Sweet Discipline (18 page)

101

Bonnie Hamre

Hours later, when she roused, sore in both her ass and her pussy, Adrian tended to her. He lifted her from the bed and carried her into the bath, where he ran a tub and lowered them both into the steaming water. They were silent, content to bask in the heat and in each other. As the water cooled, they bathed each other, gently washing his cock and balls, her pussy and ass. They left the tub, dried and fell into bed again. Norris was sure she’d never experience anything as sweet and peaceful as this again.

In the morning, waking by herself, Norris reached for Adrian and found his side of the bed cold and empty. She felt lonely even as she told herself that Adrian had to leave her before anyone saw him. She reassured herself it was for his benefit, that he shouldn’t risk his job, but it was hard not to want to be with him all the time. She tried to balance the way she felt when Adrian took possession of her body with the encroaching end of her stay at
Sweet Discipline
. She hated each passing minute, knowing how they limited her time with Adrian.

She’d been crazy to even think she might be in love with him. They had nothing in common. Nothing but the insatiable sexual need for each other.

With each lovemaking session, her control grew. On the occasion she reached the count of two, he prolonged her orgasm so long and so thoroughly that she lapsed into unconsciousness, the
petit morte
, and roused only when he took her into the tub and washed her from head to toe. He’d cradled her, kissing her temples, her cheek, the side of her neck, propping her with his arms under hers. She had to work hard to keep tears from revealing her emotional response to his tender care.

She didn’t want to end their affair. She wanted Adrian to be a part of her new life and imagined ways they could manage it. But he said nothing. No matter how thoroughly he loved her, how he dominated her body and her senses, or how sated he left her, he made no mention of the time after she’d gone. The hours left to her with him took on a new intensity, a desperate feeling of hanging on to moments vanishing much too quickly.

One night, she dared say as much. He had just unwrapped her legs from his waist, rolled off her body, and gathered her close. With her face nestled between his chest and neck, her body sated and boneless, she heard the words before she could hold them back.

He pulled away from her. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”

She looked into his face. In the dimness of her bedroom, his eyes were dark and fathomless. She sensed his disapproval, his retreat, and grabbed his shoulders. “Is it so wrong to want to hold on to what we have?”

He blew out a noisy breath. “You’ll forget me when you leave here.”

“I won’t. How can you make light of this? Of us?”

“I don’t make light of anything, Norris. You’ve got what you came for. We’re both satisfied.”

“Maybe I’m not,” she retorted. “Maybe I want more.”

“Be still, Norris.”

102

Sweet Discipline

“No, not this time. “ Realizing the risk she took in disobeying him, she took a deep breath and sat up to face him. “You’ve made love to me. You claimed my pussy. You said it was yours! And now you’re going to let me leave and that’s it?”

In an instant, he kicked back the covers and rose to his knees. Before she could protest, he rolled her over on her belly and lifted her to her knees. She whimpered when he spread her butt cheeks apart and reached for the tube of lube. Tears formed as he lubricated her anus and the largest of the dildos. She sobbed as he inserted it, slowly and inescapably. This smacked of discipline, of punishment, making her remember how it felt to be restrained on the workout table while he trained her muscles to accept and control her responses. She crawled forward, but he pulled her back. She tried again, and he slapped her butt.

She cried out. “No, Adrian. Not like this!”

“Be still,” he repeated, his voice cold and stern.

She inhaled deeply, through her tears, relaxing her inner muscles, relinquishing her body to him. He was efficient, arousing her with dildo and his fingers in her pussy until she cried, resisting his order to come.

“Please, Adrian, not like this. Come in me, please, oh, please,” she gasped when he pushed the dildo in farther than it had ever been before. She screamed, stretched wider, pushed harder, taking it deeper, more painfully. More pleasurably.

“Please, Adrian.”

He slapped her butt again, once on each cheek. It hurt, but she clamped her lips shut and took the discipline. Abruptly, he pulled out the dildo, and thrust his cock into her instead. The pulsating satin heat of him, after insensate rubber and latex, convulsed her. Her muscles spasmed, provoking him into his own passion.

