CHAPTER FOUR
(Matthew)
After a decadently long midday nap, there wasn’t a lot of time to prepare for the night I wanted us to experience. The birthday party had been fantastic, the poolside shenanigans filthy, but out of the entire trip so far, the most memorable sex for me had happened that morning, by ourselves, no toys, no tricks. Looking into Charlotte’s eyes as I let go inside her had been the highlight of my entire sexual life. It hadn’t been playful or staged. It had been raw, intimate, and deeply connected.
It had been so different because I loved her. And now, I was at a bit of a loss as to how to arrange all the kink around that love.
For a guy as into wild sexual flings as I was, my relationships had been pretty tame, if I used the word subjectively. I’d opened my first Ascend property when I’d been dating Brett—fiancé number two—and since then, every serious relationship had included trips to Ascend Red. But a few weekends of swinging with random kink nights sprinkled in here and there had been fine with those partners.
Now, I had Charlotte.
There was no way I would be able to return to New York and fall into a BDSM-on-special-occasions sex life with her. She wouldn’t be satisfied; that much had been clear to me as far back as our dirty texting days.
Which has been weeks, not years, I reminded myself. But it felt like I’d known Charlotte for so much longer. Like I’d always known her.
That didn’t make being with her any less exciting or surprising.
I glanced toward the bathroom, where she was finishing up a shower, and called Miranda. “Is the room ready?”
“Fully stocked and decorated,” she confirmed. “And they did bring the extra restraints, just in case.”
“Just in case” had been the exact terminology I’d used when I’d made the request. If Miranda didn’t love the climate on the island so much, I’d have lured her away to New York by now. I could have used someone like her on a daily basis.
“And the stylists?” I asked as the water stopped running.
“En route, ETA five minutes,” she said. “And the final touches will be assembled while they’re working on her.”
“Thanks, I’m hanging up now.” I hit the button and tossed the phone on the bed on my way to the en suite bathroom.
“I’m hurrying,” Charlotte said, wrapping a big, fluffy towel around herself. “I promise, I’m hurrying.”
“No rush. We have all night.” I waited until she went to the vanity and picked up the hair dryer to add, “And two stylists coming in to get you ready.”
Her eyes met mine in the mirror. “You’re kidding.”
“No. they understand my vision for our game tonight.” I placed my hands on her bare shoulders and gently stroked my thumb down her neck. “I’ve been thinking of another safe word we could use. When it’s the two of us.”
“Ooh. Tell me.” She leaned back on me and my hands slipped down her chest, pushing the towel down and baring her nipples.
I leaned close to her ear. “Mercy.”
She shivered.
“‘Mercy’ it is, then?” I asked, and she nodded, wetting her bottom lip with a quick touch of her pointed tongue.
I captured one nipple between my thumb and forefinger, and her eyes in the glass. “Let me hear it now.”
Her eyes widened as I pinched tighter. Her chest hitched, and she leaned into my touch, despite the whimper of pain she muffled behind her lips.
“I can’t hear you, princess.” I cupped her other breast and stroked with the pressure of a feather around that tight peak. The warring sensations pulled a cry from her throat.
“Mercy,” she gasped finally. “Mercy, my dragon.”
“Good girl.” I kissed her cheek and reached for my cane. I needed to step away from her or else I was going to end up fucking her before the night even got started. “We only have a few minutes before the stylists get here, so I want to clarify, one last time: Is there anything you don’t want me to do tonight?”
“Anything that’s a go in the paperwork is fine by me.” She reached for a bottle of moisturizer and slicked some between her hands. “Don’t worry. I’ve got the hang of safe words and boundaries. If I don’t like something, I’ll let you know. But I don’t want you to hold back.”
“Did you think I was holding back when I had you tied to a chair and forced you to come during breakfast on your first morning here?” I asked, my own words quickening my pulse.
“No, but you didn’t do any of that to me,” she pointed out. “You asked other people to do those things. Tonight, you’ll be the one getting rough with me.”
That was true. As far as our kinky experimentation went, we hadn’t engaged in impact play or punishments of any kind. The closest I’d gotten was smacking her on the ass while we fucked. “You’ve done impact before, right?”
“Mhmm,” she said, patting the moisturizer into her cheeks. “I’m not as experienced as you are, obviously, but I’ve fooled around with paddles, hairbrushes, that kind of thing.”
My gaze fell to the wide, wood-handled brush on the vanity, then flicked guiltily back up. Could I bend her over the counter and welt her ass with it right now? Yes. Would it waste a lot of preparation that had gone into the evening, specifically so we could get to know each other on a deeper dom-and-sub level? Also, yes.
The doorbell rang.
“That’s the stylists,” I said. “You stay right here. Practice obeying.”
