“What’s the staff development meeting going to be this week?”
“It’s a surprise,” Colleen bit out, defensive in spite of herself.
“I had some thoughts.”
“Nothing’s set in stone yet.” This would be great. One less thing to worry about, plus it would give her more time to prepare Anya and Marisol for the France trip. And with Nefertiti out she could really use a break in her schedule.
“Why don’t we transform Club Inferno into a circus?”
Colleen made a face. “You and your acrobats do that shtick every night anyway. How would this help the staff?”
“I figured we could dress up. You and I could be the ringmasters. The staff could try their hands at screwing on the high wire or on the trapeze.”
Colleen smiled. “No, not a circus. A carnival.”
“We could set up the rooms like Rio de Janeiro and have a masked costume ball.”
“Meh,” Colleen said. “It’s been done. Besides, Carnivale was in February. It’s almost June. Anyway, I meant a carnival as in a Ferris wheel and midway games.”
Dante snapped his fingers. “I like that. We could have sexual favors as prizes instead of stuffed animals.”
“I’ll tell you what. You can be in charge of the staff development. You have a modest budget. Don’t go crazy.”
“You mean it?” He leaned forward.
She’d show Anya she wasn’t a control freak. “It’s all yours.”
“You won’t regret it.”
The intercom buzzed. Jana’s disembodied voice said, “Chase Fairwood to see you.”
“I don’t want to see him until tomorrow.” Colleen really did want to see him, but it was part of his punishment. She wondered if he’d hit up Angie for dinner that night.
Dante’s grin grew even wider. “Well, I have a lot of work to do.” He got up from his chair and unlocked the door. “Thank you, Mistress,” he said as he opened the door. “Your trust in me won’t be misplaced. I will do everything in my power to please you.”
Colleen waved him away. He was putting it on a little thick.
“I will be at your beck and call. If you need me tonight, you only have to summon me.”
He gave her a low bow and disappeared.
She rolled her eyes at his theatrics.
Chapter 12
Chase wasn’t going to say a fucking word. Even though he had a lot of things he wanted to talk with Colleen about. For starters, that smarmy bastard Dante was just begging for Chase’s foot up his ass, and not in a pain-is-pleasure sort of way. But if Chase uttered a single syllable, the punishment was another day of abstinence. He hadn’t thought that meant he wouldn’t be seeing Colleen, just that they wouldn’t be doing the wild thing on her desk.
He stared at her. She wasn’t dressed in leather this time. Colleen had on a 1950s housewife outfit, complete with apron and pearls. Her hair was held back from her pretty face with a wide, matching headband. She was dressed like June Cleaver, if you didn’t look too closely at her shoes. The stilettos gave her away. He’d also bet his 401(k) that she was wearing a garter belt and silk stockings under that dress.
“Don’t make me ball-gag you,” she had warned him when she walked into the dungeon, which was set up like a small kitchen and family room. His chair was in the den, and the way everything was decorated reminded him of his nana’s old house. There was even plastic on the furniture. Colleen pointed to his chair. No kiss. No fondle. Just a hard shove into the chair where, true to her word, she trussed him up with plastic restraints and then ignored him.
The only thing that was stopping him from mouthing off was the fact that she looked as grumpy as he felt. She actually seemed a little nervous. Colleen never let anyone see her sweat. He started to get a bad feeling about this.
The door was thrown open and a middle-aged couple walked in. The man was the one who had cock-blocked him at the Fierocity show, Senator Clemmons. He shut the door to the dungeon while a woman Chase assumed was his wife click-clacked her sensible heels over to Colleen.
“So, at last I meet my husband’s Mistress.”
Chase heard the capital M in her voice.
Colleen inclined her head.
“If you think you’re going to steal my husband so you can marry another powerful man, you have another thing coming to you, you little whore.”
Chase shifted in his chair. The bindings on his arms and legs were too tight to get out of. He was going to kick Grandma in her ass if she didn’t knock it the hell off.
