Knight and Stay (10 page)

He eased the bottle out and kissed her there instead, a slow ribbon of barely there brushes of his lips over her sensitive sex. Sophie watched him as her heart rate slowed.
Lucien Knight, officially the world's best rebound guy.

Chapter Fourteen

"Where are we going?" Sophie asked, smoothing her hands over the skirt of her beautiful new dress as they sat in the back of the limo. It had been after eleven in the evening when Lucien had woken her to get ready to go out, and now it had just turned midnight as they sped through the damp, illuminated streets of Paris.

"To work."

Lucien sat beside her looking devastating in black from head to foot. His dirty blond hair seemed darker in the nighttime shadows of the car, and his lupine eyes glittered as he watched her.

"To the Gateway club?" Sophie couldn't imagine why they'd need to go back there again tonight.

"No."

He didn't elaborate, and Sophie swallowed her nerves with difficulty. She didn't know where they were headed, and she had the distinct sense that pressing him for information would reveal very little. He eyed her for a second in silence, and then reached out and opened a small chiller cabinet in front of them.

Neat vodka, no ice. Oh God.

If he thought she needed Dutch courage, she really was in trouble.

The distilled liquor evaporated almost as soon it hit the back of her throat, and Lucien added a second large measure to her glass in silence.

He took the tumbler from her fingers once she'd drained it, then turned to her and kissed her suddenly and hard, knocking the breath from her lungs.

She didn't realise the car had stopped until cool air hit her legs as the driver opened her door and Lucien released her with a final nip of her bottom lip.

She glanced around her surroundings as Lucien spoke in low tones to his driver. The street seemed quiet and sophisticated, the building in front of them elegantly unremarkable. Next door to it, however, was a different matter. The moodily lit windows of a boutique had Sophie's eyes rounding with pleasure. Mannequins dressed, or
barely
dressed, in the most exquisite underwear she'd ever laid eyes on, finely boned corsets and wisps of lace that screamed 'siren'. Lucien placed his hand on the small of her back as their car disappeared into the night.

"Let's go shopping." His hand moved down to caress her bottom. "And let me choose."

"This isn't exactly what I'd call work," Sophie ventured, unsure how to read the situation and emboldened enough by the vodka to question him.

"Let’s call it preparation."

"Preparation for what?" Sophie twisted at the waist to look at him, and he massaged her bottom and leaned close to her ear.

"We're going undercover, and you're inappropriately dressed."

Sophie's eyebrows shot up in dismay.
How could her fabulous dress be inappropriate?

"But I love my dress."

He cleared his throat as his eyes swept down her body.

"There's too much of it."

Whoa.
As dresses went, it was hardly chaste. Lucien's eyes slid to the boutique windows, and understanding pole-danced around the periphery of Sophie's mind.

"You don't mean..."

"Yes." He propelled her towards the boutique doorway, which opened miraculously for them as they approached. Sophie faltered, but Lucien's arm around her waist left her with no option but to step inside, and the door closed behind them with a small, antiquated tinkle.

If the windows were a prelude, the interior of the shop was very much the main event. Stunning creations in silk and lace lined the blush pink walls, some frilled and polka dotted in a Bardot pin-up style, others sleek and sensual, and more again designed purely to seduce the wearer and their lovers. Body-skimming silks, sculpted lace corsets and ribbons that begged to be untied. Lucien eyed them all with a practised eye while Sophie moved from garment to garment with appreciative delight. She suddenly wished she could call Kara just to hear her say 'what happens in Paris stays in Paris.'

Looking around the shop at the stunning underwear and hyper-aware of the glorious man accompanying her, Sophie had a reprise of her 'luckiest girl in the world' moment.

Thankful for the vodka in her veins, she turned at the touch of Lucien's hand on her waist.

"This way," he murmured.

Sophie looked at Lucien, and then noticed a petite girl in a tiny black dress who appeared next to him holding an armful of garments he'd picked out. He had been busy all the while she had been looking and marvelling.

