At the Brink

by Anna del Mar

  “Hush, sweet.” Josh patted my mons and thumbed my clit. “Steady as she goes.”

  “Ooh.”

  My body gave in and the glass head breached me and settled hot and weighty in my sensitive channel. Holy Mother. I lay my head back on the pillow, adjusting to the satisfying presence. The sensation was amazing.

  “More?” Josh asked.

  I nodded.

  Josh worked the wand forward ever so gently. It inched upward, a slow, delicious advance. I pressed my cheek to the pillow, trembling with the incredible sensation. The hard glass glided into me. I felt myself widen to admit the next, bulkier bulb. My vaginal walls pulsed in delight while Josh’s steady hand manned the knob, driving the wand, driving me.

  “Jesus, Lily, you’re a wonder,” he said, breath sharp, voice husky. “Yours is the prettiest, hottest, most appealing little cunt ever created. I wish you could see this.”

  No way could I handle seeing what I felt. Not in my present state. In fact, I gave silent thanks for the blindfold. I also gave thanks for the straps that restrained my legs, especially when Josh added wrist, thrust and rhythm to the wand’s latest dive. The friction drove me insane but, strapped down, I didn’t have to worry about missing out on any of the sensations bedazzling my body. I didn’t have to worry about my body’s reflexes either, or about displeasing Josh or messing up his careful pleasure plans for me.

  The erotic massager lived up to those fantastic reviews Josh had mentioned. Pussy worshipping had to be the fastest-growing religion in the world and I was its latest and most appreciative convert.

  “Would you like another wave?” Josh asked.

  “I’m good,” I said, breathing in and out through my mouth.

  “Too full?”

  “Just right,” I rasped.

  “Excellent.” He stroked my overwrought sex. “Jesus, Lily, you’re drenched. It’s like a bottle of fine oil spilled in there.”

  That’s exactly how I felt, what with the wand doing the bottle-busting and his hand adding to the mess. I had exactly an instant to feel guilty before I remembered that an “active sex bed” would be properly designed to withstand more than my emissions. Then the sound of Josh smacking his lips caught my attention.

  “Hmm.” I imagined Josh licking his fingers. “We’d make a fortune if we bottled your broth.”

  Nothing like being fondled, savored and found delicious to get a girl to make more of that.

  “Now, Lily,” Josh said. “I want to see your pussy working the wand.”

  “Don’t make me do that,” I protested, but behind the blindfold, in the black canvas of my mind, I immediately began to imagine what he’d see.

  “Try it,” he said. “Show me what your sweet, eager, enterprising little cunt does to my cock every time I fuck you. Make it enticing, a little seduction can get you some extra ‘fuck me’ points, but remember—don’t come until I tell you to.”

  “You’re a monster.”

  He laughed. “But I’m your monster.”

  I bore down on the wand and discovered a host of new sensations. My body hummed with the thrill. Knowing that Josh was watching me made me braver, bolder. I tightened, loosened, swiveled and slid back and forth on the undulating shaft with increasing enthusiasm. I felt sexy working the pole, the way I imagined a pole dancer might feel when she danced, except that this pole was in me.

  To my joy, Josh’s breaths quickened. His intensity heated the air and I caught a whiff of his need’s heady scent as he worked the wand in my sheath in slow but thorough strokes.

  It was supreme torture. If I’d been tested before, now I was being vetted. A vetting process, yes. Maybe that’s what tonight was about. Pussy worshipping was a demanding faith and divinity at this level of hyper sexuality required grit, endurance and talent I never knew I had.

  “Oh, God!” I cried out. “Josh? I have to come.”

  “Do you now?” He withdrew the wand entirely from me and left me hanging, dangling at the edge of a tantalizing orgasm, chest heaving, body wet with a fresh coat of sweat, legs straining in the bonds, heels dug in the mattress.

  “Don’t do this to me,” I protested. “Not now.”

  “Everything I do is for your own good,” Josh said.

  I grumbled. “Finishing me would feel really good to me right now.”

