Seduced by Fire (12 page)

Dena put her hands on her hips. “Damn, I like you.”

Julie laughed and motioned to a bench.

“I went by Daniel’s late Sunday,” Dena said, walking over to the bench and sitting down. “Daniel’s mentoring a new Dom and asks me to help out sometimes. We normally meet on Saturday, but
somebody
was busy and pushed the session to Sunday.”

He had mentioned he had a meeting. Funny, Julie thought it had to do with bank business.

“There had been whispers after the last group meeting. About you.” Dena shrugged. “So after the Sunday night session, I asked him.”

Julie’s hands felt sweaty and she pressed her palms against her thighs. “What’d he say?”

“That the next time I asked about his personal life, I’d spend some quality time on his whipping bench. That’s when I knew he was serious. Always before he’d shrug and say it was nothing.”

Julie didn’t know what to say to that. She’d only recently accepted that she was falling for the sensual Dominant. To hear he might feel the same . . .

“Sasha’s coming over to my apartment for dinner,” Dena said. “You should come, too.”

“Say yes, Jules,” Sasha said from the doorway to the back room, looking slightly flushed. “It’ll be good. We can have submissive girl chats.” Then she turned to their visitor. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Dena. That was Peter.” She looked at Julie. “So, you in?”

It didn’t take much thinking for her to decide. After all, she could talk to Daniel on the phone from anywhere.

•   •   •

J
ulie wasn’t sure what Dena did for a living, but the woman had excellent taste in wine. They breezed through the first bottle during dinner and opened a second while they sat around Dena’s living room.

“Daniel’s your first Dom?” Dena asked, returning to a conversation touched on during dinner. At Julie’s nod, she continued. “Lucky bitch. First guy I submitted to was a grade A asshole.”

“Then why did you do it?” Julie asked.

“Because as bad as it was, it was better than anything I’d done before.”

Julie wasn’t so sure nothing wouldn’t be better. “At least you knew and admitted what you needed. You weren’t like me, sitting around, wondering, and too afraid to do anything about it.”

Dena patted her on the shoulder. “You’re doing something about it now. That’s the important part. Besides, look who you have for a teacher.”

The wine had loosened her tongue. “I want him for more than a teacher.”

“Don’t they all.” And with one swallow, Dena downed the last of her wine.

Julie wondered if that meant her assumption about Daniel and Dena was correct. “What?”

Dena sat her glass on the floor. “All the submissives in the group want him.”

“I told you they all drop their pants, remember?” Sasha asked.

Sure, Sasha had told her, but to have Dena confirm it . . . it made her head spin. Before she could think of a reply, her phone rang. “It’s him!” she said, and realized if either of the other two women had any doubt of how she felt about Daniel, her reaction to his phone call probably cleared it up.

Dena pointed to a closed door. “Guest bedroom through there. You’ll have privacy.”

“Thanks,” she said, then answered the phone. “Hey.”

“I thought for a second you were screening calls and I didn’t make the cut,” he teased.

Julie shut the door behind her. “Afraid I’d decided you didn’t pass my test after all?”

“Yes and I’d be upset. Last I checked, I speak in complete sentences.” There was a slight pause. “Most of the time.”

She shivered, remembering what caused him to speak in phrases. Picturing him over her, his back arched in pleasure as he climaxed inside her.

“Mmm,” she hummed. “Maybe complete sentence are overrated.”

He laughed. “We better change subjects before I’m tempted to come pick you up and render you speechless.”

“Tease.”

“I’m completely serious,” he said, and she didn’t doubt him. “What are you doing tonight?”

“I’m actually at Dena’s place. Sasha and I came for dinner.” She took a second to look around. The room was tastefully decorated in a French country theme. Simple and uncluttered, much like the rest of the apartment. “I like her.”

“I didn’t realize Sasha and Dena were close.”

“I didn’t either. Today was the first time I’ve seen her, not counting the group meeting.”

There was silence before he spoke again and when he did, his tone was flat, almost as if he were describing the weather. “She’s a good person. And an experienced submissive. She’d be happy to answer any questions you have on the lifestyle.”

