Authors Note: Thank you to those people who sent me such lovely feedback asking for another chapter for this story. Here it is! Thank you again to Jason for running a friendly eye over my work it is much appreciated. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. ~ellie
Josh had taken his time over the following day, never demanding too much or pushing her too hard. She, in turn, enjoyed cooking and tidying up their little love nest. She was high on endorphins and love as she stared out of the large glass windows surrounding the spa bath while the sun came up, happily wrapped in Josh’s strong arms. She glanced back into the room at the debris of the night’s activities and the open chest in the centre of it all. Her skin had pruned long ago, the stings of the welts she wore had faded and she turned her face up to his taking in his sleepy eyes.
Whispering, Peri roused him from his thoughts, “You should get some sleep, Mine, I am guessing we have to drive back to the city tonight.”
His hands went to her breasts and played with them as they floated on the water, “Are you tired, my love?”
“A little” she admitted, “but I don’t want to waste a minute of this weekend, so I thought I would tidy up a bit and make something nice for breakfast if you wanted a little sleep. It wouldn’t be good to fall asleep at the wheel on the drive home.” Her brow creased slightly in her worry for him.
Smiling down on her he kissed her softly, “I will sleep a little if it will take those worry lines from your face, but first I need some water.” Peri stood up from the bath and stepped out to dry herself. Josh watched her carefully. He had marked her well last night, and she still bore the evidence of just how carried away he had become. “How do you feel?” Josh asked quietly as he too stood up and stepped from the bath pulling a soft robe around his wet body and tracing a red line that moved over her hip and ass with a finger.
“I have never felt this way before,” Peri admitted. “The pain and pleasure seem to go hand in hand to make the feelings you give me all the more intense and the dull ache I have today reminds me of just how delightful it all was. It can be,” she corrected herself.
“Will always be,” Josh smiled and folded her in his arms. “You were always meant to be with me like this.” His kiss was impassioned, and she melted once again into his arms. He let her go finally, and she went to the kitchen to get him the water he had wanted. Josh followed her, took the water from her hand gulped it down. “Come sleep with me, you can tidy up later,” he smiled and traced the necklace she still wore before picking her up and walking to the bed.
“Really, I’m not tired,” Peri smiled. Josh knew she would come down from her high eventually and need sleep, so he put her in bed before crawling in beside her. “I want you to rest then, for at least an hour.” He pulled her to him and spooned her, his hands wrapped around the soft mounds of her breasts.
“Yes, Mine,” Peri smiled and closed her eyes, reliving the last twenty-four hours she had been in this small cabin with Josh. She had been the second to wake and had found him sat on the bed with the mystery chest, watching her as she came to wakefulness and smiled at him.
He had seemed excited, like a child on Christmas morning, and had pouted when she got up and went to the bathroom telling her to hurry back. He had brought breakfast to the bed in the form of pastries and juice, and while they ate he opened his chest of toys and had shown her the contents, naming them and offering an explanation if she seemed unsure of something. Josh even gave her a demonstration at times. The ben-wah balls had been inserted almost immediately, and she was instructed to practise trying to roll them with her muscles, keeping them deep inside her cunt.
There were a variety of leather restraints and clamps for various areas of her body as well as what he called his tools that both fascinated, and frightened, her at the same time. She could see the eagerness in his face, and she had gazed upon the soft suede flogger with a curiosity, blended with unease. There was also a crop and several paddles of various designs within the chest. Finally, he had removed a first aid kit and some aloe lotions and began to explain about aftercare and how valuable it was after a particularly severe session.
He reassured her that they would build up slowly, and it would be months, probably, before he considered using some of the things the chest contained. She had smiled at that and could see the excitement his face had held, tinged with concern, as he waited for her reactions because she had stayed silent during his explanation of his tools and the need for a first aid kit.
In her mind’s eye she relived the moment when, in wanting to take the concerned look from his face, she had placed her hand on his cheek and kissed him, “I love you and trust you. If this is what you truly need and desire I will try.” She had looked at the toys and tools scattered over the bed and, once again, smiled up at him. They had always enjoyed a rougher, harder type of sex. The first night in the cabin had shown her that she didn’t want to return to what Josh had called vanilla sex. “Just take it a little bit slowly with me, please. It’s a lot to take in all at once,” she had asked softly. His smile had been wide and dazzling. He had pounced on her then and pinned her to the bed amongst everything he laid out and kissed her hard and deep, the passion taking her breath away.
Josh had straddled her body pinning her arms under his knees and, taking a breast in each hand had pressed them around his cock and began to move between them. After a few minutes, he stopped and wedged a pillow under her head and fed her the tip of his cock as he searched blindly around on the bed behind him. He had applied tweezer-like clamps to her nipples then and began to fuck her tips bumping his cock into her lips until she left them open for him. He held her breasts in a vice-like grip and combined with the light clamps she whimpered and panted loudly, her cunt clutching and rolling the ben-wah balls stilled wedged within her.
