Secrets After Dark

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Secrets After Dark Page 11

by Sadie Matthews


  My anger diminishes as I see it from his point of view: he’s a famous man, a rich man, who can trust nobody. Here, masked, he’s unknown, like everyone else, not having to judge motives, watch his back, or worry that he’s being furtively filmed or whispered about. I realise suddenly how attractive that must be. This is ridiculous – now I’m feeling sorry for him! He shouldn’t have spoken to me in that way but...

  I gaze into my drink thoughtfully, and look up to find his blue eyes on me. ‘We can stay a little longer,’ I say. ‘You don’t have to hurry away on my account. I don’t want to spoil your evening. We have only just arrived, after all.’

  Before he can reply, there is a movement outside and two people enter the cave, a man and a woman, both masked. As soon as they are inside, the woman says, ‘Andrei’ in a deep purr, and I recognise Anna Poliakov. A burning breath opens up my lungs as I look at the man beside her. His dark eyes are almost impossible to make out behind his black mask, but they glitter in a way I know very well, and instantly I recognise the graceful shape of his nose, the full lips with their faintly pirate look, and the beautiful broadness of his shoulders. I look at his hands. There is no mistaking him. It’s Dominic.

  My heart begins to beat wildly, my breath coming short and hot. I’m staring at him but he’s barely glancing at me. Why would he? He has no idea I’m here. Anna is taking his attention as she sits down and leans over to brush her scarlet lips across Andrei’s cheek. She looks ripe and voluptuous in a strapless black gown that pushes her breasts up high into ivory mounds and clings to her every curve. Dominic is watching her as she presses close to Andrei, who is returning her kiss.

  She’s so beautiful. Doesn’t Andrei see it or feel it? I’m surprised any man can resist her.

  An awful thought comes into my head. The last two times I’ve seen Dominic, he’s been in Anna’s company. They are obviously spending a great deal of time together, and now he’s observing her as she sits close to Andrei, his mouth set and his eyes glittering. It looks as though he can’t take his eyes off her, and as though he’s eaten up to see her so close to Andrei.

  A fiery jealousy suddenly burns in my stomach. She is so gorgeous and Dominic is as red-blooded as they come. Can he really resist her? Or has she managed to dazzle him with those exotic looks and her obvious sensuality? I’m horrified at the idea but I can’t shut it out once it’s taken root in my imagination.

  Andrei looks up at Dominic. ‘Hello, you made it.’

  ‘Good evening, Andrei,’ he returns, polite but emotionless. ‘I’m very glad to be back. Siberia is not my favourite place in the world.’

  ‘You need a drink,’ Andrei says with a grin, and he lifts a small golden bell from the table and rings it. A girl in a black cat-suit and black eye mask appears at once. ‘Champagne,’ he says. ‘Very cold.’ As she disappears to obey, his gaze falls on me. ‘I nearly forgot. I’ve brought a companion for the evening, the newest member of my team. You remember Beth Villiers, the little art expert who joined us in Croatia?’

  Anna says, ‘Of course. How charming, you look wonderful, Beth. I would never have recognised you in that magnificent mask – and what a pretty dress.’

  But I’m watching Dominic. At Andrei’s words, he’s stiffened and is staring down at me, his lips slightly parted in astonishment. I can tell he’s fighting for control.

  Why is it, Dominic? I feel as though my insides are curdling. Because you don’t want me here, spoiling your chances with Anna? Or are you two already together, and it’s torturing you to watch her cosying up to Andrei?

  Don’t let your imagination run away with you, cautions a voice in my head, but I’m already past caring as scenarios zoom past my mind’s eye, of Dominic and Anna together.

  ‘Yes, of course, I remember Beth,’ Dominic says slowly. I can see that his fists are clenched, the knuckles white. ‘Nice to meet you again.’

  So here we are. I don’t think this is what you want, is it, Dominic? You’d prefer to keep me well away from Andrei and Anna. Your little secret. I say softly, ‘You too.’

  ‘Where is that champagne?’ demands Andrei, just as the cat-suited girl returns with a tray holding an ice bucket with a champagne bottle and four glasses. In a moment, she has put down the glasses and opened the bottle. The pause gives me time to get back a little control, and Dominic looks infinitesimally more relaxed.

