There was genuine admiration in his voice, she thought. And maybe it was for that reason that she wanted to meet this Emika—to see whether she could gauge what Uilleam saw in her. It wasn’t jealousy, she reasoned. That wasn’t it at all. Not even a little.
Before she had the chance to question him further, they arrived at the restaurant, the valet speaking rapid French, then happily taking the keys from Uilleam before he drove off.
Uilleam’s hand slid down hers, his thumb brushing the palm of her hand before he intertwined their fingers. His slightly calloused skin was warm, his grip firm. There was not a bit of awkwardness as she fell into step beside him, walking through the restaurant’s front doors.
The atmosphere was quaint but lavish. Gilded fixtures and Renaissance paintings hung along the walls, and if she had to guess, no one in this room was worth less than six figures.
The hostess took one glance at Uilleam and sprang into action, guiding them through the cluster of tables toward a private area in the back of the restaurant that was sectioned off by gauzy curtains, preventing anyone from seeing who was on the other side.
Uilleam glanced down at her as if he could sense her nerves and wanted to ensure her, without words, that he fully expected her to pass whatever little test this was. Even if she wasn’t so sure.
He stepped out of his shoes first, leaving them tucked into a corner, then gladly offered his hand as she bent to unbuckle her heels and place them alongside his. She felt more at a disadvantage now that she’d lost six inches in height.
Unlike her, Uilleam was still towering at over six feet tall.
“Mr. Runehart and his guest have arrived,” the hostess announced as she swept the curtain aside for them to go through.
The robust man seated at the table was the first person Karina’s gaze was drawn to.
Haruto got to his feet without preamble, greeting Uilleam in heavily accented English.
Karina wasn’t sure what to do with herself as she watched the two interact. Finishing school ensured that she remained standing with her back strait and her posture impeccable, a light smile gracing her face.
But as quickly as she had felt out of sorts, she remembered Katherine’s lessons.
She greeted both of Haruto’s women, not calling either by a name since she didn’t have very much to go on yet. She still needed time to observe the two before she made a decision.
“Lovely girl,” Haruto complimented Uilleam, as if he were responsible for the way she looked.
Men in his position were amusing.
Karina didn’t speak any of the problematic thoughts in her head, merely smiled as she was meant to and let the man kiss the back of her hand.
“Let’s eat!”
They all took their seats at the table before Haruto picked up the tiny bell from the table and gave it a ring. Mere seconds passed before the door slid open again and waiters bustled in carrying food and drinks.
She had thought, since this was essentially a business meeting, Uilleam would forget her presence beside him. Haruto certainly seemed to have forgotten that he hadn’t come alone with the way he talked to Uilleam.
He hardly glanced at the two women sitting on either side of him.
But Uilleam … he was different.
Even as he flawlessly carried on a conversation with Haruto, he still managed to whisper in her ear whatever dish was brought out.
He wordlessly asked if she were enjoying herself when he looked in her direction. And if he thought she didn’t like something, he wouldn’t hesitate in switching dishes with her, or ordering her something else entirely.
Uilleam was thoughtful.
As time slipped by, she found herself relaxing further at his side, more than happy to be there.
But as dinner slowly started to come to an end, he rested his hand on her knee, the gesture seemingly innocent as he continued his conversation without falter. She might have thought it was a passive gesture until she shifted and his fingers tightened
Not enough to hurt—it was certainly not pain she was feeling—but with enough pressure that she was acutely aware of the hold he had on her.
The way his hand was slowly moving from her knee to the stretch of thigh not concealed by the short dress she wore.
She stifled her reaction as best she could, even reaching for her second glass of wine.
Now the sweet bite of alcohol was exactly what she craved.
Well … not the only thing.
Somewhere between the end of her first glass and the tentative sip of her second, her mind had drifted from the duties of this night to something else entirely.
She’d become entranced by the way his arms looked, the sinew and muscle practically begging to be touched. She grew curious, wondering what he would look like once he shed his very proper clothes.
What did he look like naked?
Did the reality live up to the fantasy?
Of course, she had an idea of what was hidden beneath those tailored clothes of his, but she was tired of wondering.
She wanted to see for herself.
And more than anything, she wanted to know what it felt like to be with a man.
Her virginity wasn’t something she had held onto because she had been looking for, ‘the right person to lose it to,’ she had just never met anyone she’d wanted to risk being seen by her mother with in high school. And after moving to New York, she’d just been too busy to get out there.
Uilleam couldn’t have come at a better time.
And with the way she was feeling now … she had an idea how this night would end.
No, focus.
She needed to pay attention to what was going on around her, though Uilleam seemed intent on making sure that was the last thing she did.
“If you intend to do business with Gaspard, you need to prepare yourself.”
