Never Have I Ever (14 page)

I really, really liked the sound of that. I could already feel myself getting turned on just from his voice. “Then I’m eager to see what you have in store for me, Sir.”

***

Over breakfast, we talked about our list of Nevers. We would have to reschedule Paris until I wrapped up my Master’s degree. In fact, everything would have to wait until then so that we would both be in the same city.

Because I was by no means an invalid or a beggar, I all but demanded that I put forth my fair share of the cost for the trips. Not only was my savings account in the best shape of my life, but I’d been guaranteed a position at the observatory once I graduated. Assuming that the latest grants from Wellington International and a more recent second company,
ExecTeck
, pulled through then I’d be able to afford it as long as I could slip in the time off.

The grants were a problem for Future Piper. I had no control over them. All I could do was make the best presentation possible and pray I put it in layman’s terms well enough that they understood it.

“Here,” Noah said. He passed me a notepad and a pen, his own little notebook in his other hand. As he moved to sit near me on the couch, he added, “Start writing. If the list is going to be extensive, we need a plan and not just a varied array of ideas.”

I stared at the blank pink and blue lines for what seemed like ages trying to think of all the places I wanted to go, events I wanted to participate in, and people I just had to see before I died. All I could think about was that never had I ever grabbed an electric fence. This certainly felt like the moment right before I was about to.

He glanced over at me. “You’re not writing.”

“No. I—wait.” The sudden sobriety of life hit me as if emerging with a little bit of clarity from the fog of early morning. I didn’t want this to be a dream, I just couldn’t help thinking there was a catch. “When does the other shoe drop?”

“Pardon?”

“Come on, really?”

Noah clicked his pen. “I’m not asking you to run away with me, Piper. It’s not like we won’t come back.”

“It’s just that you kind of are. You’re asking me to travel the world with you and I don’t know anything about you. It’s a little intimidating.”

“Yes, but you trust me.”

“Here, yes, I do.”

“Why does that change out there?” He motioned towards the open expanse of the city through the massive windows of his living room.

Did it?
Maybe.
The difference between the
sense
of protection of the city I knew so well and, well, one I didn’t was vast.

I gave him a sideways and rather reserved smile. “Humor me?”

He took a deep breath, reclined against the couch, and put one arm up against the back as he stared at me. “I’m an open book. What would you like to know?”

“About, you know,
you
.”

“You met my brother, my only sibling. We grew up here in California in a fairly middle class sort of world. My parents were doting and kind, though not without their vices.”

I waved my hand in a kill gesture. “No, no, no. Those are just facts.”

He shrugged. “What else is there?”

“
You
,” I pressed. “What makes Sir Noah tick?”

A goofy, real smile which lit him up accompanied his laugh. “I like that.”

“You’re dodging the question.”

After placing his notepad on the coffee table and setting the pen atop it, he rested his forearms against his thighs and threaded his fingers together. “Okay, I’ll bite.” He eyed me and shook his head in what appeared to be disbelief that he was divulging anything more about himself. “I was an incredibly awkward teenager. Spent more of my time breaking and fixing computers than I should ever admit to in a public forum. I loathe reality TV. My favorite superhero is
Deadpool
for his amazing comedic timing in breaking the fourth wall. Favorite word is terpsichorean.”

“Terpsichore?”
I sat back against the couch as I mulled the word over. “That’s… the name of a Muse, isn’t it?”

“And I’m not telling you which one.”

I’d look it up later. “Go on.”

“I lost my virginity at seventeen to a girl who later told me I was a pity fuck, which is probably why I dove headlong into sex the way I’ve had it ever since. Now that I think about it, I should track her down and thank her for that wake-up call. And, the last thing you’re getting out of me today, is that I am deathly afraid of not finishing what I start.”

They were still facts, but at least they were facts about him and not facts about his family. “Is that a subtle hint you want to finish these lists?”

He nodded once, slowly. “And then fulfill them.”

“Thank you. I appreciate the bit of insight.”

I clicked my pen open and began my list.

We created two lists; one of them contained a list of socially acceptable Nevers and the other contained Nevers that only we would know about.
The sexy ones.

Our collective list of Clean Nevers wound up including, but was not by any means limited to:  Climb a volcano, dye my hair a wild color, sleep out under the stars, catch fireflies, visit as many states and countries as we possibly could, go white water rafting, launch a sky lantern, learn archery, sail, drive a Formula 1 race car, watch a live rocket launch, shake hands with the Dali Lama, get a piercing someplace other than my ears, get a tattoo, hit a bull’s-eye on a dartboard, discover and name a new celestial body, be part of a flash mob, and see the Aurora Borealis.

The list of Nevers which contained all of our sexual escapades was significantly longer than our list of Clean Nevers, and Noah did most of the writing on it, more or less hiding it from me so that it would remain a surprise. I glimpsed words like “Suspension” and “Public”, but nothing that would give me much of a clue as to the extent of what he wanted to plan.

By the time the lists were compiled it was mid afternoon. We migrated from the sofa to kitchen and back into the living room again to lounge on the sofa, discussing every topic from where we wanted to go first to the places we wanted to take each other but had already been ourselves.

“I think we ought to take a camping trip when you get back, Sir,” I suggested. I curled my legs up onto the couch and leaned my head against his shoulder. “We could knock out at least five of the bullet points right there if we played our cards right.”

“That’s not a bad thought. It’s a first step sort of start to get the ball rolling. I like it.”

