In Love by Design (The Adventures of Anabel Axelrod)

by Ellen, Tracy

  Releasing him, I stepped backwards to allow my smiling gaze to travel slowly over his chest and biceps molded by his long-sleeved charcoal gray T-shirt. This was the first I’ve seen Luke tonight without his leather jacket on, and after a two week absence, I was impressed with his hard muscles all over again.

  My eyes were drawn downward by the motion of his hand and I noticed he was holding a long black scarf about a foot wide. My head shot up to meet his glittering eyes. Luke did the finger crooking thing again.

  I moved closer to him, a moth to his hot flame.

  Indicating the silky fabric with my chin, I asked warily, “Is somebody walking the plank?”

  “Mmm, no, not tonight,” he replied, smile enigmatically. He raised his hand to let the tie run lazily through his long fingers while I followed its sinuous progress, unable to tear my eyes away.

  His voice dropped to a low murmur that left me no choice but to wrap my hands around his bicep for balance, as I leaned forward to hear. “Where I’m taking you next, you can’t enter without being blindfolded.”

  I tried to squeeze his muscle and asked on an intake of excited breath, “Is this because of my girl cooties or…”

  Luke interrupted, growling, “I eat girl cooties for breakfast, Princess. It’s because I’ve never shown another living person what I’m about to show you.” He held me by the shoulders and his cruel lips were almost smiling. “I’m going to put this over your eyes. Will you behave and hold still for me while I tie it on?”

  ‘How Gothic!’ squealed the sex kitten voice, “Say yes, say yes!”

  I’m sort of tantalized by the mystery, since I thought our goal coming down here was to remove splinters from my ass, but I was also a tad skittish at being blindfolded again so soon after the rotten potato sack. I also heard those ominous two words ‘living person” and everybody knows curiosity killed the cat.

  ‘Quit analyzing and say yes, dammit!’ screeched the sex kitten.

  I barely got out the, “Okay already!” before Luke’s hands spun me around, sweeping my hair back behind my shoulders and smoothing the curling mass of it down my back. Then the silken blindfold was cool against my face and thankfully smelled clean. Luke tied it securely in the back and I couldn’t see anything. I tried to peer out of the bottom, but the blindfold was too long and covered that angle, as well.

  I said crossly to the sex kitten voice, ‘I swear to god, if he turns out to be a crazy serial killer with no heart after the day I’ve had, I am declawing your ass!’

  ‘But this is the man you love, how can you worry he’s a crazy serial killer!’ protested the sex kitten voice.

  ‘I’m more concerned about the “with no heart” part, you dumb kitty!’ I hissed back, rolling my eyes in frustration under the blindfold.

  Luke was speaking quietly and the cadence of the syllables rolling in the air was deeply rich in a way I’ve never noticed before. He really has a sexy-awesome voice. “Is it too cold down here to remove your jacket, Anabel?”

  “No, I guess not,” I murmured, my response the only sound in the quiet room besides the rubbing whisper of my thigh-high stockings when I shifted my weight restlessly from one high heel to the other.

  I was hyper-aware of the rustle of fabric when my tweed blazer was removed and landed somewhere behind me. Being sensory deprived of sight was already heightening my other senses, and I was breathing quicker in anticipation.

  Over my short plaid skirt, I felt hands on my hips and strong fingers spreading to knead gently. The hands slid forward across my lower belly to meet in a V formation, and then moved downward to rub over my mound of Venus. I had to remember the splinters, and not grind my butt like I want against his groin in a rhythm with the stroking hands.

  I know mound of Venus probably sounded goofy as hell, but my brain’s jam packed with all sorts of new names for body parts. I’ve learned them from my bedtime erotica books that I switch over to read every night when the how-to’s get a little dry. I have some dirty slang favorites, such as Bruce Lee, but most I would hesitate to say out loud. The names strike me as quite strange and often ridiculous, but in the privacy of my own mind I have to use some of them. Either that or the top of my skull may blow off from the pressure.

  ‘Oh my, aren’t we the lucky ones!’ The mean mommy voice snapped.

