Vanilla_Little Black Book Club

by Remi Richland

  “Are those for me?”

  He narrowed his eyes, and the corner of his mouth twitched a little before he cleared his throat and responded. “I quote, ‘He will come over to my apartment for dinner, and he will bring me flowers just like I was a regular girl on a regular date and he will pretend that he actually wants to give them to me.’” He bowed low in a most gentlemanly fashion and with a flourish presented me with the bouquet. I squealed with delight, at the flowers, at his being a good sport—all of it. He was smiling, and I didn’t mind that it was at my expense. It was a silly request—I’d done it on purpose to see if he would play along, and he did.

  “Will I get a greeting like Ash did?” He was heart-stoppingly handsome, standing in front of the closed door of my apartment, and for a moment I got lost in the deep brown of his eyes, one eyebrow cocked in question. Until I remembered the entire reason I had planned this evening, and I chastised myself for falling under his spell so easily.

  “You must have noticed it was Ash that gave the greeting to me,” I smiled, but leaned up on my tiptoes to give him a soft kiss on the cheek. He smelled of vanilla and spice, and I took an extra little sniff while I was up there because I liked it so much. “Besides,” I said as I took the flowers from his hand and smelled them next, “you forgot one very important thing.”

  “What did I forget?” He said to my back as I turned and walked towards the open living room.

  “Where are your glasses?” Damien smiled as he reached into the pocket of his shirt and pulled the glasses out.

  “Why do you like my glasses so much?”

  “I like the you that wears those glasses.”

  “You don’t like the me that doesn’t wear them then?” he asked with a frown.

  “I didn’t say that. I guess maybe it’s more so that I can handle the you that wears those glasses. The other guy, he’s a little intense.” I left him laughing in the living room as I walked into the kitchen to find Ash opening the moscato, two glasses of red already lined up on the counter.

  “I took the kabobs out of the oven, they looked done. Here’s a glass for you,” he said as he handed me the wine and took the flowers from my hand. “I’ll find something to put these in, you take wine and the food out to Damien.” He leaned in as he handed me the second glass for Damien and whispered low, “I like your skirt.” Out of both of the men I had invited to my home tonight, Ash was the last one I had thought would leave me blushing in the kitchen.

  Dinner was fun. Not just nice, but actual fun. We talked about a lot of things. About how Ash likes surfing and old movies and volunteered at a retirement community in the morning hours during the week. I learned that Damien enjoyed cooking amongst other things and he perked up when I told him that I had made a pear almond tarte for dessert.

  “You made it from scratch then? What did you put in the crust?”

  “It’s made with almond meal of all things. I wanted to make sure everything was dairy free so you didn’t have any kind of reaction. I couldn’t believe all of the dessert recipes that called for dairy! This thing might actually be good for you, now that I think about it,” I laughed, Damien looked thoughtful.

  “You put a lot of thought into that for me.”

  “Of course I did, I wanted to do something nice for you. Is that weird?”

  “No, it’s not. I’ve just never had anyone be so conscientious of my food allergy before. I’ve gotten it down to a science out of necessity, but for you to go so far…it’s nice.”

  “Wait until you try it, you’re gonna blitz out.” I said as I headed to the kitchen to grab dessert. It had been a perfectly informal and lovely evening, exactly how I had planned—at least the beginning part. The rest could be something else, but this early stage of the evening, I wanted to show Damien what a regular, vanilla date could be. Ash had said he didn’t think Damien had been on one in years. Always business, our Damien.

  But I had been too confident. Too cocky. Murphy’s law dictated that if anything bad could happen to wreck a carefully planned event, it would.

  I dropped the fucking tarte.

  I tripped, over nothing, in the kitchen and the tarte flew up and out of my hands to land with a splat, pears down on the linoleum. Right in the open entryway that faced the living room. Right in front of Ash and Damien as they both looked on in openmouthed surprise. For a moment nobody moved. I just stood there, staring at the mess of fruit and crust on the floor that I had spent hours preparing. That I had been so excited to present Damien with, because after all, everyone knows the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Everyone knows that.

