In Too Deep Page 5

  “Use your words, Louisa. Will you remain still?”

  “Yes?”

  “Is that a question?” he slapped her again and firmly massaged the sting away. She felt a rush of moisture and heat pooling between her legs.

  He took his hand away too soon.

  “Yes,” she said firmly.

  “Good.” She was rewarded with a finger edging over her clit in slow, barely-there circles. A brief moment of bliss, and then his hand returned to her curls. He ran his fingers through her hair, giving the curls a tug.

  God, that felt good. She watched him squirt the shaving cream into his hands, and then he was massaging it into her pussy.

  “There are many ways to punish you, so many I’ve having trouble choosing one. I looked through your checklists. You leave a man many, many ways to punish you.”

  It was almost unbearable, the combination of his words and the feeling of his hands kneading her pussy. She wanted his fingers to circle her clit again, in that slow lazy way.

  “A playground of punishments to choose from,” he said absently. “Describe one to me, while I shave this delectable pussy of yours.”

  “Wait. What?”

  “I want you to describe in detail one way that I might punish you. Keep me entertained.”

  God, her face turned six shades of red.

  “Louisa,” he said sternly, with another sharp, delicious swat on her pussy. “Now. And I might be inclined to reward you for a job well done.”

  Fingers slick with shaving cream slipped over her clit and gave it a squeeze.

  A moan escaped her mouth.

  “If you want more, talk to me.”

  It was wrong to be laying on a shampoo bed naked while a man, who was basically a stranger, shaved her pussy. Lou knew it was wrong, yet she knew immediately she would never regret it. Even if it was odd and unexplainable to anyone else.

  Louisa chose the fantasy that crawled into head a few days ago, one that she played like a movie this morning as she touched herself.

  She settled her eyes on his hands, gracefully rinsing off the razor in the bowl of water. Then one of his hands came to rest on her tummy and the other began to shave her in sure strokes. She started to see strips of her bare skin: pink and slightly swollen. It felt odd and a little thrilling to have Trick see a part of her that even she had not seen in years.

  “Louisa, talk to me,” his voice commanded.

  Louisa pushed her nerves down and started to talk to him.

  “This morning, I might have thought about you, you know while I. . .”

  “While you what, Louisa?”

  “Touched myself.”

  He didn’t seem shocked. She would have liked him to look pleased but his expression remained neutral and his hands continued their steady motion. Louisa forged on.

  “You told me it was time for my punishment, to follow you. You took me to a room with a spanking bench in the center. It was a nice one, with wood and leather, not one of the creepy ones, and yes, I might have googled it, but I didn’t know what it was when I saw it on the questionnaire.”

  “Continue, Louisa,” he said softly.

  “You told me to take everything off. I dressed up for you: a silk blouse with a bow and a really nice pencil skirt. I tried to take the blouse off in a sexy way, but I was so excited my hands were shaking.

  “You walked over to help. ‘Shh, it’s alright,’ you whispered to me. Then you unbuttoned the buttons in the slow sexy way I couldn’t manage.

  “You told me I was lovely.”

  Trick interrupted. “You are lovely.”

  “I wore the bra I bought for you: black with dozens of embroidered butterflies. You told me it was lovely. Then you said, ‘butterflies in flight. Do you want to fly?’ I was so excited I couldn’t answer. You didn’t wait for the response. You started to unhook all the buttons on my skirt slowly, while you murmured compliments about the line of my spine and my delectable backside. You kissed my neck: that sacred spot right under my ear that you discovered.

  “You pulled my skirt down my hips and held my hand to help me step out of it. Then you stepped back and watched as I pulled off my bra and shucked off my panties. I kicked off my shoes, impatient for you.

  “But you took your time.

  “You made me wait while you folded my skirt and blouse and stacked them neatly on a chair. You picked up my underwear from the floor. I stood there naked and impatient.

  “I waited. I wanted.

  “A moment later you relented with a grin and lead me to the bench.