Peri had cum explosively, and Josh had stilled his movements to force his cock deeper into her mouth and groan as he too came, spraying thick jets of cum into her mouth. From that point on Josh had not given her a moment of the day when she was not tormented either by him or by a toy that he had placed upon her. She had been introduced to the soft flogger early, and her skin quickly became pink under the lash of its tendrils.
The toys she got to know well. He also introduced a small amount of ass play with the toys before and after the use of a paddle. They had barely stopped to eat and Josh had tormented Peri even during her preparation of food and their eating it. She had lost count of how many times she had come and marvelled at the short amount of recovery time he had needed between each of the harsh sessions of fucking.
Her tits had been weighted and tortured by differing kinds of clamps and eventually, later that night, bound so tightly that they swelled and throbbed before feeling the sting of the crop he had finally used on her in their last session of the night, leaving them both exhausted and on the verge of collapse.
So much for taking things slowly, she had thought as Josh had filled the spa bath and helped her in, holding her close. They had not spoken, being content just to be with each other and rest. In truth, she had revelled in each new thing she had learned. Josh had paced his changes and movements and seemed always to be gauging her reactions and asking about her comfort levels. She snuggled back against him wondering how she got this lucky.
Still unable to sleep, and sure that Josh was in a deep sleep cycle, Peri quietly moved from the bed. Smiling to herself she busied herself with tidying up the debris from the day before. She found discarded restraints and toys in the strangest places, each new find making her laugh. This cabin, she realised, had been purpose built for someone like Josh. The hooks with counterweights in the light fittings, small sections of door frames and floors that pulled away to reveal large eyelets that a D ring could be attached to and a railing at just the right height to be of specific use. She would not have known their purpose, if she hadn’t just made use of them all with Josh.
Peri washed and cleaned the toys and tools before returning them to the chest and began to prepare a brunch, hoping Josh would sleep for another hour or two. Once everything was in place, Peri returned to the bed and snuggled close to Josh again, letting her eyes close. They woke closer to lunch time than they had meant to and, pleasantly surprised, Josh scolded her for not staying in bed. She could see that he was pleased despite the scolding, and she grinned as he murmured, “That is the first time since wearing this you haven’t done what I asked.” He traced the necklace with a finger, “perhaps a spanking will help you remember your promise.” Lightning fast, he pulled her over his lap in the bed and smacked her ass once lightly as she squealed in both surprise and delight.
“Oww!” Peri cried out as, after the first lighter slap, his hand crashed down hard on her ass and squeezed the cheek hard.
“What was the rule, my love?” Josh asked with a growl as his hand crashed down on the other cheek.
“Aah! That I would do as you said while I wore the necklace,” Peri gasped kicking her legs and crying out again.
“And did you?” His hand crashed down again making her squeal.
“I am sorry,” she cried adding, “Mine.”
“You will be,” he said, his open palm crashing down again while his other hand wormed it’s way between her legs and the wet folds of her cunt. He continued the spanking until her ass glowed red and hot. Peri was panting, and tears had rolled from her eyes when the spanking stopped and he finally pulled her up from his lap. He made her straddle him gripping her hips tightly in his hands as he lowered her onto his cock. “Now show me just how good you can be and fuck me, my little slut,” Josh smirked and released her hips pulling his hands back behind his head and watching her.
Peri began to rise and fall on him her breasts bouncing with her movements and unable to help himself Josh reached up to play with them, growling, “You’re such a hot slut.” He pulled on her nipples until she leaned down over him. They kissed as her hips continued to grind down onto his cock. He enjoying the feeling of being in control of the movement if only at his whim.
His fingers dug into her hips once again, urging her to continue fucking in her bent position and she began moving slowly again up and down his cock as they continued to kiss and move against each other. Josh bent his knees up causing Peri to half kneel and began to pump up into her hard and fast, growling into the deep kisses and biting at her bottom lip. He felt himself getting too close to the edge and pushed her up to sit upon him once more his hands on her hips guiding her movements at a slower place.
Josh watched as she leaned back slowly, so he entered at an angle and saw the tell tale quivers within her thighs as his cock continued to buffet her G spot. Peri was panting and whimpering in increasing need, and he leaned up to slap her breasts hard, the force of the blow leaving handprints and pushing her over the edge. The sight of his handprints of her soft white skin and her shaking body as she came only added to his pleasure as her cunt contracted around his cock pulsing and milking at him. With a roar, he let his own orgasm overwhelm him and thrust up into her harder with every spurt of the thick milky fluid.
Josh pulled her to him and held her tightly as they regained their breath. Leaning up Peri smiled down at Josh. “I love you,” she said simply and leaned back into him, laying her head on his chest.
He tightened his arms about her shoulders. “About time you realised that,” he teased her, “and said it without prompting.” He smacked her already sore ass lightly.
Peri jumped, startled and about to protest, but he leaned up and kissed her, his smiling eyes disarming her protests as much as the kiss. He pushed her off him rolling her to her back and kissed her again. “Alas, man cannot live on love alone, so let’s have breakfast!” Laughing she followed him to the table, and they sat close together eating the food she had laid out earlier.
