Passion Flower: 1 (5 page)

He let her go and pulled up his shorts. His massive erection
was still obvious.

“But…” she protested. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to
go, not at all.

“Go to your room and go to sleep. Maybe I’ll let you wear
clothes tomorrow. Maybe not. I kind of like you naked. In the meantime, when
you want to tell the truth, you can come find me anytime at all.”

“Now—”

“Go. Now.”

Something in his voice made her obey. She didn’t believe he
would hit her, although she could imagine him frog-marching her back to the
house like he had Amber. Nonetheless she obeyed, and a first few steps became a
run. Somehow not finishing a blowjob had become far more humiliating than
giving one had been. And there was no doubt at all who had the power between
them. It was all Carter.

The door was unlocked. She opened it and didn’t bother to
close it behind her in her impatience to get away, and she didn’t stop hurrying
until she was in her room. She would have thrown a lock if she’d had one. If
he’d wanted to hurt her, he’d had the chance, but somehow she found him pretty
damn frightening anyway.

For now there didn’t seem to be much choice but to do
exactly what he said. There really was nothing better to do than go to sleep.

Carter didn’t turn away until after Natalie had disappeared
from view. Damn, but her ass was sexy. She looked good naked. Her dark hair set
off her pale skin, giving her a somewhat ethereal look in the black dress.
Somehow naked she looked more solid, more real. Watching her wasn’t doing
anything to ease his raging hard-on, that was for sure. He was tempted to jerk
off right then and there. Pulling her lovely mouth off his cock had been agony.
It hurts me more than it hurts you, Natalie.
This time, that wasn’t just
a line. He remembered the way her nipples bunched up, dark oval patches in the
middle of creamy breasts. The way her pussy clenched around his fingers, so
tight and so very wet. He’d wanted to fuck her then and there.

But she was definitely lying. There was no way she jumped
out in her clothes because she wanted a swim. The latch to the window required
some oomph to open. It wasn’t something one did on a whim. If she had time to
open that window, she had time to get into better swimming clothes.

The thought that she might be suicidal reared its ugly head.
If so, she had second thoughts immediately, because she swam right to shore
without taking even a single stroke toward the open ocean. No, there was
something deeper going on.

Her impulse to lie about her experience was another thing.
But she had clearly been startled by the way his hand felt. If she’d been spanked
before, he was willing to bet it wasn’t by anyone who knew what he was doing.
And that meant she had lied in her application as well. If he told Tom and Kyle
they’d want to send her home. Roger would agree with them. In some sense,
that’s what he should do, but he didn’t want to. Not until he understood why.

He’d been an investigator for the US Army for years, and he
hadn’t lost the desire to ferret out a problem. Sometimes he’d had to let his
superiors know his suspicions before he was absolutely sure, because there was
simply too much at stake, but it had always galled him. How much trouble could
a girl cause, anyway? She wasn’t a cop, and anyway, nothing they did was
illegal. She could be a journalist but he doubted it. If you were going
undercover, the last thing you wanted to do was claim to have an expert
knowledge of a completely unrelated field, and her application said she had a
PhD in Biology. Whether he ought to tell the others or not, he knew full well
he wasn’t going to.

The gentle waves of the ocean reflected the moonlight, an
ever-shifting sea of flickers. He wished he hadn’t sent Natalie to bed. He
would have enjoyed watching it with her and seeing her reaction. Although he’d
have a hard time watching the ocean and not her.

Kyle opened the door, followed by Tom, and walked over
toward him. Tom had a bottle of beer in his hand and Kyle had two.

“Hey, bro,” said Kyle. “How you doing? You look thoughtful.”

“Heh. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Kyle handed him a bottle and Carter twisted the cap off and
pocketed it.

Tom picked up the wet dress and eyed Carter. “We were
feeling all sorry for you, missing out on the action, but I see something
happened out here after all.”

Carter chuckled. “Yeah, I think maybe we’d better switch
girls for a while, Tom. If you don’t mind taking on Rhonda.”

Tom laughed. “I don’t mind taking on Rhonda. That girl is
stacked. And eager to please. Was halfway tempted to sleep with her and leave
you guys with the housework.”

Carter shrugged. “You do what you think best.” All of them
had short sleep schedules and the usual drill was to tidy up for an hour or two
in the morning before the submissives were up and about. When all four of them
were there, it was easier to manage. In any case, each Dom was free to make
whatever decision he thought was best for the girl he was in charge of, and if
that meant that things didn’t get shared perfectly evenly, that was the way it
went. A year ago Carter had been paired with a woman who hardly slept at all,
and if he wasn’t there distracting her she’d spend the extra hours anxious
about work rather than enjoying her vacation, so he had skimped on housework so
he could give her constant attention.

