Read Online Dark Valentine by Jennifer Fulton - Free Book Online Page A

she kept at work. This week, certain that someone would detect the musky evidence of her arousal, she’d swapped her panties for fresh ones each lunch hour. Disastrous scenarios rotated in her mind: Herself exuding pheromones that caused chaos in meetings. A married partner hitting on her in an elevator. The hunky butch who made the FedEx deliveries losing control and locking her office door so they could fuck on her desk.
    Despite the frigid air-conditioning, Jules’s skin felt hot and damp most of the time, as if she’d just stepped out of a humidifier. This afternoon had deteriorated into another fight for control over her libido, and she had escaped from a meeting after her nipples got so tight she knew everyone was looking at them. Normally, she would have had her jacket on, but she kept breaking into a sweat, so she’d taken it off. What a nightmare. Even Carl Hagel, a man so in love with himself he sought his own reflection in wineglasses, had been talking to her breasts.
    Jules was astonished that a casual fling could have reduced her to this state. It wasn’t as if the sex had been spectacular. It was good, no question about that. But Jules never expected much of one-night stands. No one could possibly figure out another person, sexually, in the course of a few hours. In her experience, the buildup was usually more exciting than the event.
    Admittedly, Kate had been unusual compared with the norm. Jules had been surprised that she was into light bondage, but she had a sense something else was going on. Kate didn’t seem remotely familiar with BDSM conventions, and Jules had concluded that she was just experimenting. She’d probably chosen to play out a long-standing fantasy with a stranger because she felt ashamed or self-conscious. Some people didn’t want a regular partner to know they had a yen for kink.
    Normally, Jules wasn’t at home playing bottom in a D/s scenario, but she’d been intrigued by the request and had decided to indulge Kate. She seemed such an unlikely dominant, Jules had wondered if a completely different person would emerge during the ritual of power exchange. In the end, she had no idea whether Kate had found what she was looking for by acting out her fantasy. Jules could imagine her playing the scene over and over in her head without knowing why she was compelled by it, and expecting some kind of revelation when she finally explored her desires in real time. Judging by the next morning, she must have been disappointed.
    Her own reaction was quite the opposite, a fact that surprised Jules. She supposed it made sense that she could enjoy surrendering responsibility for a change, but she would never have gone there with a sexual partner who had something to prove. Kate was another story. She didn’t seem driven by a need for ego gratification. In fact, Jules suspected something about the bondage scenario had made her feel safe. The moment the restraints were tightened, her unease vanished and she lowered her guard. Her dominance was not harsh or calculated, only a confident assertion of her needs. She was open and tender, and in their most naked moments, Jules felt an affinity with her she’d seldom experienced with any lover.
    Maybe that was why the encounter preyed on her mind so relentlessly. She wanted to have sex with Kate again, to find out if she’d simply imagined that fleeting connection. Yet that desire alone could not explain the depth of her erotic fixation. Staring at the spectacular city and mountain view from her office window, she tried to talk sense to herself. She’d had one-night stands before. The experiences were quickly folded away and forgotten, and there were plenty more where they came from. She certainly didn’t dwell on any of the women involved, or ponder ways to engineer a repeat encounter. Why was the interlude with Kate any different? Sure, being tied up was a novelty, but it was no big deal compared with some of the play Jules got into.
    Maybe she