Plaything: Paolo's Playhouse, Book 4 (2 page)

They chatted for a few minutes, about the weather and the city and what she did for a living. The light small talk was probably meant to put her at ease but it had the opposite effect. Listening to his sensual voice was like sex for her ears. She got wet just listening to him explain that safety was the foremost consideration at the Playhouse.

“You’re Italian?” she asked out of the blue. She didn’t want to think about why she might need to be kept safe.

“Yes. I came to this country with my parents when I was fifteen.”

“A tough age.” Her parents had divorced when she was fifteen.

He shrugged. “I survived.” Their gazes caught. Held. A shiver of awareness ran through her body. He cleared his throat. “Julianne. I’m so glad you have come tonight. You said this will be your first experience with bondage?”

They had to talk about it some more? It had been hard enough admitting her secret fantasy over the phone, but to discuss it face-to-face with this gorgeous man? She swallowed. Wasn’t that what she was here for? She met his solid gaze and nodded.

“I have to ask why you want to entrust your first experience to a stranger.”

“Who better than a stranger? I just want to try it once. To see what it’s like. It’s not as if I’m looking for a relationship that involves bondage…or…or slavery…or anything like that.” Oh God, she was babbling. She felt her face grow red and that angered her more than his prying question. “Isn’t this the place to act out our fantasies?”

“Of course. I was merely making an inquiry.” His calm tone may have been intended to smooth her ruffled feathers, but it just raised her anger further. And moistened her lace thong. “Most women would prefer to give up control to someone they know and trust.”

“Yeah, well, I haven’t found anyone willing to do that. That’s why I’m here.” A chill ran over the back of her neck. “I thought you said I’d be safe here.”

“Of course you will. All the games in the Playhouse are completely consensual. That is why we do not allow gags here. You can stop the play at any time.”

“And I can trust…him…to stop if I don’t like what he’s doing?”

“You have my guarantee. The one who will be playing with you tonight is completely trustworthy.”

Playing with me.
Her pussy clenched. She wouldn’t think about whom that would be. It didn’t matter. Not really. She cleared her throat. “Okay.”

“Bondage is about control, of course. You realize you will be giving up all control over your body? Your…Master, for want of a better word, will have total control. You understand this?”

She nodded again. She’d been thinking about it all day. “I own my own business and make dozens of decisions every day. My sexual partners in the past, while I’m sure they thought they were doing me a favor, expected me to direct our sexual encounters too.” She took a deep breath and let it out on a shaky sigh. “Sometimes…sometimes I don’t want to think. I just want to feel. Does that make sense?”

“Perfect sense.”

She didn’t tell him she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to do it, wouldn’t be able to give up all that control he was talking about. Her mental discipline was stronger than her physical control. She’d never been able to give up a scrap of self-control. Never even had an orgasm except by her own hand.

She glanced down at the long-fingered hands resting on the desk in front of her. She shivered as she wondered how they would feel skimming over her skin. Or closing around her wrists. She silently sighed as she reminded herself that she’d never know. Someone else’s hands would be on her tonight.

“Very well, Julianne. If all is agreed, and you have no further questions, then I will escort you to your room.”

She followed him out of his office, admiring his firm ass as he walked ahead of her. What she wouldn’t give to be
his
plaything tonight. She trusted him. She wanted
him.

Oh how she wished he wasn’t going to hand her over to someone else tonight. She had a fleeting urge to drop to her knees and beg him to be the one, but she knew she wouldn’t. She had more control than that.

He led her down a long hall. The walls were a rich gold, the floor covered in dark brown carpeting. She didn’t bother to count the number of closed doors they passed, but there were quite a few. Were they all occupied by other people longing to act out a secret fantasy? What other desires were lived out behind all these doors?

They stopped in front of the last door on the left and Paolo turned to her. His clean scent invaded her senses. She stepped away before she could lean in to him.

“Second thoughts?” he asked, his expression serious.

“No.”

He placed his hand on the doorknob but didn’t turn it. He held her gaze and his expression softened. “The man who will be with you tonight wants his plaything to be blindfolded as well as bound. Do you agree?”

Blindfolded would be better, wouldn’t it? She could pretend it was Paolo’s eyes burning her naked flesh, his strong hands touching her intimately. She swallowed. “Yes. It’s…it’s what I want too.”

He smiled and a tickle shot straight between her legs. “Good.” He opened the door and gestured for her to precede him into the room.

She wasn’t sure what she expected, but this wasn’t it. The room wasn’t filled with huge bondage apparatus like she’d seen on the internet. No large wooden cross. No cages or benches of any kind. The only furniture was a sofa sitting along the back wall. And a chair placed in the center of the room.

Classical music played softly through hidden speakers. She was frozen in place as she watched Paolo gracefully cross the room. The room wasn’t dark and gray like a dungeon, but had cream-colored walls, a perfect backdrop for the many lengths of rope and chains hanging from rows of hooks. There were whips and floggers hanging there too. Rings in the ceiling and floor. On the walls. She silently watched him lift some white rope from a hook on the wall.

He turned to look at her. She hadn’t moved from the doorway. “Please close the door and remove your clothes.”

Panic shot through her veins. “Now?”

He frowned. “Yes. Now.”

The door slammed shut as she leaned back against it. Her heart thudded beneath her ribs. She’d imagined so often the being-naked part, the already-being-tied-up part. Why was this step so hard to take? She realized it was probably because she had to do this part herself. She still had her control. He was making her prove to him that this was her choice.

“Julianne?”

He still stood by the wall, running a length of rope through his fingers. He wasn’t smiling now.

