The Words to Bind (The Playgrounds Book 1)

by P. Stormcrow

  The look he gave her, a mixture of surprise and wonder, baffled her but made her duck her head a little until he cleared his throat.

  “Ah, just a bottle of water. There should be some in the fridge. Thanks.”

  “Sure, no problem.”.

  It wasn’t until Luna was upstairs, opening the fridge door, that Cassie came bounding to her. “Oh my God. What a rush!”

  Cassie had on a pair of panties, a bra and little else. Red welts covered her body in a well-designed pattern. Well, like she’d thought earlier, to each their own.

  “You…looked like you had fun.” What else was she supposed to say? There was a moment of hesitation before she plunged ahead. “I thought, though, that you were a top.”

  The woman grinned and shook her head. “Now why would you think that, silly girl?”

  “Well, just that”—Luna paused—“I heard you and August play and he mentioned he’s a sub.”

  “Luna, Luna, Luna…” Cassie snatched a bottle of water from the fridge, reminding her to do the same. “Dominance and submission is not an either-or thing. It’s more like a spectrum, and I’d like to think I’m a little more fluid. It keeps things fun.”

  Luna blinked.

  “I’m a switch.”

  “Oh.” That she understood.

  A sly grin spread across Cassie’s lips as she leaned in a little closer and lowered her voice. “So, you and Jacob?”

  Luna’s brows shot up. “What? No. I mean, he was just”—she flapped her hands in the air—“just helping a newbie like me out, you know? Being nice.”

  “Come on. I saw you two all cozied up. You know, Jacob’s a trainer. He specializes in introducing potential and interested subs to the scene, helps them figure out what they want, that kind of thing.”

  “Oh.”

  “Besides, Jacob doesn’t let just anyone cling to his arm all night, you know.” Cassie waved the unopened bottle before unscrewing the top and taking a long swig.

  “Oh.” Luna flushed again, kicking herself at the one-word answers she was being reduced to.

  “Now, come on.” Cassie set down the now-empty bottle with a smirk. “I think the shibari demo is starting and we wouldn’t want to miss that.”

  “Right.”

  By the time they made it downstairs once more, most had already gathered. Luna threaded her way through the guests until she reached Jacob. He gave her a nod of thanks as she handed him the water bottle, and they both remained silent as the demo started.

  She lurched forward when someone from behind pushed past her. Almost losing her balance, she flailed, only to have strong arms encircle her.

  “I’ve got you,” Jacob whispered as he steadied her.

  She leaned against him. As if taking it as a sign, Jacob kept one arm around her then tilted his head to one side. When she nodded her assent with a small smile, he grinned in return, keeping his arm around her.

  On her other side, she sensed another familiar presence and turned to see Lani. When the Domme raised a brow with the cheekiest curve of her lips, Luna’s face reddened once more and she wrinkled her nose at her mentor. Jacob didn’t seem to notice once again. Phew.

  On the platform, a tall Asian man, young with a slim, athletic build, stood in the center. Rather than fetish wear, the man wore a pair of black slacks and a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Behind him, lengths of rope already trailed from the hooks above that Luna had seen above earlier. Next to him stood Erica, almost a full head shorter, despite the impossible stilettos she wore.

  “Good evening, all. I hope you are enjoying the party so far. It’s my pleasure tonight to introduce my dear friend Elijah Lee, who’s an award-winning artist in the shibari arts. You may have seen his works featured in national exhibits and various publications. Tonight, he will show us live how he turns the human body into art, and he has also graciously offered to teach some basics. Without further ado, I’ll pass the stage to you, Elijah.”

  A brief smattering of applause filled the air before dying away.

  “Thank you, Erica, for that kind introduction.” The man offered a slight bow, clapping both of his hands together. “It’s always a pleasure to share my art with others and to introduce shibari. You know, the word ‘shibari’ means ‘to tie’ in Japanese and comes from a martial arts style used to restrain captives. The name of its erotic counterpart, as we know it in North America and much of the Western world today, is actually ‘kinbaku.’”

