by Anna Stone
“Another way of looking at it is this,” Vanessa said. “Which do you prefer? Being in control? Or giving it to someone else?” She began to tap the whip against her palm. “Being in control means having all the power. But it also means responsibility. Giving up control means you get to let go completely. But it requires you to place yourself in someone else’s hands. To trust them. It can be terrifying.” She stilled the crop in her hands. “And it can be exhilarating.”
Mel didn’t respond. The sound of her own breath seemed deafening in the silence.
“I’ve said before that I’m good at reading people. And I think I know the role you’d like to play. I know your type, Melanie. Ambitious. Driven. Always striving for perfection. Never allowing the slightest lapse in self-control. It must be exhausting.” Vanessa ran her fingers along the shaft of the crop. “Don’t you ever want to just let go of all your problems and let someone else take the reins?”
“Sometimes…” Mel had never even admitted that to herself, let alone to someone else.
“This here? This is one way to do that. To escape it all, if only for a moment. To lose yourself so completely that everything falls away and all that is left is pure ecstasy. To surrender.” Vanessa leaned forward, her face barely an inch from Mel’s. “Does that tempt you?”
“Yes,” Mel whispered.
Vanessa brought her lips to Mel’s ear. “It’s more freeing than you could possibly imagine.”
A shiver went through Mel’s body. Vanessa’s eyes seemed to strip away all her defenses. And Vanessa’s face was so close to hers. Vanessa’s lips were so close…
What am I thinking? Mel dropped her empty glass to the table and stood up. “I should go.” Within seconds, she was out the door.
Chapter Four
Mel sat in the lecture hall, waiting for her professor to arrive. Class didn’t start for another five minutes. Leaning back in her chair, she closed her eyes and tried to clear her head of all the thoughts swirling around inside it. Inevitably, her mind went back to the same thing: Vanessa.
Since that night in Vanessa’s room, Vanessa had come into The Lounge a few times while Mel was working. Mel didn’t go out of her way to speak to Vanessa. But somehow their paths kept crossing. And with every word that Vanessa spoke to her, with every glance they exchanged, the pull of Mel’s desire grew stronger.
Vanessa was all that Mel could think about. Vanessa’s hips, swaying in her tight, silky dress. Her voice, like velvet, in Mel’s ear. Her eyes, that seemed to see into the depths of Mel’s being, while revealing nothing of what lay behind Vanessa’s own.
And Vanessa’s words. Surrender. It wasn’t hard to figure out what she meant. Her dominant personality. The riding crop. Her talk of giving up control. It all pointed to one thing.
“Looks like you could use this.”
Mel opened her eyes. Her friend Jess stood beside her, holding a coffee in each hand.
She handed one to Mel and sat down. “Finish all the readings?”
“Yep.” Mel had stayed up ‘til 3:00 a.m. to get them done.
“How are you always so on top of everything? I barely got halfway through them before I fell asleep.” Jess groaned. “If I’m on call, I’m going to look like an idiot.”
Cold calling. Those two words filled every first-year law student with dread. During class, their professors would call upon a student and ask them probing questions about the cases being discussed. Preparation was essential. Professor Carr liked to assign a few random students to be ‘on call’ at the start of each lecture, so no one knew if they would be on call until class started. Because law school wasn’t stressful enough already.
“Here.” Mel passed her notes to Jess. “I’ve already memorized everything.”
“Thanks, Mel! What would I do without you?”
As Jess flipped through the notes, Mel closed her eyes again. Her mind picked up where it left off. She couldn’t deny how the idea of submitting to another woman made her hot all over. These desires weren’t new. No, they had always been there. But Mel had never allowed herself to even consider letting them play out. They went against everything she believed about herself. So she’d buried them deep inside her where they remained a half-forgotten fantasy. Until Vanessa had reawakened them.
“Mel? Hello?” Jess waved her hand in front of Mel’s face.
“Huh?”
