Afterlife (28 page)

me say it, right?”

Rachel nodded, then voiced the

word, reluctantly. “Yes.”

“Good. So I’m going to tel you one

thing now, before we

go back to girl talk or you decide to

toss me out on my ass.

Peter Winston reached through that

darkness, blasted

those wal s, brought me back to life.

He gave me back

myself, the person I thought I’d lost,

as wel as something

new, something I’d never thought

possible. Give yourself a

chance at that, Rachel. I know it’s

terrifying. However, I can

promise you this. When one of these

men sets his sights

upon you, as crazy as you think he’s

making you, you’d be

really
crazy not to make that leap of faith. I promise.”

Chapter Ten

She did end up letting Dana stay. It

was an interminable

afternoon, but it would have been far

worse without her

there. As Dana predicted, once they

started focusing on

dinner and straightening up the house,

which required a

wide range of physical movement,

Rachel’s focus returned

to the stimulation of her body by

Jon’s diabolical device.

She’d never think of vacuuming the

same way again.

Describe an eggplant in very

purple, very sexual

terms… Imagine rabbits

fornicating, then substitute the

faces of your least favorite high

school teachers…
She

became very grateful for Dana and

her quick wit, the firm

press of her palm on her back, a

reassurance rather than a

provocation, helping her breathe and

smile.

That help had continued while she

bathed herself, a

precarious idea in her state. Dana

had sat on her vanity

stool, distracted her from the strong

reaction of her body as

Rachel soaped places that begged to

be rubbed and

stroked even more. Peter’s fiancée

had quizzed her on the

book Jon had insisted she read.

Rachel managed coherent

sentences more or less…and ended

up laughing a lot.

At some point, hearing herself, she

realized she sounded

like an excited, much younger version

of herself, keyed up

and flustered by a date with the boy

she most wanted to be

with. That thought brought a yearning

so sharp and deep it

rippled outward from the heart and

through every artery and

vein, making her shake in the tub, one

hard convulsion. She

held Dana’s cool hand against her

forehead, let Dana

stroke her hair, reassure her. “It’s

going to be okay. It’s

going to be more wonderful than you

can imagine.”

That was what was scaring her so

much.

Several times during their

preparations, she’d had to

simply stop, her legs planted apart,

body quivering as she

tried to get the yearning to die back

enough that she didn’t

end up writhing on the floor like a

person possessed by

spirits, squeezing and touching

herself everywhere she

longed for Jon’s hands to be.

Of course al that stimulation was the

delicate harness’s

design and intent, and she couldn’t

say she wasn’t glad for

it, because it took her mind from the

emotional debris and

uneasiness that Dana’s fantastic

theories had stirred.

Besides that, she could hardly deny

that she’d wanted this

night, no matter what happened

afterward. Jon had said it,

a sorcerer who knew the right words

to cast the irreversible

spell.
You’ve waited a long time to

prove how devoted a

slave you can be. Don’t deny

yourself what you truly want.

Just one night to unleash this part of

herself…or rather,

hand that leash to a man she trusted.

A man she accepted

was a Master, even if she couldn’t

dare the temptation of

cal ing him her Master.

She’d always thought it was an

overused metaphor,

comparing sexual tension to a

volcano about to blow, but

as the clock ticked onerously toward

seven, she

understood why it had earned the

status of a common

cliché. Every movement of the minute

hand took her desire

a degree higher. When she was

standing over the stove

watching pasta boil, even the sheen

of perspiration she

experienced on her face and throat

made the nerve

endings tingle. The mist from the pot

tickled the delicate

pocket of her col arbones, the tips of

her breasts.

At six-thirty, the food was ready,

sitting in the oven to stay

fresh and warm, the bread wrapped

in foil. They’d put

candles and flowers on the table,

along with one place

setting. The significance of that,

witnessed by Dana’s

quizzical fingers, underscored and

made it al the more

real. Her nerves had twisted into

double knots that made

her even more aware of every inch of

her exposed skin,

Dana’s casual brushes against her,

the way her own thighs

touched as she walked, stimulating

her further.

However, by the time Max rapped at

the door, something

else was happening as wel . Rachel

was shimmering with

anticipation and something she

wanted to cal happiness.

She ignored the dour voice inside

that suggested it was

hysterical euphoria.

She stil had her hair pinned back, but

that had only been

to keep it out of the food as they re-

checked everything. As

of a few moments ago, she’d stepped

into those cherry red

stilettos and put on the lipstick.

Looking at herself in the

mirror, with the col ar and dainty

silver chains running

across her body, she felt like a

sensuous descendant of

Lilith. And that didn’t feel like a bad

thing at al .

Stil , propriety lurched back to the

forefront when Dana

took her hand, began to drag her

toward the door. Rachel

balked. “Dana, I’m not wearing the

robe,” she hissed.

“Trust me.” When the woman

reached the door, her hand

outstretched to find it, she cal ed

through the panel. “Max,

you need to close your eyes, okay?

Promise you won’t

open them.”

“I don’t even want to know.” His

sigh was audible. “Al

right, they’re closed. But I wil need

to open them to get you

down the stairs.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you fal .

