“Do you usually orgasm during your sessions, Alexandra?”
Well, fuck.I sucked in a breath and tried to figure out how to parse my answer while blood my brain needed headed to my lady parts.
“No, not usually,” I said, careful to keep my words as neutral as possible.Talking to Erik about orgasms was a bit like Red Riding Hood dancing through an arena with a revved-up bull.The last thing I wanted to do was throw down the orgasm gauntlet.He sure as hell didn’t need to know how close I was just from his words.From the way his gaze traveled over my body.Hell, even from the way he’d fed me with his hand.“It’s easier for me to do my job if I keep my physical responses out of it.”
The truth was I almost never came with anyone else around.I had a pretty extensive collection of vibrators—business expense (take that, IRS)—and I knew my body.I orgasmed regularly; it was just usually a solo affair.I liked it that way.It was easier for me to relax and enjoy myself when I wasn’t worried about what the guy was thinking or feeling, assuming they put their attention in the right place to begin with.I had a feeling Erik knew exactly where to focus his attention.Sexy bastard.
“What a shame,” he said, sounding like he meant the exact opposite.“Are you ready?”He stood without waiting for my response and held out his jacket for me to slip into.
“Sure.Yes, thank you,” I said, wary of the turn our afternoon had taken.
I stretched my arms out to put on his jacket and felt the silk slide over my aching nipples.They were hard enough to use as engraving tools and showed absolutely no sign of changing.Not unless Erik decided to take mercy on me and suck them into submission.The thought of his mouth, hot and wet, tugging on my silk-covered nipple was enough to make my knees give way and I had to reach for the back of the chair to steady myself.I tugged his jacket tighter around me before I did something crazy—like tear open my blouse and offer myself to him.
“I can find my way back from here,” I said, knowing before I said the words that he’d never let me off that easy.“I’ll message your jacket back to you.”
“I’m walking you back,” he said, his grin almost predatory.
“Of course you are,” I said, turning toward the doorway we must have entered through.I heard his chuckle, a warm, deep rumble behind me.Fuck, even his laughter turned me on.
I didn’t give him a chance to blindfold me again, although I didn’t doubt he’d insist if that’s what he really wanted.He didn’t strike me as the kind of man who had any trouble getting what he wanted.As I started across the courtyard, I felt his hand, a warm and solid presence on the small of my back, guiding me even when I no longer needed him to.I murmured my thanks to the stunning coffee-colored woman who carried herself with the grace and bearing of the granddaughter of a voodoo priestess.I wasn’t often self-conscious but it would be hard for any woman to stand next to the breathtaking woman and not feel like the ugly stepsister.
Erik leaned in to brush a kiss over the woman’s cheek.He murmured something in her ear, and she replied softly, too low and fast for my high school French to translate.Something tightened deep in my chest.If I looked closely at my emotions, I’d have guessed it was misplaced jealousy.Good thing I wasn’t looking closely.At my feelings anyway.I concentrated my attention on the elegant room I’d missed when I walked through it blindfolded.The windows were shuttered against the afternoon heat and partially, I imagined, to preserve the elegant furnishings.There were new pieces but I’d bet money I didn’t have that the furnishings that looked like antiques were original.The place whispered old money in a mixture of soft Southern drawl and French Creole.
Erik held the door for me and followed me outside.I recognized our location on the edge of the Quarter.I must have walked by the spot dozens of times and never noticed anything more than a tidy stucco exterior with green-black railings and shutters.Somehow knowing the courtyard was hidden from people walking past made it feel even more special.Like a secret we shared.Except it wasn’t; he’d obviously been there lots of times, presumably with many different women.Which didn’t matter, because it wasn’t like we were a couple or anything.Hell, at the beginning of the day, we hadn’t even liked each other.
That part, at least, seemed to have changed.
Aside from the fact that I liked it much better when random people didn’t hate my guts, it might mean that I wouldn’t lose everything after all.Of course, given my new perspective, I wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to handle things with the Gentleman’s Submissive moving forward, but I’d figure all of that out.
“So you’re really completely off the case?”
“Yes, Alexandra,” he said, shocking the hell out of me by taking my hand in his.
He laced our fingers together like we were on some kind of date.Like we were a couple.I was pretty sure one of his goals was making sure I stayed as off-balance as possible.Every time I got my bearings, he tilted things again.
“So what happens with the case?”I might have gone way off script where Jensen was concerned.My nipples and clit seemed firmly in his camp, but I still had a business to run and student loans to pay back.And I wouldn’t mind having enough money left over to buy myself some of those beignets again.Maybe there was some kind of black market for the delicious pillows of tarragon-scented dough.
“You’re going to have to ask your attorney about that.It’s better for both of us if we don’t talk about it.”
I glanced over at him, searching his profile to see if he was telling me the truth or feeding me convenient bullshit.There was the barest hint of stubble along his strong jaw and I got distracted imagining for a moment what it would feel like scraping against my inner thigh.The thought of beard burn made me inadvertently squeeze his fingers, and he glanced in my direction, giving me a smile when he caught me watching him.Oh, for fuck’s sake.Clearly my body didn’t need me for anything related to Erik.My lips curved in response to his and heat pooled low in my belly.Didn’t matter, apparently, whether my mind thought it was a good idea; my body was all in where he was concerned.But I didn’t think he was trying to bullshit me.At least not about the legal stuff.I’d take the rest on a case-by-case basis.
In a few minutes, we were standing in front of the door to the building that housed my studio, and I realized I had no idea what happened next.Did I give him his coat, tell him good-bye and never see him again?That idea didn’t sit as well with me as I’d expected.I was still super shaky on the wholeI’m a Domthing.A little blindfold and café au lait wasn’t enough to change my long-held beliefs that quickly.But I had to admit, I’d never felt anything like what Erik made me feel.
I’d never backed down from a challenge, although I was starting to have a harder time thinking about whatever we were doing in term of winners and losers anymore.I’d also never turned away from knowledge that could make me better at my job—better at anything.Whatever he might call himself, Erik knew things I didn’t.I searched my head, trying to figure out a way to ask him to teach me without having to give up too much power in the process and drawing a blank.
“I want another session,” he said, still holding my hand as we stood on the sidewalk in front of the door to my building.
I resisted the urge to do a mental touchdown dance.
“I charged you double,” I said, still not sure how I’d ended up in this crazy place.I’d started my day terrified of the law and ended it aroused past the point of reason.
“I figured,” he said with a laugh.
I liked it when he laughed.It was a rich, throaty sound, like burnt sugar or good Scotch.For a brief moment, when he laughed, he looked lighter somehow.Easier.It would be worth it to figure out how to make his face wear that expression.
He reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out his phone, swiping his finger across the screen a few times.I didn’t need to hear it to know that somewhere up in my studio my phone was dinging with an incoming message.
“I sent payment for the next session—regular rate this time.”
