The Accidental Billionaires Series

Chapter 5

Anita had never known ten minutes to last so long. It wasn't the physical challenge of kneeling tall that made the time pass so slowly, though for a body not used to the position it was not easy. She knew that if she decided to stay for the weekend she'd be spending a lot of time on her knees, and wondered just how long she'd last. Would Marshall show mercy if she had to call 'Warning' on kneeling?

In a way, she was surprised that she was considering if she should stay. She was there in his secret apartment she never suspected was there, he was offering her a full weekend of being Dominated by him, being used by him. Her flirtation had worked, and she was mere minutes from being naked in a room with him.

So why the hesitation? Maybe that was the point of the ten minutes he'd set for her, to create doubts in her mind. If he was sure she needed ten minutes to think about what she was doing, what did he know that she didn't? He had made it clear in no uncertain terms that he was going to be rough with her, and that the weekend wasn't going to be about her pleasure. He'd mentioned implements. What kinds of implements? She'd never used any such things before, beyond handcuffs and a couple times, Robert's belt. The belt was a lot for her to take, which was why she'd only let him use it a few times. What other implements of torture did Marshall have that he was going to apply to her body?

What about the safe signal in case she couldn't talk? What was that all about? Gags, or was there something more that might take her voice away?

And she'd also consented to giving him free access to her entire body. Anita was no stranger to s*x, and liked to think she was at least a little above average with her mouth, judging by how many of her former lovers went for it every chance they got. But there was that other option she'd never been willing to try. Had she just offered that most taboo act up to a man she'd yet to bed conventionally to make sure he knew how to handle his own body, and who had promised that he was going inflict pain upon her?

Anita really wanted to look at her watch to see how much time she had left before she either went to Marshall or walked out the door, but her instructions were to keep her eyes closed.

As she reminded herself to follow that order, a new set of feelings rose up from within her. She had been on her knees, in discomfort, for at least several minutes, and she was forbidding herself from opening her eyes to look at her watch. Her motivation for following Marshall's instructions wasn't to avoid punishment. She'd heard a door in the room open and close. As hard as she listened, she couldn't hear the sound of him breathing in the room or making any other sound. She put as much attention as she could onto her surroundings, and there was no sense of hers that could detect any sign that Marshall was in the room watching her to ensure her compliance.

Her motivation for doing what he'd told her to do was coming from within, a desire to do what she was told by a strong and confident man who clearly desired her. She wanted to make Marshall happy. As she let the conversations they'd had over the past few days play through her mind, every time she saw a smile on his face, whether it came from mirth or from her deference to his voice and his orders, she felt good. She dared say, she felt happy at those memories. Being on her knees in the living room of Marshall's little secret trysting den, eyes closed because it was what he'd told her to do, she dared say she felt a little bit content.

What Marshall was offering was a very tight set of rules for her, a cage of restraint, physical, mental, and emotional. Just like the boning in the longline bra felt comforting in its hold around her chest, the thought of the boundaries Marshall told her he was going to put around her made her paradoxically safe, despite the fact that he threatened to enforce those boundaries harshly, and that even the space inside of them was going to be difficult to endure.

But those boundaries. Marshall would need to put as much effort into creating and maintaining them as she would have to put into staying within them. Marshall was offering her as much of himself as he was demanding of her. Anita had only felt that kind of parity from a partner once before, from the only other one that had ever Dominated her, that had ever asked her to Submit to him.

Marshall was offering her pain. Anita had tasted the kind of pain he was offering, and she was craving some more of it. Where he'd only nibbled at it before, Marshall was offering a feast. The food metaphor, as well as the memory of the first time he'd made her kneel tall and put her face right up to his c**k, just a zipper away, made her mouth water. The insides of her thighs started to tingle as another part of her became wet as well.

She was thinking about what lay behind that zipper when the alarm went off, breaking her train of lecherous thought. She stood and didn't make as much as a glance toward the kitchen, where the key to the outside world sat in the middle of the table. She shut off the alarm clock and looked around the room. Marshall said he'd be in The Playground. From where she stood, she could see two doors, both open. She could see that one led to a bathroom the other to a bedroom. The bedroom seemed the obvious choice for a place called The Playground, but she found it empty. On the off chance that there was more to it than was at first obvious, she checked the bathroom, and Marshall was not there either.

