Wedding Favors

by Sheri WhiteFeather

  As James escorted his companion into the club, the singer moaned out a Skip James song and a harmonica wailed from one of the other players.

  “Is this what you had in mind?” he asked her.

  She nodded. “I feel like I’m in another world.”

  “You are.” Smoke drifted in shadowed corners, clinging to scarred wood and purple velvet.

  He glanced around and located a table in back, and they were forced to sit body-heat close.

  Once they were settled, he put his hand on her knee, pleased that she’d worn a short skirt. He appreciated that women rarely wore stockings anymore. He loved the look and feel of bare flesh. Leaning forward, he kissed her, tongue and all. James wasn’t prone to Frenching in public, but this place and this woman seemed to demand it.

  They separated, and she looked about ready to climb into his lap. He still had his hand on her leg.

  Her breath rushed out. “I want to order a Southern cocktail. Do you have any suggestions?”

  “You could do a mint julep. Or if you want something that originated in New Orleans, you could try a Sazerac. It dates back to the eighteen hundreds. The original recipe was French brandy, a secret blend of bitters, a splash of water, and a bit of sugar.”

  “What’s the recipe now?”

  “It’s pretty much the same except it calls for rye instead of brandy, and the bitters are no longer a secret.” James let his hand creep up a bit more, moving toward her thigh. “You’re supposed to sip it slowly so you can taste the layers. The rye is spicy with a touch of honey.”

  She looked into his eyes. “I’ll get one of those.”

  “Good choice.” He kissed her once again, savoring her much in the way he’d told her to savor the drink.

  As soon as they came up for air, the cocktail waitress appeared at their table. With her dark skin, bright cotton dress, and thick accent, James suspected that she was a Creole of color. She smiled quite seductively. She’d obviously watched them kiss.

  Kendra ordered a Sazerac. James gazed curiously at the waitress and went for a gin and tonic.

  When she left he said, “She looks like Marie Laveau’s daughter.”

  Kendra blinked. “That’s not funny, James.”

  “I’m not trying to be funny. She reminds me of the paintings I’ve seen of her.”

  “What was the daughter’s name? I don’t think you ever told me.”

  “Her name was Marie, just like her mother.

  “There were two Marie Laveaus?”

  He nodded, and soon the waitress returned with their order, shooting him the same seductive smile. As she walked away, the band began to play “I Put a Spell on You.”

  Kendra shivered. “Okay, now this is getting creepy.”

  He latched on to his drink and took a quick belt. “It’s nothing to worry about.”

  Clearly, she wasn’t convinced. “A mystic fountain, a telling song, and a cocktail waitress who resembles a voodoo queen. How can that not be something to worry about?”

  “The waitress isn’t a ghost.” To make his point, he added, “Everyone else at the club can see her, too.” Or could they? Maybe her appearance looked different to the rest of the patrons.

  “Whoever or whatever she is, I think it’s proof that we’re both under the same spell.”

  “Maybe so, but it doesn’t matter, does it? The magic was already at work before you got here. You with your dreams, me restoring the dungeon. We were meant to have this affair.”

  “It was a predestined spell, and when I leave New Orleans, it’ll be broken?” She searched his gaze. “Is that what you’re saying?”

  “Yes.” Or so he hoped. “I should take the dungeon apart after you’re gone, just to be sure.” To stop the craving, he thought. To keep from missing her.

  “So, when this is over between us, you’re never going to do to anyone else what you’ve been doing to me?”

  “No, I’m not.” He couldn’t imagine pinning another butterfly to his wheel. “What about you? Are you going to do it again?”

  “No way. When I get home, the crazy sex is over.”

  “What about tonight?” He was already excruciatingly close to her, but he moved closer, putting his hand back on her thigh. “Do you want to go to the dungeon later? Do you want be crazy?”

  “God, yes.”

