Dark Attraction: The Corde Noire Series

by Alexandrea Weis

  “Then take off your clothes.”

  Treating undressing for Doug as something akin to a trip to the gynecologist, Sam closed her eyes and reached for the fly of her jeans. As she was working the zipper down, she felt his breath on her cheek.

  “Not like that.”

  When she opened her eyes, his lips were inches from her face, making that funny feeling spread from her belly to her groin.

  “Take off your clothes like I’m a lover you want to entice into bed.”

  How in the hell do I do that?

  Panic-stricken, her mind raced with seduction scenarios. Taking a gulp of air, she remembered she was an avid member of Netflix, and had even watched a porno movie or two. It couldn’t be that hard. They did it all the time in the movies.

  Just think Flashdance, Striptease.

  When he stepped back, Doug went to the sofa and sat down. Spreading his arms out behind him, he nodded to her. “Anytime you’re ready.”

  Biting back her snarky reply, Sam began to slowly unbutton her blouse, attempting to be sexy. But Sam had no experience with sexy. So far, undressing for Doug felt like a Martian landing on Earth for the first time and encountering a cactus.

  As her top floated to the floor, the cool air made her shiver. Her hands rubbed up and down her arms, and when she saw Doug frowning, she stopped. Not yet ready to remove her bra, she slipped her hands to her jeans.

  His eyes steadily glaring at her, Doug never moved a muscle. Sam didn’t know if he was getting turned off or on by the show. She could hazard a guess that it was neither. Who would think she was sexy?

  After lowering the zipper on her jeans—nice and slow, just like in the movies—Sam was having a hard time getting the snug skinny jeans down her hips. She was damn near tugging at the thick material, grunting with effort. She bent over, trying to force the jeans further down her hips and along her thighs. When she had worked the material to her knees, Sam swore she heard Doug snickering. When she raised her head to peek at him, she got caught off balance and toppled to the floor.

  Bracing her fall with her right arm, she had not even hit the ground when Doug was on her. Lifting her in his arms, he was laughing. “You are the most accident prone little thing I’ve ever met.”

  She blushed, shaking her head. “Just don’t ask me to juggle. You could lose an eye.”

  That made him laugh even louder. Resting her head against his chest, she decided she liked his laugh. It was warm, jovial, and very unlike the man he often portrayed.

  Laying her on the sofa, his hands went to the waistband of her jeans, easily pulling them off her legs. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a woman quite like you.” He dropped her jeans to the floor and had a seat on the edge of the sofa.

  Resting her hands over her simple beige panties, Sam was horribly uncomfortable. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

  He took her hands and pulled her into a sitting position. “It’s a good thing.” His hands went to the clasp on her bra. “You keep surprising me.” He undid the bra and was working it down her arms. “I like that in a woman.”

  Sam wasn’t listening to a word he said; she was too undone by the way he was undressing her. When he tossed her bra away, she instinctively covered her breasts.

  His eyes came together with disapproval. Gently lowering her hands, he watched her face. “None of that. Not with me. I want to see you. I want to get to know every inch of you.” He rested his hands on her shoulders. “Lie back.”

  Gulping back her dread, she reclined on the sofa, acutely aware of the plush fabric against her hot skin. When he hooked his fingers around the elastic waistband of her underwear, Sam thought she was going to have a heart attack.

  “I told you, trust is the cornerstone of any relationship in my world.” He leaned in closer to her. “Do you trust me?”

  “No,” she flatly answered.

  His hands started working the underwear over her hips. “Well, at least that was honest.”

  Closing her eyes as her humiliation gained ground, the cool air embraced her bottom as he slipped the underwear down her legs. While he worked her panties free from around her feet, Sam was too terrified to open her eyes and see him laughing at her, or worse … staring at her with revulsion.

  “Look at me,” he softly demanded.

  Sighing with misgivings, she did as she was told.

