She allowed him to usher her to his front door, where he removed his gloves and touched a metal plate set into the brick. She heard bolts slide. He opened the door. “Allow me to go first.” He stepped into the darkness and the hall filled with light.
“You don’t believe in leaving a light on for your return home?”
“I suppose I could, but I’d have to re-wire the house. The floor is made out of conductive tile and my shoes have metal in them. I am the light in this house.” He walked down the hall and she watched lights illuminate his path.
“Whoa,” she said, gingerly stepping into the house but being careful to stay on the hall rug. “Is it safe?”
“I won’t bore you with the intricacies of molecular structure, but yes, that’s the tricky part of my research. Creating a material that has enough resistance to be safe for normal bare feet, yet conducts electrons well enough to carry a current. You are perfectly safe in my home.” His eyes glowed with blue fire. “In every way.”
He held out his hand and she took it, biting back the moan that leapt into her throat at his touch. Was it the electricity that was making her so responsive? If so, she was going to buy a dozen electric blankets when she got home.
“You feel that too?” His eyes held an arrested expression.
“I feel a very pleasant buzz. It makes me feel, um, energetic.” Like jumping your bones and having wild, swinging chandelier, monkey sex. “Restless, but kind of cheerful,” she finished, as they entered a kitchen. Dim light began to glow from recessed bulbs in the ceiling. No chandeliers, thank God.
He let go of her hand and leaned against the counter. “Touching you makes me feel drunk. I haven’t unintentionally touched bare skin without causing someone pain since I came into my powers. I am terrified. Elated. And incredibly aroused. Are you hungry?” he asked, abruptly switching subjects.
She shook her head, feeling dazed.
“Thirsty?”
“I’d love a glass of water.” To pour over my head.
He pulled a glass from a cupboard and opened the refrigerator. He poured water from a pitcher. Scientific curiosity forced her to ask, “What happens if you get water on your skin?”
“Nothing, if the water is electrically neutral. Sparks sometimes, if it has minerals or impurities in it. It depends on how juiced I am.”
“How juiced are you now?”
His voice was rueful. “About as wired as I’ve ever been in my life.”
His answer gave her pleasure. “Thank you,” she said, accepting the glass.
“You’re welcome. It’s the least I can do to thank you for the ride.”
She almost choked on her drink, as her thoughts spiraled into the gutter. His eyes were on her, which made it difficult to conceal the turn her thoughts had taken, but if the intense look on his face was anything to go by, she didn’t have to. He was right there in the gutter with her.
“Are you ready to begin?” he asked, with a gleam in his eyes.
She nodded slowly.
His grin was a quick flash of white teeth, while the lights brightened around them. “My dungeon is in the basement.”
Chapter Five
Cal led her down the stairs, sending enough energy into the floor to light the room ahead of them, hoping it wouldn’t look completely perverted and deviant to her, but it was a dungeon, so he didn’t expect to have much luck. He didn’t cater to vanilla down here. He didn’t even cater to middle of the road kinky. He served his needs with experienced submissive women who loved electrical play and would allow him to restrict their sight, hearing and movement. He didn’t want to have to explain sparks and flashes or the occasional boom of thunder. An accidental touch could cause injury, so the leather table in the center of the space was rigged with full-body restraints, not just ankle and wrist manacles. His table could immobilize Frankenstein’s monster. It had straps every four inches that adjusted for every body type. One willing sub had clapped her hands at the sight of his table, but he was afraid Audrey was going to say something more along the lines of—
“Holy shit.”
He grabbed her hand, fearing she would turn tail and flee back up the stairs. She allowed him to draw her forward, but her eyes never left the table. He feared her response wasn’t going to get any more positive when she started looking around.
