The Girl Behind the Mask (25 page)

‘You’ve stopped typing. I imagine you are holding your gift.’

‘Yes.’

‘Good. I hope you don’t mind that I took the liberty.’

‘I mind the idea of Silvio putting it there.’

‘He didn’t.’

I paused.

‘You said you were away.’

‘I was.’

‘You’re in the house?’

He didn’t respond to that.

‘What do you think of your present?’

‘Romantic,’ I typed. I added a sarcastic emoticon.

‘I thought it would make things more interesting.’

‘Having you in the room would make things more interesting.’

‘Alas, not today. Today we are going to make love with our minds.’

‘And a vibrator.’

‘And a vibrator . . . I assume this won’t be the first time you’ve used one.’

‘No,’ I wrote. ‘Not the first.’

I hoped he would not ask me when the first time had been. It was with Steven. How daring it had seemed at the time. Compared to a threesome in a sex club, however . . . I breathed deeply to put the girl behind the mask out of my mind.

‘Am I alone in the house? I don’t want to be disturbed by another servant. Or your wife.’

Wife. I’d said it at last.

‘I don’t have a wife, Sarah. There is no woman in my life except you.’

I was about to type something sarcastic but before I could, he carried on.

‘I would not put you in a position to be humiliated. You will not be disturbed. No one ever enters this house except me and Silvio, and Silvio, as you know, will not be back for a while.’

‘Then come and join me.’

‘Indulge me, Sarah. Let things happen this way.’

I sat back in the chair with the vibrator still in my hand.

‘Are you ready?’ Marco asked.

I typed ‘Yes’ with my free hand.

‘Then let us begin.’

I felt ridiculously self-conscious as I waited for Marco’s instructions to appear on the screen. The hesitation with which the first message appeared seemed to suggest that this was a new experience for him too. I wondered if it was. I certainly hoped so. The idea that he was practised at the art of virtual seduction made me feel ugly and small. I had to push that from my mind, if there was to be any chance this would work.

‘Sarah,’ Marco wrote. ‘Please tell me what you are wearing.’

I almost laughed. I typed back, ‘I’m wearing a dress. It’s a shirt dress, with buttons all the way down the front.’

‘And underneath?’

‘Underneath it I’m wearing a black slip with lace round the edges, over a bra and a pair of knickers. Both also black. And some stockings. Hold-ups. Not really warm enough for the weather.’

‘But very sexy,’ was Marco’s response.

‘I’m glad you think so.’

‘I think we should get you undressed,’ Marco continued. ‘Would you please start to unbutton your clothes?’

‘All the way?’

‘Yes. Please.’

I set the vibrator down on the desk for a moment and unbuttoned my dress. I wondered if Marco was going to have me strip to my underwear. Thankfully, with the fire blazing the library was very warm, despite the weather outside. While I was safely cocooned in the library, rain spattered against the tall windows. I hoped that meant that Silvio would take his time at his errands, staying in a café somewhere to keep out of the downpour.

‘Is the dress undone?’ Marco typed.

‘Yes.’

‘Then slide your hands over the front of your slip. I hope it’s silk.’

‘Of course.’

‘Do it slowly. Imagine I am standing in front of you and seeing you for the first time. Imagine my smile. I have never seen anything so beautiful. Let your dress fall. I am pushing it off, revealing your beautiful shoulders. I am tracing one with my finger. Please do that for me. Imagine your finger is mine.’

I did as he suggested. It felt a little strange.

‘Have you shrugged the dress off yet? Do so.’

I did.

‘Look to your left. Behind that curtain is a mirror. Uncover it.’

I got up and pulled the curtain aside. There was a full-length mirror behind it. It hung from a pair of hooks hammered into one of the shelves. I wondered how I had not noticed it before. Marco must have put it there for me. Or did Silvio? I felt horribly self-conscious again, imagining the old retainer following Marco’s instructions.

I returned to the laptop on the desk. I read the next instruction.

‘Can you see your reflection from where you are sitting? Look at yourself in the mirror, Sarah, and see what I imagine seeing myself. See how beautiful you are in your simple underclothes. Your black slip suits you so well. It skims across your curves, not clinging but caressing. When you move, it moves with you and echoes your movements. Cross your legs.’

I crossed my right thigh over the left.

‘Let the slip ride up to show the top of a stocking. You have beautiful legs.’

I wanted to ask how he knew.

‘Your ankles are so fine. Your feet, with their high arches, are so pretty and erotic. I want to take them in my hands and feel their delicate strength. I want to kiss them.’

‘I might be ticklish,’ I typed.

‘Then I would enjoy hearing you beg for mercy,’ wrote Marco.

I glanced from the screen to my reflection. The soft light of the fire cast a flattering glow on the little flesh I had so far revealed. It shimmered on my hair, which was where Marco turned his attention next.

‘How are you wearing your hair today?’ he asked.

‘In a twist,’ I told him. ‘Held in place with a single clip.’

‘Undo the clip and let your hair fall loose. It’s such a beautiful colour. It shines coppery in the firelight. I imagine running my fingers through it and loosening it further still. Imagine me burying my face in the waves and breathing in your perfume. The delicious scent of May rose and jasmine that lingers in the library long after you have gone.’

‘How do you know?’ I interrupted.

‘Don’t interrupt me. Be seduced, Sarah. I want you to feel desired. Unfasten your hair now.’

I undid the clip and let my hair fall.

‘Look at yourself in the mirror again. Imagine my hands on your bare arms. Tip your head back so that I may see your hair tumble over your shoulder blades. Expose your throat so that I may kiss you there. Look in the mirror. See how your eyes are darkening. Your pupils are dilating with desire. Hitch up your slip to show more of your elegant legs. Uncross them. Run your hands up the inside of your thighs. Rest your hands over the front of your knickers.’

