Emma started. What Diego had been doing had definitely been getting her going, but she thought it was just her. “I’m sure you two have hot scenes all the time. You’re experts at this. Everyone says so.”
Alex laughed. “Oh, there are experts here. We’re just the ones with a nice house to host in. There’s a reason we like getting our kinky friends together now and then. We aren’t swingers, and we don’t play with others—well, not very often. But we draw inspiration for our own relationship from what other people do. I like to think that the circle goes all the way around, and that Bondage Ranch is one big place where everyone learns from each other. Did you see the pony races at noon yesterday?”
Men and women dressed up as ponies with butt plug tails and impossible heels, prancing around a course. It hadn’t been her thing, but it had been interesting to watch. “Yes.”
“And the primals are having a bonfire tonight. Dylan and I went last year, and we’re not into the whole primal thing, but we still learned something. There’s variety in the dungeon and out. Tomorrow morning Bruce is going to do his rope demo. I think James is going to join him to talk about how chains can be used for bondage. For all that Bruce is an expert, I remember him saying that he was going to learn from James, because they do things differently.”
“Uh, okay. What or who is a primal?”
Alex smiled. “Like most words, everyone who is involved might identify it a little differently. Some of us are into kink because we’re into structure, or ritual. Top, bottom, master, slave—the sense of order gives us the safety to release our desires. Primals are almost the opposite end of the spectrum, I’d say. They embrace the disorder, the animals inside themselves. They’d rather play with fingernails and biting than with whips and chains. A few who come to Bondage Ranch never step inside the building at all, preferring to stay outside with the elements even when it rains. But the nice thing here is that you can cross over. Sample.”
“Huh.” Emma had to admit she liked her structure. But there had been plenty of structure with the ponies, and it still hadn’t been her thing. “So it’s kind of anything goes?”
“It still has to be safe and consensual. Just because someone identifies as a primal doesn’t mean that they are going to forget to use a condom or fail to honor a safe word. We all want to live to come back here and have fun the next time.”
Emma breathed a sigh of relief. There was a lot about BDSM she didn’t know. She piled a roast beef sandwich on a paper plate and added a few carrots and a dollop of dip.
“Sodas and water is in the fridge,” said Alex.
“Thank you.” Alex’s fridge was twice the size of her own, but Emma supposed it had to be. Emma rummaged around, looking for her favorite brand of diet cola. She looked up just in time to see Valerie hovering in the doorway, gesturing to Alex.
“Excuse me,” said Alex.
“What are you up to?” asked Emma of Valerie.
Valerie just grinned. “That’s for me to know and for you to find out.”
* * * *
The bonfire had started small, but it was getting bigger by the moment. The sounds of drums filled the evening air, along with the scents of burning wood and citronella. Diego sat cross-legged facing the fire, basking in its heat, his clothes in a pile near the edge of the clearing twenty feet away. When he was playing, he liked to remain dressed, a subtle display of power to accentuate the difference between himself and his sub. But he had no hang-ups about his body, and it was a nice enough evening. The bonfire kept everything warm.
Around him, most everyone was naked. The fetish wear so popular in the dungeon and the Ranch in general was hardly in evidence. A few people wore collars. Others wore paint on their bodies. Several were already making out, having sex, or wrestling.
A blonde and buxom woman crawled in front of him. She was beautiful, curved in all the right places, her breasts hanging down full, her tummy soft and rounded. “Want to play?” she asked, her eyelashes moving in a staccato rhythm that was more blink than flutter. She lifted her hands, curling them in a clawlike fashion, and Diego could see that her nails were painted lavender and were quite long. It was clear what sort of play she was offering. It would be rough, animalistic, and his back would probably be thoroughly scratched at the end. It was just the sort of thing to get him out of his head and into his body. It would help him forget the mistakes he’d made with Emma.
He was tempted. He locked gazes with her. She held his for a moment. At first he thought she’d lowered it out of respect—it was often a ritual with the primals, he noticed, to stare each other down until one submitted. But if that was how it started, she turned it into a thorough look over his body before raising her gaze to his again.
