Chapter 7
Miles
I said I would leave Emma alone, but my intentions went right out the window the moment she stepped into the restaurant for speed dating. Em put everyone to shame in the black getup she called a dress. Mesh from her breast to the top of her belly gave a peek at the soft skin underneath, and she quickly became the fantasy of everyone in the room. Except for Terrence, who clocked Justice coming in and walked off adjusting himself.
My dick bricked to the point of pain at Emma. Watching her. Wanting her.
She is perfection. Thick lips. High cheekbones. Ample breasts. Hips for days. Physically, Emma is in a league of her own, but she’s more than just her looks. Her thick mahogany hair swayed across her back as she scanned the room, sizing up the men who’d sit before her. Men worthy of her time might think they’re in control, but Emma already made the decision to let them pursue her. She’s calculated. Intentional. Precise.
None of that matters. No one can satisfy her the way I can—and will. Emma never found someone who can keep up with her, and I’m up for the challenge. The draw to her is too strong to not taste her again after years of staying away.
Tonight I decided to go against logic and the sirens warning me that whatever happens will change the trajectory of whatever it is we are. If T and Jay actually go through with their divorce, there won’t be a reason for Emma and I to see each other. We can have tonight if we keep our distance after.
“Bro, are you pouting?”
“Shut up.” Terrence sucks his teeth and swivels back to the mini bar in the dining area of his room. He ditched his button-down and jeans from speed dating for a white tee and joggers. I’m still in my slacks and loafers but swapped my turtleneck for a black shirt. I meet Em in less than an hour, but I had to hit him up to make sure he’s good. He’s been nursing the same manhattan since I got here over an hour ago.
Bro hasn’t been right since yesterday’s whiskey tasting, where he saw Justice flirting with that bartender Emma was with. Jay only acted out of pocket because she thinks T is with Madison. In his defense, he and I hit up the tasting together. It wasn’t a good look that Madison happened to find us, and the optics weren’t in his favor. That led to an argument, and now Justice is back to pushing for a divorce.
A damn mess.
Terrence traces the rim of his glass and exhales slowly. Bro is going through it. “It’s over. For good this time,” he says after a hard swallow.
What the hell do I say? “Pray on it or something.”
“Pray on it?” His brows bunch.
I shrug. “I know you do, and the shit works for my mama.” Deborah Walker keeps the oil in her pantry stocked for prayer and the best consecrated chicken you’ll taste.
“I fucked up.” Terrence nods to himself, his eyes fixed on the marble countertop. “I let work get in the way of being there for her. Through…” His hand drags over the back of his neck. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Yo, be easy on yourself, bro. You’re a good man who’s not with the bullshit. Just give it time.”
Terrence acts like he was slinging dick across the seven seas. I’ve never seen him love someone and dedicate himself the way he does with Jay. I don’t know the first thing about marriage and won’t pretend I do. Terrence is a better man than me—the best I know, aside from my mentor. He set the bar high on loving the one you’re with. Not that I’d attempt to reach it.
Commitment isn’t for me, end of story. I don’t have any desire to attach myself to anyone, and I’m not sure I’m capable of giving the love required to do it.
“You’re alright with pep talks when you’re not being an ass,” he teases.
Pfft . “I got range.” We laugh. “Jokes aside, keep your head up.”
Terrence nods. “Thanks.”
I slap my knees and stand. T and I are brothers, but we can only share so many feelings. Guys where we come from weren’t setting examples to follow, so we didn’t.
“I’ll get at you tomorrow.”
“Where you off to?” Terrence lifts off the barstool to dap up.
“To do what I do best.” I smile. “Me.”
I check in with the host once I arrive at Ravenous, recommit to the consent policy, and take a cloak to cover my black slacks and tee. Tonight’s guests crowd around the main stage, where an education on ropes takes place next to performers cascading down poles stationed between silk panels. I follow signs for the meeting rooms and stop in front of a room illuminated in red with matching fabric on the wall. The play space is empty except for wooden crosses on either side of a table where open briefcases filled with leather whips and other accessories lie. My eyes land on a leather chair with stirrups similar to an examination table but with—are those restraints?
What kind of freaky shit goes on in here?