They showered, and Josh packed the chest back into the car after a cursory glance around the cabin to make sure nothing had been forgotten. “Before I give you this,” he said with a smile holding her bag out of her reach. Peri her cocked her head inquisitively and waited for the rest of his sentence. He opened the bag and confiscated her bras as she protested loudly. He smiled as he handed her the bag minus the two bras and stroked a finger around her jewelled necklace. “Do what I say for the whole weekend, remember.”
She took the bag nodding begrudgingly. “Yes, Mine,” she said with a little more attitude than she meant to come through, making him growl at her. She instantly regretted it. She chose a blue blouse and a flowing white skirt with delicately embroidered blue and white flowers. It was one of her favourites and would be comfortable for the drive home.
Josh sat at the small sofa and coffee table with the large box he had brought in Friday night on his lap. Peri dressed and moved about the small cottage, tidying up after their brief stay so that the owners would not think badly of them. He called her to him and pulled her to sit beside him. She saw that he held the book she had seen on her first visit to his apartment. “You’ve seen this before at my apartment,” he smiled. “It’s a work in progress, to rewrite some of the characters from the history of The Honoured Society.”
Peri looked between the book and Josh as he spoke. “You read this part I am assuming,” Josh continued pointing to a rough hand written page in the front of the book, and she looked down for a few minutes rereading: “Each family had agreed to send a younger son, his wife and a body of slaves to the new British Colony to set up a new seat of power for the table of twelve they had created.”
She nodded recognising the section he pointed out. “But why would you rewrite some of the characters, I mean if it is a family history shouldn’t it be a real history not a story?”
“My family sits at one of those twelve tables, it is our duty to live by the code set out by the honoured society,” he paused seeing her eyes come alight with curiosity, her mind working over what she knew and what she had already read. “Some members of one of the twelve families strayed from that path and have been dealt with accordingly. I wont say much more as it is an old business, but changes must be made before the next quorum if we are to right the wrongs that were done.”
“It all sounds so formal and ominous, is the code so very rigid?” Peri looked up again.
“Yes, I think that it is what binds us together, creates a tight network of family and friends that ensures our personal successes as well as the safety of those we love. When the family is threatened by one man’s stupidity or ego,” he paused struggling to find the right words for her. “When someone seeks to rise above all others, they are cut off, lanced like a boil so to speak. Only then can the rift be healed,” Josh spoke as if from experience. “I know you come from a place where family is not considered the highest of priorities as you never had much of your own but trust me, once you are part of my family, and see all of the branches of that family tree you will begin to understand.
“I would like you to help me with this project, so you can know where I come from, who I truly am, as well as what expectations would be placed on you when you meet the older members of my family,” he said, smiling. “Speaking of which we will be having a late lunch with my uncle,” he grinned.
“Wait!” Peri stopped him. “The Honoured Society? That was umm,” she searched for the word in the dim memory she had of hearing the term, “the ‘Ndrangheta. It’s like the mafia! Your family is involved in organised crime?” She was truly as shocked as she sounded.
“That branch of our family tree has been severed,” Josh said abruptly making it clear that his family were not part of some criminal organization. “Our values encompass trust, respect, virtue, steadfastness, discipline, dignity and the bonds of family. Does that sound like the family code of criminals?”
“No,” Peri admitted uncertainly. The memory of the gangland killings from years ago began surfacing stronger in her memory. It was drugs and territory and something to do with the produce market. Her researcher’s mind filed away the information for another time, and she looked up at Josh. He was the man she knew to be true to his word, he was the man that made her so happy, and he was the man she loved. “No,” she said more firmly, “of course not, it was just something that triggered an odd memory of the name.”
He hugged her to him and kissed her. “Trust me. My family have some odd quirks, but they very much revere the old ways and the old country. They abhor the mafia unions in Sicily and Calabria,” Josh laughed with ease. “You’ll no doubt argue with me about some of their ways, but what is between you and I will always be as good as it was this weekend.” He kissed her again leaving Peri wanting nothing more than for everything always to be as wonderful as she felt it was now and she melted into his embrace.
Josh knew he was pushing her too fast, but he knew that the woman in his arms was his one, his other half, his soul-mate. She had seemed to accept that she would become part of his world and did not question the fact that he spoke of their relationships in terms of family expectations for her rather focusing on the book in his hands his families unique history.
They had packed their things into the car together and left the serenity of the cabin by early afternoon and travelled the few hundred metres back along the gravel road toward the main house. She looked again at Josh smiling. He didn’t exactly look Italian, and she wondered about his last name briefly. Craig didn’t seem like an Italian surname, yet he belonged to a large Italian family and the home they had pulled up in front of could have been transported straight from Tuscany. Peri looked at the large villa-style house, its terracotta-coloured stucco walls reminding her of the Tuscan villa she had once seen in a movie and always dreamed of visiting.