I left the bathroom and headed out to let in the stylists. They were exactly the ones I’d selected; a makeup artist named Tiffany who loved servicing our female clients, and a hairdresser named Asia whose numerous talents made her the most requested stylist at the resort.
“Mr. Ashe,” they both greeted me, almost in unison.
“Good evening.” I gestured to the bag Tiffany carried over her shoulder. “Do you want help with—”
“Thank you, but I prefer to carry my own supplies.” She tossed her shiny black hair over her shoulder and flashed a smile that put deep dimples in her tan cheeks. “If you drop it, there’ll be glitter in here for decades.”
I laughed but felt a stab of embarrassment. I suspected it was more about not burdening the guy with the cane. Asia pulled a bag on wheels behind her. Wincing, I said, “Sorry, I would offer, but those are a little tricky with this.”
“It’s fine, think nothing of it.” Asia’s sultry, Irish-accented voice contrasted with her young, innocent face. She’d been with us since Ascend Red opened, and I knew she was at least a couple of years older than I was, but her dark brown skin didn’t show a single wrinkle.
“Miranda gave you both the rundown?” I asked, though I directed the question a bit more at Asia than at Tiffany. I’d known Asia a lot longer. And better, in the biblical sense.
She nodded. “Pictures of the look you’re going for, full service, bindings, no orgasm.”
“And I’m going to be watching via camera,” I added, to be sure I had their consent in that.
“Yup,” Tiffany confirmed. “Do you want to do the binding?”
“Good idea.” I led them into the bedroom and knocked on the bathroom doorframe. “They’re here.”
“Oh, um.” Charlotte looked down at the towel in her lap and tugged off the one she’d wrapped around her hair. When Tiffany and Asia entered, Charlotte said apologetically, “I hope it’s okay that I put on some moisturizer. You’re not doing a facial or anything, right?”
“I might give you a facial,” I joked, and she rolled her eyes. “Hey, you knew how immature I was when you agreed to come to this island. I’ll be right back.”
“I thought you were watching from somewhere else,” she called after me.
“I am.” I went to the living room. Miranda had arrived with a team of decorators behind her. She held out a roll of pink satin ribbon and a pair of bandage scissors with a sly half-smile. I mouthed “thank you.”
Asia was plugging in a set of hot rollers on the counter when I returned. She quickly moved out of my way.
“Before I go,” I began, dropping to my knees beside the bench Charlotte sat on, “I want to make sure you’re in exactly the right position.”
I motioned for her to stand and scooted the bench around to face the linen cabinet and opened the door slightly.
“The camera is in there?” Charlotte asked with a dubious frown.
“Just today.” I opened the door fully and picked up the simple wireless webcam. “If I had cameras all over this place, I would have told you.”
“Okay, but why the closet?” she asked.
“Because it’s pervier that way.” I carefully moved the door so as not to block my future view. Then, I picked up the roll of ribbon. “Sit down and spread your legs, princess.”
She did as she was told. She was getting the hang of this more and more every time. I kneeled at her feet and took one in my hand, lifting her heel until only the ball of her foot touched the floor. Then, I gently slid that foot back until her heel touched the wooden leg of the bench.
Tiffany pulled out her bag of tricks, which contained some nontraditional tools of the trade. Charlotte watched her, eyes wide, as the makeup artist placed a large, bright pink dildo on the counter beside a canvas roll of brushes and applicators.
While I secured Charlotte’s foot, ankle, and calf to the bench, Asia presented me with two jewel boxes, each bearing a lovely set of glittering nipple clamps that could have been mistaken for earrings. “Which ones, sir?”
I considered both pairs, one tweezer style with delicate, dangling gold chains dotted with tiny diamonds, the other a clothespin model ornamented with filigree ruby pendants. Since I wasn’t sure how much experience Charlotte had with nipple clamps beyond the box she’d checked on the form, I decided to go with the safer route and picked the diamonds.
“I think the rubies will clash with the ribbon,” I said as an excuse.
While I worked on the second foot, Asia leaned over Charlotte, whose breasts rose and fell with her hastening breaths. Her back arched in anticipation as Asia’s mouth closed over a rosy nipple.
I tied the knot firmly; Charlotte wouldn’t be comfortable, but she’d be accessible. The width of the bench forced her legs wide apart, and her glistening cunt left shining kisses on the leather seat.
I moved behind her and cut another length of ribbon, capturing her arms and binding her wrists at the small of her back. She gasped and writhed her hips, and I looked up to see Asia slowly sliding up the tension ring of one clamp.
“You seem to have this under control,” I said as I rose. I dropped a kiss on Charlotte’s forehead and slid the bandage scissors onto the counter. “Bring her to me when she’s ready.”
