by I. T. Lucas
Don’t look at her breasts!
Brundar stood up and headed for the front door, opening it and waiting for her to step out before closing it. “Lock it.”
“Yes, of course.” Calypso pulled out her key, her hand a little unsteady as she tried to fit it inside the lock.
“Let me.” He took it from her.
She was unsettled. Exactly as he wanted her to be.
They took the stairs, the short burst of activity clearing his mind. He walked over to his car and unlocked it with his fob, then pulled the passenger door open for Calypso.
They passed the short drive in silence, with Calypso sneaking surreptitious glances at him when she thought he wasn’t looking.
Poor girl, he was confusing her with the mixed signals he was sending her. Letting his cold mask slip had been an unforgivable mistake. It wasn’t her fault he couldn’t give her what she needed. Stringing her along had been cruel.
The thing was, Brundar was swimming in unfamiliar waters. Calypso had a way of infiltrating his shields and bringing about sensations that were completely foreign to him.
Most of which had nothing to do with sex.
If it were only sexual attraction he could’ve dealt with it just fine, satisfying his needs and hers.
But it wasn’t.
Calypso felt like home. When he was with her, watching her cook, talking with her, sharing a meal with her, he didn’t want to leave.
Ever.
As he pulled his car into the club’s parking lot, Brundar took stock of who else was there at that time of day. Franco’s red pickup was there, a delivery van that belonged to the laundry service they used, and two other cars he didn’t recognize. Hopefully, those didn’t belong to members. He didn’t want anyone to interrupt the tour he was about to take Calypso on.
He frowned as she opened the passenger door before he had the chance to open it for her. “I was about to do that.”
“I can open my own door and get out of a parked car without assistance,” she gritted. The lady wasn’t happy, and he couldn’t blame her. He’d been the worst kind of a tease, getting her all worked up and then dropping her like a sack of potatoes.
“I know you can. That’s beside the point. It’s okay to let others do nice things for you even if you don’t need them to.”
“Look who’s talking,” she murmured under her nose, thinking he couldn’t hear her.
She was upset. He would let it pass this time.
Damnation. Once again he was losing his focus. This was about driving Calypso away, not thinking about an impossible future with her.
He strode in the direction of the club’s back entrance, leaving her to stomp behind him.
Calypso was getting angrier by the minute. Perfect. The angrier she got, the easier it would be for her to walk away from him.
He didn’t waste time looking for Franco before crossing the club’s main level to the locked door that led to the basement. A few clicks on the keypad opened the way, and he waited for Calypso to go in before letting it snap closed.
There was no elevator to the lower level, only a narrow staircase. The basement used to be a storage area before Franco converted it into his sprawling playroom.
“It’s dark in here,” she said, reminding him he’d forgotten to turn the lights on.
He flipped the switch on, and a lineup of shaded sconces bathed the staircase in soft light. “Better?”
“Yes, thank you.” Her voice betrayed a slight tremble.
Without thinking, he offered her his hand. “It’s not scary. The main room looks like a giant living room, with a bar in the middle and a bunch of soft couches thrown around.”
She exhaled the breath she’d been holding, letting him lead her down the stairs.
At the bottom of the staircase, he flicked another switch. “See? Just as I told you, a bar and a lot of couches.”
She glanced around nervously. “What happens when there are people here?”
“Same as at any other gathering. Drinks, snacks, chitchat, and gossip.”
“You mean to say that no one is, you know, getting busy on those couches?”
He chuckled. “I didn’t say that. There is a lot of necking going on. But Franco doesn’t allow nudity in here. That’s what the private rooms are for. If anyone is into public play, there is a larger private room where they can invite guests.”
“Can you show me? I mean a regular room. Not the one for exhibitionists.”
Well, one more thing he was certain of, Calypso wasn’t into public play. “Sure. I promised you a tour.”
Leading her out of the main area into a hallway lined with doors on both sides, Brundar opened the first one using his master code.
She took a look around and exhaled. “This doesn’t look so scary. There is only a bed and a couple of nightstands in here. Is that a bathroom?” She pointed at a door.”
“Yes. Each room comes with a basic bathroom. Nothing fancy.” He opened the door. “A shower, a sink, and a toilet.”
“Does it cost to rent a room?”
“There is a cleanup fee.”
“I see.”
Brundar closed the door, walked over to one of the nightstands, and pulled out the first drawer. “There is a price for each of the toys. For health reasons, if you use them you buy them.” He pulled out a wrapped paddle and smacked it against his palm. “Even this.”
Calypso jumped. “Oh.”
“Would you like to take a peek?”
She hesitated for about two seconds, then came closer and leaned to take a look, her hands clasped behind her back as if she was examining a museum display.
Her eyes widened. “Wow. That’s… yeah…” She stepped back. “I think I’ve seen enough.”
Brundar stifled a chuckle. If a paddle, a flogger, and a strap were enough to scare her off, he wouldn’t even need to show her the other rooms. His work was done.