  “You are beautiful, Sam. Always remember that.” His voice reminded her of some smoky, decadent sauce that one would find slathered over some tempting dish in the French Quarter.

  “I feel … naked.”

  “Being naked isn’t a bad thing. You must learn to be comfortable in your skin.” He retrieved the bottle of oil from the coffee table. “I often have my subs walk around naked for days at a time.”

  “Days? Are you kidding me?”

  He poured some of the oil into his hands. “As a sub, your job is to please me, and pleasing me means letting me see you naked, at all times. I love watching a woman. I get to admire her body from every angle. Her body is my body.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Doug rubbed his hands along her right forearm. “Simply that you are mine. Your body is mine to do with as I please.” His hands worked up her arm to her bicep.

  “Do you ever have subs tell you no?”

  “Refusing me leads to punishment.”

  “Yeah,” Sam mumbled. “I can see where that would be a problem.”

  He went past her bicep to her right shoulder. The scent of the almond oil drifted to her nose.

  “I have a few more questions for you,” he said, running his hands up her neck.

  She closed her eyes as he reached behind her neck and kneaded the muscles. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “What do you like best? The anticipation, action, or afterglow of sex?”

  Sam tensed, unsure of what to say. She had been living for years with one, but had never known the other two. “Uh, I guess anticipation?”

  “You don’t sound convinced. Are you sure?”

  She opened her eyes. “Pretty sure.”

  He massaged her shoulders. “All right. I want you to make a list of the top ten things that embarrass you. It will help me pinpoint some challenges we must work through during your training.” His hands moved down to her chest. “I already know nudity is one.”

  She stared up at the ceiling as he caressed her breasts. “Yep, that and being groped.”

  “I’m not groping you. I’m exploring your body.” His thumbs brushed across her nipples. “What else?”

  “I really can’t think of anything else at the moment.”

  He moved away from her breasts and rubbed along her stomach. “Think about that list. I want you to have it completed when we get together tomorrow night.”

  She nodded, getting comfortable on the sofa again. “Yes, Sir.”

  “Next question.” His fingers dipped below her stomach and lightly skirted over the tops of her thighs. “What do you think about when you masturbate?”

  Sam bolted upright. “What?”

  Doug sat back from her. “You do masturbate, don’t you?”

  He reached for the bottle of oil and poured a few more drops in his hands.

  “What has that got to—?”

  “Answer the question, Sam.” He slid his right hand between her legs, cupping her folds.

  She stared at his hand, her insides quivering. “Yes … I, ah, yeah I do … that.”

  His fingers eased into her folds, and Sam fell back against the sofa. “What do you think about?”

  She slapped her hand over her face as his fingers teased her. “I don’t know … what difference does it make?”

  “It makes a great deal of difference to me.” He pressed his finger into her clit. “Knowing what runs through your mind before you climax tells me how to please you. How to arouse you.” She arched her back as his fingers became more demanding. Her hands clutched the cushion beneath her. “When you come, do you fantasize about be
ing dominated by a man? Do you dream of him calling you a slut or whore while he rams his cock into you?” His teeth grazed her right nipple. Sam cried out as the heat between her legs exploded. “Or do you think about being kissed and told how beautiful you are. How a man wants to please you and worship you.”

  Sam couldn’t register what he was saying. Her body was screaming for release. She was lost in the rush of sensation. And then, without warning, he stopped.

  Opening her eyes, she gaped up at him. “Why did you stop?”

  “Answer the question and I will continue.”

  She sat up on her elbows. “Why are you doing this?”

  He played with her erect nipple, squeezing it between his thumb and forefinger. “I want to find out what you are after in bed. A man to dominate you or a man to romance you.”

  She shook her head, unsure of what to say. “I—I honestly have no idea what I want in bed.”

  “All right.” He took her hand. “We’ll try something else.” He lifted her right hand to his mouth, and after sucking on three of her fingers, he directed her hand to the valley between her legs. He pressed her fingers to her folds, guiding them along her wetness.