  “All in good time,” he said. “We stick with the plan.”

  I groaned in frustration. His freaking plan was driving me mad.

  “Now, pay attention,” he said. “I’m going to untie your legs, but don’t move, not even a toe. And keep your hands on the strap. Okay?”

  He was going to untie me? Why? Was he done with me? Because I was definitively not done with him.

  The pull of the straps on my legs subsided. My hips gave a little and my knees lifted a couple of inches off the mattress. I kept it together. I didn’t move, even though I wanted to rip off the blindfold, flip Josh on his back and hop onto his erection.

  But I knew better. I kept my hands on the strap while I tracked him moving around the bed. My heart boomed in my chest when the weight of his body settled carefully over me. He smelled of sex, sweat, activated deodorant and me.

  “Is this what you want?” He whispered in my ear as the head of his cock brushed against my groin and his tongue thrust into my mouth in a rapacious kiss that ended with his teeth raking over my lower lip.

  “Think carefully before you answer,” he whispered, kneading my breast, rubbing my nipple between his fingers, tugging and squashing it, until I arched beneath him and gave out a long, lusty moan.

  “Yeah, think it through,” he murmured, “before you let me fuck you in my home, in this bed, because tonight was just a sampling and this bed has tremendous capabilities.”

  A sampling? Is that what tonight was? Not just an inauguration of the bed but an initiation of our new relationship and perhaps even a reminder of his sexual terms and conditions? I was drunk on his scent, maddened with desire and in no condition to think, but I wondered: Was tonight a warning? An enticement? Both?

  “Grab your ankles.” He shoved his hands behind my knees and tugged on my legs.

  My body bent to his will. Braced by his arms, my legs opened into a wide “V” and my heels took to the air somewhere in the neighborhood around his shoulders. I let go of the strap and groped blindly, but he guided my hands to my ankles and now I was spread open all over again, with my hips tilted up against his groin, his breath gusting over my face and his cock perched against my opening.

  “I’ll ask you one last time,” he rumbled. “Is this what you’ve wanted all night?”

  My fingers tightened around my ankles. My heart and soul aligned to power my whisper. Same old answer. “Yes.”

  He stabbed into me, a firm, long thrust that went all the way to my cervix. I screamed, from pleasure, from agony, from the sheer joy of a fierce and absolute possession. Nothing in the world could satisfy me like Josh did. No toy in the universe could match the pleasure of his full cock throbbing at the bottom of my sex, cramming the void in me, pumping in and out of my channel, plowing me for the imminent arrival of his seed and the orgasm that would surely end me.

  “You wanted to know,” he rasped. “Why I like to fuck you real hard like this.”

  I wasn’t sure that the why was so important at the moment, as long as he kept doing it, but he told me anyway. “Because you, Lily, you need it.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Josh

  I woke up from a deep, satisfying sleep. There was a woman cuddled next to me, pillows and blankets everywhere, and an awful lot of cobalt blue around me.

  Lily’s room. I remembered and smiled. She had said yes. To me. She’d accepted the keys. She’d slept in my house, in her bed, next to me. She’d liked all of her surprises and becoming
the direct beneficiary of her happiness had redefined mine.

  The cell hummed, pounding on the night table with remarkable grit. I reached out and grabbed it, stealing a look at the time. It was five past nine in the morning.

  I scrambled out from under the blankets and stumbled out of Lily’s bed. I was late. Me. An hour and a half late. I blinked to clear my sight and saw that it was Alice calling. She was probably wondering if I was dead.

  I clicked on the phone as soon as I got to the landing. “Alice.”

  “Mr. Lane?” she said. “Where are you? You were supposed to meet with the Swiss at nine o’clock. Mr. Riker and Mr. Stratton insisted I call. They’re here, Mr. Lane. The Swiss are punctual. What are we supposed to do with them?”

  “Tell Thomas to start the meeting.” I headed up the stairs, zippering my pants. “Tell him I’ll be there in twenty minutes, half an hour max.”

  “Okay.”

