Captivated By You

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Rhea stood in the doorway of the adult novelty store as total horror engulfed her. She’d never seen anything like this in her entire life. There were cages set up in the corners with mannequins dressed and chained in the most sexually graphic manner imaginable. Did people really use this stuff?

She paused next to a display of penis-shaped suckers and scowled at them.

“What’s wrong?” Ace asked as he brushed past her, into the store.

It was all she could do not to gape. “Where do I begin?” 

He shrugged nonchalantly as if missing her point. “Well, we could begin with one of the swings over there.”

Rhea couldn’t help gaping now as he pointed to something that looked like it had come from the planet Porno. It was a large black contraption that held a spread eagle female mannequin completely subdued and gagged. 

Yeah...

Unwilling to let him know she was bothered by it, she quickly recovered her facial expression and paused at the display of leather blindfolds and masks that were covered in spikes. 

“Can I help you?”

Rhea actually jumped at the sound of the shaky female voice behind her. She turned to see an elderly woman with white hair and black rimmed glasses staring at her. Jeez, it was someone’s grandma! She even had the black SAS shoes and a white dress with little dark blue flowers that matched her dark blue sweater. She looked kind and frail. 

Why on earth would she be here working as a porn store clerk? 

“No. Just...looking.”

The older woman laughed and lightly patted her arm. “This must be your first time, sweetie. Just relax and have fun. Don’t let me worry you, I’ve tried most everything in here so if you have any questions, please let me know.”

“Um...yes.”

Grandma smiled as she watched Ace. “Well you’re a lucky woman to have that for a playmate. Why, he’s simply delish.”

Delish? Grandma knew delish? 

Okay I’m in an episode of Twilight Zone with Grandma as the zoo keeper. Just go with it, Rhea.

Grandma continued to study him. “You know, he reminds me of my dearly departed Herbert. Oh, hon, he was the best. He just lived for sex. Would throw himself into it anywhere, anytime. In fact, we once got arrested for indecency on a subway while we were in New York.”

This was way too much information. 

“Have you two been arrested yet?”

“No,” Rhea answered quickly and honestly. At least she hadn’t been. With Ace... well, she wouldn’t make a bet on it.

“Then you two ain’t doing it right.” Grandma winked at her.

Grandma was without a doubt the most frightening thing in this store.

“Oh, you’ll like those,” Grandma said to Ace who had paused two aisles over. “The strawberry are the best, though my Herbert like the lemon flavored.”

Rhea looked to find Ace examining packages of edible panties. She inwardly cringed as he inspected them. “Don’t even think it, Ace.”

He held up one of the packages. “They have grape.” Then he looked to Grandma. “You ever try these?”

“The grape isn’t the best. They have a bit of a bitter taste to them.”

Ace put them back. “You said to try the strawberry?”

Rhea’s gaze narrowed as he picked up a package. Fine. Two people could play that. “You also have whips, right?” she asked the woman.

She nodded.

“Do you have nice, spiked ones?”

“Absolutely, sweetie.”

“No!” Ace said, putting down the panties, and moving back toward her. “No spiked nothing.”

Rhea arched a brow. “I can’t believe I’ve finally found something to make the big, bad Ace craven. What on earth could make you fear spikes?”

“A Goth girlfriend in high school who left lasting scars on my flesh. I don’t ever want to cozy up to another porcupine as long as I live.”

Rhea was amazed he admitted that. “You went out with a Goth chick? How unlike you.”

“Not really. I always had a thing for women in leather.” He looked meaningfully at a mannequin dressed in an extremely revealing leather corset that left its breasts bare except for two tiny leather pasties. 

The expression on his face said he was picturing her in that getup.

Rhea decided to play fire with fire. Determined, she walked over to the rack of leather speedos which would have to be laughable on any male no matter how sexy or fabulous he was. She picked up one that was of a thong design and looked back at Ace who grimaced.

“Trust me, baby, that would be like trying to cover two bowling balls with a slingshot.”

“You wish.”

He flashed her one of those taunting smiles. “But it makes you curious, doesn’t it?”