  Sniff.

  I was for sure not going to cry about it, but the sniffles came anyway, and as I blinked the offending moisture away I felt both Ash and Damien move past me and into the kitchen. Ash returned to me first, a roll of paper towels in his hand.

  “Here, Honey, let me help you clean it up,” he said softly, trying not to push me over the edge I was clearly teetering on.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, taking the roll from him and ripping off a length of paper towel with the intention of scooping up the mess bit by bit and throwing it in the trash. One fat tear rolled down my cheek and landed silently on the pile of confections. “I just..it turned out so well, I really wanted you guys to ta…taste it.” Another fat tear rolled down my cheek but I wiped it away with the fistful of paper towels in my hand and took a deep breath. Don’t you do it, Amelia. Don’t you cry. You are a strong, sexy woman. A woman with plans. Do not cry over this. “Well. No use crying over spilled pears.” And I bent over to scoop up as much of the mess as I could and threw it in the trash.

  I heard Damien take in a deep breath behind me as I bent over, and before I could touch any of the mess on the floor he said, “Stop.” I straightened at once. There was something about Damien that when he gave a command, you obeyed without thinking about it. I loved/hated that about him.

  “What? What happened? I said, turned around to find both he and Ash looking at me with intense stares.

  “Amelia, you aren’t wearing any panties.”

  “Yes, Damien, I am.” They were sexy panties, yes. But I was wearing some.

  “Um, I had a pretty good view from over here,” Ash said biting his lip, eyes twinkling. “but I didn’t see any panties either. What I saw was a lot of skin. A lot of smooth, pink, beautiful skin.” My cheeks heated at his frank language, but they were wrong and I would prove it. Pulling up my skirt I showed them my lacy white thong with the slit all the way up the front. It was barely there, but it was there.

  “See?” I said triumphantly while they both stared at my crotch. “They may be crotchless, but I am, in fact, wearing panties.

  “Fuck the pie,” Ash breathed the words as he turned those blazing blue eyes back up to my face.

  “It’s not a pie,” I said, backing up into the living room as both men started walking toward me. “It’s a tarte.”

  “Fuck the tarte,” Damien said as he brushed past Ash on his way through the kitchen. “I’m not hungry anymore.”

  10

  Damien reached me first. I don’t know if it was because he pushed Ash out of the way, or if Ash let him get there on purpose, but it was Damien’s hands that circled my waist and crushed his mouth to mine and it was Damien’s body that walked me backwards through the short hallway and had me pressed against the opposite wall. He moved fast, and before I knew it both of my arms were raised above my head, held tight against the wall in one of his while the other gripped my neck firmly, holding me in place while he feasted on my lips. I had never witnessed Damien this aggressive before and the tarte was instantly forgotten. Forget the mess, and forget all of the work I had put into making the stupid thing. All I could think about was Damien’s mouth, his hot hand on my throat, and his lower body pressing me into the wall.

  Yes. Lose control. Bend for me Damien.

  A throat cleared behind us, I had forgotten Ash was even there, Damien had overwhelmed my senses, and
I felt a little guilty that I had erased him from my mind so easily. But that was Damien’s power, he was all consuming.

  “I hate to break this up because it looks really, and I mean really hot, but Amelia, you had a plan for the evening, right? I mean, there is the contract to adhere to. Let’s not forget and give in to him so easily. Besides, I want to play too.” Ash’s eyes were twinkling and his lips curved up in a wicked grin.

  Shit. I almost lost control. That was the whole point of the contract. Don’t let Damien have control. Damn it I was easy. Thank goodness I had Ash to keep me on track. I would have to thank him later—in a very special way.

  The disgruntled look on Damien’s face was almost worth it as I put the palm of my hand on his chest and gently pushed. He backed up, reluctantly, and turned his frown to Ash. “You helped her with this?” Ash’s eyes widened but to his credit he held his ground.

  “I did, and it was a lot of fun. I’m excited to see how this plays out.”

