Bending the Rules

Chapter Three

Nat didn’t know how or why she’d gotten so lucky, but she didn’t want to second guess it. She’d been sexually frustrated for what felt like forever. Her short-lived attempts at relationships fizzled because she could never find what she wanted. Men always seemed to want to take charge during sex, and none of them had been very good at it. When she’d try to correct them, to help them help her reach satisfaction, they’d take her critique as overbearing and inevitably leave.

So she made do with toys and fantasies and the occasional foray into a club she’d found away from home. Away from discovery. Four months ago had been her first session with a partner in a long time. She would have waited longer, but she’d needed to connect with another on an intimate level. The sex had been okay, but she’d appreciated just touching a man, kissing and hugging even more. Honestly, she found it easier to handle her own orgasms than instruct a bumbling date to do it.

But now, twenty minutes after her illuminating conversation with Freddy, she stood in a darkened room, all by herself, and watched through a one-way window into a scene next door. In it, a well-endowed man and a top heavy woman started engaging in some steamy foreplay. Oh boy.

Some harmless voyeurism, and since it had been so long since she’d last been touched, she figured watching someone else find pleasure wasn’t too bad of a fantasy to admit to. Had she been totally honest with Freddy about what she desired, however, she’d be giving the pair instructions.

Nat liked to be in charge. She was good at it. And unlike some, she never wanted to let go of the reins.

Hence the reason I’m still single.

She mentally shrugged. She could live with that.

To her surprise, an image of Rex Samson entered her mind’s eye. The charmer would probably freak the hell out to find himself in a place catering to fetishes and sexual deviancy. Unlike Nat, who had been raised to be open-minded, Rex—according to what she’d learned on the web and through local gossip—had grown up the son of one of Augusta’s golden couples. A good boy. One who probably didn’t know there were sexual positions beyond missionary. She laughed softly, letting herself grow aroused, and watched the couple in the other room kiss and touch.

Freddy had told her to be open to the possibility of anything goes, and Nat appreciated the kind of carnal openness she was getting.

Despite knowing it was beyond a bad idea to be in a place like this—because if Josh or his cronies found out she’d been there, she’d be fired for indecency before she could say boo—she wanted to stay.

Single, solitary, and with no man on the horizon, not counting her date with Rex next week, she might as well take her pleasure where she could get it. Besides, Harper would never tell. Freddy had told her the success of the club laid on its guaranteed discretion. Being in this private room worked for her.

The sound next door filtered through overhead speakers. She watched as the couple continued to engage in foreplay. The man liked sucking his partner’s breasts, as much as she liked fondling his stiff dick. A nice size, and one Nat would have had no problem working with.

God, it felt like forever since she’d been laid.

The woman next door moaned, and the man pulled away from her grasp and nudged her to lie on the bed—the only piece of furniture in the room, other than an open armoire displaying all manner of toys. When she lay down, the man spread her thighs wide and started eating her out.

Nat squirmed. A good thing she was alone, because she wouldn’t have minded some NSA sex right about now.

Then the door opened and just as quickly closed behind someone.

She tensed. Freddy had said someone might join her, not to have sex, but to watch as well. But Nat had figured she’d be alone when the show started and no one but her had arrived.

“Freddy mentioned some play next door.” The voice was male, deep, and damn it, arousing. “I won’t bother you. I’ll be right over here.”

She couldn’t see him in the dark, just as he couldn’t see her. But knowing he would be watching with her…tantalized.

“I like to watch,” he reaffirmed, his voice familiar, but not. “Gets me hot. I like to be watched too.” He paused. “You?”

It was like a confessional. Dark room, truths told to a stranger. Oddly intriguing. “I’m more into being the watcher.” She wondered how honest she should be, then decided, what the hell. She doubted she’d come back to this place, not with it so close to home. Why not give it a shot tonight? “I especially like to be in charge.”

He didn’t answer right away. “To dominate?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, my past partners have all tended to tell me what to do. It’s frustrating.”

“Yeah, I get you.” Another pause. “So what about adding a third to their group? Having another man join in. Maybe… Maybe he’d do them both.”