  This time, she initiated the kiss, and as their mouths came together, the band rolled into “Hoodoo Party,” a song about voodoo kings and queens and wild nights in New Orleans.

  Chapter 7

  Kendra entered the dungeon and glanced over at James. Maybe it was better that he’d been bewitched, too. At least it made her feel less alone.

  But was it the same for him? Was it as powerful? Had falling in love entered the equation for him?

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, making her aware that she’d been frowning.

  “I was thinking about the spell.”

  “I thought we already figured that out.”

  “We did, but I was just wondering if you...” She tried to think of a simple way to say it, but no matter how she fused the words together in her mind, it seemed complicated.

  “If I what?”

  She spoke quietly. “If you’ve been worried about falling in love, if the spell has affected you in that way.”

  He went statue still. Even the rise and fall of his chest stopped. Was he still breathing?

  “James?”

  He blinked, moved, visibly breathed. “Is that what it’s been doing to you?”

  Her stomach went tight. But worse was the pressure around her heart. “I’ve been telling myself how crazy it is.” Crazy sex. Crazy love. She was overwhelmed by it.

  He tugged a hand through his hair, scattering the stylishly messy layers. “What does falling in love feel like?”

  She considered his question carefully. “I don’t think I really know.”

  That gave him pause. “Didn’t you love your ex?”

  “Yes, but it wasn’t the kind of love I’ve heard other people talk about. It wasn’t consuming or obsessive. It didn’t make me ache inside.”

  “And you’re getting achy over me?”

  She tried not to wince. “Yes.”

  “I feel that way about you, too.” He made a troubled expression. “But what we’re experiencing can’t be love. That doesn’t make sense.”

  “I know.” But knowing didn’t make it any less confusing. “It’s probably just lust.”

  “I’ve been calling it an addiction.”

  “That’s a good description.” A logically tormented way to define it. “And since it’s just part of a spell, it isn’t real anyway. We’re not going to feel this way forever.”

  “Can you imagine how that would mess with our lives? We’d never be able to think straight again.” He glanced around. “This place would keep screwing with our minds.”

  “That’s why you’re going to dismantle it.”

  “Totally. Everything is going to go. I’m going to seal up the door, too.”

  She took a step closer. “We better hurry up and take advantage while we still can.” Another step. “I want to touch you.”

  “Here?” He unzipped his fly.

  “Yes.”

  He untucked his shirt and unbuttoned it, leaving the tails hanging open. Then he took her hand and guided it down the front of his pants.

  She felt young and wild, groping him like a teenager and making him fully erect.

  James kissed her, and they stripped off their clothes, deep in the throes of their addiction.

  He asked, “Do you want to be restrained?”

  “Always.” She couldn’t imagine it any other way.

  He retrieved a pair of padded handcuffs and locked her wrists together in front of her.

  He stepped back. “Get on your knees.”

  Anxious for what came next, she dropped down and inhaled the dungeon’s aroma: new leather, restored wood, lemon-scented polish.

  She knew how hard he’d w
orked to renovate it, and by next week, it would be gone. But so would she. New Orleans would be a memory.

  James moved forward and stood directly in front of her, putting his cock closer to her face.

  He slid his hands into her hair. “Do you know how badly I want this?”

  “Bad enough to push it into my mouth?”

  “Is that how you want it?”

  “Yes.” She liked that he was letting the fantasy play out in a way that kept him in control, creating the submissive feeling she craved.

  He cupped the back of her head, and within the thrust of a heartbeat, she was giving him a blow job. He watched her, and she reveled in the power that being powerless gave her.

  “Use your hands, too.”

  Oh, yes, her cuffed hands. She lifted them up, and the metal jangled. She sucked and stroked. She fondled his balls. She did everything an obedient lover should do.

  He rocked his hips, and all she could think was that this wildly exotic man was fucking her mouth. With every movement, his abs tensed.

  Drops of semen pearled from the tip. She wanted him to come full force, but he didn’t.