  Luna found herself once more itching for a notebook and she made a mental note to do more research when she got home.

  He smiled, almost sheepish in his mannerisms. “But you aren’t here for a history lesson. So instead, let me welcome my assistant to the stage. I have to thank Erica for so graciously letting me borrow Dominique.”

  Widening her eyes, Luna inhaled as the submissive strode across the stage in her full naked glory and with confidence that she envied. Dominique’s legs seemed unending and her proud, larger breasts swayed, along with her hips. Luna could only hunch a little and lean closer against Jacob.

  Another round of applause filled the air but Elijah was already a blur of motion. With deft movements, he looped different strands of rope around her body in dizzying ways and a hushed, almost revered silence fell on the crowd. When he next stepped back, he beamed as he showed the intricate harness he had threaded around Dominique’s abdominal area in a crisscross pattern that framed her breasts. The sheer sensuality of it all made Luna’s own breasts ache with need.

  “Now, a party like this is also a rare opportunity for me to push my limits as an artist into more of the performance art variety. This is not something I usually get to do in my studio…” Elijah trailed off as he started working again, looping the rope around her limbs, creating a V that dipped between her legs. Once done, he began pulling the ropes dangling from the hooks in the ceiling to tie around Dominique before hoisting her. Her body hung horizontal, face-up, with her back arched, her hair cascading down toward the floor. The rope suspended one leg upward. The other was bent back while he tied her arms behind her back. He ran his hand along her body and, in response, Dominique moaned, closing her eyes in obvious pleasure.

  “While the art form is a sensual display of the human body”—Elijah circled his thumb along each of Dominique’s hardening nipples and Luna had to bite back a moan herself—“the act itself can be extremely arousing for the one being tied.”

  Luna’s breathing grew shallow as he trailed his hand downward. Her gaze followed Elijah’s, toward Erica, who gave a perceptible nod, likely for some permission. He trailed his hand farther down as he spun Dominique around until he was displaying her pussy to the crowd, a particular knot nestled against her glistening folds. He crept his hand with agonizing slowness and it was as if the crowd collectively held their breath for one of the goddesses of The Playgrounds.

  Without thinking, Luna’s own hand rose to cross her own chest, reaching to hold on to the one Jacob had laid on her shoulder.

  “You see, the knot in the middle, along with the tension that the entire harness is under from the suspension, creates a particular friction. And with a simple move, I can provoke the most intense reactions.”

  Elijah gave a hard tap on the knot. Immediately, Dominique’s body tensed and her face scrunched up. Encouraged by her reactions, he kept tapping, alternating in rhythm. As she began to writhe, he pressed the knot against her. Her lips parted in a wordless scream and her body spasmed in climax, causing all the ropes and Dominique herself to swing wildly.

  Flushing now for a different reason, Luna tried to squeeze her legs together without drawing attention to herself. When Jacob turned his hand to engulf hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze, her stomach clenched and her core turned to a molten mess.

  Moments passed in hushed silence before Dominique’s body relaxed once more against the ropes, her body limp, and Elijah moved to stabilize her, stroking her hair and murmuring soft words into her ear.

  A few p
eople began to recover from the performance and started the applause. Others followed and soon, as Elijah helped Dominique out of the ropes and harness, Erica stepped on the stage, grinning like a Cheshire cat. With a tenderness that belied her usual mannerisms, she wrapped the taller woman in a blanket and escorted her off the stage.

  “Thank you again to both Erica and Dominique.” Elijah clapped his hands together and bowed again before turning back to the audience. “And now, can I ask for a volunteer from the audience to help me demonstrate some basics?”

  If Luna were honest with herself, the entire rest of the evening had been a blur. She remembered excusing herself at some point and heading upstairs to sit on the couch. She remembered Lani coming to sit with her. And if she tried hard enough, she could recall the details, bit by bit, but none ever so vivid as her hand in Jacob’s, struggling against her own arousal as they watched another woman orgasm. And through it all, one prevailing question kept circling her mind.