“That would be okay.” More than okay. She had a secret fascination with guy-on-guy action. She’d been accused more than once of having a dick. Maybe getting off on guys going at it, or watching others have sex and telling them what to do, was her way of coping with a vagina.

At the thought, she chuckled.

“What?” He had a sexy Southern drawl.

“Nothing. Just thinking I’d make a good porn director.”

“Me too.” She heard a zipper lower. The couple next door were now reversed, with the guy kneeling on the bed while she blew him.

“What are you doing?” she asked, as if she spent all her evenings watching other people have sex with a stranger in the dark.

“I want to come when he does. I’d love it if you touched yourself too. We could get off while they do.”

Nat blinked. “I, um. Well.” Way too pornish for her. Or so she told herself. Twice.

“How about I do it for us?” he asked. “Just me, making a big old mess when they come?” His voice was thick, and she swore she could hear him stroking himself.

For all she knew, he was some big, nasty married guy who barely bathed and got his rocks off diddling his secretary. Yet her fantasies whispered that he was a hot bachelor wanting to touch himself because Nat, as well as the pair now fucking on the bed, aroused him.

“Tell me what to do,” he murmured, and his stroking sounded faster.

She tingled and, lost in the daydream, played along. “Grip yourself. Harder. I want to hear how much you like it.”

He moaned, in time with the pair on the bed.

“Let’s see how much staying power you have.” Her inner dominatrix surged, and excited at the chance to let the bad girl out, Nat did.

Rex couldn’t believe any of this to be real. When Freddy had told him what Nat wanted, he’d been in heaven. A fellow voyeur. Perfect. But when she’d accepted the invitation to watch, for real, he’d been in shock. Prim and proper Natalie Wielder was watching a couple going at it. Even more astonishing, she didn’t mind watching with him. And now this?

Had he wished on a star and forgotten? The woman was telling him what to do, and he was so hard he readied to come in like two seconds.

“I said pull harder. I can’t hear you,” she growled.

He moaned, tugging on his cock.

“Cup your balls. Roll them. Get nice and hard.”

“Fuck. Yeah.” He played with himself, wanting nothing more than to come when she told him to. Better yet, he wanted to come all over her, then suck her to orgasm.

“You ready to blow?”

“Yes,” he hissed. “Shit. I need to come.”

“Hold it. Wait until they do.”

He realized he’d closed his eyes and opened them to see the guy pounding into his partner like crazy. How the hell had he missed that?

“He’s really giving it to her.” Nat made the comment as if watching the weather. “Oh yeah, see him tensing? She’s moaning, and he’s ready to come.”

He stroked faster, wanting to be there too.

“How nice. He just came inside her. Now he’s finishing her.”

He heard her voice hitch, and he groaned, knowing how aroused she must be.

“You close to coming?” she asked.

“Yes. Fuck, yeah.”

“Then come.”

He swore as he shot over his hand, wishing he’d been all over her. He continued to pump, getting off on having her near. “I want to eat you out. Let me get between your legs and lick you up. I’ll make you feel so good.”

He heard her breathing heavily across the room from him.

“Sorry, sport. You haven’t earned it.”

The woman in the next room keened.

“I’m leaving. Turn around. Face the wall.” She sounded so commanding, and to his surprise, he was still half-hard. Wanting more. Wanting her.

But she’d told him to turn around. So, his dick hanging out, he made no effort to tuck himself back in. “I’m facing the wall,” he rasped as he turned away and heard the door open and close. He leaned his forehead against the wall and sighed. After a few moments, he turned on the light, then used a set of wipes left on a nearby table. He cleaned up and, after making himself presentable again, left the room, still dazed on pleasure.

He returned to the bar and saw Brian sitting with Dylan and Harper. The entertainment on stage had ended, and couples and the occasional loner sat around the open lounge looking replete. “I missed a helluva show, eh?”

Brian glanced up with a grimace. “I didn’t. And I can’t go home for another hour. This is freakin’ killing me.”