  He pulled away, leaving her reeling for more fellatio-driven madness.

  “Stand up, Kendra.”

  She rose from her knees, and he orchestrated the scene so she was lying on the wooden bondage table, and he was straddling her face in a backward position.

  Her pussy went warm and wet. She couldn’t have imagined a hotter scenario, especially when he lowered his head and went sixty-nine.

  As he licked her, she pleasured him. They laved and sucked and painted each other with their tongues.

  A syrupy sensation flowed through her veins, tingling her heart, tantalizing her clit.

  She came in a wave of emotion, her cuffed hands gripping the base of James’s penis while he moved inside her mouth.

  Her climax triggered his, and he tensed, then thrust deeper, finally spilling into her.

  He waited a beat before he lifted his body from hers. He got off the table and stood beside it, looking down at her. With the salty taste of him on her lips, she returned his gaze, and the primal intimacy just about knocked her for a loop.

  He leaned over and kissed her, and she felt as if she were part of an erotic fairy tale. A submissive princess locked in a dungeon tower with a dominant prince.

  Talk about bewitchment.

  “Do you know how truly beautiful you are?” he asked.

  Not nearly as beautiful as he was, she thought.

  Kendra sat up, but she didn’t get off the table. She swung her legs around, and James stood between them.

  He removed the restraints, and she wrapped her arms around him, putting her cheek against his chest.

  “I’m going to bring some of the toys into my apartment,” he said. “So we can play in bed, too. Is that okay with you?”

  She responded with a definite, “Yes.” All Kendra wanted was to be his lover—everywhere and anywhere.

  Until the spell was broken and she would be able to survive without him.

  James leaned on his elbow and gazed at Kendra. She looked warm and sultry in his bed, the sheet draped over her naked body.

  “Tell me about where you live,” he said.

  She made a puzzled expression. “Haven’t you ever been to L.A.?”

  “Yes, but I’m curious about what part of the city you’re in, if you have a house or apartment. You know, that sort of thing.”

  “I’m in Glendale. I live in a one-bedroom duplex with planter boxes on the windows. I put herbs in them in the summer and perennials the rest of the year.”

  “What about the interior? What’s that like?”

  “My kitchen is yellow with frilly curtains, and my living room is mostly beige, with bits of yellow and blue. Nothing too interesting.”

  It all sounded interesting to him. “How about the bedroom?”

  “It’s beige and blue, too.”

  “Do you have a backyard?”

  “It’s a little patio. I put a couple of chairs out there and a gas barbecue.”

  He imprinted her lifestyle on his mind. He wanted to envision her after she was gone.

  Why? So he could remember her fondly? Or because he was going to miss her so badly?

  He didn’t want to think too deeply about what they’d discussed earlier, but it kept zinging through his mind.

  Lust ...

  Love...

  He knew better than to mix them up. But damn if it didn’t make him feel strange inside. Carnal voodoo. Emotion-laced magic. He couldn’t seem to get enough.

  He stared at her. “I want to blindfold you.”

  She clutched the edge of the sheet. “Right now?”

  He nodded. “Will you let me?”

  Her voice quavered. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t let you do.”

  “Then why do you sound afraid?”

  “It’s overwhelming to want to give so much to someone.”

  He understood her reasoning. He was overwhelmed, too. Anxious, he opened the nightstand drawer and dug through the toys he’d brought from the dungeon, removing a satin eye mask created for sensory play.

  As Kendra sat forward, the sheet slid to her waist, revealing her breasts. Already her nipples were hard.

  He slipped the mask around her eyes. “All dark?”

  “Yes.”

  A pair of silk restraints came next. He tied her wrists to the iron bedposts and nudged her thighs open.

  “How do you feel?” he asked.

  She shifted her hips a bit shyly, a bit wantonly. “Exposed.”

  James admired his bound-and-blindfolded lover. Her wild innocence never failed to excite him.

