Bondage Ranch 5: His Little Treasure (13 page)

“I’m not sitting and moping. I’m meditating.”

“Heh. Just like Bruce, hmm? I don’t buy it.”

“I took a class from him once. It was very interesting.”

“Yeah. I bet. Like listening to him drone on and on about rope.”

“That’s interesting too.”

Alex grinned. “I agree, actually. I like the bit where he tells people not to call that one knot a cow hitch when using it to tie their woman to a bedpost.”

“The lark’s head.”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

His eyes narrowed. It was possible that Alex was just doing the rounds, but it seemed unlikely. And she wasn’t here to play, so why was she hanging about the campfire half-naked. “Did you come out here just to torture me?”

Alex giggled. “I’m a submissive, Diego! I don’t have a toppish bone in my body. I’m certainly not a sadist.”

Her protests confirmed his suspicion. “I hear you switch now and then.” In fact, he knew it. Alex was not always the bottom in her relationship. What Dylan and Alex had seemed to work for them. Everyone did D/s a little bit differently, no matter how pompous people got sometimes when describing the one true way.

“Only when necessary. I came out to tell you two things. One is that someone reported seeing Laurie open the door to Emma’s room. Laurie agreed to leave Bondage Ranch, never to come back, in return for Constance not pressing charges. We consider the matter closed.”

Diego gave a sigh of relief. He didn’t want to ask, but he wanted to know the answer. “Did Emma end up going home? Do you know?”

Alex’s grin widened. “I do know.”

“And?”

“Oh, you know we’re all about confidentiality here, Diego. I can’t tell you that.”

Grr
. Whatever game Alex was playing, he wasn’t in the mood. “You said you had two things to tell me?”

“Just that this is the last evening of the Bondage Ranch weekend. Last opportunity to do whatever you want to do. I’m headed back to the dungeon. Dylan and I have a hot scene planned, and Bruce is going to take over as the man in charge for a bit so we can have some fun. If Emma is still here, I wonder if she’s found a man to top her yet? I think she knows she only has the one night left too. No time for inhibitions. She might get a bit, um, reckless.” Alex got to her feet. Diego watched mutely as she took a few steps, retrieved her dress from where she’d left it next to a tree, and put it on. Then Alex walked back down the path to the house.

The thought of Emma with another man made his blood boil. But Alex was right. Soon he’d be back to his ordinary life, where people wore clothes. On the last night people did things they regretted sometimes. But they also did things they’d been wanting to do all weekend, knowing the chance might slip through their grasp. For him, he had an active social life back home. He didn’t have any trouble finding a woman to sleep or play with him. Emma shouldn’t have any trouble finding a bedmate either, but he suspected her shyness got in her way. For her the pressure to do something
now
would be high.

He looked around him. Desi was extricating herself from a pile involving three men and another woman. He wasn’t sure what they’d all been doing, but she met his gaze for a moment. He watched her breasts swing as she moved toward him. Sweat shone on her body, illuminated by the flicker of the fire.
Time to live life with no regrets. Nothing else will do.

He shook his head at Desi and got to his feet. It was twilight and already the woods were darker. He went to fetch his clothes.
Time to find Emma. Hopefully I’m not too late.

“HERE?” EMMA ASKED. She’d followed Valerie, Mistress Sue, and Keith down the path and had assumed the bonfire flickering in the distance was their destination, so she was surprised when Sue and Valerie stopped at what seemed only a tiny widening of the path. Keith apparently was surprised as well. Sue had been tugging him along on a leash, but he failed to stop when she did and ended up bumping into his Mistress.

“And here I thought I might let you come this time.” Sue grinned wickedly at her sub.

“Sorry, Mistress!” Keith said, putting down the bags full of toys he was carrying and kneeling down before Sue. He had been holding Valerie’s bag in one hand, Sue’s in the other.

“Here,” confirmed Valerie.

For a moment Emma forgot that she’d asked. Forgot even that she was supposed to be submissive and that Valerie was her top. Emma didn’t feel very submissive at all, especially not compared to the fawning Keith. And Valerie was just her friend. It was all a charade.

But then, what was it Shakespeare said? All the world is a stage, and all the people merely players? There was no reason she couldn’t play her part. There wasn’t that big a difference between playing a part and the real thing, was there? Valerie didn’t seem to think so.

