Exchanging the Power

 

Releasing Juliette from my embrace and putting my shirt back on so we could finish cooking and consuming our meal is purgatorial. The only thing I'm hungry for is more of the woman sitting across the table from me, not the food I sweated to prepare for her.

The succulence of a scallop conjures thoughts of other sweet tastes I'm dying to sample. When I sink my teeth into the springy texture of coddled lobster, I also bite back a groan. Outside, the wind groans with me.

Food is a distraction; I want to bask in Juliette’s glow. Our hands fondle and caress as we discuss bits and pieces of inconsequential nothings. Elizabeth had been receptive to the idea of moving out to the Citadel, so clearing the table, and during clean-up, we outline our Sunday to include an inspection of the space. Regarding Juliette’s prowler out here on the beach and what security measures are needed, we agree to disagree. For the time being.

In the kitchen, she bends over to slide the cutting board into a low shelf, her sweatpants stretched taut over the delectable backside my fingers itch to caress. I pull her into my arms, murmur her name, and press my lips to hers.

When she pulls back, her head cocks. “You accept my proposition?”

I could fall into the green pools of her eyes. Their secret promises lure me to nuzzle her neck so she can’t read what’s in mine. “I’ll take your sex, Princess.”

“On my terms?” she presses.

Her throat pulses with her heartbeat under my lips. “For now, if I must.”

She catches my chin and pulls it around so she can look me straight in the eye. “It’s that or nothing.”

“Your way or the highway?”

“Something like that.”

I grab her nape and drag her face up for a bruising kiss. She’s panting when I let her go. “Bring it on, Juliette.”

Half-lidded, she fingers the lips I just took and reaches for my hand.

We go up the staircase to the guest room I occupied last night. Using the remote from the bedside table, she flicks on the fireplace nestled in the corner, flanked by a window seat, across from the bed, overlooking the sea. The wind’s picked up again, flinging spray onto the window.

I reach to enfold her again, but instead, she lifts her arms, inviting me to pull off her sweater. I manage to scoop it off her when I’m dying to rip it aside to get at tender flesh. My hands shake with suppressed tension, and I feel like a fumbling high school boy.

If she’s going to have me on a short leash, I’d better see how far it stretches.

Her breasts are unbound. They fill my palms as I cup them. My thumbs brush pink nipples. Responsive, they pucker at the touch. I'm fascinated by her sharp inhalation when I roll the tight buds gently between thumb and forefinger. The sound goes straight to my cock that’s straining to be freed.

My shirt disappears. Juliette unfastens my jeans and pushes them down my legs. I kick them off. She lets me strip away her sweats, and we stand facing each other. Boxer briefs uncomfortable, I remove them. Her scrap of lace is shucked as well.

Moonlight off the ocean streams into the room, making her hair shimmer around her breasts and on the little strip between her legs. Our bodies glow. She’s everything I’ve imagined since first laying eyes on her. Need pulses through me.

I reach out to stroke a finger over her sex. "Mons veneris—The Mount of Venus," I murmur.

"Vein-ous Maximus," she counters, drawing her fingertips along the underside of my erection. Her eyes twinkle. I grin, comrade in nerdiness, then bend to kiss her smiling lips.

They’re soft and warm. I pull her against me, one hand on her backside to appease my arousal, the other on the back of her head to angle it best for more of my kisses. We stand pressed together like the stones of Machu Picchu, barely a fraction of space between us. I devour her mouth, determined to make her want me as much as I want her.

She breaks the contact to turn back bedcovers, motioning to me to lie down. When I do, she arrays her body on top of mine as though I'm the bed, chest to breast, hip to hip, swollen cock against concave abdomen. My hips gyrate, mimicking what they need to be doing when I’m buried inside her.

I close my hands around her waist to augment our flesh-on-flesh contact. She resists that move and sits up to straddle me. I need her under me, my face between her legs, my hands pinching her nipples. I start to move, but she stops me.

Without words, she strokes my arms and bends them up at the elbow, guiding them below the pillow under my head.

I can't touch her? Not happening.

I reach for her again, but she patiently repositions my arms and hands back under the pillow.

“Juliette.”