Tom nodded. “I suspect she’s the type to want to do us all
before the week is through, so I’m sure you’ll get your chance.”

Carter frowned. What was wrong with him that he didn’t find
that enticing? Fake tits or no, Rhonda was a good-looking woman, and in any
case he’d never thought beauty was anything but skin deep. She seemed nice
enough and certainly she was willing. Submissive. It wasn’t as if he was
looking for a virgin.

Each time they did this, opened the island up to paid
guests, he found it less interesting. In theory, it was perfect. Submissive
women, no long-term commitment. Maybe the perfection was the problem. He wanted
a challenge, someone whose submission had to be seduced. When a woman had paid
for a vacation specifically so that she could take on the submissive role,
there was no seduction needed. Some played coy, like Amber with her suitcase
tantrum, but that usually lasted less than a day.

Natalie was different. And that was intriguing. Carter took
a sip from his beer.

“Penny for your thoughts, mate,” said Kyle.

“Hmm? Me. Nothing much,” said Carter. “Suppose we have to
get to work shortly. The sunset was beautiful tonight.”

Kyle looked at him speculatively. Tom said, “Sure beats
Iraq, eh?”

Kyle raised his bottle. They had met there years ago. Tom
was a SEAL, Kyle and Roger worked for the Australian SAS and Carter had been in
Army Intelligence. “Everything beats Iraq,” Carter agreed, bumping his bottle
against Kyle’s and Tom’s.

Chapter Four

“Time to rise and shine, sweetheart.”

Natalie didn’t open her eyes. Hopefully she was dreaming
again. Carter had been in her dreams all night long. She should have been
plotting how to get to the jungle. Instead, she kept imagining his hands
running over her body or his cock plunging into her mouth or pussy. Or sliding
between her breasts. She’d been wet all night.

She grabbed at the blanket as it slipped away from her and
looked up to see Carter sitting on the edge of the bed. Grinning. At god-awful
whatever-o’clock in the morning. And the worst thing about it was that she was
instantly aware she was still wet.

“What time is it?”

“Breakfast time.” He reached over to the dresser and then
slid her glasses on her. “Thought you might like breakfast in bed.”

She focused her eyes reluctantly. She could smell bacon. And
a subtle, musky cologne. Two good smells to wake up to. Maybe, just maybe she’d
forgive him for waking her up at this hour. She sat up, glad she’d put on the
blue chemise she found in one of the drawers. It wasn’t flannel PJ’s, but at
least she wasn’t indecent. “Breakfast in bed is nice,” she allowed. The tray
was on the dresser. It looked as if there was an omelet and a big glass of
orange juice on it as well. Yummy.

“You’re overdressed. Take it off.”

“Huh? I just have this and panties.”

Carter grinned. “Panties too? Those definitely have to go.”

Even though he’d seen her naked, she hesitated.

“Food smells good, doesn’t it?” he asked. His expression
implied he had all morning. “Could get cold though.”

“Bastard.”

“Doctor.”

She blinked. Where did that come from. “Huh?”

“You have a PhD in biology. I was going over your file last
night. You’re smart. Smarter than your actions yesterday evening, for sure.
Want to tell me what was going on? Because if you want breakfast, you’re either
going to have to tell me or strip. Your choice.”

Well, she certainly wasn’t going to tell him. If she hadn’t
been so distracted overnight, maybe she would have come up with a more
plausible story. She sighed and pulled the chemise over her head and looked at
him, hoping she’d get her food. His gaze swept over her breasts and then back
up.

“Panties too,” he said.

“Damn.” She’d hoped he’d forget. She pulled them off,
keeping herself under the covers. He put out his hand. She made a face and put
the blue panties, bunched up, on his palm.

“Good. No more panties without permission. Understood?”

She’d never responded well to being given orders. “I thought
Tom was in charge of me.”

“Master Thomas, to you. And he can be, if you prefer it.
Shall I get him?”

Well, that was the wrong card to play. “No. That’s okay.”

“Thought not.” He reached for the tray and positioned it on
top of the covers on her lap.

Smug bastard. She picked up a fork and started in. The bacon
was perfect, crisp but without any trace of being burnt and not as fatty as she
was used to, and the omelet was delicious, full of cheese, red bell peppers and
greens. She couldn’t knock the food. “Did Tom—Master Thomas make this?”

“No, I did. Everyone’s getting a different breakfast this
morning, and you’re the only one getting breakfast in bed. I’m actually
expecting an argument to break out and I thought it might stress you.
Especially with the headache you got from dinner last night. If,” he eyed her
speculatively, “that was a real headache.”

