Still, she didn’t want the moment to end. She sat pressed against him, their chests molded together, her arms around his neck, her head on his shoulder. She thought she could stay like that forever.
Finally, though, his mouth quirked into a wan smile.
“What?” she asked.
“Are you going to untie me now, Mistress Mina? Or am I stuck this way?” Biting her lip, she dismounted from him, sorry for the loss when his cock left her, but wanting to free him from his bindings. The truth was, she’d sort of forgotten about him being tied, but now that she remembered, she felt bad, suspecting his arms were probably sore.
Behind him, she stooped to undo the knot, and when the rope fell away, his shoulder blades spread apart and he groaned, stretching.
As he bent to work at one ankle, she returned to the front of the chair to untie the other.
Finally free, he sat up, looking down to where she kneeled before him. “So, Mina, what now?”
Come to bed with me. Stay the night. Let’s make love. Without the whips and ties. They were fun, but I want you the normal, easy way, too. I want your hands on me.
She longed to say that, all of it, in the afterglow of sex. But of course, she couldn’t.
In fact, she could only think of one thing it made any sense to say at all. “You get dressed, and we say goodnight.”
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He gave a short nod, but as he bent down, reaching for his jeans, she couldn’t help wondering if he’d been hoping for something else.
Just then, he muttered, “Awww…damn it,” and bent his forehead into his hand.
“What?” she asked without moving from her place near his knee.
He gave her a look drenched in regret. “There’s a condom in my jeans, but I never even thought…and even if I had, my hands were…” He sighed. “I fucked up.” The same regret rushed through her now, as well, leaving her unable to believe she’d forgotten, too. Somehow with Ty, someone she knew so well, it just hadn’t been at the forefront of her mind like with other guys.
“Well,” he said, “I’m sorry I can’t tell you I’m a chaste guy who doesn’t usually fool around on the first date, but I am always pretty careful. Up to now, I mean.” She nodded, encouraged. “Me, too. And I’m on the pill.” After cleaning up with a tissue from a nearby table, he stepped into his jeans. She pushed to her feet, as well, wondering if she should find her panties, adjust her bra, but she settled for not doing either, since as far as he knew, she didn’t have to leave the apartment in order to be home. It would seem silly to cover herself for any other reason after the things they’d just done.
As he pulled on his shirt and slid his feet into his shoes, he tilted his head, peering down at her. “Let me see your face.” Then he added a playful grin and a teasing voice.
“Please, Mistress Mina.”
Bizarrely, she was almost tempted. Crazy. “No,” she said.
“Why?”
Good question. “This way I’ll always be your mysterious Mistress Mina.”
“Why do you have to be mysterious?”
“Because…that’s the way I am, the way I like it.”
“Can I see you again?”
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Oh God. He wanted more of her? It was a dream come true. And also a nightmare.
“No.”
He looked undaunted. “Why?”
“Well, maybe,” she amended, fumbling but trying not to let it show, wholly unsure how to proceed.
“Maybe?”
She nodded, thinking, Please leave, Ty. Just go. I can’t take this much longer.
“When?” he asked. “Give me your number.”
“No,” she replied quickly, “I’ll call you.” Looking around, he grabbed up a notepad from Aunt Sophie’s desk, along with a pen, then scribbled down both his home and work numbers before ripping off the top sheet and shoving it into her hand. She looked at them, particularly the one he’d labeled
“wk”, thinking, Little does he know, I’m the person who answers this phone for him.
After that, he turned and walked to the door, so she followed, beginning to feel a little sheepish in her revealing lingerie and high heels now that the hot sex was over.
“Let me see you,” he said once more, sounding a bit more insistent this time.
She simply shook her head.
He gave her a long look, letting his gaze drop all the way to her feet before rising back to her eyes. “Well, honey, even if you won’t let me see your face, I can tell you this—the rest of the package is beautiful.” Then he pulled her to him in a firm embrace to lower a long, thorough kiss to her swollen lips. It traveled all through her, leaving her nearly as weak as her orgasms had.
“Thank you, Mistress Mina. It was a hell of a night.”
“A memorable one, I hope.”
He nodded. “Like no other.”
Then he pushed through the door, leaving her there with nothing but what she’d left him with—memories.
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* * * * *
By the time Mia reached work on Monday morning, she couldn’t believe she was actually considering seeing Ty again. Sexually. Bringing out Mistress Mina for one more spin before retirement.
But sex like that—God, she’d never had sex like that.
Before Saturday night, she’d thought she’d had some good lovers. She’d thought she was an energetic bed partner herself and had never gotten any complaints. But her domination game with Ty had been different. She’d been making it up as she went, knowing little more about true domination than what she’d been able to read on the Internet over the few days prior, yet whatever she’d done had clearly worked—at least for her. Her whole body had been left practically humming from the two spectacular orgasms Ty had delivered to her at Aunt Sophie’s place. Even now, her pussy tingled at the mere thought of them.
“Hey, sweet thing, what’s shakin’?”
