Chapter 20
Eden
The cocktail was gone in fifteen minutes, and Eden had no idea how she drank it so quickly.
Yet she didn’t care. Once she deposited the empty glass on a hostess’s tray, she kept to water from the dispensers stationed throughout the club.
She wanted all of her mental faculties tonight, especially if she might be making some life-changing decisions based on one night.
Luckily, there was no shortage of people looking her way or engaging with her if she stood still long enough.
Between the ladies who wanted to know where she got her bridal negligee and the gentleman who kindly told her how beautiful she was before he departed, Eden could easily live on nothing but compliments for the rest of the month.
But it wasn’t until she sat on one of the couches in the corner, still making her way to the party in the back, that she was approached by her first hopeful.
“Excuse me,” said a young man in a three-piece suit with the perfect amount of cologne applied to his rosy skin. “Is this seat taken?”
She knew what he was getting at, but didn’t stop him. It wasn’t like she was attached to anyone. Yet.
He sat right next to her, eyes never leaving her. He didn't offer a name.
"Sometimes," he began, his voice cutting through the noise in her head, "you see a vision across a crowded room and the whole world just... stops." He leaned closer. "And you know you have to find out if she tastes as good as she looks."
Eden’s pulse gave a single, hard thump against her ribs. She tilted her head, letting her gaze drift from his eyes down to the knot of his silk shirt and back again. "A bold opening."
"A bold setting requires it," he countered, a ghost of a smile touching his lips. His knee brushed hers. "A place like this... it's for desires you don't speak of in the daylight. For finding what you're really hungry for."
She felt a heat bloom in her stomach. "And what are you hungry for?"
The smile widened, showing his full set of perfectly white teeth.
He lifted a hand, not to touch her, but to trace the shape of her in the air, an inch from her shoulder.
"Something delicate. Something that came right out of your dream world and said hello.
" His eyes dropped to her lips. "I bet you'd be a beautiful scream. "
A shiver traced its way down her spine, sharp and exciting. "You'd have to earn it!” After all, this wasn’t La Mariposa. Eden may have been dressed in white, but she wasn’t a free-for-all to be had by any man who wanted her. Not this time.
"Oh, I would." He finally let his fingers settle on her bare arm. "I'd start by peeling this lace away, inch by inch. I'd want to see what secrets you're hiding underneath. I'd want to see if the rest of you is as perfect as your neck."
Eden's breath hitched. She let her own hand fall to her thigh, her fingers stroking the sheer fabric of her own negligee, mirroring the slow, deliberate way he was touching her arm. She met his gaze, holding it. "And if it is?"
"Then," he said, leaning in so his words were a hot breath against her ear, "I'd have to take you apart. I'd make you beg for it. I'd make you forget your own name before I let you have what you want." His fingers tightened slightly on her arm. "I'd make you mine."
As enticing as that was, she couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m not anyone’s,” she told him. “I’m a free bird who perches on whatever branch she pleases.”
“Then, please.” He put a hand on his heart. “Perch on mine all night long.”
Eden’s laugh was genuine. "A poetic offer," she said, her fingers stilling on her thigh. She gave his arm a light, dismissive pat. "But I'm afraid my flight path is a little unpredictable tonight. Perhaps another night."
He didn't falter, just gave her a short, appreciative nod, his smile unwavering.
"A pleasure to be considered, even for a moment.
" He rose with an easy grace, the picture of untroubled confidence.
"I hope you find exactly what you're looking for.
" Then he turned, melting back into the shifting sea of bodies, already scanning for his next bird.
Eden watched him go. That had been... fun.
A dance of words and wills that left her feeling more alive, more present in her own skin than she had all week.
The phantom pressure of his fingers still lingered on her arm.
The echo of his promises, dark and intoxicating, vibrated in the air around her.
He would make me his, huh? The words, once dismissed, now replayed with a different texture.
Hot, intense sex with a stranger was no longer an abstract concept.
It was a tangible possibility buzzing just under her skin, as real as the pulse of the music.
But then another image cut through the haze.
Benson’s steady, knowing gaze. Liam’s playful, possessive grin.
Where were they? Her eyes scanned the room, a new impatience fueling.