  ‘Darling, such a time we’ve had!’ cries Anna, tossing back her long dark hair. ‘The negotiations were the most strung out I’ve ever experienced. But in the end, we got everything you wanted. Are you pleased?’

  ‘Very pleased,’ Andrei says, handing out the glasses of fizzing liquid. ‘We’ll toast your success.’ He lifts his glass and we all follow suit. ‘To iron ore and the Dubrovski mines – long may they flourish.’

  We all lift our glasses and then sip the champagne. It prickles over my tongue. I feel a little light-headed – not surprising considering I’ve just drunk a martini – but I also feel brave and powerful in the middle of my pain. This wasn’t what I wanted but this is how it is. I will wait for Dominic to make the next move.

  Anna is chattering away to Andrei, telling him about the talks with the Chinese. Dominic comes and sits down beside me. We seem to be listening to Anna but actually he is so close that his firm thigh is pressing against mine and I can feel the heat of his body.

  ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ he murmurs into my ear, making everything in me buzz in response.

  ‘Am I spoiling the party?’ I whisper lightly. ‘I’m so sorry if I’m getting in the way.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ he mutters. ‘Why has Andrei brought you here?’

  I don’t say anything, worried that we can be heard.

  ‘Talk to me, dammit. Why are you here with him?’ he hisses, and Anna stops talking and looks over enquiringly. Andrei turns as well.

  Dominic keeps perfect control. ‘I’m afraid that Beth is finding our business talk a little dull. I’ll take her out and show her around the party while you two catch up. I’ll bring her back safely, don’t worry.’ His hand closes round my arm, tight as a vice, and he pulls me to my feet. Only I can feel how hard he’s doing it but I manage to bite back an exclamation of pain.

  Before the others can say anything, he has manoeuvred me across the room and out in to the passageway. Once we’re outside, he drops all pretence and properly yanks me along the path. People are milling about and he bumps us both past them without apology, and onwards to a quieter part of the caves.

  ‘You’re hurting me,’ I protest. His hand is still gripping my arm hard, his fingers digging into my skin. ‘Let go!’

  ‘You’re coming with me,’ he says through clenched teeth. The next moment we have stopped in front of an area curtained off from the main passageway. A girl in a cat-suit and mask, like our waitress, is standing outside. ‘We’re going in,’ he snaps at her. ‘I want privacy. No one else to come in, do you understand?’

  The girl nods and draws back the curtain. Dominic pulls me inside with him. We’re in a large cave furnished with an enormous bed, big enough for at least half a dozen people. There are mirrors everywhere reflecting its broad expanse, and surrounding it are smaller places for sitting and reclining, covered in cushions. I take it all in, slightly horrified. So there are orgies here, obviously – for those who like to take part and those who like to watch. But we do not stop. Dominic takes me through the room and to a door on the opposite side. He opens it and we go in. Now we are in a smaller cave, hung with blue silk and twinkling with electric stars in the ceiling. Here are toys of a kind I’ve seen before: whips and ticklers, floggers and paddles, all laid out on shelves or hanging from racks. Here is a different kind of apparatus: not a cosy soft bed, but hard leather seats with stirrups and cuffs; there are bars against one wall, and a cabinet full of more instruments of pain and pleasure. I can’t help the thrill that rolls through me at the sight. It reminds me vividly of my nights of exploration with Dominic.

>   I whirl round to face him. ‘Why are we here?’

  ‘We have to be alone,’ he says. He whips off his mask, then leans forward and pulls mine from my face, discarding them both on the floor. His eyes are burning fury at me and I think my own are sparking in return as we face one another with hostility crackling between us. ‘Now, tell me what the hell you’re doing here with him.’

  ‘What the hell are you doing here with her?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I saw the way you were looking at her! Are you already lovers or are you just hoping it will happen?’ I know I sound a little crazy, but I don’t care. I’m so full of conflicting feelings: anger, and the disappointment of a shattered fantasy, sadness at being cheated of the romance I long for with Dominic, joy at seeing him, the bitterness of jealousy and fear that I’ve lost him. It’s all boiling up inside me, ready to be released. ‘You obviously want her!’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Dominic says, his eyes flaming. ‘Do you mean Anna?’