I’m special y trained to

navigate in the dark. You’l have to

trust me for a change.”

A snort. “Yeah, like that’s going to

happen.”

Dana gave Rachel a wink, then turned

the knob.

She was the corner apartment, at the

end of a hal way

and around a slight bend, so her door

was nested in a

sheltered arch, not immediately

visible to her other

neighbors. Even so, panic did a quick

skitter through her

when Dana yanked the door open.

Max stood there, arms crossed over

his broad chest.

He’d apparently gone home after

normal business hours,

so instead of the suit, he was wearing

a form-fitting T-shirt

and jeans, his dark blond hair tousled

over the high

forehead. There was the beginning of

a faint five o’clock

shadow on his Superman square jaw.

He is
so
hot
, Dana mouthed. Rachel had to stifle an

astonishingly girlish giggle, but even

as she did, she had to

wonder again at the man’s likeness to

Peter. She assumed

Dana had never actual y seen Max,

since she’d told Rachel

she hadn’t come to Baton Rouge until

after being wounded.

But given Dana’s heightened senses

and intuition, it was

logical, the blind woman bonding in

such an affectionate

way with a man who had many of the

characteristics of the

one she obviously loved with al her

soul.

Rising high on her toes, Dana put her

hand over Max’s

closed eyes, bracing her other hand,

the one holding her

cane, against his chest. He

automatical y put his own over

her wrist and on her waist to steady

her. “Rachel is wearing

nothing but a pair of cherry red fuck-

me heels. That, and a

matching lipstick so wet and

luscious-looking it’s probably

cal ed Carnal Sin.” Dana grinned

impishly and poked his

chest. “See, I knew I’d have to put

my hand over your eyes.

You couldn’t help it. Your eyes

popped right open. Your

lashes brushed my hand like

feathers.”

“I’m going to strangle you,” he

promised, but there was a

resigned smile on his firm lips.

However, at Dana’s

provocative description, Rachel

noted his fingers had

flexed on Dana’s waist. That Lilith

feeling increased inside

her. He wanted to look. She was

worth looking at. She

looked like every male’s fantasy. At

least for this second,

she was aroused enough to believe it.

“Oops, forgot. She is wearing one

other thing. Something

Jon put on her to keep her hot and

bothered, but I won’t

describe that. There’s only so much a

big, manly guy like

yourself can take. I’m going to say

goodbye to her now and

then we’l go. You need to keep your

eyes closed, or Jon

wil be real y mad.”

Max sighed again. “The eggplant

smel s very good, Ms.

Madison,” he said politely.

“Thank you,” Rachel replied, at a

loss. Dana smirked at

both of them, then her hand slid away

from Max’s eyes. He

had beautiful, thick lashes, Rachel

noted. Then Dana turned

toward her, that devilish look stil in

her gaze.

“Thanks for letting me visit this

afternoon. We should do it

again. I like spending time with you

when you don’t have me

stretched out on a mattress, torturing

me.”

“I’l leave that job to Peter tonight.”

That made Max

chuckle and gave Rachel a smile

herself. When Dana

came to her, she had a pretty good

idea what she was

about. With her body already

humming, it was no hardship

to let those slender brown hands

slide up and along the

outside of her breasts, again avoiding

her nipples, but

settling on her col ar before Dana

leaned ful into Rachel,

bringing their lips together for a

playful tongue-tangling kiss.

Rachel couldn’t help it. She was too

close to seeing Jon,

and a moan rose in her throat. Her

hands convulsed on

Dana’s hips, fingers curling over the

pockets of the snug

jeans she wore, feeling the toned

female ass beneath.

Max swore softly. “Goddamn it,

Dana.” But when Dana at

last slid back, Rachel saw his eyes

were stil closed. She

also saw his cock was a thick line

against his jeans. It drew

Rachel’s fascinated gaze, made her

moisten her lips.

Dana brushed her finger over her

own mouth, col ecting

some of the wet color Rachel had

transferred there, and

then brushed it over Max’s, giving a

yelp and a short

squeak of laughter as he bit the

finger, caught her wrist and

gave it a light shake.

“Peter shouldn’t let you out of the

house without a leash.”

“I think that’s what you are, big guy.”

Dana impulsively

gave him a hard hug, a gesture of true

affection, though

Rachel expected Max got the reward

she had, of feeling

Dana’s tight, aroused nipples through

his T-shirt. “You’re a

treasure.”

She turned back to Rachel, gave her a

hug too, this one

with no sexual tease to it, though

Rachel stil had to absorb

the shock of physical contact to her

overly alert body. “Good

luck,” Dana said, then her voice

lowered, underscoring the

new intimacy and understanding

between them. “Tonight,

keep in mind what I told you, without

thinking too hard about

it, okay? It’l be al right, al of it. Trust

him. And trust that part

of yourself you maybe haven’t trusted

in way too long, if

ever.”

“Okay,” Rachel said, though she

wasn’t sure about any of

it.

“Better freshen up that lipstick.”

Dana lifted up on her

toes then, balancing herself by

holding Rachel’s bare waist,

fingers tangling with the chain at her

hip. She whispered in