Passion Flower: 1 (8 page)

I’m in trouble now.
She could wiggle off his shoulder
if she wanted, but that would only lead to an awkward fall and him picking her
up again. That stopped her for a moment. Then she decided that even if the
ground below were as soft as a pillow, she didn’t want to leave his shoulder.
She’d never met anyone else who could pick her up like that. Her mind raced.
Was he going to spank her?

I hope so.

Now where the heck did that come from? But the wish was
answered by a heat in her chest and moisture between her legs. She wanted him
to make her ass red, to make her break down and confess. And then hold her and
tell her it was all okay. If only she could be sure of the latter.

They reached the pool. The men had joined Amber and Rhonda.
Rhonda had lost what little swimsuit she’d been wearing before and was in the
water giving some guy Natalie had never seen before a blowjob. The new guy was
sitting on the edge of the pool, his feet dangling in the water.

Tom, meanwhile, was standing with Amber a few feet away from
the pool, holding her against him while Kyle whipped her with a big black
flogger. The sound of it
whacking
on her skin made Natalie wince, but
she caught sight of Amber’s face and there was a relaxed contentment there.

“Afternoon,” said Carter as he walked past.

She would have thought the man on the edge of the pool would
have been far too preoccupied but he turned his head to stare at her. Maybe he
was looking at Carter, but no, she was pretty sure he was looking at her, his
eyes narrowing as if he was trying to figure out a puzzle. In any normal place,
Carter carrying her over her shoulder should have attracted stares, but here?
Nothing complicated.
Him Tarzan, me Jane.

She giggled.

The man turned away as Carter opened the door into the
house. Apparently Rhonda had done something to get his attention back. Whether
that was a bite or something more pleasant, she didn’t know, because after
Carter carried her in he took her right up the stairs and out of sight.

“Are you angry that I went out and explored?” she asked
after he’d pushed open the door to her bedroom. It shouldn’t matter, but she
didn’t want him to be angry.

He shook his head. “Why should I be angry? I’m not actually
angry at you about anything. This,” he paused and smiled, “is more about lust.”

“Oh.” Her pussy went from damp to sodden.

“I’m beginning to regret deciding not to come in you until
you tell me your secret, however.” He kept carrying her right on into the
bathroom, where he set her down. They stood facing each other. He gazed at her
for a moment with naked lust in his eyes.

“You could give in,” she said. She wondered if she could
seduce him into doing that. He was so different. She’d never met a man whose
own pleasure didn’t come first. “You could come in my pussy. Or in my mouth.”
She licked her lips.

“Or maybe I’d like to come in your ass. Or on your breasts.
I can, you know. Anywhere I want to. I don’t think for a moment that you’d safe
word.”

She gulped. He was right, she knew. “Yes.”

“That’s Yes Sir.”

“Yes Sir.”

“But you’d have to give in, first, and let me know what I
want to know.”

“Never, Sir,” she said. She wondered if he wasn’t right. But
how could he be? He couldn’t make her say anything, no matter how strong he
was.

“Oh yes, you will.” Abruptly he grabbed the camisole she
wore and yanked it over her head. Then he did the same with her shorts, pulling
them down. He spent a second looking over her naked body and then turned away
toward the bathtub, unable to hide a smile. He turned the water on and put his
hand under the stream to test the water.

She kicked the useless shorts off from around her ankles.
She would have made a mess on the floor if she’d walked, she supposed, with all
the mud on her. No wonder he carried her. It had been a fun ride though. Maybe
she’d have to get dirty more often.

He looked over at her. “Climbing in willingly, or do I have
to dump you in?”

She started to say he’d have to force her. But as much as
she enjoyed feeling his strength, she really didn’t want to fight him over
everything. “I’ll cooperate, Sir,” she said softly and stepped into the water.
It was hot, almost but not quite too hot, but she settled down into it.

She reached for the soap as the water poured in but he
grabbed her wrist. “You aren’t washing yourself, Natalie. I’m taking care of
you. You’re mine.”

Her tummy flipped.
His.
How wonderful that sounded.
She was silly to respond to that so strongly when she was only there for
another week, but Submission Island was all about fantasies. It wouldn’t hurt
to indulge. “Yes Sir. Yours.”

The soap smelled of light perfume as he rubbed it over her
upper body. She wished he’d lingered longer on her breasts but there was
something almost workmanlike about the way he went about washing her. But
still, she was naked and being washed by a handsome man. She wasn’t
complaining.

“Turn your back toward me,” he said.