“Take a look at what’s sitting in that chair.” Colleen pointed her chin at him.
Chase froze when the harpy turned around to glare at him with beady black eyes.
“I have my own money,” Colleen said. “My own power. And I fuck him every night.”
Not last night, Chase thought sourly.
“Why would I need or want your husband?” Colleen challenged, crossing her arms in front of her.
The tight-faced sourpuss gave him a once-over, and her lustful glance made him a little uneasy. He didn’t want to think about what Dante had said to him over a beer at Cielie’s last night. Chase hadn’t expected to be invited out for a drink, but since Colleen wasn’t taking his calls and he wanted to know just what the hell Dante had been talking about on his way out of her office, Chase had been game to go to the Irish pub at Couture with him.
Over corned beef sandwiches, Dante told him more about what a sub could expect in the dungeons of Club Inferno. Like being shared with whomever his Domme chose to give him to. Chase didn’t believe that Colleen would go against what they had originally talked about. Yet she seemed eager to make their relationship an open one. He was going to safeword all over the place if the senator’s wife put a claw on him—even if it cost him another day of abstinence.
But the nasty old crow just eye-fucked him and then turned back to Colleen. “You want a shot at the White House.”
This bitch didn’t know Colleen at all.
Colleen smirked. “Not as First Lady. And since my past would be political suicide to any party willing to endorse me, that’s not going to happen.”
“So if you’re not after my husband or my position, and you claim not to be fucking him, what the hell are you doing here every Thursday?”
“I’m so glad you asked.”
Please. Oh, please. Chase did not want to see the senator’s wrinkly old ass have sex. But as luck would have it, he didn’t have to. Clemmons bent over the Formica kitchen table and pulled down his pants. As luck would have it, Chase’s vision was blocked by the vinyl tablecloth.
“Martin, what are you doing?”
Chase cocked his head. Grandma didn’t sound surprised or outraged. There was a breathy excitement in her voice. Glaring at Colleen, he wondered if this was an elaborate scene instead of reality. Colleen walked to a pantry-type cabinet and pulled out a rattan cane.
“He’s being punished.”
Colleen wound up and spanked Clemmons’s ass five times. Chase only flinched at the first crack of wood hitting skin. He toughened up and watched as the worries dropped from the senator’s face. There was a serene bliss after Colleen finished the last shot.
“I think you should give him more.” The wife was a little bloodthirsty.
“He has to ask nicely,” Colleen said in a deadpan voice.
“Please, Mistress. I’ve been so naughty. Please give me more.”
“Not me. Her.” Colleen pointed to his wife.
“Misty, please spank me.”
“Well, I don’t know,” Misty said, but she was already rolling up her sleeves and heading over to her husband.
“Not your hand,” Colleen ordered. “He doesn’t deserve that.” She went into the pantry again and pulled out a small pizza peel. “Use this instead.”
Colleen yanked on the senator’s head. “I want to hear you count.” She dropped his head when he nodded. “Twenty should suffice. Hard as you can.”
Misty wound up and swung
like the bases were loaded at Yankee Stadium.
Chase only wished Colleen could see his expression under the leather mask. He was anti-hard. In fact, it would have been more stimulating to watch paint dry. Colleen showed Misty a better technique to swing the paddle with. She mastered the loud crack enough that the noise didn’t bother Chase.
Sauntering back over to him while the senator choked out his punishment, Colleen leaned in and spoke in his ear. “Clemmons is an old client of mine. He likes the spankings. Which reminds me…” Colleen shouted back to Clemmons, “You are not allowed to come. If you do, I will chain you to the sofa and you will not get free until your wife comes five times.”
“Five?” Misty gasped, and redoubled her efforts.
“He’ll never last.” Colleen went back to whispering in his ear. “He’s afraid that if he doesn’t come right away, he won’t be able to later. We’ve been working on delayed gratification, but he comes immediately when I’m working on him.”
