by Lila Munro
If there was anything Chad wanted, it was for Tori to feel loved and cherished. He hadn’t been able to give her everything her heart desired, he knew that. But three times a year for the last five years he’d tried his absolute best. He wanted to make up for what he lacked the other three hundred sixty two days, but it just never seemed to be enough. If things went well tomorrow, Chad’s hope was to accommodate Tori’s needs forever. Content that things were going as planned, Chad left Tori’s sanctuary and returned to his suite, locking the door behind him.
After calling the front desk to direct the bell hop to bring Ren up and see him in when he arrived, Chad pulled his tie over his head and stripped naked. He went to the bar and poured himself a tumbler of Chivas Regal 25 and carried it into the bathroom. A long, hot shower was just what he needed to take the edge off. This trip was supposed to be strictly pleasure, but it had turned into business on the flight from Portland. An overseas developer called swearing Rome must be burning. As it turned out, the matter was pretty serious and Chad spent the entire flight in a video conference with Tokyo trying to resolve his issue with a piece of property that adjoined a national park he was acquiring. Would the world quit turning if Chad disappeared? Probably not, but lately people sure as hell thought so.
As the hot spray pelted Chad’s back, his mind drifted to what he had planned for Tori. For five long years, he’d had his name on the list and finally, two months ago, L’Edge had emailed him with confirmation that they were now members. He and Tori. L’Edge. The premiere BDSM
hot spot. This was the country club of the lifestyle. If you were somebody, you belonged to L’Edge. Tori had seen an ad for it right before they got married and made a joke out of how if they were going to belong to Wandering Oaks by day they should definitely belong to L’Edge by night. And now they did. Complete with VIP access to everything. Tomorrow night they’d be the King and Queen of the Master suite, complete with the courtier that Chad had handpicked to assist him, Ren Taylor.
Finding Ren was actually an accident. He was in fact a business associate that was now a little more familiar with Chad and his needs than the average acquaintance. A lot more familiar to be exact. Eight months ago, a few days prior to Tori’s birthday, Ren discovered Chad and Tori’s secret. That they played in Tori’s realm three days a year. As a result, Ren and Chad were far more than simple business acquaintances now. In fact, when Chad first started to contemplate the notion that Ren might be just who they needed to complete his and Tori’s relationship, he’d invited Ren to spend the weekend at their home under the guise of a friendly social visit from an old associate. Several times they’d done this, Chad wanting to make sure Ren was a good fit and that what Chad felt was real and not just a fleeting fancy.
“My God, she’s even more beautiful in person,” Ren whispered over the edge of his wine glass as he and Chad watched Tori ease into the hot tub in the solarium.
“I know. I knew the minute I saw her she was the woman I wanted,” Chad answered. “But I haven’t been able to give her everything she deserves.”
“Need any help?” Ren joked.
“Funny you should say that. I’ve been thinking about what you told me. I think you might be the one.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Ren said, setting his glass down and lacing his hands together.
“I’ve never been more serious. Do you think I’d just invite anyone over to ogle my wife? I needed to know how you two reacted to each other before I asked.” Chad smiled and watched Tori lying in the tub with her head reclined, peering out of hooded eyes. Eyes filled with heat that rested on Ren. So Tori felt it, too.
As Chad stepped from the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist, he heard movement coming from the bedroom. Either dinner had arrived or Ren had. Chad was starved.
Eating while on a conference call was hardly professional and as a result of refraining, Chad hadn’t had anything since breakfast. After toweling his hair almost dry, he opened his shaving bag, squirted some mousse in his palm and ran it through his short sienna hair. Satisfied it was standing on edge evenly, Chad put on some deodorant and splashed on a little cologne on his chest before leaving the bathroom still in a towel.
The smell of grilled salmon greeted him at the door.
“Chad,” Ren said, standing from the divan. “How goes it?”
“Good, really good,” Chad said, meeting the man half-way, taking him in a warm embrace.