  “You know there will be punishment for this, correct?” Ash’s eyes darkened with desire and his voice was husky with excitement at the implied threat.

  “If I’m lucky there will be.” There wasn’t much Damien could say to that, Ash knew damn well Damien would take it out on his ass later. I’m pretty sure he’d been sporting a hard on for the last couple days just thinking about it while we planned. He could be excited all he wanted, but I had secrets from Ash too. It wouldn’t be fair if he knew everything.

  “All right, Amelia,” Damien said as he turned to me with a sigh of impatience. “What are your plans for the evening?”

  “You don’t have to dread it, Damien. You showed me something different, so I want to return the favor. Sometimes vanilla can be good—let me show you what I like.” I stepped closer to him and smoothed my palms over the soft cotton of his shirt. “You did sign the contract, you know.”

  “I signed the contract to see what you were up to, Amelia.” He said, voice low and dangerous.

  “Well I’ll show you. You just need to obey the rules.” I walked away from him then, walking past the forgotten mess on the floor, through the living room and to the bedroom in the back. Ash followed immediately and I didn’t turn to check but I assumed Damien did as well. I stopped once I walked through the doorway and turned to face both men. “I want you. Both of you. But we already did it your way. I want to do it my way. I think we’ll all get what we want tonight, you just have to obey the rules.”

  “And what are the rules?” Damien questioned as he leaned against the open doorway to the bedroom, his shirt and tie ridiculously overdressed for the occasion.

  “Easy,” Ash said as he grabbed the tail of the tie and pulled Damien further into the room. “you just have to do what she says. Come on Damien, it won’t be hard, I’ll help you.” And with that, Ash pulled him a little closer and kissed him. A soft, slow kiss. A kiss that held a promise of what was to come. There would be no Sir in our bedroom tonight. Just three people enjoying each other’s bodies. If Damien was playing Dom then he wasn’t enjoying everything we had to offer, and the only way I was going to be able to stay in control of my situation was to control his as well. It was all laid out in the contract. I wouldn’t make him do anything he didn’t want to do—but it was definitely a choose your own adventure kind of night. If he didn’t want to do what I asked of him…well…it wouldn’t go his way that was for sure.

  My bedroom was on the larger side, almost as large as the living room, and the main selling point for me when I decided to rent this apartment. It was large enough for a king sized bed, a large vanity, a dresser for my clothes, and a small padded bench against one wall that I used when I painted my toes. It didn’t really serve any other purpose except to look nice and hold stacks of books. Tonight I had made sure there was nothing there—I had plans for that bench. Grabbing Damien’s hand I led him to the bed and patted the mattress, inviting him to sit. He obeyed, an amused smile on his face. He had no idea what I was about, I was sure. I sat on his lap, facing him, my legs on either side of his, my body weight fully supported by his knees. I felt my skirt, a little on the short side since I had rolled the waist a few times to make it so, ride up on my hips but I made no move to tug it down.

  “Damien, what do you think of me?”

  “Hm?” He asked, his hand roaming up the side of my body to rest on the curve of my breast. I removed his hand gently from my chest and placed it back on the bed next to him.

  “No touching unless I allow it. Hands to yourself for a minute. I’m asking, how do you feel about me?” I might have had rules for him, but my hands could do what they wanted, and right now I let the fingers of one of them trace the lines of his face, my thumb smoothing over his bottom lip.

  “You drive me crazy,” He said with a growl. We were sitting so close the sound vibrated from his chest to mine. “You frustrate me because you don’t listen. You don’t obey, and you torment me on purpose. You also make me want you. I want to hold you down, I want to peel your clothes off piece by piece. I want to punish you.” His brows came together in a frown behind the dark frames of his glasses.

  “And?” I whispered, leaning so close to this face without touching him that my breath tickled his lips. His hand reached up to grab my chin, lifting my face so the heat of his gaze scorched my skin.

  “I want to own you. I want to fuck you so hard that you scream my name for days. And when you finally stop screaming I want to do it all over again, so you never forget me, you brat.”