“You have to come out of the car sometime,” Josh smiled as he opened her door while she sat daydreaming. Laughing, Peri took his offered hand and stepped from the car.
“Ah you are here at last!” An older man had come out to greet them embracing Josh and kissing him on both cheeks before turning to Peri and wrapping her in the same tight embrace before kissing her cheeks, as well. “And who is the beautiful creature you have brought with you?” The embrace lingered a little longer as the older mans hand stroked down her back almost the point of caressing her buttocks, the familiarity making her slightly uncomfortable.
“This is the woman I will take home,” Josh said startling her. “Peri, this is my Uncle Andreas.”
“Ah, I see,” Andreas said, removing his hand from where it rested dangerously close to the curve of her bottom with a look of what seemed disappointment.
“It’s lovely to meet you,” she smiled and moved closer to Josh.
“The pleasure will be mine I am sure,” Andreas winked at her and slapped Josh on the shoulder. “So, you have found someone to put up with you at long last. It is best to choose your own wife, not all arrangements work out as we would like,” he grimaced. “Let’s go find your Aunt then, before this late lunch turns into an early dinner.”
They walked into the Villa together, and Peri was overwhelmed by the opulence. Carefully selected antique furniture and artwork decorated the interior which was enhanced with delicate objects in porcelain and marble. Her agile mind constantly working, she was sure she could name several of the artists represented in this room when a squeal of delight brought her back to the present and a smiling rotund woman ran and grabbed Josh pulling him down to her height to kiss him loudly on both cheeks.
“You must be his girl,” the woman beamed, hugging her fiercely and kissing Peri’s cheeks. “Aren’t you just adorable! Come, come. I have everything all ready, Andreas has been complaining that his stomach thinks his throat has been cut for hours.” Linking her arm with Peri’s, she guided her through the villa to the enclosed terrace. Marisol smiled at Peri’s gasp at the view they commanded of the vineyards and dams of their farm. The table was dressed as if for a formal dinner party, and Peri looked over her shoulder at Josh, reassuring herself that he was close by.
“Zia!” Josh laughed. “Slow down, Peri this is my Aunt Marisol, and she is not as crazy as she seems, most of the time.”
The little woman hit Josh playfully and carried on toward the table giving Peri a seat facing the view. “She will call me Zia, of course, I will be her Aunty too, so when will you marry?” she asked Peri. “Oh I love weddings. You could have the reception here if you like, but I don’t think Josh’s father would like that…”
Peri was stunned and looked at Josh for help understanding what the woman was talking about as she prattled on barely stopping to take a breath. Josh continued to laugh as he shrugged at Peri and rolled his eyes.
“Do you expect an answer to any of those questions or are you going to talk her to death before we’ve even have had a bite to eat?” Andreas barked, putting his hand down heavily on the table top and turning to his wife with a slightly raised voice.
“Well of course I want answers silly. I wouldn’t ask them otherwise, would I?” Marisol seemed contrite.
“Then how about you let the girl answer, you haven’t even let her say hello yet,” Andreas murmured but his tone was reprimanding.
“Oh, I am sorry dear, it’s just that Josh has never brought anyone here to meet us before today. Though he has stayed at the cottage once or twice with a friend, he is usually on his own when he visits.” Marisol reached out and patted her hand. “Let’s start with how you met our Josh?”
Marisol kept up a constant barrage of questions and reminiscence during the lunch, barely letting the others talk at all. It turned out that Andreas and Marisol had no children of their own and that Josh was the favourite nephew as he was also their God-child. They had built the cottage for him so that he would visit more often and take an interest in their small winery and farm. While the woman spoke, two demure women served the lunch and cleared away plates after each course, and by the end of the long, three course meal Peri had questions of her own, about the farm and the people that worked there.
Her curiosity about his family had reached a high point by the time they finished dessert, but she held her tongue thinking that she would pose her carefully-worded questions to Josh in the car on the way home. To her surprise, at the end of the meal Josh left her sitting with his Aunt and went to speak with Andreas in his study. For the second time when meeting his family, Peri was left with the women of the party and it struck her as odd.
“I realise you have help here, but can I assist them in clearing up the lunch things?” Peri offered helpfully, breaking into Marisol’s chatter about men and their secret business.
“Oh don’t be silly, darling girl. Aren’t you so sweet? No, that’s what the girl’s are here for, to look after our every whim,” Marisol smiled. “Why don’t we go have a look at some of my treasures? You’re an art history major, you said? You will enjoy some of the objects I have managed to collect over the years.”
Once again Marisol asked questions she didn’t really want answers to but it seemed to be the way she spoke. It was as if she was giving the person choices, while leading them down an extremely narrow path with no option but to follow her. She stood guiding Peri from the table back into the cool dim light of the house. In truth as each favourite piece was pointed out Peri was more in awe of the woman’s collector’s eye and the stories of how she had come across such exquisite pieces.
“Good grief woman! Are you boring our guest with your collections?” Andreas exclaimed loudly. Peri was examining an oversized Capidimonte music box when Josh and Andreas finally found them.