She hated to admit it, but he’d won this round. “No, it just makes me pity whatever woman ends up permanently shackled to you. Do womankind a favor, Ace, get neutered.”

“Oh no, honey,” Grandma said. “No one should neuter something as fine as him. Take my word for it. I’ve seen lots of handsome men in my day, but yours... He’s definitely worth keeping around.”

“See, she likes me.”

Rhea bit her tongue to keep from saying Ace should train Grandma for Bender. But rule one was to never disclose an agent’s mission to an unknown no matter how harmless they appeared. Words could kill even faster and more effectively than a handgun.

Rhea took a deep breath and looked around. “So what appeals to you, Ace?” 

He picked up a jar of chocolate body paint that even came with its own paintbrush and came to stand next to her. In that moment, here was something extremely compelling about him and the soft way he was looking at her. “Rhea al dente.” 

An unexpected shiver went over her and she knew it was caused by the hot, seductive curve of his mouth. Ace Krux was a man to be reckoned with.

“If you like that, we have a sample,” Grandma said as she brushed past Ace.

She went to the shelf and opened a tester jar, then took a white plastic spoon and ladled out a bit of chocolate into a small plastic cup.

When Rhea reached for it, she pulled the cup back. “Give me your finger.”

Before Rhea could really comply, the old woman took her finger, dipped it in the chocolate and held it up for Ace to sample. He didn’t hesitate to open his mouth and capture her.

Rhea stomach fluttered as his warm, sensuous tongue encircled the pad of her fingertip while he held her hand in his to keep it in his mouth. He nipped her flesh ever so gently with his teeth while he stared at her with a hot, needful look. His masculine scent of aftershave and shampoo filled her head, making her heart pound.

Never in her life had she been so unexpectedly turned on by any man. This was intrusive and rude and... and she was dying to know what his lips would taste like.

Get a grip! 

Rhea pulled her finger out. “I hope you’ve had a rabies shot lately.”

He laughed at that, then dipped his finger into the cup. “Your turn.”

“That is so not sanitary.”

“Chicken?”

Rhea couldn’t believe he was relying on the childhood tactic. Even worse, she couldn’t believe it was working. She wasn’t about to let Mr. Perfect Agent get away with it. 

It was time Mr. Krux learned a lesson.

Taking his hand into hers, she opened his palm and blew her breath across it. She gave him her best “do me, hotshot” stare before she licked the palm of his hand and took the entire length of his finger into her mouth.

Ace ground his teeth to keep from cursing in blissful agony the instant she started tonguing his finger. That woman had a tongue that poets should write about.

At the very least it deserved a major letter to Penthouse Forum. 

Every hormone in his body fired as his cock hardened to the point of pain. And with every tiny, erotic stroke of her tongue, he hardened even more. 

She growled low in her throat before she took a gentle bite of his skin, then pulled back. “Hershey’s is better.”

Ace was completely dumbstruck. Since all of his blood had drained to the center of his body, there wasn’t much left to understand her words. He only knew she stepped away from him and that was the last thing he wanted.

In fact, the only thing he wanted right then was to take her into his arms and taste that sweet, sassy mouth. To pin her to the wall behind her and sate the painful ache in his groin that wanted nothing more than to be naked and sweaty with her.

Rhea was a lot more turned out by what she’d done than she wanted to admit. The truth was, Ace had tasted wonderfully. And the look on his face as she tasted him was branded into her consciousness. Her breasts were still swollen and heavy from desire.

How could she be attracted to him? Yeah, he looked great, but he was a pest.

Trying to distract herself, she strolled down an aisle with the most incredibly odd vibrators she’d ever seen. Some of them looked like penises and some of them just looked weird. One in particular had two penises pointing away from each other. 

Tilting her head to study it, Rhea paused and frowned.

Ace gave a low, amused laugh as he came up behind her. He was so close, she could actually feel the heat from his body. Feel the intensity of his presence. He might as well be touching her for all the damage he was doing to her willpower. 

“You really haven’t ever been in one of these stores before have you?” he asked her.

She shook her head. “I had no idea that these,” she gestured toward the myriad of battery-operated boyfriends, “came in so many shapes, colors or textures. Good grief. Do people really use these?”

