“Except for what?” She turned around so fast, she nearly spilled her drink on both of them.
“You don’t look it.” He ran his knuckles over her arm, staring at it, committing it to memory it seemed. “Oh, anyone else looking at you might not see it. I mean, the tight bun, the clothes buttoned up to the neck, but I see right through that. I always did. I know what’s under there. I know a woman’s body. And even then, eight years ago, I knew you had the body of a goddess.”
The body of a goddess? He saw her like that? Even back then? Her skin grew damp and hot. She needed to put some distance between them. She turned again to leave the kitchen, but Brett moved closer and blocked her way with a massive arm.
“Mia, I have a secret. Something I’ve been keeping to myself since my senior year in high school.” He rubbed his cheek against hers. She wanted to faint.
The smell of expensive cologne and pure man made Mia’s stomach tighten and her grip on reality weaken. She tried to refocus on making a quick exit, but then something clicked in her head. Brett Wyndam had a secret? That piqued her curiosity. Mr. Big-Man-on-Campus, the boy-now-man, who seemed to have the world on a string, was hiding something?
“Okay, what’s your big secret?” She paused, staring into his eyes. Then she let out a slight gasp. “Wait. Are you gay?”
The response she got wasn’t what she expected. He threw back his head and burst out laughing. “I am very, very straight, which I will be more than happy to confirm for your benefit, but more on that later.” He placed his hand on the small of her back, and led her into the living room. “The secret I have is that I’ve been a very bad boy.”
He wore the most perverted leer Mia had ever seen. “So what else is new?” she asked. She sat down on the couch and continued to drink her orange juice. And the sass on him, saying he’d confirm it for me. As if! She subtly closed her thighs even tighter, keeping an unexplained arousal in check. He’s still younger than I am. He’s still that boy I kept after school. That would be her mantra as he continued to speak.
“You don’t understand, Mia. In high school, I was a different kind of bad.” He joined her on the sofa, but this time, he kept a respectful distance from her.
“All I know is I had to keep you after school for detention for half your senior year because of your tomfoolery.”
“Ah, yes,” Brett said, nodding his head. “But there was a reason for my mischief.”
“Really? Getting in trouble and almost throwing away a perfectly good education?”
“But I didn’t throw it away. I was valedictorian, remember?”
How could she forget? He was just about perfect at everything, and his charm had kept others from labeling him as a nerd and picking on him. He’d kept a 4.0 average throughout his school years, yet he’d insisted on getting into trouble. She could never understand people like him. He had it all, but seemed to want to throw it all away as a teen. She was busting her butt teaching kids who didn’t have a tenth of the privileges Brett had, yet were better at staying out of trouble in spite of peer pressure and their environment.
“So what’s the reason?” she asked in her most self-righteous tone.
“To be near you.”
Mia nearly choked on her juice.
“I just wanted to be near you that badly that I was willing to put my academic accomplishments in jeopardy. I know it sounds foolish now, but you don’t know the effect you had on me.” He slid his hand over her shoulder then down her neck. “Still do,” he whispered. “Day after day, I sat in your office and thought of ways I would make love to you. How I would seduce you, make you ask me to take you when no one else was around.”
She jumped up from the couch, but Brett grabbed her shirt, being careful not to rip it, and pulled her back down. The look in his eyes gave her pause.
“I sat there watching you, dreaming of ways I could make you come. Those times that you made me run errands and other menial tasks only heightened my fantasies. I spent half my senior year in your office, under your control, like your little slave boy, but I didn’t mind. At the beginning of my senior year, I realized that I was closer to my goal.”
Mia’s eyes widened.
“Oh, yes, I planned it all out one special night.” He pulled her closer to him, his lips almost touching hers. It was maddening. “I think you might remember that night.” He pulled her even closer and gently brushed his lips against her collarbone.
Mia heard herself gasp and felt her body shudder. He didn’t have to think of ways to make her come, he was doing a great job of it now.
“It was the night after I ‘accidentally’ let out all the guinea pigs in biology class. Remember?”
Mia, tried to wiggle her way out of his grip, but it was futile. “How can I forget? One of those creatures made its way into my desk drawer. Your daddy’s influence kept you from being expelled.” Mia tried to sound as professional as possible, which was impossible with his mouth on her skin and the way Brett was holding her, looking at her, making her senses go numb.
“Yes, dear old Dad,” he said, with no humor in his voice. “I did have use for him in some situations. Anyway, you being the vice-principal, you had no choice but to punish me.”
“Even though you said it was an accident, I knew better.” Mia finally broke from his hold, or he let her go. Either way she was relieved.
“I expected a big payoff that time. I wanted a special birthday present.” He took her hand this time, stroking the back of it. God, she’d never realized the back of her hand was an erogenous zone. Apparently he did, since he kept trying to hold it throughout the evening.
Mia stared at him, barely able to move. His grasp on her was sure and strong. Her body was humming to life, and once again she was thinking about his strong hands on other parts of her body. What she wouldn’t give to just indulge for one night….
“What did you have in mind for your present?” she asked, trying not to sound nervous.