Oh so tempting. But he shook his head. “You’re a beautiful woman, but not now.”
“Later, maybe. I’m Desi.”
“Diego.”
Desi grinned and moved on, her ass swaying as she crawled on the dirt. For most, crawling was submissive, possibly even debasing. The way she did it, it was predatory.
You made a mistake, Diego told himself. Time to move on. But he didn’t feel like moving on. He wanted Emma’s skin pressed against his again. He wondered how she would react to the scene here, where everyone was naked. She’d never venture here on her own, of course. She’d only come if someone took her. Would probably only take her clothes off if someone told her to. And then she’d love every minute of being naked. He didn’t think she was a primal, exactly. He couldn’t imagine her growling and clawing. But she’d love being exposed. Being watched.
From the point of view of the people here, why should human beings alone of God’s creatures go and get a room to have sex? He wasn’t fully on board with that, but he could see they had a point. A few feet away, a woman moaned as she was filled by her partner, a large hirsute man. They were both dusty from the ground, but now they were having sex in the missionary position, her legs wrapped around him. How traditional. Diego chuckled. It didn’t matter. It was beautiful, whether they were in love or just giving each other pleasure for the evening.
He turned his attention back to the fire and tried to empty his head. He didn’t really want to be caught up in the sights. Even with his eyes focused ahead, he could hear the groans, growls, and grunts of the people around him. He tried to blank his mind. He admitted it was a strange place to meditate, but he could never focus in an empty, soundless room. There was so much going on around him that his mind couldn’t fixate on Emma, and that was the important thing. He needed some distance from her so he could think about her clearly and either let her go and move on or make a plan to win her back.
Not thinking about a plan now or moving on. Just the fire. The drums. The sounds.
For a while, he managed to pull it off.
“Gonna sit here all night?” said a familiar voice.
He turned his head to see Alex Allison. She’d compromised between modesty and the primal dress code, wearing only a thong and a bra. His gaze moved swiftly up to her face. He couldn’t fault himself too much for looking, but she was another man’s wife after all. He looked around for Dylan, but apparently Alex was there alone. Odd.
“I don’t play with married women,” he said, gently.
“I don’t play without my husband.” She sat down next to him. “Do you sit around and mope with married women?”
“I’m not sitting and moping. I’m meditating.”
“Heh. Just like Bruce, hmm? I don’t buy it.”
“I took a class from him once. It was very interesting.”
“Yeah. I bet. Like listening to him drone on and on about rope.”
“That’s interesting too.”
Alex grinned. “I agree, actually. I like the bit where he tells people not to call that one knot a cow hitch when using it to tie their woman to a bedpost.”
“The lark’s head.”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
His eyes narrowed. It was possible that Alex was just doing
the rounds, but it seemed unlikely. And she wasn’t here to play, so why was she hanging about the campfire half-naked. “Did you come out here just to torture me?”
Alex giggled. “I’m a submissive, Diego! I don’t have a toppish bone in my body. I’m certainly not a sadist.”
Her protests confirmed his suspicion. “I hear you switch now and then.” In fact, he knew it. Alex was not always the bottom in her relationship. What Dylan and Alex had seemed to work for them. Everyone did D/s a little bit differently, no matter how pompous people got sometimes when describing the one true way.
“Only when necessary. I came out to tell you two things. One is that someone reported seeing Laurie open the door to Emma’s room. Laurie agreed to leave Bondage Ranch, never to come back, in return for Constance not pressing charges. We consider the matter closed.”
Diego gave a sigh of relief. He didn’t want to ask, but he wanted to know the answer. “Did Emma end up going home? Do you know?”
Alex’s grin widened. “I do know.”
“And?”
“Oh, you know we’re all about confidentiality here, Diego. I can’t tell you that.”
Grr. Whatever game Alex was playing, he wasn’t in the mood. “You said you had two things to tell me?”