Dylan grinned. “Relax, Brian. I’m sure Faith will be happy to help you with any…problems.”

Harper snickered. “Yeah. Like your sister helped us to—”

“Shut the hell up, Harper. God,” Brian groaned.

Rex laughed. “Sure am glad I don’t have any sisters. Nope. Just me.” Getting my rocks off with that sexy, buttoned-up urban planner who’s not so buttoned-up. He felt high, his endorphins making the world perfect. He looked around. “Anyone seen Nat?”

Harper narrowed his eyes. “No. As a matter of fact, she disappeared right before you did.”

“Coincidence.” Rex waved away the implication but noticed Brian’s smirk.

“Uh-huh.” Harper stared at Brian. “Anything you want to share, Bri?”

Brian didn’t even have to look at Rex for a cue. “Not a thing.”

Good man. Rex wanted to keep this thing with Natalie—whatever it might be—between them. Just him and Nat figuring out how to make this work. Of course, she had no idea there was a them yet. But Rex knew there had to be. He started mentally prepping for their date, wanting to make the best impression possible.

No time like the present.

“I’m out. Got a full day ahead of me tomorrow.” The others waved goodbye, and Brian walked out with him.

“So. You and the urban planner.”

“Yep.” His wide grin said what he hadn’t.

“Jesus. How do you do it? Didn’t you just meet her a few days ago?”

“Shh.” Rex glanced around the parking lot. “We didn’t do…everything. It was dark. She had no idea it was me.”

“That sounds familiar.” Brian chuckled, no doubt referring to the first time Rex had watched him and Faith, sitting in the shadows.

“Thanks for covering with Harper.”

“No sweat, man. Anything you need. Just ask.”

“Save me from the rich and ugly next week.” Where snobs like Darcy Stanfield would no doubt be in attendance. The bitchy woman had once tried to cut Brian’s girl down to size, but Faith didn’t take crap from anyone.

“Same back at you.” Brian shivered. “I need Faith to protect me. And speaking of my little woman, it’s time to get home. You missed the second part of the stage act. Jesus, I’m hard.”

Rex wanted to say something smart, but his mind stalled at thoughts of Natalie.

“Oh wow. She must have really gotten to you,” Brian taunted.

“You don’t know the half of it.”

Thursday night, Nat dressed with care for the gala. Work had gone as planned. She made her deadlines, barely, and Mike had been turning in his work on time, knowing he was one strike away from unemployment. Josh Jessup continued to be a fly in the ointment, especially with the sneering and leering he liked to do. But she’d been handling him for months. Another week of it hadn’t killed her.

Her anticipation for the evening concerned her. To her surprise, she actually looked forward to spending time with Rex Samson. Granted, he was a striking man. Handsome, charming, wealthy…and a friend of the mayor’s. Not a good thing, in her book.

Yet she continued to dwell on him at odd times, even going so far as to wonder how he and her mystery friend at Freddy’s club might have gotten along. The other man who refused to leave her thoughts. She hadn’t seen him, but he felt as real to her as Rex. She’d brought him to orgasm. Well, she’d guided him at least. And that fantasy made real had shown her just how much she’d been missing in her personal life.

But this date with Rex… Two sides dueled for dominance inside her. The working woman wanting a nice evening with a handsome man by her side warred with the passionate, sexual creature needing to take charge with her lover.

A lover she didn’t even have.

Ordering her anonymous friend to come had been fun, and it had teased at the dreams she still had of finding a man to satisfy that aspect of her. But she didn’t want to tell him what to do all the time. Finding the right balance was as difficult as finding a man interested in her particular brand of kink.

Disheartened at the thought of never discovering that special someone, she tucked her darker needs back under the superficial skin of pleasant efficiency she often donned, and finished applying her makeup.

She stared at herself in the full length mirror. With her hair upswept, exposing the vulnerable lines of her throat, and the artful mascara and eyeliner making her eyes appear a deeper green than brown, she thought she looked feminine enough. The simple black dress she wore showed off her lean lines. She’d never have ample cleavage, but she could wear a dress like a cover model. Her shoulders and hips allowed the dress to hang on her subtle curves while teasing at the shape beneath.