  ‘Of course I mean Anna. Who else? Or are there others I should be worried about?’

  ‘I should spank you for that,’ Dominic says through gritted teeth. ‘I might be many things, but I’m not a liar or a cheat.’

  ‘So you say,’ I retort. ‘But as you couldn’t take your eyes off her, forgive me if I don’t believe you.’ I feel on the edge of hysteria. It’s too weird to be in this place, now in some kind of play dungeon that takes me right back to the nights we spent in the boudoir when Dominic did such delicious things to me. I know I’m not thinking straight, but I can’t help it.

  He glares at me, his hands clenching.

  Perhaps I’m a little drunker than I realise, but I feel compelled to taunt him, to push him to the kind of emotional place I am in right now. I turn my back on him and slide my hands under the gauzy overskirt of my dress, and raise the short inner shell, pulling it up so that it reveals my bottom. I’m not wearing any underwear because I had nothing suitable to put on when I got changed at Andrei’s earlier. I let the overskirt fall back so that the globes of my buttocks are slightly obscured. ‘Come on then,’ I say, glancing back at him over my shoulder. He is staring at my behind, his lips slightly open. ‘Isn’t this what you want? To spank me? Is that what she lets you do? Is it only other women you can bring yourself to do that to now?’

  He grabs me suddenly, whirling me around and pulling me to him. One of his hands grasps my bottom hard, squeezing it with the vice-like grip he used on my arm. With the other hand, he tips my face upwards so that it’s close to his. I’m staring up at him defiantly, breathing hard.

  ‘I don’t know what you’re playing at, but you’re pushing me too far,’ he says throatily, and he suddenly lifts my overskirt with one hand, pulls back the other and brings the palm down swiftly on my bare bottom, making me jerk against him and gasp as the sting flares out across my skin. Before I have time to think, he’s administered another stinging blow and then another. My bottom is burning, and the sensation startles me out of my slightly hysterical state. Instead it awakens an extraordinary and desperate desire for him. I can feel hot lust flood out within me and the knowledge that he is relishing the feel of my bottom under his palm excites me even more.

  I open my mouth, willing him to kiss me. I’m desperate for his tongue and lips, but he holds back, even though I can see the desire glowing in his eyes.

  ‘Oh, not yet, my rebellious little miss. What’s put this idea into your head? Huh? What makes you think I’m involved with Anna?’

  ‘You haven’t been in touch with me,’ I say, breathless, hardly able to hold my stream of thought with his tantalising nearness. To my surprise, my bottom is itching for another of the hot spankings he’s been administering. They hurt, but in a way that gives me a delicious rush. ‘I didn’t know what to think. And then, when I saw you together twice, and the way you were looking at her...’

  ‘You’re being ridiculous. You have to learn to trust me a little more,’ he murmurs. ‘Anna is a beautiful woman, but I believe we have a rather solid little arrangement of our own, don’t we? You’re the woman for me, and I intend to show you that properly at my leisure very soon.’ His eyes search my face. ‘And besides, what about you?’

  ‘Me?’ Before I have time to anticipate it, his palm comes down hard on my bottom, the pressure forcing me against his body. I can feel his arousal through the dark wool of his dinner suit. Oh God. My belly is full of hot, delicious knots of lust. The harsh prickle across my backside makes me swell with need between my legs. ‘Oh!’ I cry softly, as I cling on to his arms. My legs are going weak.

  Dominic is steady as a rock, and persistent with it. ‘You’d better answer me. What are you doing here with Andrei? It looks far from innocent from where I’m standing. I got the shock of my life when I realised you were with him, dressed like that.’

  He’s not going to give me what I want quite yet, I can tell. I try to gather my scattered thoughts but the sensations rushing through me are almost overpowering. ‘He asked me to come – I said yes because I thought you might be here.’

  ‘Has he tried anything?’ Dominic snaps.

  I shake my head. The stupid conversation over dinner was just talk, inappropriate flirtatiousness that I knocked on the head. There’s no need to upset Dominic over it. ‘He hasn’t laid a finger on me, and he won’t either. I wouldn’t let him.’ I let myself fall against him. ‘Oh God, Dominic, I need you so much.’