  “I straddled it naked, and somehow it smelled of you. You pulled my arms high above my head and cuffed them to the bench. You pressed a button on the bench and my knees were spread so wide it felt dirty and good at the same time, and then you cuffed my ankles.”

  “Then what happened.” Tricks voice had gone low.

  “You walked behind me. I heard a cabinet open and close. I couldn’t turn around to see what you were doing. I was helpless, strapped there and waiting for you. Then you walked back to me. You had a flogger and a smile. You said, ‘Love, this is going to sting so good.’”

  “Stop. Louisa, you have to stop.” Tricks harsh voice pulled her out of her story.

  “What?” she asked, confused.

  “Stop talking,” he said in a strangled voice.

  “You asked for this, you know,” Louisa said, feeling pissy and hurt. “I can’t help it if I’m not any good at it.”

  Trick looked at her, incredulous.

  “Good at it? You seriously think you’re not good at it? You were made for this. That was one of the most singularly erotic and beautiful things anyone has ever said to me.” He barked out a short laugh.

  “I asked you to stop because I’m so excited by you, by your lovely words, that my hands have started to shake. I can’t remember the last time anyone made my hands shake. And shaking hands shouldn’t be shaving a pussy. So I’m just asking for a moment. I still have work to do.”

  “Oh,” she said. Lou closed her wet eyes. After a moment, she felt Trick’s razor on her skin, but she kept her eyes closed, still feeling a little embarrassed. His hands left her skin and she heard his footsteps, and then the water in the bathroom sink.

  “Louisa.” She felt his breath on her cheek. “You are perfection.” She felt a kiss pressed to her temple. She opened her eyes to find him on his knees beside her.

  “If I plead nicely, will you tell me how your story ends? As succinctly as possible, please. I still have to wash your hair and blow it out. I need a semblance of my wits about me.”

  Lou leaned over and whispered in his ear. She felt a rush of pleasure when she realized she managed to make him blush.

  A mere half an hour later, Lou sat in Trick’s chair awestruck by her reflection.

  “You weren’t joking. I am a badass goddess.” Louisa knew she was grinning like a fool but she couldn’t seem to stop smiling. Her whole body felt electric. She looked extraordinary, and the beautiful man next to her was going to punish her. The thought scared the hell out of her and made her feel joyful anticipation all at the same time. Of all the things she could have told him, she told him the one that scared her the most.

  She felt alive and a little short of breath. Her fantasy involved something that aroused the hell out of her and scared her at the same time, but if anyone could make it wonderful, she figured it was Trick.

  She wondered how much time she had before he would pass her off to someone else. Was it possible he would add his name to her list? Audra didn’t think so, but then Lou was sure that she had never shared these kinds of moments with him. Louisa jealously wondered how many other women had sat in this chair and enjoyed his attention.

  Be grateful for the moment, Louisa. You can’t keep somebody like him. You just don’t fit. Not yet. Maybe if you were a successful artist, but you’re not there yet.

  “Thank you,” she said, taking the excuse to kiss him. Her traitorous stomach took that moment to rumbl
e.

  Trick returned her kiss hard and then he laughed at her.

  “Looks like I forgot to feed you.”

  “No, I’m fine really. I do think you forgot to punish me.”

  “Oh, I plan to, but I think you need to learn about delayed gratification.”

  “Are you kidding me? My whole sex life is an experiment in delayed gratification.”

  Trick’s laughter filled the room, and he pulled her into a tight hug.

  “I think you’re gonna find it was worth waiting for. Come on, love. You have to be starving.” He looked at his phone. “It’s almost seven. You have to be hungry. I know I am. I am taking you to dinner. Let me change out of my suit. I’ll be quick. Put on your shoes, and I will find your coat. Do you like Greek?”

  Lou had no idea; Greek food was not exactly a Midwestern staple.

  “Sure,” she answered. No point in letting him see just how unsophisticated she really was.