  Jesus, he knows how to get me wet.

  Those filthy words, they brought me to life. For him to admit that I had that affect on him—that was definitely a step in the right direction. But he was trying to take control again, and we couldn’t have that.

  “Ash.”

  “You called, my dear?” He materialized by my side like magic, even though he’d only been a few feet away to begin with. He looked at Damien’s hand grasping my chin and shook his head in disappointment. “You’re impossible,” He said to Damien as he gently removed his hand from my face. “She’s only asking you for one simple thing. Do you need to sit on your hands?”

  Damien pressed his lips together until they were a solid line of distemper. I wanted to push him, but I didn’t want him mad. It was time to show him what would happen if he didn’t obey the rules. “Damien,” I said as I busied myself with unknotting his tie and sliding it out from under his collar. I passed the silken length to Ash, who placed it off to the side. “Here’s the thing. You are not in charge today. I want to show you, that we can have fun without tools. Without ropes. Although if you insist on breaking the rules, and touching without permission, then I am going to have to tie your hands together with your own tie.”

  “Hard pass,” he growled, and I swear the sound ran through my body like a tremor. So, he could dish it out but he couldn’t handle it, hm?

  “Well, I did say I wouldn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to do,” I said as I plucked at the buttons of his shirt one by one spreading the sides open so I could run my fingertips through the crisp dark hairs of his chest. What a contrast to Ash’s smooth, hairless physique. I loved it. But I couldn’t get distracted, and I wouldn’t let him have his way. At least not yet. “Do you want to take your pants off or do you want me to do it?” I slid off his lap and to my feet while he regarded me silently.

  “You do it, Amelia, since you are so brave. And when you’re done we’ll see if you still want to play this game.”

  “Um, Amelia, there’s something I forgot to tell you.” Ash warned, sounding nervous for the first time ever. Whatever it was, it was too late to warn me now. Was he pierced or something? I’d worry about it when I got to it. I was too far gone to back down now because of a little body jewelry.

  “Stand up for me please,” I instructed. And Damien stood, a cocky little half smile on his face. He was still devastatingly handsome, even with this shirt undone and his glasses, those damn glasses. The combo made my knees weak, b
ut I carried on. I reached for the zipper on his slacks and paused. He was clearly erect, that was evident by the bulge in the front of his pants. What was surprising was the sheer size of the mound. There was no way that was all cock, right? I held my breath, slid his zipper down and let his pants fall to the floor.

  I’m sure I made some sort of noise, standing there, staring at the monster I had just unleashed, but I don’t think I made any actual words.

  Damien was huge.

  I thought Ash had an impressive cock, but Damien existed in another plane of reality and how in the hell was I going to fit that inside of me? I don’t know how long I stood there, looking at Damien’s naked body while he smiled that knowing little half smile, but I was saved by Ash’s quiet words bringing me back to the present.

  “He’s beautiful, isn’t he?” It wasn’t that I didn’t agree, because I did. But I desperately needed something, even if it was just Ash’s voice to bring me back, to help me tear my eyes away from the sight of Damien’s massive erection. He could do actual damage with that thing, probably.

  I let all of the breath I had been holding out in a whoosh. Time to carry on with the plan. Yes. No time to stop and drool over Damien’s…impressive body. I motioned for him to sit again, and he did, completely naked and at ease on the edge of my bed.

  “Now remember, Damien, when I said I wouldn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to do?” He smiled at my question, all teeth. He remembered. “Well, you are free to say no to any request, but, it will change the course of the evening.” He raised one eyebrow and waited for me to continue. “Ash, has been very good, and obeyed all of the rules, so he gets a reward. Damien, you disobeyed the rule not to touch me, so you don’t get one. Instead, you have to watch, while Ash takes my clothes off. You can go as slow as you want Ash, and you can touch any part of me you feel like. Damien, you have an option. I’ll sit on your lap while Ash takes my clothes off, but you have to promise not to touch me with your hands until I say so. Can you do that?”