  ‘I need you more,’ he says, and I can hear the longing in his voice. ‘But we haven’t got much time. He’ll look for us if we’re gone too long.’

  ‘I don’t think I can wait,’ I say, my voice almost a whimper. As if to judge the truth of what I’m saying, Dominic moves his hand from my bottom and rubs it across my damp pubic hair and downwards. His fingers slide across my clitoris and into the wet heat below, making me gasp.

  ‘You’re very ready for me,’ he says, smiling. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever felt you so ready.’ He moves his fingers around as if exploring how aroused I am, and it feels like my whole being is suddenly at the mercy of his teasing fingertips. ‘I don’t know though...’ He rubs his fingers hard over my clitoris and I shudder with the sensations firing off inside me. ‘I can remember some other times when you’ve been this luscious...’

  Suddenly I put my hand over his, stopping him from toying with me. ‘No, stop,’ I pant, hardly able to believe what I’m saying. ‘Not here. Not yet.’

  ‘Don’t you want to?’ he breathes.

  ‘Of course I do,’ I say longingly. ‘But not in here, where anyone might walk in, even though that girl is at the door. It doesn’t feel right.’

  ‘We might not get another chance.’ He smiles. ‘But I know what you mean.’ He finds my lips with his and we share a lingering kiss as he takes his hand away. I moan, regretting my decision, wondering if we should ignore our reservations and satisfy ourselves as we both yearn to, but he’s already pulling my skirt down over my bottom. He picks up our masks and the next moment we’re heading out of the play dungeon and back through the bedroom.

  ‘When do you think we can be together?’ I say breathlessly as we walk quickly out of the private area, passing the girl in the cat-suit who’s been standing guard.

  ‘Later. Let’s get back to Andrei. One of the reasons I haven’t been in touch is that I have a feeling my calls and emails may be monitored. Once I knew you were working for him, I didn’t want to take the risk. Believe me, it’s best if he doesn’t know we’re involved.’ We stop in a passageway, oblivious to masked partygoers pressing past us. Dominic looks deep into my eyes. ‘There’s a very big deal on the horizon. The Siberian one is small fry compared to it. I’m managing it, and my completion bonus will buy me independence from Andrei. I’m setting up on my own after that, and we’ll both be free of him.’

  ‘But why would he care that we’re together? Or that you’re leaving? Surely people leave his employment all the time.’ I remember Marcia’s words about Andrei pay
ing so well, so that people will never want to leave.

  Dominic takes one of my hands in his. ‘You’ve seen a charming side of Andrei. There’s another side, believe me. Territorial. Reckless. Irrational. He’ll take a rejection, any rejection, even someone not falling in love with him or deciding to move to another job, as a sign of betrayal. He could even be jealous of our relationship, if he knew about it. He likes to be centre of the universe and he just can’t help himself.’ He brings my hand to his lips and kisses the knuckles gently. ‘I couldn’t bear to put you in harm’s way.’

  ‘Harm’s way?’ I echo. ‘He wouldn’t hurt me.’

  ‘He might, subtly. He might make life difficult for you. I’ve seen it, I know. You must trust me on this. It’s why I want us to play it safe, only for another few weeks, I promise.’

  ‘And us?’ I ask quietly. ‘Are we all right?’

  He leans towards me and says huskily, ‘If you mean, am I faithful to you, then the answer is yes.’

  ‘But the other things, the issues about wanting to hurt me, about feeling like you betrayed my trust... have you worked through it?’ I search his face, wanting reassurance.

  ‘Beth...’ He releases my hand and strokes his own across my face. ‘I want that more than anything. We need some time and space to discuss things properly, not here in this madhouse. The good news is that I’m back in London while this deal is settled.’

  ‘Really?’ Joy surges through me. ‘You’re back?’

  He nods, smiling. ‘I was going to surprise you, but you managed to turn the tables on that one, rather more effectively than I could have guessed.’

  I wrap my arms around him and hug him tightly. ‘Oh Dominic, that’s amazing. How wonderful. I’m so happy.’

 

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