“Just that this is the last evening of the Bondage Ranch weekend. Last opportunity to do whatever you want to do. I’m headed back to the dungeon. Dylan and I have a hot scene planned, and Bruce is going to take over as the man in charge for a bit so we can have some fun. If Emma is still here, I wonder if she’s found a man to top her yet? I think she knows she only has the one night left too. No time for inhibitions. She might get a bit, um, reckless.” Alex got to her feet. Diego watched mutely as she took a few steps, retrieved her dress from where she’d left it next to a tree, and put it on. Then Alex walked back down the path to the house.
The thought of Emma with another man made his blood boil. But Alex was right. Soon he’d be back to his ordinary life, where people wore clothes. On the last night people did things they regretted sometimes. But they also did things they’d been wanting to do all weekend, knowing the chance might slip through their grasp. For him, he had an active social life back home. He didn’t have any trouble finding a woman to sleep or play with him. Emma shouldn’t have any trouble finding a bedmate either, but he suspected her shyness got in her way. For her the pressure to do something now would be high.
He looked around him. Desi was extricating herself from a pile involving three men and another woman. He wasn’t sure what they’d all been doing, but she met his gaze for a moment. He watched her breasts swing as she moved toward him. Sweat shone on her body, illuminated by the flicker of the fire. Time to live life with no regrets. Nothing else will do.
He shook his head at Desi and got to his feet. It was twilight and already the woods were darker. He went to fetch his clothes. Time to find Emma. Hopefully I’m not too late.
“HERE?” EMMA ASKED. She’d followed Valerie, Mistress Sue, and Keith down the path and had assumed the bonfire flickering in the distance was their destination, so she was surprised when Sue and Valerie stopped at what seemed only a tiny widening of the path. Keith apparently was surprised as well. Sue had been tugging him along on a leash, but he failed to stop when she did and ended up bumping into his Mistress.
“And here I thought I might let you come this time.” Sue grinned wickedly at her sub.
“Sorry, Mistress!” Keith said, putting down the bags full of toys he was carrying and kneeling down before Sue. He had been holding Valerie’s bag in one hand, Sue’s in the other.
“Here,” confirmed Valerie.
For a moment Emma forgot that she’d asked. Forgot even that she was supposed to be submissive and that Valerie was her top. Emma didn’t feel very submissive at all, especially not compared to the fawning Keith. And Valerie was just her friend. It was all a charade.
But then, what was it Shakespeare said? All the world is a stage, and all the people merely players? There was no reason she couldn’t play her part. There wasn’t that big a difference between playing a part and the real thing, was there? Valerie didn’t seem to think so.
And yet, being with Valerie felt very different than being with Diego. It wasn’t just because Valerie was a woman and Emma was straight.
“Off with your clothes, Emma.”
“All of them?”
“You can keep your undies on.” Valerie stood back. Emma remembered how Diego had unbuttoned her blouse. How he drew it out, making each unveiling seem like an event, his intent gaze making her feel even more exposed and yet sexy at the same time. With Valerie, it felt like changing into her swimsuit. She tried to wall off her emotions and set about following directions. She’d spotted other people without clothes in the woods. They wouldn’t give her a second glance, especially with Sue and Valerie to look at, even if the other two were semidressed.
Valerie faced a sturdy maple tree, her arms at her side, very straight, practically kissing the tree. “I want you to stand like this.” Then Valerie moved, and Emma took her place. Emma felt cold, although not unbearably so, in the evening air. Still, it had hardened her nipples to tight points. If they are going to ache, cold is not the reason I would have chosen.
Valerie pulled a coil of brown rope out of her bag. She found the middle and wrapped it, doubled up, around the top of Emma’s back, both arms, and the tree. Then it came around a few more times. She cinched it tight and then got another coil of rope. This rope went around Emma’s thighs, twice again, and around the tree.