I wonder why. Chase rolled his eyes. The old pervert had good taste.
True to her word, the senator gave up the ghost around seventeen. Chase would never have believed it if he hadn’t seen it himself. Apparently some people really did get off on the pain.
“I’m ashamed of you. You only had three more to go.” Colleen grabbed Clemmons by the collar and tossed him on the plastic couch. Pulling out handcuffs, she showed Misty the specially built rings to attach him to.
While Misty rigged her husband up, Colleen opened the door and whistled. A shirtless male sub came in. Chase hated him on sight. He was young and pretty, with long black hair that made women go crazy. Built like a stripper, the sub dropped to his knees at Colleen’s feet.
Watch it, buddy.
“Hello, Jake,” she said.
Chase bit back a snarl at the last minute. He tensed his wrists against the bindings. She had said he couldn’t say a word. She hadn’t said he couldn’t get out of his restraints. Dante had told him that Jake was the man Colleen had wanted for a lover. If she thought that he would sit by while another man put his hands on her, Chase would show her that it wasn’t on today’s agenda. But the ties held firm.
“What is thy bidding, Mistress?” Jake lowered his gaze.
Give me a break.
“I need to attend to matters. You will see to it that my guests have everything they need.”
“Everything?” Misty said with a hand on her heart.
“Everything.” Colleen jerked Jake’s chin up and looked him dead in the eyes. “Do you understand?”
“I live to serve, Mistress. Thank you.”
She gave Jake a tap on the cheek that was more of a slap than a caress. “Help Misty in whatever she desires.”
“Anything I desire?” Misty said faintly.
“Five.” Colleen held up her palm in front of Clemmons’s face, who was blinking out of the haze of arousal the caning and paddling had put him in. “If you can’t do it, Jake will show you what you’re doing wrong.”
“Oh my,” Misty gasped.
“But I’m tied down,” the senator said. “I can’t move.”
“That’s right.” Colleen smirked. “It’s time to pay for your orgasm. She will use you like a sex toy. And you’d better be a good one, because if you’re not, you get to watch Jake make your wife scream in pleasure.”
Misty actually sagged into a chair next to the couch. Jake knelt at her feet with his head down. “Command me and I will obey,” he said.
So Dante had been right. The subs were shared. If that was the case, though, shouldn’t Chase be the one on his knees in front of the harpy? Jake didn’t seem to be upset that he would be using his skills not on Colleen but rather on an older woman whom he couldn’t possibly find attractive. Or did he? Chase saw Jake shiver when Misty petted his hair.
“I’ll be back in an hour to check on you. Misty, if your husband finishes with you before I get back, you can spank him some more.”
The senator brightened up at that.
“But stick with the paddle or your hand. The cane takes practice, and we’ll go over that next week.”
“Thank you, Mistress,” she said, still playing with Jake’s hair.
Flipping open a butterfly knife, Colleen cut the zip ties holding Chase down. He was up and out the door like a shot, not wanting to see what came next. He realized that he wasn’t sure where they were going, so he slowed down to wait for Colleen.
Colleen had cut it short with the Clemmonses because she had noticed that Chase was beginning to look a little green under the mask. She hadn’t meant to upset him, but she wanted him to see a different view of discipline than the one he’d seen in the audience at Miranda’s Midnight House of Pain. Reaching down for his hand, she grasped it and tugged him along the back corridors. The club’s workshops were in session, but Colleen didn’t want to dawdle. She had missed him last night, and she was planning to make up for lost time.
Taking him through a few doors that only she and Istvahn knew were there, Colleen pressed her fingertip to the scanner in her private elevator. Chase stood perfectly still as the car shot up several floors in scant seconds. She wondered if she had gone too far, bringing him to today’s workshop. But when she tried to let go of his hand, he tightened his fingers and gave her a sexy smile. Colleen relaxed. He was still playing his part, that was all. As the doors opened up into her penthouse apartment, above the club and above Couture, she said, “You may get comfortable and speak.”