The dress ended just below her knees, and her favorite stilettos accented her calves and the delicate arches of her feet—her best feature, in her opinion.

“Sad that I think my feet are the most attractive part of me,” she murmured to herself.

The doorbell saved her from any more nonsensical thoughts. She grabbed her small clutch and wrap and went to answer.

Rex appeared on the other side of the door wearing a tux. Holy crap, he looks amazing.

He gave her a slow study, lingering on her hips, breasts and mouth. Nothing subtle about his scrutiny, or the pleased smile that darkened his eyes to an inky black.

“Well, well, sugar. You clean up nice.” He stared again at her chest, and she wondered what he really thought, because the shy show of skin didn’t scream do me any more than her small home yelled I’m rich.

“Okay. Can we go now?”

He chuckled and stepped closer to her, which had her taking a step back. Before she knew it, he’d closed the door behind him and was looking around.

“Nice place.” He nodded. “Cozy, neat, obsessively organized.”

So she liked to stack her books and magazines by height and color. So what? Nat liked order. She believed that everything had its place. Nothing haphazard about her.

“I don’t think I’d say obsessively.”

He stroked her cheek, shocking her with the intimate gesture. “You wouldn’t. I would.” He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, and she felt the heat of him through her thin dress and wrap. “You look gorgeous. Ready to go?”

She nodded, not sure how to respond to the compliment.

His satisfied grin annoyed her, and she decided to be overly effusive as well. “You’re pretty much a knockout yourself.”

“I know.”

She snorted, and he laughed, then crooked his elbow for her. “Shall we?”

“Why the hell not?” She put her hand on his arm and let him lead her from her home. After locking up, she followed him into his Beamer, not surprised to watch him drive with a quiet confidence that put her at ease.

“I’m really glad you decided to go with me tonight, Nat.” He didn’t watch her as he drove, and she appreciated his focus on the road. “Now I won’t have a nervous breakdown while avoiding my matchmaking parents.”

She studied his handsome profile, confused. “You don’t need anyone matchmaking for you. Why aren’t you already shacked up with some ex-cheerleader type with more breasts than brains?” That seemed more his type. Not that she’d paid too much attention to his press, but word was the man had dated every Double-D sized model in the greater Augusta area.

He gave her chest a slight glance and grinned. “I happen to like my women brainy first, busty second.”

“Yeah, right.”

“But I’m touched you’re so concerned about my type.” He turned in to the gala’s lot and pulled the car up to the valet. After exiting, he crossed to her side of the car and had to make do with shutting the door after her since she’d let herself out. “Couldn’t wait for me to do the gentlemanly thing, could you?”

“We Wielders take care of ourselves.”

“The commanding type, hmm?”

“You got it.”

But he smiled instead of accepting her unspoken dare. A take-charge kind of man like Rex would surely balk at the idea of following a woman’s orders. Too bad, really, because there was something about him, besides his looks, that struck her as a man she’d like once she got to know him.

As she walked beside him inside, she felt frail. He had her by a few inches, making him a bit over six feet. He didn’t seem imposing, yet he carried himself with the broad shoulders of a man used to getting his way. Confidence and intelligence made the package of Rex Samson positively delicious—a sentiment many of the other women in attendance apparently carried.

As they walked through the crowd, more than one guest gave Rex a onceover. He smiled pleasantly at everyone, the consummate gentleman, yet she thought a few of his smiles were warmer than others. And not all had been aimed at women.

Bemused at the brief fantasy of Rex and a male lover doing all sorts of wonderful things together, it took her a second to realize they’d reached the bar.

“What’ll you have?” he asked.

“A rich red wine would be nice.”

“Two,” Rex said to the bartender, then paid before she could reach for her money.

They walked to an empty spot at the edge of the gathering and sipped their drinks, watching the crowd.

She lifted her glass in a mock toast. “Thanks.”

“No problem. And don’t worry. I won’t expect you to work it off later.”