And yet, being with Valerie felt very different than being with Diego. It wasn’t just because Valerie was a woman and Emma was straight.

“Off with your clothes, Emma.”

“All of them?”

“You can keep your undies on.” Valerie stood back. Emma remembered how Diego had unbuttoned her blouse. How he drew it out, making each unveiling seem like an event, his intent gaze making her feel even more exposed and yet sexy at the same time. With Valerie, it felt like changing into her swimsuit. She tried to wall off her emotions and set about following directions. She’d spotted other people without clothes in the woods. They wouldn’t give her a second glance, especially with Sue and Valerie to look at, even if the other two were semidressed.

Valerie faced a sturdy maple tree, her arms at her side, very straight, practically kissing the tree. “I want you to stand like this.” Then Valerie moved, and Emma took her place. Emma felt cold, although not unbearably so, in the evening air. Still, it had hardened her nipples to tight points.
If they are going to ache, cold is not the reason I would have chosen.

Valerie pulled a coil of brown rope out of her bag. She found the middle and wrapped it, doubled up, around the top of Emma’s back, both arms, and the tree. Then it came around a few more times. She cinched it tight and then got another coil of rope. This rope went around Emma’s thighs, twice again, and around the tree.

Emma tried to pull forward but couldn’t. Furthermore, the ropes were kind of itchy, which made her want to squirm, which in turn made it scratch more. She steeled herself to stay still and to try to enjoy the experience. A few feet away, Sue had also found a tree to tie her sub to. Keith, however, was facing out—stark naked and erect. Sue was tying up his private parts. Emma wondered if that rope was scratchy too. She supposed she should be thankful she didn’t have to endure something like that, although Keith looked very turned on.

Emma wasn’t. Not at all.

Dammit.

“All righty,” said Valerie. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

“Um, sure.”

Emma turned her head to see Valerie pull a flogger from the bag and then looked back toward the tree and closed her eyes. The tails struck her back softly. Again, more heavily. If nothing else, she figured she made a pretty picture. She tried to imagine people watching, but even then she didn’t feel a thrill.

There were voices on the path, and she turned to look.

“Oh no you don’t,” said Valerie. She rummaged in her bag and produced a blindfold. She wrapped it around Emma’s head before Emma could see who might be coming.

Emma gritted her teeth.

She tried, as Valerie continued, to figure out the difference between what Valerie did and what Diego did. Even the first flogging she’d received from Valerie was better than what she was doing now. In principle, the idea of being tied up, half naked, while people walked by—that was the stuff of Emma’s fantasies. She felt safe enough in Valerie’s hands, so that wasn’t an issue.

But none of it was turning her on.

She stood there and took the beating, as Valerie switched implements to a stingier flogger. It hurt worse than the other, and Emma almost used her safe word. But Valerie stopped a moment.

“Hey, Alex,” Valerie said. “How’d your mission go?”

“Well. I think,” said Alex. “I can’t make promises.”

“Okay.” Valerie hit Emma with the stinging flogger again, not quite as hard. “How is that?”

Emma shrugged. “Go ahead. I’m fine.”
I might as well experience it all.

“I’m not getting to you at all, am I?”

Emma sighed, feeling vaguely like the failure was hers. “No,” she admitted.

“Want Alex to give it a try?”

“No.”

“Okay, we’ll try a different tack. Sue? Could I borrow Keith?”

She heard whispers and rustling. Alex leaned in close to her and gave her an awkward hug from the back. “How are you doing, Emma?” she asked.

Emma turned her head to the side to face Alex’s voice. She felt like crying. “I don’t know. I’m just lost, I think.”

“Would it be better if it was a man?”

“Maybe.”

“I think Valerie’s going to get Keith to do it.”

Emma frowned. She didn’t think that would help at all. It wasn’t that Keith was any less of a man for being submissive, but she doubted he’d get into it. And without that desire, what was the point?

I want Diego.

“Just a moment.” Alex moved away, and Emma was instantly aware of the lack of the woman’s body heat. The flogging had been keeping her warm, she supposed. A moment later, though, Alex was back, covering Emma with a blanket while Sue and Valerie got things organized.

