Reluctant Substitute (excerpt)

Title : Reluctant Substitute

Release date: Available now (purchase link under "Books" heading)

EXCERPT ...

I was pleasantly surprised with the first outfit I plucked off the rack. It was a negligee---accompanied by a pair of black fishnet thigh highs, and some matching black silk gloves---but it was an honest-to-goodness negligee.

I slipped off my heels, undid the button of my black pants, and slid the zipper down, before I pushed my pants down, and stepped out of them. Once I folded them, and placed them on the little side ledge inside the dressing room, I popped the buttons of my blouse, one by one, and shrugged out of it, before it joined my black pants. I unhooked my lacy bra, and dropped it down on the top of the pile, and slipped my thumbs in the sides of my matching thong---shimmying them down my legs, and stepping out of them, before I dropped them down on the very top of the pile.

The first items I pulled on were the black fishnet stand-alone stockings, ensuring I was careful enough not to put a bigger hole in either of them with my long nails. There was a three inch wide, thick lace top, with a big black silk bow tied securely at the back…which landed right smack bang in the middle of my thighs once they were on.

I slipped the black negligee over my head, and pulled it down over my curves. The silky material clung to me like cling wrap, and the hem was just long enough to almost cover the lower curve of my ass.

Even though it was short, the negligee covered me enough it gave me a false sense of security, and I felt at least half-way decent. But---I noted with dismay---there were no panties coupled with the negligee, what-so-ever.

He better not ask me to bend over. I plucked the sheer robe off the hook inside the change room, and shrugged it on, while I walked over to the wall of shoes. He didn’t request I pick a pair, but I assumed he would want me wearing something on my feet. I selected a pair of plain black, pointy-toed stilettos. I crossed the two halves of the robe tightly over in front of me, holding them in place with arms crossed across my chest, while I made my way back up the corridor to the studio.

When I opened the door, just like yesterday, two pairs of eyes turned to stare at me, and I suddenly felt extremely self-conscious again. But I also felt a throb begin between my legs, and my face heat slightly, acknowledging the provocative memories from the previous day that were playing through my head. Breathe, dammit!

Trying to distract my thoughts, I took a look around the room, and my brows rose in surprise. The decadent items I loosely described as furniture were still scattered around the vast room, but there were also four distinctly separate areas that were set up---one looked like an elegant dining area---another appeared to be a cozy lounge room setting---complete with a flickering fire in the stone fireplace, and a floating floor of floorboards laid out in front of it---a deluxe bathroom setting with a white sturdy basin on a thick pedestal stand, with a huge oval shaped mirror attached to the wall, and the final one had heat increasing through my face, while my eyes scoured across the soft white sheepskin spread temptingly atop of a large, and comfy looking, bed.

My stomach dropped, knowing I was somehow going to be posing on that damn thing. Better not be too raunchy! My lips pressed together, forming an even thinner line than when we arrived---clearly showing my growing irritation.

When I looked up, and locked eyes with Jaxon standing lazily with one arm leaning on the mantle of the faux fireplace, he was smirking knowingly, obviously finding my increasing aggravation highly amusing.

“First shot will be over here…Alison…”

Jesus H Christ. The way his tongue wrapped so seductively around my name in his sexy-as-all-hell voice, knocked the breath right out of me, like I’d been slammed, back first, up against a brick wall. My chest hurt from the pounding of my heart, while my legs moved one in front of the other.

“You’ll have to take the robe off…Alison…”

Fucking hell---he’s definitely fucking with me---the way he’s deliberately saying my name like it’s the tastiest morsel he’s ever eaten. I hurriedly parted the robe, and let it fall from my shoulders, catching it with one hand, before it fell to the floor, while my irritation grew. I draped it over the back of a chair I passed, before I continued over to where Jaxon was standing.

“Do you still insist on maintaining your anonymity, Alison?”

“Yes,” I answered immediately.

I felt a little of the blood drain from my face when a more than vivid image of Blake discovering a photograph of me on one of the shady sites he frequently visited on the internet, suddenly appeared in my head.

“I don’t want to be recognized---at all, Mr. Connors,” I repeated vehemently.

I wasn’t an idiot---the sort of photographs being taken---although tastefully done---were bound to end up on some erotic site somewhere on the internet. I just crossed my fingers they were going to appear on some of the half-way decent sites---and not some of the really sleazy ones.

“Very well,” he sighed. “Face the fireplace…spread your legs shoulder width apart---no---wait…perhaps a little more than shoulder width…and please, call me Jaxon---or Jax if you prefer,” he casually threw in, totally disarming me. “Then I want you to grab a handful of the negligee on both sides, and pull tight---so the fabric stretches nice, and inflexibly, across your taut buttocks,” he chuckled quietly. I groaned despondently, and rolled my eyes.