He hadn’t been kidding about the geek stuff in the car. Most of his co-workers at the university shunned him, thinking he was more than a little odd. He encouraged that. He didn’t want anyone getting too close and asking about his gloves. The new insulating material he had designed was nearly invisible, but still. He wore thick glasses, treated with anti-glare to hide the occasional glow of his too-blue eyes. He called in sick when it rained. He knew they thought he was a freak, but he didn’t care. He was used to that.
His friends at the Lair thought he was a freak too. They just thought he was their kind of freak. They assumed his bright eyes were contacts, his leather stemmed from a love of hardcore kink, and any stray sparks or shock were attributed to too much time with the violet wand.
Upstairs, his house was filled with the normal minutiae of daily living, once you got past the fact that it was powered by him. But his enormous basement held his real life, half-dungeon, half-research lab, separated by a wall and a locked door. The dungeon was his playground and the lab was where he did the research he couldn’t afford to be caught doing at work. Naturally, Audrey’s eyes were drawn to the door separating the rooms.
“Good God, what’s on the other side of the wall?” she asked.
“My private lab.”
Her eyes lit up. “Can I see it?”
“Only if you are a very good girl.”
She bit her lip, eyes skating over the whips and canes displayed on one wall. Her gaze stopped on the hoods, modeled on wire heads above the couch.
Cal chuckled. “How on earth is it that Jake Fallon’s sister looks like she’s never seen a dungeon before? Your brother never showed you—”
“Eww, no! Jake did his thing and I did mine, and since he was always in trouble, I sort of went the other way, hoping if I was good enough, our foster parents would put up with his crap.”
“Ah, I know how that is. I was raised by my aunt, so I had to behave too.” He drew her forward, toward the black leather beneath the shelf of hoods. He was walking on uncertain ground with her. His previous sexual partners had all been pain sluts into electrical play and extreme restraints. Audrey was an admitted vanilla and the kid sister of a guy who could kick his ass…and shred his mind. Jake could suggest he spend the rest of his life cleaning toilets with a toothbrush and that would be that. Speaking of which. “Text your brother.”
“What?”
“Text your safe call. I want a full hour once we begin.”
She pulled her phone out of her purse and touched the screen. When she was finished, she held up the screen. I’m safe in Bluebeard’s cave. She pointed at the hoods on the shelf and grinned.
“Very funny.” He patted the couch next to him. “I’ll let you decide whether you want to be blindfolded, but I’ll have to insist on the table restraints and the monitors. Safety first. I don’t want to hurt you accidentally.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Monitors?”
Now it was his turn to grin. “Not video monitors. I have a heart monitor, temperature sensors and an EEG built into the table. I’ll keep a very careful eye on your vital signs. Each person’s response to electrical stimulation is unique, and I want you to know that your safety is my first priority.”
“Jake says I can trust you. I’m not worried.”
“Well, you should be.” He was flattered, but informed consent was the only kind he was interested in. She had to understand what she was agreeing to do.
“I know this feels good to you.” He stroked one finger down her bare arm, sending a low current to greet her. She sighed and leaned toward him. He had to force himself not to rush her. “But at higher voltages, electricity can stop your heart,
cause internal burns and seizures, neuropathy…”
“I’m a doctor, Cal. I know the risks. But I’ve lived my whole life in Jake’s shadow, wishing I was talented too. Tonight I started to wonder if my lack of talent might be something more. I want to do this. I want you to push me, to see if I respond the same way everyone else does. Maybe we’ll discover I’m special too.” She glanced above her head at the hoods. “Although, can’t we just…fool around? See what happens? Do we have to use all the props? You use this stuff to keep your partners from realizing you’re electric, right? You don’t have to hide that from me.”
An image of them naked, making love in the missionary position with nothing between them, rendered him incapable of speech for a good fifteen seconds. He shook his head. “No, but I have to control myself, which isn’t easy considering I haven’t touched a woman on purpose in at least fifteen years. Your skin is so soft it makes me dizzy. Hungry. And violent.”