“I said, do you want to come over and study tonight? You know, for the quiz tomorrow?”
“Right. Sorry, I can’t,” Mel replied. “I have work.”
“What’s the matter with you?” Jess asked. “You’ve been spacing out all day. Something on your mind?”
“No, I’m fine,” Mel replied.
Jess narrowed her eyes and studied Mel’s face. “Or could it be… someone?” A smile broke out on her face. “I knew it!”
Mel sighed. Jess knew her too well. They’d been friends since freshman year of college when they ended up in most of the same pre-law classes together. Jess wanted to become a criminal defense attorney. But for now, she had to settle for interrogating her friends.
“C’mon, spill,” Jess said. “I want every detail.”
“There’s nothing to tell,” Mel said. “It’s just a stupid crush. Nothing’s happened.”
“Do you mean, nothing’s happened yet?”
“No. Nothing is ever going to happen.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t have the time or energy for a relationship of any kind.” It wasn’t a complete lie. “Why are you so interested in my love life anyway?”
Jess sighed. “Because mine is non-existent.”
“What happened to Brandon?”
“You mean Brendon?”
“Yeah, him.” Mel found it hard to keep up with Jess’s ever-changing list of boyfriends. “I thought things were going well between you two.”
Jess shrugged. “We broke up. He was kind of boring.”
Mel shook her head. A week ago, Jess had been sure that Brendon was the one.
Professor Carr strode into the room. “Okay everyone, settle down.”
The class fell silent. Even though Professor Carr was five foot two and old enough to be Mel’s grandmother, she commanded the respect of everyone around her. She was Mel’s favorite professor. She had a long and impressive career behind her. Fighting civil rights violations. Taking on corporate giants. Representing thousands in large-scale class action suits. Now she spent her days running a nationwide legal non-profit organization. She was everything that Mel aspired to be.
“Before we get started, I have a small announcement to make,” Professor Carr said. “By now, you should all be thinking about summer internships.”
Murmurs went through the class. Summer internships were the first opportunity that Mel and her peers would have to get hands-on law experience, and finding an interesting internship as a first-year was almost impossible.
Professor Carr continued. “I’ve decided to take on a first-year student as an intern this summer. You’ll be working for me personally at The Legal Services Project. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, The LSP is a non-profit that provides free legal help. It connects lawyers who are willing to do pro-bono work with the clients who need it the most. And it provides individual lawyers and law firms with incentives for providing legal aid. We’re making waves in the legal world. And I’m giving one of you the opportunity to be a part of it.”
Mel’s ears pricked up. She had to have that internship. An opportunity to work under Professor Carr was too good to pass up. Not to mention that a number of influential people, lawyers and otherwise, were involved in the project. The connections a law student would make working there would be invaluable. So would the experience.
But Mel’s interest in The LSP was far more personal. Projects like this were the reason she decided to go to law school. When she was young, her father walked out on Mel and her mother, leaving them destitute. Mel’s mother spiraled into debt, depression, and alc
oholism, leaving the two of them always on the verge of homelessness. It was a rough time for both of them.
It was only through legal aid services that Mel’s mother was able to pursue her ex-husband for child support and get her debt under control. The lawyer assigned to her mother was a kindly old woman who did far more than her job required to help them get their lives back on track. Mel would never forget how much of a difference the woman had made in her life. She wanted to do the same for others someday.
“I know that a lot of you will be interested,” Professor Carr said. “So I’m going to make my choice based on merit. And I don’t mean whoever gets the highest grades. Out in the real world, it doesn’t matter what grade you got on your final. To make it as a lawyer, you need to be willing to put in the hard work. You need to have a deep understanding of the law. You need to be able to use that knowledge as a weapon. So if you want this internship, show me that you have what it takes. Come to class prepared. Pay attention to my lectures. Prove that your understanding of the law goes beyond what’s written in your textbooks. Impress me, and the internship is yours.”