  It doesn’t matter because soon enough I have another desire tormenting me and my mind goes blank. The hands moved up over the contours of my body and lingered to cup my breasts through my blouse. Those large, wonderful hands squeezed and pressed without the careful consideration they showed my hips. Fingertips lightly circled my nipples and my head fell back on his chest.

  My breasts were always extremely responsive to Luke’s touch, but tonight it was driving me nuts when his hands teased me. His nails were lightly running across the hard points poking impudently through the teddy and the blouse. I had visions of tearing his clothes off and going crazy on him, doing sexual things I never knew existed until I started cramming on the subject this past week. I’m glad the blindfold covered my face because I’m afraid of how I was spiraling out of control and what expression Luke would see. My bet is a wild, depraved animal of the feline species. I was sure over-stimulation of the brain explained why I felt ready to climax again, and just from Torquemada playing with my breasts.

  Luke’s voice was a low rumble, and despite the fabric covering my ear, still caused me to shiver. “I’m taking off your blouse.”

  “Oh please, yes!” I said feverishly and then snarled, “But if you don’t get these splinters out of me, I’m taking off your head with my bare paws...hands!”

  My brain doesn’t want to have any sort of sex until I am splinter-free and have a hot shower. My body was flipping off my brain with both hands. Luke chuckled and made a soothing noise deep in his throat, as if I said something funny. His hands were already busy on my blouse again, this time swiftly unbuttoning.

  ‘Holy crap, sometimes I am a few shades beyond blonde!’

  In all the commotion, I’d never asked Dickie what drug he’d injected me with tonight! How could I have forgotten something so important? Is there a drug out there that affected women like Viagra, some pharmaceutical cocktail that knocked you out and then magically made you wetter than a Brazilian rain forest when you get touched by a man?

  I groaned when my blouse was pulled off my arms and I felt the cool air on my sensitized nipples, the lace cups of the teddy providing no protection. I felt hands unzip my skirt. It was tugged down and Luke directed me in a soft murmur to lift my foot.

  Standing there under my blindfold, I still kept a tight grip on my purse because where I go, it goes. Seconds ticked by slowly and I was starting to wonder what Luke was doing when I felt his lips on my shoulder.

  “You’re beautiful.”

  So that’s what he’d been doing!

  Once more I was happy for my blindfold to hide my blush. It’s surprisingly hard to stand still, practically naked, and let yourself be looked at when it’s all about your body. Most women worry their ass is too big or too small, their legs too short or too fat, and their breasts are just plain wrong whatever their size. Without sight, I don’t have any idea where Luke was looking and if he likes what he sees, but then I laughed. I may not think I’m at my best, but I doubted Luke cared if my hair was flat or my lipstick’s worn off when he can look his fill at my fanny. It was liberating to be blindfolded and I threw myself into the spirit of things.

  Letting my purse hang from its strap on my shoulder, I rested both my hands on my hips. “Do you like the torn up teddy and bloody buttocks look?”

  “Very urban guerilla sexy,” the silken voice replied from behind me again, and I smiled wider under the privacy of my scarf when hearing a gruff note in Luke’s tone.

  An arm came around me to nudge me forward. I held onto the warm hand guiding me along. I felt Luke’s presence off to my side and trusted he wouldn’t let me run into something or fall. Putting some sass in the ass, I st
rutted in my high-heels and black thigh-highs. I felt the curled up silk of the stretchy teddy bouncing against my lower back and the burn of Luke’s eyes.

  Luke wanted to see me in nothing much but stockings and heels, and I wanted to figure out where he’s taking me. Hopefully I’m providing enough distraction that Mr. Secretive forgets he hasn’t spun me around to disorient me, like you do when playing blind man’s bluff.

  If you’re ever lost in a maze, whether it’s dark or not, a neat trick is to keep a hand on an outside wall and never lift it. Eventually, you will hit the entrance. I was not sure of any tricks to orient in the dark when being led somewhere blindfolded, so I just used commonsense.

  I knew we were facing the wall to the left of the bottom of the stairs where the glass display case hung when Luke tied on the blindfold. This put the bank of monitors and computers to our right. My estimate was the Bat Cave’s dimensions were about twenty by forty feet, with forty being the width. We’d been in the middle of the room. As we began walking, I kept my steps natural and counted silently in my head.