“No need for concern, Alison---nothing will be on display other than the tempting curve of your tight little ass,” he openly laughed.

My face swiftly heated with embarrassment, while he backed away, out of the scope of the lens. My inner temperature shot through the roof, and a gentle rhythmic pulse started up behind my clit. Jaxon began barking instructions again.

“Lift your left shoulder…turn your head to the left, and lift your chin…pull the negligee a little tighter…Hold it---Don’t move!”

I froze in position, feeling very unnatural in the pose he had me in, not daring to hardly breathe, let alone move any other muscle. The flashes lit up over, and over, from behind me, reflecting against the inside of the silver canopy of the umbrella thing I knew was something to do with the lighting, which Andre had set up.

In my peripheral vision, I saw Jaxon mosey on over to the bed with the thick white sheepskin lying on top. The hairs on the back of my neck started to prickle to attention. My arms goosed up with apprehension, while the pulse behind my clit began to hammer a little harder. When he grasped the sheepskin with one hand, and dragged it off the bed, I sucked in a quiet gasp.

Oh, hell, no. He better not be expecting me to lie on that thing wearing this. He proceeded to approach where I was standing.

“Just move to one side for a minute, please, Alison.”

I haltingly moved out of his way, and tried to keep the beat of my heart from escalating when he dropped the sheepskin down on the floating floor in front of the artificially flickering fire. I was about to tell him in no uncertain terms that I was not going to agree to lie on it, when he asked me to move even further out of the way. I took another few steps backwards, while he strode over to pick up a very low line, black glass, coffee table.

“Got the crystal glasses, Andre?” he threw the question over his shoulder.

He carried the small-legged table over, and placed it down in front of the sheepskin on the floor, sliding it a little further away after he stood back, and surveyed the scene as a whole in front of him.

I jumped when I heard the loud, and unexpected, pop of a cork coming out of a bottle of champagne behind me, and turned my head in time to see Andre pouring some in two long fluted crystal glasses, and my brow creased with a frown.

What the hell does he want filled glasses for? Are we going to be having a toast, or something? My frown increased. It’s a bit early in the day for that, isn’t it? I was utterly baffled.

“Here you go, Mr. Connors.”

Andre approached Jaxon, and extended the almost-full glasses out, which he took, then placed them smoothly down on the black glass top of the coffee table.

“Where’s the candle?” Jaxon questioned.

Andre walked over to the other side of the room, and returned with a large round orange candle in an elegant, black and silver, intricately patterned, and curved, candle holder. Jaxon promptly pulled a lighter from his pants pocket, and lit the wick, before he placed it down on the glass table top, at the opposing end to the filled glasses.

It was intriguing watching him step back, survey the set up in front of him, before he came forward, and moved a few things around a few inches here, and there, until he gave a half-grin, and a slight nod of satisfaction to himself.

“Okay, Alison…I need you to lay down on the rug…,” he began, but I didn’t let him finish.

“No way---I’m not laying down on the floor on that,” I squealed sharply. “This may be a negligee, but it sure as hell doesn’t cover what it’s supposed to…or needs to cover for that matter!” I sputtered indignantly, pulling at the hemline of the negligee in an attempt to cover a little bit more of my exposed flesh.

“I told you,” he sighed impatiently with a paltry scowl creasing his brow. “There’s no need for concern…nothing will be on display except for the tantalizing curve of your tight little ass. Now, lay on the rug---face down---please.”

He raised one brow, and stared me down. The determined glint I saw in his eye warned me not to argue with him. He looked like he would forcibly pick me up, and lay me down himself if I refused.

I reluctantly approached the sheepskin rug. Then I was faced with the dilemma of exactly how I was going to achieve laying on the rug, without showing what I had for breakfast earlier that morning!

As lady-like as I could conceivably manage, I lowered myself down to my knees, pulling, and stretching at the fabric of the negligee at the front, and back, to modestly cover as much as possible of my ass, and naked pussy.

My face heated when I heard Jaxon faintly chuckling at my feeble attempts of modesty, and I shot him a ferocious glare over my shoulder, which only seemed to amuse him even more.

“Lay down, Alison, facing the artificial flames…but prop yourself up on your left arm---wind your fingers through your hair, and lean your head on the heel of your palm---and drape your right arm down along your side, so the palm of your hand is resting gently on your upper thigh---let your head roll to the left, so your hair hangs further down your left arm.”

I hesitantly followed his instructions, but then my body jolted like I was jabbed with an electric cattle prodder, when I unexpectedly felt warm finger tips touch briefly along my exposed flesh at the top of the back of my thighs, and the gentle rhythmic pulse behind my clit turned into a frenetic throb of urgent need.

“What are you doing?” I yelped at his voltaic touch, totally flustered, while I made another grab for the hem of the negligee with my right hand.

