A Club Esoteria Wedding [Club Esoteria 11] (Siren Publishing Classic) (3 page)

Growling with impatience, he quickly changed into a pair of well-worn jeans and a green Henley shirt that Whitney had given him for Christmas. She said the color matched his eyes. After grabbing his wallet and keys, he spent several precious moments searching his desk. Finally, he found the two black velvet-covered jewelry boxes he had hidden more than a year before.

Pulling on his leather jacket, he slipped the boxes into a pocket and headed out. It was time to go and find his woman.

* * * *

Once her tears slowed and stopped, Whitney curled up in the center of the bed and wondered what she should do next. She could not just lay here and wish for something that would never happen, for Taurus to admit he loved her and take their relationship to the next level. It was time to take her life back. But how?

Her thoughts drifted for a while before they began to replay the past two years and all that Taurus had taught her. Before her first visit to Club Esoteria, she had known nothing about the BDSM lifestyle. At that point, all she truly understood was that she had never been satisfied with her sex life or her past boyfriends.

Then Taurus entered her life and taught her not only about whips and chains and a dozen kinds of kink she had never heard of before, but also about her own unrecognized need to give over control of her body and her life to someone else. In all the months they had been together, he had pushed the horizons of her experiences, both sexual and otherwise. She had even figured out that though she loved writing and had an innate talent for it, she was just as happy planning events at the club such as collaring ceremonies or that weekend’s kink convention.

As she thought back over some of the other things she had learned, her juices began to flow as her cunt clenched rhythmically. Then her clit began to tingle with growing need. All at once, a need to masturbate overwhelmed her.

Though it felt wrong not to have her Master’s permission, Whitney stroked her left hand up her torso until it covered her breast. She gasped as the teddy’s lace gently abraded her stiffened nipple. She sighed as her hand began to knead the small mound of flesh until her nipple beaded painfully tight.

Her other hand moved in the opposite direction, down over her belly, and across her hip before slipping it through the wide leg hole to cup her waxed mound. Two fingers embraced her lower lips and pressed them together to hug her clit tight. Electricity shot from there to her tits and back again. Immediately the muscles up and down her belly tightened in rapid pulsations, adding even more heat to the sexual fire building deep in her lower abdomen. She began to pant and make the sounds that Taurus had told her on numerous occasions drove him crazy with sexual hunger.

She continued playing, but no matter how hard or soft she diddled her clit and pinched her nipple, she could not reach the peak and the relief she needed. After another few minutes, her arousal retreated completely, leaving her frustrated and once again on the verge of tears.

Grabbing a pillow, she rolled to her side and hugged it close, sucking a breath as the soft cotton pillowcase brushed against her erect nipples. “So what are you going to do now?”

At that moment her stomach cramped and grumbled, reminding her that she had not had eaten anything since breakfast.

“Okay, dinner it is, and maybe a drink or three just because I can,” she said, feeling grumpy and defiant.

Climbing from the bed, she pulled the denim skirt and black T-shirt from the drawer and dressed. After washing her face and applying enough makeup to camouflage the puffy eyes and red nose from crying, she slipped her room key and her credit card into her pocket. She slipped on her shoes, and, turning on a light in the bedroom and one in the bathroom, she left the room, determined to have a nice meal and at least a couple of drinks before she came back upstairs.

* * * *

Taurus paced circles in the lobby as he waited for the desk clerk to confer with the manager about whether or not they could tell him which room his woman was staying in. He had found her car in the parking lot and had already walked through the bar and restaurant and other public areas.

“I’m sorry, sir”—an older man approached him looking official in his black suit—“but for security reasons we cannot give you the young woman’s room number. If you’d like, we could call up and ask her permission?”

Counting to twenty did little to cool his anger. Shaking his head, he turned and began pacing again. Before he had a chance to calm down enough to speak, the elevator dinged its arrival. Looking over the manager’s shoulder, he watched a familiar figure step into view and head to the hall to his left that led to the bar and restaurant.

She was lost in thought and not aware of anything going on around her. Though he watched her every step of the way, she did not even glance in his direction.

Shifting his attention back to the manager, he took a deep breath and said, “Thank you for trying to help.”

Without another word, he crossed the lobby in long strides, charging around the corner just in time to see her open the bar door and walk in. So, his little mouse was feeling brave. Was she meeting someone? Or just checking out the amenities? Or was she going to break his rules and have a drink?

The thought of his woman getting drunk and being taken advantage of by other men reignited his barely controlled displeasure. Instead of charging in and demanding answers for her behavior, Taurus forced himself to stop at the glass door that led into the bar. He took a seat on the bench just outside the bar, and took several deep breaths to calm himself.

What Jenna had asked earlier was hard to admit, but accurate. He had never taken Whitney out on what could be classified a vanilla date. It was way past time they had one.

As he worked to regain the Dom control he was famous at the club for, several small groups of people passed him and entered the bar. Finally, he felt settled enough to face the woman who did not realize how much she meant to him. Taking a deep breath as he stood, he silently vowed to change that before they returned to the club. She would be returning to the club with him if he had his way, but in the end, it had to be her decision.

When three women and a man passed him on their way into the bar, he followed them. Once inside, his eyes swept the room, looking for his woman. He found her on the other side of the U-shaped bar staring into a glass half-filled with what looked to him like white wine.

His stomach clenching with nerves, he worked his way around the bar, ignoring several women as they tried to attract his attention. He slowed as he approached the woman sitting alone at the end of the bar. Taking a deep breath to squelch the nerves that knotted his stomach, Taurus slid onto the tall barstool next to hers. Whitney never looked away from her wineglass.

