We held still like that for what might have been minutes or an hour, sweat slicking our skin, breath heaving in and out.
I felt closer to my husband than I ever had, and suddenly I needed to see him. I couldn’t wait any longer.
“Austin. My blindfold. Please.”
“All right.” His fingers danced over my temple, and then the sheer pantyhose that were my blindfold fell away. I blinked up at Austin, looking at the grey eyes that held as much relief as I felt.
We could get through this. We could do it.
A movement from behind Austin caught my eye then, and I inclined my head to look... and then immediately wished that I hadn’t.
Liam stood in the shadows, his eyes trained on me and my husband. His expression was full of hunger... and I wasn’t stupid.
That hunger was for me. And no matter how much I loved my husband, no matter how wonderful what we had just experienced was, I couldn’t banish the traitorous want that had me clenching my fingers on the chains as our stares connected.
Liam nodded once, tightly, before walking away.
I watched helplessly as he went, wondering what the hell was wrong with me.
Chapter Seven
It would be so easy to lose track of time in a place like this, I thought. To let day and night blur into one long, never ending stream. My third martini of the night, something fruity and vaguely reminiscent of licorice at the same time, wasn’t helping matters any. I had never much cared for the taste of licorice, and was fairly certain that the way the drink was numbing my tongue meant that I would later drool in my sleep. But the buzz that it created in my head served as a lovely, hazy cushion on which to lay my cheek and daydream away the millions of thoughts that persisted in racing through my mind, no matter how many times I banished them.
I needed to think, to think about why, after Austin had brought one of my deep, dark fantasies to life... why I was still nursing a deep attraction to another man.
Sighing so heavily that I nearly fell off of my stool at the long bar, I signaled the bartender and ordered another drink.
“Rough night?” Without even looking, he poured streams of liquid into the silver shaker.
I nodded gravely, hoping that my silence would indicate that I didn’t much want to talk. With my eyes cast down, it was a full minute before I noticed that he was melting a sugar cube and straining something into my drink.
“Um, what’s that?” I was more curious than apprehensive; I didn’t figure that he’d be drugging my drink right in front of me. He grinned and winked at me, and the notion sounded in the foggy depths of my brain that, though he was cute enough, his flirtation didn’t have fire racing through my veins the way that Liam’s or Austin’s did.
“This is absinthe.” He finished whatever it was he was doing with the flame and sealed the lid onto the shaker once more. “It’s part of the Toulouse martini. Absinthe, citrus vodka, and crème de _anana.”
“Oh.” I figured that that might explain why I was having trouble stringing together a full sentence. “Bet that really knocks you on your ass, huh?”
“It certainly can.” Again, I was rewarded with that smile, and again I felt nothing. I wished, almost ferociously, that I did. That I was just extra horny, or something, and that any cock within a ten mile radius set me off, rather than just one.
Or rather two, as I recalled my earlier fuck in the club, for a fuck it had been, with Austin.
The bar in the hotel was empty, apart from myself and the bartender. I squinted up at him. He had to know why things were so dead, where everyone was, if he worked here. Yet he looked entirely normal—no, entirely vanilla, I corrected myself.
“Have you... have you ever been to Lead Me Not? The club?” I had had too much to drink to care about whether or not my question was appropriate. “What’s your name, anyway?”
The man eyed me, one eyebrow raised, and I knew before he spoke that he had. He was a... a Dominant.
Like Liam had said, it seemed etched on every inch of his being.
“My name is Dan.” Though he looked like he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea or not, he slid the martini that I had asked for down the bar to me. “And yes, I have. Membership is part of my salary for working here. I’ll be going to play after my shift is done.”
His words slammed through me with great force. Here was a man in a suit, an attractive, clean cut, normal looking man.
And he was “going to play” at a BDSM club after his shift.
My world was rapidly shifting on its axis, and I was doing my best not to fall.
“Maybe I’d better not drink that one.” Quitting while I was ahead seemed like a good idea. “And thank you for answering my questions.”
If I stopped right now I should be able to find my way back to the room by myself.
