Chapter 21
21
I nara
I’ve just finished my drink when a club attendant arrives to escort me to St. James. I follow them to a private elevator.
While I sat at the bar, my trepidation grew. I kept checking my texts, wondering if Rex would check in. I’m having second thoughts about meeting St. James. Rex won’t like it, not that I care. But any man in business with Rex is sure to have his own agenda. I don’t want to get caught in a power play. Let the lions roar at each other over my head as long as I’m not the poor prey they’re fighting over. That’s a sure way to end up getting torn apart.
The elevator doors close, but instead of rising, we descend to the lowest level, where the playrooms are.
I don’t like this.
The elevator doors open, and I don’t move.
“Last door on the left,” the attendant tells me. “He’s waiting for you.”
Shit fuck. The last door on the left is the same one where I meet Rex.
I don’t like this at all.
I could turn around and leave. Stand St. James up. See if he’ll take my calls and answer my questions over the phone.
But I’m here now. I might as well see it through.
I open the door.
At first glance, there’s no one here. I step further into the room when a familiar scent hits me, and a deep voice swallows me whole.
“Hello, little bird. Did you miss me?”
* * *
Rex
She whirls around, eyes flashing. I’ve positioned myself between her and the door, blocking off her escape.
“What are you doing here?” she demands. She’s wearing the coat I sent her. Underneath is a purple top and a tight leather skirt. They’re all clothes I’ve bought her, and I take some pleasure in that.
But she’s worn them to a meeting with St. James, and that I cannot abide.
“Surprised to see me? This is our place, after all.” I advance on her, and she has the good sense to back up. Color flares in her cheeks, and her eyes darken as I crowd close. I can see my reflection in her pupils. I look cold, angry. I’m looking at her like she’s a stranger.
“How did you know—” she bites off her question. “You’re tracking my phone,” she mutters to herself. “Of course you are. How else are you watching me? Is Ivan still following me around? Are there cameras in Hotel Magnifique?”
All of the above. “I watch over you by any means necessary.”
“Because you’re a fucking stalker.”
I seize the lapels of the coat I gave her so she’d be warm in the frozen nights of my city. She tenses but lets me peel the coat off her shoulders, revealing bare skin. I force the coat down to her elbows so it pins her arms by her sides. Her chest rises and falls rapidly, responding to the bondage.
“Yes. I am. And you’ve been very naughty, little bird. Are you ready to submit to your punishment?”
“Never.” She wriggles, and I let her shuck off the coat, if only to enjoy the jiggle of her breasts in the tight top.
The sweater top she’s wearing is cut to leave her shoulders bare but has a mock neck that looks like a choker attached to the bodice with a metal ring. I had it designed this way. It’s one step removed from being a collar with an O-ring. She needs to get used to wearing something snug around her throat.
She’ll look good in my collar. She’ll have to earn it, of course, but she will. Soon.
“You look beautiful.”
“What, your spies didn’t report what I was wearing?”
“No need.”
“Right. Because of all the cameras.”
“All the better to keep you safe.”
“I didn’t ask you to do that.” She thumps my chest, catching me by surprise. From the way she blinks, she’s surprised herself, too. I catch her wrists, and she glares up at me. At least she’s not afraid.
No, the way her heady scent rises between us, she’s aroused.
I duck my head to better breathe her in. “You’re in trouble.”
“I know that. I have a giant billionaire haunting my every move. Leaving bodies all over the city.”
“Is that why you came to meet St. James?” Heat fills me at the thought of her in the same room as him. “Did he promise to keep me away from you?”
“No.” She struggles, but I tighten my grip. I could slide my hands up, press my thumbs into tender spots above her elbows, and incapacitate her with pain. For a moment, I’m tempted. I want to hurt her like she’s hurt me.
But I keep control of my anger. It’s easy to leash the beast, knowing I’ll be able to channel my sadism into a scene. I’m already in dom space, where I notice every flinch of her forehead or flick of her eyelashes.
“I wasn’t going to do anything with him,” she growls, clenching her fists. Spitting rage, she’s glorious. “I was just going to ask him questions.”
“Did you expect him to hand you evidence about my crimes just like that?” I want to laugh at the naivete. “St. James is the last person you should expect to help. His crimes are more numerous and sordid than mine.”
She goes still at this. “Figures anyone you’re in business with is also a criminal.”
It did occur to me that siccing the cops on me could give St. James more room to maneuver, but I have plenty of evidence of his dealings outside the law as part of a secret society called Fraternitas. If he tries to frame me for something, I can release something equally or more damaging, and he knows it. We work well together, comfortable in the knowledge that any move against the other will result in mutually assured destruction.
“St. James is one of the worst of those I associate with. Although not as bad as the Chief of Police or the mayor.”
She presses her lips together. She doesn’t like being reminded of the corruption a large city like this runs on.
