The Mistress Mistake (5 page)

She looked around the room, at the hotel-like
artwork on the walls, the air-conditioning unit on the floor in
front of the shaded windows. She looked anywhere but at him.

He let out a deep sigh and gave her a verbal
nudge. "Now would be a good time."

Her eyes flew to his. "I'm not comfortable
with this. I've already shown you my stomach." She turned around
and presented him with her back. She lifted her shirt above her bra
strap and faced in the opposite direction, her eyes clinging to the
door. "There. Not one tattoo. Where else would I have any?" She
shoved her shirt back down and turned back to face him.

He stood up and pulled his wallet from his
back pocket and flipped it open. "I suppose we should establish how
this relationship will be from the very first moment. I want
something from you, I pay for it and you supply it." He glanced
over at her. "How much will your books cost in the fall?"

"Around seven hundred," she answered softly,
hesitantly. It was seven hundred she hadn't had last semester and
an added handicap for her. Every time she'd needed a book, she'd
had to beg, borrow, or steal one. She hadn't really thought about
stealing a book, though. Stealing someone else's book would have
hurt them. But more often than not, borrowing had only worked out
about half the time.

What she was contemplating doing now couldn't
hurt anyone else. She swallowed hard as he began peeling hundred
dollar bills from his wallet and tossed them in a neat pile on the
table beside him. Putting away his wallet, he sat back down and
took up his reclining position once again. "Seven hundred to make
sure you don't have any tattoos. Get to it."

Her eyes flew to his. "You really don't like
ink, do you?"

His features narrowed into a mocking frown.
"No, I really don't."

Jessica's heart raced. She didn't know how
she'd allowed herself to be put in this situation. She thought of
herself as a relatively smart person. One stupid conversation she'd
eavesdropped on, and now here she was doing something that went
against every fiber of her being. Stupid. She should just walk
out.

But her situation was worse than losing the
chance to become a geologist. She had to be out of her on-campus
room in four days. She would be homeless and she didn't even have a
car to sleep in if push came to shove. Everything,
her whole
life
, was reliant on the scholarship she'd just lost. That
scholarship kept her in school, with a roof over her head and a
meal plan that fed her three times a day. It was by no means an
extravagant award; it was very bare bones. But it did, absolutely,
keep her in her nice, warm room and it paid for the classes she
attended. And as she shuffled her feet in agitation, she knew with
a sinking feeling that she didn't have much of a choice here. Not
if she wanted to live her future life the way she envisioned it.
She could go stay with Allison's family a while, but everything
inside of her rebelled at the charity she'd have to accept. She'd
been relying on only herself for so long, she didn't think she had
it in her to do it any other way.

"Jessica, the clothes."

She heard the annoyance in his voice and
without thinking, reached down and pulled the shirt over her head
and all the way off. She tossed it on the bed and pretended her bra
was a bathing suit top. That line of thought should get her through
the next few seconds, anyway.

She wasn't looking at him directly; she kept
her gaze pinned to the left of his face on a light fixture that was
mounted to the wall. She refused to think about what she was doing
as she allowed her focus to glaze over and become blurry around the
edges. But not blurry enough that she didn't see him shift in his
seat and raise one hand to his forehead as his eyes lowered to her
chest.

She wore a very basic white cotton bra that
fastened in the back. She tried to remember which panties she'd put
on that morning. She, of course, had no matching sets and they
could be any of the pairs she owned. She was relieved to know she'd
undoubtedly chosen a newer garment, and not a ragged and ripped
pair, because she'd done all her laundry the night before and she
always wore her newer stuff first.

With that thought in mind, she toed off her
sandals and slowly, unfastened her jeans. She'd never stripped in
front of a man before, in fact, couldn't remember stripping in
front of anyone other than Allison, and her mother when she was
very young. She went slowly now not because she was trying to
attract him, but because she was trying to postpone the
inevitable.