As his body brushed against her, she could feel his taut erection. He’d been right. He was a large man and the thought of that electrified her as he reached for one of the illicit packages. “Yeah they do, at least I know they use them in porn flicks.”

She gave him an arched, censoring look.

He actually looked offended. “What? My cousin Vito produces porn films for a small, independent studio. Much to the horror of my grandparents, he talks about it at every Christmas party.” 

Relieved more than she wanted to admit, she shook her head. “You have the strangest family.”

“And you’ve spent as much time in Beverly Hills as you’ve spent in adult stores if you believe that. Trust me, where I grew up, my family was the most normal ones on the block.”

“And now I know why I’ve never made it a habit to frequent either place.” Rhea folded her arms over her chest. “So what exactly will I need for this...excursion?”

Ace returned the “item” in his hand to the shelf. “I vote we ease our way into this. For one thing, no gags since gagging Bender would defeat the purpose of getting him to talk.”

“That makes sense.”

Ace headed over two aisles to where they had a display of restraints. “Something simple. Handcuffs.”

Rhea studied the variety of manacles they had. An unbidden image of Ace spread out naked on her bed, flashed through her mind and in spite of what she would ever admit, she had to say it was an incredible thought. 

Oh jeez, don’t make him right! He would be flattered to no end to know that you really are picturing him naked.

“Some of this stuff looks like it ought to be illegal,” she said, trying to distract herself again.

Ace shrugged. “Personally, I’m not into the rough stuff, but there are all kinds out there.”

“I’m just glad I’m not one of them and that I’m licensed to carry a concealed weapon should I ever have the misfortune of meeting one in a dark alley.”

“Yeah.” Ace grabbed two pairs of velvet-lined cuffs. He held them like a man who truly had no interest in using them.

“You really aren’t into it, are you?” she asked in surprise. As gung-ho and adventurous as he was in everything else she would have thought he was a regular porn-meister.

“No. I like my sex the good old fashioned way. Down and dirty.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “You know, there for a minute, I was starting to like you.”

“Only a minute?”

“You’re right. It was more like ten seconds.”

“Okay, for that, I vote for this.” He picked up a cat of nine tails that was made of thick leather straps.

“Fine.” She left him and went to the bustier rack where she quickly found a frilly red number made out of satin and feathers. “What do you think of this?”

He grinned. “I like it.”

“Good. What size are you?”

“Pardon?”

Grandma laughed. “I have his size in back.”

“No!” Ace snapped. “I only have one rule in life. No drag.”

“Why not?” Rhea teased. “You allergic to satin?”

“No, but this,” he picked up the thong part of it, “would give me a wedgie from hell. No, thank you.”

She tsked at him, then put it back. 

Ace stopped as they passed a tall, thin silver canister that held several long feathers. His look turned speculative, then wicked. “Tickle your ass with a feather?”

“Excuse me?”

He cleared his throat. “I said particularly nice weather?”

Rhea screwed her face up. “Oh please don’t tell me you’re a fan of Up the Academy?”

Ace was stunned that Rhea knew his vague reference to the offbeat early eighties film. “So how many times have you watched it?”

“More than I cared to. It was my older brother’s favorite movie in high school and I curse the day they ever turned it into a video tape.”

Ace laughed, amazed at just how much enjoyed their verbal sparring and her unique views of the world. “Hey, I defend your brother’s taste in movies.”

“You would.” But the dancing light in her eyes said that she wasn’t as offended as she pretended.

Better still, she picked up one of the feathers and added it to the cuffs.

“You gonna let me?” he asked hopefully.

“Oh no, you’re the slave, remember? You have to do what I say.”

“Yeah, but don’t slaves get rewards?”

“No.” She sashayed past him.

Maybe slaves didn't get rewarded, but before they finished this detail, Ace fully intended to. He'd been too hot for this women far too long to not at least get a small taste of that wisecracking.

As for the rest of her...

Ace wasn’t the kind of man to let something he wanted get away from him and he wasn’t about to let Rhea tie him down without both of them getting a taste of something decadent.