Dane (22 page)

“Tonight there is only us. In this place. A fitting location for an exploration of what our liaison will entail. A haven in which to enjoy a taste of one another before we enjoy the full banquet at Moonful.”His hands slipped down her upper arms and linked at her back. Hers rose to his chest.

Then her breasts lifted on a fortifying breath as she seemed to reach a decision. “Very well. How shall we begin?” she asked shyly, and he smiled, more relieved than he cared to admit to himself.

“What would bring you the most pleasure?”

“I‟m not sure.” She glanced around, appearing to suddenly recollect their surroundings. “I don‟t have a broad knowledge of carnal matters.”

His eyes traced down her sternum, traveled the line of fastenings between those luscious breasts of hers. “You‟d been mated before our afternoon together.”

She nodded, looking suddenly uncomfortable. “For reasons I cannot tell you, in those prior situations it was necessary that I give direction to my partner and assume all control. It‟s not what I wanted. I-I longed for the opposite situation. I still do.”

His curiosity leapt at this mystery, but his cock leapt as well. His hold tightened on her. Eva was his, but he sensed she wanted to push the boundaries of what was comfortable for her, and that she wanted him to guide her in this. It was what he wanted as well. Over her head, his glance shot to the smoked glass veneer of Sevin‟s office, sensing that both of his brothers were now behind it, watching. He would take her there later, but not until Dante and he and she were so rabid to have one another that they couldn‟t wait another moment. He would give her pleasure there, but he would use her to pry secrets from Dante as well.

With a hand at her back, he nudged her and they began to walk again, side by side. He felt the heat of glances around them from some in the salon. There were those here who admired her and envied him, and wished to join them.

Dane was picking up where Sevin had left off, Eva realized, offering her a tour and a chance to consider the exotic possibilities presented on every side. Her glance happened upon a woman escorted by two gentlemen, each with a hand at her waist. She caught Eva‟s eye and winked as the trio slipped through a door and closed it firmly behind them. Eva frowned after them, strangely anxious to know what they would do so secretively.

Her eyes flicked along the wall and saw it was perforated with more such doors at irregular intervals signifying that smaller and larger rooms lay behind them. And sometimes instead of a door, only a velvet or brocade curtain filled one of the entrances.

“Everyone here chooses whether to be private, semi-private, or on public view,” Dane told her, noting her interest. “While a shut door is not to be opened, a curtain is an invitation to enter a chamber and observe in a semi-private environment, such as with Russo and his companions. Still others choose to put themselves on public display.” He gestured to encompass the main room. “Their presence here in the central area is an invitation to watch. And if one is specifically invited, to join in.”

Eva‟s gaze followed his hand and she gasped. Only a dozen feet away there was a massive, semicircular liquor bar of polished mahogany and brass, around which stood four females and one male in various stages of undress. None of their faces was visible, for their backsides were toward the room and their torsos bent forward at the waist so they half-reclined facedown on the smooth surface of the bar. Libations were being bought and sold in the expanses of space between these living, breathing decorations, and the patrons largely ignored their presence except for slipping them the occasional fondle. Each of the five seemed to be wearing bracelets. No, they were ropes!

“Are they manacled?” she asked, breathless.

“Willingly,” Dane noted. Lending tacit approval to her voyeuristic impulse, he leaned back against a tall, thick column and took her back against him, wrapping his arms around her and letting her linger to watch. The warmth of his chest spread over her back, and his legs braced long and hard on either side of her.

Two of the women at the bar wore only their chemises, gartered stockings, and heeled slippers. The other two had kept their corsets as well, but none was fully dressed. The lone male among them wore only boots and trousers that sagged unbelted at his lean hips. Two burly men of indeterminate species tended the bar, and Eva gained the impression they also kept watch over those secured atop it.

As she observed, two gentlemen—both fully and well dressed—visited the bar to refresh their drinks. One palmed the buttock of a woman restrained there consideringly, as if judging the worth of a melon in a market. The men stood on either side of her for a moment, touching her lightly and discussing her merits. Then the man nodded to some suggestion his companion made and dropped something small into a cup beside her head on the bar. As his friend looked on, he then lifted the back of her chemise and opened the front of his trousers. She wasn‟t wearing pantalets and he easily thrust himself into her feminine slit. The woman‟s hands fisted and she jerked, her head rearing up.

Eva gasped and put a hand to her own belly, as the muscles high between her legs leapt in an empathetic response so strong it was almost as if the man had entered her instead. She blushed, realizing Dane must have noticed her reaction.

But unable to tear her gaze away, she watched on as the man grasped the brass rail on either side of the woman for leverage and began his mating in earnest, slamming in and out of her. He didn‟t touch her with any other part of himself, keeping their contact purely libidinous.

And still his friend looked on, casually sipping at his drink. A few thrusts later, the man pulled out and left her. He hadn‟t finished. His member was still red and swollen when he lowered her chemise and left her for the female stationed next to her. Another coin went into another cup.

Another chemise was lifted.

Still, Eva‟s gaze remained on the first woman, whose longing for fulfillment was a tangible thing, even from a distance. Her hands flexed on the ropes that held her wrists and Eva‟s fists clenched in compassion.

“It seems an intrusion to watch her,” she whispered.

“They‟re here because they want others to watch,” Dane said, and a note in his voice told her he‟d been affected by the scene as well. “The second man who only observes is the first woman‟s partner. He will continue to return to her throughout the night, bringing others. A nominal price has been set for her favors. When she has earned enough coin in her cup, the game is over and they‟ll find their release together. It will be all the more intensely satisfying for the waiting.”

Another man came now, visiting the woman under her partner‟s watchful eye. A coin went into her cup, but then this customer opened his trousers and slipped on a French letter before penetrating her. Eva sent Dane a questioning glance over her shoulder.