“My way or the highway, remember?” she whispers.

It takes effort to beat back my body’s urges.

She rewards me with a feathery brush of her lips against mine. It's not nearly enough, and my hands jerk toward freedom. An eyebrow lifts, and she sits on my stomach, motionless, until I relax my arms and meet her calm, deliberate gaze. My frustrated breath releases in a noisy rush.

She deposits more feathery kisses, first to one corner of my mouth, then to the other. The whisper-light promises inflame me, and though I force my arms not to grab her and flip her beneath me, the rest of my body strains against the force of that desire.

Her lips move along my jaw, then trail down my neck to my collarbone. Once there, her teeth nibble gently. I groan. Her lips smile against my fevered skin. She sucks there, hard, almost painfully so, then tickles the area with the point of her tongue and more soft kisses. She’s a tease.

I writhe and fist my hands underneath the pillow when she finds and tortures my nipples. While she licks and sucks and gently bites one, she fingers and rubs the other, readying it for her mouth. When she finally latches onto it, the sensation channels directly downward. My cock bobs against her spine, eager for action.

Juliette rises from her ministrations and waits until our eyes connect. She scoots back to sit on my penis, trapped and aching, between her pelvis and my stomach. She's wet; it assists her slide against my heated hardness as she settles herself prone on my body once again. I need to be inside her. My hands unfist, ready to shred the damn pillow so they can grab her and accomplish the deed.

"Juliette—"

Her index finger against my lips shushes me. "Not yet," she whispers, nipping my ear. "Soon."

She runs her hands up the sides of my torso, easing them under my shoulders. Using them as leverage, she drags her body up the length of my shaft pressed tight against my belly. When she relaxes her grip, she slides back down toward my balls. I don't even try to stifle my groan at the heavenly feel of her soft, wet heat traveling over my rock-hard penis and my abdomen damp with my own juices mixed with hers. Juliette's eyes are half-lidded, her cheeks flushed, as she continues masturbating us with her sex slicking up and down mine. I moan.

I don't want to come this way, outside her, so I concentrate on the dancing firelight beyond, willing my climax back down to my balls. Much as I'd like to impale her on one of her backward slides, she's enjoying the sensation of gliding over me rather than riding me.

She trembles. She could be close to orgasm. Mine has been hovering, barely held at bay. If she goes over, I don't know that I'll be able to resist following her. She licks her lips and stops moving. I wonder what she’s planned next for us, and then I wonder just when I decided to let her make that decision. I tighten my glutes, pushing my pelvis at hers. She smiles and crawls off me. I growl in protest.

Juliette climbs down to my ankles and spreads my legs so she can shimmy in between. I adjust my hands under the pillow to raise my head and watch her lick and kiss her way from one knee, up the inside of my leg. Reaching the juncture of my thighs, she raises her gaze to mine and exhales hot, moist air over my balls. They pull in tighter toward my body, full and aching for release. Her tongue darts out to tease the band between them before she sucks one testicle into her mouth, gently fondling it with her tongue. My back arches. She hums her own pleasure, sending vibrations through my genitals. My penis swells even more. She repeats the process on the other side, up the other leg.

"Cross your ankles and help drag me up a bit.”

My calves wrap around under her backside and draw her higher so that her mouth is close to the broad head of my cock. It's purple now, and heavily bulbous, weeping for attention. Her eyes smile into mine as she captures me with one hand and thumbs pre-cum all over the burgeoning crown.

"This is very good, Leo. I like this." Lust races through me.

Holding me near the base, she takes me into her mouth. I inhale deeply and twitch inside that haven. The sight of her pink lips stretched around my girth, coupled with her penetrating gaze, excite me so much I can barely draw breath. I'm close to climax, muscles flexing with the build-up.

My voice is passion-thick. "I want to come inside you, Juliette. With you."

The words from her busy mouth are garbled. "Soon. Don't come yet."

Her tongue laps the underside of my cock from base to apex, then gently nibbles up the same path. She rims the cap with the point of her tongue, then gives the tip a wet kiss and tongue tickle. Tapping my leg to release its hold on hers, she surges farther up my body. My hands free themselves to help pull her, and she stops cold, stiffening. I growl in frustration, but put my hands back to their original position, under the pillow cradling my head. My lips receive another chaste kiss as recompense.