"Trust me," he said, and took her hand as he followed the shapely assistant through a doorway Sophie hadn't previously noticed. She found herself in a boudoir style changing room, all padded grey suede walls and mood lighting. A large central chaise longue dominated the space, clearly a resting perch for Lucien to observe from if he wished.

He wished.

The assistant hung Lucien's selections in the mirrored changing space behind a screen for Sophie and then left the room, clicking the door with a quiet but definite thud.

"Do you need me to unzip your dress?"

Sophie stepped behind the changing screen, hot, bothered and glad of her side zip. The realisation dawned on her that Lucien needed to stay right over there on the chaise if she were to have a hope of getting through this surreal experience with any degree of poise. "I'm good, thanks." She was impressed at her own casual tone.

"You can say that again, princess."

Sophie's fingers shook as she stood in her own suddenly woeful underwear and considered the three confections before her. So, which to try first? He'd selected three very different styles, all of which were far more risqué than anything she'd ever owned.

She stripped off. Quickly overcome with giddy panic at being completely nude, she opted for the relative familiarity of a standard bra and knickers combination first - or so they appeared on first glance, anyway. As she stepped into the knickers, it became obvious that they weren't your average daywear. High cut over her hips, silk-lined black lace covered the barest of essentials. Somehow, they seemed to make her legs magically longer and her waist smaller. Mesmerised, Sophie stepped into her high heels for the full effect. When she hooked the matching bra over her arms and into place, she gasped out loud at the realisation that the demi-cups weren't designed to cover her nipples. The bra supported her breasts perfectly yet exposed them completely.

"Let me see."

Christ. She'd almost forgotten Lucien was out there, which was ridiculous given their situation. She couldn't go out there in this.

"Either you come out here or I'll come behind there, Sophie. Which would you rather?"

"Lucien..."

She heard him move to get up, and placed her hands over her breasts in panic. "Stay there. I'll come out."

She knew her cheeks were burning as she stepped out into Lucien's sightline with her hands crossed over her breasts. "You seem to have chosen a bra with bits missing," she said, trying to keep her voice light.

"Put your hands down."

Sophie closed her eyes for a second.
Could she?
It was ridiculous. He had seen everything. Why did she feel so much more exposed wearing these beautiful fragments of lingerie?

Lucien reclined back on the chaise, one knee raised and his hands behind his head.

"Hands down, princess."

Sophie counted to three in her head then dropped her hands, acutely aware of her reflection in the huge gilt mirror leaning against the wall, and of the way Lucien’s demeanour had changed as she revealed herself. He certainly didn't look quite so relaxed any more.

He stood slowly and stalked around her, appraising her from every angle before coming to a standstill behind her. There was a silence. Then he spoke.

"You look utterly fuckable."

His hands slipped around her body to tease her jutting nipples as he kissed her neck. "Utterly. Fucking. Fuckable."

His fingers skimmed around and down to cup the cheeks of her bottom.

"Let me see the corset next."

He kissed her shoulder and nudged her towards the screen.

Sophie moved back behind it and laid her head against the cool mirror for a second. This was one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences, so far beyond the everyday that she needed to commit it to memory because it would never happen again.

The corset Lucien had picked was outrageously gorgeous. With matching high waisted, aubergine satin knickers that hugged her curves, every hook and eye Sophie fastened down the centre of the heavy silk corset made her figure more statuesque. She barely recognised the fifties starlet she glimpsed in the mirror. Lucien's low whistle of appreciation told her that he liked what he saw too when she stepped around the screen.

"Look at you," he breathed as he ran his hands over the taut silk, making her shiver. He circled her cinched-in waist, and Sophie licked her lips, impossibly turned on by the clear lust radiating from his blue gaze.

She ran a teasing hand down his chest. "You like it?"

He yanked her against him, letting his body show her exactly what he thought. His kiss was thoroughly X-rated as his hands moved restlessly over her silk clad body.

"I'd like to take this off you," he muttered, breaking their kiss.

Sophie was beginning to revel in her power. She skimmed her hand over his erection, letting her grasp linger for a second. Now, her composed tone was easier to summon.

"I'll be right back."