  After thirteen of my steps, Luke stopped us. I heard amusement in his voice when he said, “…twelve…thirteen…fourteen!”

  “You damn man,” I muttered from under the scarf.

  My shoulders are grasped and I am turned in circles several times, losing all the spatial perspective I had other than being somewhere close to the left wall. Luke led me a few steps and spun me again. Now I’m blind, dizzy, and totally disoriented.

  ‘Just the way a man likes a woman,’ drawled the mean mommy voice and I stifled a giggle.

  Mr. Tricky put an arm around my waist and held my hand, as if we were dancing figure skaters, and started walking. Luke was not talking and I didn’t hear anything, except the muffled scraping of our feet on the carpet and my soft exhales against the scarf. My hair probably didn’t smell too good, but I was happy my breath still smelled faintly of cinnamon gum and ginger. This time, I counted twenty-five steps in my head automatically, since I had nothing better to do, before Luke stopped us to fiddle with something.

  I heard a thudding sound of a door closing behind us. We walked about fifteen more steps. The only thing I noticed was the air had gotten several degrees chillier and my erect nipples had grown stiffer, if that’s even anatomically possible. My breasts have been rubbing against Luke’s arms with every step and I was surprised I could still remember how to count.

  Finally we stopped.

  “I’m trying to decide if I should leave the blindfold on or off while I remove the splinters,” Luke’s voice mused, his hand around my waist starting to glide in a seductive motion up and down my side. His fingers touched along the side of my breast, but never quite reached around to my nipple.

  “Just remove the blasted splinters!” I moved restlessly under his ministrations, my damn body squirming to follow his fingers. I was so turned on that even the prospect of pain wasn’t fazing me for once.

  “Off it is,” Luke laughed, and he untied the scarf and slid it off my face.

  I blinked owlishly at the bright light, and then moved my head from side to side in astonishment.

  We were in a room outfitted as a mini-hospital. Everything was stainless steel and stark white. All four walls were built-in glass cabinets with shelves from top to bottom. Behind the glass doors of the cabinets, the shelves were packed with medical paraphernalia. It looked organized with military precision and every surface was spotlessly clean.

  Luke ignored my dropped mouth, busily pulling supplies out of drawers and cabinets, and placing them atop a tray table on wheels. Behind him was a very long table. It reminded me of an autopsy table in a morgue on one of those TV police dramas. It even had the deep sink at one end. He pushed a button and a big, domed light hanging overhead blazed on, the kind on a bending arm that can be moved to wherever you want more intense light focused.

  “Hop up here and lay on your stomach,” he directed, patting the stainless steel tabletop without looking my way. He went to the sink and began vigorously soaping up his hands, whistling a happy tune. He threw over his shoulder, “Oh, and doctor’s orders--lose the teddy, but you can leave on the stockings.”

  When I didn’t move, Torquemada glanced over. Seeing my narrowed eyes, his mouth crooked up sideways. “I believe I did mention that I’m better equipped than Anna to operate?”

  I closed my gaping mouth and boosted myself up on the table, ignoring his orders to lose the teddy. On all fours, I glared at the man currently looking below my waist with a lecherous grin while he’s snapping on white surgical gloves.

  “I don’t mind if you’re Dexter’s long lost twin or a sadistic prepper, but if you tell me you’re actually a doctor just go ahead and stick a scalpel in my eye and put me out of my misery!”

  “Such violence, love!” Luke mocked chidingly, in a perfect British accent that made me wonder how I ever confused his delicious voice with Dickie’s for even that one split second when I was abducted in my parking lot. “Now come, Anerbel, don’t be timid. Let’s get that teddy off. We may as well do your annual exam while you’re here in my office.”

  Chapter IX

  “The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room” by Flight of the Conchords

  Friday 12/07/12

  4:16 AM

  Waking abruptly, my heart’s racing. Taking a deep breath, I was reassured by the delicate fragrance of rose and jasmine oils on my skin from my recent favorite potion. Sighing in relief, I settled back into the soft pillows on Luke’s bed.