“With all the pulling you’ve done on the damn thing, you’ve stretched the hemline of the negligee too much, so I need to hike it up a bit, to show off the sultry curve of your delightful little ass,” Jaxon crooned with a devilishly crooked grin. “Now bend your legs up a little, and tighten the material across your butt---tuck the excess material in under your left hip---I want you to show those sexy orbs off for the lens, Alison,” he grinned lewdly.

Jesus Christ. Can this be any more embarrassing? Or stimulating? Fuck---if his fingers keep touching along my skin like that, I’m going to implode like a tightly packed firework on New Year’s Eve.

His fingers left my skin, and I breathed a small sigh of relief when I heard him take a few steps away from me. I tried to keep the enticing throb behind my clit from intensifying.

“Wait, Andre---I’m not happy with her placement.”

I sucked in a startled gasp when he approached, and grabbed the bottom edge of the sheepskin rug, and pulled, dragging it, along with me laying on top, along the shiny floorboards, until he was satisfied with the positioning.

When I glanced covertly at him over my shoulder, my face heated even further when I saw his gaze focus down on my thighs. His lips tilted up slightly in a wanton grin. I knew from his location, he had an uninterrupted view of my naked---and totally bare---pussy.

Oh, my fucking God, I groaned inwardly, and resisted the urge to roll my eyes through to the back of my head. I quietly admitted to myself that I had no hope in hell of tempering down the incessant throb heating the apex between my legs.

“Okay,” he finally said in a satisfied tone as he stepped away. “Take the shots, Andre.”

The frantic clicks of the shutter hummed, and the bright flashes lit up our section of the room in quick succession.

“Hold it, Andre---let me re-position the long-stemmed glasses.”

Then, I heard the rapid clicking of the shutter going off again, while the area surrounding me lit up a few more times.

“Okay, Alison, I think these will do for this outfit---next one, please.”

My right hand immediately went down to the hem on the negligee, and I pulled as far as the material would stretch to cover my ass, while I scrambled hastily to my feet.

With each step, I felt just how moist I was between my legs, and I reached out to grasp the thin robe off the back of the chair I dropped it over on my way to the door, releasing a sigh of repose that I would at least have some time to get a hold of myself, while I changed. I almost made it through the doorway.

“Alison---hold on a minute,” Jaxon ordered.

I stopped, and turned to face Jaxon, while I shrugged the thin robe onto my shoulders.

“Take the robe off for a minute…I need one more shot.”

I was too far away for him to hear my slight groan of agitation. It was useless, and a waste of my breath, to try and argue with him, so I rolled my shoulders, and the robe came off, once again. I draped it back over the same chair when I walked passed. Jaxon moved to the blank black wall at the side of the fireplace scene.

“Over here,” he beckoned, crooking his finger.

I didn’t like the mischievous twinkle that suddenly appeared in his eyes…or the smirk that stretched his lips---but I did as bidden.

“I want you to stand in front of me, with your arms bent, and your palms resting up on my chest---the placement of your hands doesn’t particularly matter…the shot I want is only from around your elbows to above your knees.” He flicked a questionable look briefly over my shoulder. “You get that, Andre?”

“Yeah…I got it, Mr. Connors.” Andre answered, and I heard some shuffling around behind me.

“We’ll just give Andre a minute to adjust the lighting…”

I frowned, confused, but nodded my acknowledgement of his statement, while I tried desperately to keep my heart beat in check. Standing so intimately close to him, I felt the warmth from his body heating up along the front of my exposed thighs. His unique, ultra-male scent was wreaking havoc on my senses.

“I want you to stand off to one side of me---with my leg between yours,” he chuckled when he saw my eyes widening. “No---not literally…just so my leg will be visible through yours in the shot.”

“Ready, Mr. Connors.” Andre yelled out.

I gasped in surprise when Jaxon grasped a handful of negligee in each hand, on either side of my hips, pulling harshly on me in the process. My pelvis crashed erotically against his groin, while the tightened material slid up slightly over both of my buttocks, exposing the lower curve of the cheeks of my ass.

“Relax your left leg…so your hip drops down a little,” Jaxon whispered.

His face was so close, his hot breath fell tantalizingly over my parted lips, and I swear I could almost taste him. If his grip wasn’t so firm on the fabric at my hips, I would have swooned in a heap at his feet when my hip automatically dropped, just because he said so. Oh, dear God---breathe…breathe.

“Good girl,” he purred heatedly in my ear.

Holy fuck. The soaring euphoria climbing inside me when he said those two words, took me by surprise…and confused the living hell out of me. But before I could dwell on my body’s reaction, Andre called out, and Jaxon eased off the grip he had on the sides of the negligee. I sucked in a startled breath when he swatted me across the back of my upper thigh.

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