Looking around, she realized he wasn’t the only one who was watching. A dom was standing in the corner and smirking. The blonde who’d been glaring earlier was looking too, a disgusted look on her face. Emma wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. She didn’t know what she was going to do with the panties in her hand. If she’d had her jeans on, she could have stuffed them in a pocket. If she’d had her jeans on, she wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with.
He stood up with catlike grace and put his arm around her waist. She looked up at him. He was so tall and solid. He took the panties from her hand and stuffed them in his pocket. He almost made her forget her sense of embarrassment.
Almost. “Who is that woman?” she asked.
“Ah, you noticed her too. We almost played together earlier, and she’s pissed at me, I suspect. It has nothing to do with you.”
That wasn’t entirely reassuring. “Why almost?”
They continued walking across the room, and he didn’t answer.
“Why?” she asked again.
“It’s not my story to tell,” he said.
That didn’t satisfy her at all. I should take him at his word. If he says it has nothing to do with me, it probably doesn’t. But dammit, I want more.
Chapter Three
Diego watched as Emma turned the key in the door. He suspected she needed time to sort out what they’d done. She’d been very quiet after he’d given his answer about Laurie, and maybe she hadn’t liked what he’d said. Even though he didn’t want to play with Laurie, he didn’t know what her motivation was. She wasn’t doing a good job of keeping her secret, but it still wasn’t his to divulge.
Two things were clear to him about Emma. One was that she was a shy, quiet person, much as he had once been. As he still was, even if he forced himself to act differently. The other was that being exposed had turned her on far more than the clamps or the flogger had. He suspected she’d locked that urge up tight for a very long time. He was going to enjoy being the one to help her let it out.
Right now, though, his cock was rock hard and aching, and he wanted to be inside her. He didn’t much care how. First, they had to get inside the room because he was convinced sex in public would have been pushing Emma too fast, too soon. Maybe someday. Maybe even later that weekend. But not now.
Emma opened the door and then gasped. Diego looked over her shoulder.
A man was on all fours on one of the two beds in the room. Mistress Sue, dressed in leather, had a big pink dildo jutting from her pelvis, held in place by a series of black leather straps around her butt. She was thrusting the dildo in the man’s ass. Valerie had her legs clamped around the man’s head. Diego wasn’t sure how he was breathing. The man was as hard as Diego was.
Emma froze in place. Sue’s back was to them. Only Valerie could have seen them, and she wasn’t looking around. She looked like she was very close to coming.
He pulled Emma back from the doorway and closed the door. Obviously, this wasn’t his night to get any relief. He’d still had a wonderful time. “Maybe I better take a rain check.”
“Um. Yeah. Is there any other place we can go?”
Diego thought. One could get privacy outside in the woods, but it was a cold night and was raining lightly. As far as he was concerned, it would be worth it, but he wasn’t going to have Emma freezing so that he could get off. “I’ll be back in the morning.” Maybe it was for the best. Emma needed time to process. He took hold of her wrist, then lifted her hand up to his, giving her panties back.
“What does Sue even get out of it? I mean, I understand why men like to… I mean, a cock has nerves and stuff, but what does she get out of…whatever one calls that?”
“Pegging? Our best sex organ is our mind, Emma. I enjoy dominating you even if my cock isn’t getting touched, and I am very satisfied tonight.” He wanted to reassure her on that score, even if his cock felt differently. It was still 99 percent true. “Sex isn’t just friction and sensation. It’s what goes on up here.” He ran his hand through her hair and then drifted downward, lifting the back of her top up enough so that he could refasten her bra.
Emma nodded, looking thoughtful. “What goes on in my head is pretty messed up, huh?”
“Because you liked being exposed, or because your pulse quickened when I told you people were watching?”
“I did not like being exposed. I put up with it, for you.” Her voice was frosty, and her eyes dared him to deny it.