She licked her lips, and he thought of kissing her. Her mouth looked soft. Her full lips were a natural dark pink and he could tell from the way her face creased when she smiled that it was something she did often. His eyes dropped to her breasts, round and full beneath her cotton top, her slim waist, her full hips, that plump ass he couldn’t wait to mark with his whip. Impatience and desire tinged his vision with blue sparks. He couldn’t kiss her, not now, but if their session went well and her vitals were strong…
He fought the swirling mass of energy back into his center. His vision cleared. “No, I’m sorry. There is only one way I can do this.” He couldn’t risk allowing her to touch him, even if she begged. Actually, he hoped she begged, but it still wouldn’t make it safe. Maybe after they had come a half dozen times, he’d be steady enough to think about giving her some control over their play.
He forced his hand back into his lap. She needed to make these decisions without the influence of his touch. He’d had the twenty minute car ride to create a scenario that would bring her pleasure and give him the release he needed. Electricity buzzed and itched along the surface of his skin. Could she see it? How would she handle it? Her brow wrinkled and he realized he was taking too long to explain. “Sorry. I’ve never played with a novice before, and there is just no polite way to phrase what I want to do with you.”
She dipped her chin and looked at him from beneath lowered brows. She raised her hand, palm up, and made a bring it on motion with her fingers. “What would you do with a more experienced partner?”
He took a deep breath. “I’d make you strip and drop a hood over your head. Then I’d strap you to the table so that you absolutely could not move a muscle. I’d whip you if you liked it, but you already know what I can do. I don’t have to pretend. I probably don’t need to use a conductor, either, but I will.” He wanted to touch her; he didn’t want to harm her. “I’m wired so tight I can’t move without shooting sparks. I need to get rid of energy somehow. I don’t know how long it will take. I don’t know how much it will hurt. I don’t know how much energy you can handle or if you even have the pain threshold to consider taking me on tonight, but I hope you do.”
Her eyes were wide. Maybe he should break it down another way. “Do you like pleasure?”
“Yes.” Her voice was soft but certain. She didn’t look frightened.
“Pain?”
“I have no idea.”
“Fair enough.” He had to clamp down on his loose wires again. “I think we should approach this scientifically and keep all of the variables the same but one. You are the first variable. Will you submit to my commands tonight?”
Her nod was slow.
“Are there any limits you would like to place on what I do to you?”
“I don’t know enough about this to imagine limits. Tell me what your goal in this is.”
An excellent question. “To bring us pleasure. Extreme pleasure,” he qualified.
“I don’t know what girl would say no to that.”
His heart began to pound, pushing fire through his veins. “It will probably leave some temporary marks. Are you okay with that?” She nodded. “Okay, here’s the biggie—sex.” Why did he feel like such a cad bringing this up? “I’d like to bring you to orgasm. With my fingers and my mouth and then I’d like to put on a nice, insulating condom and fuck you. How do you feel about that?”
She blinked. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so bluntly propositioned.”
“That’s not what I asked. Your brain will think you out of this experience if you let it. How do you feel about being with me? Are you aroused? What is your body telling you?”
She frowned, making him desperate for her answer. “My body says yes.”
“Excellent. Did you come straight from work?”
She nodded.
“Did you have dinner?”
She shook her head.
“I didn’t either. So after our scene, I’ll cook you dinner and we’ll interpret the results of our experiment. Sound like a plan?”
“I’m a vegetarian.”
“So in the vernacular of BDSM, you safeword at dead animals. Got it. Speaking of which—if you want me to stop, say red. If you are uncomfortable in any way, say yellow. Otherwise, green means go.”
She nodded. “Green it is.”
Chapter Six
“Ready when you are.”
Audrey swallowed. She had agreed to have sex with a man she had just met. Surely there was something wrong with that. She had certainly felt anxiety every other time she had gotten this far with a date. But this wasn’t a date, was it? Nope, this was an experiment. Cal had approached it with clinical detachment, if she discounted what he said about her skin making him dizzy.