  Lou touched up her lipstick in the bathroom. Every time she caught sight of her reflection she had to stop and gape at herself. Lou couldn’t help it; she took a selfie and sent it to Audra.

  Her phone pinged almost immediately.

  Audra: You look so fucking hot. Brilliant. I’ve been telling you to get a haircut for a year now. What happened?

  Louisa: Trick happened.

  Audra: Wow, I didn’t expect that. Please be careful. I can’t say much, but he’s complicated, and if he hurts you, I will have to kill him.

  Lou didn’t know how to answer, so she turned her phone off and slipped it back into her purse.

  Complicated. What did that even mean. A player, right? It had to mean he was a player.

  Of course, he was a player. He looked like one, he was successful, and he lived in New York, but why did that have to color Lou’s experience. Why couldn’t she just enjoy the time they spent together?

  “You ready, beautiful girl?” Tricks voice brought her out of her head.

  “Ready.” She smiled, and Trick helped her into her coat. He had thoughtfully changed into a t-shirt and jeans that more closely matched her own.

  Chapter 9

  Even though the restaurant took up a whole corner of a block, they had to wait. A heavily tattooed host scrawled their name in chalk right on the wall.

  “Probably 45 minutes, maybe an hour. Do you want me to send you a text?” the host asked Trick.

  “Can you hold out, love? I promise that the food is really worth waiting for."

  “Sure,” she said.

  Trick called out his number and the host scrawled it on the wall next to his name.

  Now that she could smell food, Louisa found she was crazy hungry, but she would take every extra minute in with Trick that she could get.

  “Want to take a walk, maybe get a drink?” he asked.

  Louisa shook her head yes and Trick grinned and took her hand. His hand felt wonderful in hers. She could almost pretend this was a date. In fact, the situation was so weird it didn’t even have a name.

  The streets in this part of the city still had cobblestones. Lou loved that. They took their time peering into shop windows as they made their way down the street.

  “Wow,” said Lou, pausing in front of a store. The mannequins were wearing kickass dresses and the heads on the mannequins were the whimsical sculpted faces of animals. A feminine fox with a wink, a squirrel, and a swan all wore their dresses with aplomb.

  “I think that’s papier-mâché but they are so well made it’s hard for me to tell,” she said.

  “Why don’t we take a closer look? Do you like the dresses? I especially like the black cocktail dress in the corner and the way they layered the motorcycle jacket over the top.”

  “I like every dress in the window,” she said.

  “Let’s go in and look around.”

  He steered her into the boutique. The clothes were all glorious. Neatly arranged by color. There were only a few racks of clothes in the store, all carefully curated, so the prices didn’t surprise her. The fewer items in the store, the higher the prices. Lou had learned that the hard way when she moved to the city. She still didn’t know who paid $1200 for a motorcycle jacket.

  Trick seemed unfazed. He was eyeing the racks carefully and he had started to pull some items, including the overpriced jacket out, and layered them over his arm.

  “What are you doing?” Lou asked.

  “Would you like me to start a fitting room for you?” the salesgirl asked him.

  “No, that’s okay,” Lou said.

  “Please,” Trick said, overriding her.

  He gave the salesgirl an easy smile that gave Lou a jealous pang.

  She took his armful.

  Trick turned his easy smile on Lou.

  “Louisa, we have time. You might as well try some things on. Don’t you like to play dress up?”

  Lou reluctantly followed the girl to the dressing room. It seemed a little wrong to try on clothes she had no intention of ever buying.

  Nevertheless, she pulled on an oversized blue cashmere sweater with a hood and a pair of black leggings. God, if she could afford it, she would dress like this every day. It turned out robin’s egg blue was her color. The sweater and leggings were simple, but the fabric was luxurious and they accentuated her curves. There had to be knockoff versions of these clothes and she resolved to find them.

  “You are going to let me take a look, aren’t you?”

  She opened the door. Trick was reclining in a wingback chair.

  “You’re gorgeous,” he said. “Why don’t you try on the leather jacket?”