Play parties aren’t a personal kink of mine, but if it’s your ministry, it’s your ministry. I keep sex to the privacy of my meeting place of choice. No one is in here, so it will do. Maybe Em will test drive this chair since she’s on her bullshit.
“You’re late,” I say once she shows. Twenty minutes late.
“You waited.” Emma stands taller in heels that put her below my chin. She drops her purse with a green tag next to the chair. “Come play.” Yeah, she’s on that bullshit, alright.
I drag my tongue over my bottom lip before I pull it between my teeth. Then I close the distance between us until my black loafers touch the tips of her pumps. Her moss-green eyes light with a glow. She knows she’ll pay for her lateness. I let my gaze drag down her cloak. “Careful, kitten.”
My mellow baritone seeps to the edge of my control, and the lines of my face harden as I stare down at Emma. I’m all but breathing fire after warning her not to play in my face. She better think twice about pissing me off.
“What’s in the bag?” I nod to her purse without breaking eye contact.
She widens her stance and crosses her arms to extinguish the heat rising between us. We’re not wearing masks anymore, which gives me a full view of her smooth amber skin over a kissable jaw. “Toys.”
“Get in the chair,” I growl. I got a game her ass can play since she wants to so bad.
Emma settles into the leather pressing firmly at her back and parts her knees to rest against the stirrups. Her fingers curl around the edges of the black satin ties that hold her cloak together and tug. Emma’s eyes darken under the scarlet shimmer of the playroom as I take in the lingerie she wore for the evening. Black lace weaves with satin in a makeshift collar from her neck to her sternum, arching over the thin fabric that covers each breast. A barely visible lace garter belt clips to French thigh-high stockings in black.
Fuck.
Her legs open, dragging the cloak with it. My inhale is sharp, unable to control the yearning to devour every inch. I step forward to touch her but hesitate.
“You okay with my hands on you?” My swallow is audible over the seductive music piping through the ceiling.
Please say yes.
Minutes ago, I was ready to test the limits of Emma’s submission for her being late. Yet one look under this fabric, and I’m singing a different tune.
Emma’s arms reach back for the headrest. She swings her knees open. “Of course,” she says with an evil smile.
“You’re okay with me using toys?”
She closes her eyes and tips up her chin. “Yes.” Emma frowns when I step away.
“Keep your eyes closed,” I command from a distance. I’m back in front of her seconds later, rubbing a thumb over the top of her thigh. My voice drops to a whisper. “Tell me if it’s too much. What’s your safe word?”
The edges of Emma’s mouth lift at my underestimation of her pussy’s stamina. “Vanilla, but I won’t need it. There’s nothing in that bag I haven’t—” The words die on her lips when I set said pussy on fire. Em’s eyes grow two sizes at the riding crop in my hand and the devilish grin on my face.
I tap the leather tongue over her mound. “You were saying?”
“Why don’t you let me smack you in the balls with it and see how you feel?”
“I wasn’t the one who was late,” I chuckle with a shrug. Emma jolts as the tongue slides up and down her seam under lace now soaked and scenting the air. I want to get lost in her, but she needs to learn about me, and quick. “You’re fine, Emma, but that doesn’t mean you can play with me. Be here when I tell you.”
If she’s panting this much from a pussy slap, it won’t be a long night. I’m ready to bust in my pants, and she’s breathing like she sprinted up a flight of stairs.
Emma brushes strands of hair out of her face with a frustrated sigh, one she sucks back in when I lean over her and press my weight—and this bulge—into the chair. She shudders at my lips gliding up the length of her neck. My mint breath licks her skin. “I’m in charge tonight, kitten.” I cup her chin. “Do you trust me?”
I’ve had many partners before, but never any I wanted this much.
She bites her lip and nods.
“Words, kitten. Use them. Do you trust me?”
It surprises us both how quickly her “Yes” comes. Her voice is a husky purr. I don’t know what they put in the drinks at speed dating. I’m still thirsting over the woman who’s been off-limits for fifteen years.
I secure a restraint around her ankle, kiss the skin above it, and secure the other foot. “Can I trust you to keep your hands to yourself? No?” I laugh at her glare and add restraints to Emma’s wrists.
My kitten is spread wide, unable to put hands on me or herself.
My kitten .
Pleasure pools straight to my dick when I skate two fingers up her thighs. “Think you can handle what I’m about to give you?”