The class broke out into loud whispers. Mel wasn’t the only one excited about the internship. She would have some tough competition.
“Settle down, everyone. Let’s get started.” As the conversation faded, Professor Carr put on her glasses and picked up a sheet of paper. “The students on call today are-”
The class collectively held its breath as Professor Carr rattled off a list of names.
“-and Melanie Greene.”
Mel downed the rest of her coffee in one gulp. She was prepared. She had this.
Mel made it through the hour without any problems. Not everyone was that lucky. One of her classmates had slowly broken down over the course of the lecture. She was almost in tears by the end of the class. Most law students, especially those at her prestigious school, were highly competitive. Many of them didn’t handle failure well.
“That internship,” Jess said. “You’re going to go for it, right?”
“Definitely.” Mel gathered her things, and they joined the stream of students heading out of the lecture hall. “How about you?”
“No way. I’m not crazy enough to want to compete with you and all the others who want it. Besides, I already have an internship in mind. I’ll be spending my summer at the District Attorney’s office.”
“Melanie,” Professor Carr called out. “A moment, please.”
Mel told Jess she’d catch up with her later and walked over to the professor’s desk.
“You did well today,” Professor Carr said. “Handled my questions like a pro.”
“It was an interesting case. I did lots of research.”
“I expected nothing less. So, about The LSP internship. Are you interested?”
“Definitely! Working at a place like that would be a dream come true.”
“I’m not going to lie. I’m rooting for you, Mel. The others? They only want the internship because it will look good on their resumes. But I know that you care about this kind of project. I was the one who reviewed your law school application. And your personal statement showed that you’re doing this for all the right reasons.”
Mel shifted from one foot to the other. Her personal statement had touched upon her experience with that lawyer who had helped her mother, and how it had affected her life. Of course, she didn’t mention the parts of her childhood that had really shaped her. Those weren’t the kind of things she could put in a law school entry essay. But her essay had revealed more of herself than she usually gave to people, even those closest to her.
“You’re a talented student, Melanie. I want to see you succeed.” Professor Carr crossed her arms. “But I’m not going to hand you that internship. It wouldn’t be fair to anyone, you included. Earn it. Don’t disappoint me.”
Mel nodded.
“I’ll let you go now.”
“Thanks, Professor Carr.” As Mel left the lecture hall, she knew it was time to put Vanessa out of her mind. There was no time for games, not now. She had to stay focused.
“Coming to drinks tonight, Mel?” James asked.
Mel gave him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, James, I have a quiz tomorrow. I’ll be up all night studying.”
“You’re off the hook this time. But one of these days, I’ll get through to you.” James wandered off back to the bar.
Mel shook her head. It was an hour into her shift and the night was beginning to ramp up. There would be no chatting behind the bar tonight. She went over to a recently vacated table and began to clean up. As Mel placed a half-finished bottle of very expensive wine on her tray, something caught her eye. Someone.
Vanessa. The crowd seemed to part before her as she walked through it with long, purposeful strides and a regal air. She looked more stunning than ever. She wore a blue silk cocktail dress that flowed down her hips like water. Her long dark hair hung loose around her shoulders. Her pearlescent skin seemed to shimmer under the sparkling lights.
Vanessa strode closer. She wasn’t heading for her usual seat. She was heading for the corridor that lead to her room upstairs. And it was right behind Mel. Mel stood frozen in place, unable to tear her eyes off the woman who had taken over her thoughts since that night.
As Vanessa passed Mel, she said nothing, but simply shot Mel a look. The same look she had given Mel in her room that night. The look that made Mel want to come apart.
Vanessa slipped around the corner. Mel inched toward the corridor, as if drawn by a magnet, and peered around the corner. The door at the bottom of the stairs was ajar, a thin beam of light shining through the tiny crack. Mel crept closer, pulled the door open, and looked up the stairs.
Before Mel knew what she was doing, she followed Vanessa up to her room and knocked on the door.