  She slipped it carefully off the hangar and put the jacket that was worth two months of her rent on.

  “I like you in clothing with a little edge,” he said, leaning in to give her a warm kiss. “Do you like it?”

  “No piece of clothing should cost that much.”

  Trick’s phone chirped and he picked it up.

  “We have a table.”

  “Wonderful, I’ll change.”

  Lou took a long moment to admire her reflection. The jacket was perfect, but of course something this expensive would feel like butter and make you look phenomenal. She took everything off carefully and hung them neatly.

  She hurried into her jeans and hoodie. Trick was waiting for her with a bag in his hand.

  “Come on,” he said, holding out his hand. “Before they give our table away.”

  “What is that?” Lou said, eyeing the shopping bag in his hand.

  “Louisa, it’s a shopping bag. Surely you’ve seen one of those before.”

  “Trick. . .”

  “It may be a present for the lovely young woman standing before me. I couldn’t help it. You looked too lovely standing there in that sweater and leggings.”

  “You can’t buy me a present. It’s too much.”

  “Dangerous, love, to tell a man like me what he cannot do.”

  “It’s too much,” she said again.

  “Come on now, love. It’s as much a present for me because I get to look at you. Now we should hurry. Besides it’s my fault you’re a platinum blonde. That changes the colors that suit you.”

  Chapter 10

  ***Trick***

  “Do you like fava?” he asked. As hungry as he was looking at her, lit by the candles across from him, he wanted to forfeit dinner altogether, take her home, and bind her carefully to his St. Andrews cross. He would give her her fantasy with just enough surprise thrown in to ensure she would never forget him. She had trusted him with one of her biggest fantasies and her biggest fear. It was no small act of trust to lay that fantasy out at his feet. He planned to honor that.

  Louisa murmured, “Sure.” ‘Sure’ seemed to be her favorite word if she was feeling unsure or uneasy.

  “If you don’t like it, just say so, love.”

  “I honestly don’t know.”

  “Never had Greek before?”

  “No,” she said blushing, caught in her lie.

  Th
ere would be time to punish her for that later.

  “It’s cold split pea pureed with olive oil.”

  “Okay.”

  “Is there anything you don’t want to see on a plate?”

  “Anchovies. I hate anchovies, and Octopus because I saw a video. Did you know Octopus can count? But I’ll eat pretty much everything else.”

  Trick caught the server’s eye and ordered.

  “Do you prefer red or white?” he asked Louisa.

  “Red, please.”

  He ordered a bottle and studied the lovely woman in front of him. She was probably going to flip out when she realized the motorcycle jacket she couldn’t take her eyes off lay in the bottom of his bag.

  He couldn’t help it. He wanted to give her things, and she would love the jacket even though he knew he would have to persuade her to take it. Actually, who was he fooling? That would be part of the fun.

  The bottle of red arrived, followed by the cold plates.

  “What is this one again? Louisa asked with a grin.

  “Melitzanosalata, smoked eggplant with feta cheese.”

  “I love it. How did I not know Greek food was a thing? I mean, I’ve done Indian and Thai, and Audra introduced me to Jewish comfort food, which is great until you eat tzimis.”

  “I actually don’t know that. What is it?” Trick asked.

  “Stewed carrots and prunes. How anybody thought that should be a thing is beyond me. Max loves it.” She paused. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “You’re lovely. Of course I’m looking at you. I am also carefully considering what I am going to do to you once you set your lovely feet back over my threshold.”

  “Eat faster,” Louisa said with a little laugh, and then she blushed.

  She was perfect for him. If only he could keep her. But he was sure she would want kids someday. She might stay for a while, but eventually she would come to her senses and leave. Then he would really be broken.

  No, all Trick could do was give her an introduction to the pleasures he was sure she would love and send her on her way with all the best wishes he could muster. It was the right thing to do. Focus on the present, Trick. Enjoy your moments with her and move on. But the idea of seeing her with anyone else made him sick to his stomach.