“She mentioned she saw you on Sunday.” She brought it up, not because she felt jealous, but because she wanted him to know.

“Mentoring session with a new Dom. She helps sometimes.”

She wondered what that would be like, training someone. From what Daniel had told her, there seemed to be a lot to learn.

“I thought about asking if you’d like to stay and watch,” he said. “But decided it might be too soon.”

She respected both his decision and the thought that had gone behind it. He told her he’d been a Dom for over ten years; if he felt it too soon, it was too soon.

“Probably,” she agreed.

“I won’t keep you. I just wanted to call to see if you could come for dinner tomorrow?”

“Just dinner?”

“I was hoping you’d spend the night, too, but it didn’t seem polite to ask you to dinner and then to stay after so I could tie you up in my playroom.”

He chuckled after he said it, but she had a feeling he wasn’t joking. He was going to tie her up and have sex with her. Her heart pounded with excitement and desire swelled between her legs.

“Julie?”

“Is it tomorrow yet?”

“Have a good time with the girls, kitten.” His voice was low and sultry. “Tomorrow night you’re all mine.”

Minutes later, she walked back into the living room on weak legs. She didn’t have to guess what her face looked like; Sasha’s expression said everything.

“Damn, that must have been some phone call,” Dena said.

Julie knew she could lie and say it was nothing, but instead she took her seat and smiled. “It was.”

Sasha and Dena both waited.

“So, what were you two talking about while I was gone?” Julie asked.

“Is she always like this, Sasha?”

“Yes, it’s annoying as hell.”

They both looked at her and she sighed. There was no escaping. “If you must know, he asked me to dinner tomorrow night.”

Sasha crossed her arms. “There is no way
dinner
would put that expression on your face.”

“And then he might have mentioned what he’d do after.”

Dena stood up and carried her wineglass to the kitchen. “I so do not want to hear this.” She looked over her shoulder to Sasha. “Not worth the evil things he’ll have his mentee do to me.”

Sasha snorted. “You love it.”

“Of course I do. It’s just part of my game to pretend otherwise.” Dena shifted her attention back to Julie. “If you tell us what he has planned, we could give advice.”

Julie ran a finger along the rim of her wineglass. “I know you could and I’m sure there’ll be a time in the future when I need your advice. But for right now, it’s just Daniel and me, and it’s new and we’re getting to know each other, and, well, I just want to keep it to myself right now.”

“Oh, wow.” Dena was looking at her all strange.

“Told ya.” Sasha just looked smug.

Julie didn’t understand what they were talking about. She was missing something. “What?”

“It’s basically what Daniel said Sunday.” Dena sank into the couch. “You just squashed the hopes and dreams of damn near every submissive in the western hemisphere.”

“And half the vanilla women, too,” Sasha added. “It’s clear Mr. Covington is no longer available.”

•   •   •

D
aniel hung up the phone with a smile on his face. If he guessed correctly, Julie would think of little other than his words until she came over the next day. Hopefully by the time they finished dinner, she’d be so needy with want, any trepidation she had at being tied up would be overshadowed by desire.

He was surprised to hear she was spending the evening with Dena. Though if his relationship with Julie continued on its current path, it only stood to reason that the two women would spend time together. Dena had taken several young submissives under her wing over the years; she enjoyed mentoring as much as he did. Daniel was relieved Julie now had two people other than himself she could talk with.

He decided to walk down to the playroom so he could start planning for the next evening. But halfway down, his doorbell rang.

That was odd. He wasn’t expecting anyone. He checked his phone to make sure he hadn’t missed a call. Nothing.

He opened the door and smiled when he saw who waited.

“Cole Johnson, you bastard,” Daniel said, pulling the scruffy man into a hug. “How long has it been? Don’t you have a phone?”

Cole laughed and returned the hug. “Too damn long and yes, but by the time I figured out where I was going, I was already here.”

Daniel led him inside with a shake of his head. Some people never changed. He had met Cole when they were both in graduate school, though Cole left before getting his master’s, opting to return to his homeland, England, to finish school there. He currently lived Stateside and was a well-known award-winning journalist. They typically spoke every few months, but it’d been at least a year since they’d spent any time together.