She tried to breathe normally. “Oh, it was a real headache.
I don’t deal well with crowds. I’m a very private person.” Maybe he’d take that
as explanation for her desire to wander. It was worth a try. It wasn’t totally
untrue, although she wasn’t so much of an introvert that sitting with six
people at dinner was going to give her a headache.

“Curious. You didn’t put that anywhere in your application.”

Better to keep it simple. And not embellish. “So what did
you have for breakfast?”

“I was thinking I’d eat here.” There was a teasing glint in
his eye.

She looked for another tray but didn’t see any. “Hmm? Oh.
Sorry if I’m being selfish. Want some bacon?”

He shook his head. “No, my dear, all that’s for you. This
particular big bad wolf is not after any pig. Besides, I already had some.
But,” he added with a grin, “I’ve got a taste for little red riding hood, and
I’m going to eat you all up. Finish your breakfast.”

He expected her to eat after that comment?

But she did, aware of his eyes on her with each morsel she
brought to her mouth. She suspected she was blushing all the way down to her
chest by the time she finished. Once she swallowed the last swallow of orange
juice and set the glass back down on the tray, he took the tray off her lap and
put it back on the dresser.

“Need to go to the bathroom first?”

“Yes. Don’t suppose you’ll let me have a whole shower?” The
thought of him between her legs was heavenly, but she wanted to be clean and
fresh for him. Would he be able to tell she’d been aroused all night by tasting
her?

“I’m a patient man, but not that patient.”

“Worth a try.” She hesitated but she wasn’t sure what good
it did her. He wasn’t going to chivalrously turn his head. She slipped out of
bed on the other side from him and walked to the bathroom.

“Nice ass,” he remarked.

Normally that would have pissed her off, but she gave her
hips a wiggle before shutting the bathroom door behind her.

His gaze was on her when she emerged again as well. She
didn’t know what to do with that. When she’d had boyfriends, they’d been
interested in “doing it”, but they never looked at her so intensely. She didn’t
know where he wanted her either. It seemed awkward.

“Maybe we could like, fuck, instead?” His cock would feel
good in her. A few hours ago she’d been stroking herself, thinking of how it
would stretch her.

“Maybe you need to learn that you’re not setting the rules.”
He pointed to the chair in the corner. “Sit down there.”

“Yes Sir.” It was clearly an order, and her legs moved to
obey before she’d even made a conscious decision about it. She sat down and
rested her hands on the wooden arms of the chair. The leather seat was sticky
on her bare butt, but she was thankful for the cushioning.

He pulled open one of the dresser drawers and got out some
black rope. She’d noticed earlier that there was rope in black, red, green and
white inside. All in slightly different thicknesses too.

“Why that one?” she asked.

“Because the black will look lovely against your pale skin,”
he said. “You do want to look your best, don’t you?”

She did, but she wasn’t going to admit it. “What about the
thickness of it? Doesn’t that make a difference?”

He chuckled as he walked over to her. “You’ve found me out.
But for what I had in mind, that narrowed it down to the black or the green.
Now then.” He took a utility knife out of his pocket and cut the rope twice,
giving him two lengths about five-feet long each. She watched. The knife made
her feel uneasy, and as easily as it cut the rope, it had to be razor sharp. It
was longer than a normal Swiss army knife too. She breathed easier when he
snapped it shut and put it back in his pocket.

“Not comfortable around knives?” he asked.

“I’m fine with them.” It was the truth, normally. She
usually carried one herself, and she had no qualms about using a scalpel
although she hadn’t had occasion to pick one up since she got her degree and
started focusing more on botany than zoology. Still, she wasn’t squeamish. He’d
think she was a mass of phobias if she didn’t calm down, but she couldn’t
explain her behavior of the night before. She was anxious though, that he not
think she was crazy. “Just in this situation. And that one was a bit long.”

“I won’t hurt you, Natalie. No one here will cause you
injury. You’re safer here than you would be going to work every day.”

“I don’t trust Kyle.” And she didn’t think any sane person
would.

“I get that. Master Kyle likes it rough, a lot more than
Master Thomas or I do. But he won’t hurt you either.” He moved her hand so her
arm was perfectly parallel with the chair arm and then wrapped the rope around
her wrist and the chair arm several times. “He’s intense, I’ll give you that.
And not the warmest person. But he has a sense of honor and integrity to him
that I’d stake against anyone. No one I’d rather have with me in a foxhole, as
the saying goes. He saved Tom’s life once. He’d dive in and take a shark on
barehanded if he saw someone at risk in the water. But personally—I’d like his
odds better if he had a knife.” He smiled and moved on to the other wrist.

