focused more on the satisfaction of humiliation, and the thought of that was intriguing and also a little nerve-wracking. I’d done lots of humiliating things before, most notably with Thomas and Charlotte, but they were in a wider context; the emphasis had still beenmore on pain. I knew I could cope with pain. What if the humiliation was too much? What if he annoyed me? What if I blushed? OK, it was definite I was going to blush, but what if it got too intense?
I tried to calm myself. If a hundred strikes of a wooden spoon directly between my legs was something I could withstand, surely I could cope with whatever he came up with, right? There was nothing he could say or do (or make me do – the thought slipped unbidden into my mind and threw up a whole new set of questions) that could be harder to cope with than that relentless pain, right? I wasn’t so sure, mostly because I had no real understanding of what he would come up with. The unknown made me nervous and put me firmly on the back foot, which of course made me wet, which in turn made me grumpy. By the time he knocked on the door I was relieved – fifteen minutes longer and I might have over-thought myself into a headache.
When I opened the front door and saw him smile up at me from the front step my first thought was confusion. How had I not noticed his sharp jawline and how sexy his smile was? In the haze of fury at being stitched up on a blind date all I’d been aware of was his messy dark hair and a slightly smug air. The former was still apparent but there was no sign of the latter, well, not then anyway. Also, and forgive me for being a sucker for this kind of thing, he was wearing a suit. He wore it well.
We said hello, and I stepped back to let him in, suddenly feeling awkward. He walked past me and then stopped abruptly, unsure where to go next. I laughed, sounding high pitched to my own ears, and pointed downthe corridor towards the living room, burbling nonsense to fill the now-slightly-awkward silence (well, it felt awkward to me).
‘I haven’t ever done this before, had someone round like this I mean. I’m not entirely sure what the etiquette of it is. Would you like a cup of tea, or coffee or –’
In hindsight I think it was probably best he moved when he did – otherwise I’d have gone through the entire beverage content of my kitchen one at a time. He moved so quickly I don’t really know how I ended up with him pushed against me, his mouth on mine, the wall pressing into my back. I gasped in surprise, and he took advantage of me opening my mouth to insinuate his tongue, deepening the kiss.
He tasted of mint with a hint of coffee, presumably a lingering reminder of the lunch he’d just finished. As my surprise mellowed I began to kiss him back more aggressively. Suddenly our tongues were duelling and he was pushing me harder against the wall, holding me in place with his hips while his hands stroked up my arms, making me shiver a little, before softly touching the side of my face. He pushed a stray piece of hair behind my ear and I whimpered softly as his finger touched the shell-like curve. He smiled against my mouth and moved his hand back to do the same thing again, and I fought to control my reactions, trying to hold my own in the kiss, even while the meandering circles of his finger made my legs feel weak.
I don’t know how long we stood there. Certainly by the time he broke off to look down at me for a moment, my nipples were hard in my bra and there was a flush in mycheeks. He stroked my hair gently and dropped a kiss onto the bridge of my nose.
‘Are you ready? Are you sure you want to do this? If not, I’m perfectly happy to have tea.’ He smiled at me, but there was mocking there. ‘Or coffee. Milkshake if you have it, or –’
I shook my head firmly. ‘I’m ready. I’m sure. Definitely.’ I grinned at the ridiculousness of the conversation, realising how earnest I sounded.
He looked at me intently for a
Emma Barry & Genevieve Turner