“The flight was hectic but uneventful. How’re you?”
“Great. You look great, man,” Ren answered, pulling back. “All ready for tomorrow night?”
“You have no idea.” Chad left the arms of Ren and motioned for him to follow. “This smells great. You hungry?”
“Starved. So when does she get here?” Ren asked, taking a seat across from Chad.
“Tomorrow morning. I imagine by now she’s found her first gift and she’s already worked into a tizzy trying to figure out what I have planned.”
“I can’t wait to see her. She’s such a beauty,” Ren said, lifting the stainless steel top off his plate and inhaling the steam. “And she has no idea?”
“None,” Chad answered, taking a sip of the Pinot Noir the wait staff poured before disappearing. “I think she’ll approve though. You remind me a lot of Rio and I’m pretty sure she sees it as well.”
“Rio? An old flame?”
“An old Master, the one that helped me claim her.”
“I called the club and made reservations for tonight. Thought you might like to see what you’re paying for ahead of time and see the room you reserved,” Ren said. “I’m sure you’re aware our privacy is paramount there. Security is strict and the staff are all required to sign waivers to work there. Believe me, no one will ever know we were there. It’s best not to show up in a limo though. The place is usually hot with the media. We can take a cab and go in the back entrance.”
“Should I cancel the limo for Tori then? I’d planned on having Robert take her so she’d be comfortable there and back, but if you’d think it’d be best, I can arrange something else.” Chad stopped eating and searched Ren’s eyes.
“Do you have a body guard for her? Someone you can trust?” Ren asked, taking another bite of asparagus.
“It can be arranged.”
“Have him bring her in through the back. She should be fine that way.” Ren smiled and took a drink. “It’ll be fine. I promise. I’d never tell you to do anything that would hurt either of you.
You both mean too much to me.”
“Any chance of getting in some extra practice tonight?” Chad asked, relieved that Ren had confirmed what Chad already knew but needed to hear anyway. Tori’s safety was as important to Ren as it was to him.
“I think something can be arranged. Private or public?”
Chapter Three
Tori walked over to the full length cherry framed mirror standing on claw feet in the corner of her bedroom and looked at the image staring back at her. With sure fingers, she placed the crimson collar around her neck and fastened it at her nape. It was beautiful. Fingering the diamond encrusted lock, Tori thought about how hard Chad fought before he finally claimed her and closed the tiny gold lock that hung on the cheap imitation leather collar she wore before he came along. Once he took her though, the old collar had been replaced by a real leather one, but it was nothing compared to this. The first collar Chad gave Tori was black with a sterling lock and had a few rubies embedded in it. It was nice by anyone’s standards, but it didn’t hold a candle to the beauty encircling her throat now.
“Why are you still coming here?” Tori asked Chad as she slid over the slick stool at the end of the stainless steel bar, the dull purple neon from the floor illuminating her legs.
“Because you haven’t agreed to leave with me yet,” Chad answered, holding up his tumbler for another whiskey. “When you do, I‘ll have no reason to come back.”
“You don’t get it, do you?” Tori twirled the melting c
hunks of ice around the bottom of her empty glass.
“Get what?”
“This is who I am, Chad. It’s what I am.” She lifted the glass and sucked what was left of a cube between her lips, catching it with her front teeth. Ice was one of her favorite playthings.
Chad would probably bolt at the sight of what Rio did with ice cubes behind closed doors.
“And I’m trying to understand it. On some level I do, more than you know…” Chad drifted off and looked over Tori’s shoulder toward the dance floor. “Are you going home with Rio again?”
“I don’t go home with anyone from here,” Tori admitted. “I do what I want here and leave it here.” She rubbed the lock on her collar between her forefinger and thumb, wondering if she’d ever find someone that completed her enough to close it. “Do you know what this means?”
“That you’re unclaimed. Thank God.” Chad removed the swizzle stick from his drink, took a healthy swallow then stuck the thin red plastic between his teeth and chewed on it.