At least she had nothing to be ashamed about
when it came to her body. She wasn't perfect, far from it, but she
was slim and toned from walking and sometimes running all over
campus. She had no other form of transportation, and walking
several miles, day in and day out for the last two years, had left
her muscles tight with a small amount of definition.

She was so horrified by what she was doing,
that she couldn't imagine how bad it would be if she had to worry
over what her body looked like as well. It was a small consolation
as she pushed her jeans down her hips and then off her legs.

She bent down and tossed her jeans on the bed
with her shirt.

She glanced down and realized she'd put on
her favorite pink bikini panties. She let out a shuddering breath
and stood still and waited as his eyes turned hot and ran up and
down her length.

His voice was gravelly as it rattled from his
throat, "The rest of it."

Jessica's eyes flew to his, as she was jolted
with a feeling not unlike hysteria.
"What? No way."

"Jessica, the rest of it. Now."

She shook her head violently. "You said n-no
sex tonight," she stammered.

"And I meant it." His jaw visibly clenched.
"But I want to see what I'm buying. Seven hundred, sitting right
there," he reminded her, tipping his head toward the cash.

Her legs began shaking and she made no
attempt to remove her remaining two garments. His eyes ran up and
down her body and at her complete and utter stillness, he rose to
his feet. She took a step back as he crossed the room in
purposeful, silent strides and came to stand in front of her, only
inches away. Reaching out, he put one fingertip under her chin and
lifted her face to his.

"You won't strip all the way?" he asked in a
voice laced with heat, intensity, and something else she couldn't
identify. Approval, maybe?

She shook her head just once.

"Fine. Have it your way," he responded
emotionlessly.

Jessica's thought he meant to let her off the
hook and her breath caught in her throat on an abbreviated sigh of
relief until she felt him move quickly and put his hands on her.
One firm hand clenched her wrist in a move meant to subdue her,
while his other reached between them and jerked her bra down in a
sudden movement that left her gasping. Her breasts popped over the
top of her bra, first one cup, and then the other.

From a combination of shock and the chill in
the air, her nipples abruptly pebbled. His eyes held hers while she
gasped for breath, his nostrils flaring. His hand tightened on her
wrist and harshly, she was made aware of his strength. Seconds
passed as she fought for oxygen, and then his gaze fell to her
chest and flecks of red tinged his cheekbones. Her entire body
began trembling so much that if he hadn't been holding her in such
a fierce grasp, she might have slid to the floor. She dragged deep,
harsh breaths in and out of her lungs while he stood completely
still, staring down at her. She felt inundated by his height and
his sheer size, felt as if she had no control as she was held
firmly in place by the strength of his hand wrapped solidly around
her wrist.

His gaze lifted from the mounds of her
breasts spilling over the top of her bra and landed briefly on her
face. "You chose for it to be this way. I didn't have to put my
hands on you at all. Remember, this is your doing." His words were
raw, inflexible, and Jessica was astounded to hear the fevered
accusation in his otherwise emotionless voice.

Her heartbeat accelerated as he spun her
around so quickly it made her head whirl. Her back was now facing
him, and she felt him manipulate her bra strap up and away from her
body so he could see the skin underneath.

His hands and his touch on her were clinical.
He didn't stop to caress, he never ran so much as a finger down her
body in anticipation. There was nothing like that at all. Just as
quickly as he'd pushed and pulled the bra out of his way, his hands
slid down to her hips and with a sudden force of movement, slid her
panties down her legs until they gathered around her thighs.

In shock, she felt her underwear begin to
fall all the way down, and she grabbed at them with her free hand
and held them at her thighs to prevent that from happening.

She felt the blood drain from her face as he
placed a hand on her shoulders and pushed down until she was bent
over a few inches. Her spine and her butt were bare to him in this
position. She had no tattoos at all, she'd told him the truth. She
didn't know why he hated them so much, but she had none. It wasn't
as if she could really take any credit for having a body free of
ink. She'd wanted a tattoo. She'd wanted more than one. But faced
with the decision of decorating her body or having food to eat, her
stomach had won out every time.