  It was the reoccurring nightmare I’ve had for the last couple of weeks that’s awakened me, but with a new twist tonight. Now the bad dream was a combo meal of horrible stenches--the Hammer falling on me and splattering his disgusting gore all over my face and the rotten potato sack smothering me. I was sure these bad dreams will disappear eventually, once stinking people stopped trying to kill me. In the meantime, I directed my mind towards my happy place to help me drift back asleep.

  Reaching forward, I moved slowly, so as to not disturb Luke. He was enveloping me from behind like he does when we sleep together--arms holding me close, a knee wedged between my thighs, his face buried in my hair, and both big hands cradling my breasts. He’s such a cuddler.

  I know, just another trial in life I have to bear. Come summer, if our day-to-day commitment was still going strong, our A/C bills were going to sky rocket because I can’t sleep when I’m too hot.

  Luke wasn’t a doctor, but he did a great job removing all the splinters. He assured me that my cheekies will have no lasting marks, other than his brand. He had training as a field medic in the Army. The way he painstakingly washed all the iodine from every crack and crevice below my waist had me saluting the flag, although my screaming out about “the rocket’s red glare and the bombs bursting in air” didn’t happen until after we showered together and he’d kissed my hurts to make them better.

  But that’s actually not the happy place I was referring to. In the dark room, my questing fingers found my phone on the bedside table. I slowly slid my arm back under the covers and carefully slid the comforter up over my entire face.

  I turned my phone on and held my right hand out in the reflected light, admiring the brilliant sparkles of my early birthday present from my boyfriend. Turning my hand this way and that, I told my grumpy, tired voices a bedtime story to make us all sleepy.

  Hey, if I’m up, they’re up.

  “Oh yes, you may kiss our hand, my dutiful subjects. Yes, we agree this is the most beautiful ring in the kingdom. It is true; we are such a lucky, lucky Princess. Indeed, the royal mani-pedi would look smashing in O.P.I. Chick Flick Cherry for the holidays, but we mustn’t tell Stella because she says GelColor is toxic. …”

  A hand lifted from my breast and the comforter was pulled down. “Who are you whispering to on your phone this late?”

  “Oh, sorry. Er…I’m just talking to the voices in my head.”

  “What, do they have their own phones?” Luke asked, his v
oice rising in amused disbelief.

  Tossing my phone aside, I rolled in my Dark Prince’s arms to straddle him while he pretended to grunt and groan at my weight, his hands spanning my waist. I pulled smartly on his chest hair in retaliation and Luke’s deep chuckle made me smile in the dark

  Gliding my hands over his chest, I circled and traced across his nipples, tugging with my fingertips until they are hard as little pebbles. I ran my hands along his wide shoulders and down his upper arms, squeezing and rubbing while luxuriating in the contrast of his soft, smooth skin that was taut over the hard, defined muscles. My fingers drifted lower along his strong forearms and skimmed the crisp texture of the black hair that so inexplicably makes me hot. I linked our hands, and coming up onto my hands and knees, raised his arms over his head.

  Leaning down, I kissed the warm, sweet spot just under his ear. “Since we both can’t sleep,” I paid no attention to Luke’s impolite snigger, “tell me a bedtime story. The one about the Hero, the incredibly smart girl, and how the stupid bitch of an ex-cousin came to be the Hero’s partner.” I swirled his ear with a pointed tongue and then took a little nip of his lobe. “And pretty please make it a good tale with plenty of back story and facts.”

  Luke didn’t attempt to lower his arms, but his voice was temptation incarnate in the dark night. “How about you show me some pretty bedtime tail, and I will make it plenty good.”

  Tsking, I asked, “Haven’t you ever heard of ladies first? I’ll make you a deal. How about you tell me mine and then I’ll show you yours.”

  Lightly sucking on his neck, I allowed no part of my body to touch his other than my mouth and the tips of my breasts. Those I slowly moved back and forth across his chest, my erect nipples grazing his. It’s understandable I had to move my hips to do this, and the head of his hard penis brushed against my inner thighs, and other fun places, every time I swayed. My smile grew.

  Luke let out a long suffering sigh. “Once upon a time there was this man with a fixation on a very strange and different woman. This woman…”