She reaches between us and slides the tip of my cock through her wet sex to its opening, and pushes back onto me, taking in the first few inches. I moan, desperate to bury myself to the hilt. Her eyelids droop, both of us adjusting to the carnal invasion. She clenches on the part of me inside her. My dick twitches violently in response.

Hands on either side of my torso, Juliette moves, taking more of me inside her with each rock of her hips. My moans sound ragged to my own ears. When she's finally taken me in to the base, she stops again and wriggles, her eyes closed in concentration, and I pant, my engorged cock pulsing within the grip of her narrow passage.

I flex my glutes, and her sex clenches around me even more. She's so tight and slick, I could come just from her repeated clenching around me.

"Stop the tease," I complain, breaking her trance. I need her to move. The need to pound myself into her is driving me crazy. "If you're determined to take me, then take me."

All movement ceases, reminding me who's calling the shots. I clamp my eyes shut and force myself to beat back aggressive urges. She has no idea the effect she’s having on me. Or maybe she does, and that’s part of her enjoyment.

"Enjoy the moment, Leo." Her quiet words both admonish and encourage.

She wriggles her clit against the springy hair trailing from my belly, smiles at me, and begins to move again. Her pussy constricts around my cock as she pulls off, then she wriggles back down on me, grinding at the base before doing it all over again. It's delicious, well worth the agonizing wait. The only thing that would make it better is if she'd let me touch her. But she's made it clear that this is her ride. No one else controls the reins. My hands stay where they are.

Once decided to give in, I'm oddly acquiescent to Juliette having her way with me. It's not my usual MO, but her reactions whenever I try to dominate make me realize she needs the control more than I do. Besides, the way she's working my cock, I'll get my satisfying finish, and help her take hers.

On my next surge, I feel her walls quiver. Her eyes are closed, but she reaches out and pulls my arms down to her hips. Finally.

Reading it as a signal to take over, I hold her hips down so I can ream up inside her. But once again, she stops all motion and places her gaze very solidly on mine, face devoid of any emotion. I instantly let up on the pressure of my hands. She bobs her head and inhales, relaxing her stiffness.

This time when she moves, she positions our hands so that her thumbs are on top of mine, showing me how she wants me to pinch and circle her clit. She gasps at the touch and increases the tempo of her up and down movements.

"I'm close," she says. "Wait for me."

I'm on the edge, clutching at self-control, delaying my release until she finds hers. With one last pinch of my thumbs she shudders.

"Leo, now. Come with me."

At her command I pump myself into her, then halt, savoring her convulsions, before I thrust and release deep inside her, the cum throbbing out of me. She falls onto my chest, breathing heavily, and we clasp each other through the aftershocks, her intermittent clenches milking my last drops.

 

*****

 

That was good. Really fucking good.

It's one of the few times I haven’t faked an orgasm since the early days of my marriage, twelve years ago. And he seemed to handle it pretty well, too, my being in charge.

Leo kisses my temple and his cock slips out of me.

Not yet!

"Can you go again?"

He chuckles, relaxed, and rolls me to his side. "Demanding little thing."

I have a lot of catching up to do.

"Will you let me use my hands this time, Princess?" They rove now, skimming my flushed body. I allow it, hoping it will stimulate his recovery for another round. Toward that end, I find and lick his nipple closest to me, tweak its twin with my thumb and finger. Leo hisses, his hands suddenly insistent.

Before he can maneuver me, I throw a leg over one of his and stretch up to kiss him. I lick the seam of his mouth, urging it open to deepen the contact. He obliges, and we trade wet open-mouth kisses while I rub myself slowly and deliberately against his thigh.

A twitch at my hip, and my tongue plunges to find his. We caress each other’s' mouths while our hands travel over the curves and planes of each other’s' bodies. I relish fondling his solid strength, and his responses make me feel powerful. I cup his balls in my hand, rolling them gently against each other, and stroke the sensitive ridge between his testicles and anus. He firms when I flick that puckered rosette. I'm mesmerized when his cock stirs and grows before my eyes, so I flick his anus again. And once again. It’s too soon for him to rouse to full strength, but playing with it makes Leo groan.