  “Close your eyes,” he told her. “Picture the kind of lover you want to be with.”

  Closing her eyes, Sam tried to form an image of what Doug wanted, but all she could see was him.

  “Tell me what you see a man doing to you.” His hand pressed hers harder into her clit, making her suck in a startled gasp.

  “All I can see … is you.”

  “I like the sound of that,” he whispered. “What am I doing? How am I behaving?” He moved her hand faster up and down her folds.

  That he was there, watching, guiding her hand, only heightened Sam’s experience. “You’re telling me you want me. You want to be inside me.”

  “Keep going,” he encouraged. “How am I taking you?”

  “How?” she groaned, her muscles twitching.

  “Hard or soft? Am I taking you from behind, or do I put you on your back?”

  “Oh, God,” she called out, on the verge of coming.

  His hand yanked hers away. Breathing hard, Sam’s eyes flew open. Her insides heaved and her brow broke out in a light sweat. She sat up, glaring at him. “What?”

  He stared down her naked body. When he raised his eyes again, he was frowning. “I control your orgasms, Sam. You come when I allow it, and only then. Your pleasure is to be focused on my pleasure.”

  Flopping back on the sofa, she slapped her hand against the cushion. “I don’t think I like these rules of yours.”

  He kissed her stomach. “At least you’re getting comfortable being naked in front of me.”

  “After you had your hand in my crotch, being naked isn’t such a stretch anymore.”

  He chuckled against her skin. “Ah, another honest answer.”

  “Is the rest of our time together going to be this frustrating for me?”

  He sat up. “I’m using this time to learn about you. The more I know about your thought processes before and during sex, the better I will be able to fulfill your fantasies.”

  Getting a little self-conscious with him being so close, Sam edged up on her elbows, trying to figure out how to get off the sofa. “I thought this was about control for you, not sex.”

  His hand caressed her right breast. “Sex is control. We use it to control our lives, influence others, and Hollywood has been making money off it for years.”

  “So is that what you have been doing, controlling me by ….” She blushed. “You know?”

  Doug lowered his head to her. “By what?”

  “By not letting me ….” Her voice dried up.

  “Come.” His hand went to her thigh. “Say it.”

  “Come … there I said it.”

  His fingers slipped back into her folds. “Now, ask me to make you come.”

  Sam crashed back against the sofa when he tapped his finger against her clit. “Please … Doug.”

  “Beg me,” he entreated in a husky voice.

  Her back arched. “Yes, make me ….” She fought to get the words out. “Make me … come.”

  “That wasn’t so hard.” His fingers dipped into her as his thumb rubbed back and forth over her clit.

  Sam’s orgasm was climbing upward from her groin. Her flesh tingled, her muscles contracted, and right before she lost all sense of control, a guttural moan escaped from her lips.

  The orgasm ripped her in two. Sure, she had experienced a few in the past with Phil, and on her own, but they were nothing like this. As she came back to reality, his arms settled around her.

  “I love watching you. It’s like you’re experiencing this for the first time.”

  She rubbed her hand over her face. “Technically, I’ve never experienced anything like that.”

  “Technically? What kind of sexual experiences have you had, Sam?”

  The question awakened all the frustration her orgasm had relieved. “You keep asking me that.” She sat up, itching to cover her nakedness.

  “I keep asking because it’s important for me to know how to please you.”

  “You just said this was about pleasing you, remember?”

  “Pleasing you, pleases me.” He helped her to a sitting position. “So tell me what I want to know.”

  She stood from the sofa. “No, Doug. You don’t need to know that.”

  Before she could get away, he tossed her across his lap. Bent over his knees, her butt in his line of sight, she was utterly humiliated. Sam struggled to get up, but his arm came down on her back.

  “Let me up!”

  He rubbed his hand over her right butt cheek. “Tell me about your experiences.”

