Little Tease (4 page)

“
Don’t call me ‘Sir’.” It was a casual command, but it was a command nonetheless, and her Smurf-blue ponytail wriggled against her shoulder as she nodded.

“
Sorry, Josh.”

He tugged the ponytail gently. “I give you permission to speak, Alex?”

She shut up fast, with a sidelong ‘oops’ look over at me. That was another foot she was putting wrong—she always
had
tried to gauge voyeurs’ reactions. I wasn’t surprised when he tilted up her chin with a finger, calling her attention back to him.

What I hadn’t expected was for him to get within kissing distance of her before calling her on it. “Don’t look at Lena; look at me. She isn’t a part of this scene. She can watch if she likes, but you will
not
try to bring her into this again. Clear?”

“
Yes, Josh,” she whispered, and he sat back, satisfied.

“
Good girl.”

I shifted position to allow them to move past me, and watched as he guided her toward the play area, a hand on the small of her back. And then I closed my eyes and let the memory of Josh’s Dom-voice take me to a
very
happy place.

After a few moments, I headed to the spectators’ area of the play space and settled down to watch.

Josh’s presence in the dungeon hadn’t gone unnoticed, and there was already a small crowd gathered around to enjoy the show. A few people shot sidelong glances my way, and I smiled back, letting them know that I wasn’t feeling slighted by Josh’s choice of play partner.

He was in the process of tying Smurfette to one side of the double A-frame—facing inwards, so there was no doubt that he planned to give her hell with whatever his weapon of choice was. When he crouched to secure her ankles, I tilted my head slightly to admire the firm curve of his ass. If nothing else,
that
sight would stay with me tonight.

“
Like what you see?” Heidi’s voice was low and amused in my ear.

“
Yeah,” I told her. “It pisses me off when Doms won’t get down lower than their subs when they need to.”

She laughed without restraint. “It’s certainly interesting watching the interplay between the two of you. You know, if you really wanted to get under his skin, you could take a sub of your own in and use the other side of the frame.”

It was a cool idea, but as I watched Josh shrug out of his shirt—which was
so
done for my benefit; I just knew it—I shook my head. “I’d be too busy watching him to watch my sub. Way too dangerous.”

Heidi looked at me with new respect. “I see your point. The other alternative would be to go in there as a sub yourself…”

I was shaking my head before she’d finished her sentence. “And give up my front row seat, here? No way!”

“
Well, if you change your mind, come and see me.” We both watched him move over to his toy bag—did he bring it every time, just in case I caved in?—and pull out a riding crop. From the looks of it, it was meant for use on actual horses, not just standard sex-shop fare. And it looked so natural in his grip…

He leaned in close to Smurfette, asking a question, then responded to her answer with a slow smile and a comment of his own. Her reply must have been out of line, cause he grabbed the top of her ponytail and yanked her head firmly back, shaking his head as he frowned down at her.

“
She’s feisty,” Heidi murmured in approval.

“
Want me to let her know you’re interested?” I asked, watching the muscles moving subtly in Josh’s arms and shoulders.
It should be illegal for him to wear shirts.

“
I think I can take care of it.”

My response flew straight out of my head as Josh unzipped Smurfette’s skirt, letting it drop as far as her spread legs would allow. He then stroked the crop up her calf, then her thigh, then over her ass…

He started off fast and light, warming her up gradually, and each tap was confident and well-aimed. He knew what he was doing—not that I’d had any doubts—and as Smurfette’s skin began to show signs of rosiness, he took a few moments to check in with her.

After he’d gotten her reassurance, the fun started. Josh slowed down the frequency of his strokes, but made every one count, until her ass was practically glowing pink. His focus on her was absolute, yet his posture was casual, leaving no doubt that he was enjoying himself. Just imagining being the subject of that distinctive gaze got me hot.

He rubbed away Smurfette’s pain after each set of blows, but his touch was never overtly sexual. I wondered if he was saving that for me, or if that was just the way he played in public.

Once she was barely flinching at the crop’s impact, anaesthetised by endorphins, he set the instrument aside and checked in with her again. She was flying high by now—I could tell by the way she was lounging against the frame.
I must be crazy for keeping Josh from doing this to me…
I wanted to be in her position so much that I could almost taste it, but it was my own fault that I wasn’t.

Josh held a paddle up in her line of sight, and I remembered his words a few weeks ago. Was this one of the paddles he made himself, in his garage? It was beautiful—some kind of dark wood, sleek and shiny and unyielding.

When Smurfette nodded, he took up his position behind her, ready to bring it down. And when he let her have it, I winced in sympathy as she began to react to the pain again. She flinched and tensed and finally yelled out in pain, loud enough to be heard over the background music in the dungeon.

He rubbed the pain away, and his touch was more tender now—not intimate, but concerned. She trembled at it—she hadn’t given her safeword, but it was clear that she was almost at her limit—and he carefully pulled her skirt back up over her hips, then untied her, limb by limb.

The whole scene had lasted around forty minutes, and at some point Heidi had left me to watch alone. I watched Josh lead Smurfette to the recovery area, where she curled up with a bottle of water. He remained standing for a moment longer, shrugging on his shirt with a glance my way.

With a tiny wave and a grin, I headed back through to the social area, almost running into Mel and Ben on the way. “Hey, guys. Playing a scene?”

“
Hoping to catch the end of Josh’s, first,” Mel said. “We too late?”

“
He put his shirt back on, and everything,” I told her, trying to keep a straight face.

