Chapter 1 #2
They said their goodbyes. Isabella gave Helena a knowing look. Mariana conspicuously found a guy she vaguely knew to talk to at the crucial moment, maintaining a veneer of deniability.
Outside, the S?o Paulo night was warm and busy. They decided to walk the few blocks to Juliana’s building rather than get a taxi, their arms brushing, all part of building the anticipation.
This, tonight, the way that Juliana had been clear as to what she wanted and then had displayed admirable patience…
this was what told Helena that Juliana was rapidly growing into a formidable dominant.
She’d understood completely Helena’s philosophy, that the submissive was the true dominant, and she was putting it into practice tonight.
Juliana, though still nominally the submissive, had been the one to tell Helena what she wanted and Helena had obeyed without question…
there were layers upon layers to what Helena and Juliana were doing, and Helena didn’t quite have it clear in her head where it was going or where it ended, just that there had been zero chance of her saying no to Juliana when she’d suggested they end the night together.
An interesting thought for the woman who was nominally the dominant out of the two of them to have, certainly.
In the lift Helena turned to Juliana and said, “When we get inside, Rainha, take off your dress and kneel by your bed. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Juliana’s breath caught. “Yes, Helena.”
Rainha… Helena’s name for Juliana when she submitted. Queen. It felt so right, so appropriate to call her that. Juliana’s potential was so great she could rule every heart she encountered if she wanted to, and it thrilled Helena to acknowledge that directly. My Queen, surrendered.
The lift doors opened, and Juliana unlocked her door before walking straight through to the bedroom without hesitation. Helena heard her undressing as she went to the kitchen and poured them both water.
Helena took her time, pausing and looking out at the view.
Waiting was part of it, pushing the patience just a little further, piling on the anticipation.
She was tempted to pour herself a proper drink, really take her time, but she judged that to be a little too slow.
It was a delicate balance between building the anticipation to a peak and letting it become frustration or annoyance, and she judged it was right about where she needed it to be already.
When she walked into the bedroom, Juliana was exactly where she’d been told to be, kneeling at the foot of the bed, naked, her wild curls loose around her shoulders, her brown eyes looking up at Helena.
She looked stunning… a couple of years younger than Helena, Juliana looked so alive, her body taut with anticipation.
“How long have you been kneeling?” Helena asked.
“Maybe ten minutes.”
“How does it feel?”
“Like I want you to touch me.” The irrepressible smile. “Like I’ve been thinking about this since Sunday.”
“Patience,” Helena reminded her. She walked to Juliana’s bedside drawer, taking out two silk scarves and a blindfold. “Lie on the bed. On your back.”
Juliana obeyed, stretching out on the pale sheets. Helena climbed onto the bed and took Juliana’s wrists, binding them to the headboard with the scarves, firmly enough to restrict, gently enough to be comfortable. Juliana tested them and nodded. Then the blindfold, soft fabric over her eyes.
Bound, blindfolded, naked. Entirely at Helena’s mercy.
Helena looked down at her. The responsibility, the trust, the care that this required… it never got old, that feeling, and it never should.
“I’m going to take my time with you, Rainha,” Helena said, her voice slipping into the tone that she saved for situations like this, where she was in command. “You don’t get to rush me. You don’t get to direct me. You experience what I give you, when I give it to you.”
“Yes, Helena,” Juliana whispered.
Helena stood and removed her top and trousers, leaving her only in her lingerie, and then she began.
She started with touch… fingertips following the now familiar paths around Juliana’s body, avoiding the obvious places for now.
Her ribs, her hip, her calves, her collarbone.
Slowly, oh so slowly, letting the anticipation build and build.
Juliana’s skin had goosebumps, her breathing quickened, a flush spread from her cheeks to her chest, but Helena kept it slow regardless.
Juliana pushed her body up towards the pressure and Helena drew her fingertips away.
“Still,” Helena said, pressing a hand against Juliana’s hip to give her a physical reminder of what Helena expected. “Don’t chase it. Let it come to you.”
She used her mouth next, lips and tongue following the path her fingers had traced, moving closer and closer to the places that she knew Juliana wanted her to go.
Juliana gasped when Helena’s mouth found her breast, a ragged gasp that told Helena everything she needed to know about how her instruction to Juliana to practise patience that week had pushed the anticipation to insane levels.
For a long, long time Helena devoted herself to Juliana, helpless, surrendered, beautiful Juliana, patiently and delicately, just as she would with any woman who had had the inner strength to surrender so completely.
She explored, teased, built and retreated, reading every reaction and adjusting.
This was what she was good at. This was what she’d learned to receive from that first time with Alessandra and had built into a gift that she gave… power as a gift, rather than a weapon.
“Helena…” Juliana’s voice was strained, her body shaking in desperation for gratification. “Please…”
“Please what, Rainha?”
“Please touch me properly. I’ve been patient. I’ve been so patient.”
“Oh, you’ve been so good. My perfect, obedient…
” Helena hesitated. She’d nearly said Gatinha but caught herself, because that was her name for someone else, someone thousands of miles away in Houston, someone who she was starting to come to terms with being her past, not her future.
It would feel like betrayal of the memory, though, to use Caitlin’s name for Juliana. “…Rainha.”
Helena rewarded her, her hand moving between Juliana’s legs. Juliana moaned and strained against the scarves, and Helena set a pace that was slow but relentless, building Juliana’s pleasure gradually but surely.
She added her mouth, her tongue working with her fingers, and it didn’t take long from there, a characteristically joyful climax surging through Juliana…
a cry of pleasure and a laugh of delight braided together, her body tensing and shaking, her wrists straining at the scarves.
Helena drew it out, as she always did, slowly reducing the pressure and the pace, judging it perfectly so that another final mini-climax followed.
“Good girl,” Helena whispered, untying the blindfold. Juliana blinked up at her, flushed and grinning.
“Ten out of ten. Will be patient again.” Her grin was irrepressible. “Untie me? I’d like to return the favour.”
“I’ll untie you, but you don’t get to decide what we do.” Helena untied the scarves and rubbed Juliana’s wrists, kissing them where the skin was red. “Besides, you said you wanted me to do whatever I wanted with you. I’m nowhere near finished.”
She leaned down and kissed Juliana, slowly and lazily, taking her time. Juliana kissed her back the same way she lived her whole life, joyfully, happily, messily.
“You want to return the favour?” Helena asked eventually.
Juliana nodded.
Helena sat up and put her feet to the floor. “Then I’m going to go to your living room, I’m going to sit down, and I’m going to watch my Rainha crawl to me and beg for permission.” Helena put her hand to Juliana’s chin and stroked her jaw. “You’d like that?”
“Yes.” Juliana’s eyes were bright. “You want me to beg?”
Helena nodded. “Yes. I want to hear my Rainha tell me exactly why she wants to make me feel what she just felt. And…” Helena paused “… maybe, if she’s lucky and she begs hard enough, I’ll let her.”
Juliana’s eyes widened and Helena just about hid her own grin of excitement as she stood and walked towards the living area, secretly thrilled to hear the sound of Juliana starting to follow on her hands and knees.