LegallyBinding Read online

  “Is that so terrible?”

  “If you even have to ask…”

  “We would make love with abandon, play whatever parts we wished, knowing there would be no consequences, no relationship to slow us down.”

  “So you’re hot.” She tried to give him a dose of his own medicine. “That’s not reason enough to have sex with someone.”

  “What other reason could there be? Or are you one of those types who believe only in intercourse for procreation?”

  “I believe in lovemaking, Mr. Morrell, plain and simple. And I think you already know that about me.”

  He took another swallow of his wine. “I think you’ve fought very hard to be the good girl and act strong but inside of you is quite a different woman.”

  “Do tell.” She rolled her eyes with requisite contempt. “I’m sure it’s all about submission right?”

  “The word is charged on your lips. It only confirms what I say. I think you’re intrigued that a man would do with you and to you exactly what pleases him. That he would make no compromise for polite society. That he would call and you would come running. That he would command and you would kneel, that sexually you would be his plaything.”

  Kat fought the rush of images in her mind. Unfortunately Lust’s Castaways had been of little help having dealt directly with the topic of domination in a relationship.

  * * * * *

  The hero Giorgio is a young sailor hired to take Gina out for a day on the high seas. Gina is an arrogant, bored young woman who would rather spend her time texting.

  Giorgio arranges for them to be conveniently shipwrecked on a nearby island where he can teach her a lesson. First she will have to accept dependence knowing he is the only one who can appropriate food for them and locate sources of fresh water. He also takes command of the one tent that keeps away mosquitoes.

  Giorgio will let the proud beauty inside but only on his own terms. For each privilege she surrenders an article of clothing. It doesn’t take long to liberate her of her light shift and lime green bikini. Now that she is naked and fed for the moment she must learn obedience.

  When she resists kneeling he punishes her with a hot spanking that leads to lovemaking right there on the wet sand. As the tide rushes in she gives her lover her body, acknowledging him as her Master.

  Now the rush is on between the two of them to play out the games that are clearly on both their minds. Gina willingly crawls to and services Giorgio, experiencing outrageous pleasure in the process.

  The journey between them might last forever if not for rescue. As is usually the case in life some well-meaning idiots spoil the fun for everyone.

  Gina must take off her makeshift grass collar and return to high society while Giorgio faces life as a poor sailor.

  * * * * *

  Kat had been so into the story. Furiously playing with herself and identifying every step of the way with the heroine. In her dreams she’d been tied up and spanked a couple of times but nothing had ever felt so vivid. She had refused to attribute the effect to Morrell’s influence but now she had to wonder.

  Totally flush and out of control, she had come just before the final scene. One hand plunged between her legs, she had worked her clit. At the same she had kept two fingers deeply plunged inside her to simulate the motions of a dominant cock. She had bit down on the knuckles of her other hand to squelch the screaming. Her whole body had been aflame from her throbbing nipples to the tingling in her toes.

  “I am not a pervert,” Kat informed Julian, now determined to put the entire matter to bed.

  Kat cringed inwardly over the unfortunate choice of words.

  Bed and Julian were two things that must never ever go together.

  “Of course not.” He smiled, curling her toes with his subtle but distinctly predatory leer. “By the way, I wonder if you’ve had a chance to catch anything from the hotel’s adult video channel.”

  “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

  It was a stupid bluff and sure enough he saw straight through it.

  “There is a film I highly recommend. Shall I tell you the plot?”

  “That won’t be necessary.”

  “There are these two individuals and they go out to sea,” he drawled, as if he were settling in to tell the whole plot.

  “Fine,” she snapped realizing he would never change the subject otherwise. “I watched Lust’s Castaways. Are you happy?”

  He arched a brow. “I think the real question is whether you are happy you watched it? Would you have liked to be Gina, Kat? Would you have enjoyed her submission…her slavery?”

  “I found it repulsive.”

  “And yet you masturbated by your own admission.”

  “That was over something else, not that it’s any of your business.”

  Julian frowned. “I’ve offended you.”

  She stared open mouthed. “You’re just now figuring that out? Wow what a rocket scientist.”

  He went silent though his eyes never left hers.

  “What?” she demanded.

  “I’m thinking of you blindfolded in my suite with your hands secured in silk.”

  Her nipples throbbed. Up to this point she hadn’t really wanted to put two and two together. All that interest in her submission, the theme of the movie, the way he’d acted on the beach.

  Julian Morrell was a sexual dominant.

  Which meant that he was way more potent—and sexually explosive than she could have imagined.

  Tall, Dark and Hell No.

  Wasn’t that always the way? You had to have one with the other.

  “Why exactly would I trust you?” she asked, not that she had the least intention of entering his confidence—or his room.

  Call it curiosity, that’s all.

  Or playing with fire.

  “For one thing you would have a safe word. With it you could stop the game at any time.”

  A game. Such an odd way to think of BDSM.

  “And if I didn’t use the word?”