She obeyed. He soaped up her back again then scrubbed it
until it was slightly tender. Then he turned her back and did the same for her
legs, lifting each one out of the water and scrubbing it in turn. She’d
probably never been so clean; she certainly didn’t pay this much attention to
herself. It was usually in and out of the shower as fast as she could get on
with her day.

His reached under the water, between her legs. She arched up
for him, letting him work up a lather on her mound, feeling how his soap-slickened
fingers slid against her clit. This time he did linger. She caught him looking
at her face and wondered what kind of reaction he saw, because she was feeling
short of breath. Pushing her pussy up for him to play with was utterly
shameless and yet freeing at the same time. She could do what she wanted with
him. She could be open with her desires. As long as they didn’t involve
orchids. She pushed that exception out of her mind. This wasn’t about that.

“All clean. Now I want to shave your pussy bare, Natalie.
Come out of the water and I’ll dry you off.”

She’d thought of shaving herself there before, but it always
seemed too much bother. Now he was going to do it to her and she’d be on
display for him while he did. Her heart raced. She wasn’t beautiful “down
there”—at least she didn’t think so. Not that she felt exactly beautiful
anywhere. But still, it was what he wanted.

She let him help her out of the tub. He wrapped a towel
around her and rubbed her vigorously with it. This time he lingered on her
breasts more than was needed for cleanliness. The towel was a pleasant
roughness against her nipples, bringing them to attention despite the fact that
it was warm and steamy in the bathroom.

He dried all of her thoroughly, except for her mound and her
pussy, and then tied the towel around her so that her torso was covered. He
folded another bath towel and draped it over the edge of the tub. “Sit.”

“Yes Sir.” She sat, legs primly together.

He opened the medicine cabinet and got out a razor, a fresh
blade and some shaving cream. The sight of it made her shiver. Was she really
going to let him take that between her legs? Yes, she was. And the thought made
her pussy tingle and slicken. Dammit.

“Spread your legs.”

She should have expected that. Blushing, she separated her
knees until she thought he had enough room to do what he intended.

He met her gaze and held it, although she wanted to look
away. “I want a verbal response too.”

A verbal response? Oh.
“Yes Sir.”

“Good girl. Wider.”

She spread her knees an inch farther apart.

He grinned. “Much wider.”

She didn’t move. “How much room do you need?” At a warning
glance from him, she added, “Sir?”

“It’s not a question of how much I need. It’s a matter of
what I want. I have plenty of room. Wider.”

“Yes Sir.” She spread them until she could feel the muscles
in her thighs complain, and held the position as best she could.

He knelt on the bathmat and worked the shaving cream into
her mound with his fingers. They glided along the edge of her pussy lips,
spreading the white floral-scented foam around.

He looked up at her. “You trust me for this.”

It was a statement, not a question, but she felt she should
answer. “Yes Sir.” She did too. Despite her secret, he’d done nothing bad to
her.

He chuckled. “And yet, you don’t trust me with why you
jumped out a window. You can, you know. If you can do the one, you can do the
other. Think about it.” He brought the razor to her mound.

She started to think about it, but when the blade skimmed
along the surface of her skin all rational thought went away. She knew when he
was done she was going to be more exposed than ever, her last concealment gone.
Stranger still, she wanted it. She wanted him to see everything, to hide
nothing from him. He was safe. Even with a blade near her most sensitive parts,
he was safe.

He turned on the tap, rinsed off the razor and returned to
his task. One stroke at a time, the razor swept white foam from her body, and
with that her pubic hair, until the last follicle was shorn away. Then he took
the wet towel from the bath and mopped up the leftover cream. Every nerve was
heightened. Each touch of the towel or his fingers sent shivers through her.

He slid two fingers into her and her pussy yielded easily to
accept them. He kissed her newly bare skin, just above her clit. She shuddered
and wrapped her legs around him, putting her hands flat on the bottom of the
tub for balance. He pushed another finger into her, stretching her. She used
her legs to pull herself forward, driving his fingers farther in, bumping her
newly shaven skin against the rough knuckles where his fingers met his hand.

“That’s it, love. Fuck my hand while I lick your clit.”

True to his word, he flicked his tongue in a way that sent
sparks into her core. Embarrassed but turned-on, she rocked her hips. He kept
his hand almost still, so her motions drove his fingers in and out of her.

His tongue swirled around her clit and then lashed it again.
She wondered if he’d stop if she kept moving. She didn’t want to take the
chance. Besides, his fingers felt good sliding in and out of her too. Good
girls didn’t want it so badly, did they? She guessed she wasn’t a good girl
anymore, because the desire that was rising in her was unquenchable. She’d do
almost anything to get off. Anything he wanted.