Maybe she felt so comfortable because she was in familiar territory, dealing with variables, physical evidence and controlled stimulus. Of course, in a minute she’d be naked, which might affect her comfort level, but she hoped her desire to reveal a talent would outweigh any anxiety.
She stood and stripped, folding each item of clothing and placing it neatly on the couch beside him.
He watched her, eyes holding steady on whatever new skin she bared. What had he called their discussion? A negotiation? It certainly took the pressure off. She wasn’t worrying about how far to let this progress. She wasn’t thinking about whether or not he had a condom or if he really wanted to be doing this with her. It was freeing to have the answers to all of those questions up front. She hooked her thumbs in her panties, pushed them over her hips and stepped out of them.
He stood and she followed him to the table, climbing on when he gestured at the surface. She felt a little bit like she was at the doctor’s office as she perched on the cold leather. All she needed to complete the experience was the crinkle of paper, a hospital gown and a lap drape.
“Facedown.”
She complied. No woman on earth would be able to crawl naked across a table and go facedown without wondering how her ass looked while she was doing it. Martial arts kept her fit, but female was female, curves were curves, and she had more of them than the American feminine ideal. Audrey hoped her ass looked at least as good as the last one he’d seen on his table. As she settled herself flat, she realized she was aroused. Her nipples were hard and sensitive, and she shivered with pleasure as they touched the cool leather table.
“Don’t worry, you won’t be cold in a minute.”
He started with her hands. His fingers didn’t touch her skin as he fastened the Velcro closures around her wrists. She heard the zip and rip as he adjusted the fit. “Okay?” he asked.
“Yes, fine. I mean green.” She giggled, then wished she hadn’t because she sounded nervous and she wasn’t.
He spent less time adjusting the body restraints, probably because it was a straight shot down her prone form. “Try to wiggle.”
She couldn’t move a muscle below her neck, just as he’d promised. She lifted her head to watch him shrug out of his coat. Beneath the coat he wore a white tank top of the wife beater variety. Ap
propriate. She stifled another giggle. As he turned to cross the room, he stripped off the tank and she glimpsed a stark lightning bolt inked down the center of his back. Also appropriate.
Did they all have them? Tattoos to signify their super powers? Her brother had a king cobra between his shoulder blades. The Doc had the staff of Aesculapius. Cal had a lightning bolt. She relaxed against the table, wondering what Sam had tattooed on her back.
When he returned, he held a slip of black material. “Even though I don’t need to hide my powers from you, a hood might make it easier to accept what is happening. The sound of a lash whistling toward your back is scary until you learn to love its kiss on your skin. Blue fire, sparks and thunder can also be frightening. With your eyes and ears covered, you can just focus on how you feel, okay?”
She nodded and he slid the material over her head.
Terror, instant and complete, surrounded her. Stop! Why are you doing this? I’ll be good!
She screamed.
He whipped the hood off her head. “What happened?”
She panted, head craned, every muscle rock-hard with tension. “I don’t know! No blindfold, no blindfold, no…” He began unfastening the Velcro straps. “No, stop, wait! I’m sorry. I’m okay now.”
“You are not okay.” He unfastened the rest of the straps and pulled her into a sitting position, cradled on his lap. “Was it the hood or the restraints?”
“The hood. I’m fine now.” She sighed, resting against him for a moment, disappointed that their experiment had failed so quickly. His heart beat under her cheek, a comforting thud. She nestled closer.
He froze, muscled arms stiffening around her.
“What?” she asked.
“Um, I’m touching you.”
“Yes, you are. It’s nice. Don’t stop.”
Slowly, he began to run his hand up and down her arm, soothing the last tremors from her body. “Mmm, that’s even better.” Everywhere he touched felt warm. She snuggled into his neck, inhaling. “You smell like fireworks.”
Power Trip: Double Helix, Book 1 Page 4