Chapter Five
“Come in,” Vanessa called from inside the room.
Mel opened the door. In the dim light, she could make out Vanessa’s figure reclining in an armchair. Something long and thin lay across her lap. The riding crop.
Mel had stumbled right into Vanessa’s trap.
Vanessa stood up, whip in hand, and walked toward Mel. She reached around Mel’s body and closed the door. It clicked shut, locking them in. The music from downstairs faded to a soft hum.
“Why did you follow me in here, Melanie?” Vanessa asked.
“I want to know,” Mel said, her voice barely a whisper. “I want to know what you meant about giving up control. Surrender.”
Vanessa pressed the tip of the crop into the base of Mel’s neck and drew it down the center of her chest. “You know exactly what I mean.”
Mel’s lips parted slightly. Vanessa was so close that she could feel the heat radiating from Vanessa’s skin and Vanessa’s breath on her neck.
“We both know what you want. We both know what you’re longing for. I can give it to you.” Vanessa took Mel’s chin in her hands and tilted Mel’s face up toward her. “All you have to do is let go.”
Mel’s heart pounded. She stared back at Vanessa, her mind swimming in conflict and doubt. Then she closed her eyes and let her body take over. At once, Vanessa’s lips were on hers, a soft, light kiss that lingered even after they parted.
Mel exhaled slowly. She didn’t know who had kissed the other first. All she knew was that it had charged the room with an energy that desperately needed to be dispelled.
Vanessa dropped the riding crop to the floor with a clatter. She grabbed Mel’s wrists, pinning them above her head, and kissed her again. This time the kiss was deep, hungry, insistent. Mel responded in kind.
Vanessa pressed her body against Mel’s, trapping Mel against the wall with her hips. “I can tell how much you want me.” Vanessa pushed her thigh firmly between Mel’s legs, stoking the fire deep inside her. “I’ve wanted you since the first night I saw you in my club. And I always get what I want.”
Her words sent a ripple of heat through Mel’s body. Vanessa released Mel’s
wrists and began to tear at her clothes. She ripped Mel’s blouse from the waistband of her skirt and up over her head, then unclasped Mel’s bra and pulled it from her shoulders. She swept her hands up Mel’s chest, teasing her pebbled nipples with her fingertips.
Everything was happening so fast. One moment, Vanessa’s hands were grasping at Mel’s breasts. The next, they were down at the hem of her skirt, pushing it up around her waist. Then Vanessa’s fingers were between Mel’s thighs, pressing her wet panties into her lips.
A silent moan formed in Mel’s mouth. Vanessa trailed her lips down Mel’s neck, all the way to her chest, and took Mel’s nipple into her mouth, sucking, licking, and flicking.
Mel gasped and writhed against the wall. Vanessa’s skin. Vanessa’s mouth. Vanessa’s sweet, floral scent. Every part of her was intoxicating.
Vanessa slipped her hand inside Mel’s panties and ran a finger up and down her folds. Mel’s head rolled back, and she grabbed the wall behind her to steady herself as darts of pleasure shot through her. Vanessa’s fingers and lips seemed to zero in on places where Mel had never been touched before.
Vanessa slid her finger further down and drew slow, teasing circles. “Do you want me? Do you want me inside you?”
“Yes,” Mel said between breaths.
“I want to hear you say it. I want to hear you beg.”
“Please, Vanessa… I want you so badly!” Mel meant every word she said. “I need you inside of me. Please!”
Satisfied, Vanessa slid a finger inside her, then another. Mel let out a strangled sigh as Vanessa found that sensitive spot inside her. Her thumb worked its way up to Mel’s stiff bud, rubbing against it with every thrust of her fingers.
Wedged between Vanessa’s body and the wall, Mel could do little more than cling to the other woman, her hands slipping on the smooth silk of Vanessa’s dress. It didn’t take long before Mel felt control slipping away.
“Come for me,” Vanessa said. “I want to hear you scream.”