The Darker Side of Pleasure (24 page)

He watched her face, searched her emerald eyes. She was deep down in sub space, must be after all the play she’d had tonight, especially the single-tail. Yet somehow she was right there with him. He hardly knew her, but the look in her eyes lanced straight into his heart.

“You don’t know what you’re saying, Cassandra.” His mouth was so dry he could hardly get the words out. What the hell was wrong with him?

“Yes, I do.” She paused, biting her luscious lower lip, then, “I want to stay with you. Please, Sir.”

He shook his head.

She whispered, “Please let me stay with you.”

Her words ripped at him. This situation was impossible. But his desire for her had turned into a sharp, aching need. There would be no turning back.

She was warm in his lap, light and supple and utterly yielding to him physically, even if she was talking out of turn, going against the most basic rules set down for a submissive. But he wanted her to speak, to hear her voice, to know what she had to say.

He must be losing his mind.

She was still staring up at him with glazed, green eyes. Her pale cheeks were flushed, her full mouth a delectable pink. The curve of her breast was pushed up against his arm, right at that point where the cuff of his sleeve had fallen back. He could feel the heat of her skin against the back of his wrist.

He wanted to touch her, too badly. That was the whole problem, wasn’t it? This girl was irresistible to him, in every way.

“Please,” she murmured again, curling more closely into his chest, then tipping her head back to look up at him.

Her lips parted as she took in a sighing breath. He thought he saw a mist of tears dampen her eyes. He couldn’t stand it any longer. He bent his head and pressed his mouth to hers.

She opened for him immediately. He’d meant it to be a brush of lips, just to taste her. But as soon as he felt the whisper of her sweet breath in his mouth, all reason left him. He plunged into her; that was the only word for it. She was all wet sweetness on his tongue. She was kissing him back, fervently, eagerly, so full of heat he could feel it through his clothes. Her body was absolutely on fire. And so was he, on fire with a bottomless need for her.

He pushed farther into her mouth, twined his tongue with hers. She was squirming in his lap, panting beneath his lips. Hell, so was he. Like some kid making out for the first time. His groin tightened, filled to bursting. He’d never felt so out of control.

Control. Hell.

He pulled back regretfully. He was supposed to be in command here, damn it! And he was definitely out of control, way out. He’d never let things go like this before, never with anyone else. But he didn’t want to stop. He had to have her. Whatever the cost.

He stroked her hair, looked into her eyes once more. She was totally gone, caught up in desire, in the chemicals surging through her body. But was it really him? Or was it the setting, the play, the pain and pleasure he had given her tonight? He had to find out.

“Cassandra, listen to me.” He held her face in his hands. Her cheeks were like warm, flushed silk in his palms. “I want you to come and be with me, alone, at my house. Not tonight. Another day.”

“Yes. Please, Marcus! Sir,” she added.

Her face held a blatant expression of urgency. He would choose to believe it for now.

“I am going to call you at home next week. We’ll talk about it. Do you understand what I’m saying? Why are you crying?”

“Because I can’t wait until next week.”

God, he could hardly stand it. She was so open, so vulnerable. Vulnerable, yes. Was he taking advantage of that? Perhaps, to some extent. But that’s why he would call her during the week, to talk to her when she was in a more stable state of mind.

And when she is not in service to Robert.

Yes, that too. He knew he was doing something very wrong, on several levels. She did not belong to him. He had no right to poach on his uncle’s territory. His own flesh and blood, for God’s sake!

None of it mattered right now.

“I need to take you back to Master Robert now.”

She started to shake her head, but he stopped her with a firm hand on her chin.

“I will call you in a few days. I will come to get you if that’s what you want. But now I need to turn you back over to him.”

Before he did something he would regret. He had to get some distance, think this through.

But he knew the only thing that would stop him from having her was if she didn’t want to be with him. He would never force himself on her, not in that way. Looking into her eyes, holding her in his arms, he felt he understood what was in her heart, and he knew already she would never refuse him. Whatever demon possessed him now possessed her, too. They were meant to be together, somehow. And he meant to make it happen. Damn the consequences.

He helped her to her feet and pulled a cord on the wall, summoning a trio of slaves to take her away to care for her and return her to her Master. His arms felt empty the moment he let her go. His chest tightened when she looked over her shoulder at him, her expression imploring. He knew just how she felt.

He moved to the long windows, pulled the heavy drapery aside, and peered out into the darkened garden, running a hand through his hair. Two days. Two days before she would be away from his uncle’s house, before he could safely contact her. He had a lot of thinking to do between now and then, once he’d had a chance to calm down. He could barely think straight now. Not after having his hands on her, inside her, his mouth on hers.

His erection gave a jump at the thought, but there was a hell of a lot more to it than that. More to her. He couldn’t explain how he knew it. But she’d felt as though she belonged to him from the first moment he’d set eyes on her.