He started to argue but held back. She had to deal with her own feelings. He wanted to help, but if she wasn’t honest with herself, there was very little he could do. He leaned over and kissed her. “Good night, Emma. And no, you are not messed up. I find you delightful. I’ll see you in the morning.”
She returned the kiss eagerly enough but frowned at him when he stepped away. He turned away and didn’t look back. There was a chance that she wouldn’t want to see him in the morning, but he hoped she would. He didn’t have any doubt about what she’d reacted to, and he’d enjoyed her responsiveness. He didn’t need public play to get him going, not at all. But there was nothing he enjoyed more than finding out what gave a woman pleasure and providing it in spades, and he didn’t intend to hold back.
He waved to Dylan and Alex on the way out. They knew why he was going into town. Dylan and Alex ran a dance business most of the year, with square dances during the week and posh Regency dances on the weekends. People would come from all over the East Coast to stay at the Allisons’ and mingle with other elegant guests. Diego’s twenty-two-year-old daughter, Consuela, had worked with Dylan and Alex for the last two years, teaching dancing and helping everything run smoothly. Even though Diego enjoyed the kinky atmosphere of Bondage Ranch, he always stayed with Consuela when he attended.
She was both the biggest mistake of his life and his greatest joy. He’d been a teenager when she was conceived. After spending two years hardly able to talk to girls, he’d busted out of his shell and discovered that women found him very attractive. Maria had been one of them, and she’d gotten pregnant the first time they had sex. Maria kept the baby, but she wasn’t much interested in parenting. When they were both seventeen, and Consuela was learning to walk, Maria joined a gang. She said it was foolish to try to stay clean when people assumed Latinos were up to no good regardless. Before Maria was nineteen, she’d died in a gun fight. Diego had sacrificed a chance at college and worked his ass off at two jobs to raise Consuela, but he was proud of her. She was a capable, independent young woman, with her mother’s beauty and a good deal more common sense than either her parents had shown. He had no illusions she’d keep the boys at bay forever—or even that she was consistently doing so now—but she’d be sensible about it, and she’d find a good man in time. Right now, she was still his little girl, and he wasn’t going to miss his time with her.
* * * *
“Why did you have to come back to our room?” asked Emma plaintively. She’d been a bundle of mixed-up emotions for the last hour, and it made her cross. She was a shy person, not an exhibitionist. And yet she knew part of what Diego said was true. Having an audience had turned her on, and she didn’t like it. She didn’t appreciate him pointing it out either.
“I didn’t know you’d be coming back here,” Valerie said. “Not that we’d have minded if you wanted to come in. You said you wanted to play in public, where it was safe. Our being here made it safe.”
Emma fixed Valerie with a stare.
Valerie put her hands up in surrender. She was sitting on her bed, across from where Emma was sitting on hers. “Okay, okay. We weren’t here for your benefit. But I figured you’d go to his room, if you went anywhere. Usually the doms use their own room.”
“Apparently Diego is staying in town.”
“How strange.” Valerie shrugged.
“What do you know about him?”
“I don’t know a lot. He’s a friend of the Allisons. I’ve seen him do some scenes, but he’s never been interested in doing one
with me.”
“Scenes with other women?”
“Well, I don’t think he’s gay.”
Emma didn’t like the idea of him doing things with other women at all, but she couldn’t really say it was a surprise to her. Or that she had a right to be peeved. But Valerie’s comment had brought it all home to her. She frowned.
“Look, Emma,” said Valerie. “You can’t take it that way. Lots of people play with two, three people over the course of even one weekend here. You can’t go thinking you own someone just because they did one scene with you.”
“So you’ve watched him with other women in that big dungeon area? Playing in front of everyone?”
“Yeah.”
“How many?”
Valerie threw up her hands. “Really, Emma? I don’t know, a handful. I’m going out for a smoke.”