“I had it all planned out. I even had the materials in my car.”
“Materials?” This was worrying her. She didn’t know if it was from fear or excitement—or both. Warmth grew in the pit of her belly, her nipples hardened to the point of pain, and her imagination was running out of control. The latter she definitely didn’t like.
“You kept me prisoner and under your watch for half a semester, and you seemed to enjoy it. Even back then, I noticed you liked control very much. I saw how you interacted with your staff. You walked into a place as though you owned the room, and no one could speak out of turn. You got off on that. Well, guess what? I get off on power, too.”
Mia thought a moment. Was she like that? Am I like that? A control freak? She would be the first to admit that she was a little on the anal-retentive side, but not to the point of being a micromanager or taskmaster.
And what about that statement he made about her getting off on keeping him prisoner? Had she really enjoyed it the way he said she did?
“I came back home for you, Mia.”
She jerked her head up. The way he addressed her just then sent a warmth racing from her toes to her face. His voice sounded so sexy.
Maybe he was right. Maybe she did get off on control, because at this moment, she was losing it, and she didn’t like it one bit.
“You don’t really need the letter?” Her comfort zone was getting smaller and smaller. What did he have in mind?
Brett chuckled. He brought her hand to his lips; his sexy, sweet-looking mouth tenderly kissing each knuckle.
Mia wanted to scream. She had fantasized about his lips on her skin and on her pussy ever since he’d returned to Cincinnati. Oh God! She had the hots for a younger man.
He took her hands and rubbed the backs of them across his face. The roughness of his five o’clock shadow turned her on even more, if that were possible.
“I don’t need a letter from you,” Brett said, his eyes closed in ecstasy as he enjoyed the feel of her skin. “I just needed an excuse to get you here.
I have something I need to show you, something I think you would appreciate.” He stood up and brought her to her feet as well.
He guided her through the hall, then down the stairs leading to his basement. They walked down a long hallway decorated in royal blue and silver with sconces lining the walls. When they stopped, she found herself standing before a tall, wooden door with antique mountings and a large brass doorknob.
“What I am about to show you cannot leave this house. I hate to admit this, but I do care about my position in the community, and yours. If this were to get out, the whole community would have a heart attack. But more importantly, my work and what I am trying to accomplish will be ruined.”
“And what’s this big secret?” She cocked her head towards the door.
“Ah. You need to come inside to find out. You have to promise not to say anything, but I can assure you: it will fulfill any and all of your deepest, darkest desires.”
Mia was on the verge of bursting at the seams she was so eaten up with curiosity. She was breathing so hard, she could be heard in the sudden quietness of the hall. She gulped audibly—to her horror—and looked back at the door.
She wrapped her arms around her body, trying to gain her composure. She didn’t want to show too much interest, but she was on pins and needles. Deepest, darkest desires? He couldn’t possibly know what she’d been thinking, how she’d been daydreaming at work, how she’d been getting up in the middle of the night, wet and unsatisfied.
She tried to play it off. “I don’t know what you mean, but you have my word.”
He unlocked the door. Once it was opened, he swept his hand into the room, gesturing for her to enter first. When she did, and her eyes adjusted to the dimness, she was more than taken aback.
“I…I….” She heard the door slam shut, and the lock click into place. When she turned, Brett was leaning against it. He had that cat-who’d-eaten-the-canary grin, and it was incredibly sexy. At the same time, his gaze burned into her skin.
“Welcome to my dungeon, Mia. You will serve detention, on my terms, starting as my sexual slave.”
Chapter Eight
Brett moved slowly toward Mia, and once again, she found herself glued to the floor.
My God, what is he going to do with me? Or, better question, to me?
Brett stood in front of her, smirking. Mia was shivering, and the room wasn’t cold. He took her by the shoulders, and kissed her reassuringly. “Mia, there is no reason to be frightened of me.” He kissed her again and took her by the face to kiss her lips, but she pulled away violently.
“How can you stand there with a straight face and say that?” Her eyes began searching the room frantically. “You brought be down here to this…this….”
“BDSM dungeon,” he said casually, as if everyone had one.
“Yes! And to top it off, you tell me I’m to be your sex slave? Of course I’m frightened!” Mia looked around wildly for another exit. She spotted a door at the other end of the room and made a break for it.
Brett still had the speed of the eighteen-year-old football player he’d once been. He jumped in front of her and propped himself against the door. He folded his arms and smiled. “Now, Mia, let’s stop playing games,” he said.
“I…I don’t know what you mean.” She began backing away again. Maybe I can make it to the other exit.
“What I mean is that we both know that this is your deepest fantasy.” He slowly walked toward her as she kept backing up.
No, he couldn’t know that I was…. No, he’s mistaken. I was never thinking this! Mia stopped and really checked out her surroundings.
The basement was enormous and immaculate—for a dungeon. The wallpaper was a textured black pattern with gold trim. The floor was mostly hardwood, except for a few rugs. They looked like Persian, probably worth more than her car. On one wall there were hooks, which had several items hanging from them.