"I like to hear that, Leo." I stimulate the area again, and he groans again, on cue, then growls in mock irritation.

I take one of his hands and place it on my sex, whispering in his ear, "I want your mouth. Right here.” I press his fingers tight to my pelvis and seesaw my hips.

The heat in his eyes scorches right past brown butter. He wastes no time rolling me onto my back and opening my legs to accommodate his broad shoulders. "Lovely," he murmurs, gazing. "You smell like us." My body yearns for his touch. I cup the back of his head and urge him to me.

Leo licks my opening, causing me to shiver, and clamps his mouth over my clit. When he sucks, hard, I arch off the bed. His hands wrap around from underneath to clasp my thighs and help pull me to his greedy mouth. His tongue works me over, and he nips me gently with his teeth. The thumb of one hand slides inside my vagina, stroking in and out while his tongue tickles my clit. I clench in pleasured response. When Leo inserts the other thumb and they both glide in and out of me, the sensation ratchets toward climax.

My insides tighten and Leo slows down. He switches position, thrusting three fingers into me with one hand, circling my clit with the other, and lapping in between with his talented tongue. My orgasm explodes and my groan is almost a cry as I spasm around his hands.

He uses the inside of my thigh to kiss the moisture off his face. "I like to hear you groan, too, Princess," he says with a knowing grin. He climbs up my torso, kissing along the way, stopping to toy with my breasts before settling on top of me and taking my lips with his mouth. His attentions are lethargic, hallmarks of a contented, well-pleasured male preparing to relax into slumber.

Suddenly, it's too much. His body covering mine, his mouth covering mine, his arms capturing mine, it's too much. I can't let him fall asleep pinioning me this way. I work one hand free and grasp a handful of his hair, close to the nape, to pull him up short. His sleepy eyes are full of questions.

"Am I too heavy?"

I'm having trouble breathing. "I—a little."

He immediately rolls onto his right side, opening the cocoon he'd created with his torso and limbs. It slows the panic. My heartbeat and breathing ease. I turn on my right side, too, so he spoons me. I don't have to look at him this way, making it easier to regain composure. I feel the tentativeness in his hand when he touches my arm. My body tenses, and his hand retracts.

"That's not about my being too heavy, Juliette."

I shake my head and draw in a deep breath. When I release it, I have myself nearly back under control. "It's nothing, Leo. I'm fine."

He puts an arm around my waist and gently pulls me in closer. I know his questions deserve answers, but I'm not up for that right now. I’m busy embracing safe and solid ground. Accepting the comfort of his body so near mine.

“Juliette?”

The poor man needs assurance that I really am all right. My attention is captured by the bulge pressing into my back. I want to—need to—touch him again, and let my hand go exploring.

Leo sucks in his breath and nuzzles my neck. "You’re feeling me up?" His voice is gravelly.

"Mmm…" I purr, eyes closed. Caressing him, knowing how I make his body respond to my touch, regaining control—it settles me. Confidence streams back into my veins. "I believe I asked Maximus to come out and play with me some more?"

He nibbles my ear and rubs his face in my hair. "You smell so good." Thankfully, appetite cancels sleepy or confused.

I rub my bottom back and forth over his erection and push back into it. Leo cups my sex with his left hand, crushing me against his hardness. His chest resonates pleasure. I'm lying on the upper part of his right arm, but he bends the lower half across my chest so he can fondle my breast. The nipple tickles his palm, eliciting more delicious throaty sounds from the big man plastered to my back. I'm effectively captured again, but facing the open room this time, I don't feel the clawing panic I did before.

Leo's left hand gently stimulates my clit, causing my hips to gyrate against his cock. He scissors my legs, positions himself, then slips into me from behind. Full of his cum from before, I have plenty of lubricant for him to bury himself inside me with one stroke. He pauses for us to attune, then pistons slowly in and out. Rhythm established, he focuses again on my clit, synchronizing the efforts.