“Yeah, okay.” She pushed away from the door and started toward him. He straightened his shoulders and stared at her. She realized that for the moment, she had Paolo’s full attention. She slowed her steps as she crossed the room, swayed her hips as much as she dared. She still had a choice, still had control. He might soon be leaving her to someone else, but she had him right here, right now. She could tear her clothes off quickly, or she could slowly strip. For him.

She ran her tongue nervously over her lips and gradually lowered the side zipper on her skirt. The skirt slid down, revealing her navel before it stopped at the top of her panties. His gaze followed the drop of her skirt then jumped up to meet hers when the skirt didn’t fall any farther.

She should have worn more layers. This was going to happen way too fast. She held his heated gaze as she grasped the bottom of her sweater with both hands and, little by little, raised it until her breasts sprang free. Did he just choke back a moan? She hid a smile as she kept going, slowly raising her arms until the sweater was over her head. Then she pulled her arms free and tossed the top away.

Her heart was racing as she took another step closer to Paolo. He hadn’t moved. His hands still gripped the rope. She shimmied her hips as she lowered the skirt. It slid quickly down her legs and she stepped out of it. One step closer and he was within her reach.

Now to get out of these shoes.
She put her hand on his firm shoulder for support. She could feel the heat of his body through the white button-down shirt. She raised her foot so she could reach the strap.

“Leave the shoes.” His voice sounded a lot rougher than it had a few minutes ago.

She slowly lowered her foot and reluctantly dropped her hand from his shoulder. “Okay.” She stood before him, waiting. He appeared to be waiting too. For what, she didn’t know.

He swallowed and frowned. His gaze flicked down to her hips and back up again. “That scrap of lace, Julianne.”

“Oh, right.” She hoped she sounded nonchalant, but her hands trembled again. She hooked her thumbs in the sides of the damp black thong and slid it over her hips. She let the panties drop to the floor and kicked them away. Now she stood before him, completely naked except for her shoes. She could smell the musky scent of her arousal. Could he sense it too?

“You like to play games.” He grasped her wrist and roughly pulled her over to the chair. “You can’t even follow a simple command without making it a game.”

Didn’t he realize it was a last-ditch attempt to try to maintain some kind of control? “But this
is
a playroom, isn’t it?” she retorted. “Isn’t that what you called it in your advertisement?”

He stared at her for a moment and then shook his head. “Perhaps I was too hasty in forbidding gags.”

She gasped, but then saw the amusement in his eyes.

“Sit down,” he commanded.

This was it. He released her wrist and she dropped onto the hard seat of the chair. The surface was cold against her bare skin. It didn’t look like a piece of bondage equipment at all. It was more like a chair she’d see at someone’s kitchen table. Armless, wooden, slats across the back and between the four legs.

Paolo knelt down beside her. The rope in his hand brushed against her leg. He was so close to her that she could feel his warm breath on her face. Suddenly she didn’t want to watch what he was going to do. Even though she loved looking into his beautiful face, she turned her head away. Maybe he’d blindfold her first. But he gently cupped her chin in his hand and brought her face around to meet his gaze.

“Are you all right?” he asked. She could drown in those blue eyes.

She swallowed. “I’m fine.”

“Have you changed your mind?”

“No!”

He narrowed his eyes, as if he didn’t believe her.

“I’m just a bit nervous,” she admitted. “I don’t know what to expect.”

“The rest is easy, Julianne,” he said softly. He released his hold on her chin and dropped his hand to her arm. He ran his fingers along her skin until he reached her wrist. Delightful shivers followed his path. He began to wind soft rope around her wrist. “From now on you only have to do as you’re told.” He pulled her arm behind the chair and wrapped the rope around one of the posts. “From now on you only have to feel.”

His hard body pressed into hers as he reached for her other wrist and bound it behind the chair in the same way. She took a deep breath and let it out on a shaky sigh. She took in his clean scent, like soap and fresh air. Just when she thought maybe she could relax, he placed his hands on her knees. He smiled as he slid his hands up the sensitive flesh of her inner thighs. Her pussy clenched even though he didn’t get quite close enough to touch her there.

Then he firmly pushed her legs apart. She watched a wavy lock of his silky hair fall over his forehead when he leaned over to tie her ankles to the outside of the chair legs.

Her thighs were spread wide, open to the air and to Paolo’s dark gaze. He didn’t stare for long, though. Without a word, he stood and turned away from her, crossing the room and opening a drawer in a cabinet she hadn’t noticed before. What kind of bondage gear was held in those drawers? He turned back to her with a blindfold in his hands. He stared at her for a moment from across the room, and if the bulge in his black trousers was any clue, he was as aroused as she was.

She squirmed in the seat from the sight of him standing there, fully clothed, while she was as exposed as she could be. Helpless, really, waiting to be blindfolded as well. She’d never been so aroused in her life. Yet she was disappointed that as soon as he made her helplessness complete, he would be leaving her to someone else.

“Do all your clients get such personal attention from the owner?” She didn’t expect the question to sound so sarcastic. She was more on edge than she thought.

He shook his head and approached quickly, turning the blindfold over and over in his hands. He knelt down beside her again and leaned forward to place the blindfold over her head. She tried to memorize his face, as much as she could in that brief moment when she feared she’d never see him again. Did she dare think he was caressing her with his gaze for the same reason?

“Easy,” he murmured. Complete darkness enveloped her. As if he was aware of the quick burst of panic that would shoot through her system, he brushed his cheek against hers and softly kissed her neck.

“I think you are very brave,” he told her, his breath soft against her ear. He touched her cheek and she couldn’t stop from leaning in to his hand. It was exactly like her dream, when his voice and touch had aroused her in the darkness. “Remember,” he continued, “if you want to stop the play at anytime, just say so and it will end.”