She mentally filed that name away, intending to ask Uilleam about it later, but the rest of Haruto’s words fell on deaf ears when Uilleam’s hand crept its way beneath the skirt of her dress. Thankfully, he was still at the very edge of the fabric—intimate but innocent all the same—but that didn’t make it any less indecent. It didn’t mean that she didn’t know exactly what he would find if he ventured up a few more inches.
“I have Gaspard exactly where I need him. Everything is going according to my plan.”
Haruto let out a good-natured scoff, not convinced but willing to let Uilleam believe what he wanted.
Curiosity made her glance over at him. She wanted learn more about the mysterious man who made Uilleam’s brow furrow, but while the question lingered in the back of her mind, Uilleam distracted her by finally moving his hand beneath her dress.
She was careful not to react, even as his sudden touch surprised her and caused goose bumps to break out along her skin.
The rest of their conversation was lost on her as she grew distracted by his touch, and the way her skin seemed to come alive. It took every bit of effort to pay attention to everyone speaking around her—especially the women who spoke quietly among themselves.
By the time the dinner came to an end, Karina had her fingers wrapped around Uilleam’s wrist, preventing him from making the ache worse.
“Thank you for a lovely evening,” Karina said as she accepted the man’s embrace before turning to face the woman standing to his right. “And Emika, it was a pleasure to meet you. Aiko, as well.”
For only a moment, she wondered if she had gotten their names wrong—if the game Uilleam was playing had come to an end and now she would suffer the consequences. But neither woman reacted violently. They both smiled and inclined their heads.
Even as her mind had been elsewhere and he’d happily attempted to distract her all throughout dinner, she had gotten it right.
Uilleam, who stood mute to the left of her had a small, knowing smile on his face.
As the others turned to walk away, Karina looked at him. “Did I pass?”
“I never doubted you for a secon
d.”
“No?”
He shrugged. “You found me, didn’t you?”
Yes. Yes, she had. “So … what happens now?”
He brushed his hand over the slight growth of hair on his jaw. “Do you trust me?”
“I …” She wanted to say she did because that would be the truth.
She knew it wasn’t rational. She knew that he hadn’t given her any reason to believe a word that came out of his mouth or anything that he did. If anything, she knew that nothing was ever what it seemed when it came to him.
But she still didn’t care.
“I probably shouldn’t trust you, but I do.”
“Then we have one more stop to make.”
“Oh? Where are we going?”
There was something about the expression on his face that told her wherever they were going … she wasn’t ready.
23
Hush
Do you trust me?
Such an innocent question coming from anyone else, but when those four words spilled out of Uilleam’s mouth, Karina knew her immediate answer should have been no.
He was quite possibly the last person on earth she needed to trust, but that didn’t stop her from taking his hand when he offered it.
From letting him guide her into the idling SUV to not asking a single question as he drove them through the winding streets of Paris.
They weren’t going back home, that much she knew. He was too excited, eager almost, and whatever it was he intended to surprise her with, she doubted he could have hidden it there without her noticing.
But she was just tipsy enough not to care where this night would take them.
She wasn’t thinking about consequences or anything else.
She wanted the adventure—craved it—more than she ever thought possible.
Just the feel of his presence beside her, and the heat of his palm across the back of her hand had her heart thumping away in her chest.
More than once, she found herself peeking over at him, wondering where his thoughts had gone. All during his conversation with Haruto, he had seemed more focused on her. Stroking his fingers along the curve of her thigh, smiling down at her whenever she parted her legs just a little more to give him better access.
But now that they weren’t alone, he didn’t touch her. And save for when he was actually helping her into the truck, he hadn’t looked at her either.
They pulled in front of a gated residence, the seal in the very center of the black iron parting down the middle as it opened. She sat up a little more to see the grounds as they drove up a winding pathway, the cobblestone making the truck sway gently.
Up ahead, past the streaming water fountain and neatly trimmed bushes, was the biggest mansion Karina had ever seen. Track lights lining the front hedge illuminated the white brick, making it seem all the more wondrous in the dark hours of the night.
“Is this yours as well?” she felt compelled to ask, almost afraid that his answer would be yes. She knew his wealth was vast, but this just seemed unnecessary.
“A friend’s place of business.”
“That sounds decidedly vague.”
A corner of his mouth twitched. “It was meant to.”
“Why did you bring me here?”
“Testing a few theories.”
“Is everything a game for you, Uilleam?”
“Only when it’s not.”
Which wasn’t an answer. Not really. “What kind of theory?”
She knew with some certainty as she took his hand that whatever she thought this was going to be, she wasn’t prepared. But she still dutifully followed him.
It wasn’t until she made it inside the sprawling mansion that Karina got an idea of what this place was. The heat in her face would have confirmed it even if another waitress in black leather hadn’t passed by, carrying a coiled whip clasped in her gloved hand.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt Uilleam come up behind her, his hand resting on her lower back. “Is this some sort of sex club?” she asked, wishing her voice didn’t sound as breathy as it did.
“Don’t let Laurence hear you say that—he’d take it as a personal insult.”