  “And Alice?” I took the stairs in twos. “Have Amman run over to Olivetti’s and get me an asiago bagel with salmon-infused cream cheese and a large latte in a thermal cup. Got that?”

  “Got it.”

  Jesus Christ. How I’d overslept was beyond me. But for some reason, after last night’s sport, I’d fallen asleep like a bear in winter. Maybe Lily’s deep slumber was contagious. I bolted through my bedroom and stared at the stranger in the bathroom mirror. He wasn’t me. He couldn’t be. He looked bewildered, in a rush, a little out of control. His hair was too long, his beard stubble was too dark. He looked...rested?

  Definitively not me.

  I rushed through my morning routine. I ripped everything off and hopped into the shower. I showered, shaved and was ready in twenty minutes, suit, tie, accessories, the works. In all truth, I’d skipped several steps, but what the hell. I was late. Late.

  I met Amman at the door. He smirked when he handed over the bag with the bagel and coffee.

  “Wipe that stupid grin from your face,” I said.

  “I’ll do it if you do it.”

  I slammed the door on him.

  I left the food on a tray by Lily’s bed. She stirred and smiled when I kissed her good-bye and then went right back to sleep. How I wished I could stay.

  I got to the office by nine forty-five. By then the meeting was in progress. It worked better than expected, because Thomas had already presented them with the projections and all I had to do was close the deal. Needless to say, my inbox was crammed full by the time I got to my desk. It was going to be one of those days.

  “Mr. Lane?” Alice walked into my office. “Mr. Stratton asks if he can come up.”

  “Affirmative.”

  “And you’ve got a visitor on the way.”

  “I don’t have anyone on my schedule.”

  “Yes,” Alice said cryptically. “I know.”

  I looked up to see Lisa Artiaga stepping out of the elevator. She wore knee high boots, a tiny twill miniskirt and a matching jacket with a plunging neckline. She wasn’t alone.

  “Tell her I’m in a meeting,” I said.

  “She’ll wait,” Alice said. “She’ll sit there like she did the last time and she won’t go until you see her.”

  “Okay, tell her I have a meeting in five minutes and then send her in.”

  Alice made for the door. “Good luck.”

  Yeah. I was going to need it.

  “My dear,” Lisa said, marching across the office, coming around the desk and planting a kiss on my lips. “I have the final report on the gala. Such a smashing success.”

  “You could’ve emailed me the report.” I motioned toward the chairs, wiping off the lipstick from my mouth.

  “I wanted to share it personally with you.” Lisa plopped down across the desk. “This is my friend, Rachella Willis. She wanted to meet you.”

  Rachella Willis seemed familiar. “Do I know you?”

  “No, but I want to know you” She winked at me. “You might really like meeting me.”

  Jesus Christ. Lisa was desperate.

  “Here’s the report.” Lisa placed a sealed envelope on my desk. “I think you’ll find it satisfactory. Don’t you want to open it?”

  “I’ll look at it later.” I set it aside.

  “Now would be better,” Lisa said.

  “I don’t have time right now.”

  “Okey dokey,” Lisa cooed. “If we’re having a super busy day, then we should meet soon, tonight maybe?”

  “I can’t.”

  “I’m so looking forward to hosting our next benefit together.”

  “I already told you that I can’t host the next benefit.”

  Lily wouldn’t like that at all. She wouldn’t like learning about this meeting either. I smiled inwardly. Lily’s jealous streak had surprised me, but given what I knew about her childhood and her history, I understood it. Oddly, part of me felt lucky that she felt strongly enough about me to engender such fierce emotions. Go figure.

  “Surely you’re interested in the welfare of all those wounded warriors,” Lisa said. “You must host the New Year’s extravaganza. Nobody brings out the money—old and new—like you do, Josh, and Rachella here would love to work with us.”

  Rachella raised her hand as if she were in a classroom. “Oh, I want to volunteer. Please?”

  It was an all-out assault and a few weeks ago I’d been so bored with my life I might have gone for it. Now I wasn’t even stirring as Rachella uncrossed her legs and gave me a very good view of her private assets.