  She’d never had a high libido. So what is happening to me?

  Chapter Seven

  They crashed into her apartment, their lips locked in a passionate kiss, fumbling beneath each other’s clothes like horny teenagers. Heat emanated from Jacob’s body as she smoothed her hand over his abs and shivered as he flexed his abdomen in response.

  He traveled his hands upward, and with little ado, he unzipped her dress, helping her shimmy out of it. The dress hadn’t allowed for a bra, and his eyes darkened at the sight of her nipples hardening in the cold air. But as if testing his control, he left them alone.

  When he slipped his hands from caressing her shoulders to cupping her breasts, she moaned and pushed them more against him. When he kissed down her neck, licking the hollow where he could feel her pulse, Luna ground her hips against his, the hardened length of his member straining against his pants and pressing against her. And when she reached down to undo them, Jacob grabbed her wrists, holding them still before drawing them behind her back.

  “No, Luna,” he whispered, his licks turning into nibbles along her collarbone.

  Pinned against him, she squirmed in his arms, whimpering with need as she soaked her panties from his ministrations. The rest of her body ached for his touch. Without the use of her hands, she did the only thing possible and tilted her head to nip at his exposed neck.

  He hissed in return and bit down on her skin, drawing a loud yelp. The next thing she knew, soft cotton was wrapped around her wrists, as somehow he’d grabbed one of her scarves off the coat rack and had tied her wrists together behind her back. As he eased back, he smirked as he spun her around and eyed his handiwork. “Now, march. Show me your bedroom.”

  Luna giggled as she sauntered, hips sashaying, treating him to a full view of her rear. She squealed in surprise when he growled.

  As soon as they entered her bedroom, he stalked toward her once more, pressing closer and closer until she fell back onto her bed. With her hands trapped behind her, she was only able to squirm her way up the bed. The sight of her body’s movements must have evoked something in Jacob, because a low, guttural sound emerged from the back of his throat and he started climbing onto the bed, positioning himself to kneel over her.

  He skimmed his fingers along her legs, leaving goosebumps in their wake. Still now, when her eyes met his, her body melted into the bed at the intensity she saw reflected in them. When he reached her panties and dragged them down, she lifted her hips for him and swallowed at the hunger she saw there.

  “No coming until I tell you to.” His voice rumbled in his chest as he dipped his fingers between her legs before raising them to his lips. “Delicious.”

  Oh God. Her body burned and she wasn’t going to last. She needed him inside her.

  Instead, he stroked her inner thighs, his weight keeping her legs from moving, from even parting for him. Unable to see what he was doing, she dropped her head back as he began to walk his fingers upward until they were parting her folds. He cupped her sex with his warm palm, the heel grinding against the general area around her clit as he slipped a finger inside her, rubbing against her inner walls.

  “Oh God,” she moaned as she thrust her hip against his hand, beginning to rock back and forth as she chased the impending climax that was threatening to close.

  “Eyes on me, babe. I want to see you, and I want you to see how pleased I am when you come for me.”

  There was something about his words that struck a chord within her. “Please,” she pleaded. When he paused and slowed his fingers instead, she whimpered and tried to grind her hip against his hand harder. So close to the edge.

  “No-o-o,” she protested, gasping as he sped up again. When her body began to tense and twitch, he slowed once more. The cycle repeated, over and over, until tears of frustration streamed down her face and he had reduced her to a bundle of nerves and desire.

  Dear God, he was edging her—just like that Mistress at the party had.

  “Sir, please, please,” she pleaded, only semi-conscious of the words spilling out of her mouth, her hips thrusting. He smirked as he slowed for what felt like the gazillionth time, keeping her so close but not enough to give her the orgasm she so needed. He was going to drive her to the brink of insanity.

  “Hm-m-m, since you asked so prettily…” He leaned in close, nipped her ear and whispered, “Come.”