She flexes her forearms a second before wrenching herself backward. I allow her enough room to struggle, all while keeping hold of her with laughable ease. The way her eyelids fall to half-mast tells me that she’s enjoying this as much as I am.
“If he’s so bad, why do you own a sex club with him?”
“You’ve heard the saying, ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’” I yank her into my arms and seal our bodies together. “It’s advice you’d do well to follow.”
“I don’t want to. I don’t want you.” But she arcs her body, rubbing against me. I splay my hands across her back, holding her like we’re dancing.
“No?” I bend to cup her backside and pull her body more firmly against mine. My dick swells in my slacks, throbbing. I embrace the ache. “Is that why you keep coming to me?”
“I didn’t come here for you.”
“All roads lead to me. You should know that by now.”
She scoffs. “Maybe I should be asking you why you’re here. Were you meeting another submissive? Were you going to dom them?”
Is she jealous? “Never, little bird. There’s no one else for me. Only you.”
Her lashes flutter. Is she pleased by that admission?
“Admit it,” I say.
“What?”
“You’re glad to see me. You hoped I would be here.”
Her lower lip juts out, plump and tempting. I want to bite it. “I’m gathering evidence against you.”
“And how’s that going?” I taunt her for the thrill of watching her bite back a snarl. “The only things you know are what I reveal to you. What I allow you to know.”
“Maybe I’m profiling you. Sadistic, narcissistic billionaire with no real friends seeks victims.”
“Your profile needs work.”
“Gods, no wonder this club is the main place you hang out. The only people who can stand you are masochists.”
“That’s why you keep coming back.” I drop my head, brushing my lips along her jaw. The fighting we do is just foreplay.
She doesn’t pull away, and I keep taking liberties, nuzzling her soft skin. I hook a finger into her hair tie and free her tight ponytail. Her hair is a thick black rope, perfect to use as a leash to control her. I turn her head this way and that, and she lets me. Her eyes are closed.
I press a kiss to the corner of her mouth, and she sucks in a breath. “No.”
“No?”
Her eyes are pure black now. She tries to drag her gaze to mine but can only stare at my mouth. “I don’t want this.”
“No?” I shift my hands on her back, giving her room to escape. She doesn’t budge. “Are you so afraid of what’s between us?”
“There’s nothing between us.”
“There’s everything.” I slide a hand up to take a handful of her hair. “I’ll prove it. Let me prove it to you.” Our breath mingles for a moment, and I nuzzle at her lips, opening her slowly. She?—
“No!” She snaps her head to the side, avoiding my lips.
I’m so sick of her denying this. Denying us. “Yes.” I take a firmer hold of her hair.
Her breath catches. For a moment, she’s liquid in my arms. Then?—
“Elyria.”
* * *
Inara
He releases me so quickly I wobble on my high heels. A touch on my arm steadies me, but then he’s across the room, half-turned to the wall.
I already miss his touch.
“I—” I don’t know what to say.
He runs a hand down his face. He’s not looking at me. “You can go. If that’s what you want. I won’t hunt you anymore.”
“Are you going to watch over me?”
He shakes his head, but I know he’s not going to back down. “Don’t ask me to stop. I don’t think I’m capable of it.”
I told him I’ve been profiling him, and I am. How does a little boy who loses his parents at such a young age cope?
He’s become hyper-vigilant. Trying to control everything and everyone around him. Using the billions at his disposal to make the world safer.
“I need to understand,” I say. “I don’t understand.”
He waits for me to unravel my thoughts.
“You made me feel things. But you’re not the man I thought you’d be. I need to know. . . how did I get it so wrong?”
“You aren’t wrong. Everything between us has been right.” He looks back at me. The light gilds his perfect profile.
“Obviously not. Since I lost my family, I’ve had the ability to just know things.” I don’t know how to describe my abilities. I’ve never tried to explain them to anyone. “I have. . . instincts. About people. People who kill. I’ve never doubted myself. Until now.”
“Is that what you’re searching for? Proof that you can trust yourself?”
I let out a shaky breath. It sounds so simple, the way he puts it. And stupid.
He turns fully toward me. “Then I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything.” The warmth is back in his voice, and it’s like turning my face to the sun.
“Really?”
“I can give you the truth.”
He wants me to know him. But I’ve been in this place before. “No games?”
He shakes his head. He seems weary, and I’m wary of that. The most dangerous man is one with nothing left to lose.
But I do trust him.
Gods, help me.
“All right then. Tell me.”
“Not here.”
I suppress a sigh. Here he goes, adding caveats.
He heads to the wall and opens a hidden panel. A button beeps, and an entire section of the wall—the part holding a section of implements—glides forward with a beep. It slides to the side, showing a dark doorway lit with an eerie blue-green light.
“What is this? Where does it go?”
“Somewhere we can’t be overheard.”