"You feel so good inside me," I sigh, my hand on top of his as it massages my breast, while I push back on his cock to help him tunnel as deeply as possible. I adjust the scissor position of my legs to tighten my hold on his member as it drives in and out of me.

"Yummy spoon-shag, Maximus.”

I take Leo's grunt as agreement.

 

*****

 

Man, that woman put me through my paces.

My stretch is languorous. Lemony sun streams through the picture window. I missed the dawn. It was not as reluctant as I am to press forward the day.

I drape one arm over my eyes with a groan. Advancement toward middle age is a bitch. I used to power through sexual all-nighters in my 20s, yet still have enough spark to get me through a demanding workday before repeating the cycle. Last night I would have drifted happily off to sleep after my first orgasm.

But my princess required more from me than that. My cock stirs, remembering.

Vein-ous Maximus.

I grin and reach for my bed partner, only to find empty air. Juliette. How satisfying it felt to wrap my arms around her and have her shimmy her delectable backside against me. She's a luscious treat, warm, sweet and gooey, like crème brulée, and I am starved for more.

Voracious Maximus.

This time I want to savor her. We're not sex machines, robots churning out orgasms. I like my nutrition more complete than that. I want to hold and pet Juliette, celebrate her beauty, share pleasures, feel we're connecting more than body parts. She wants nothing but sex, and I need something more fulfilling. Hopefully, we'll find a middle ground that satisfies me without terrifying her.

Who would guess the cool blonde façade houses a sex kitten? No, kitten is too tame to describe the woman who charged out of the gate with the bit between her teeth and took me for such a glorious ride. Kittens are cute, cuddly, and playful. Juliette is intense and driven. A force to be reckoned with. Inexorable. I'd like to stay here with her, exploring and sharing during daylight hours, learning more about what makes her tick.

Why did she panic last night when I lay on top of her after coming? I let her skate with the excuse that I was too heavy, but we both know that wasn't the reason I had to move off her so quickly. She was frightened of something, terror-stricken, heading toward a full-blown panic attack. Maybe it's something as simple as fear of confined spaces. But maybe it's a symptom of something more, something from Juliette's past. Either way, I need to know. The woman obviously has boundaries and triggers that require special care.

I push back the covers and roll out of bed.

Dressed in last night's clothes, my hair clipped back, I follow the pungent aroma of fresh coffee.

A flutter catches my eye as I round the corner to the great room. On the deck, Juliette surveys the Atlantic. Morning breezes snatch at the edges of Juliette's white robe, riffling them like the edges of a flag.

My path alters to join her, wrap my arms about her waist and press my lips to her temple. Wisps of her hair tickle my face. "Good morning."

She sips from a pale pink mug. Its handle is the outline of a ceramic heart, one glazed half lying flush against the side of the mug, the other cleverly folded up ninety degrees, projecting out, making a place for fingers to grasp. Juliette twists in my arms and offers me the mug.

I accept a swallow of her coffee. "Been up long?"

"Nope."

"You showered." Her skirts wrap themselves around my calves. I sweep a hand down her flank. The material is so diaphanous, she might as well be naked. Definitely not wearing anything underneath. She pulls my head down to her lips and gives me a deep kiss. My hand slides up from her flank to cup a breast. Its pink tip is camouflaged by lace images woven into the fabric, so I toy with the long row of pearl buttons down the front instead. With a couple of them undone, the bodice opens enough to expose the treasure I seek. Juliette hums her pleasure when my thumb caresses a nipple.

A hazy silhouette of a ship floats on the horizon. Probably a carrier of some sort. There's a naval base in the next state up the coast. Juliette rotates in my arms and relaxes against me to take in the view. Three dolphins shatter the water’s surface, chasing each other through the shallows closer to shore. We laugh at their antics.

"They frolic here most mornings," she says. "Fishing boats throw out chum before entering the intercoastal on their way back from trawling. The opening is just up the strand."

I reach for another taste of her coffee, then grimace. "This needs to be warmed up."

She nods and shivers, in spite of her long sleeves. We stroll inside toward the kitchen, but I grab her elbow and tug her into an embrace, setting the mug on the low bookcase surrounding the sectional.