The third outfit Lucien had selected appeared on the hanger to be the most demure.

A dress, of sorts. Sheer, form-fitting black cobweb lace, short anyway, but slit to the top of one thigh for fuller exposure. Slender bones encased in velvet seams ran the length of the dress for structure, and underwired balconette cups and lingerie straps placed the outfit definitely in the bedroom rather than the nightclub department.

The lace-up back was a two-man job… and Lucien was the only man to hand.

Sophie stepped from behind the screen and turned her back to him at once.

"Help me with this?"

"To put it on or take it off?"

Sophie tried not to jump when his fingers touched the ties, tugging them until the already clinging dress moulded to her body like a second skin. She closed her eyes with each little pull, aware of the way her waist cinched in and her breasts curved out. Lucien tied the slim velvet ribbons at the base of her spine and then turned her in his arms to survey the results of his handiwork.

The dress felt amazing. Its clever, intricate design covered her body in an almost respectable fashion, whilst still being sexy with a capital 'S'.

Lucien reached out and trailed a slow finger down her throat, all the way between the rounded curves of her breasts.

"Perfect."

He drew her close against his body, and his hand slipped into her hair as he lowered his head to hers. She'd expected hard and sexy, and she got slow, delicious and sexier still. Lucien's mouth touched her cheek, her jaw, before finally settling over hers.

His lips were warm and yielding and his thumb stroked her cheekbone as his tongue touched against hers. It was a kiss designed to make her feel adored, and Sophie's whole body tingled with anticipation of more.

"Keep this on."

Sophie didn't argue. She'd felt sexy in her beautiful dress, but she felt sinful in this one. She wanted to keep it on only because she anticipated how Lucien would take it off her later.

"Can we go back to the apartment?" Sophie's fingers toyed with the top button of Lucien's black shirt.

He lowered his head to her shoulder and hooked his finger under the dress strap, moving it aside to make way for his mouth. "Not yet. We need to check out the competition."

"Competition?"

Lucien repositioned her strap and took her chin in his fingers.

"We're going next door."

Sophie frowned, trying to make sense of his words as the assistant appeared in the doorway. Lucien instructed her in rapid French, then placed his hand on Sophie's elbow to guide her towards a different door at the back of the changing area. Sophie glanced worriedly back at her favourite dress.

"Don't worry. Everything will be tissue wrapped, boxed and back at the apartment before we are."

Lucien pressed a buzzer beside the door.

"Stay close."

"Lucien, what is this?" Sophie had a feeling that whatever his answer was going to be, it wouldn't be comforting.

"I've told you. My competition. This is one of the best adult clubs in Paris, and I want the Gateway to be better."

Sophie glanced down at her barely-there lace dress with mounting panic. "Couldn't you have just looked it up on the internet?"

He smiled, wolfish. "It's the kind of place you need to experience personally."

"I can't go in there in this," Sophie said, unsuccessfully tugging at the short lace skirt to try and find an extra inch or two.

"Trust me. You'll be wearing more than most of the women in there."

The notion didn't make Sophie feel any calmer.

"I don't want to go in there, honestly I don't. Please, let's just go back."

Lucien turned to her then, his fingers curled lightly around her upper arms.

"Sophie, you're with me. Nothing will happen in there that you don't want to."

"I don't go to sex clubs." She re-assessed. "Not… like this. Not as a… a customer."

"You can still think of it as work if it makes you feel better. Make mental notes."

Sophie was trembling inwardly.
Was she doing it outwardly too?

Lucien drew his thumb across her lips. "You look like a goddess."

Any further negotiation was stolen from Sophie's throat by panic, because at that moment the door swung open from the other side.

Chapter Fifteen

Sophie glanced cautiously around and held onto Lucien's hand as he conversed easily with the suited doorman. They appeared to be in some kind of boudoir; wall to wall cerise velvet and gold brocade decor lent the place an old-school air of theatrical glamour. It was smaller than she'd anticipated, but then her only direct experience of an adult club was The Gateway back in London, an edifice of black glass and urban glitz. This place was much more intimate.