“You‟re wondering why the letter, since Elses are unable to communicate disease,” he said. “Some men simply enjoy withholding something of themselves as part of their play.”

“Play?”

“Sex play.”

She rolled the phrase in her mind, considering its possible meanings. “It sounds so intriguing, so freeing.” She sighed wistfully.

“But a lifetime of indoctrination is not easily disposed of in one evening.”

“Your first effort need only be a speaking of the truth. Tell me what you want. Break the chains. Release yourself from the shame others would use to tether your desires.”

At his words, Eva felt a recklessness surge up in her. Her hands went low on either side of her to rest on the fronts of his thighs. Under her palms, his long muscles turned to rock and she felt his heart pound at her back.

“Yes,” she admitted softly. “I do want those things you mentioned before, and more.” It was difficult for her to say the words, but her deep yearning forced them from her. “I long to be with a man who will manage carnal matters between us. Who knows what I want without my asking.”

“In that last requirement, you‟ll chance getting a man who takes what he wants from you, rather than giving you what you want. No man is omniscient. Let tonight be a beginning between us. We‟ll explore what you want, what you like. And I‟ll give you an understanding of what I want in return.”

She nodded, her throat tight with excitement. “What I want. . ”

Her hands moved higher behind her and between them, coddling his cock.

It reared up, forcing itself into her caress. His jaw nuzzled her temple, his voice a warning growl, “Eva. . ”With one palm half atop the other, she stroked him. He was so long, so hard, so hot.

He groaned and reached around to cup the lush weight of her breasts, massaging and finding her tightened nipples through the fabric of her bodice with the rub of his thumbs. Right there in the middle of a room full of strangers.

“You‟re mine now.” It was a rasping, masculine demand against her neck. “Say it.”

“I‟m yours.” For tonight. She lolled against him, enjoying his hands on her and hers on him. His thumbs and fingers pinched her nipples into hard beads, shooting sensation right to her clit.

“Do you see those men?” His lips brushed her ear. “The ones watching you?”

She forced her lashes to lift and looked ahead to see three tall, wide-shouldered, well-dressed gentlemen some distance away. Their eyes were hot and roving her with blatant admiration. Dane‟s hand flattened on the vulnerable expanse of flesh above her bodice and dipped inside the fabric to claim her breast. Like hungry magnets, three pairs of eyes riveted on that hand.

“They know I have you.” Behind her his mouth dusted her nape.

“That you are unobtainable. Yet still they can‟t help themselves and they devour you with their eyes.”

Under her dress, her breasts swelled and her nipples became highly sensitized to the scratch of her prim cotton chemise and his masculine touch. The restraint of the garments themselves—sensible items of clothing she‟d donned many times without thought—now seemed suddenly and strangely erotic.

“Show yourself to them,” Dane ordered calmly.

“What?” Her hands went up to cover his at her bosom.

“Lower the front of your bodice. Slowly, provocatively. Show them what I have. What they desire.”

The very idea shocked her to her core. Yet her reaction to it shocked her even more so. A prickle of excitement zipped over her skin. This—this was what she wanted. A partner who was. . creative.. daring. . in control.

She felt safe with him, yet his suggestion felt risqué and salacious and wonderfully unsafe.

“Your body is beautiful. And none will remember you once we all leave here tonight. It‟s only for our mutual pleasure that we whet their appetites and offer them a glimpse.”

He drew her fingers to trace along her neckline, rubbing the tips of them over the fastenings of her bodice. Of their own volition, her hands began to work at the hooks. Tension filled the men across the room, and she watched their eyes fix on her fingers at her bodice as she slowly, provocatively revealed the corset beneath.

Dane was an unyielding, rock-solid presence at her back, his support lending her security and strength. His hands swept over her ribs and waist and hips and belly and back again, painting her with desire.

His head was bent over her, his cheek on her hair as he intently observed what she gingerly revealed. And he offered gentle encouragements, telling her how beautiful she was. How smooth her skin. How full her breasts.

She reveled in his compliments and in the lustful gazes of strangers.

Long moments later, her bodice sagged open to her waist. And those hands of his took swift advantage, moving upward to widen the gap and plump the undersides of her breasts, forcing them high and accentuating her cleavage until her nipples peeked above her corset and chemise, standing rosy and pert. One of the men across the way threw back his drink and another gulped hard, shifting his weight.

“And now the rest,” Dane instructed softly. Her obedient hands went more easily now to the top of her corset. With each hook she popped, the tension wound tighter in the men across the way. When she was done, bodice and corset were gaping, just wide enough to do more than hint at her curves.

One of the three men set his drink on the nearest surface with sufficient strength that she heard its slam. She straightened, suddenly unsure as he came toward them to stand only a yard away. Beyond him, his companions had moved together, discussing her sotto voce, as if she were a priceless bit of statuary on auction. Her eyes skipped around the room, and though she saw the occasional eye turned her way, for all intents and purposes, she, Dane, and this man were alone in their encounter.

“He won‟t touch you unless you invite him,” Dane murmured at her ear. She looked at him then, over her shoulder, saw the avid light in his eye and knew this excited him as much as it did her. “Your choice. I‟ll be here,” he told her, and linked his hands at her midriff. “You‟re safe.”

Her teeth tugged at her lip and she glanced at the stranger, shy, but intrigued. Her nipples were tight with a sweet pain, and without thinking she soothed them with her fingertips and felt both men react. Her yearning to explore this opportunity they offered was so intense it was like a living thing inside her.

With shaking hands, she reached for the edges of corset chemise, and bodice, and peeled them back, exposing her breasts. Behind her, she sensed Dane watching the other man‟s interest keen further. “You may touch them,” she offered softly.