Page 4 of The Apples Hung Like Stars
“I would not harm you. But hurt? Well, you’re in a sex club, my dear, and Iamone of the Dommes here. I suppose what I’ll say is that tonight I won’t hurt you… unless you ask me to.”
Chapter Three
Janet
I flush, my body aware of everything that Clíodhna’s words promise.
So many people have promised me pleasure, but this? This potential for pain? This is what drew me to the Golden Apple in the first place.
I long to lose myself in the sensations that impact play might bring. My brain rarely slows, and the only times it does, I’m usually doing something physical, demanding, over and over in a pattern that allows my brain to switch off and rest.
I can’t be sure that the hurt Clíodhna speaks of will bring me that peace, but I’m hoping it will.
As for the realisation that I’m speaking to one of the Tuatha Dé Dannan? I find that I’m not as surprised by the discovery as I might be.
“Should I be worried?”
“About what?” she asks.
“About the fact that you’re some ancient being—probably immortal—and that I’ve signed a non-disclosure agreement to be here?”
She laughs again, that deep chuckle that makes me want to rub my thighs together. “I haven’t been back for as long asall that. We were… gone.” Clíodhna goes quiet then, her eyes distant. “Behind the Veil there are no sensations, noanything. All we want for now is to live with the abandon that you mortals embrace so eagerly. For myself? I take everything one day at a time, and for today, I want to show you around the Golden Apple.”
My kneejerk reaction would be to beg her to do so, to pledge myself to her for all days, but I get a hold of myself and take a deep breath instead. “I would like that.”
“You filled our questionnaire in the application stage.”
“I did.” My cheeks heat at the memory of it, deep searching questions about desires and fears and limits.
“Usually we would take that as your agreement, but for tonight, your first evening in the club, we prefer an opt in policy.”
“Opt in?” I know what she means, in theory, but the realisation that I’m going to have to say, explicitly, what I’m up for this evening seems almost too overwhelming.
Clíodhna smiles reassuringly in the face of my panic. “Don’t worry, we just ask you to refill out the form for this evening only. If you’d prefer just to watch, that would be absolutely fine.”
She magics a form from somewhere—I try not to think too hard about how—and hands it too me. “Would you like me to talk you through each section?”
“No!” I squeak, and then clear my throat and repeat, more carefully. “No, thank you.”
I scan the form. It’s much the same as the form before and I quickly tick through my limits, but then it comes to the things I want to do.
I want to try everything, experience everything, but in this first night there’s a limit to what I can do, and a limit to what I probably should try for the first time.
Concentrating on not blushing too hard, I tick down a list of sexual activities, kissing, groping, fingering, cunnilingus, pause over fisting, and leave it for tonight. Orgasm control? Yes. Edging? Yes. Forced orgasms? Yes. Orgasm denial? No, I’ve spent too many years not reaching the heights of pleasure that I’ve only dreamed of.
And then the impact play list. I run my eyes over it, and speak up timidly. “Um, Clíodhna?”
“Yes, Janet?”
“About impact play?” There’s a heat in her eyes as I speak the words, and I stumble over the next few as a result. “I haven’t, I mean I have, but also I—”
Her hand reaches out to hold mine. It is anchoring.
I stop, breathe, and try again.
“I haven’t really done much of this before, and I know I’d like to try, but I have next to no knowledge about implements. What would you recommend?”
Clíodhna looks over the form, her finger running down the list. “I have all of these, but if you’re new, then perhaps we start with floggers?” From the way she’s talking, she’s making it sound like she’s going to be the one flogging me. I’m okay with that.