Well, I was pretty sure that I could. As it turned out, the next ten or so minutes were a bit of a blur, though somehow, I wasn’t sure how, exactly, I made my way to the elevators in the lobby all by myself, alone and unassisted. It seemed that that was as far as I was going to make it alone, however, or at least that was the impression that I gave the baby faced security guard who appeared from nowhere to clutch my arm as I swayed.
“Are you all right, ma’am?” I thought that I should maybe take offense at being called ‘ma’am’ by someone who was, at most, three years younger than me, but found myself instead staring up into his eyes, which were a beautiful, if somewhat blurred, shade of baby blue.
I smiled beatifically and told him just that, which he didn’t take as kindly as I had intended it.
“How much have you had to drink tonight, ma’am?” He frowned at me and I thought that he really needed to lighten up. In an effort to help him out with that, I let the first semi- witty thing that I could think of fall off of my lips.
“Too drunk to drive.” Ha, ha. Ha. I was quite impressed with my humor, but he didn’t seem to feel the same. He frowned again, studying me intently while supporting me with his arm. “You know that public drunkenness is a chargeable offense?”
“Are you kidding me?” I giggled, sure that he was playing along with my little joke. When he simply pursed his lips, however, I gaped. “I’m on vacation. This is a casino. Come on.”
He shook his head, reached for his pocket. Spitefully I prayed that karma would grant him a face full of wrinkles from all of his stern, official security man frowning.
I was opening my mouth to tell him just that when a second hand, one with a wider palm and longer fingers than that of Mr. Cranky Cop, grasped the shoulder of my other arm.
“Anna.” It was Liam. Of course it was Liam. One more perfectly odd moment in this incredibly bizarre day.
“I told you I didn’t want to see you again,” I reminded him, trying to squirm my way out of his grasp.
He held tight. “I’ll take her from here,” he informed the security guard.
“You know this woman, L?” The baby faced guard looked immensely relieved at the thought of being rid of the drunk walker.
“I do.” I opened my mouth to protest, to inform them both that I really didn’t know Liam at all, but my body, which seemed to have made a firm and distinct step away from my mind, chose that moment to stumble.
When Liam caught me, swung my long frame up in his arms like I weighed nothing, I lost my breath. It was a move straight from ‘Gone With The Wind’, and it had my heart pattering rapidly in my chest. Overwhelmed with sensations, I closed my eyes, just to get my bearings, or so I told myself.
Instead I fell soundly asleep, cradled in arms that, strangely enough, felt like home.
***
When I opened my eyes, I was in a room that was not my own. I was in a bedroom with an open door, and through the door I could see a massive, expensive looking suite, one that was definitely not what Austin and I had rented.
Oh, shit. What had I done?
Panicked, I sat straight up, my hands running frantically over my body. My dress was still in place
, as were my panties, which was something, I guessed. My shoes were gone, but all around, if I had to be stripped of a garment while sound asleep, that would’ve been my choice.
“Hey.” I didn’t notice Liam until he actually sat down on the bed beside me, so intent on my panic was I. The surge of lust at the sight of him was familiar by this time but, much as I still wanted him, I was relieved when he did nothing but hand me two aspirin and a tall glass of water. I took them gratefully and didn’t ask any questions.
“I didn’t think you wanted to go back to your room like that.” The emphasis, though ever so faint, was on the word ‘your’. “We’re in the penthouse, where I live. If you’re feeling steadier, I’ll walk you back now.” He lifted a hand, to brush the bangs back out of my face, I thought, but dropped it to the side again almost immediately. He was respecting the boundaries that I’d established, wasn’t stepping over the line that I’d drawn, and for that I was more grateful than he could possibly know. But the gratefulness did nothing to stem the heat caused by his proximity, so I swung my legs and my body away, wiggled my way across the crumpled bedspread until my feet hit the scratchy carpet of the floor.
“Um, my shoes?” Wordlessly he nudged them in my direction, and as I slipped my feet into the low heeled sandals, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror that hung over the shiny wood bureau.
I looked like I’d just been fucked.