He pulled her hard onto him, giving her no choice but to take, to move with him, to slide off, be yanked back, as he pushed her higher, harder and longer. At last, tears falling freely, she could take no more, barely hanging on while he pumped again and again.

“Now,” he grunted. “Now. Come. Give it to me.”

At his command, she let go, unleashing the orgasm he demanded. She came and came, muscles shattering and convulsing around his still thrusting cock.

He groaned, and shot hard into her. His grip loosened on her hips and she collapsed face down on the rumpled sheets. He followed her down, pressing her deeper into the mattress as he used her body as a pillow, his cock still embedded in her ass. His breath rasped into her ear, his breath seared her neck.

She couldn’t breathe. She found the strength to twitch. He rolled off her, falling on his back beside her. When she was able, she propelled herself out of bed and into the shower. She expected him to join her, as he’d done countless times before, but he didn’t.

When she went back into the bedroom, he was gone.

All that remained was the heady aroma of sex.

103

Bonnie Hamre

She was given the chance to leave a day early and rejected it. She wanted the last night with Adrian, to make it right with him, and ached for his touch when she slept in an empty bed.

She expected Adrian at any moment her last day, dreaded saying goodbye to him.

She didn’t want it to end here, like this. She wanted to see him again to ask why he’d demeaned their last encounter, made it mechanical, made it sex, when they should have been making love. She didn’t want to leave without making love to him again. At the same time, she had to see him to put away her feelings about him, to put closure to them.

But he didn’t come. She sent a message to him, but he didn’t respond. She waited, hour after hour, pretending she didn’t see the pointed looks of staff who came to her door.

At last, though, she had no excuse, no reason to prolong her stay. The exit interview with the director was surprisingly difficult.

Wearing yet another severely cut black dress, the director sat behind her minimalist desk and looked at her coldly. “Everything has been satisfactory? You’ve met your goals. The staff has provided you with all the material you need?”

“Yes.”

She glanced at her file, then frowned. “I see you changed trainers. Most unusual.”

She focused a glare on Norris.

“It wasn’t my choice. I mean, not after the first day,” Norris explained. “About Adrian—”

The director’s glare became more pronounced. “You have a complaint about him?”

“Ah, no, that is, I’d like to see him before I leave.”

The director closed the file with a snap. “That won’t be possible.”

“I wanted to ah…”

“Leave him a gratuity? I see you left one for other staff. Shall we add one for him?

On your charge?”

A tip for Adrian? She’d never even thought of it, but she supposed it must be customary. But a tip? For services rendered above and beyond? She hadn’t minded leaving a very generous tip for the steward on the cruise liner, but that was different.

She’d felt nothing for him. She knew as soon as she was off the ship and it sailed again, there’d be other women, as lonely and needy as herself.

She could say the same thing about her time at
Sweet Discipline
, but tipping Adrian was different. Leaving him money changed the situation. It lessened the connection between them and made the time she’d spent with him somehow dirty. Shameful. Still, when the director continued to look at her with a questioning expression, she nodded.

She walked out of
Sweet Discipline
without a second glance.

104

Sweet Discipline

“Norris, you look fantastic!”

Her staff clustered around her office door, looking her over with astounded eyes.

She turned, showing off both her slim figure and her new designer suit, laughing at the more outrageous compliments and fielding questions about where she’d been and how she’d gotten such a great new look.

At last, she eyed the neat stacks of paper on her desk, and made shooing gestures.

“Scram, all of you. I’ve got a ton of catching up to do.”

She was focused on a report when a knock at the door caught her attention. She glanced up. “Hi, Jack.”

“I heard the talk,” he began with an admiring, thorough scan, “so I had to see for myself. Whatever you did made a new woman out of you.”

He’d noticed! He’d come himself to check her out. Even as her pulse jumped, she kept her voice cool. “Thanks.”

“Stand up. Let’s have a look at you.”

