Chapter Twenty-Seven
QUINN
E ven though we arrived on time, the party was in full swing when we walked through the doors of the Round Tableau building.
Couples danced on the dance floor, their bodies pressed together so tightly I couldn’t tell where they ended and began. It seemed training was going well for the eleven other pairs.
A few had sequestered themselves in the dark alcoves around the room, and I couldn’t help the way my attention pulled there again.
Landon slipped his hand in mine to lead me through the crowded room, and when he saw where my eyes had wandered, his grip tightened on my hand. My breathing hitched as I stared up at him. Asking a question I couldn’t bring myself to voice, I stared transfixed at his lips as they curved into a smile.
“Let’s dance.” He tugged me out into the center of the room, nodding at his fellow Knights as they danced with their Maidens.
I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
Under the chandelier, he stopped and pulled me into his arms, swaying to the music.
The heavy and fast beat drowned out everything around me—except for him, and the way it felt when his hand came around my back, sliding over my hip.
He slipped his leg between my thighs, grazing my clit and snapping me out of the trance I’d fallen into watching him move.
“I wouldn’t have pegged you as a dancer.” I raised my voice so he could hear me, enjoying the way his eyes lit up under the strobing lights.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Maiden.”
Before I could point out why, he spun me around, plastering his chest to my back and pulling my hips against him. He rolled his hips from side to side, taking mine with them, and even though I could dance circles around him, I liked letting him lead.
I dropped my head back on his chest, one arm reaching up to loop around his neck.
He trailed his hand down my arm, fingers running along the curve of my side before finding my hip again. Squeezing lightly, he held me steady as he ground his hips against me. His erection dug into my ass, and the proof that he was as affected by this as I was invigorated me.
I wanted to drop to my knees or pull him into one of those dark alcoves.
The longer we danced, the deeper that desire became.
My breathing tightened, too. The crowded dance floor, combined with the scent of sweat and sex, made me dizzy.
The last thing I wanted was to pull away from him, but I needed to sneak away to the bathroom and use my inhaler before I passed out. Turning around in his arms, I looped mine around his neck and leaned up toward his ear.
“Ladies room,” I said quickly, stifling a cough.
He released me and let me head in that direction, but I sensed him following me off the dance floor. When I reached the restroom, he posted up outside the door. I couldn’t help but run my eyes over him before I went inside.
Desire rushed through me when he did the same.
But it evaporated when two girls I recognized stood in front of the bathroom mirrors.
“Oh look.” Vivian smirked at her reflection, reapplying her bright red lipstick. “I thought I smelled something cheap.”
I ignored her, pushing into one of the private stalls.
One of the perks at a Camelot Court party was the bathrooms. Each stall had a full-length door, and when I closed it, the sound of Vivian’s voice muffled slightly.
Since it made sense to multitask, I used the restroom while I pulled my inhaler from the small clutch slung over my body. I waited until the door closed and the girls’ voices disappeared before taking a puff from my inhaler.
Closing my eyes as I counted to ten, I exhaled slowly as I readied myself for a second dose. Just as I took a deep breath in, someone knocked on my stall door.
I dropped the inhaler, wincing as it clattered to the ground.
“Quinn?”
My eyes widened at the sound of Landon’s voice, and I hurriedly wiped and pulled up my panties while I counted to ten in my head. The doorknob rattled and his voice came through again, forcing my breath out in a rush.
“Quinn, are you okay in there?”
I dropped down to scoop the inhaler off the ground. “What are you doing here?”
“Let me in. I have a surprise for you.”
Flustered, I reflexively followed his command and opened the door, realizing a second too late I had my inhaler in my hand. I spun around as he stepped inside, stepping on the lever to flush the toilet as I hastily shoved my inhaler in my bag. Whirling back around to face him, I tried to zip my bag as discreetly as possible.
He titled his head and scrutinized me, his eyes narrowing slightly.
“You scared me,” I panted and ran my hand through my hair, tugging on my scar as I righted the mess my curls had probably become. “What are you doing in the ladies’ room?”
“I wanted to give you something.” He ran his eyes over me. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes! I just—You caught me off guard, that’s all.”
He didn’t look entirely convinced, but I breathed a sigh of relief when he let it go. His eyes sparkled with mischief I hadn’t seen before, and I wanted to know what he was up to.
“Turn around.”
“Wh—What are you talking about? Turn around?”
He nodded, twirling his finger in the air to show me what he wanted. “Face the wall.”
