?

“Welcome to my lair,” said the Dominatrix; the flogger once again flashed fuchsia and came down with a snap on the brunette’s ass. “I am Mistress Crystal, and these are my slaves. We have, for your viewing pleasure this evening, braided eye candy.” Music started, soft and slow. “And my rodeo.” She pointed to the man in the cage.

With the flare of a stage performer,
Crystal began directing her puppets. Her male assistant wheeled over a wooden chest of drawers. As he opened each one, he selected sex toys from them and set them on top; his erection, bound in leather, bounced with anticipation.
Crystal chose a set of clamps from the paraphernalia and attached them to the woman’s nipples. Tugging gently on the chain hanging between them, she elicited a low groan from the woman. More juices poured down the woman’s thighs.

The Dominatrix nodded to the man, and she took up position behind the woman, bringing the leather straps of the flogger down hard once again on the brunette’s backside. The brunette arched into the pain, her body begging for more.

Oh, to be that much in control of another’s pleasure. Peter hadn’t realized how tantalizing he found the idea. But watching Crystal and the man working in tandem, alternately whipping and stroking the brunette into a frenzied pitch of need, he felt the power and craved that mastery. The brunette’s rosy nether lips filled with blood, and her moans became hard gasps of desire.

The man selected a wand from the drawer and held it up for the voyeurs. At the press of a button, electricity jumped from the ball of the instrument to his fingers. The brunette thrust her chest forward at the sound of the resulting snap. Bringing the tip of the wand to her heaving tits, he sparked her nipple, and the brunette’s knees buckled momentarily.

As the man focused on the front of her,
Crystal worked her ass. She’d given up the flogger for a well-lubed vibrator that hummed over the woman’s sensitive skin.
Crystal alternately spanked and massaged the round cheeks.

They continued to drive the brunette, stimulating her hot holes with vibrators, fingers, and mouths. She pleaded with them through her gag to let her come, but
Crystal was relentless. When the brunette did cry out in ecstasy, her body convulsing in orgasm, she was punished for her disobedience. The resulting flogging drove the woman once again into a fevered pitch.

Peter sat mesmerized, his body vibrating with need. He imagined himself doing what the man was doing, inflicting pain and soothing the hurt, skyrocketing the woman in his hands to unimaginable levels of ecstasy. But this was not his world. His conservative fiancée would never agree to let herself be bound for their mutual pleasure.

Meghan.

Guilt pinched his heart and deflated his cock. He hadn’t thought about her since entering this room nearly an hour ago. As
Crystal released the man from the cage and fitted his mouth with a bit, Peter came to his senses and left the hotel suite.

Fantasies were meant to be kept in secret. No matter how much he wanted a closer relationship with this dark and mysterious woman, not even a Dominatrix like
Crystal was worth his relationship with Meghan.

* * * *

Crystal kept one eye on her guests while expertly pleasuring her clients. She’d worked with this trio on more than one occasion and had come to understand their individual preferences and strengths. Her private sessions with them, both separately and together, had taught her much, and she exploited their fetishes for their pleasure and the thrill of those watching.

Always a crowd-pleaser, the brunette was extremely responsive tonight, and
Crystal could feel the low tone of expectation every time they drove the woman to her breaking point. There would be many among her guests seeking private sessions after the viewing.

She’d hoped to get some time alone with her stranger from the Internet, but as she mounted her pony slave and brought her riding crop down hard on his firm ass, she saw the door open and the man disappear into the night.