But she wouldn't tell him that. He didn't
need to know anything about her other than what he was demanding
now.

He took his time about looking her over. What
felt like long minutes were probably only really measured in
seconds, but they were agonizing seconds to her.

If he thought to find a small tattoo on her
hip, it wasn't there. If he thought to find the proverbial tramp
stamp, it wasn't there.

She struggled to breathe as his hand left her
shoulder blades and moved to cup her upper arm. Just as quickly as
he'd turned her the first time, he did it again. Jessica was
horrified all over again as she faced him with her panties still
around her hips and her femininity on full display.

It was a small relief to know she was
manicured in that area, her hair cut short and trimmed down so low
it was almost non-existent. She couldn't afford waxes or
depilatories, but disposable razors were cheap and she could use
them for a long time.

As he held her by her upper arms with only an
arm's length between them, Jessica once again blurred her vision
and focused on the lamp to the side of him as he stared down at
everything she had.

As they stood together, her brain began
working again and she slowly began to notice things. He was
breathing just as harshly as she was, his body was tense, and his
gaze was riveted on her, smoldering heat coming from his eyes. She
didn't know how long they stood that way, with her not moving a
muscle and his eyes running up and down her length, but it felt
painfully long.

So long that her panic receded a bit and a
swift anger took its place. Not really caring in that moment what
his answer would be, she tightened her lips and hissed, "Am I worth
four thousand a month?"

All at once, he released her and stepped
back. She stumbled but caught herself before she could completely
make a fool of herself by falling to the floor.

"Get dressed," he snapped and turned to walk
into the bathroom.

Jessica didn't need to be told twice as she
righted her underwear and pulled first her shirt on because it
would hang down to her hips and afford her the most cover in the
quickest amount of time. Her jeans followed.

As she sat on the bed slipping her sandals
back on, he came from the bathroom. She finished the task and stood
to her feet. She didn't want to be on that bed any longer than was
strictly necessary.

He came to stand a few feet from her, and she
looked anywhere but at him, still unable to contain the fiery pink
that colored her face.

He didn't make a move to sit back down, but
leaned against the wall, close to the entrance of the room. "You
told the truth."

She licked her lips. "Yes."

"Are you telling the truth about everything
else?"

"Yes."

"You've satisfied me enough that I'm ready to
move on to the next phase. If you're in agreement, I'll set up your
appointments." As he waited for her answer, he pulled his cell
phone out of his pocket and she knew he was getting ready to
exchange numbers with her. She also knew that this was it. If she
agreed now, there really wouldn't be another opportunity for her to
back out. She cleared her throat while she gathered her wits. "I'm
in agreement as long as you told me the complete truth also. No
sharing, no threesomes, no force. You won't make me do anything I
don't want to do."

His gaze captured hers and caught her in its
snare. "I told you the truth. The only sexual requisite I have is
my cock buried in your pussy. Anything else is surplus to
requirements and an added bonus to me." If possible, his eyes
became even more heated. "I promise you, I'll be the most easily
pleased sexual partner you've ever had."

His words washed over Jessica in a heated
rush. She realized instantaneously that he didn't use the term
'lover.' Oh no, he wouldn't want to confuse her with even that.
Sexual partners were all they'd ever be, and evidently, she mustn't
forget it.

She wasn't likely to.

"I have to be out of my room in four days. Do
you think you can you find me a place to live in that amount of
time?"

"Yes. I'll ask for a rush on the results of
the drug test. Also, I want you on a birth control shot, so you're
going to have to get off the pills or whatever else you're using.
As soon as I get to the point where I trust you enough not to be
fucking around on me, I'm going to stop using rubbers. But believe
me when I tell you, I'll never trust you to take a daily pill."