Hair mussed, face flushed. Eyes bright and lips pink and swollen. The visual was enough to make even me wonder what had occurred, and so I turned to Liam with accusing eyes.
“Nothing happened,” he said firmly, casting his eyes down. “That kind of behavior isn’t in my DNA. You look fine. You look beautiful.”
“Let’s go.”
I found myself again padding along after him, slightly shakier on my feet but just as quiet. The second that our footsteps sounded in the vicinity of my door, it swung open and hit the wall with a thud.
“Anna, where the hell have you been? I’ve been worried sick...” Austin’s voice trailed off as he slowly and bit by bit took in my appearance. I watched the thoughts and observations riot through his eyes as he made note of the same things that I had only minutes before. The tousled hair, the crumpled dress. Though I cringed under the dawning understanding in his eyes, neither could I blame him for it.
“Anna?” His eyes shifted from me to Liam, and while Liam’s presence could be felt, warm and solid, behind me, he didn’t utter a word. No matter how much I might have wanted him to, I understood.
This was my decision. It was my choice.
“Liam saved me from the drunk tank, I’m afraid.” I laughed lightly, pushing my way past my husband and into the room. Both men remained where they were, though their eyes followed my every movement.
“You went out drinking with Liam after we were at the club?” The suspicion turned to bafflement, bafflement with a tinge of hurt, as Austin tried to process the situation. “After getting so mad at me for contacting him in the first place?”
“No, no.” My head hurt. A lot. A lot, a lot, and the situation wasn’t helping.
“I couldn’t sleep, so I went back downstairs for a couple of drinks. I guess I had too many, and an overzealous security guard tried to arrest me, but Liam assured him that he’d escort me to my room.”
“That’s not like you. You never have too much to drink.” I could tell that Austin wasn’t sure what to do with the situation, and I didn’t want to tell him that I had nearly come to the decision to go along with his plan.
“There was something weird in the martinis. Ab- something. It was green.”
“Absinthe.” Liam supplied. “It’s a specialty here, and it’s a hallucinogen. It knocked Anna on her ass, and she passed out. I’m sorry, Austin. I should have taken better care of her. I failed in my duties.”
“I see.” Austin’s voice now had an edge to it, an edge that made me shiver. “And did you two have any time to talk?”
Liam didn’t reply. My battle.
“I, uh, slept it off in his room.” I fully understood the emotion that was making a muscle in Austin’s cheek clench, as well as I understood what was holding him back. It was a sticky situation— he was as uncertain as I was.
To my surprise he drew up, his expression becoming serious and avid. Moving back into the room, he left the door wide open for Liam. Sitting his tense weight onto the edge of the bed, he sighed heavily. Grasping handfuls of hair with his long fingers he tugged in frustration, then scrubbed so that the honey colored strands stood up every which way.
“What are we going to do here, you two?” I couldn’t see his face, and the words confused me. After exchanging a slightly confounded look with Liam, I gently asked him to clarify.
“This!” He gestured to me, then to Liam, in one sweeping motion. “I’m not blind, I can see what’s going on. Liam, it’s more than just wanting to train an attractive sub, and you know it. And I know... Anna, I just want you to be happy.” His voice cracked at the end of the sentence, and panic began to work its sneaky, sticky fingers up to clasp me by the throat. “I really think that this will help. Maybe we just need to... to open your mind.”
“Austin, what are you saying?” My throat swelled, choking me. Had I already, if unintentionally, made my choice? How had that happened? After the sex we had shared earlier, and the glow that came with it, I had been sure, so, so sure, that we were back on the right track. Even if it had confused the hell out of me.
“Anna...” Nothing could have surprised me more than when he drew me into his embrace and kissed me. And when I say ‘kissed’, I mean one of those kisses that wiped every other thought from your mind, with lots of tongue and groping hands. And it wasn’t the kiss itself that surprised me so much, for it was one that he’d given me a million times before. No, it was more the fact that he did it in full view of Liam.
And Liam didn’t leave. Instead, he shut the door with the heel of his shoe and stepped in, all the way in, to the room.