"How long before we need to leave?" I nuzzle her neck. Her skin is chilled. The perfume of her shampoo and body wash waft over me.

"Soon. We’re meeting Elizabeth after lunch." She presses into me, grips my back, and rubs her cheek against my unshaven jaw. Her tongue slides down the side of my neck, following her trail of kisses.

In spite of my earlier thoughts I find myself saying, "I'll be quick."

I pick her up. With a throaty gurgle, she wraps her legs around my waist, arms squeezed tight around my shoulders. I carry her to the elevator like she's a precious child, one of my arms under her backside, the other cradling her head, as I devour her mouth all the way up to the guestroom.

 

*****

 

"Stop."

Leo halts en route to the bed. He breaks off kissing long enough to stare at me, brows upraised.

My hands finish unbuttoning the front of my wrap, then move to his shirt. Biceps and shoulders flexing, he shifts my weight so he has a free hand to yank off my robe. I push his shirt off his shoulders where he shrugs it the rest of the way to the floor. He caresses my naked back and fondles my bottom on the way to unfastening his trousers, which drop unceremoniously on the floor along with the rest of our clothes. His boxer briefs are more difficult to dislodge, but his dance is determined. And successful. All while still carrying me.

What men will go through for sex.

I tighten my thighs to raise my hips so he can lodge his cock at my opening.

"Oh, Juliette, you're so ready for me," he moans, dragging himself one-handed through the wetness of my folds and helping me slide onto him. "I didn't plan on being this quick."

When he's satisfied I can take his bulk in this position, he pushes farther into me. I ache with anticipation.

He's feasting on a plumped-up breast, but stops to check on me. "Okay?"

"More. I want it all.”

He walks us over to a wall near the front windows so he can use both his hands to hold my hips and bury himself inside me. We groan, forehead to forehead. He pauses, and I relish the joining, my body stretching to accommodate him. Then he begins to move. I squeeze his every inch, reveling in Leo’s power to impale me over and over.

"Harder."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"Leo, more."

With the growl of a feral beast, he slams into me. I shudder with desire. Our bodies crash together, slick flesh slapping. My skin tingles with raw carnality. Leo’s heavy panting scalds the side of my head. His fingers dig into my hips to keep me from scaling the wall with the strength of his thrusts.

"Good," I moan. "So good."

His legs tremble, his abs tighten. I can feel his cock getting bigger, harder. He’s getting close. My hand gropes between our bodies to finger my clit and nudge me closer to my own release.

“Yes, touch yourself. Let me see you pleasure yourself while I’m inside you.” Leo adds his thumbs to either side of my fingers. The extra stimulus catapults me into orgasm. I whimper at the sensations ripping through me. As I pulse with my climax, Leo slows. He stiffens, then calls my name, jetting my insides with his own release. Hot lusciousness washes up inside me, filling me.

With a deep sigh, my body sags limp in his arms. His head is tucked into my neck. He kisses my collarbone, nuzzles, then kisses again, content to hold us like this through cool-down. I run a hand down the back of his head, smoothing his silken hair in a calming, repetitive motion as my breathing slows to normal. Eventually, he raises his head, molten toffee eyes piercing me. We stare at each other for long seconds.

"Did I hurt you?"

His voice is ragged. There's a furrow between his brows, and the corner of his eyelids are crinkled, squinting. He seems…off-balance.

My head lolls back and forth. "You gave me exactly what I asked for. What about you? I pushed you pretty hard.”

He pulls out of me and lowers my feet to the floor.

"Am I hurt?" The smile doesn't reach his eyes. "No."

With a free hand, he curls a strand of my hair around his finger. His gaze doesn’t meet mine.

"I brought a playlist to try out on your high-tech tub." He kisses the curl, then lets it go. "Maybe next time."

He turns away, picks up and hands back my lacy wrap, then throws on his discarded clothing. "We'll have lunch on our way to meet Elizabeth. I'll wait for you downstairs. Take your time."

He leaves me standing in the middle of an empty room, ejaculate seeping down my thigh.

What’s bothering Mr. Leonardo DePaul? I hope it's not what I imagine it is. Not this soon.

Sighing, I go to my room.