She looked up to see Ty walk in with a big smile on his face. At the sight of her unsuspecting lover, her stomach contracted and her breath trembled. Get it under control.
“You’re awfully chipper for a Monday morning,” she managed to say.
“Had a great weekend,” he replied easily. Rather than making a beeline for his office, as usual, he stopped and rested his arms on the counter, looking almost giddy.
“Oh?” she asked, trying to hold her voice steady. “What was so great about it?”
“Jack’s party. Met a woman. She rocked my world.”
It wasn’t unusual for Ty to give her little snippets of his sex life this way, but this was the first time she could remember hearing about it without the news making her insanely jealous.
He tilted his head. “Hey, wait a minute. Speaking of Jack’s party, where were you?” 55
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Excellent question. For which she—stupidly—had not prepared an answer. She reached for the simplest reply at hand. “Met a guy,” she said with a smile. “He rocked my world.”
Ty blinked, looking understandably surprised. While he generally knew who she dated and had even met some of the guys on occasion, she didn’t usually allude to her sexual encounters, even in simple terms like this.
He raised his eyebrows. “Please tell me he’s someone I would approve of.” She couldn’t help smiling. “Well,” she began, leaning her head to one side, “I can’t be certain you’d approve, but I think you’d get along with him.” His eyes narrowed. “Any tattoos?”
She shook her head. “Unfortunately not. That’s his one flaw.”
“What is it with you and tattoos anyway?”
She shrugged. “Turns me on, I guess.” Then she squared her gaze on him. “We all have our little turn-ons, don’t we?”
As she’d hoped, she could almost see his thoughts traveling back to Saturday night, to rope and riding crops. Finally, he gave a short, almost-sheepish laugh. “Yeah, I guess we do.” Just
as quickly, though, his eyes turned serious and protective again. “But listen, Mia, just be careful. Okay?”
“Of?”
“Guys who…well, just guys you don’t know very well. This is a crazy city with a lot of unusual people. I just…wouldn’t want you to get hurt in any way.”
“You forget, Ty, you’re the transplant. I grew up thirty minutes from here. I’m well aware of where we live.”
He sighed. “I know. And I don’t mean to treat you like a little kid or something. I just…you know.”
“No, I don’t know. What?”
“I care. That’s all.”
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Her heart constricted lightly, and one of her most frequent thoughts came back to her. If you only knew, Ty.
If you only knew how deeply it touches me that you care, but how badly I wish you cared in a different way.
She added a new thought. If you only knew how much of a little girl I’m not . If you only knew I was the woman who tied you up and fucked you senseless Saturday night, just like you wanted.
“Any calls?” he asked, getting back to normal.
“Yeah, Bobby called in. He’s going to be late again.” Ty responded under his breath, rolling his eyes, “Bobby might not have a job for much longer.”
“And Rich from Sure-Pak called. Wants to set an appointment to show you their new line of baskets and carriers.”
He nodded. “Anyone else? Like a woman with a sexy voice?” She almost smiled, but held it in. “No, that’s it.” He responded with a sigh. “Okay. I’ll be in my office.” Mia watched him walk away, and again, had the burning urge to don her wig and mask one last time. In a way, it seemed crazy—she’d managed to pull it off and had given them both the night of their lives, so why risk messing it up now? Yet on the other hand, how was she supposed to resist that hungry, happy look in his eyes? Or the letdown expression that had replaced it when he’d learned she hadn’t called? She was suddenly the object of Ty Brewer’s affection. He wanted her. Madly. How could she refuse that?
Glancing up at his open office door, she let out a sigh of her own and answered herself.
Simple. She couldn’t.
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* * * * *
Ty sat in Jack’s rundown old office on Royal Street, waiting for him to get off the phone. He was used to this, but…well, not this exactly.
He was used to waiting for Jack to get off the phone with clients. But lately—the last year or so—he’d been waiting for Jack to get off the phone with Liz.
You guys can’t get enough of each other at home? he always wanted to ask. Apparently they couldn’t. And today, for some stupid reason, it made him feel sort of…lonely.
He ignored the emotion the best he could, though, because it was likely just one more effect of riding an emotional roller coaster. The memories of Saturday night, still so fresh in his mind, filled him with a deep, glowing sort of satisfaction he couldn’t ever remember feeling—or at least not since he’d been very young, getting first kisses from girls he really liked and thought would be in his life for much longer than they actually had. His masked Mina had really done a number on him.
But the dips in the ride came when he recalled how thoroughly underwhelmed she’d seemed by his request to see her again. Had he done something wrong? Had he not been good enough for her? He’d always felt pretty accomplished at fucking, but…well, this had been new. Maybe he hadn’t been submissive enough? After all, that part sure hadn’t come naturally. For her, he’d done it—and he’d enjoyed the results—
but giving up total control had been difficult. Hell, for all he knew, maybe she’d wanted him to fight back more. He just didn’t know how these games worked well enough to accurately analyze it.
And since when did he feel he had to analyze his sexual performance, anyway?
Since Mistress Mina had whisked into his life with her sexy leather riding crop, he supposed.
