Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Sophie
My stomach plunges as the elevator descends.
I can’t believe I’m doing this. Why, oh why, aren’t I demanding that they take me home?
Since I’m not sure I want to know the answer to that question, I shove the unwelcome thought aside.
Back in the foyer, Miss Watson is helping others, and Caleb pushes open the massive door that I noticed earlier.
The bass thumps up through my heels, vibrating into my calves and higher, in a way I don’t expect.
Long shadows are cast across the cavernous space, and the air is thick with scents of leather, a hint of incense, sweat, and raw arousal.
Moans echo from every direction—layered, broken, needy—punctuated by the sharp crack of palms meeting flesh in rhythmic spankings.
Everything, every detail, cuts me off from my ordinary life and plunges me into something completely unexpected.
My breath comes in full, deep pulls as Lucian guides me forward, his palm firmly at the base of my spine. “We’ll give you a few minutes to acclimate.”
The three of us pause near a wide leather bench where a submissive woman pouts and squirms away from her Dom’s hands with deliberate, sparkling defiance.
Still, she’s arching her body toward him even as she twists, clearly craving the attention her behavior demands.
Is this what Piper was talking about when she mentioned bratting?
The Dom captures her wrists in one large hand, pinning them above her head with effortless strength.
He cracks his palm sharply against her bare ass, each swat firm and measured, turning her skin a deepening pink.
She gasps and wriggles, but there is no real fight—only playful challenge met with steady dominance. He pauses to stroke her heated flesh, fingers dipping between her thighs to tease her, making me stifle a moan.
Lucian’s breath brushes my ear, his body pressing closer so I feel the hard line of him against my hip. “There are many ways to handle a brat.” His rich and intimate voice slides through me.
Then Caleb speaks. “Bratty behavior is often a request for attention. It can be generously given…or skillfully withheld until she’s aching for it.”
I shake my head.
I would never want to be in that woman’s position. Never.
And yet…
“Watch,” Lucian commands, as if I could ever look away.
The Dom continues to spank the submissive, and her protests become tiny whimpers of need.
He strokes a finger inside her.
Despite myself, I remember the way Lucian did the same to me.
He brings her to full arousal, until her body goes still, as if she’s on the verge of an orgasm.
And then he pulls his hand out, denying her, the same way Lucian had done to me.
I ache for the woman, knowing how awful it feels.
On and on this goes, until I ask Lucian if he’s going to refuse her orgasm all night.
“Potentially.”
This is a dynamic I’m not sure I can ever understand.
Caleb leans in closer. “Or he may make her climax a dozen times until she’s too weak to come anymore.”
That scares me even more.
This truly is an alternate reality.
Despite myself, I can’t look away.
And unbelievably, horribly, I start to imagine myself in her place, helpless, desperate, so turned on I don’t even know what day it is.
“Shall we?”
Lucian and Caleb lead me deeper into the space. The dungeon’s scents intensify around us: leather, pleasure, power. Moans and sharp spanks form a constant soundtrack that drive my pulse.
We watch scene after scene. And as much as I hate it, I feel myself captivated by the push and pull of the relentless dominance and sweet submission.
And it’s not just from the club.
It’s from Caleb and Lucian’s presence.
I was sure I’d be the last person on the planet to find any of this intriguing, but I’m on sensory overload.
The air-conditioning whispers over my heated skin. The music’s reverb thumps through my entire being, and my heart is pounding with nervous energy and a dark, frightening, unfurling need.
Maybe an hour later, when I’m not sure I can take it anymore, Lucian backs me into a corner. I’m helpless, boxed in by two massive, overwhelming men exuding primal, possessive intent.
Lucian captures my chin, his fingers firm and warm as he tips my head back. He holds my gaze captive as he leans in a little closer, and I’m terrified that he can see every one of my fractured thoughts, every desire I’m desperate to keep hidden.
When he speaks, his words are for me and me alone.
“Our beautiful Sophie… How would you like us to handle your most recent transgression?”