The first thing Chase did was toss off the mask. “I really hate that thing.”
“It was either that or have the senator know who was watching him.”
“Good point.” Chase rubbed his face. “So I’m forgiven?”
“You did very well with your punishment. I’m impressed.”
“It’s certainly a deterrent.” He grabbed her in his arms and pulled her in for a rough kiss.
Rational thought fled as she relaxed in his arms. She’d never get tired of his mouth on hers. Sliding her hands under his T-shirt, Colleen stroked the wide plane of his back. “It was almost as hard on me as it was for you,” she said when they took a breath.
“Maybe we should come up with another punishment?” Chase dipped his head and nibbled on her throat.
Colleen cupped her palm and gave him a hard whack on his ass.
Chase grunted and hauled her in closer. “Okay,” he said.
“We’ll see.” She captured his mouth again as he yanked up her dress. Colleen moaned when he cupped his hands over her ass.
“I like it when you wear a garter belt.” Chase tugged on it. “If you leave it on, I think that might scour the image of Helen Mirren paddling Anthony Hopkins out of my head.”
Colleen shimmied out of his grip and unbuttoned her dress. “Is that all you can say about what you saw?”
“Not in a million years are you going to spank me over a Formica table.”
Colleen laughed and let her dress fall to the floor. She stepped over it. “There’s beer in the fridge if you want it,” she called over her shoulder as she moved deeper into the apartment. “What I want to know is, can you now see the difference between sex and discipline?”
Trailing clothing with each step, Colleen worked on the tough girdle. It was vintage and stood up to a lot of abuse. She sighed in satisfaction when it came free.
“I do,” he said from the kitchen.
Colleen heard the fridge open and the pop of the can. She was naked except for her pearls, garter belt, and stockings. She heard Chase prowling around behind her, but she didn’t glance at him until she was flat on her back on her king-size bed.
He leaned a shoulder against the doorway and stared at her. He took a deep pull from the can. “That dungeon scene had to be the most anti-sexy thing I’ve ever seen. You, however…” The hand that wasn’t holding the beer unbuttoned his pants.
“My objective wasn’t to turn you on but to educate you.”
“I get it,” he said. “I’ll pass on the
senator’s future sessions if you don’t mind.”
“I thought it was good for you to see that he ejaculated from the act of being caned and paddled. When he’s with me, he’s not supposed to come. But the old fool does it anyway. I punish him for it, of course, and then he has to explain his bruises and soreness to his wife.”
“So she was on board with all of this? That was all an act.”
Colleen played with the strand of pearls while she thought about it. “A lot of people speak the truth under the guise of roleplay. It’s passive-aggressive, but sometimes that’s what it takes.”
“So she really did think you were fucking that toad?”
“I’m sure it crossed her mind. It never crossed mine.”
“Why not?” Chase asked.
“You mean he’s younger than Alfie and has a line on the presidency?”
“Those were her words. I’m curious. And you’ve never been fazed by age or looks.”
Colleen spread her legs and moved her hand down between them.
Chase finished his beer as he stepped into the room. He put it on top of her bureau.
“When you look like me, you get firsthand knowledge of how superficial beauty really is. One of the most thrilling men I ever met could make me come just by ordering it.”
Chase cringed. “Let me guess. You married him.”
“Wouldn’t you?”
He laughed and then blinked in surprise. “Can you teach me to do that?”
“Chase, that’s my ultimate goal.”
“Well, all right.” He lifted his shirt over his head. “Wait, did you mean make me come just by ordering it or that I make you come?”
“Why don’t you stick around and find out?” Colleen parted the folds of her pussy and stroked the glistening bud she revealed to him.
Yeah, that got his attention. It was always more fun when someone watched. Biting her lip, she crooked her finger at him.
“Is this another one of your dungeons?” he asked, sitting down on the corner of the bed. He licked his lips like he wanted to be where her fingers were.
Fever Page 14