Emma tried to pull forward but couldn’t. Furthermore, the ropes were kind of itchy, which made her want to squirm, which in turn made it scratch more. She steeled herself to stay still and to try to enjoy the experience. A few feet away, Sue had also found a tree to tie her sub to. Keith, however, was facing out—stark naked and erect. Sue was tying up his private parts. Emma wondered if that rope was scratchy too. She supposed she should be thankful she didn’t have to endure something like that, although Keith looked very turned on.
Emma wasn’t. Not at all.
Dammit.
“All righty,” said Valerie. “Let’s get started, shall we?”
“Um, sure.”
Emma turned her head to see Valerie pull a flogger from the bag and then looked back toward the tree and closed her eyes. The tails struck her back softly. Again, more heavily. If nothing else, she figured she made a pretty picture. She tried to imagine people watching, but even then she didn’t feel a thrill.
There were voices on the path, and she turned to look.
“Oh no you don’t,” said Valerie. She rummaged in her bag and produced a blindfold. She wrapped it around Emma’s head before Emma could see who might be coming.
Emma gritted her teeth.
She tried, as Valerie continued, to figure out the difference between what Valerie did and what Diego did. Even the first flogging she’d received from Valerie was better than what she was doing now. In principle, the idea of being tied up, half naked, while people walked by—that was the stuff of Emma’s fantasies. She felt safe enough in Valerie’s hands, so that wasn’t an issue.
But none of it was turning her on.
She stood there and took the beating, as Valerie switched implements to a stingier flogger. It hurt worse than the other, and Emma almost used her safe word. But Valerie stopped a moment.
“Hey, Alex,” Valerie said. “How’d your mission go?”
“Well. I think,” said Alex. “I can’t make promises.”
“Okay.” Valerie hit Emma with the stinging flogger again, not quite as hard. “How is that?”
Emma shrugged. “Go ahead. I’m fine.” I might as well experience it all.
“I’m not getting to you at all, am I?”
Emma sighed, feeling vaguely like the failure was hers. “No,” she admitted.
“Want Alex to give it a try?”
“No.”
“Okay, we’ll try a different t
ack. Sue? Could I borrow Keith?”
She heard whispers and rustling. Alex leaned in close to her and gave her an awkward hug from the back. “How are you doing, Emma?” she asked.
Emma turned her head to the side to face Alex’s voice. She felt like crying. “I don’t know. I’m just lost, I think.”
“Would it be better if it was a man?”
“Maybe.”
“I think Valerie’s going to get Keith to do it.”
Emma frowned. She didn’t think that would help at all. It wasn’t that Keith was any less of a man for being submissive, but she doubted he’d get into it. And without that desire, what was the point?
I want Diego.
“Just a moment.” Alex moved away, and Emma was instantly aware of the lack of the woman’s body heat. The flogging had been keeping her warm, she supposed. A moment later, though, Alex was back, covering Emma with a blanket while Sue and Valerie got things organized.
Alex spoke softly. “I did want to tell you: James caught the person who took Constance’s jewels. She’s gone and won’t be coming back to Bondage Ranch ever. Diego had nothing to do with it.”
“I knew he didn’t,” said Emma.
“Good.”
Sue’s voice cut in. “If you can turn her on, I will let you come.”
Huh?
“With your hand, Mistress?” asked Keith.
Ah, that’s who she’s talking to.
“If you turn Emma on, I will make you come with my mouth,” said Sue.
They’re talking about me?
“I’ll turn her on,” said Keith with determination.
But not because he wants me. Because he wants her. At least, though, he’ll be trying. She wasn’t sure how she felt about being flogged by another submissive, but she was willing to try. Hey, I’ll only live once.
A moment later, the flogging resumed. Emma could tell that Keith was using Valerie’s lightest flogger, but he was swinging it hard. And without a great deal of accuracy. The tails seemed to go everywhere, and one even brushed her face. Valerie corrected him, and Emma faced the tree.
Bondage Ranch 5: His Little Treasure Page 10