Finally, Jack hung up, leaned back in his chair, and crossed his ankles on his desk.
“What has you lookin’ so jumbled up this mornin’? And where did you disappear to so early on Saturday night?”
“Same answer to both questions. A woman.”
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Jack raised his eyebrows. “A woman has you jumbled up?” Ty was less than thrilled to hear he looked “jumbled up”, but decided to move past it. “Yeah, and I need to find out who she was. A redhead with a killer body in a black see-through blouse and a black Mardi Gras mask with feathers. She was handing out the king cake.”
Jack blinked and lowered his feet to the floor. “I remember who you’re talkin’
about. But I never spoke to her, so I don’t know who she is. Hang on a minute,” he said, holding up one finger.
He picked up the phone again, dialing Liz back, Ty figured. Two minutes later, he hung up once more and gave Ty a perplexed look.
“Well?”
“Liz doesn’t know, either. She saw her, too—helped her with the cake, she said—
but she thought it was somebody I knew, a client or something.” Ty leaned back in his chair. “Unbelievable. The best fuck of my life, and I can’t find her.”
Jack sat up a little straighter. “The best fuck of your life?” Ty nodded. “Ropes and everything.”
An amused expression grew on Jack’s face. “Really? And everything?” Ty was beginning to feel sheepish, but given some of the stuff he’d been through with Jack over the years, he didn’t know why. “Everything as in—there was a, uh…riding crop.”
Jack nodded, grinned. “Weapons, now, too. Interesting.”
“And she wouldn’t let me take her mask off, so I never saw her face.”
“Mysterious.”
“Yep.”
“So, was bein’ tied up everything you hoped for?”
“And more, unfortunately.”
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“Unfortunately?”
“I want her again. Like I’ve never wanted a woman before. And I have no idea how to find her.”
Twenty minutes later, he walked back into the messenger service, no closer to locating Mistress Mina. He found one of his messengers, a college girl named Cara, sitting behind Mia’s desk. “Mia went to lunch,” she said. “I told her I’d cover the phones until you got back.”
He nodded. “Thanks. Any messages?”
“I think Mia put a couple on your desk before she left.” Making his way into his office, he scooped up the two small pink slips of paper.
One was from an architectural firm—they wanted to negotiate terms for a new account.
He lowered the message next to the phone, then moved on to the other one.
His heart nearly dropped to his stomach as he read it. In Mia’s neat handwriting, it said, Someone named Mina called. She’ll meet you Friday night at 8:00, outside the Café du Monde.
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Chapter Five
Ty nearly felt faint when he set eyes on Mina Friday night. She was a vision. She’d been alluring enough before he’d known what she could do to him, but with that added knowledge, she made him hard as a rock on sight.
Tonight she wore a tight, slinky dress of purple that showed lots of cleavage and lots of thigh. Same hot black heels, and he only hoped those stockings led to garters again—he had a serious thing for garters.
Of course, to his frustration but not his surprise, she was wearing another mask.
Tonight’s was covered with tiny glistening purple sequins, and three dark purple feathers fanned up from the left eye. Two strands of shimmery purple beads hung from either side of the mask, draping below her chin.
Her vibrant green gaze seemed to pin him in place.
“Mistress Mina, I presume,” he said with a smile.
“You presume?” God, her sexy voice sifted down through him like warm brown sugar.
“The mask,” he said,
pointing. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I suppose this means we’re still playing domination games tonight.” She pursed her lips. “Does that disappoint you?”
He shook his head shortly. “No.” Although that was a bit of a fib. The truth was, he’d hoped to take a little more control this time, get back into his usual comfort zone.
The fantasy had been fun, if a little unnerving, but he wanted something else tonight.
And now that he knew what it felt like to be tied up, he kind of had the urge to tie her up. He wouldn’t have minded dispensing with the mask, either. Sexy as hell? Yes. But despite that, he still wanted to see her face.
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She took his hand. “Ready?”
So she intended to lead him straight to her apartment and get right to the action. He wasn’t complaining, but… “I’d hoped to take you out to dinner first.”
“I already ate,” she said, then stepped up close to him—so close that, despite all the partiers and revelers around them, no one noticed when she pressed her palm against his cock through his khaki pants. “And I want to fuck you, lover. Now.” Warmth encased his body as the hot pressure from her hand turned him even harder. He loved that they stood in the middle of a crowd, but no one knew she was touching him so intimately. “Don’t suppose I can argue with that,” he murmured, peering heatedly down into her eyes.
Turning, she grabbed his hand and began to guide him across the street to Jackson Square. “One thing, though,” he said behind her.
When they reached the sidewalk, she stopped to look up at him. “What’s that?”
“Don’t tie me up this time. I want to touch you.”
“You didn’t like how things were last time?”
“I loved it, baby. It was…as if you read my mind.” And that was the truth. “But this time I need to have my hands on you.” He decided to keep it as simple as that. The last thing he wanted to do was piss off Mistress Mina by refusing to play her little game.
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