They rode to the Madrid outpost of Agent Provacateur as Jack had specified. Within minutes, Britt was shaking her head, blushing at the tasseled pasties and garter belts on the mannequins and something called a playsuit that seemed to be nothing more than vicious bits of diagonal string arranged around one’s bare breasts and backside. She was ready to slink out of there, but Jack held fast to her hand, probably because he was wise enough to know she’d try to bolt. Further into the shop there were reassuringly sumptuous racks of silk robes and pajamas and nice normal pretty things that didn’t make her panic about her cellulite or sheer embarrassment in general.
Jack suggested a few things, a very straightforward saleslady selected a few more, judging no doubt that Britt was trying gamely to participate but had no desire to put tassels on her nipples for any reason. Into the fitting room they went and Jack sat by patiently as the saleswoman helped Britt try on several different combinations. They seemed to come from a collection dubbed once in a lifetime lingerie and Britt, glimpsing the price tag of a lace corset that cost 1600 euros, could well understand why once in a lifetime was the only time anyone could pay such an exorbitant cost. But when she tried on that same golden lace corset, she came to understand the structure and detail of such a garment. It cinched in her waist. It lifted her breasts to the most pleasing cleavage she’d ever achieved. It didn’t pinch. It didn’t itch. It was as comfortable as it was becoming. She kept glancing at herself in the mirror, a foolish grin on her face. She felt like a pin up! She even put on the thigh high stockings without argument and found that when she faced the mirror, her reflection showed a better, more beautiful, more seductive version of herself staring mysteriously back at her.
Jack, sitting behind her on a cushioned bench, caught her eye in the mirror and winked. She nodded and he instructed the saleswoman to ring up the purchase. He stepped toward Britt and she turned away from the mirror in time for him to capture her in his arms and kiss her fully, voluptuously, his hands warm on her stomach and side through the lace. She broke away and shooed him out so she could remove the articles and get dressed. Still, they sped back to their hotel in record time to try out Jack’s birthday gift.
Britt slipped into the bathroom with her shopping bag and wriggled into the corset and stockings. She silently thanked the saleswoman for cinching the laces to fit her so she could just hook up the front of the corset easily and get the perfect fit. She stood before the mirror, marveling at how flattering the soft gold hue of the lace was against her skin, how saucy the tiny red bows on the garters seemed. She bit her lip and then reached into her makeup bag. She rimmed her eyes with black liner, painted her lips with scarlet lipstick. She met her own gaze with a smolder, stepped in to her stilettos and then went out to meet him.
Jack lounged on the bed, his clothes in a pile on the floor, and she paused to wonder if the expensive lingerie she wore could possibly aspire to be as attractive as Jack’s bare body. She felt her flesh respond to the mere sight of him, her breath quickening, her heart speeding up. She walked toward him, conscious of her curves, the length of her legs, and she placed her stilettos just so, moving fluidly, slowly, as part of the seduction. She stopped directly in front of him and looked down into his face.
“Do you like your present?” she practically purred.
“Very much. Yes,” he said a little breathlessly.
“Would you like to unwrap me?”
Jack answered her with his hands. He turned her around slowly, admiring her body, and the French lace that adorned it. He slid his hands lightly down her sides, across her back and over her bottom. He caught the satin ribbon in his hands and she felt the tug as he untied the bow and worked her laces apart, opening the corset so his hands could touch her bare flesh. Shivering at the first brush of his fingertips along her back, she helped him remove the corset. She unhooked the garters and pushed the corset down, leaving her in soft gold silk stockings and high pointed stilettos. She turned to face him and he sat with her breasts at his eye level, his hands coming up to encompass them, to stroke them. He set his mouth on her stomach and she ran her hands through his hair expectantly. His hands cupped her bare bottom and slid down the sheer silken fabric of her stockings.
He drew her up until she knelt on the bed, her knees on either side of him. He reached between her legs, stroking in the most tantalizing way until she was panting. Then he rolled her onto the bed. Turning her on her hands and knees, he knelt behind her and took her. Her pants became moans as Jack stroked in and out of her at an increasingly frantic pace. He held her hips and pumped into her while she dropped her face into the pillow and screamed, a keening sound long and sudden as she came. Shuddering, her arms too shaky to support her, Britt was powerless even to catch her breath as he kept pounding into her, sending streaks of shocking pleasure up her body in waves until he reached his completion.
Together they rolled onto the bed and he pulled her back against him, his body curving around hers. He dropped a kiss on her shoulder.
“Thank you for my birthday gift,” he said mischievously.
“You’re more than welcome,” Britt replied, even her voice shaky from her release.
She pressed her lips to his, her eyes dropping shut, and he kissed her so softly, so tenderly that she felt tears welling up in her eyes.
Chapter 16
Reluctantly, they flew back to the States, their romantic getaway at an end. From the private airfield, they took a car to Britt’s apartment.
“Do me a favor and pack a bag so you can stay over with me. I can’t actually drop you off because I’d miss you too much.”
“I’m going to work tomorrow. It’s not like we aren’t ever going to be apart,” she teased.
“Only when absolutely necessary. I’m willing to let you have your space, like when you use the bathroom.”
She laughed. “I love your sense of humor.”
“And I love the way you laugh.”
“What did I do to deserve you?”
“I could ask myself the same question.”
“Wanna come up?”
“I’ll wait down here. I have some calls to make.”
Britt rolled her eyes at him comically and went up to her apartment. She picked out some clothes for work and got her laptop and charger. Looking around, she checked to make sure the milk in the refrigerator wasn’t expired and realized she had everything else she needed with her. She had a razor, her makeup, a flat iron, her contacts and saline solution. It would be pretty easy, she thought suddenly, to stay over at Jack’s until they found a place together. If she could coax him to clear out a drawer for her stuff, it would be dangerously simple. Biting her lip, she decided to pour out the milk because she might not be back before it turned.
She grabbed her mail downstairs and slid back into the car beside Jack. He finished his call and they went to his apartment. She ordered a ridiculous quantity of tacos and found that he had requested that his housekeeper stock the refrigerator with cream cheese and salsa for her special recipe. In the master bedroom, she found not a single vacant drawer for her use, but a beautiful antique wardrobe, whitewashed and carved with flowers along the top molding, ready for her things.
“Did you have the housekeeper bring that in, too?” she asked.
“No, I ordered it a while back and they finally delivered it.”
“Oh. So you didn’t pick it out for me. It’s just a piece you ordered for—”