For The Wicked (Fantasy Heights) (8 page)

He came just a moment later to the sounds of light impacts against the glass, and whooping sounds of an appreciative audience. Josh practically had to carry her off set. Her legs seemed to remain on the platform right next to her wits.

They’d catch up with her eventually, she figured, but wasn’t eager for their return as Josh drew her behind the blind, kissing her even more senseless.

Against her mouth, he smiled, still nipping at her lips. “You liked that. Now hold still. We still have to take this out.”

She nearly jumped out of her skin when he reached down, one hand going to her mound, the other pressing between her buttocks. He gave her a sort of arrogant look, daring her to stop or refuse him as he rubbed her now hyper-sensitized clit and began to rub the base of the butt plug, making it move inside of her.

A bright pinch of pleasure came with a flashover of an orgasm. Not a huge one, but it hit so hard and fast that she was leveled. Josh took advantage of the renewed pulsing, giving the butt plug a gentle tug and letting her body force it the rest of the way out.

She rested her forehead against his chest while catching her breath. The rest of their night was deceptively peaceful. All the way back to the gatehouse, she debated asking him the obvious questions. What was his verdict on the threesome? Why did she feel a withdrawal from him lately, and why wouldn’t he talk about it?

Frustrating, really. Josh was very warm, very kind, but utterly unapproachable that night. She didn’t push, even though she felt like a coward for avoiding the conflict.

On her way to wardrobe the next afternoon, she swung by Scott Milazzo’s suite in the Palace. She asked if he’d enjoyed the Zoo last night. Given the shade of crimson he turned, and the way his pupils dilated, she hardly needed a more detailed answer.

When asked about his mysterious reappearing gamer, he said no one had seen the guy since yesterday. Security would issue an alert soon, if they hadn’t already.

She wished Scott luck for the first simulated battle that afternoon, the abduction scene where her character, a Fae princess, was abducted by the enemy. Wardrobe would take hours. Her inhuman character required a great deal of body paint and fuss, but Kara had done this a few years in a row now, and had simplified her design. She’d created long silk sleeves that were glued securely around Amanda’s shoulder blades and chest. The sleeves fluted out into long trains that reached the floor. A headpiece of sequins and scales and more iridescent silk enhanced the otherworldly appearance. The crowning touch was the opaque brilliantly green lenses. Unlike Ben’s version, these came with a major handicap. She would be completely blind. She could only wear the lenses for half an hour at most. They would have to come out for a while between the abduction scene and the fantasy piece later where the highest-bidding client got to have their way with the kidnapped princess.

Thomas was late getting back from Virginia. He was still racing into his leather armor while she stood by the soundstage door with the contact-lens case clutched in her hand. Kara flitted from person to person, tightening this, adjusting that, fussing and clucking and barking orders.

Finally, Kara snapped her fingers at Amanda. “You. Get those lenses in. It’s time.”

Amanda had hoped to speak with Thomas before they went on, but he didn’t make it in time. Ben held the case for her and made sure she managed the lenses before he led the others over to the far side of the stage to begin the siege on the princess’s quarters.

Amanda stood alone for only a moment, but it was eerie, hearing all that activity, seeing none of it.

After an age or so, a hand settled into the small of her back. It did not guide her toward the door as it ought to have. Instead, a moment later, she felt a warm and familiar mouth brush her own.

A split second later came, “Thomas Bishop! Get your hands off my princess! I swear to God, if you mess up her makeup…”

Thomas unleashed a wicked smile against her mouth, and though Amanda grabbed at him, he disappeared. Amanda was then subjected to Kara’s annoyed mutters and put-upon sighs, which she knew were mostly benign. Especially when Kara grumbled, “God. Just when you think he can’t be any more insufferable, he gets even more adorable. Pow. Right between the eyes, that one.”

Overstating things a bit, Amanda knew, but Kara’s tone left none of her feelings to the imagination. She was happy that Thomas was happy for a change.

Kara wasted no time getting Amanda into position. The combat simulation must have come off perfectly. Everything happened exactly as it was supposed to. Or at least it sounded as if it had. She didn’t miss a single scream or plea or movement cue. Finally she was hefted over Thomas’s shoulder and carried off set and straight into the greenroom.