“So?” Tori questioned.
“So as long as it’s open, I still have a chance to be the one to close it.”
“You know what it’ll take,” Tori said, turning away from him and looking out across the dance floor at Rio swaying behind another woman.
He was hip to hip with her, grinding, his hands under her scantily covered breasts, his lips suctioned to her throat. A smile erupted across the woman’s face at something Rio whispered in her ear then he reached up and clasped her lock shut. Extracting her from his frame he spun her, attached his chain to her collar and led her away. Rio had claimed another, demanding her submission.
“Do you love him?” Chad asked, almost sympathetically. When Tori didn’t answer he reached around, tucked his forefinger under her chin and pulled her face gently to his. “Do you love him, Tori?”
“No.”
“Then that shouldn’t bother you.”
“It doesn’t bother me for the reason you think,” Tori said, motioning for the bartender. If she wasn’t going to be satisfied one way, she might as well be satisfied another. A few drinks and she’d take a cab home to her power driven rabbit. It wouldn’t be what she really craved, but something was better than nothing. Right?
“What’s the reason then?” Chad pressured.
“You wouldn’t understand,” Tori told him. She tipped the new drink back, downed half the contents, then slid off the stool. “You gonna sit there all night or go with me to see that woman surrender to Rio?”
Chad looked at the floor then up at Tori. Emotions Tori couldn’t place plagued his eyes but instead of getting up and walking out the door, Chad took her hand and led her through the crowd to the public viewing room where the woman in a red leather micro-mini was placed, facing a St. Andrew’s cross. Rio stood in front of her, his eyes steady and his jaw set, while the man Rio was known to share with brought a cat-o-nine tails down across her left shoulder.
When the tiny steel beads on the ends of the leather strips met her flesh and scraped the surface, Chad’s hand gripped Tori’s tightly and a hint of sweat seeped between their palms. She could have sworn his pulse quickened as he gripped the back of her hand. Was it disgust that elicited the response or was Chad actually becoming aroused?
Tori leaned her head in closer to his shoulder and inhaled. Pheromones flew off the man’s skin, stopping Tori’s heart and stealing her breath. He was aroused. She looked up and saw Chad’s pulse fluttering at the base of his throat and as the woman cried out with the next strike, Tori’s pussy flooded and pulsed, grasping at nothing and demanding to grasp something—
anything.
“I have to go,” Tori whispered, trying to break Chad’s grip.
“Why? I thought you wanted to watch.”
Chad glanced down at her with his eyes ablaze and his nostrils flared. While Tori’s breath was stalled in her chest, his was coming in choppy gasps.
“I can’t. Not tonight,” she croaked and tried again to break free of his clutch.
“Let me take you home, Tori,” Chad told her. “Give me a chance.”
“I can’t do that either, Chad.” Tori tore her hand out of his and turned to run only to find herself pressed into the cold black wall behind them, Chad’s erection riding up the small of her back.
“Let me in, Tori. We could be so good together if you’d just let me in.” Chad’s breath was hot in her ear and Tori’s knees buckled. Another snap of the cat-o-nine tails sang in the background and another cry followed. Tori’s pussy went from clenching to tightening so hard it ached.
“Please don’t do this, Chad. You know there are far too many reasons for us to not do this.
You can’t give me what I want and I don’t fit in your world either. In more ways than one,” Tori tried to reason, squirming beneath Chad’s much bigger and stronger body. Although her resolve to escape was rapidly melting as his tongue slid easily across her collar bone.
“God, Tori, you smell so good.” Chad pressed further into her and blew across the damp skin he’d just assaulted with his tongue, sending prickles along Tori’s entire body. “Baby, please, what’s it gonna take to get you to give in?”
“You have to take me.”
“Let me.”
“My way,” Tori insisted in frustration over clenched teeth.
Chad nearly growled then backed away from her. Before Tori could turn, she felt him leave.