Alex spoke softly. “I did want to tell you: James caught the person who took Constance’s jewels. She’s gone and won’t be coming back to Bondage Ranch ever. Diego had nothing to do with it.”

“I knew he didn’t,” said Emma.

“Good.”

Sue’s voice cut in. “If you can turn her on, I will let you come.”

Huh?

“With your hand, Mistress?” asked Keith.

Ah, that’s who she’s talking to.

“If you turn Emma on, I will make you come with my mouth,” said Sue.

They’re talking about me?

“I’ll turn her on,” said Keith with determination.

But not because he wants me. Because he wants her. At least, though, he’ll be trying
. She wasn’t sure how she felt about being flogged by another submissive, but she was willing to try.
Hey, I’ll only live once.

A moment later, the flogging resumed. Emma could tell that Keith was using Valerie’s lightest flogger, but he was swinging it hard. And without a great deal of accuracy. The tails seemed to go everywhere, and one even brushed her face. Valerie corrected him, and Emma faced the tree.

“I think I could do better, if her breasts weren’t so protected,” Keith complained.

“Until you can aim, you’re not going to flog her tits,” said Valerie drily.

“I’ll get there.” She heard him move, and something hard brushed against her leg briefly. His cock. She supposed that was sexy, but she wasn’t feeling it. And it wasn’t for her, anyway.

“So,” said Diego’s voice. “Is the point of this to piss me off?”

Oh my God. He’s watching?
She didn’t want him to be angry. But she couldn’t move, and when she turned her head to speak, she found a latex-gloved hand clapped over her mouth. Sue had a glove on her hand, she remembered.

“Yeah,” said Valerie. “Pretty much. Is it working?”

“Oh yeah,” agreed Diego. “And Alex, you should know better.”

“I doubt you can do any better than Keith,” said Valerie.

Diego chuckled. “You are so transparent, Valerie, it isn’t funny.”

“It was worth a try.”

“I can’t stand to watch her being subjected to this crap anymore.” Suddenly, Emma felt his body against hers, his breath hot in her ear. “Would you mind horribly if I continued this flogging, my little treasure?”

His little treasure
. Her heart warmed at the words. “Yes. Oh my God, yes.”

“But—” Keith protested.

Emma heard a scuffle, which at first she thought to her dismay was Diego and Keith. But then Sue said, “You did well enough. Come, let’s find a private place for your reward.”

Maybe Sue was pulling on his leash. Emma remembered seeing him stumble on the path when Sue decided to yank hard. She liked to keep Keith off-balance. Apparently Keith liked that too.

“Now,” said Diego softly. “You. And me.” He took the blanket off, and the cool air blew against her again.

She expected to feel the flogger, but that wasn’t the next thing she felt. Instead, he unsnapped her bra. That didn’t change much. Maybe it exposed her back, but the cups were still held in place by the tree and weren’t going anywhere.

Then he grabbed the waistband of her panties and ripped.

“Better,” he said.

“You didn’t ask,” she complained.

“You have a safe word. And you know how to use it. I’m trusting my instincts, even though they caused you to safe word before. The question is, do
you
trust me?” He laid the flogger across her shoulder, softly, and then pulled it back, letting the tails rub against her shoulder and then flip against her back before they left her.

“I don’t know.”

“You’re going to have to decide, little treasure. Does she look better with her panties off, do you think?”

She wondered who he was asking.

“Yes,” agreed Alex. “She’s got a beautiful body.”

“Naked and ready for action,” agreed Valerie. At least, Emma thought that was agreement. Valerie sounded like she was in front of her now, rather than behind.

“Wish I could stay and watch,” said Alex. “But duty calls.”

“There will be other people walking down the path, and they’ll be watching.” Diego stated. “Emma, does that turn you on?”

She caught her breath and felt her nipples tighten.
Maybe I’m just cold
. But no, she felt moisture between her thighs as well.
Damn him
. She wasn’t going to answer.

“She’s reacting,” said Valerie. “Are you an exhibitionist, Emma?”

“No.”

“Are you sure about that?”

She clenched her teeth, not wanting to answer. The flogger smacked across her back. She could distantly hear the sound of drums, and Diego’s flogging picked up the beat.