He stopped. “Tell me what I want to know, love.”

Anything but that. If she told him about the orchid, he
might not want to have anything to do with her at all. “I can’t.” It brought
her close to tears. She almost couldn’t bear to look at him.

His face softened. “Then don’t. I’ll find out. Come for me,
Natalie.”

He bent down and stroked his tongue across her clit once
more, and she came like a rocket. Her legs tightened around him and held him as
firmly as she could, and he had to quickly put his arm behind her back to stop
her from crashing her head against the end of the tub. She screamed and she
didn’t care who heard her or who knew what they were doing.

She didn’t want to give this up. Not ever. No, that wasn’t
quite right. She didn’t want to give
him
up.

He pulled her off the bathtub to cradle her in his arms. He
got up and walked to the bed. Softly, he put her down and sat down beside her.

She tried to stop the tears from coming to her eyes. She
had
to give him up. Everything they had was built on a lie, on what she wasn’t
telling him. Even if this fantasy of Submission Island could have lasted longer
than a couple of weeks, which was doubtful, there was too big a gulf between
them. She wanted to tell him, to trust him. But she already knew his answer to
doing research on the island, because the university had gotten it months ago.
No.

At least by keeping the secret, she could enjoy the fantasy
for one more week. She snuggled against him, closed her eyes and tried to
pretend nothing mattered but the moment.

Chapter Seven

Natalie had been faking at first—not her orgasm, but
sleeping. She was avoiding talking to him, he suspected. But now she really was
asleep, and Carter managed to slip his smart phone out of his pocket. He knew
he couldn’t get a signal. The closest cell phone tower was a hundred miles
away. But the little island had internet through a satellite dish, and he could
retrieve his email via wireless.

As he’d hoped, there was mail from Roger. He read through it
carefully, noting every detail.

He slipped his arm out from under Natalie. She stirred but
she didn’t wake. He waited, standing patiently, until her breathing returned to
a gentle snore. Not the most ladylike of noises, but he thought it was kind of
pleasant, enough to remind him when he was sleeping next to her that she was
there and resting. He’d miss that, when she left.

He frowned. He wasn’t supposed to miss the girls. In fact,
often by the time the two weeks were up, he was more than ready to see them go,
having had his fill. Maybe that would be the case in a few days with Natalie,
but he really didn’t think so.

He went to the safe in her room and bent his ear to it,
listening to the tumblers, keeping a watch on Natalie. Once she rolled over and
he froze, trying to look casual. Then he had to start over. He pulled out her
passport and took a look at the town listed. Oak Park, Illinois. The university
that the proposal had come from was in Chicago, although it was a big state and
he didn’t know where Oak Park was. He put the passport back, closed the safe
without locking it and pulled out his phone again.

The two were less than ten miles apart.

He held back a chuckle.

I think I have you pegged, my sweet little sub. The time
for deception is almost over.

The thought passed through his mind that maybe everything
Natalie did with him was an act to get access to the island. But he shook it
off. Her orgasms weren’t fake. Her pleasure in yielding when he took control
wasn’t fake either. He was willing to bet on it.

He relocked the safe and sat back down on the edge of the
bed. Reluctantly, he shook Natalie awake.

“Huh?”

He’d give her one last chance. “Do you want to tell me what
you’re up to?”

She shook her head, not even bothering to dissemble this
time.

“Okay. I think the guys have something planned for this
evening, so I’m going to let you sleep on your own tonight. Dinner is at seven,
which is in an hour.”

He was surprised that her face registered immediate
disappointment. Maybe she was that good of an actress. But no, the
disappointment was replaced with a sly grin, which she then tried to hide. Not
a very good actress at all. “Yes, Master.”

He nodded and got up. “If you want to talk before then, let
me know.” God, she looked good lounging on the bed naked. And that little smile
had made him want to fuck her silly. The last few days of holding out had taken
their toll.

“Yes, Master,” she said.

He turned and walked out before he could change his mind.

* * * * *

Natalie lay in bed. Dinner had been delicious, coq au vin
done to perfection. She’d played hearts downstairs with Kyle and Amber, and had
decided that maybe they weren’t all bad after all. Then she’d gone to her room
and waited. It was nearly midnight.

She got up, put on a bra, a garter belt, stockings, sandals
and a baby doll dress with long sleeves. Not exactly a standard adventurer’s
outfit, but it covered the vast majority of her skin, although the stockings
would probably be ripped all to hell when she was done.