Being with Diego had been an amazing experience. But Emma supposed he did that sort of thing all the time. She was just his latest conquest. She watched as Valerie walked toward the door. Emma didn’t want to be alone. “You still didn’t explain why you were in our room to begin with.”
“We wanted some toys I had in my suitcase.” Valerie shrugged. “And once we were here, things developed. I didn’t expect you back so soon, and I thought I was giving you space, not getting in your way.”
Emma nodded. “It’s okay.” It really wasn’t Valerie’s fault. It just hadn’t worked out well.
Valerie ran over to her, gave her a quick hug. Emma returned it. She didn’t want to argue with her friend. “I’m sorry for being upset.”
“It’s natural,” said Valerie. “You’ll get another chance to play, though. In private or public. Just keep being open to the opportunities.”
Valerie turned to go, and this time Emma let her. She waited until the door was closed to let out a sigh. Being open to the opportunities was easier said than done. Emma was the shy one; Valerie got the boys. That was the way Val expected it to be, and maybe she was right. But maybe it was time for an exception.
There was nothing to do about it now, however. She knew what Valerie would do. She would hop right back up and go to the dungeon or the living room and mingle and flirt. But after what Emma had done in the dungeon area, she was embarrassed to show her face in public. If it weren’t for Diego’s promise to come back in the morning, she’d be tempted to pack up her bags and head for home. She was Valerie’s ride, but she could come back to pick her up Sunday afternoon, if Val couldn’t hitch a ride back to Philly with one of her numerous friends.
Diego was right. Playing in public had turned her on like nothing before ever had. But she didn’t think he understood how she felt after. Just because it aroused her at the time didn’t mean she liked it.
I’m not that kind of girl.
She stripped, putting her clothes neatly away. She could smell Diego on her skin. She got out her fuzziest, warmest flannel nightie and pulled it on. It was barely long enough to be decent and could ride up if she wasn’t careful. She picked up a pair of demure pink-and-blue-striped cotton panties and considered them. She usually went without at home. But the bathroom was down the hall, and there was a chance she’d have to get up sometime during the middle of the night for a pit stop.
She put the panties on.
Not that kind of girl at all.
She climbed into bed. Hopefully Valerie would let herself in quietly, whenever she got back, although that seemed unlikely. Valerie didn’t really do quiet.
Emma closed her eyes. It’d be fun to be that way. Uninhibited. For a few minutes, Diego had taken her there, and it had been lovely. Thinking about it again made her wet and tingly.
She slipped off her panties and, in a fit of rebellion, dropped them by the side of the bed rather than getting back up to put them away neatly. She closed her eyes again. No matter how tightly she shut them, she kept seeing Diego. She wanted to see him again. The sooner she slept, the faster morning would come. She imagined saying yes to him. She considered saying no. What if he wants to do another public scene? What if he wants to do even more than he did last time? Yes. No. Please. No fucking way.
I’ll never get to sleep. And then I’ll be a mess in the morning, even if Diego does show up and is still interested in me. Valerie was surely done with her cigarette by now, so she must have decided to go back to partying.
Emma pulled up her nightie. She was still wet. It’s only a fantasy. Thinking it doesn’t mean I’ll do it. She thought about being stripped by Diego. People watching. Him unbuckling his pants. She had seen the bulge in his trousers; now she imagined the big cock that must have caused it. He spread her legs, pushed her over a bed. Entered her. Her fingers slipped inside her wet channel as she considered it—a small substitute, but it still felt good. Gathering wetness, she moved her fingers in small circles around her clit. Subtlety be damned, this time she just wanted to get off.
She came quickly. It wasn’t as satisfying as when Diego did it, but it relaxed her enough that she thought she could get to sleep. A woman has to do what a woman has to do.
Her last conscious thought was to wonder whether Diego would tell her to play with herself, or forbid it. And if he told her to, would he want to watch?