Tears stung the corners of her eyes as she made her way through the club, ran out the front door and hailed a taxi.
Leaving the mirror, Tori walked back over to the garments that hung from the closet door and buried her face in their folds. Desire raced through her body and her heart skipped a beat.
Dear, God it was going to be tortuous waiting for Chad to return. Why oh why did he opt to leave this gift knowing he wouldn’t be here to help her enjoy it for two more days? Talk about pain. The man could inflict it without ever laying a thing to her skin. Not that he would anyway.
Tori let go of the pliable fabric and reached down, rubbing her palm between her thighs. It wouldn’t take much to take the edge of this insane need. She unbuttoned the fly on her jeans and slipped her hand between her panties and her skin, sending her fingers between her pussy lips. Two strokes along her slickened clit and she stopped. Wasn’t waiting and anticipation two of the best things Chad had taught her? She turned away from the closet door and walked back to the mirror. Carefully she took off the collar then laid it back on her pillow with the other things. She picked up the envelope and started to open it, but was interrupted by Rhianna’s
“Only Girl” resounding from her cell phone, J.C.’s signature ring. The one J.C. made all her friends put on their phones. She was quite a diva when she wasn’t playing Domme.
“Yes, my love,” Tori answered, sinking into the lounger in front of the sliding glass doors where she had a perfect view of the Willamette River.
“Oh, my darlin’ Tori. I miss you, honey. Happy anniversary by the way—are you coming to Vertigo?” J.C. always cut to the chase.
“I’m not sure what we’re doing this time. Chad flew out on business this morning but he left one hell of a gift behind. One I wish he was here to help me break in,” Tori told her friend and glanced back at the closet door. Feeling the pull in her womb again, she turned back to the river and took a breath. She reached up and stretched a long blond strand through her fingers.
“So, you like the red, huh?”
“How do you know what color it is?”
“I helped pick it out.” J.C. laughed. “That collar cost a fortune. He wouldn’t tell me where he was taking you though. I wish it were Vertigo. You know I love giving you a good lashing while he watches. He’s hot as hell. I can’t believe he won’t give in and live the life all year ‘round.”
“I wish he’d give in and be the one doing the lashing,” Tori retorted. “I know he gets off on watching, but shit. I wanna know what it’s like to be under his hand for once.”
<
br /> “I think he wants to. I’ve always thought that. I think he holds back.”
“No. He’s said a lot times he just doesn’t have the stomach for it.”
“I’m not so sure. Have you ever really looked at him when he’s watching? There’s desire in his eyes, but I think it’s more than you understand,” J.C. said.
“Well, if it is, which I doubt, he’s never going to act on it.”
“So, he’s gone and you’re alone on your anniversary. Wanna come out and play?”
“J.C., don’t tease me like that,” Tori said, drawing her legs up under her. “You know the rules. No clubs without him.”
“I don’t know what his problem is with that. You’re faithful and you’d wear your lock closed like a good girl. What’s the harm in coming out for a few drinks and some harmless voyeurism?
You’re married but hell, you aren’t dead.”
“You know why. You want my name in a tabloid next week?” The thought of that put a cold ball of dread in Tori’s core. Chad would die. “I’m surprised it never happened while he was sneaking around the club before he finally got nerve enough to take me.”
“I don’t think nerves were ever the problem, Tori. It was never a question of being able to take you. I think he had to think long and hard about how he wanted to take you.”
“How many ways are there?” Tori countered. “Not enough to agonize over that damn long.”
“It has been four months, hasn’t it?” J.C. laughed again.
“Good bye, J.C.,” Tori said and stood. “Love you girl, but can’t talk about how long it’s been right now. My entire bedroom smells like a tanners shop.”
Tori shook her head as she hung up on her friend who was still laughing at Tori’s discomfort.
J.C. knew full well what the smell of leather did to Tori. Goading her about it only added to Tori’s anxiety. A bath. That’s what Tori needed. A long, hot bath.
Chapter Four