They settled into the living room after Cole passed on a drink and Daniel got his first good look at his old friend. It appeared as though Cole hadn’t shaved in days and fatigue laced his features.

“What brings you to my doorstep?” Daniel asked. “And you look like hell, by the way.”

Cole scrubbed his fingers through his dark hair, making it look even worse. “I haven’t slept in over thirty-two hours. I was hoping I could crash here.”

“Sure, for as long as you need.”

“It won’t be long. I’m on my way to India for a few months. I leave in a few weeks.”

Which meant there would be no playroom with Julie the next night. He’d have to call and tell her about the change in plans. He wondered if she’d even want to stay. Even though he hadn’t seen Cole in over twelve months, he wished his friend had picked a different weekend to stop by.

Daniel stood. “Why don’t you take a shower and crash? You can sleep here for now and move into the guesthouse over the weekend.”

“Thanks, much appreciated.”

After Cole made his way upstairs, Daniel went to his bedroom and sent Julie a text asking for her to call him when she got home. His phone rang less than an hour later.

“Miss me that bad?” she teased when he answered. “Or were you afraid of what I learned from Dena and Sasha?”

He laughed. “Both, if I think about it long enough. But I was actually calling to let you know about a wrinkle in our plans.”

Her breath hitched and her even tone belied the desire he knew she felt. “Wrinkle? For tomorrow night?”

“Unfortunately, yes. An old college friend of mine stopped by unexpectedly and needs a place to stay. I’ll move him into the guesthouse, but the cleaning crew won’t have it ready until Saturday. I knew it’d probably be uncomfortable for you to play knowing he was in the main house.”

“Thank you, yes, I’m not bold enough to go there yet.” Her voice had lost its teasing touch.

“I’d like for you to meet him, so the dinner invitation stands. And you can still stay over if you’d like. We’d have the whole day to spend together.” He added the last statement to try and bring back her teasing side. “You know, if you’re not otherwise tied up.”

She laughed. The low seductive tone never failed to make him hard.

“There’s only one person going to tie me up,” she said.

He felt unexpectedly pleased at her reference and an overwhelming feeling of something that felt almost like possessiveness burned through his body. “You got that right.”

She sighed. “I guess a little bit more anticipation won’t hurt me.”

Probably not, he thought, but his erection wasn’t especially the most pleasant feeling in the world. Might as well do something about it.

“Talking about tomorrow night has me hard,” he said. “Let’s build that anticipation a bit more.”

From the other end of the phone came a low moan and he smiled. “I believe the correct response would be, ‘Yes, sir. If it pleases you.’”

Her reply was a whisper. “Yes, sir. If it pleases you.”

“Good girl, kitten. Now put the phone on speaker and undress for me.”

While she followed his order, he took time to slip out of his own clothes and put his phone on speaker.

“Okay, I’m finished,” she said.

“Okay, I’m finished,
sir
.”

“Okay, I’m finished, sir.”

“Thank you. Now for neglecting to call me sir, you get a punishment,” he said. “I’m not there to spank you, so instead take a picture of yourself naked and text it to me.”

Silence from the other side of the phone.

“Julie?”

“Yes, sir?”

“You have words if this is too much.” He felt the need to remind her; asking her to take a naked picture and send it to him might be more than she could handle at this point.

“Yellow.”

“Thank you for being honest, kitten. What’s wrong?”

“I know you’re not going to post pictures of me on the Internet. I know that. It’s just, once it’s out there, it’s out there.”

“I promise you as soon as this call is over, I’ll delete it. I won’t download it anywhere or show it to anyone. If you still don’t want to do it, say ‘red.’ We’ll say our good-byes and good-nights and have a wonderful day tomorrow. Otherwise, send the picture and we’ll continue. It’s up to you, so take your time deciding.”

He waited patiently while she thought. He knew he had to give her the time and space to make her own decision. Needed her to realize she was the one who decided the next step.

He’d prepared himself for her to say “red” when a soft chime alerted him to an incoming text.
I trust you,
it said, followed by a picture of her naked from the chest down. He felt the enormity of the gift she’d just given him.