  It was all she needed as she exploded into his hand. He covered her lips with his, swallowing her screams as she snapped her eyes open.

  Open?

  She stared at her ceiling as an orgasm rolled through her body, soaking her own fingers. Sometime through the night, she had kicked off her panties and her sheets had twisted around her legs. Sweat drenched her pillow.

  As the climax faded, she slowed her hand and groaned. A dream. A freaking sex dream featuring Mr. Just-a-guy.

  He was so not ‘just a guy’.

  She sat up and passed her cleaner hand over her face. What the hell is wrong with me? Sure, it had been a while since she had been with someone, but she had never really missed it. Sex had never been something to write home about. That was what food was for.

  How was it that the dream with him was hotter than any actual real-life sex she’d ever had? Her damn imagination.

  There is something wrong with me.

  There was a giant wet spot on her sheets. Luna sighed and slid off her bed, making her way to the washroom to clean up.

  Fifteen minutes later, she was sitting on the floor in the hall outside her bedroom, clothed in a fresh pair of panties and a cotton spaghetti-strap tank, watching her sheets swirling around in the washing machine. One arm braced against her knee, she continued to rub her forehead, too riled up to sleep.

  What was it about that man that triggered such a change in her libido? It couldn’t be just because he was a Dom. She’d met plenty of men in her life who at least acted that way. It couldn’t even be the texts they had exchanged. She’d had questions after the first set of reading material he’d sent her, and those had led to another and another. Their discussion was academic with minimal flirting. So what could it be?

  She grabbed the water bottle she’d brought from the kitchen and took small sips of the cool liquid. Maybe it was just the setting where she had met him. She admitted that many of the scenes she’d seen had turned her on. Maybe her brain had somehow created a weird association between those hot scenes and Jacob. Yeah, that must be it.

  Whatever it was, the possibility of how much control she could lose around him was marvelously hot—and incredibly terrifying.

  Her phone lit up with some stupid system notification. She exhaled, grabbing the phone then pausing as she saw a calendar reminder. Right… Climbing with Dylan was tomorrow… Today… Remembering his dimpled smile, Luna grinned a little. Going by the type she was usually attracted to, Dylan had an advantage. Then again, his type was not usually attracted to her.

  Men were so confusing.

  She gave up all hope of returning to bed and pushed herself up i
nstead. It was time to fix herself a middle-of-the-night snack to accompany the reading she’d decided to catch up on. Some decent fantasy with wizards, faeries and demons would keep her mind off men—and help her stop questioning her damn wet dream.

  * * * *

  Only a few hours later, Luna yawned as she pulled open the door to the climbing gym. Although it was still early, she was surprised as she regarded the number of people already there, scaling the walls with ropes tied to safety harnesses around their waists. The image of the rope harness around Dominique flashed in her mind and she flushed, shoving the memory into a deep, dark box—and the box in a deep, dark hole. Why did it have to be top-rope climbing? Why not…not…tennis?

  “Luna!” Dylan came bounding over, full of energy that made her grin. His obvious pleasure at the sight of her warmed her and cleared the confusion in her head.

  “Come on. Let’s get you set up.” With a hand on the small of her back, Dylan guided her to the counter where, acting like a complete gentleman, he paid for her entry and equipment rental fee, despite her protests. She hadn’t intended for the climbing adventure to be a date, just a casual hangout, but it was turning into one.

  “Okay, so…” Dylan led her to the mats then steered her toward a particular wall. Unlike other areas in the gym with odd angles and portions jutting out, the one in front of them was almost straight up and down. “Before we start, I’ve got a few tips for you to make it easier.” He moved closer to the wall and reached up with his left hand, stepping with the right foot. “First, push up with your leg. You will want to pull with your arm, but you’ll tire yourself out too fast. Make sure that when you step, though, do it with your toes, not the side of your foot. Don’t worry. The shoes will help and your toes have better grip than you think.”