‘OK.’

‘Then slide them to one side.’

‘Shouldn’t I take them off?’

‘No. Just move them so that your pussy is exposed.’

I held the fabric of the gusset out of the way.

‘Stroke yourself,’ wrote Marco.

‘How?’

‘How you usually do. How you like it.’

Tentatively, I ran my fingers over my soft pubic hair.

‘Are you wet?’ he asked.

My fingers reached the opening of my vagina. Carefully, I touched myself.

‘Not yet.’

‘Pick up the vibrator,’ was the next instruction. ‘Turn it on. Gently. Touch it to your clitoris.’

Suddenly, the room felt very warm indeed.

Chapter 38

Of course this was not the first time I had used a vibrator, either alone or in the presence of someone else. However, there was something about using the sex toy at Marco’s behest that made me aroused before I even touched the shiny black pebble to my clitoris.

As when I masturbated on my own, I used my left hand to part my labia so that my clit was more exposed. I had turned the vibe on at its lowest setting but still, when it made contact with my flesh, it felt as though I had been given an electric shock. I turned it off.

‘How does it feel?’ Marco’s question appeared on the screen.

‘Smooth,’ I told him. ‘Slightly cold. On lowest setting and the sensation is already too much for me.’

‘I hope not,’ wrote Marco. ‘Turn it on again. Hold it against you.’

I obliged.

‘Imagine, if you will, that my hand is where your hand is now. Imagine I am stroking the vibrator over your clit. Gently. Teasing. I’m barely touching you at all.’

I let the vibrator slide backwards and forwards across that naughty nub of nerve endings. As I got used to the pace of the toy’s oscillations, I was able to bear it more easily.

‘Now hold it in one place. Find the sweet spot.’

I pressed the vibrator against the left side of my clit. For some reason, it had always been slightly more sensitive on that side.

‘Press a little harder.’

I already had.

‘Move it very slightly, just enough to fool yourself that the feeling is going away.’

I did.

‘Move it in tiny circles. Imagine it is my tongue that caresses you now. Just tickling the tip of you.’

I had a strong vision of Marco’s face.

‘Now put a finger inside you. You’re wet. You’re such a bad girl.’

He was right. My finger slid inside easily.

‘Fuck yourself with your finger while you imagine my mouth on your clit. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Don’t stop . . .’

I couldn’t have stopped if I wanted to. Fortunately, I definitely didn’t want to. My body had taken control.

I threw my head back and let my orgasm overtake me. It was glorious. It shook my body so violently that I had to cling to the edge of the desk to keep from falling onto the floor. Afterwards, I flopped forward onto the desk, with my head on my arms. I started laughing. I couldn’t help myself. The ridiculousness of the situation combined with the exhilaration of my orgasm overtook me.

‘Was that good?’ Marco’s question blinked from the screen.

‘It was very good,’ I typed, still shaking with small aftershocks. I looked at my reflection. I was flushed from my climax. My eyes glittered. I didn’t think I had ever looked so pleased with myself.

‘I knew it would be,’ Marco’s words appeared.

‘Then imagine what it would be like if we were in the same room,’ I dared to write. ‘Can you come and see me?’

‘I can’t.’

‘You’re here in the house, aren’t you?’

‘I’m not.’

‘Marco, we have to meet. We have to. This is insane. You’ve brought me to an orgasm and I don’t even know what your voice sounds like.’

‘It sounds exactly as you imagine, in your heart.’

‘I’d rather hear it for real.’ I felt daring enough to ask him to meet me again.

‘I have to go,’ said Marco. ‘You should probably get ready to leave yourself. I will write to you later, I promise.’

He logged off.

I stared at the screen, stunned that he’d pulled the disappearing trick again. But he had. There was nothing I could do but get dressed. I picked up my dress and shook it out. As I put it on, I watched myself in the mirror again. I felt exhilarated and wicked. Vanilla no more.

Silvio arrived just as I was closing my laptop.

‘Everything has been OK?’ he asked me.

I assured him that it had.

‘Good,’ he said, looking at me with his head slightly to one side. A little quizzical. I smoothed back my hair and gave him my brightest smile.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ I said.

‘Yes,’ said Silvio. ‘Perhaps.’

I left the library before I burst into laughter again. I almost slid down the corridor in my haste to be out in the courtyard so that I could take a breath of cold winter air and attempt to take control of myself. It was while I was rushing to get outside that I heard the distinct sound of a door being closed on the floor above me.

The sound brought me up short. Silvio was still in the library, I was sure, or at least in that part of the house. He could not have moved fast enough to get upstairs in time. Given that I was supposed to have been in the palazzo on my own, who was closing the door on the first floor?

Standing by the fountain, I looked up at each of the gallery windows in turn. Who was up there? The windows looked back at me like blinded eyes. I continued to stare upwards, shielding my eyes from the sun to get a proper look. I hadn’t imagined that door slamming, I knew it. There was only one explanation. Marco must in the house. He was watching me. Perhaps he had been watching me all along. Had the mirror concealed some sort of camera? My exhilaration turned to anger and the uncomfortable feeling that I had been used.

I pulled my coat tightly round me and left the house as quickly as I could.

Back at the university, I direct-messaged Marco at once.

‘I’m beginning to feel like a bit of a fool. I know you were in the house today. Please don’t deny it again. You said I should be wined and dined and adored. You said you would like to see me dressed up for a night on the town. Cybersex isn’t quite the same thing. Why won’t you come to me?’