“Um...” I had no idea what was going on. Austin’s hands moved down to cup the cheeks of my ass, to toy at the tender spot where the cleft between them began, the place that he had lavished such attention on earlier, and I couldn’t hold back a slight moan, though the fact that Liam was watching my husband touch me was rather disconcerting.
Disconcerting, and incredibly erotic.
“Is this what you want, Anna? Is this what will make you happy?” Austin nipped at my ear and I shivered. I couldn’t pretend that I didn’t know what he was referring to, and when I looked over his shoulder and locked stares with Liam, I certainly couldn’t pretend that I didn’t want it. But at the same time I felt cornered, caught in an ambush, forced to make a snap decision when it was something that should have been thought out and agonized over.
Though I wanted it more than I could say, I would have said no. I was sure that I would have said no, had I been given a chance.
But I didn’t. And I didn’t have an excuse, couldn’t even say that I tried very hard. I only know that when Liam circled around to press against me from behind, when I suddenly had four hands sliding slickly over the sleek expanse of my torso, I was lost.
Lost and, though it might have been wicked of me, loving every minute of it.
I tilted my head back in surrender when Austin leaned forward to sample the skin at the base of my throat, to run his tongue over the pulse that beat thickly Beneath the golden skin. Liam did no more than nuzzle at my hair, inhaling the scent of the long silky strands. I sensed he was waiting for more than permission, was scared to make a mistake, though the certainty with which he had moved towards me across the room led me to believe that he had done this before.
As unsure as he, I didn’t know what to say, what it was all right to indicate him to do. It wasn’t until Austin took Liam’s hand himself, slid it over my flesh to my breast, that it was tacitly understood that this was okay. That Austin would allow Liam to touch his wife.
Though t
he contact was brief, the sight of their fingers intertwined, cupping my breast, was one of the most sensual things that I had ever seen. My knees buckled as the sensations washed over me, and I would have fallen had it not been for the two bodies pressed against me, scorching my flesh from either side.
Liam slipped his hand beneath the sheer silkiness of my dress, stroked downward with light, feathery touches until he found my nipple. The tender skin there became humped with gooseflesh as his fingers rotated, just ever so slightly, and I whimpered as the sensation rioted through me. Curving my arms backward, I clasped him around the neck, held on tight, and allowed my head to loll back against his shoulder and my eyes to drift close, the better to feel... well, everything.
I was startled when cool air bit at the flesh between my legs. In enjoying Liam’s touch, I had shifted my focus away from Austin, who was busily burrowing beneath my skirt, his tongue licking higher and higher until it found the throbbing nub of my clit.
After placing a wet, full mouthed kiss over the lace covered mound, a kiss that had me crying out loud, he caught the elastic at the side of my bikini briefs in his teeth and tugged, inching the miniscule amount of fabric down until it pooled at my feet.
Fuck, but that was hot. He’d certainly never done that before, and had I been capable of speech at the moment, I would have told him exactly how wet it made me. But my tongue had gone thick and dry in my mouth when Liam had undone his pants, the harsh rasp of the zip muffled by the thick air. The heat of his naked hardness, of the skin that stuck to mine with the early dew of sexy sweat, had me squirming, anxious for more.
The squirming only helped Austin to cover the aching flesh of my cleft with full, rough swipes. Over and over he stroked, his fingers holding my lips apart, and at the same time Liam nibbled on my neck, caressed the naked skin of my back, ran rough hands over the swells of my hips.
I wanted them inside of me. Both of them, one at a time, simultaneously, whatever. Unable to wait any longer, I tugged at the elastic neck of my dress, wriggled until it fell, pooling on the floor overtop my discarded panties. Leaning back, I rocked my ass against Liam’s erection, enjoying the way the coarseness of his dark hair tickled at my skin. Fisting my hands in Austin’s hair, I urged him closer, urged him to feast on my flesh, and he gladly complied, attacking my aching clit and cleft with teeth, with fingers and with tongue.
Seduction in the Sun: Adult Romance Box Set (9 Sizzling Tales with BBW, Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males) Page 68