“Oh Gosh! No!” Peri said, appalled by his statement. “You know, I studied art history at university, but I never thought I would get to hold an original Capidimonte in my hands like this. I feel as if I should be wearing gloves or something.” She laughed and placed the musical carousel shaped box back in its original position.
“If you don’t marry this girl soon I might just adopt her myself,” Marisol smiled widely at Josh, showing her genuine affection for the new girl in his life while teasing her Godson. “Don’t look so worried, I would keep her safe from Zio.” Marisol gave her husband a hard look.
“You could try,” Andreas muttered under his breath at the hard look he received. Josh stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Peri and smiled at their bickering. This house was a second home to him, and he adored the two people who looked at him with smiles lighting their faces.
“I think I should take you home before these two spoil you so much you think about taking that offer seriously,” Josh laughed, but it was getting late and he had a long drive before him. Peri laughed with him but said nothing else as they all walked toward the front of the house again. After much hugging and kissing they finally drove off in the darkening afternoon to return to their real lives.
“The weekend is almost over,” Peri said, realising she hadn’t taken off the necklace, but neither had Josh asked for it, and one of her hands fluttered to her neck.
“The necklace is yours. It was only a prop, and a mighty impressive one at that,” he smirked at her. “If you were ever to wear a collar like the girl’s in relationships like those you have read about in your research recently, trust me you would know it was a collar,” he said enigmatically.
“Those girls who served us lunch wore collars,” she said quietly.
“Yes,” Josh said simply offering no explanation. She knew in her mind that it meant what she thought it meant, it was the road Josh was leading her down, an understanding of this world, but she wondered if all of his family had this type of interest or inclination and how the women dealt with it, though Marisol had not seemed to mind very much.
Josh could see her mind working at her acceptance of his Uncle’s submissives and her Aunts obvious acceptance of them. He purposely hadn’t explained the situation to her, wanting her to reason it out within her own acquiescence of his family’s belief in a type of caste system. As Patrician, he and his family could court and even marry Plebeians, but there would always be a slave class who would serve the elders of their community in the ways they wanted and needed. Though a few of the younger men and women of the family network had strayed from this way of life, for Josh, what he wanted most was an equal. He wanted someone to share his world and enrich it by sharing his goals and interests.
“They seemed happy to be there,” Peri said tentatively, her mind working around the social taboo’s that came with the idea of slavery and sexual submission.
“No one is forced into a life they do not wish. Indeed a lot of the girls who have become part of the family landscape seek it out voluntarily. They are always paid, however, room, board, food and an agreed upon amount into their bank accounts each week for their service as a maid or whatever they were hired for, in addition to their other duties.” He hadn’t meant to say so much, but he reassured himself that she needed all of the pieces to the puzzle.
The trip home was punctuated by small generic questions about his family and the book, gently touching on the lifestyle they led in between. As they talked she thought about what she had learned about him today.
“Come stay with me tonight? We can drop by your place and pick up what you need for work tomorrow,” Josh said quietly, but the tone in his voice was commanding even though he posed the statement as a type of question.
“Sure,” Peri smiled not wanting to end their intimate weekend yet either.
They drove in comfortable silence. Josh’s hand often rested on her thigh as he drove with her hand over his. She was happy, the life she had been living, in the constant shadow of other brighter, smarter, more beautiful people seemed to be a distant memory. She considered how, since Josh had come into her life on that fateful day in the research office, every facet of her world had seemed to change for the better: her job, her mother, and best of all she was in love with someone who loved her in return. She even felt better about her looks and considered if all the extra-curricular activity she had lately had perhaps helped her to shift a little of the weight from her curvy figure.
It didn’t matter really, she felt happy, and she found herself actually looking forward to checking on Andie as they pulled up beside the small home she and Andie shared. They walked in to find her sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by books and catalogues and what appeared to be small mountains of paperwork.
“Oh baby, your home already!” Andie appeared to notice the time and looked horrified. “I totally lost track of the time. Do you want something to eat? Was it a long drive? Give me a minute and I will clean this off.”
“No need to clean it off, I only came home to pick up some stuff for work tomorrow,” Peri walked over and hugged her mother who appeared to relax. “What’s all this?” Peri waved her hand at the paperwork on the table.
“Well, that personal shopper idea that you gave me on Friday when I was talking with that bitch Sabrina,” Andie paused and quickly looked up at Josh and the look of distress that appeared on Peri’s face. “I’m sorry Josh, but your PA is a bitch. Anyway the guy I’ve been seeing thought it was a terrific idea and said he would back me if I wanted to cut down work to part-time and trial it for a few months to see if I could make it work. The catch is I have to come up with a business plan on my own.” Andie looked at the clutter on the table. “I know it looks like a mess, but it makes sense to me.”
Peri had pretty much already told Josh about Sabrina’s remarks yesterday without naming her specifically, so she wasn’t as concerned as she might otherwise have been and Andie seemed so eager about her project that Peri couldn’t help but be caught up in her enthusiasm.