Meanwhile, he would suffer. He would go home, stroke himself to orgasm thinking of her. But he wouldn’t be satisfied until he’d talked to her.
Talked
to her, for God’s sake! Since when did he care what any slave had to say, as long as they were beautiful, obedient?

He had to get out of The Lair, to leave this place. He couldn’t stand to face his uncle right now.

Quickly packing his equipment in the leather bag he always carried, he made for the front door, hurrying past the main ballroom, where dozens of guests were still gathered.

Cassandra was probably in there now with Robert and that wicked bitch, Delphine.

No, don’t think about it.

Nodding at the doormen, he didn’t bother to ask for his car to be brought around, but walked down the wide driveway to where his black Porsche was parked.

Rain fell in a barely discernible spatter as he threw his bag onto the passenger seat, got in, and turned the key. The engine roared to life, and he felt the power of the car beneath his hands as he pulled out onto the street.

His head was still filled with images of her, her pale, smooth skin, her lush mouth, the taste of her, damn it. He hit the gas harder and sped through the night, down the twisting roads of Bel Aire. Past the homes of people who thought the way he and his uncle lived was sinful, depraved. Fuck them all.

His tires squealed as he took a hard turn, and there was an accompanying flash of satisfaction. But it lasted only a moment. And he realized that no matter how fast he drove, no matter how hard he ran, there was going to be no escaping his sweet Cassandra.

CHAPTER NINE

S
UNDAY AFTERNOON
. C
ASSANDRA HAD BEEN HOME
for half the day and her mind was beginning to work normally again. At least, she thought it was. But so much had happened to her over the weekend she couldn’t be certain. Her body was sore in so many places, gloriously sore, and she loved that reminder of what had been done to her.

All she could really think of, though, was Marcus.

He would contact her this week, but how long would she have to wait? Absolute torture.

She sat back into the pile of brocade pillows on her red velvet sofa. Pulling one into her lap, she curled her legs beneath her and brooded.

She had never experienced anything as intense, as overwhelming, as she had when she was under Marcus’s command in that room at The Lair. She’d been in total sensory overload, she knew that. But half of it was because it was
him
.

She enjoyed everything Master Robert did to her, everything Mika and the other girls did, even the wicked Mistress Delphine. But Marcus made her lose her head altogether. Her head, her body, her senses.

Was she foolish to think there was some deeper connection there? Maybe. But she was convinced of it, convinced he felt it, too. That much she could read in his dark eyes, knew it when he talked to her, with that desperate edge to his voice. She felt it, too.

It didn’t make sense; they barely even knew each other. She didn’t know if he could overcome the idea that he was betraying his uncle in talking to her outside the realm of his uncle’s house, outside of those times in which his uncle had given her over to him. And if he couldn’t…

Her stomach clenched. She had to see him; she yearned for his voice, his touch. At the same time, guilt gnawed at the back of her mind. Master Robert had brought her into the world she had craved for so long. She hadn’t yet signed a slave contract with him, but still, she knew what she was doing with Marcus wasn’t right. The sinner once more. But she wasn’t going to turn away from him.

When the telephone rang she jumped, her heart pounding. She took a deep breath, picked up.

“Hello?”

“Cassandra.”

Her whole body surged at the sound of his voice in her ear. “Yes.”

“It’s Marcus.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“You don’t have to call me that now, alright? Right now we are just two people, talking.”

Not possible.

“Yes, S…Yes, Marcus.”

“That’s better.” A small rush of pleasure at the approval in his voice. “I need to talk with you, to see you. I saw in your file that you work at some sort of clothing boutique. Can you get away today?”

They kept a file on her? But she would think about that later; she had to keep track of what he was saying to her.

“Yes. I’ve taken some time off work. I needed some space to process everything.”

“Come to my house, then. I’m in the Hollywood Hills.” He gave her the address, which she scribbled on a pad by the phone. “Can you come now?”

“Now? I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

He hung up. Her hands shook as she set the phone down. She sat, unable to move for a moment, her pulse hammering so hard she could hear the roar of her own blood in her ears. But she quickly realized she had much to do to prepare herself for him, to present herself to him properly.

She pushed up from the sofa and headed for the bathroom and a quick, hot shower.

She was going to see Marcus, to be entirely alone with him. Her whole body trembled with desire at the mere thought. She wasn’t sure of what to expect, didn’t really know what was happening. But the important thing was that he wanted her. And along with that hot surge of desire was her heart fluttering in her chest. A flutter made of anticipation, and something else that almost made her want to cry.

She dressed carefully in her Roissy Academy outfit: black skirt, fitted white blouse, thigh-high stockings, and black stiletto heels. She felt completely, gloriously, naked beneath without her bra and underwear. Her body was humming with nerves, singing with lust already. In less than half an hour she would be with him.