The Burlington Manor Affair

The silence hung between them, heavily weighted with implication.

Rex was the one who broke it. “Would it surprise you to know that I watched you swimming once, without you knowing?”

“When?”

“That first summer, at the lake.”

He actually seemed to relish confessing. She countered it carefully. “I never went in the lake without a swimsuit, and you’ve often seen me in my swimsuit. So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying I watched you without you knowing. Doesn’t that freak you out?”

“No.”

“Well, maybe it should. It sure as hell disturbs me that you caused me to do stupid things like that.”

Carmen chuckled. “And you caused me to do stupid things, as well.”

“Like what?”

She’d said too much. “Oh, I can’t say.”

“You’re going to have to tell me or I’ll come over there and spank it out of you.”

The thought of his hands on her that way affected her wildly. Carmen tried to stifle her moan of longing, but couldn’t.

“Well, well, well. I can tell that’s something I ought to consider adding to our repertoire.” He let that hang in the void between them before continuing. “But you’re not distracting me that easily, madam. What is it that I made you do?”

The pulse in her groin beat hard and demandingly. She was so turned on by the prospect of him spanking her that she wanted to tell him—wanted to provoke him the way he was provoking her.

“Playing hard to get?” He sounded casual, as if he was lounging back in his chair with a wineglass in one hand while he discussed their strange relationship. “And here I was thinking we were getting somewhere after last weekend. Carmen, this conversation is almost comfortable.”

He had a point, and it made her smile. “It feels like, it feels like...well, the old days when we were back at the manor. When you used to flirt with me.”

“It does, doesn’t it? Do you think last weekend’s revelations might have bridged the gap between us?”

“Oh, no, I think it’s much simpler than that.” Carmen rolled on the surface of the bed, sure in this fact. “I’ve got you on the end of the phone where you won’t be able to physically take charge of me the way you do on weekends.”

“That sounds like a challenge.”

Heat traversed her body, the subtle inference that he could easily rise to that challenge made her body palpate in expectation.

Before she could respond, he continued. “I won’t be distracted, though. What is it that you used to do? I want you to tell me every detail.”

It struck her then that he’d already taken charge of her physically, even from the end of the phone line. She swallowed down the anxiety that arose when warnings flashed in her mind. She wanted to confess while he wasn’t there to react. It was about bloody time he knew what he’d put her through. “I used to go to my bedroom wall at night, knowing you were on the other side of it. And I’d touch it, because I wanted to touch you.”

It took him some time to respond. “You touched the wall?”

“Yes, sometimes I moved my body up against it, and I kissed it.”

Again, there was silence at first. “What a naughty girl. And did you do anything else? Is there more to tell, hmm?”

“Rex...”

“Oh...so there is.”

She couldn’t answer.

“I want you to tell me exactly what you did.”