My eyes narrowed suspiciously, but despite the playfulness in his eyes, he had that tone in his voice—the one I associated with an order from my Knight. I turned around and faced away from him.
He took my hands and placed them on the wall, splaying my fingers with his own before running them back down my forearms. When he touched my waist, I jumped. Tugging the material of my dress up and over my hips, he bared my ass and the tiny black thong he’d left with my outfit.
I moaned as his palm stroked over my bare cheek.
He groaned, his fingers kneading my flesh before moving to the other side. “God, I love your ass. It’s fucking perfect.”
My breathing hitched.
It was the first time he’d said something like that, and felt like more than an observation. It hung between us like a confession.
His hand cracked against my bare skin.
I shrieked, the slap sharp enough to sting but not to truly hurt me.
“Do you have any idea how tempting you look in that dress?” His palm soothed over my tender skin as he whispered in my ear. “Do you have any idea how hard I would fight to make you give into me…If you weren’t already mine?”
“Show me,” I panted, trying to turn my head to look at him.
He slapped my ass again. “Eyes on the wall, Maiden.”
I instantly obeyed, a rush of arousal building in my core as his hand soothed over the second sting. Biting my lip, I whimpered when his touch slid lower, tracing the underside of my cheek with his fingers.
“Your ass is perfect. But this…” His hand dipped between my legs, and he growled low in his throat when he felt how wet I already was for him. “This might be my new favorite place in the world. I could live between your thighs and watch you come apart day in…” He slipped one finger inside me, making my legs shake before he slowly withdrew it. “And day out.”
“Landon.”
His name left my lips like a plea, and he fulfilled my unvoiced request by sliding two fingers deep inside me.
Everything inside me tightened, desire coiling low in my belly as I panted for him against the wall. When his thumb circled my clit, I whimpered.
He withdrew his hand before I could buck against it like a wild animal. Rustling came from behind me, and I prayed he was unbuckling his pants so he could fill me with his cock.
A bathroom was as good a place as any to cash in my V card.
Fuck it.
And fuck me —it wasn’t his erection that brushed my clit.
“I told you I brought you a gift.”
He traced my opening with the item in his hand, gathering my wetness over its surface. Covering my hands with his, he pressed them into the wall as he slid something inside me.
I tensed. “Landon?”
With a gentle shush in my ear, he urged me to relax. “Open for me, Maiden. Trust me.”
I let my body relax, allowing him to slide the object all the way inside. It mirrored his fingers pressing deep, while his thumb and a second arm of the toy covered my clit.
My whole body trembled as he pulled his hand away and left it fitted snugly against my pleasure points—inside and out.
When the vibrations started, my knees buckled.
“Oh, god.”
He held my hands firmly on the wall, and his other, clutching a small remote, grabbed my hip to keep me upright.
My eyes rolled back in my head as the vibration directly over my clit nearly drove me straight to climax. But before I could get there, the buzzing stopped.
I whimpered at the loss.
But bigger trouble loomed when Landon’s throaty chuckle rumbled in my ear. “This gift comes with some strings attached, Maiden. One rule you have to follow.”
Swallowing down the rampant need and desire this stirred in me, I steadied my legs and waited for him to go on.
He clicked on the vibrator at a lower setting, and I mewled like a cat in heat as the urge to come tore through me.
I cried out when it cut off abruptly again.
“Are you going to be a good girl and follow the rules?”
“Yes,” I said automatically. “Tell me.”
“You can’t come unless I give you permission.”
He clicked the vibrator on again, this time high enough to make my legs give out.
My body bucked in his hold, desire gathering between my thighs and threatening to run down my legs. I was so fucking turned on—so ready for climax.
I shuddered, trying to hold it off.
“Landon, please.”
“Ah, ah, ah…” he taunted. “Tonight, you can address me as Sir. But we also have a party to get back to. Follow the rules and you’ll get your reward. Remember. Good girls get orgasms.”
He slapped my ass one more time, the combination of his hand and the toy inside me nearly sending me overboard. I clenched my teeth to keep my climax at bay.
“Bad girls get punished.”
Leaving the stall, it wasn’t until the main door to the bathroom swung open and shut that he clicked off the vibrator. My body sagged against the wall, and I pulled in ragged gulps of air as I tried to regain control. I tugged my dress down over my hips when I could finally move.
Every step I took reminded me of his gift. That only he could give me the pleasure I needed. That I was at his mercy.
That I was his.