The fantasy was intoxicating, yes, but it suddenly felt incomplete.
What if they were watching from the shadows right now?
Would they have seen that exchange and felt a stab of jealousy? Or something else?
The thought sent a fresh, more potent wave of heat through her.
The idea of Liam’s eyes on her while another man’s hands were on her skin.
The thought of Benson watching her surrender, his arousal a palpable force even from across the room.
It wasn't about belonging to someone else.
It was about the heat they would generate together, a four-way combustion of desire and exhibition.
Suddenly, the anonymous thrill felt pale.
What she wanted wasn't just a stranger. She wanted a performance with the most important audience she could imagine.
She stood, the sheer fabric of her negligee brushing against her sensitive skin.
Time to find the party.
She adjusted the bracelet on her wrist as she went down the back hallway, following the signs for the invitation-only party. A hostess stood outside the door, her dour demeanor not detracting from the way Eden’s heart thundered in her chest.
After introducing herself and showing her bracelet, the hostess checked off her tablet and pulled something out of the bag beside her.
“What’s that?” Eden asked.
Well, she knew what it was. And she knew why the hostess held it like she was about to blindfold Eden. Because she is!
“The Black & White party,” she said with deadpan vigor, “is a blindfold party for anyone wearing white. You’re wearing white, ma’am.”
“I… I had no idea.”
“Only guests in black may go without a blindfold. It was in the invitation you received.”
Not the one I actually received! Okay, who was responsible for this?
I bet it was Benson. He was the type to be a member of this club and get invited to these kinds of parties.
I bet he’s in black! No blindfold for Mr. Takes What He Wants!
Was that the game here? Send Eden in, knowing she’d show up in white, and make her the willing sacrifice for the horny cult inside?
Eden put both hands on her hips. “Is the party going yet?”
The hostess looked like she would rather be clipping her toenails than dealing with this. “It just started about half an hour ago. I’d say about half the guests have shown up.”
“Hmm…”
Before Eden could hold up this woman’s time any longer, another hostess, this one slightly friendlier, came down the hallway.
“I’ll take care of Ms. Brim,” she said, snatching the blindfold from her coworker. The cranky woman shrugged and slipped away from her post, leaving the tablet behind. “You’re Brim, right? You’re on our VIP list.”
“Brim?”
The hostess’s smile slightly faltered as she wrapped the blindfold around her hand. “I’m sorry. I may have mistaken you for someone else.”
Did they sign me up as Brim? Eden coiled some hair around her finger as she sweetly said, “No, no. That’s me. My codename. Sorry.”
“Ah. Wonderful. Well, Ms. Brim, you’re on the VIP list, which means you get to be in the most private part of an already private party. We’re actually short on guests in white tonight, so you should be quite popular.”
“I’m sorry, I’ve actually never been to one of these before.”
“Oh! Well, it’s a very simple scenario. Guests in white are blindfolded, whereas guests in black are not. This encouraged encounters with, uh, strangers.”
“I… see!” Kinda like the Black Light party! But somehow sexier?
“If you’re worried about safety, please note that we have security stationed throughout the room. The safe word is, as always, no.”
“Well, that’s good.”
“And there is a slight bit of light in the room, so guests in black can find their way around. And it’s not like this thing is super opaque anyway.
All of the furniture is very soft. That said, drinks are not allowed outside of the water stations, due to safety concerns.
” She held up the blindfold. “Once I put this on, I can take you to the VIP area.”
“What separates the VIP area from the regular party?”
That grin grew bigger on the hostess’s face. “Very small group of like-minded people. Some of the top VIP that come from all over the world to engage in… discretionary fun.”
“Yeah, that sounds familiar.” Eden turned around. “Fuck me up.”
She had to lift her hair for the hostess to tie the blindfold tight enough around Eden’s head, but once it was on, a shiver rippled down Eden’s arms and straight to her fingertips. Or maybe that was the hostess’s hands lingering on her shoulders before helping her to turn around.
“Right this way, Ms. Brim.”
The hostess held Eden’s hand as they went through a curtain. Here I fucking go. She sure hoped that this was part of the plan, because she had a feeling she wasn’t getting out of this without half of Manhattan putting their hands on her.
God willing.