She sighed. “Damn. Guess I’m just gonna have to wait until you two go for it.”

Ben cut in, “Any idea when that’s gonna be, by the way?”

Mel rolled her eyes. “Tactful, honey… We were thinking of going to Spain for a couple of weeks in the summer, but we don’t wanna miss the Scene of the Century.”

“
Like I have it scheduled on the calendar?” I shrugged. “If you’re gonna play, you better get started. Not long until closing.”

They continued on their way, and I danced a couple of songs with Danny and Izzy, pushing thoughts of Josh away for the moment. After a while, I saw Smurfette’s blue hair out of the corner of my eye, and headed over to join her.

“
Hey,” she said, moving over with a slight wince so I could sit down. “Enjoy the show?”

Josh arrived with drinks for all three of us as I replied. “I’ve seen worse. Did you enjoy
being
the show?”

“
Seen worse?” She pouted. “I’m offended. Josh, are you offended?”

He regarded me steadily, the slightest curve to his lips. “Not really. But then, I could see her out of the corner of my eye while we were playing. She looked pretty impressed, to me.”

Ooooh… touché.
I hadn’t known he’d been watching. Hoping I wasn’t blushing, I told him, “I was thinking you’d look great with a tattoo on your left shoulder-blade. Maybe a dolphin or a rose…”

There was a sharp glint of a warning in his answering smile, residual Dom instinct from the scene he’d just played, and it made my head spin just a little. “Already got plenty of thorns.”

“
I noticed,” I said, glancing over at Smurfette, who was watching us like a tennis match, one to the other and back again. “What was that paddle like?”

She smiled dreamily. “Hard.”

* * * *

Josh

Alex declined my offer of a ride home, telling me she had a kink-friendly roommate on the way to pick her up. Then, slyly, she suggested that Lena might be in greater need of a ride.

“
That was really subtle,” Lena said, shaking her head and draining her drink.

“
I try.” With a bright smile, Alex pecked me on the cheek, then waved goodbye as she headed toward the exit.

Lena and I exchanged a glance. “Going my way?” she asked.

Nodding, I got to my feet. “Need to go tell people that it’s just a ride home, with no kink attached?”

She laughed. “Let them wonder.”

I grabbed my toy bag while she shrugged on her jacket, and together we made our way out into the night air. My car wasn’t far, and Lena kept pace with me easily, her rubber-soled platform boots making almost no noise against the pavement.

She slipped into the passenger seat before I could even think of opening the door for her. I suppressed a smile as I placed my toy bag into the trunk of the car, unzipped it and pulled out the paddle I’d used earlier.

Lena could play all the games she wanted, but I had a few aces up my sleeve.

After I slid behind the wheel, I held up the paddle. “You wanted to look at this?”

For a second she blinked at me, those striking green eyes widening a little. Then she took the paddle with a smile. “If you wanted me to paddle you, Josh, you shoulda said so back at the club…”

I ignored her bait, starting the engine and buckling up while she ran admiring fingers across the varnished wood. “This is beautiful.”

I didn’t know if it was the sincerity in her voice or the way she caressed the paddle, or the fact that this was the first time we’d been truly alone since we first met. Whatever the reason, the urge to press her back against her seat and kiss her until she was breathless was overwhelming.

Only, I couldn’t. It was her move; I’d made that clear from the start. So I concentrated on driving. On not noticing exactly where the lace hem of her mini-dress became a pale, soft stretch of skin, or the way she let the paddle rest against her inner thigh.

“
You gonna play with Smurfette again?” she asked after a couple of minutes.

“
Jealous?”

Her voice thick with amusement at the notion, she said, “Nah. I could just get used to seeing you shirtless.”

She was good.

I was better.

“
You know exactly how to get me out of my shirt, little tease. You’re just too stubborn to give in and admit how much you want it.”

The pet name had come to me as I was showering a few nights ago, and this was the first time I’d used it. It definitely had the desired effect; she shifted in her seat, pressing her thighs together in that subtle way women do when they’re too turned on to resist it.

Her next words were directions—we were getting close to her apartment—and she waited until I pulled over outside her building before speaking.

“
I’m not in denial, Josh. I know
exactly
how much I want you, because I can feel it.” Her fingers slid an inch up her thigh, pulling her dress up with them, and it was a damn good thing I wasn’t driving right then, cause I’d probably have run the car off the road.

“
Oh, you really
are
a tease.” I’d heard a rumour that the last time someone tried to top Lena, she’d had him tied up in the dungeon with an ass halfway to purple by the end of the night. Watching her, I could believe it.

“
I’d only be a tease if I didn’t plan to let you take what you wanted.” She ran her fingers over my paddle again, lightly up, then down, then up…

My scene with Alex had been interesting, but it was platonic. There were so many things I hadn’t done for years, though, and stepping into a Dominant role had awoken cravings I’d become used to ignoring during my failed marriage. Cravings that definitely didn’t fall into the ‘platonic’ category.

And Lena… Lena had no idea who she was dealing with. The thought made me smile. “Gonna invite me in, then?”

“
We still haven’t negotiated nearly enough for that,” she said, some of her cockiness fading.

“
Then let’s start now. The scene tonight… See anything you wouldn’t like doing to you?”

“
No-” She bit down on the word ‘Sir’ before it could escape, and then scowled at me when I laughed softly.

“
Then that’s checks in the exhibitionism, light bondage, spanking, crops and paddles boxes.”