  His eyes lit for a second. Just long enough to set her belly ablaze. “Then I will do as I wish to you, Katherine.”

  “And what exactly do you wish, Mr. Morrell?”

  I can stop this, she told herself. I can walk away. There’s no harm in talking, right?

  His smile suggested otherwise. As though he already had her behind closed doors. Well he could think what he liked. He was wrong. Dead wrong.

  “I wish to make your body sing. I want you to find places you didn’t know were there.”

  Curses on the man for making it sound so hot.

  “By tying and whipping me, right?” She’d meant to shame him but he never even flinched.

  “If those are the things you need then they will be done to you. But there are other things.”

  “Things to turn a man on.” She tried to put him off. “Like watching a woman begging and crawling.”

  “Gina seemed to like it just fine.”

  Kat was sure she had him now. “That was acting in a movie.”

  “All acting comes from a real place. You should know that as a lawyer. When you try to convince a jury and you aren’t even sure yourself, is that lying, acting, projecting, what?”

  “That is different.”

  “Tell me,” said Julian, exercising once again his propensity for turning the tables. “Were you spanked as a little girl?”

  The words hit her like a cold slap. A cold, invisible slap to her hot and needy flesh.

  “Of course not.”

  “Good. Then you have no negative preconceptions. It will come across exactly as I intend.”

  Kat couldn’t breathe. She ought to run but something held her fast. The damn curiosity. And the stupid lust.

  “You don’t honestly think in a million years I would ever let you…touch me.” She couldn’t bring herself to say the actual word.

  “I do,” he replied. “The only question is the administration.”

  “Administration?”<
br />
  Stop this Kat. Stop talking to the man. You’re only egging him on.

  “A spanking can be done across the knee or the woman can be bent over. Then there is the matter of her dress, she may be clothed as opposed to being fully or partially nude. Not to mention the rituals that can be conducted before and afterward.”

  “I’ve heard enough.”

  Gina and Giorgio had rituals. When she’d been spanked sufficiently she would fall to her knees and take his engorged cock in her mouth to show submission. Then just before he came he would put her down in the sand on her back or on all fours.

  Punished, penetrated, she would take his seed.

  Then more than likely she would cook him a meal.

  Hah. Kat could cook a microwave meal and that was about it.

  “You asked,” he reminded.

  “Well I shouldn’t have.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’m not interested.”

  “You just like to talk, is that it?”

  “What I would like is to eat dinner…alone.”

  He narrowed his gaze, blue eyes devastating like laser beams. “Is that what you really want?”

  Her body sure didn’t want that. Every bit of her flesh ached to be taught, touched, taken in hand. The very words, spanking, discipline, sent chills up and down her spine. This was not normal.

  “You’re undecided.”

  Kat blinked. Damn it, she had taken too long to answer.

  “I was only thinking of how to tell you off properly.”

  It was at this point the soup arrived. The smell was delicious and nourishing. Good lord, how long since she’d eaten? No wonder she was on edge. Soup first, Julian later.

  “You’re starving,” he noted. He wasn’t touching his soup.

  Great, it was probably loaded with sleeping pills.

  “Tell me something, Julian.” It was the first time she’d said his name. The feeling was strange but not all together unpleasant. From the look in his eyes he seemed to like it too. “Why did you pick me out of all the women on the beach? And don’t tell me I was the prettiest or some nonsense because we both know it isn’t true.”

  “Maybe I wanted a challenge.”

  “But if I’m supposed to be a submissive why would I pose any challenge at all? Wouldn’t that make me a pushover?”

  “On the contrary,” he declared. “Submissives are extremely strong willed. They set the boundaries.”

  “Too bad my boundaries exclude you entirely.”

  “And yet I am still here,” Julian noted.

  “Because I want you to be and because you amuse me.”

  He laughed dryly.

  She failed to find it amusing. “Am I a joke to you?”

  “On the contrary. You enthrall me, Katherine Cartwell.”

  His words made her heart skip a beat. “So maybe you are my slave.”

  His smile angled sharply. “Perhaps.”

  Kat had to admit the idea of controlling Julian was not nearly as interesting as being controlled.

  “So if you did have me,” she said impulsively. “What would you do with me right this instant?”

  “I would have you remove your panties.”

  Kat nearly swooned. “Excuse me.”

  “If you were being nice and obedient up to then I would let you do it in the bathroom, otherwise you would manage it here at the table.”

  Her pussy thrummed as though she were already exposed and at his mercy. All those eyes on her. “You would have me naked under my dress?”

  “What better reminder for a slave of her availability to the Master and how easy it would be to have her over this table for example or against the wall in the alley,” he pointed out.

  She tried to force the images from her mind, her mind and body belonging to Julian, whole evenings consisting of waiting for whatever outrageous game he wanted to play.

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “I generally disallow bras on my slaves as well,” he added casually.

  Kat’s head swam as she imagined having a man like Julian tell her what to put on her body. “I had no idea.”