She opened the safe and reached for her key ring.

Cautiously, she opened her door. No one there.

She tiptoed down the hall, past Rhonda’s room. She could
hear the woman moaning. And a man grunting. No,
men
.

Carter.
No wonder he wasn’t sleeping with her
tonight. She tried to tell herself the thought shouldn’t be making her gut
twist in knots, but it did. She bent to listen at the door and make sure, but
she really didn’t want to hear him make love to another woman. She couldn’t
blame him, really. She wasn’t in a relationship with him. She wasn’t even being
honest with him. But he still meant something to her, and she wanted to mean
something to him. Now that she thought about it, there had been an air of
finality in the way he asked her if she wanted to come clean earlier in the
evening.

She wiped at her watering eyes.
That’s it then.
She
knew herself better than to think she’d forgive him, even if she had no claim.
She wasn’t a sharing person when it came to sex.
It’s all about the orchid
now.

She tiptoed downstairs. The good news was with the men busy
she was free. As she expected, there wasn’t a soul in the living room. She
looked out the glass door and there was no one at the swimming pool this time
either.
Four men and three women on an island, and how many do I get? Zero.
She paused.
The orchid, dammit. I care about the orchid.

She tried the door. Still unlocked, it slid open easily. She
pulled it almost shut behind her, wanting to make sure she could open it as
silently as possible when she got back. She wasn’t getting sleep tonight, but
that was okay. Although Carter might notice.
Maybe I can tell him I don’t
sleep as well without him.
Then she frowned.
Screw that. He’s never
getting in my bed again. He can have that bouncy, curvy Aussie chick like
everyone else.

She made her way toward the jungle, using the moonlight to
guide her. She wasn’t sure how long the flashlight would last, but the
manufacturer said two hours, and she wasn’t going to waste it before she needed
to. Once she got on the path, however, she flicked it on. It lit only a narrow
area, and that dimly, but at least she could point it where she was about to
step. Maybe it had been for the best that her first foray hadn’t worked. This
time she knew the path, had the sandals Carter had given her, she wasn’t wet
and she had a flashlight.

She lifted the flashlight to play around the trees and the
vines, looking for
arthrochilus nocturnem
.She hadn’t expected
the island to be covered with them, and it wasn’t. Not having any luck, she
ventured farther in.

Then suddenly she saw it. It was bigger than her fist, and
its white petals were streaked with violet, two parallel lines on each. They
looked almost too regular for nature, at first, until she looked closer, and
the little wiggles and variations in thickness became apparent. Immediately she
spotted several other blooms a few feet away. The little flashlight had
revealed a diorama of striking beauty.

She bent forward and sniffed a flower. It smelled oddly
familiar, although she was having trouble placing it. It wasn’t entirely
pleasant, but somehow she liked the flower more for it.
Maybe I’m on the
rebound.
A little white moth fluttered across the beam of light and landed
between two purple stripes. Against the white background, it was almost
invisible. A perfect hiding place.

She spotted the shadow of a large flower that had broken off
and fallen on the ground and she reached out for it. She didn’t want to break
off any of the blooms, but it would be nice to take a specimen back to her room
so she could study it in better light.

The “flower” moved, straight for her foot, and she shrieked
and backed up. Whatever it was followed, scurrying across the jungle floor. She
tripped backward on a root and landed on her bottom. She clutched the
flashlight for dear life and used the other hand to try to break her fall.
Hurriedly she tried to scramble away, but she had trouble getting her footing
and her hand got tangled up in a vine.

Suddenly something big moved from the brush. A large hand
swept the “flower” up and tossed it out of sight.

“Do try not to pick up the spiders,” Carter said drily.

Natalie gasped. She whipped the flashlight around. Carter
stood over her. He had on green camo pants and a matching shirt, and there were
splotches of black paint on his face. He reached down for her with one hand and
held the other up to shield his face. “Hey, watch where you point that thing.”

Okay, so pointing it right at his eyes wasn’t nice. She
lowered it to point at his chest. “You scared the daylights out of me!”

He shrugged.

“I thought you were with Rhonda,” she said, because it was
the first thing to pop in her mind. She grabbed his hand and pulled herself up.
His arm was steady and strong.

“I told you she wasn’t my type,” he said. “Nice night for a
stroll?”

“Uh, yeah.” She’d been caught, but he didn’t know
everything. Not yet. But she wanted to tell him. Wanted him to tell her it was
okay. “Was that spider poisonous? I thought you said the jungle was safe. Or
Tom did.”