Mia took off her glasses and wiped them on the inside of her blouse, then put them back on. She wasn’t seeing things. Whips, chains, blindfolds, and long paddles of various shapes hung from the hooks.
Her stomach tightened. She glanced over at the huge, decorative chaise that sat in the middle of the room. It was red velvet and black brocade. On it lay…. It couldn’t be. She went over and picked it up. Ankle chains!
She glanced over her shoulder at Brett, who was now behind her. “That’s for you,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.
“Over my dead body!” She threw down the ankle chains and stepped away from him.
“We won’t be going that far.” Brett chuckled, then took a seat on the lounge. “I’m not going to stop you if you try to run this time, but I would like to say this.”
Mia stood by the door, one hand on the handle. “I’m listening.”
“I’ve wanted you since my senior year, Mia. Like I told you, I got into trouble only to be near you. During those days I spent in your office for detention, I thought of ways of having you, possessing you, controlling you. And if I’m not mistaken, I think you’re just a little attracted to me, too. Why you won’t act on it is beyond me. I’m a grown man, and you’re a grown woman.”
Mia started to speak, but Brett raised his hand to silence her. “I know your secret, Mia.”
“I…I don’t have any secrets.” Oh God, he knows!
“Mia, I knew it from the moment I walked into your office a few days ago. It was the way you looked at me. You weren’t a principal looking at a student. You were a woman checking out a man.”
“Brett, I think you’re mistaken. You’re a former student of mine—”
“Come off it, Mia!” Brett shot up from the lounge and paced the floor. He stopped before her, his eyes dark with frustration and desire. “There is nothing wrong with the two of us having a relationship. I’m twenty-five. I’m not a kid. More importantly, I’m not that student in detention anymore. There is also nothing wrong with giving complete control over to someone else. There is nothing I hate more than a person who denies themselves, and you are in complete denial.” He rubbed his cheek against hers. “You’re so soft. You’re going to feel so good underneath me.”
Again Mia was transfixed, and in a state of extreme arousal.
She did want this, and badly. But there were too many risks, too many things that could go wrong. She had someone, and she was happy. Tim was a good man. Stable, courteous, hard working, educated, and…boring.
“Mia, we both want this. You want me to take you. You want—no, need—a man to make you submit. You desire it as much as I need to dominate, but I want you to say it. You have to tell me you want this.”
Mia stared into his knowing blue eyes. This should have excited her. She should have been ripping off his clothes, but ingrained social lessons would not allow it.
“Brett, we can’t. I can’t.”
“We can’t what?” he asked, lifting his brow. “What can’t we do, and why can’t we do it?”
“You’re a Wyndam, you’re twelve years younger than me, and you’re a former student from my school! What if word got out?”
“That’s something you do not have to worry about. I don’t want this out any more than you do.”
“Oh?” She slapped his hand away and took a step back. She was insulted. “So you’re going to have me on the down-low, as they say?” she asked with her hands on her hips.
Brett chuckled. “You little hypocrite. No, Mia, not at all. I would love the world to know about us, but what we do inside these four walls will remain between us.” He walked over to a table and opened the top drawer. He took out a piece of paper and handed it to her.
“What’s this?” she asked, looking over the sheet.
“Those are the rules I have designed for our times together. You see, it’s no accident that you and I were brought together again. It’s not a coincidence about my senior year, either. I knew the type of woman you were, but I had patience, so I waited.”
“Type of woman? What do you mean?”
“I’m a Dom, Mia, and I make no apologies for that. And you, my dear, are a sub.”
“A what?”
“A submissive.”
“You mean one of those people who gets off on being stepped on and whipped?”
“Not that extreme in your case. Let me explain something. You like control. You like giving orders. You like having everything around you in nice, neat, little packages. On the inside, you want to submit to someone else’s will. You want someone to take control away from you. It gives you an out. ‘If I lose control, it’s not entirely my fault. I was forced to.’ It’s a mind game, as well as a physical one.”
“But the chains, the collars….”
“Do they really bother you, Mia?”
She studied all the gadgets and gizmos on the wall and lounge. Secretly, she fantasized about what it would be like to be bound and gagged by a lover and at his mercy. “Oh God!” She slapped her hand over her mouth.
“What is it?” Brett asked with obvious concern.
“I just realized something.”
He cocked his head.
“When I was married—”
“You were married? When? How long?”
She looked into Brett’s eyes. They were dark, but not from desire. That was jealousy she saw!
“I, um…got married two years after you graduated. It lasted less than a year.”
“Did he abuse you?” He took her by the waist and pulled her closer to him. He lifted her chin. “Mia, tell me.”
“He didn’t abuse me. In fact, he went out of his way to make me happy. But he couldn’t deliver in…the bedroom.”
“Ahhh. What was missing, Mia?”
“I guess I wanted him to be more…assertive.”
Brett smiled at her, but it was a gotcha kind of smile. “So, I was right. The thought of me taking you by force, tying you up, and doing things to you that you’ve only dreamt about, does turn you on.” Brett caressed her face and softly kissed her neck.
Detention Page 7