  “Did Alice tell you I have a meeting?” I said, spotting Thomas outside my door.

  “Yes.” Lisa got up and bent down slowly to collect her expensive purse from the floor.

  It was impossible not to remember what her best asset had been.

  “Call me,” she said. “Okay?”

  She smiled at Thomas as he held the door open for her.

  He couldn’t take his eyes off her ass.

  “How do you do it?” he asked, after the women were gone.

  “It’s a curse,” I muttered. “What’s up?”

  Thomas plopped down on the chair across from me. “Mr. Chamberlain called me first thing this morning.”

  “Don’t tell me,” I said. “The son of a bitch is going to sue me.”

  “You’ll be surprised,” Thomas said. “He asked me to convey his apologies. He didn’t think you’d mind a dance.”

  “He knew better.”

  “Maybe, but you can’t blame him for trying to rattle your cage when you tried to rattle his. After all, DaSilva was his guest for the evening.”

  “Nobody touches Lily,” I said. “Nobody.”

  “I think he got the message,” Thomas said. “In any case, he apologized. He wanted to know if you got a chance to look at his latest proposal.”

  “My position is the same,” I said. “We’re not looking to be bought.”

  “All right,” Thomas said. “Did you have a chance to look at WindTech’s reports?”

  “Not pretty,” I said. “Let’s give it another week or so.”

  “Li Chao wants to know if you’ll be heading the Chinese review next week in Shanghai.”

  “I’m not sure yet.”

  “Iceland?”

  “Got to fit it in somehow.”

  The screen on my phone lit up. A quick glance revealed that Lily was awake.

  “I want to talk to you about a technical partnership,” Thomas said. “A joint project with Cal Tech.”

  “Can you email me the details?”

  “Sure, but—”

  “Email me the project description, then we’ll talk,” I said impatiently. “Anything else?”

  “Nothing that can’t be done over email.” Thomas got up and straightened his jacket. />
  Even I could tell that I’d ruffled Thomas’s feathers.

  “By the way,” I said. “You did a fine job with the Swiss today.”

  “Thank you, Josh. I’m glad everything went well. I think we could have another banner year ahead. If we keep up the pace, stay focused, we could beat last year.”

  “I think so too.”

  Thomas’s implications weren’t lost to me. It was an important reminder. But knowing Lily was awake, I was impatient to move on to her next surprise. I dismissed Thomas with a nod and clicked on Lily’s number.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Lily

  I was enjoying my favorite breakfast, relishing the thoughtfulness that Josh had put into it, when my cell went off. My entire body buzzed at the sight of Josh’s name on the screen. My sex pulsed with the vivid memories of last night. My heart rejoiced. I clicked on the cell. Josh’s handsome face appeared on the screen.

  “Hey,” he said. “You’re looking all sleepy and tousled. Doing good?”

  “Fine,” I said. “You?”

  “Busy and tired.” He flashed the goofy grin I adored. “You gave me a good workout last night.”

  “I gave you a workout?” I burst out laughing. “Right.”

  “I need you to get up and go upstairs, quickly, please.”

  “Why?”

  “Come on sleepy head. Get going. Take me with you, will you?”

  I put on the robe I found in the closet and juggling the phone and the coffee cup, went to the door. Before I opened it, I asked Josh. “Is there a housekeeper here as well?”

  “There is, but she’s off this week, visiting her sister in Milwaukee, so get going.”

  I mounted the steps to the third floor, where I spotted the door to Josh’s rooms. It struck me that I had never been in his space, just as I’d never seen him without his clothes. Despite our huge, recent milestones, he still held me at arm’s length.

  The thought brought back a memory from last night, when I’d woken up, startled by an unfamiliar sound. At first, I thought there might be a wounded animal somewhere in the bedroom. Then I realized that the sound came from Josh, who tossed on the bed next to me. The fire in the hearth cast both shadows and tenuous light on his face. His eyes moved rapidly beneath closed eyelids.