When the bartender approached, he ordered a beer. When it was placed before him, Taurus took a sip before turning to the woman beside him. “Come here often?”

* * * *

Whitney barely heard the question over all the other noise in the room, but the soft, deep, sexy voice sent a shiver of heat through her to settle between her legs.

“Excuse me?” she asked, raising her gaze from the glass of wine, which held no secrets. Turning, she gasped when she found herself eye-to-eye with Taurus. Fear rose in her at the solemn expression she saw in his eyes. “What are you…? How did you…? Oh shit, I’m in big trouble, aren’t I?”

She was surprised when he shook his head then broke their eye connection to look into his beer. “Not as much as you may think, though you should be spanked for taking off without telling anyone. Without telling me.”

“You were busy,” she said, unable to keep the distaste from her voice.

She jumped when his hand slid across the bar and laid his hand over hers, but she did not pull her hand away. His warm touch sent heat pulsing up her arm and through her body. Her nipples leapt to attention, and her cunt dampened in immediate response.

“Yes, I was,” he agreed softly. “But we could have talked as soon as I finished.”

Whitney shook her head. “By that time I had made up my mind and was driving Lace home.”

“Made up your mind about what?” Taurus asked, his hand leaving hers and dropping to cover her knee.

Whitney began to tremble as she glanced out of the corner of her eye to find he was looking at the basketball game on the television instead of at her.

“That I needed some time to think,” she answered simply, not sure she would be able to put her wildly tumbling emotions into words. So as Taurus had taught her, she kept it simple, answering only the question asked and saying nothing further.

“Think about what?” he asked, sounding truly interested in her answer.

The fingers on her knee slipped around to the inside of her thigh and slowly traced a line up under the hem of her skirt. As it had since the night they met, his touch had her breathing faster and finding it hard to think of anything except getting naked and skin-to-skin with him.

Needing a minute to gather her thoughts, she lifted her wineglass with her left hand as she pushed his hand back down her leg with her right. Instead of answering his questions, she asked, “How did you find me?”

“You forget that I see all, hear all, know all,” he said with a grin.

She did not have a response for that, so she just nodded and drank the last two swallows of her wine. Setting the glass in front of her, she waved for the bartender’s attention and ordered another glass.

Taurus waited until the bartender delivered it and walked away again before he pushed for answers. He leaned in until she felt his breath brush the skin at the side of her neck then move even closer and took her earlobe between his lips. He sucked it for a few seconds then nipped it before asking, “Sweet mouse, what did I do that made you feel the need to run away?”

Whitney dropped her gaze once again to her drink. “I can’t take it anymore,” she admitted so softly she was not sure he had heard her.

“Can’t take what?”

Knowing they could not continue this discussion without her breaking down and either crying or screaming in anger, she took a deep breath to clear her head. “Not here,” she whispered hoarsely, blinking several times to clear the tears from her vision.

“Then where? When?”

“Later, in my room,” she said, knowing him well enough to know that he would not be letting her leave his side without answers to his questions. “Right now I’m going to drink some wine, eat something bad for me, and enjoy the music.”

“Sounds like a nice way to spend the evening. May I join you? Or would you like me to go away and leave you alone?”

“If you can keep from shifting into overprotective Master-T mode, then you can stay. Otherwise you might want to leave and I’ll call you later,” Whitney said, wondering how long he was going to allow her to set the course of the evening.

Usually by now, he would have taken over making the plans and setting the agenda.

“I will do my best,” Taurus said into her ear before licking his way down her neck from her ear to where it flared out into her shoulder.

She nodded and spun her chair. “Then bring your beer and follow me.”

* * * *

Taurus nursed a single beer for the next two hours and watched Whitney as she imbibed freely of the Riesling wine she preferred. Though they were in a crowd of Saturday night singles on the prowl, she never flirted with anyone else. That gave him hope that things between them were salvageable.

They shared an order of shrimp tacos and another of seafood nachos and enjoyed the live band until the sun set and it got chilly. Whenever the band played slow songs, Taurus asked her to dance and smiled when she agreed easily. Holding her close, he had to keep reminding himself they were not in the club and he could not slide his hands under the back of her skirt to play with her ass cheeks.

When the band took a break, he noticed she was shivering. “Where’s your room?” he asked.

She looked around then pointed up at the end of the building. “Up there.”

“How about we go up there and get more comfortable? You’re freezing.”

Whitney shrugged then grinned and nodded. “Okay.”

He stood then helped Whitney up. She was drunker than he had ever seen her, overbalancing as she stood and leaned heavily against him. “Oops, sorry,” she said with a giggle.

He said nothing as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him. “Lean on me, sweet mouse. I’ll take care of you.”

He felt Whitney take a deep breath and nod. On a deep sigh, she admitted, “Okay. I like it when you take care of me.”

“I do, too,” he said as he guided her toward the doors that led to the lobby and the elevators.

He sucked a breath when the arm she had wrapped around his waist slid down over his jeans, and she patted his ass.

“You have the sexiest ass,” she said, her voice unusually loud. Her statement drew shocked gasps from an elderly couple nearby. Whitney heard and frowned at them. “Excuse me, but he does. And it’s all mine, so keep your paws off.”

Taurus could not help but chuckle at his little mouse’s uninhibited behavior. After apologizing to the couple, he guided her away and toward the elevators before she could cause any more of a scene. Thankfully, the elevator doors opened as soon as he pressed the call button.