“Please.” Emma rolls her eyes and leans back into the headrest. “You’re all talk so far. Don’t bore me.”
A chuckle rumbles in my chest and bends the edges of my face into a wide grin. “Says the one about to nut.” She gasps when my hand cups her pussy, and she fights the impulse to rock into the touch. My thumb massages her throbbing clit. “Your body betrays you.”
Emma’s nipples harden beneath the thin fabric as my other hand kneads her breast. The sting of my pinch heaves her chest as I tend to the other breast.
“Shit, kitten. You’re soaking my hand, and I’m not inside you yet.” I tug the fabric between her pussy, generating friction against the sensitive flesh. Emma bucks forward to rock into the hand that’s palming her and cries out.
Fuck, she’s gorgeous.
She’s damn near convulsing when I slip my fingers inside her panties and taste her nectar.
“Delicious.” I squat to sift through her purse. What the fuck? “Jesus, woman. Leave anything behind at Lowe’s?” I chuckle. She’s got enough bullets and vibrators for ten people.
I pick up the rose but think twice. “I’m not causing no shock therapy,” I mumble. All sorts of shit is in here. Suction devices. Squiggly things. Dildos with spinning accessories. I stall at the hot pink anal beads and look up from her bag. “Remind me why we never got together?”
“ Tonight , Miles.”
“How’d you get all this shit through airport security?”
“Miles!”
“Calm them titties,” I say and stand with a purple and white vibrator that buzzes to life. “You must not get fucked right if you’re packing this much inventory.”
Emma bites the inside of her cheek and looks away. Thought so . Her breath hitches as the vibrator circles her nipples through her bra. It’s on the lowest setting, but it’s turning those pink buds into diamonds as a flush creeps up her neck.
“Can I kiss you?” My voice is a murmur that lacks its usual confidence. The draw to her is unlike anything I’ve ever felt. I don’t put my mouth on anyone I’m with, but I want to with Em.
I run the vibrator down Emma’s stomach and pull out another moan with the toy humming up her breasts. Her hands fist at the heat of her flesh on fire. Desire blazes in her eyes.
“Just one,” she says, out of breath. I waste no time moving her panties to the side and slipping the vibrator into her heat. The steady rhythm rubs over her G-spot with expert precision.
Emma gulps at the tide surging between her legs. It becomes a shockwave when I press my mouth to hers. I grab her by the neck to deepen our kiss, a drugging mix of tongues probing and sucking. It’s a gentle contrast to how I’m fucking her with the vibrator in deep strokes.
Her knees shake, and she shudders under another orgasm I swallow. I pump slow into her pussy, slurping the toy with her juices. Our lips part, and I steady my breathing to take in the woman who has me looking like I swam across the ocean for the hell of it.
“Touch me, Miles,” she pants, spreading her legs as wide as the chair allows. With my eyes on her, I toss the vibrator, glide two fingers inside, and curl to reanimate her G-spot. “ Yes ,” she moans through a kiss, rolling her hips into the pressure building between her legs. “Right there.”
My tongue drags up the center of Emma’s throat as her head falls back. “There’s nothing wrong with toys, kitten, but when you have the right partner, you won’t rely on them so much.” I lick my way back into her mouth. “Come for me again.”
Emma’s muscles tense, parting her lips to set free a moan. My eyes roam over her face with pride. It takes several breaths for her to come down from the high. When she does, she looks behind me. I follow her eyes to find multiple faces in the distance. We’re not alone.
My body is wide enough to cover her from voyeurs, but I make quick work of the restraints and lower her cloak. Once she’s covered, I secure her mask and help her out of the chair, grabbing wipes nearby to clean off the leather surface and the toys we used.
A couple holding hands approaches. “You are exquisite,” the blonde says to us. “Any interest in joining us back in our room?” She nods to the man next to her, who’s eye-fucking me. “He likes to watch.”
“Thank you, but we have to go.” I take Emma’s hand, and soon I’m moving so fast, I have to slow down for her to keep up.
“What’s the rush?” She’s speed walking to keep up.
“Em, I’m all for adventure, but I have limits. Fucking around with them extras from The People Under the Stairs is a good way to never to be seen again.” I smile at her snort. “Plus”—I steal a glance—“I’m not done with you,” I say with a wink.