  He opened a bottle of lubricant and rubbed a dollop between her legs. “Describe the sensation.”

  “It’s wet and silky.”

  He put a finger inside her and moved it in and out, stroking softly. Then he went for two fingers, just as gently, just as erotically. “What about this?”

  “It feels warm and slippery. But it also feels like you’re preparing me for something bigger.”

  Clever girl. He took two dildos from the drawer. He rubbed the first one over her nipples and down her stomach. “Do you like this one?” He repeated the same pattern with the second phallus. “Or this one?”

  She shivered sexily. “Are they the same size?”

  “Yes.” He gazed at the toys. “Seven inches of insertable cock, with a nice thick circumference.”

  “Then I like them both.”

  How naughty could she be? “You have to choose a favorite.”

  “Touch me with them again.”

  He used the dildos at the same time, running them everywhere, along her outstretched arms, down the sides of her body, across the top of her pussy, and over each widespread leg.

  Her breath caught. “I still can’t decide. Will you tell me what they look like?”

  “They’re identical, except for the color. One is clear, and the other one is gold.”

  “Metallic gold?”

  “Yes. Why? Does that intrigue you?”

  She nodded. “I’ve never imagined having something shiny inside me.”

  “Then gold it is.” He leaned over to kiss her, just once, before he made hot, slick love to her with an artificial penis.

  She moaned softly under his mouth, and he cursed the spell. How was he ever going to touch another woman and not think about her?

  James ended the kiss and readied the dildo, adding a thin layer of lubricant. He inserted it slowly, giving her an inch at a time.

  The dominance of the act aroused him, and so did her reaction. She lifted her hips, offering him the pleasure of her excitement.

  He went deeper, then studied her expression. She was sucking her bottom lip between her teeth.

  The sweet sub.

  He worked her with the dildo, fucking her with gilded warmth. By the time he increased the tempo, she was wild with need and making breathy sounds. He kept thrust
ing the phallus, but he rubbed her clit, too.

  Teasing her. Arousing her.

  She tugged on her bonds, and James played her until she came, until she shook and shivered and thrashed uncontrollably.

  When he removed her blindfold, they stared achingly at each other. But it was just lust, he reminded himself.

  Lust and only lust.

  One week drifted into the next, and James and Kendra spent as much time together as they could. Of course, he still had a bed-and-breakfast to run.

  He sat behind his office desk, organizing the summer schedule. Cathy and Ken had gone home, but two more weddings were pending.

  Not that he cared. At the moment, all he wanted was to be with Kendra, and she was right upstairs in his apartment. Unable to concentrate, he ditched his work.

  As he crossed the parlor, he ran into Claire.

  “Where are you going in such a hurry?” she asked.

  He tapped his antsy feet. “Nowhere.”

  “Nowhere, my butt. You’re playing hooky to get some nooky.”

  Guilty as charged, he frowned at her. “Jesus, Claire.”

  She grinned. “I’m just saying.” She stifled her grin. “Go on. Shoo. Be with your girl.”

  He did exactly that. He shook his head and continued on his way. But he didn’t get far.

  Claire said from behind him, “Be careful, James, or you just might fall in love.”

  He spun around. Love was the last thing he wanted to talk about or think about or get consumed with. “It isn’t like that.”

  “It could be.”

  “But it isn’t.” Done with the conversation, he shot her a look that said not to mention it again. She didn’t know about the magic, and he wasn’t inclined to tell her.

  Silent, she let him be. Grateful for the reprieve, he headed upstairs and entered his apartment.

  Kendra was curled up on the sofa in front of the TV, and as she turned toward him, he was struck by how sweet and cozy she looked in his home. It made him feel married.

  Married?

  Christ, he thought. Marie’s daughter was really doing a number on him. Claire’s comment probably factored into it, too. He was getting it from all sides.

  “I needed a break from work,” he told Kendra, explaining why he’d shown up.