Chapter 8
Eight
Sofie slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound of her crying. The sobs had come on unexpectedly, their ferocity shocking, though pale in comparison to the power of the orgasm she’d just had.
What was she doing? This was so embarrassing…
Sofie snapped her legs closed, trapping Andrei’s hand against her sex. She tried to turn to the side, both so his hand would move and so she could curl up into a ball of pathetic embarrassment, but all that did was cause his fingers to rub against her orgasm-sensitive clit.
A strange sound—half sob, half moan of pleasure— escaped her, only partially muffled by her hand.
The world spun as Andrei took control, turning her so she was sideways on his lap, her ass in space between his spread thighs. That meant moving his hand away from her sex, and she made a small sound of protest without meaning to.
That same hand gripped her wrist, forcing her hand down from her mouth.
“Don’t hide from me,” he scolded softly.
“I don’t know why I’m c-crying.”
“Don’t you?”
Once more, the world spun, this time as he stood. Sofie wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding on as he carried her.
“Grab a blanket for us,” he said as he crouched by a set of low wooden drawers.
With one hand, she pulled a drawer open, grabbing out a soft, fluffy blanket. She held it in her lap as he stood with a grunt of effort.
She’d never been carried before, and wondered if she was too heavy. She should tell him to put her down but…but she didn’t want to be put down. She wanted him to hold her in his arms. Wanted to feel safe and protected.
It was madness that he was the one she felt safe with, when he was the reason she felt naked far beyond lack of clothes.
He returned to the wide padded bench he’d pushed up against the glass and set her down on her feet, but only for a moment. To her surprise, he sat cross-legged, back against the glass, then pulled her into his lap before spreading the blanket over her.
“Wait,” she said, sitting up. She shook out the blanket then tugged his shoulders so he leaned forward.
“The glass is cold,” she said as she slid the blanket around him.
Darting a glance at his face, she saw his eyes widen in surprise as she finished protecting him from the cold glass. Settling back into his lap, she pulled the edges of the blanket around herself. It was just barely big enough.
“Taking care of me, Angel?” he murmured against her hair as she wiggled until she was comfortable, head tucked into his neck.
“Yes. As long as the blanket stays over my toes.”
He immediately grabbed the bottom edge of the blanket and tucked it under her feet, his hand staying there, his fingers holding the blanket against the ball of one foot, his thumb smoothing over the top in slow sweeps.
The logistics of getting the blanket had dried her tears, but now the feel of that simple, almost absent-minded touch on her foot brought tears to her eyes once more.
Quiet, quiet, quiet, she chanted silently.
“Cry if you need to,” Andrei murmured, proving she wasn’t fooling him.
“I was trying to be quiet,” she sobbed. “It didn’t work.”
His low laugh rumbled through her, and fresh arousal stirred in her gut.
“I don’t know why I’m crying.” She rubbed her cheeks against his shirt to dry them. “I’m not sad. And I almost never cry, anyway.”
“Well that explains it, doesn’t it? If you never cry, never relinquish control and give in to your emotions, then when you finally give control to me…” He paused. “Control to a Dom, I mean. Then you can cry.”
“Oh,” she said softly, then quickly added, “of course.”
They were quiet for a moment, her tears dried, a soft, warm lethargy all that remained.
“Did you try the shrimp?” he asked unexpectedly.
“The shrimp?”
“At the museum party.”
“Oh! No, I was too excited.” She sat up enough to look at him. “Were they good?”
“Delicious. I ate four and would have had four more.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Well you see, I was hanging back, enjoying myself with food and drink while Landon went and got his girl.”
Sofie’s stomach clenched with jealousy. Not that she wanted to be Landon’s girl. But to be someone’s girl, to have someone care enough to follow her, try and find her…
“I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to have to do anything except maybe follow Landon here in his car if he ended up needing the van. Otherwise, I was going to spend a day or two in Amsterdam before heading home.”
“Why would he need the van?” Sofie propped her elbow on his shoulder, cheek in her palm. The posture made his lips twitch.
“If Colette didn’t come willingly.” Andrei arched an eyebrow. “The van was set up to have an unwilling woman step in it.”
“That’s…not good.” Sofie tried to keep her face straight, but her lips twitched. “You shouldn’t know how to set up a kidnapping van.”
Andrei grinned. “It’s even a white van.”
“Like in the TV shows!” Sofie couldn’t help but do a little excited wiggle.
The blanket would have fallen off if Andrei hadn’t wrapped his other arm around her and used that hand to hold the blankets together.
“People always do crime and kidnapping in those vans,” she finished.
“Do crime…” Again, his brow arched. “That’s why you were too excited to eat at the museum. Do a little crime.”
“I didn’t steal anything,” she pointed out.
“Then you should have had some of the shrimp.”
Sofie laughed, snuggling back into his lap. Once her head was safely tucked under his chin, she let her smile widen into a foolish grin.
She’d just done witty banter with a sexy man.
The bubbly happy feelings mellowed to a lethargy. Time passed, though she wasn’t sure how much. So much of her life was quiet unless she actively filled it with noise, but this quiet was different. It wasn’t still and solemn. This quiet was warm and soft.
She realized she still felt floaty, though not as intensely as she had after the spanking and while he used her mouth.