But she didn’t know how else to describe it. It was the only word that came to mind to describe not just the attire of the women—and men who walked the floor carrying drinks—but the overall atmosphere.
“What is this place, exactly?”
He urged her forward toward the marble staircase up ahead. Even as she was nervous to peer over the railing to see what awaited her below, she still put one foot in front of the other. Willingly being led into the devil’s playground.
“They call it Hush,” Uilleam finally explained, filling in more details as they descended a level, the room transforming right before her eyes.
Like how Laurence had been notorious for fulfilling the sexual desires of those with discerning means. How nothing was off limits so as long as it didn’t involve children or violence against women. That, Uilleam said, had made him both popular and hated within the same circles.
It wasn’t much of a surprise that Laurence didn’t sound like a bad man—Orion was a good person too, and still broke the law—but a part of her hadn’t expected Uilleam to do business with men like him. She knew the moral line he stood on was gray, at best, but sometimes she thought he teetered over to the darker side when he wanted.
If she had thought the floor above them was obscene with the men and women in various leather outfits, this level … she blushed the moment the woman in nothing more than a collar and a fox tail walked by her carrying a tray.
Uilleam plucked her a drink from a waiter in a leotard, passing it to her without a word. She downed it in seconds, hoping the alcohol would calm her.
But if anything, it only made her more aware of everything happening around her.
He led her to a door built into the wall, one where he had to press his hand against a particular spot to get it to pop open, then he ushered them inside.
His expression was unreadable as his gaze trailed over her as if he was seeing her for the first time. “Wait for me,” he said, “I’ll be right back.”
Before she could ask where he was going, he walked out, leaving her alone in the dark room with windows that spanned the entire space.
A nearly three-sixty view of everything outside of it.
She wasn’t sure how long she was alone, not when she immediately went over to one of the glass partitions and stared out, unable to quell the impulse.
It could have been seconds or minutes, she didn’t know.
Nor did she care.
She just simply … watched.
Everything around her.
The sounds of the club on this level carried through the walls, though this space seemed to be sealed off from everything else.
Perhaps it was the champagne swimming through her veins, warming her up from the inside out—or maybe she just didn’t want to admit that he had this effect on her even though he hadn’t touched her yet.
She still didn’t turn from the glass, however, when she heard the door open again.
She could just see his reflection as he moved toward her, wishing it didn’t send a chill down her spine.
And as she watched him slip out of his suit jacket and toss it to land on the curved leather couch across the room, she had no question he was going to finish what he had started earlier.
She couldn’t say she minded, even as it made her heart race.
After a moment, she forced her gaze away from his reflection and back toward the others standing on the other side.
It was easy to think she could see everything happening outside of this room yet no one on the other side would be able to see her. It took everything in her not to press her hands against the glass, wondering whether her palm prints would reflect on the other side.
She was far too aware of everything going on around her not to notice Uilleam’s hands shifting her hair over her shoulder
s, causing goose bumps to erupt in the wake of his touch.
This close to the glass, not only could they see the scores of couples outside the room but also their reflections in the mirror.
She could see how nervous she looked. How eager. She could almost see the anticipatory gleam in her own eyes as Uilleam stepped closer, not enough that any part of them was touching, but so close that she could feel his presence behind her.
Goose bumps were breaking out along her arms, the fine hair on the nape of her neck was standing on end. She was reacting to him, and he hadn’t even touched her yet.
But she wanted him to. Craved it.
Was counting down the seconds until he shifted, his hand coming to rest on the curve of her hip before sliding inward, tracing the line of her skirt until his fingers hovered over the button and zipper. He didn’t thumb it open, nor did he just shove her skirt up to get his hand between her legs. Instead, he just ... waited.
But she wanted him to. She wanted to feel the fabric give beneath his strength more than she had ever wanted anything in her life.
“Afraid yet?” he asked. The first words he’d spoken since he entered this room with her.
Words that coiled down her spine and pooled low enough that she felt them like a physical caress.
“Is that your intention? To scare me?”
“Tempt,” he corrected a second later, shifting his body just so that she felt the brush of his shirt-clad chest against her back. “There’s no fun in scaring you away.”
“No?” she asked, sounding breathless to her own ears, wondering if he could hear it too.
“No,” he repeated. “The time for running is done.”
He wasn’t letting her go.
The unspoken truth hung between them, thickening the air. Making it hard for her to take a proper breath.
At the first brush of his lips along the shell of her ear, she shuddered, her heart thumping so fast in her chest, she was almost positive he could hear it.
Inhaling a deep breath, she watched as his gaze dropped to her chest. Felt the moment his fingers tightened on her.
“Undo this,” he ordered a second later, plucking at the fabric of her dress that was tied into a bow at the front, sounding as if the words were forced out of him, his need too great to ask her nicely.
White Rabbit: The Rise (The Kingmaker Saga Book 1) Page 20