She felt something slither down her back. Those were Adrian’s words, and he wasn’t Adrian. Still, Adrian had shown her he had no more interest in her. She remembered her fantasies about Jack that had taken her to
Sweet Discipline
and, forcing a smile, did as Jack asked. Even turned around so he could get a good look, quelling the unease in her belly. Somehow, though Adrian had said nothing about an ongoing relationship, she still felt committed to him. Felt like she betrayed him by showing off for another man.

“Who would have believed it? You’re beautiful.”

Weeks before, she’d have basked in his attention. It felt good, to be praised and flattered, but somehow coming from Jack Rodriguez, it sound it sounded over the top, smarmy. Empty.

Where he’d never before done more than pause in her doorway, acting as if he had more important places to be, people to see, now he sat in her office chair, propped one ankle over a knee and looked like he was there for the duration.

Once she’d have jumped for joy, now she settled herself behind her desk. “I’ve got a lot of work here.”

He spared a glance for her desk. “So I see.” He turned his smile on full voltage.

“Let’s catch up tonight over a drink. Dinner, too?”

Six weeks ago, those words would have been heaven. The way he was ogling her, his gaze lingering at the vee of her jacket as if he was sizing up her measurements, made her distinctly uncomfortable. She’d yearned to be sleek and sexy to catch his eye 105

Bonnie Hamre

and get him into bed, but looking at him now, it wouldn’t be much of a challenge. One she didn’t want to test.

The realization left her disoriented and unbalanced. She couldn’t fault the results, but her reasons for going to
Sweet Discipline
had been off. Way off.

She had the distinct notion that all it would take would be to lean over the desk, give him a good eyeful and whisper, “Take me,” and he’d be out of that chair with his pants around his knees in record time.

She flipped open her laptop. “Ask me later,” she said, though she knew if he came back, she’d be waving him off. So much for her fantasy of throwing him to the ground and having her way with him until he cried uncle.

Damn Adrian. How could he do this to her?

As soon as she was alone, she closed her office door, picked up the phone and dialed Kendra. When she heard her friend’s voice, she said, “You owe me lunch.”

“You’re back! You did it, the whole six weeks?”

“I did. Wait until you see me.”

“I can’t wait!” Kenny sounded excited and curious. “Can you do dinner tonight, instead of lunch? I know it’s short notice, but I’m dying to see the results.”

Norris thought briefly of Jack’s invitation. “Sure.”

They named the time and place, and when Norris arrived, running a few minutes late, Kendra was already seated with a glass of wine. She stood when she spotted Norris.

They hugged, then Kendra stood back to inspect Norris who was wearing one of her new, petite and skimpy dresses. “God, you look wonderful! What did you lose?

Twenty pounds?”

Norris smiled. “Thirty-four.”

Kendra’s eyes widened. “Amazing,” she breathed. “You did it. You stuck it out and now look at you. I am impressed. So proud of you!”

Norris basked in her friend’s praise. They chatted of this and that until they’d ordered.

“Okay, now we can talk,” Kendra prompted.

“Good.” There was a lot she wanted to know, beginning with how Adrian had known so much about her. “What did you tell them about me?”

Kendra looked taken aback at her accusing tone. “When I recommended you, I had to fill out an information form.”

“And…”

“And they wanted to know about your personality, your personal traits—”

“And you told them I was obstinate and didn’t play well with others?”

Kendra blinked. “No. I told them you were a successful consultant. In demand. I said you are persistent and committed to your work.”

106

Sweet Discipline

Then how did Adrian know so she was obstinate and stubborn? She could almost hear his cold voice telling her she was willful and temperamental. Where would he have gotten that if Kendra hadn’t told him? And what about the other things he knew about her? “You told them about getting dumped and being depressed?”

“Well,” Kendra dragged the syllable out, “I did mention you’d gained weight and couldn’t seem to get it off after that happened.”

So. Some of the intimate information about her had come from Kendra. That meant Adrian knew the rest about her because they’d dug into her personal life. How? Who had they talked to?

“Relax. They research everyone. Didn’t they have a custom program for you?”