“Well, we didn’t anticipate anyone wandering during the
night. The spider is nocturnal, but no, it wouldn’t have killed you. Its bite
would have stung like a braided cat, and you might have thrown up, but you’d
have been able to make it back to the house.”

“Ugh.”

He took her other wrist and turned the flashlight back on
the flowers. “Beautiful, aren’t they? I was admiring them.
Arthrochilus
nocturnem
.”

“You know orchids?”

“Not a clue. Except that they are beautiful. Nearly as
beautiful as you, actually. I think you go together quite nicely, seeing you
side by side.”

His words made her feel warm all over. She could almost
believe he meant them. She tried to stay on topic. “Then how do you know…?”

He shook his head. “Maybe you should tell me the truth,
Natalie.”

She bowed her head. And then flashed the light around the
ground, in case there were more spiders, as long as she was looking down.

“Uh, Natalie?”

She sighed. He’d obviously been lying in wait for her. Was
it too late to confide in him? He seemed to know almost everything already,
even if he pronounced
arthrochilus
all wrong. Maybe they still had a
moment of time. A man who could lift her and spank her and make her come and
then rescue her from poisonous spiders—he was someone worth taking a chance
for.

“Master, I’m sorry.” It seemed like a good place to start.

“I’m still listening,” he said.

She nodded and lifted the flashlight back to point to his
broad chest. Through the reflections she could see at least some of his face
that way, but she couldn’t read him. It was hard enough to know what he was
thinking in broad daylight. “I came to this island partly, well, mostly, to
look for this orchid. When I found out what the setup was here, I thought I,
well, I’ve read a few books and always thought Dominance and submission was
hot, but where would one find a real man like that? But I figured I knew enough
to fake it.”

“You’ve been faking?” He raised his eyebrows.

“Um, no.”

“Good, ’cause if you said you were I’d assume you were back
to lying and I’d put you over my knee and paddle you.”

“Maybe I deserve a paddling anyway.” She wanted to make
amends for her deception. She wanted to make it all right somehow.

“Oh, you definitely do. But if you tell the truth from here
on out, we can do it in the comfort of the house.”

She took a breath. Somehow his statement that he’d spank her
made a lot of the stress go away.

“There’s really not much more to tell. That’s why I sneaked
out of the house that first night, diving in the water. That’s why I was out
here today. To look at these orchids.”

“And why do they matter to you, Natalie?” His voice was
soft.

“Because we don’t know why they bloom at night.” He probably
thought that was lame, but it wasn’t. It mattered.

“And why is that important? It’s interesting. But why is it
worth paying thousands of dollars and running around naked with a bunch of
perverts halfway across the world?”

“It’s the only orchid that does. Anywhere. And well, science
works like that, sometimes. You keep asking questions, and finding out the
answers. Sometimes only a few people care. Sometimes it helps someone find
another answer about something else.” Sometimes that led to finding out that a
mold could kill bacteria and save thousands of lives, but one didn’t find
things like that unless one kept asking questions. Chances were any one answer
wouldn’t produce anything so helpful, and she wasn’t going to say that it
would.

He smiled. “I like your passion, Natalie.”

“Maybe I did get a little wound up there.”

He pulled her in and kissed her. She moved her hands to him
and felt something hard and thick and long. But it wasn’t where a cock ought to
be and it was cold.

“I
am
happy to see you, but that’s a flashlight. I
daresay better than the one you have.”

She laughed and slid her hands between them. His cock
twitched when she moved her hand over it. He pulled it away. “Later, Natalie.
Let’s look at the flowers you’ve come so far for. And when we get back, we’ll
deal with the rest.”

“Will you let me make you come, Master?” she asked. Dammit,
if he asked her to she’d go down on him right there. Providing he promised to
watch out for spiders.

“As long as you don’t tell any more lies, I’ll insist on
it.”

She nodded. “I’ll be good.”

He clicked the flashlight open. In the better light, the
flowers were even more beautiful. There were fine purple spots on the rims she
couldn’t see before. And more moths, although they were such pale things they
really didn’t detract from the beauty.

“They’re lovely but they smell like old books,” Carter
commented. “Which is fine, if they were old books.”

That was it, the smell she was trying to place. “Thank you.”
She bent down and sniffed again. That was definitely it. And old books smelled
that way because of dust, but also because of mold. And some moths fed on mold.
She watched as a moth flew up onto the labellum of one flower and brushed up
against the pollen-containing anther. Little flecks of pale yellow pollen stuck
to the moth’s body as it pulled away.