Anita returned to the center of the living room, and turned to face the windows. The soft carpet made no noise as she walked across it, and she did not remember hearing Marshall's footsteps either. However, there had been the distinct sound of a door opening and closing. She looked through the kitchen to the door that led out of the apartment. The electronic lock on that door had beeped when he'd come in and out. She was also sure she would have heard some sound of the outside if he'd left the apartment.

There must have been some other door in the place. If she really thought back, she would guess that the apartment had a regular square or rectangular footprint. She hadn't really been paying much attention to that while Marshall had walked her across the rooftop with his hand in her hair, though. That little walk had reminded her of just how much she loved a hand in her hair, how it sent her a little way into a very special place.

She shook her head to break out of that thought. She wasn't going to get any more hair pulling if she couldn't find where Marshall had gone. Assuming that the apartment was rectangular, though, she looked around the living room and the kitchen. The bathroom was to her left when she faced the windows, tucked in next to the kitchen. Those three rooms were one large rectangular block. The bedroom was to her right, opposite the bathroom. She stepped in and could tell that it was significantly narrower than the living room, which suggested that there was a good-sized space unaccounted for. The wall of the bedroom that presumably butted up to this mysterious space was unbroken by any doors. There was art on the walls, but she could see no seams or breaks in its smooth surface.

The living room wall on that side, she remembered, had a section of built-in shelves with books and some other objects. She returned to that room and looked at them. A little pacing, and the shelving unit was definitely aligned with where the strange other space should have started. She pushed and pulled at the shelving, but everything seemed to be solidly built. Four of the six shelves held books. The books were all real books, she was able to take them off and replace them, with nothing unusual happening. Two of the shelves displayed other objects. Quickly touching them, she found they all were placed there. Like the books, they could be picked up or moved around. One item caught her attention, though. It was a model of a swingset, with somebody sitting on one of the swings. Exactly the kind of thing somebody would find on a playground. Anita pushed the person on the swing. There was a very slight click that came from somewhere inside the bookcase. She gave it a tentative push, and the whole thing pivoted away from her.

The room beyond looked exactly the right size to fill the empty space in the floor plan. Directly opposite of where she was standing, there was a large X made of wood, with shackles at its extremities. There was a kind of bench to her left, like a small padded table with a lower padded step. She'd never seen one before, but its purpose was clear - somebody would kneel on the step and lay their body across the top, perfectly positioning them to be spanked or paddled or maybe even taken by somebody standing behind them. To the right was another apparatus that looked like it was designed to put somebody in a position for spanking, but it was more like an extra sturdy sawhorse with steps on it, and it had no padding. She was both excited and scared by that particular piece.

In the center of the ceiling was a hefty eye bolt, with a heavy-duty swivel hanging from it. Hanging from the wall were an assortment of paddles and canes. Next to those were a display of what looked like short whips, each made of a few dozen straps of leather. There were two actual whips coiled up near those.

In one corner of the room there was a huge fluffy bean bag, and a futon pad neatly rolled up. Between that and the less brutal of the two spanking benches there was a modest armchair. Kenneth Marshall sat in it, the suit he'd been wearing nowhere to be seen. Instead, he was attired in oxblood leather pants, tucked into matching boots that laced nearly to his knees, and a tight, black fabric tank top. She'd never before seen Marshall in anything other than a suit. While he carried himself like a fit man, seeing him in a tank, she was treated to a very nice display of well-muscled arms. Not body-builder bulky, but cleanly solid. A pair of really well defined pecs also peeked out around the edges of the shirt. The leather pants didn't show off the legs as well, but did hint that he was as well built in the lower body as the upper. Anita really wished he were sitting in a position that offered a clear view of how he might be endowed, but the way he was lounging, that particular treat was well hidden.

"Miss Rhodes. I am very happy that you chose to stay."