“Big of you.” After a moment, she felt the need to remind him, “But this isn’t a real date. It’s a social function between two people who have to be here. We just happen to be together.”

“Sure thing, sugar.” He grinned, and damn if he didn’t have a dimple.

This was going to be a long night.

“You know everyone here, don’t you?” he asked.

“Most of them. At one time or another they’ve come through the building to see the mayor. That or they wanted something from the office.”

“Tom says you’re very, very good at your job.”

“I am.” Said without conceit, but pride.

He smiled. “I like confidence in a woman.”

“Really?”

“Why the surprise?”

She frowned, considering him. “I don’t know. Most of the people the mayor considers friends are older, with old fashioned beliefs. I grew up in the Northeast before my parents moved down here. There’s a big difference between the North and the South. Hell, down here, they still think the Civil War is ongoing. And I know for a fact many guys still consider a woman’s place barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen.”

“I’m down with in the kitchen. The rest is up to her.”

She shook her head, wondering how he made even vague insults amusing. “Very funny.”

“I thought so.”

They made small talk and met with various guests who stopped by for an introduction to Rex. Surprised by the number of people who wanted to talk to her as well, she hadn’t realized how much time had passed.

Rex tugged on her arm, his hand large, warm, and making her tingle. “Time for dinner, sugar. You ready to go in?”

She nodded, and as the large doors to the dining hall opened, she walked with him to their table.

Pleased when several couples she knew and liked sat with them, she relaxed for the first time that evening.

Derrick and his fiancée Sydney Fields sat next to them. Dylan, Derrick’s twin brother and Harper and Freddy’s lover, had brought Freddy with him. Harper, the lout, had managed to avoid the evening.

Sitting with the Warren twins made them a popular table as it was, and then Brian Goode joined them. The son of the respected but condescending Judge Brian Goode, Senior, Brian had turned out far different from his father. Though handsome and successful—like dear old dad—Brian also happened to be a nice guy. She liked his fiancée too. Faith Sumner seemed down-to-earth, not a spoiled bitch like some she could—

“Oh hell. Darcy Stanfield,” Rex said under his breath. In a louder voice, he added, “Good old Darcy. How nice to see you again.”

Next to him, Brian choked on his water.

Darcy came to stand behind Rex and placed a perfectly manicured hand on his shoulder. “Reginald. Brian.” She pointedly ignored Faith. “So nice to see you gentlemen.” She gave the Warrens a coquettish smile, then turned to Nat. “Why, hello. I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“Darcy,” Rex introduced, “this is Natalie Wielder, the city’s urban planner.”

Darcy blinked, then smiled widely. “Oh. I’ve heard of you. You’re a friend of the mayor’s son, Josh Jessup, aren’t you? Josh and I grew up together. He’s such a wonderful man.”

Then and there Nat knew the woman didn’t like her, was a vindictive twit, and didn’t have a single friend sitting at this table. “Nope. Wouldn’t call Josh a friend.”

“Oh? What would you call him, then?” Darcy asked with a calculating smile.

“I’d call him an asshole. To his face. So tell him if he wants another go at me to stop hiding behind your skirt and face me himself. Or should I write that down? You look confused.”

The woman gaped at Nat’s hostility, then turned on her heel and stormed away.

“Told you we should have brought garlic,” Faith whispered to Brian, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

The others laughed, even Nat. Then she turned to her date. “So…Reginald?”

Rex winced. “Don’t ask.”

“And aren’t your parents here? Why aren’t we sitting with them?” She enjoyed the misery on his face.

“Yeah, Reginald,” said Brian. “Why aren’t we?”

“Because I paid the party planner to sit me far away.” He winked at Nat. “I love ’em, but Momma plays hell with my love life.”

“What love life?” Brian chided.

“Well, if Nat’s altercation with Darcy doesn’t put me in immediate love, I don’t know what will,” Rex drawled, then winked at Nat.

The others started clapping. “To Nat,” Derrick toasted with a laugh. “And may I never find myself in Darcy’s place.”

Nat grabbed her wine and took a long drink. “I was right. This is going to be a long night.”