  “The Master benefits, naturally, because he gets to enjoy the best view of his property. Plus it makes a woman feel sexy, don’t you think?”

  “I couldn’t say…”

  “Really? You wouldn’t enjoy that special secret, the way I would look you in the eye, you and I the only two people in the world who know what I can do, just by my words, commanding you?”

  “You are talking about random sex.”

  “We would have signals. I could tell you without words to go and wait for me in the back hall of the restaurant by the toilets. Or maybe I would be letting you know you were in for a punishment when we got home.”

  “On my bare behind?” she whispered, feeling like a collaborator.

  “Yes, that’s it exactly.”

  Kat shuddered trying not to squirm. “I wouldn’t like that.”

  “But it would turn you on as a slave. That is part of the secret. I would know what you need, and no one else would be able to give it to you.”

  “I need tenderness, affection, like any other woman.”

  “And sometimes it is quite tender. You have to trust totally, open up and submit yourself. You bow to another’s will in hope of having your own will honored.”

  “You make it sound so…possible.” It wasn’t a very good word but it was the least charged one she could find at the moment.

  What it sounded was dreamy, maddening and unnerving.

  “It’s more than possible,” he said leaning back to let the waiter take his bowl. “It’s inevitable—between the right two people at least.”

  Kat waited until the server had cleared her place. She smiled, thanking him and then turned her attention back to Julian. “So have you actually been in the kind of relationship you’re describing or is it just your fantasy?”

  Julian grinned. “Oh it’s quite real.”

  Kat wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or disappointed he’d had submissives in the past.

  “But it doesn’t last obviously,” she said.

  “I had one girlfriend who submitted to me for two months. She was a high-fashion model.”

  “What happened to her?”

  “She cheated on me.”

  “You couldn’t whip her into shape, eh?”

  “I told you it’s not like that. She opted out of the contract and that was that.”

  “You use contracts?” she exclaimed. “Good grief that’s a lot of work to put into something fun like sex.”

  “It’s a trade off. Do it right and you get a charge that lasts 24/7, sex poured into every moment, every action and word. It’s perpetual foreplay, Katherine.”

  “But you don’t want me for a girlfriend.”

  “Very astute,” he acknowledged. “I swore off relationships. My desire is to own you for a night.”

  Her lips were so dry. Breathing was no longer an easy matter. The steaks came and she barely noticed.

  “So you were serious with all that Don Juan talk?”

  “I wish to tie you, seduce you and leave you exquisitely satisfied.”

  “But I don’t know you. Do you take me for an idiot or some kind of—”

  He spared her completing the sentence. “I take you for a woman of the world and nothing more. That’s why I have references.”

  Her eyes widened. “You have what?”

  “Women you can call who have been with me. They will tell you I’m not a monster. Though to be perfectly frank they are liable to warn you away from me.”

  “Because of the one-night stand deal or the domination?”

  “You’d have to ask them. One thing I stand by. I never delude anyone. Every female knows up front what she’s getting.”

  “I suppose it has its appeal,” said Kat. “For some.”

  Not for her though. She was quite happy with her isolation. This was vacation, a chance to get away from entangl
ements, not start new ones.

  He might act as though it was all cut and dried but sex was unpredictable. Lucky for her she avoided it like the plague.

  “This is quite a bit of food for thought,” she said.

  “For what it’s worth,” he replied. “It’s been a long time since I was attracted to a woman like I am to you.”

  It was worth a mint, not that she would tell him.

  “I really do think I want to be alone, Julian.”

  “Of course.”

  He placed money on the table and rose to his feet with utter grace, no sign of retreat or defeat.

  The suddenness caught her off guard as much or more than his arrival.

  “Are you really going or is this another trick?”

  He shook his head. “I have a suite upstairs. Otherwise, this is goodbye.”

  The next thing she knew he had her hand in his for a delicate but powerful kiss that sent hot chills from the tip of her toes all the way up her nerve endings.

  It was as if his mouth were made to mold to her skin, his fingers designed to hold hers.

  But that couldn’t be. This was only a one-night stand at stake and a kinky one at that.

  “I think you know my decision already,” she said.

  Now if only she knew it herself.

  She watched him walk away so confident and supreme in his own world. What game was he playing now? Did he expect her to chase after him?

  To beg him to take her, make love to her in his suite, no doubt equipped with all the tools of his trade, whips and chains and what not?

  Yeah, right. Never in a million years. Kat was happy, self satisfied. She had found what she needed on this trip and in life.

  So why do I feel alone all of a sudden?

  Isolated.

  Her brain might be telling her it was a good thing that Julian Morrell was walking away but her body had a different take. Her nerves were tingling, her pulse racing and— She had almost said her heart.

  As in the part of her that was capable of getting hurt. She didn’t really care about this guy did she? That made no sense. She barely knew him.

  It was all the game playing he had been doing. The manipulation.

  Yes. Julian was a player.

  He strung women along and if they were weak enough he took them to bed. He was probably good at that. The sex part.

  Her loins ached. It had been a long time.