“Do you want to go upstairs and have a drink?”
She shook her head. “Not yet. Are all the rooms the same?”
“No. This is the tamest one.”
She blushed. “I want to see.”
“Are you sure? You just said you’d seen enough.”
Calypso waved a dismissive hand. “Of what’s in the drawers. I want to see what’s in the other rooms.”
“Okay.” She had only seen the contents of one drawer. The one below her would have made her blush several shades deeper.
The good thing was that he could scent no arousal on her. Brundar wasn’t sure he could’ve been so nonchalant otherwise.
“Let’s get a look at another room.”
She waved a hand again, pretending bravado she didn’t feel. “After you, sir.”
Chapter 45: Callie
It was meant as a tease, a joke, but calling Brundar sir had caused something to shift inside her, washing her in a wave of arousal Callie had managed to hold at bay until now.
The spanking implements inside that drawer had helped. There was nothing sexy about those instruments of pain. The most Callie could conceive of was a light, erotic hand spanking, but not paddles, floggers and the like. Just thinking about it made her shiver and not in a good way.
How could anyone enjoy that?
You’re such a hypocrite, she admonished herself. Others would think the same about her deviant desires, tame as they were. It reminded her of a funny definition of a religious fanatic—anyone more religious than me.
Change the subject, and that definition would work perfectly for kink as well.
Opening the next door, Brundar cast her a questioning glance. “Ready?”
She nodded and stepped in.
He closed the door behind them.
This room was larger than the previous one. The four-poster bed was taller, and the bedding was a different color, blue as opposed to the white in the other room. The nightstands were also taller to fit the bed, narrower. But the thing that stood out the most was the bench. She’d seen one of those on the In
ternet—a spanking bench.
As an image of her bent over the contraption with Brundar behind her skittered through her head, Callie felt her core clench. He wouldn’t use any of the implements from the other room, just his hand, caressing her heated flesh after every smack…
Next to her, Brundar sucked in a breath. Had the same image flash through his mind? Or had it been an image of a different woman bent over the thing?
A wave of intense jealousy washed through her, constricting her airways. She fisted her hands, digging her nails into the skin of her palms, hoping the sting would chase away the other hurt.
“What’s the matter, Calypso? Is it too much? Do you want to leave?”
What was his game plan? Why did he keep asking her if she wanted to leave? Was he hoping to scare her off? Was it a test to see if she was serious about this?
“You said something about contracts.”
“What about them?”
“Shouldn’t I sign one? You’re showing me all of this, and I didn’t even sign a confidentiality agreement. Isn’t it against the rules?”
“It is if anyone were here. But it’s just the two of us. The confidentiality agreement is to protect the privacy of our members.”
She turned to face him. “What if someone walks in while we are still here?”
Brundar frowned, his eyes boring into hers. “Follow me.” He turned around and left the room.
“Where to?” She had a hard time keeping up with his long strides.
“You wanted paperwork. I’m just fulfilling your wishes.”
Behind his back, Callie rolled her eyes. If he were into wish fulfillment, he would strip her naked, tie her to that four-poster bed, and give her the best sex of her life.
Brundar typed the code into another keypad and opened the door to an office. One desk, two chairs, a filing cabinet. An old style desktop computer that had seen better days sat on top of the neatly organized desk, the keyboard yellowed from years of use. Apparently, Franco was still struggling financially. Or maybe he just didn’t care about having the latest technology.
“Does that thing even work?” She pointed at the bulky screen. “It belongs in a museum. Or a junkyard.”
Brundar shrugged. “I think Franco keeps it as a desk ornament. It’s not really needed here since the contracts are done on paper and kept in the filing cabinet. Franco is old school. Computers can be hacked, and members’ privacy could be compromised. Paper is still the safest way to go.” He pulled a folder out of one of the drawers and dropped it on the desk. “Have fun.”
Callie draped her purse on the back of the chair, sat down and opened the folder. The confidentiality agreement was on top, and she skimmed through it before signing on the bottom and putting it aside. The next several pages explained about consent and limits, and what was permitted in the public areas of the club and what was not.
From the looks of it, Franco’s main concern was ensuring members’ privacy and safety. Very few things were explicitly disallowed in the private rooms, which left an overwhelming variety of options, some of them quite shocking. Most sexual activities were disallowed in the public area, but there was no restriction on what could be discussed there.
Must be interesting to be a fly on the wall in that room.
The next section contained a long list of activities, three boxes to check off next to each. Okay, soft limit, and hard limit.
She lifted her eyes to look at Brundar who had taken a seat on the other side of the desk, watching her intently.
“Do I need to fill in all of this? There are like five hundred items here.”
“Do you want to play, Calypso?” His voice had never sounded so deep.
She swallowed and nodded, the words sticking in her throat. For the first time since she’d met him, Brundar intimidated her. His pale eyes seemed to glow in the poorly illuminated office, and the shadows painted his austere features even harsher.