“Tell me about your plan so far,” Josh said, stepping forward, interested in what she was saying, “What sort of shopping would you offer?”
“It would be mostly fashion tips and the like. Matching body types with styles and colouring, maybe branch into make-up eventually,” Andie continued to talk Josh through what she was thinking and how she might go about marketing herself and getting a few high-end clients.
“I have an idea where you could make some real money and contacts with high -nd clients,” Josh said thoughtfully. Peri watched on as Josh explained that executives often left shopping for their wives to their PA’s who more often than not had no idea about the woman concerned and no taste of their own. Birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Christmas: they were all nightmare times for them. “I think if you marketed towards them, wrapped and packaged the personalised gift with a small card introducing yourself as a personal shopping consultant, their wives might just be curious enough about the woman who selected such a fabulous gift in the first place to seek out your services.”
“A quick phone call is all they would have to make to give me some small clue as to the client I would be buying for, and I could do it. Oh, Josh what a fabulous idea!” Andie all but leapt at Josh in her excitement.
Peri watched Josh disentangle himself from Andie and smile up at her. She was no longer concerned about Andie’s predatory habits where Josh was concerned, but she smiled widely as he did his best to keep some small distance between himself and Andie.
“Go get your things together, my love,” Josh continued to smile at Peri. “I’ll just give Andie some names of the PA’s and exec’s at work that I think would love the idea.”
“Andie,” Peri called as she came from the bedroom. “If I put a load of washing on could you hang it out on the indoor rack for me in about an hour?”
“Sure, baby,” Andie replied distractedly.
Peri rolled her eyes and went to put on a load of washing, when she came back they were still deep in discussion, so she began making a snack for them all. In truth, she was still full from lunch, but Andie would need to eat, so she made a platter of cold meats and cheeses, fruits and salad and warm, crusty rolls and placed it on the table for everyone to help themselves.
Andie and Josh were talking about limits on regions she would need to cover and the better places to shop with clients being different to places she may shop when bargain hunting. Peri pulled out scrap-paper and began doodling, letting their enthusiasm run its course. In a way she was glad that she could ensure the laundry was done the way she liked it, and she was happy enough listening to them bounce ideas off each other.
“All done then,” Josh said as he stood up seeing Peri return from hanging out the laundry.
“Thank you so much, I have a real plan now and the most amazing logo,” she held up the doodle, Peri had been working on.
“That was just a doodle,” Peri smiled indulgently at her mother, looking at the silhouette she had drawn holding shopping bags that said “I’ll run around” on one and on another, ” So you don’t have to.”
“It perfectly fits what we were talking about as her marketing strategy,” Josh grinned.
Andie nodded enthusiastically and hugged her daughter tightly to her, “Thanks.”
“Good luck writing it all into a coherent plan. We need to go now that the laundry here is done. I have some of my own Peri might like to do as well,” he laughed only half-jokingly.
Andie walked them to the door her arm still around Peri’s waist. She kissed her daughter’s cheek and whispered, “I am so happy you’ve found someone who loves you so much. Have a fabulous day at work tomorrow.” She said the last louder and smiled at Josh as he bent to place a chaste kiss on her cheek.
“Thanks Andie,” Peri farewelled her mother, not picking up on the subtle hint that work would be enjoyable the next day.
They drove in comfortable silence both happy to be heading home together. For Peri everything about this relationship seemed to be so right and so real that it felt like they had been together so much longer than the month or so since their first date. Perhaps it was the intensity and depth of feeling he professed for her and in her own way she for him. Though she had calmed down from her partying and promiscuous lifestyle, Andie had more than enough baggage and quirky behaviours to more than match Josh’s unusual family, and she smiled looking up at him.
“Thanks for being so generous to Andie tonight. She seemed a bit overwhelmed by the task when we first arrived, and I have no head for business. You were terrific with all your idea’s. I think she has a real shot at making it work now,” Peri squeezed his hand, which lay on her thigh.
“All the idea’s were there she just needed to structure it better, have a clear starting point, after that the sky is the limit if she does it right,” Josh said thoughtfully. “It’s a brilliant idea. I could get her to shop for you when all those holidays come around. You know when I am too busy being a business tycoon,” he said, teasing her.
They pulled into the parking garage below his building, and he leaned over to kiss her deeply before getting out of the car and grabbing the toy chest and the two small overnight bags from the boot. Coming around the car she saw that the box that held the family book was still in the boot, and she reached for it to help him, but he stopped her.
“Leave it. You can take it into work tomorrow and have a proper look. We are sort of on a deadline for that, and I don’t want anyone else to handle it,” he said, giving her a half smile. She understood that he may not want anyone else knowing of his unusual family history. So she left it where it was not questioning his decision or when she would have time between her other work.
Refusing to let her take the bags, so he was not carrying everything, they went up to the apartment side by side and so unused to his not having a hand on her somewhere she reached out to link her arm with his. His answering smile made her feel warm and loved.