I smiled at the approval. “Three weeks are all we have to wait,
then
it’s off to insane adventure tucked between work and our passions.”

Noah repositioned himself on the couch so that he was facing me. “You’re going to be okay while I’m gone, right?”

I nodded. “I’ll miss the hell out of you, but I think I can survive three weeks. Besides, you’re quite the distraction. I don’t know how much studying I’d get done with you around. And I mean that in the best way possible.”

“Good.”

“Wow, you actually take my word for it. I’m rather surprised you’re not doing something insane like sticking a security detail on me or other nonsense.”

Noah made a self-deprecating noise in the back of his throat. “Please. You’re a big girl. You can take care of yourself. Hell, you would probably kick the security detail’s ass if I tried to. No, Piper, I chose you because you’re a strong woman, not a damsel in distress. No body guards required, no paperwork, and no headache for me.”

I laughed. “I’m pleased to hear it, Sir.”

“Now,” he said, the tone of his voice drifting into something a little sterner. He reached for the belt around my robe. One tug later and the bow slipped away and the fabric tilted off my shoulders. “I have roughly six hours to utterly ravage you. Where shall I begin?”

There was not a reason in the world to be nervous. So far the sex had been hot and edgy; nothing at all like what I experienced prior to meeting him. Making love was fine before. It felt great. This, though, was on a whole new level of pleasure. This took the notion of making love and ratcheted it up ten-fold. I wanted to be good for him, to make sure he came back from his three weeks away and wanted me again. Because it sure as hell was good for me, and I was certain that when he returned my mind wouldn’t have changed. So, I was shaking. It was a subtle shake, but it was there.

I was kneeling on the bed again.
Naked, of course.
This time, a wide towel had been placed beneath me. I was unsure of what the significance of that was, and it did sort of scare me a little.

“As far as we have come in this short time, you’re still unsure about this,” Noah remarked. He stood at the foot of the bed and pulled at the loop of a chain of red wine colored rope so that it straightened out into his hands.

I averted my gaze.
“Yes, Sir.”

“No, don’t look away, look at me,” he said. He stopped working at the rope and slipped a finger underneath my chin. He guided my head up and brushed his thumb across my lips. “Clear your mind, dear one. Listen to my voice. Nothing else exists beyond the both of us right now. We are the only two people in the world. Keep your head held high and proud. You should never be ashamed of what you are or who you belong to. You are a fine woman in need of someone else to take the control away from you and bring out the sensual slut that you really are. In that surrender, you will find further strength in yourself. Do you understand?”

It meant that I no longer had to be on guard. It meant that I could let myself go with no consequences and allow him to guide me. Noah may have grasped the general concept of what the words meant, but he couldn’t have known the depth of freedom I felt rise up off my soul when he said them.

“I do understand, Sir.”

“This is not a thing I am forcing on you. You are giving it freely. You have nothing to fear from me. Do you trust me?”

I did trust him; implicitly, in fact.
“With every iota of my existence.”

He smiled. “Don’t worry; there won’t be near as much pain tonight as there was last night. Last night I wanted to see what your threshold was.”

At least that would give my body the reprieve it needed.

“Put your arms out, wrists slightly apart.”

I did just as he finished folding the rope over itself so that the tips were touching. Wordlessly, he laid the rope over my hands and wrapped it loosely around my wrists until only a small section remained. When he finished, he threaded the rope between my hands and synched them together. It was secured with an overhand knot.

“Good girl,” he said.

Noah pressed the tips of his fingers below my collar bone and pushed. I fell back onto the bed. After retrieving several more lengths of rope from the chest in the corner, he moved to the right side of the bed. He bent my right leg and pulled it up so my foot was on the bed for just long enough to secure a slightly longer length of rope around my thigh and my calf and keep it bent. The same was then done to my left leg. Once that was complete, he parted my legs until they were flush against the bed, the soles of my feet touching one another as if in some awkwardly comfortable yoga position.

There were two lengths of rope left. The first he
tied
off to the rope on my left leg. He threw it under the bed with enough force to make it slide clear to the other end. He found it on the other side, pulled it taut, and attached it to the rope on my right leg. With the final piece of rope, he connected the bindings on my wrists to a
slat
in the headboard directly above me. Even if I struggled I wouldn’t be going anywhere.

He ran his hand down the length of rope from the top of the headboard, over my hands and down my arms. I took a deep breath, immersing myself in his touch, all but whimpering when he pulled away from me.

“Someone’s a little anxious to be used tonight,” Noah laughed.

I couldn’t answer him. He was right, of course. I had no idea what was in store for me, but I longed to discover it, whatever it was. And I didn’t have to wait long. Noah went back to the chest to pluck from it a red pillar candle. His hand dove into the pocket of his plaid pajama bottoms—he never changed out of them the whole day—and he pulled out a lighter.

“Wax is underutilized these days, I think,” he began to explain. “Nobody really gives it as much attention as it deserves but it remains one of my favorite tools in the bedroom. And I think you have the nerve to take it, pet.”

The candle was lit. I watched, mesmerized by the flickering fire on the wick while it melted away the wax. He brought it closer to me, the candle hovering a foot above my chest. My eyes were wide with excitement and reservation.

He held it over me, tilting it ever so slightly. He teased me, moving from one side of my body to the other while he decided where he would drip it first. All the while it pooled in the crevasse of high wax walls that barely kept it at bay. I just wanted him to pour it out on me. I wanted to feel the sting of it and the warmth cascade through me with the prickling of heat.