“Then fill it out.” Sensing her trepidation, Brundar softened his tone. “When you are done, we will go over it together. Going through all these items will clarify things for you.”
God, she had no idea. When she was done, the hard limit row had most of the check marks, the soft limit a few, and the okay one even less. As far as kink went, she was just a darker shade of vanilla. If this club was as tame as Brundar had said it was, she shuddered to think what went on in others.
This whole idea, which had been fueling her sexual fantasies for years, suddenly seemed extremely foolish.
Turning the folder around for Brundar to read, she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. She wouldn’t be surprised if he told her she shouldn’t be there. That she didn’t belong.
He would be right, of course.
But if not here and not in the vanilla world, where did she fit in?
A sinking feeling in her belly whispered that she didn’t fit in anywhere.
It wasn’t the end of the world, though, sex wasn’t all that important. In fact, she would be better off forgetting this silly quest and focusing on more important things; like getting the education she needed to fulfill her dream, or finding a decent guy to share her life with, complete with the house with a white picket fence and two and a half kids.
The thing was, Brundar was a guy who walked in the shadows. He didn’t fit in that sunny picture.
For reasons she couldn’t fully understand, Callie felt that she would be better off in his dark and stormy landscape than under the bright sun.
Perhaps her company would make his landscape just a little bit sunnier.
Chapter 46: Brundar
Brundar wasn’t surprised as he looked over Calypso’s list. It was exactly what he’d expected. What he hadn’t expected, though, was for her to remain seated and gaze at him with hope in her eyes.
While going over the questionnaire, her arousal had slowly dissipated, until the scent was completely gone. He’d been sure she would get up and leave as fast as her legs could carry her.
“Any questions?”
“I’m all out. There is some scary shit in there.” She pointed at the papers. “I know it’s supposed to cover everything, but I didn’t know half of it even existed. Probably more. I feel like such a fool for entertaining the notion that I could belong in here.” She waved a hand around.
Her honesty and courage impressed him. It hadn’t been easy to admit that she was in over her head. On the other hand, he didn’t want her so completely discouraged.
“It’s okay, Calypso. I didn’t know more than half of it either when I first discovered this world.”
With a sigh, she slumped in her chair. “Thank you for telling me that.”
Brundar rubbed at his jaw. Calypso deserved better than what he was doing to her.
Hell, whom was he fooling?
If he wanted to be honest with himself, he should admit he was looking for an excuse to backtrack from his previous decision to stay away from this woman who was pushing all of his buttons and tugging at all of his strings. For the first time in his adult life, Brundar felt he was more than a weapon. Not an automaton, but a man who was flesh and blood and most surprisingly—heart.
He pulled a blank piece of paper from the drawer and handed it to the amazing woman gazing at him with eyes that saw him clearer than he saw himself. “List your rules, Calypso. Now that you have a better understanding, you should know what you want.”
She took the blank page, looked at it for a moment, than looked up again. “I can’t. It’s too embarrassing.”
“Do you want me to do it for you? You can cross out anything I got wrong and add anything I missed.”
“Yes, please.”
Brundar went through the motions of checking her answers again, even though he had them seared into his brain from the quick scan he’d done before.
Calypso was perfect for him, and he was going to let her know that before he touched her in any way.
“You’re okay with bondage.” He glanced at her and
she nodded.
“You’re not so sure about a blindfold, but you’re willing to try.” She nodded again.
“You’re okay with a light spanking, but only with a hand.” He chuckled as he added, “Paddles, floggers, and straps are all hard limits.” She might change her mind about that once she got a taste.
Nodding, Calypso blushed deep crimson, the musk of her arousal perfuming the air.
“You have no problem with obeying orders, as long as they don’t breach any of your hard limits.” Which was almost everything. Calypso didn’t belong in the club. Her tastes were too tame even for Franco’s soft-core establishment.
She nodded.
“You chose red as your safe word.” He looked up and smiled. “Given your short list, I don’t think you need one.”
She smiled sheepishly. “I know. But it was one of the few questions I could actually answer positively.”
Brundar turned the page over to her. “Feel free to make changes, then sign at the bottom.”
She looked it over and then scribbled her name. “My list is just as short as yours,“ she said as she handed him the page.
He took it, adding it to her file. “Which is perfect.”
“I agree.” Calypso smiled, her facial muscles losing some of their tension.
He rose to his feet and offered her his hand.
She took it, letting him pull her up and bring her flush against his body.
He stroked her hair, then kissed her lightly, not wanting to overwhelm her when she was already overwhelmed.
His courageous girl.
He was done fighting a losing battle. She was his. Not to keep, that was impossible, but at least for a little while. He was too weak to deny himself the rare pleasure of a kindred soul.
“Are you taking me to one of the rooms?” The quiver in her voice betrayed both hope and anxiety.
“Would you prefer I took you home?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m afraid you’ll change your mind again.”
Poor girl. He’d toyed with her enough. “It’s not that I didn’t want you. I did, from the very first time I saw you, but you were married.”