He walked and put their bags and the chest into the bedroom neatly stacking the bags inside a wardrobe and placing the chest on a side table. Peri laughed quietly, and when he looked up at her explained, “the chaos that Andie and I live in must just about kill you when you are there.”
“Not at all, it’s just like home. There are so many of us, there is always stuff everywhere. I think that is why I like my place to be so well ordered. My father’s study is well ordered, and that is his space, he gave up on the rest of the house when all of the children came along, and though we always had several maids to keep it clean, keeping it ordered just didn’t happen.”
“I can’t imagine having that many siblings, did you all get along?” Peri was genuinely curious.
“Yeah most of the time, normal fights and stuff but the older ones generally stepped in when the younger ones were fighting,” Josh shrugged.
“Who are the older ones?” She couldn’t quite place who was the oldest of them from her meeting with his siblings over lunch.
“Angelo, Ben, Carlo, Dante, Emilio; A B C D E,” Josh chuckled, “It’s easy to remember them. I don’t think Mama realised what she had done naming them until someone pointed out that Isabella should have been Fiona.” He continued to laugh as he went on, “then Lucia, Romeo and Jules, the Valentine brothers, Me and Nik and Maryanne.”
“Nik is short for Veronica right?” Peri said.
“Yeah, but don’t ever call her that, she hates it.” He seemed to consider what he was about to say. “She hates a lot of things.” He stopped short of admitting that included most of the women he had ever dated. By the time he had finished talking, he had begun undressing her and smothered any further questions with his kisses. “I don’t want to talk about them anymore,” he murmured. His fingers traced the bruises his vicious love bites had left on the soft white skin on the underside of her generous breasts.
Peri stroked his hair as he teased her nipples with his mouth and teeth feeling her breath quicken and her body respond to his almost immediately. Flipping open the chest lid he withdrew wrist restraints and speedily secured her hands above her head leaving her dangling from a partially hidden hook in the ceiling. His fingers pinched and twisted her nipples eliciting a squeal of pain from her before pulling them out from her body to make her breasts form large pointed peaks and her body bow towards him.
With the high-pointed nipples, they were perfect in Josh’s mind, and he once again went to the chest withdrawing a soft nylon rope. He took his time binding them tightly, his cock hard and pressing against the fabric of his jeans aching to be free of the constricting fabric. He listened to her panting whimpers as he finally tied the soft rope off and stood back to admire her.
“Fuck you’re a sexy bitch,” his hand lashed out to slap one swollen and discoloured globe. She squealed once again and looked at him with glassy eyes. He quickly shed his clothes and kissed her deeply pressing his chest against her bound breasts swallowing her whimpers. He kissed down over her breasts rolling his tongue around the swollen, distended nipples as his hand sought out her cunt and rubbed over her clit.
Continuing to kiss down her body he knelt before her and pulled her legs over his shoulders lapping in long strokes over her hot wet cunt and teasing at her clit with his tongue. He ate her slowly building the sensation, soon feeling the tell-tale signs of her orgasm approaching as her thighs trembled beside his ears. Adding his fingers to her torment he glued his lips around her clit and dragged his teeth over it listening to her cries of pleasure and pain. When she came, she came hard, her body twitching and convulsing above him as he continued the torturous assault on her cunt.
Finally, giving in to her pleading and releasing her, he stood and pulled her legs from the floor, wrapping them tightly about his hips. He slammed up into her making her gasp loudly, and her eyes flared open widely. His chest buffeted against her breasts as he fucked her hard, but for him, unsuccessfully, so he reached up taking her hands from the hook and pushed her up against a wall her legs still around his hips. He slammed his cock into her harder and faster her body painfully sandwiched between his aggressive fucking and the wall as she felt her second orgasm rising.
Feeling his own rising within him he lowered his head to bite at the excessively swollen nipples as he pounded into her. They both came loudl,y crying out in release. Josh pulled her from the wall to the bed, sitting her up and rapidly untying the binding of her breasts before collapsing onto the bed beside her. They lay there for a long time wrapped in each other’s arms, enjoying the lingering sensations of their love making. Eventually, the chilly night air made them seek the warmth of the blankets and the promise of sleep the pillows offered.
Pulling her tightly against his body Josh murmured in her ear, “I love you, my Peri.”
“I love you, Mine,” she responded sleepily.
They woke early to the sound of Josh’s alarm clock and grabbed a hasty breakfast after spending too long in the shower exploring each other with the passion of new lovers before heading into work. They were held up by a breakdown making the peak hour traffic even more of a carpark than usual. It occurred to Peri that she actually should have brought her own car in case Josh needed to work late but by the time she thought about it they were already running late.
“I’m going up to see Mario this morning just let my PA know would you? Tell her you ran into me in the lift if it makes you feel better about people here not knowing about us just yet,” Josh murmured as they rode up in the lift. He had placed his hand behind her, caressing her ample ass and smiled down teasing her. “Or you can tell them the truth.”
“Sure,” she smiled back up at him answering both questions with one word and ignoring his last statement.