“How’d he save Tom—Master Thomas?”

“Tom was transiting what was supposed to be a cleared area
of Basra but wasn’t. Apparently the SEALs had been given some bad intelligence.
Kyle heard about the operation and took two men with him to try to clear a
bunker he knew was still occupied with Republican Guard units. Got there just
in time too. Kyle took a shot from a sniper that scarred his face. Roger, who
you’ll meet later, was in on the action too.”

“Wow. And when did you meet them?” She moved her hands
instinctively to talk, only to find that she couldn’t. She’d hardly noticed him
tying the second one to the chair. The rope was coiled around her wrist thickly
enough that it didn’t cut into the skin at all, but she wasn’t going anywhere
without dragging the chair along with her.

“I did the investigation afterward into what went wrong.
Apparently Kyle had been told not to go. A typical mess where desk jockeys get in
the way of people who have a job to do. I had to get to the bottom of it. And,
Natalie?”

“Huh?”

“I always get to the bottom of whatever I’m investigating.”
He fixed her with a stare. She believed him. For a moment it felt as if he
could see through her.

I’m in big trouble.

Then he reached down and pulled her left knee to one side.
He tied first one ankle, then the other to the chair legs. Then he pulled her
forward so that she was at the edge of the seat.

She clamped her legs shut. She couldn’t get them all the way
because of the way her ankles were tied, but she still had a little leeway. For
the first time in her life she was glad to have extra fat on her thighs.

He chuckled. “Still resisting, hmm?” There was plenty of
rope left from tying off her ankles and he pulled the knife out again and cut a
few new lengths. He pulled her legs apart and he was too strong for her to
resist. He tied her thighs to the supports for the chair arms so that she was
displayed lewdly open at the edge of the seat and she couldn’t close her legs.

“Perfect.” He stroked her with a single finger. He rubbed
upward, gathered moisture from her pussy and used it to let him glide slickly
across her clit. The act shot sparks straight to her core.

It was clear that he was making a mission of finding out
what she was up to, but he sure had a weird way of going about it. He was
pampering her rather than punishing her for not telling him. She didn’t know
what to make of it.

He knelt on the floor, his head between her legs, and
inhaled. He looked as if it was the best aroma in the world.

“Have you been touching yourself, Natalie?”

“Yes.” She’d been ready for an interrogation, but not that
question. And even though it was personal, she automatically told him the
truth, without even thinking it over. She couldn’t afford to be caught off
guard like that.

“Good girl.” His hands stroked her thighs, his touch light.
She closed her eyes so she could take in the sensation of his fingers without
anything else to distract her. Then something wet touched her clit and her eyes
jerked open. She’d have jumped out of the chair but she couldn’t because she
was too tightly bound. She wanted to stroke his hair while he licked her and
she couldn’t do that either. She was helpless.

His tongue licked along her folds, making her tingle.

“Shouldn’t it be me pleasuring you?”

“Not if I decide otherwise. You think it’s submissive to
enjoy another’s pleasure and Dominant to take without giving? It has nothing to
do with that. You and I are not very different, I suspect, in the desire to
give.” He chuckled. “The difference is that I’m in control. And I can choose to
lick you here—or here—or there.”

The last lick was centered right on her clit. He knew what
he was doing too, swirling the tip of his tongue on the center of her pleasure.
It was almost too much, but it made her want more.

He thrust two fingers into her pussy. They slipped in
without resistance. He curled them until he found her G-spot then looked up at
her. What he wanted to see was beyond her. She was trying to keep her head but
she was pretty sure she looked glazed. It felt so good. If he were to touch her
clit while he was doing that, she’d come for sure. A tension was building in
her core, wanting to be released.

This is when he’ll ask a question. Right when I want to
come. That’s how he’ll try to control me.

Instead though, he kissed her pussy lightly and then flicked
his tongue right where she wanted it. Her orgasm uncoiled from her center and
lashed her body. She always trembled and flailed when she came, and she could
hardly move. Somehow that made it more intense, as if she needed to move to
help it escape. She wasn’t able to recover from the first wave when the second
wave hit, triggered by a subtle adjustment of his fingers inside her.

She screamed. She tried to bite her lip to hold it back, but
it didn’t do any good. Her cheeks flushed with the embarrassment of it, sure
that the whole island could hear. The scream turned into a moan, at least as
the aftershocks rolled through her. He was kissing her pussy again. She didn’t
think she could take any more of his tongue directly on her clit. It had become
too sensitive. He seemed to know it too. She didn’t have to tell him.