I couldn’t sprint, but I came as close to it as my cane allowed on my way to the den, muttering apologies to some of the decorators I almost careened into. They were carefully arranging rows of candles and swaths of delicate pink silk to line the path Charlotte would walk to me when it was time.
I wished it was time right then.
In the den, I closed the door and hit the lock. Not that I thought anyone would come in and disturb me; it made it feel dirtier if I treated it like a secret to hide.
My laptop sat on the coffee table, already connected to the bathroom camera. As requested, Miranda had hung my change of clothes on the back of the door. I could get ready while I watched Tiffany and Asia make Charlotte ready.
I turned up the volume on the laptop and frowned at the buzzing noise coming from it, until I realized it wasn’t the machine malfunctioning but the sound of a vibrator coming through the speakers.
“Remember, you have to tell me before you get there,” Tiffany instructed Charlotte patiently. “Mr. Ashe isn’t going to be happy with you if you come before he gives you permission.”
I watched Charlotte squirm but couldn’t hear her over the noise of Asia’s blow-dryer. I noted the way my princess’s hips started to rock in a steady rhythm, and I murmured aloud, “Don’t you dare.”
It wasn’t like she could hear me, but she did obey the rules, crying out in time for Tiffany to pull the vibrator away.
What had I been doing? Oh, right. Getting dressed.
I unbuttoned the crisp black shirt on the hanger and pulled my T-shirt over my head, loath to take my eyes off the screen. Asia worked fast, and when the last curler was pinned into place—and one more orgasm had been denied—she traded duties with Tiffany, dropping to her knees between Charlotte’s spread thighs.
“Could I borrow a brush, Tiffany?” Asia asked.
I sucked in a breath, full of admiration for the technique. Asia peeled back Charlotte’s glistening labia, isolating her clit between finger and thumb. Dragging the fluffy head of a makeup brush over the straining flesh in a downward stroke, Asia cooed, “I’m going to keep doing this Charlotte. It won’t be enough to make you come, but it will keep you on the edge. If you’re too close, though, you have to tell me. You’re not allowed to come.”
Charlotte moaned in reply.
Tiffany tutted. “And you can’t move like that while I’m working on your face.”
My cock throbbed painfully. I reached into my pocket to adjust. I wasn’t sure changing my pants was a great idea; once my cock was out, I couldn’t be trusted not to jerk off.
Fuck, I should have asked to record this.
You don’t need to record it, I reminded myself. She’s yours.
And not for a fucking week. I was going to keep Charlotte, no matter what I had to do to prove I was worthy of her.
Dividing my attention between changing my clothes and watching the screen turned out to be a good idea. Buttons and zippers and shoelaces were the perfect distraction for my horny brain, and clothing myself was all I could accomplish at the moment. Charlotte was a wreck by the time I fastened my shirt cuffs. She whined and writhed while the stylists scolded and tormented her for my amusement.
“Here,” Asia said, handing the brush back.
Tiffany picked up the dildo.
“Oh fuck, I need that in me,” Charlotte groaned, bucking her hips.
“Only if you promise that you won’t come.” Asia rubbed the tip of the dildo up and down Charlotte’s slit. “Shift your hips a little, and I’ll let you have this. All the way.”
Charlotte wriggled and managed to scoot her ass to the edge of the bench. Tiffany put a knee on the corner to stop it from toppling over.
“It’s awfully big,” Asia warned as she smoothed lube over the toy.
Charlotte whined impatiently.
I sat on the couch and pulled the laptop closer, leaning in to watch as the head of the dildo stretched Charlotte’s pussy.
“Can you take it?” Asia teased her.
“She can take it,” I murmured, breathing a little harder. She could take it all.
Charlotte was of the same opinion. “Give me all of it!”
Asia pushed the toy into Charlotte’s cunt with one slow, smooth stroke. Charlotte groaned, her head dropping back until Tiffany righted it and scolded her for moving.
“Is that good?” Asia asked.
“Yes,” Charlotte gasped. “Yes!”
“Better than Mr. Ashe?”
I laughed. Of course, Asia would be bold enough to ask that. If I were an insecure man, maybe I would have worried about the answer. Since I was a highly egotistical man, I knew exactly what it would be.
“No. I fucking love his cock!”
Okay, more enthusiastic than I expected. I wouldn’t complain. My dick jumped, hearing itself named, and I flexed my hands, so close to unzipping and jacking myself off.
I probably wouldn’t even have to touch it. The threat of shameful adolescent memories making a nostalgic return in my pants was real. I needed to step back and cool off. I closed the laptop and took a few deep breaths.
“Okay, dragon.” I chuckled to myself at the nickname, rubbing a hand over my face. “Time to get into character.”