“I won’t be long,” he said and passed her the heavy family-history book still in its box as she went to get out at her floor. “Not that you will notice once you start work, my little research mouse,” Josh said with a grin. The lift doors closed before she could answer and Peri went to put her bag and the book in her small office before walking towards Josh’s office at the end of the hall, to deliver his message.
Peri walked around the corner to face Sabrina and stopped in her tracks. Instead of the vain and egotistical Sabrina she came face to face with her friend Louisa who was beaming at her. Louisa looked stunning. She was in a business suit and wore make up with a new hair cut, but it was unmistakably Louisa. Peri couldn’t find the words she needed to say anything, so surprised was she by the sight of her friend sitting here of all places and looking amazing. “Josh has gone up to see, Mario,” she said in a voice stilted with shock.
“Great gives us a chance to chat for a minute,” Louisa said. She stood up and walked around to where Peri stood open-mouthed and wide-eyed.
“How? When?” Peri babbled as she stood stunned in her friend’s embrace, trying to make sense of Louisa being here rather than the snooty Sabrina.
“Let’s see. Friday afternoon, Mr Craig came down to the dungeon. He told me there was an opening for a PA and that you had told him I was looking for a change. He asked if I was interested. I don’t know what you told him about me exactly, but I can’t thank you enough. Can you believe this?” Louisa was just about jumping out of her skin as she hugged Peri again.
“What happened to Sabrina?” Peri realised in that moment that Pete had told Josh what had happened Friday morning between Sabrina and herself and felt sorry for the girl, though she couldn’t work out why.
“She got a promotion up to one of the higher levels of exec’s,” Louisa grinned. “So here I am being retrained. This will be perfect we can have lunch together and gossip about the office. It will be such fun,” she enthused as she once again hugged Peri, showing her happiness.
“I am sorry I was just stunned to see you. Congratulations!” Peri finally returned the girl’s hugs and joined in her happiness. “I have some things I need to do first thing this morning, but we will have lunch together you and me, in my office where we can talk properly, how about that?”
Peri had felt relief that Sabrina had been promoted and not fired as she had first thought. Then she laughed at herself as she walked back to her office. “Of course he wouldn’t fire a perfectly acceptable secretary because she had inadvertently hurt some little research assistant’s feelings. Even if he did love that little research mouse.” He had listened to her though, when she had spoken of her friend, and had hired her as Sabrina’s replacement and for that she was grateful to him. It would be nice to have a real friend up here.
Sitting at her desk she turned on her computer, checked her emails and began work. Josh walked in to check on her and she smiled looking up from her work. “Seeing Louisa was a delightful surprise this morning. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I had other things on my mind when I saw you Friday, and they stayed on my mind until…” he lowered his voice. “Come to think of it they are still on my mind.” He eyed her blouse suggestively. He had unequivocally outlawed her granny bra’s, as he called them, and hidden the bra’s she had brought in her overnight bag. So to his delight she was braless today. She had large breasts it was true, but the high nipples made them seem perky despite their size and Josh loved to watch them bounce as she walked.
“I better go train my new PA in the ways of making me a happy-chappy, although I bet you could tell her more about that than anyone,” he smirked at her. “You do make me exceedingly happy.”
“We are hardly going to hide our relationship here at work if you continue to carry on making me blush, Mr Craig,” Peri said softly.
“So what? I don’t mind. HR has its rules, but rules are meant to be broken now and then. It’s you that has a problem sleeping with the boss. I could fix that you know,” he laughed. “Sabrina probably wouldn’t have minded sleeping with the boss last week,” he continued to tease Peri. “But I doubt she will want to now she works for Mario.”
“You didn’t do that did you? Get rid of Sabrina because of me?” Peri asked, hating herself for voicing her doubts about the promotion. Josh could see Peri was feeling guilty and tried to make it seem like nothing without actually lying to her.
“She earned the promotion. Despite the flaws in her personality, she is actually highly skilled at her job. It just happens that an opening came up at a time when I was considering whether having her as my PA was the wisest choice, especially when her obvious advances were becoming tiresome and upsetting the woman I loved.” He smiled at Peri, seeing the clashing of relief and guilt play across her face. “Call it fortuitous timing, but it would have happened eventually regardless. She isn’t my type and was becoming irksome. Finding what a sexy little slut you are underneath that research mouse exterior just expedited an event that was already in progress.” He watched her blush and wished he could have taken her in this office right there and then.
Overwhelmed that he would do this with her in mind, Peri felt guilt but also a sense of loss. She couldn’t quite place her finger on it. She wondered if it was the loss of being able to face Sabrina, without the insecurities that haunted her. She felt she was a much stronger woman after her weekend with Josh and their confessions of love for each other. She considered if it might be something else, like the loss of independence she was increasingly feeling as Josh seemed to become involved in all facets of her life. It all whirled around in her mind, confusing her.
Josh surreptitiously kissed her and left her to her thoughts walking up the hall to his own office, whistling a happy tune.