Kara was waiting for them with the contacts case. “Lenses out, right away. Keep them out until the last possible moment.”

“Got it.” Amanda blinked a couple times once they were out, grateful for a chance to rest her eyes. The lenses weren’t that uncomfortable, but every time her eyes moved to the left or right, she felt as if she had to sneeze. Wishing very much she could rub her eyes without wrecking her makeup, she smiled at Thomas.

She asked, “How was Virginia?”

A flicker of trouble disrupted those liquid black eyes. “We’ll talk about it later. Anything new with Scott’s missing gamer?”

So he’d heard about it. “Not that I know of. But Scott was really, really freaked out.”

“I would be, too. Anyway, you ready for the spoils-of-war fantasy?”

“Yep. Who won the auction?”

“A married couple. You’re gonna have fun.”

She raised her eyebrows at him. “I am? I thought it was just supposed to be a short little surrender-sex thing.”

“It is. Mostly. They had something very specific in mind. And because you’ll be blind, I get to observe.”

“And watch,” Amanda added.

He made a point of looking down at her body, completely nude save for paint and sleeves. “And watch. Mostly.”

“Mostly? What does that mean?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

He led the way to the soundstage building and left her in the throne-room’s greenroom. The fantasy would play out in the small chamber attached to the larger set. Its dungeon atmosphere matched the fantasy the winning couple wanted to play out.

Thomas told her to watch the lights above the door for her cue to put the lenses back in. When it was time, he would come back for her.

Twenty minutes passed before the light turned yellow. She put the lenses in and waited patiently. Thomas came through the door less than a minute later. All the way back to the set, he whispered, describing what their clients had been through so far. He’d forced the wife to oil the husband, then imprisoned her in a headstock. Right now, the husband was oiling his captive wife. Thomas would now fade into the background while Amanda was put into a special set of restraints, carefully posed for the couple to look at while the husband fucked his wife.

The setup sounded relatively tame to Amanda and she relaxed about the blindness, turning herself over to Thomas. He led her into position. Soft but urgent sounds warned her the couple might not have waited idly for their return. Thomas said nothing. He used his hands to place her feet on rests spread about two feet apart. He pressed her shoulders back to make her stand up straight. Her nerves began to murmur when he fitted a collar around her neck. The collar itself wasn’t tight, but the attached chain was connected to a bar behind her head. She wouldn’t be able to bend or move much at all.

Next came a ball gag, which she accepted with relief. Now she was completely off the hook. These unscripted fantasies could be tricky if she was expected to improvise. This way, she had a good reason not to try.

Thomas brought her hands behind her back, securing shackles around the costume’s long sleeves. The shackles, too, were moored to something behind her. She was trapped there, standing with her feet apart in a rigid posture, hands secured behind her back.

What was the big deal? she wondered. Yes, she was caught, but this seemed pretty vanilla compared to many bondage poses Thomas used on set.

She heard him speak softly to someone. “Go ahead.”

Oh. They weren’t done yet she realized, and then tensed as a tentative hand full of warm lube pressed between her legs. The warmth sent an instant charge up to her chest. Her nipples tightened, and her breasts felt heavier and heavier as the hand’s owner, presumably the husband, lost his shyness. He smeared lube over her clit and labia, making sure to rub and explore every square millimeter between her legs.

All too soon, the hand went away. She heard a couple of clicks and a thump or two, and then something cold and hard pressed against her labia. A dildo. Warm hands she knew to be Thomas’s intruded to spread her open. While he held her that way, the husband played with the dildo, pumping it slowly in and out.

She wasn’t sure what to think when the husband drove it up into her rather deep, then held it there. After a slight jolt and another soft
thunk
, the dildo stopped moving.

As she realized what was happening, her bones began to melt a little around the edges. She’d seen Marla use something like this in the shadowbox, once. The dildo had been put on a stand and she would remain impaled like this, nice and deep, until someone freed her.