  “What are you going to do? Spank it out of me? I don’t want to tell you about my goddamned experiences.” She stopped fighting him. “If you want to spank me, then go ahead. It won’t get me to open up to you any more than your other methods.”

  Suddenly, he let up on her, allowing her to stand. “I will get it out of you eventually, Sam.”

  Remembering her nakedness, she tried to cover herself. He got up from the sofa and came up to her, forcing her arms to her sides.

  “When you are naked in front of me, never hide your body. Keep your arms at your sides at all times.” He went around her, stopping behind her. “How do you plan on communicating your needs to me, Sam, if you can’t even tell me about your sexual experiences?”

  “Don’t you want to leave me some secrets?” she joked.

  His hand slapped her butt, making her stagger forward. “I don’t want secrets from a woman, I want openness. Until you tell me everything I need to hear, I will feel that this relationship is not progressing as it should.”

  “Just give me some time, okay?”

  He came around in front of her, lifting her chin so her eyes met his. “Tomorrow night I want to try something else.”

  She jerked her chin away. “What are you going to do … hang me from the ceiling?”

  “I told you, every Dom has different interests. I like to see how far I can push my subs. Test their thresholds for pain and pleasure. Tomorrow, I will test yours.”

  She warily studied his cool eyes. “How?”

  “If you get to keep secrets, then I get to keep a few of my own.” He motioned toward her bedroom. “Get dressed, and I will take you out to dinner.”

  She started for the hallway to her bedroom and was surprised when he followed her. At her bedroom doorway, she turned to him.

  “What are you doing?”

  He rested his shoulder against the door frame. “Sometimes watching a woman dress can be just as exciting as watching her undress.”

  “Am I ever to have a moment to myself?”

  Doug gave her a devilish half-smile. “Not as long as you’re mine.”

  Dinner was at an intimate restaurant, right around the corner from The Shallows. It was one of those trendy little bistros that Brenda had wanted Sam to try because
of the good-looking men who frequented the bar.

  “It’s popular with the local crowd,” Doug told her, escorting her through the packed bar to a glass door at the rear.

  They stepped out to a covered patio, filled with black iron tables and chairs. The patio was completely empty, and the only sound heard was the gurgling water from the tall fountain in the center.

  “I don’t like crowds,” he admitted.

  He guided her to a table far away from the glass door. After holding her chair, he unbuttoned his jacket and took the seat next to her.

  A woman in black came through the glass door from the bar, carrying two black menus. She was tall, shapely, and Sam was convinced she could drive every man she met wild with desire.

  Handing them their menus, she pulled a pad from her black apron. “What y’all havin’ to drink?” she queried, sounding every inch a New Orleanian.

  “Two soda waters with lemon,” Doug replied, opening his menu.

  “Sure thing, hon.” She jotted down the order. “I’ll be back in five for your orders.”

  The lithe waitress sauntered away. Sam was instantly jealous of her long legs and pretty smile.

  “Do you like chicken or fish?” Doug questioned.

  Sam opened her menu. “What I’d like is a beer.”

  “No alcohol. I never let my subs drink.”

  “Why? Afraid they might enjoy themselves?”

  “I prefer that you not be under the influence of anything when spending time with me. I want no drugs in your system.”

  “What if I have a cold? Are decongestants allowed?”

  He lowered his menu, snorting. “Yes.”

  “And coffee? Caffeine is a drug, you know?”

  He loudly sighed. “I should never have picked a nurse.”

  Sam opened her menu. “You picked me?”

  “I select all my subs.” He tossed his menu on the table. “It’s not some random happening that pairs a sub with a Dom; it’s a well-planned encounter.”

  “So how did you plan with me?”

  “From the moment we met, I knew I wanted you.”

  “You mean the night I told you to stop banging on the wall?”

  He sat back in his chair, eyeing her. “You wanted me in that moment, too.”