* * * *
She woke up and looked at her cell phone for the time. A few minutes after nine. There was no way to tell if Diego was in the building or not. Across the room, Valerie was snoring at a most unladylike volume that made Emma giggle. She reached for the panties that were crumpled up on the floor, barely worn, but when she uncrumpled them, she realized they wouldn’t do. She needed something sexier. She looked at her phone to see the time again, but instead saw her reflection in the turned-off screen. Sexy underwear wasn’t all she needed. A shower and makeup were a must before Diego saw her and ran off in fright. She grabbed a towel and headed off, realizing as she was halfway there that she still hadn’t gotten any panties on. She gave her nightie a downward tug and scampered.
She was lucky to get to the women’s showers as a stall was vacated. There was often a line at Bondage Ranch, but then, by a lot of people’s standards, anything before eleven was early. The partying usually went late into the night. Possibly a lot of couples found better things to do than get out of bed right away too. She had a vision of waking up next to Diego and running her hands over his smooth, dark skin. She turned on the shower, and a blast of cold water helped drive the vision from her mind. She didn’t know when Diego would be back. Maybe he was already there. She wanted to be efficient and see him when she was all prettied up, not with wet hair, no makeup, and wrapped in a towel. She didn’t turn the hot water up so she wouldn’t fall into her usual trap of losing track of time as the warmth pounded on her shoulders. As a result, her nipples tightened, and she was reminded of the clamps the night before. She didn’t know what to make of her memory. The clamps had hurt, but somehow that wasn’t all bad. The thing that pushed it into the positive zone was the idea that she was taking it for him. That was too confusing, so she put the thought aside and quickly soaped down and washed her hair.
Thankfully, she ran into no one on the way back to her room. Valerie was still snoring away. Emma looked through her clothes critically. The outfit she had chosen the night before, which had seemed so daring, now seemed almost tame. She couldn’t wear it again anyway. And she had nothing else as sexy, although she supposed she could leave a blouse partly unbuttoned and that would show as much or more cleavage than the tank top. She had a white blouse that wasn’t entirely opaque, although it was close enough that she wore it to her job with a pale chemise underneath it without a fret. She grinned and grabbed her black bra. There. That would make a statement. She added a black skirt that ended above her knee and then rolled up the waistband once to get an extra inch of leg. A black thong made her feel extra sexy, although no one could tell whether she was wearing that or granny panties.
Then again, maybe Diego will lift the skirt. Maybe he’ll do it in front of everyone. At Bondage Ranch it would be more e
mbarrassing to be caught with white cotton briefs than it would be with a thong. Probably. She went to work on her makeup.
She was standing in front of the mirror to the side of the window and had just finished putting on her lipstick when there was a knock on the door.
Diego? Her heart skipped a beat. She tried to be cool as she smoothed out her skirt before walking to get the door. The knock woke Valerie, who muttered something incoherent as she sat up. Valerie slept naked, and she hadn’t bothered to pull the sheet up to cover herself, either.
“Do you mind?” asked Emma.
“Not at all,” said Valerie, who didn’t move.
“Just what I want. Diego to see your boobs the moment he walks in.”
“Doesn’t bother me. You’re such a prude, Emma.” Nonetheless Valerie wrapped the sheet around her.
“Thank you.” Emma opened the door.
Diego filled the door frame. His black hair was unruly, his black shirt partly unbuttoned, his black jeans faded, and he looked fabulous. She doubted he spent more than a second thinking about how much chest to show, and his jeans were probably only tight because with his muscles it would be hard to find loose ones, but it didn’t matter. I ought to stop staring and say something. But staring was a hell of a lot easier.
“Good God, don’t you people sleep in?” Valerie grumbled. Emma heard Valerie’s feet hit the floor but didn’t want to tear her gaze away from Diego to find out whether Valerie had contrived to be decent. Diego was looking at her, and that was what mattered. His gaze swept Emma from head to toe and then back up again. There was no coyness in it, and he met her eyes when he was done.
Bondage Ranch 5: His Little Treasure Page 4