Thomas moved his hands to her hips. With small flexes of his fingers, he guided her to draw an experimental circle with her hips, and then undulate forward and back. Very nice. She wanted to do this again sometime with him. Alone.

The husband reached between her legs, his fingers seeking her clit which, by now, was nicely swollen and hot. He flicked at the sensitive nub, and then pinched it.

She couldn’t help a couple soft cries, but with the gag in place, they had no form.

The hands disappeared. Left on her own once more, she listened to gasps and grunts and another woman’s soft cries. Her imagination drew in the blanks of the other woman trapped in a headstock, caught by the neck and wrists while the husband fucked her hard from behind.

Amanda had forgotten about Thomas. He must have knelt down before her, for his lips suctioned onto her clit a moment later. The sensation was like a blowtorch to her nerves. She felt a skittering of pulsations dance up the shaft of the dildo as her muscles responded with enthusiastic delight. Thomas pulled at her clit. Sucked it. Rolled it with his tongue against his teeth before sucking it in again, soft and gentle and torturously unpredictable.

He settled into stroking her with the tip of his tongue. She moved her hips along with the rhythm he set.

He liked that. She felt him hum against her just a moment before the wife’s cries reached a telltale pitch behind them. The husband followed not much later. Thomas must have taken that as some sort of cue. He got up and drew out the dildo. While she was busy trying to calm a deluge of raging chemicals, he brought the tip of his cock flush with her pussy.

The tip of him felt hot as a coal in contrast to the dildo, and Thomas took ages to spear his way into her, bit by bit. He leaned back, pinching and pulling on her nipples while he did so, making sure her body was misfiring, drowned in sensation, frenzied to reach relief yet holding back with all its might. She wanted to enjoy this a while longer. See how far he could drive her. Let him test her limits and his own.

For once, she nearly outlasted him. The first time he thrust in as far as he could, she heard his breath catch, and a quick, almost silent curse. Next she felt a powerful surge in him. The arousal had gotten too much for him, and she wanted to laugh out loud. As the savage, he could last indefinitely. When it was them together, he had far less control.

So did she. Even thinking about his attachment to her turned desire levels from mere ‘roast’ to ‘inferno’. Thomas thrust hard into her and strained, trying desperately to regain control, but she tightened her muscles around him, flexing, pulling, pulsing, and sending them both into climax.

Thomas did not allow them to linger on set. He hurried her back to the greenroom where out came the lenses, and off came the sleeves and headpiece. They didn’t say much. Sometimes, when he was quiet like this, it was just nice to be together for a while before the pressures of the outside world could impose themselves.

They were in and out of the shower, and back home at the cottage before Thomas spoke about his trip to Virginia. “We need to talk about their verdict, and what I should try next.”

She turned a bit sideways on the couch, one leg draped over his. “You were awfully late getting back. What happened?”

“They asked hour after hour of questions about everything that’s been happening. About Derek and Brent and Ridley and Nicole. Steph, Jerod, Jerod’s dad… And as much as it sucks to admit this after that sparring match with Hughes, he might have a point about Brandon Briggs. Jerod did mention Lily Briggs in that warning he sent you. The crew back in Virginia was adamant that the other two names Jerod listed—Gail and Marla—were credible threats. I’d be stupid to ignore Lily just because I’ve ruled Brandon out as a threat. And think about it, Amanda. Lily and Brandon were here almost every week until Steph left and the new drug tests were implemented. Then nothing. So something is definitely hinky, there.”

She nodded. “What did they want you to try?”

“The guys wanted me to use Brandon’s interest in you to lure him out. See what sort of shape he’s in, these days. Face to face, not just from a distance in a courtroom.”

Well, that seemed easy enough. “I can text him right now, if you want.”

Black brows crashed together and Thomas gave her the dirtiest look of all time.

“What?” she asked.

“You’d just… text him? Just like that? Without even knowing what could happen?”

“It’s only a text, Thomas.”

“Yeah. That’s like standing on a mountain of gunpowder and saying ‘it’s only a flamethrower.’”

“Okay, okay. You think about it. I’ll do whatever you want.”

Another sidelong dirty look. So ornery, this one. She cuddled in closer to rest her cheek on his chest.