Midnight in Venice...

[GreyJack]

The man steps closer, leans down and gathers up the silky puddle of her dress. He tosses it away idly and stands silently for another long moment, sensing her surrender and her desire to stay.

“Stand up,” he tells her. Her previous training is apparent when she slowly rises, her hands going naturally behind her back to thrust her breasts forward. She steals a quick glance at him, just in time to see his nod.

“Good,” he repeats. “For now, I want you upright, but…this way.” He nudges his knee between her legs and forces them apart. She sways and staggers slightly as he positions her feet in a wider stance. Again, he looks her up and down. “That will do…for now.”

She feels his hand brush over her forehead and down across her eyes. “Close them. Keep them closed until I tell you to open them. Or must I blindfold you, hmmm?”

Obediently, she closes her eyes with a flutter. Her breathing grows more ragged as she listens intently, trying to determine what will happen next. She senses his movement away and the faint indistinct sounds he makes. She thinks he must be selecting items at the altar or exhibit she had glimpsed before. She tries hard to remember what was displayed there, but her thoughts are a jumble.

Then she feels his breath upon her cheek, his voice close at her ear. “Keep your eyes closed…open your other senses. Awaken yourself to the scent…the feel…” Instantly, she smells the fresh, animal aroma of leather as it moves past her nostrils. She shivers as she feels the slick, smooth rasp of it caress her right cheek, and glide down her neck. Then it’s at her other cheek, again, the slow, slow caress of it -- the ripe and pungent scent of it. As he plays the leather down her neck, she arches slightly and hears the breathy chuckle deep in his throat. So slowly, she almost wants to scream, she feels the leather slide down between her breasts, then under the left breast and circling inward to her nipple, then she gasps as she feels the light snap directly on her nipple. Before she can catch her breath, she feels the leather circling her right breast -- knowing at the end of the movement will come another sharp snap on her right nipple. Her shoulders tremble and jerk when it comes, even expected the sting is exhilarating. Before the pain eases away, she feels the leather pressed hard against her mouth. “Kiss it,” she hears him say. “Kiss it with desire and…want.”

She wets her lips with her tongue and just as she is about to make contact, she feels the leather move away. A flash of anger almost makes her open her eyes. She tightens her mouth.

“No games here,” he tells her again. “No easy and facile play. Only obedience…and the passion of obedience. You must want to kiss this…” She feels the leather brush her mouth once more. “You must hunger for it. Tell me. Do you need to kiss it?”

She murmurs the only word she is coming to depend on in his presence. “Please…”

She feels his nose brush across hers as he shakes his head from side to side. “Do. You. Need?”

“I…” her voice almost fails her, but she steels herself, digs deep into her very being, touching the root of her natural self. “I want to kiss it,” she whispers between her clenched teeth.

As the leather touches her pursed lips, a ragged sigh escapes her and her shoulders tremble again as she feels engulfed…by the scent, the taste, the feel of the leather…almost as if it responds…like a hungry lover to her kiss.

“Good,” she hears the man say.