Anjali's Red Scarf Ch. 09

"That's 'insufferable witch ma'am' to you." I promoted one of my settlements to a city, most of it paid for by the cards I'd just traded and stolen from her. "I suppose I should name this one. Let's call it... Minas Morgul."

"Wow, and people call me a nerd."

"You are a nerd." I passed the dice; she rolled and frowned.

"Oh great and mighty Witch-Queen, ma'am, I don't suppose you want to trade me back that last wheat you just stole?"

"For what?"

"Mr. Fluffy?" She waggled a sheep at me, and wriggled her toes in an enjoyable manner.

I looked off to the side, checking that there was nobody waiting behind the scenery. "Pinch yourself," I said quietly.

"Excuse me?"

"I want to see you pinch your nipple."

"You—" She stalled. "Very well, if that's the deal." She sat back in her armchair, shielding herself from prying eyes with its bulk, and closed her hand over her breast—

"No. Under your bra." She hesitated, and I spoke more gently. "I'm watching out."

"Okay." She took a deep breath, and another, and slipped her hand in under the lace. I saw the bulge of her fingers under the blouse.

"Hard. I'll tell you when you can stop."

Her eyes half-closed, lost somewhere in the complicated territory between anguish and bliss. There was subtle movement in there, and I knew she was rolling her nipple between thumb and finger. I counted ten in my head, and then I said, "Now the other side. Wouldn't want things to be asymmetric."

She nodded, and laid her cards face-down on the table to switch hands.

"As hard as you can bear," I said conversationally.

She gulped, and obeyed. Over the background hum of the place, I could just hear her sucking in breath as her face scrunched in pain. This time I counted a little slower, squeezing my thighs against her foot, and when I'd reached ten again I stroked her ankle. "Very good. We have a deal."

Next time, I thought, I should bring some of those little clips along.

Not long after that she noticed the trap I'd set for her. She'd been focusing on a small patch on the board, building up her cities on the best land—Zeusopolis now joined by Saturnia and Neptunus. Meanwhile I'd been creeping outwards, sowing humble little settlements on poorer land. She was ahead of me on points, but...

"You've surrounded me. How am I supposed to get to ten points now?"

"That is a problem, isn't it? But there's still one spot you can build, if you get to it before I do." I pointed at a spot at the edge of the map, where the desert met the sea. "It's a terrible location but it's still a point, two if you upgrade it, and then you only have to scrape two more together from soldiers or specials."

"I suppose. If you let me get to it."

I nodded. I probably could block her, if I put my mind to it, and then slowly build up to ten points with my holdings on the rest of the board. But it would be a very dull endgame for her; I know several people who enjoy being helpless and immobile in the right circumstances, but not in board games. Besides, I had the advantage of having played this one before, and she'd done very well for a first time, even with our unconventional incentive scheme. It seemed only fair to give her a sporting chance.

"Want to make this fun?" I asked.

"Fun for me, or fun for you?"

"Bit of both, really. Do you think you can play one-handed?"

"Oh, you don't mean—"

"I do." I leant forwards once more so I could lower my voice, although I probably needn't have worried; two tables up, a rather theatrical roleplaying group was getting into their stride, with a couple of orcs arguing about poetic forms. "You're going to frig yourself, and as long as you're going, I won't block you there."

"Okay, that seems—"

"But in return you can't build there yourself until you've come."

"Sarah! I mean, Miriam, there's a lot of people here!"

"Yeah, you'll need to be quiet and not let your shoulders move too much. Just imagine you're sharing a hotel room with your parents and trying not to get caught."

"Least. Erotic. Imagery. Ever."

"I'm sure you'll manage."

"Uh, okay." She licked her lips, and then swapped her cards to her left hand, and the right vanished under the table. I imagined a rustle of fabric, and then I saw her arm begin to tense and relax rhythmically, just a slight movement that I'd never have noticed if I wasn't looking for it.

"Your roll, by the way."

She laid her cards down yet again so she could handle the dice, and play continued.

It wasn't really fair, of course. She was obviously distracted, not just by the working of her fingers but also by trying to manage the cards and dice and game pieces with her off-hand. But then, I was also distracted by her predicament. I couldn't see what was going on under the table—it was too low and too wide for that—but her face was quite a picture show, and I took pleasure in prodding her any time she was taking too long about her turn.

Every so often she'd give a little shudder, or bite on her lip, and then I'd bring things back to the game, offering trades that weren't worth her while to take, or asking her what had just been rolled as if I didn't remember. The longer it took her, the more time I had to build up my own holdings, and the harder it would be for her to keep ahead of me. As we passed the dice back and forth, I watched her hand build up and watched the heat building in her face. I was pretty sure she had enough to saved up to build her expansion, just as soon as she was allowed to, and with all the time I'd enjoyed in her company I knew her tells: she was rapidly approaching the point of no return. Her eyes were beginning to close again, and she'd put her cards down so she could surreptitiously tweak her nipples again—

"So do you do this, when you're staying with your parents?"

Her eyes flew open, and the movement of her arm stopped, and she gave me a blood-curdling look. "Sarah, has anybody ever told you you're just evil?"

"Now and then, yes, but I never get tired of hearing it. Maybe you can tell me again, later tonight, while you're down between my knees. Have I told you how sexy you are when you're all muffled?"

She mouthed her reply, but it wasn't hard to lip-read.

"Really. Such language."

"Not... listening." She shook her head, screwed her eyes closed, resumed. I could see the tension building in her frame, a blush creeping into her face. She was tweaking her nipples again, with only the armchair to shield her from perhaps thirty pairs of eyes, and I could tell it was taking her a great deal of effort to keep from moaning. I made out the shape of her fingers twisting under her blouse again, and then her hand flew up to cover her mouth, and she rocked forward, shuddering, gasping, as quietly as she could manage.

Punky Hairdo happened to be standing two tables over at the time, chatting with the role-players, and she must have noticed the movement. She turned our way, raising an eyebrow. "Everything okay?"

"Oh yes," I said, "my friend was just... laughing. Long story."

"Okay!"

Punky Hairdo turned her attention back to the role-players, and Lily slowly sat back in the chair with a beatific smirk on her face. She extricated her right hand from its hiding place, raised it to her mouth, and voluptuously licked her fingers at me.

"Well," she said, smacking her lips, "I do believe I'll be building that expansion now. Wood, sheep, clay, wheat, it's all there." And she reached for her cards, but I held up my hand.

"That's lovely," I said, "but you can't do it yet."

"But why not? You said, when I came—"

"And you did, and I very much enjoyed watching you. But right now it happens to be my turn, and since you've stopped, that means I can do this..."

I laid down my cards, wood, sheep, clay, wheat, and placed my settlement on the desert coast, in the spot she'd been about to build, the only place she could build. "And with the road bonus, I believe that's my ten points."

Her glare was withering. "...I hate you SO MUCH. Well, I know what not to do next time."

"So there's a next time?"

"How else am I going to get my revenge?"

Next chapter: games for three.

As always, thanks to you all for reading. I love to get feedback on my stories.