Sofie licked her lips, remembering the feel and taste of him.
Her pussy pulsed with fresh need, her nipples hardening.
A terrible thought occurred to her and she sat up abruptly, knocking his chin with her head as she did.
Andrei grunted in pain, a grimace marking his features.
“Did that hurt? I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, I didn’t need the tip of my tongue.”
Sofie’s eyes widened. “Let me see.” She grabbed his chin, trying to pull his mouth open.
It had worked when he did it to her, but Andrei’s mouth didn’t open. His brow rose, his eyes sparkled with amusement, but his mouth remained closed.
Sofie pulled down his lip, but all that got her was a view of his bottom teeth. It was only when he started to laugh that she got a look in his mouth.
“No blood and your tongue looks fine.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” he murmured.
Sofie had never really seen the appeal of medical fetish until that moment. Her nipples tightened as she imagined Andrei with a stethoscope around his neck as he told her to spread her legs so he could examine her.
“I don’t want aftercare,” she blurted out. Realizing this was aftercare was what had made her sit up so precipitously.
The amusement dropped from his face. “Aftercare is a nonnegotiable.”
“But I don’t want to be done!”
His expression softened. “I see.”
“Colette and Landon aren’t done yet, so we have time, right?”
“We do.”
“Good.” Sofie tried to shrug off the blanket, but Andrei tightened the arm around her, holding her against his chest.
“You’re still coming down off the scene. We’ll wait.”
“I don’t want to wait,” she grumbled. “I should have realized when you talked about the shrimp.” He’d been easing her out of the scene by having a normal conversation.
The thought had her trying to slip away so she could kneel at his feet once more. Show him she was still ready, or maybe ready again, to submit to him.
This time when he clamped her against his chest, her nipple rubbed against his shirt. Now, all she could think about was getting him to touch and play with her nipples again.
“Do you want to hear about the time Landon was an asshole to Colette and didn’t do her aftercare so I had to?”
Sofie froze, thoughts of nipple play vanishing. “You and Colette… You scened?”
“No, but Landon questioned Colette during one of their scenes.”
“And that’s…bad?”
“Of course.”
The frown in his voice made her wince, realizing that was the wrong thing to say.
“Mid-scene, he switched from being Master Landon to Agent Malik, questioning her while she was in subspace. She, rightly, stopped the scene, but here is the best part. They ended up fighting in the hall, which means I got to watch her throw a butt plug at his head.”
Sofie laughed, but the mention of the butt plug didn’t help her arousal levels.
“Wait.” She peered at him. “You questioned me about crime.”
“Did I? What question did I ask?”
She opened her mouth, then closed it again. He was right. He hadn’t actually asked a question.
“Tell me the rest of the story about you and Colette,” she demanded, stomach tight.
Andrei leaned his head back against the glass, looking at her with half-lidded eyes. “Later that night, she was wandering the hall. I thought it was delayed sub drop, but she admitted Landon hadn’t done aftercare with her—and to be fair, she’d used her safe word and told him to never touch her again.”
“So you did…this? With her?” Sofie would have motioned to their current position if her arms hadn’t been trapped in the cocoon of the blanket.
“Yes, I gave her the physical comfort she needed?—”
There was no denying it, Sofie was jealous. And felt very small. Colette was bold, beautiful, and fearless. She lived a big, wonderful life.
Sofie’s life before tonight was quiet and small. And once Colette and Landon appeared, it would go back to being quiet and small. Maybe she should be worried about getting arrested, but she wasn’t. Everything she did was a gray area, and thanks to Andrei’s intervention, she hadn’t actually managed to steal anything tonight.
“—and then helped her find straps so she could tie Landon to the bed.”
Sofie jerked her head up. This time, Andrei moved in time to avoid her cracking his head against her chin.
“What?”
Andrei’s grin was wicked, his eyes bright as he explained how Colette hadn’t known what to do because in the heat of their argument, she’d told Landon to never touch her again. So Andrei had suggested she touch him, then helped her find the straps she needed.
“To tie him to the bed,” Sofie said slowly.
“Yes.”
“And fuck him.”
“Yes.”
Sofie licked her lips, eyeing Andrei as she pictured doing that to him. Having him naked and at her mercy. Her breath quickened with arousal, except… Except she had no idea what she’d actually do with him if she had him like that.
Andrei released her foot, his hand traveling up her leg to her knee. Then it skipped over to her breasts, cupping one and lazily rubbing his thumb over her nipple.
Sofie arched back, offering herself.
“Are you a switch?” he asked as he tugged her nipple.
“No?”
“Not sure?”
“I’ve never tried,” she said honestly.
“I see. So you’re not sure if the idea of having a partner at your mercy is because you want control, or because…” He leaned in, lips brushing her cheek, her ear. “That first orgasm wasn’t enough. You need more. Need to come again. And you think you can get what you need if you could ride my cock.”
She nodded frantically, paused, shook her head, then nodded again.
“No, tell me,” he scolded, pulling hard on her nipple.
She yelped. “Yes, I want to come again. No, I don’t think I’d get what I need if I were in charge of riding your cock. I wouldn’t know what to do.”
“Wouldn’t know what to do if you had to top?”
That wasn’t exactly what she meant, but she nodded.
“If you need to ride…then you’ll ride.”