I glance around, scanning the corners of the room for cameras. If the room does have them, I can’t see. I look back at the door. “Do all the playrooms have secret passages?” I ask, stalling.
“Only the ones I designed.”
Am I really going to go down a creepy passageway with him?
I don’t think my curiosity will let me sleep tonight if I don’t.
Rex is right. There’s something about him. Us. I can’t deny it, even if I want to.
“Inara,” he calls my attention back to him. “Come.” He extends his hand. I don’t move. “Little bird. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
“Can I get that in writing?”
His expression lightens. He knows he’s got me if I’m snarking back. And he’s right. I’ve already made my decision. “Would it help you to trust me? I’ll call my lawyers at once.”
“Just like a billionaire to need a contract for any basic human interaction,” I mutter and clop past him through the door.
There’s a short hallway lit only with that eerie light.
“Careful.” He catches my elbow. “Stairs.”
I let him guide me forward down the dark stairs, another hallway, and another set of stairs.
I would make a “Is this where you torture and hide the other bodies” joke, but my throat has closed. The air has a slight chemical scent to it. Antiseptic? Poison?
Maybe this is where he keeps his victims.
We come out to an open area, and I gasp.
We’re in a cavernous room, the center of which is filled with a set of illuminated pools. The only light is from their turquoise depths.
“A bathhouse?” My voice bounces off the tile. Rows of teak chaise loungers line the walls, along with shelves of folded towels. The place is empty, but it’s big enough for a hundred-person mermaid-themed orgy.
“It’s perfect for my needs.”
I walk to the largest pool. The air is balmy, so the water must be heated. “For a late-night swim?”
“And other things.”
Across the room, Rex opens a hidden panel on the wall and presses a button. I half expect the pool to open and a sea monster to come out. Instead, the air around me ripples. The hair on my arms rises like I’ve been shocked with static.
“What was that?”
“Anti-surveillance technology. Patented by the military contracting arm of Roy Enterprises.”
“Knight Corp,” I recall the name of the company.
“Exactly. I told you I’d tell you everything. This will make sure no one can listen in.”
“You think your playroom is bugged?”
“If I were St. James, I wouldn’t let an opportunity like that pass me by. I have it swept every so often. But this way, I can be sure.” He paces to the side of the pool. We’re on opposite sides, our reflections rippling between us. “Now. Strip.”
“Excuse me?” Heat rises between my breasts.
“You heard me.”
“I thought you said no games—” My voice dies as he shrugs off his suit jacket and lays it on a nearby lounge chair.
“I did, and I meant it. But I need to be sure you’re not wearing a wire.”
“Seriously?”
He undoes his cufflinks and rolls up his sleeves.
At the sight of his veined forearms, my mouth goes dry.
He slips off his belt and makes a show of winding it around his palm. “Do you need help?”
“No.” I turn away and peel my top over my head, taking care to slip off the collar. The leather skirt is more of an issue. It’s tight, and the zipper snags. “Next time you buy me a wardrobe, make sure I can reach all the zippers on my own.”
“Or I can make sure I’m always available to undress you.” His voice comes from a few feet away. I glance over my shoulder and get a view of thickly muscled shoulders and a set of powerful pecs.
“No,” I yelp. “Go back to your side.”
He chuckles.
I get the zipper down and wave my arms to show my bra and underwear. “Happy?”
“Very. But as much as I love the sight of you in the lingerie I choose, this conversation only happens when you’re naked. Keep stripping.” His velvet voice tempts me to look at him. I know he’s naked and enjoying the show.
I’m soaking wet, and I’m not even in the water.
I wriggle out of my undergarments and toss them on top of the pile. I head to the edge of the pool and pause to gather my hair. He tossed away my hair tie, but maybe I can improvise so I don’t get my hair wet.
I’ve piled it onto my head when he barks an order.
“No.” His voice comes from a distance. He’s back at the other side of the pool. “Leave it down.”
I let my hair tumble down my back. I don’t want him coming over here or insisting on a cavity search. It’s bad enough we’re both naked in this exotic, private space.
I keep my eyes down until I’m neck-deep in the pool. The warmth embraces me, and I dance to the center, enjoying the buoyancy. Then there’s a small splash, and the water ripples toward me.
I raise my gaze. Rex stands a head taller than me. He’s so beautiful, his dark features caressed by the low light. The heat in his gaze sets the temperature to boiling. My knees buckle, and I almost slip under the water.
He paces toward me. For a moment, I’m afraid he’ll keep coming until he has me in his arms. If he holds me again, I will lose myself to him.
But mercifully, he stops a few feet away. We’re face to face, alone in this huge space.
No clothes. No wires.
Nothing between us.
Once again, he has me where he wants me, and gods, I can’t help it. This is the only place in the world I want to be.
“Now,” he says. “Where were we?”