I didn’t answer her right away, going to the chair in front of her desk and plopping onto the cushion. The truth was one I’d been fighting all day. I never should have answered his text. It was more than the fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about the way his hands felt on my body, the look in his eye, like he was starving for me. Me.
I’d completely forgotten about my story, my name, anything outside of his hand pounding my bottom. Four strikes and I’d forgotten this was all pretend. I’d counted down the hours until my work day was over, spent the three hours after pouring over outfit after outfit, Youtubeing makeup tutorials, and I almost went shopping with money that I didn’t have...for him.
And now that I was here, and hearing that men, possible sources, would be noticing me, wanting me, and putting me that much closer to my story - it was irrelevant. I didn’t dress for them. I was here for the man in the black mask. It was terrifying to think about because the last time I’d been ready to throw away everything for someone, I ended up alone and forgotten.
When would I learn?
I picked up the folder with my name on it, filling out the tax paperwork and putting aside the attachment I had to this virtual stranger. “Just first day jitters.” I initialed and signed all the pertinent places. “I’m still in awe that I’m here, actually.”
“You’re a natural and you’re gonna do awesome,” Mary assured me.
I glanced up from my folder and saw she was pouring cherry red wine into two glasses. When I was done, she offered one to me and toasted me, wishing me luck and clarifying that was just custom because I didn’t need luck.
I smiled and laughed with her, trying to swallow the guilt. Sooner or later, the truth would come out. This place, her identity...would it ruin her? Ruin her career? How could I do that to her?
How could I do that to him?
I forced a smile, thoughts rattling in my head. You’re not exposing anyone. The devil on one shoulder consoled me. You’re just telling a story. The angel just shook its head in silent condemnation.
“Do you know what time it is?”
The office door had already clicked shut, so I knew Mary hadn’t heard him, but I still blushed, keeping my distance.
It wasn’t fair.
He looked even sexier than last night. His suit was charcoal gray, his dark hair slicked back and intensifying the angular perfection that was his face. The only thing that was masked was his eyes and nose. He wore the same black mask from the night before.
I couldn’t look at him any longer than a few moments because my cheeks were on fire; the ones on my face that gave me away immediately...and the other ones that remembered his palm.
Stop thinking about the spanking. Stop thinking about the spanking... “I’ve got to head downstairs to check in with Liza.”
“Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. We’re going to Dungeon #3, where I expected you to be at 8PM.” He glanced at the watch on his wrist, though I knew he was the kind of man who knew the time, because it stood still and moved at his whim. “It is now 8:15. I should give you a lick for every minute that you left me waiting-”
“Left you waiting?” I slipped in, focusing on something besides the fact that the word ‘lick’ had suddenly become the sexiest word I’d ever heard. “You could have any woman here. Why would you wait for me?”
His lips became a thin line and I knew I was screwing this submissive thing up again. When he stalked in the opposite direction, my butterflies flew from my gut to my throat and I almost called out after him. He stopped a few feet away, in front of a marble table leaning against the wall and some framed piece of art.
My mouth opened, a croak coming out. Wait! I’m afraid. I’m a fraud. Any closer and it’ll be too late, you’ll have me right where you want me. But he beckoned me with a finger instead of reading my mind. Reading my apprehension for what it really was: guilt.
If I was smart, I’d walk away, but, damn it, I was completely idiotic. And horny. And curious.
When I got closer, I realized it wasn’t a piece of art at all on the wall, it was a mirror. The glass was framed in ornate ivory and silver. He wasn’t looking at any of it. He was gazing at my reflection.
“Why you?” he mused softly. “You don’t see what I see?”
I bit my lip, sure my cheeks were the same color as my red skirt, so that was all I saw. “A blushing, mouthy girl in a costume?”
He stepped behind me and I gasped when one of his arms circled my waist and the other stretched across my shoulders. The nearness of him was dizzying, his scent like something powerful and painfully out of my league. One look into the mirror, at him, and I saw that was all in my head. He stroked my shoulder with his fingertips, his touch sweeping upward to my chin.
He held me steady. “You are so much more than meets the eye, Sophia. Your eyes, the adorable way you blush...” His fingertips danced to my neck and I hitched a breath when he went lower still, skimming the valley between my breasts. “Your body is delicious, but that’s not why I’m here. That’s not why I asked you to meet me tonight.”
I was trembling, my voice sure to come out in a gravelly, unsure mess, but I tried to speak any way. “W-Why? Why did you ask me to meet you tonight?” I knew it was a bad idea, to look him in the eye if his touch was making thought and speech problematic; his eyes were the first thing that made me pause and flipped my world upside down.
I found his gaze and I saw the answer flashing in his gaze, holding me rapt.
“I’ve never met anyone like you,” he said softly. Tenderly. So stark from the hard line of his jaw and his fiery green eyes.
When the hottest man you’ve ever laid eyes on chooses you, and looks at you like that choice wasn’t even a hard one to make, what else do you say besides, “Let’s go to the room.”