Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Theodore watched her walk up the twisting pathway.
She wore a long, dark cloak with a hood that absorbed the shadows, and hid her fiery red hair as she made her way into the house.
The music and laughter were deafening; the sexual orgies and encounters flooded through the rooms as they approached their final encounter.
He paced the room with long, graceful strides.
His black robe flowed behind him. He still wore the mask, would wear it until the final hour of the clock, and then she would know his identity.
Would she draw back with shock and disgust?
Would she throw away the moments they experienced these past nights because he was flesh and blood, and not her billionaire fantasy?
Did she want to continue this relationship?
Did she have feelings for him – the real him - her best friend Theodore?
He cursed violently. One last night to touch and taste her sweet body. To kiss her lips and claim her for his own. One last time until the truth was revealed and she made her decision.
The door opened. Her scent beckoned him, a twist of vanilla and coconut that swirled around his senses and got him hard immediately. She stepped in and closed the door behind her.
Then loosened her cloak and let it fall to the floor in soft, velvet folds.
He sucked in his breath.
She was naked. Her glorious red hair tumbled down her back and shoulders, playing peek-a-boo with rosy pink nipples. Her breasts were full and creamy white. Her long legs framed an inviting center of curls that hid her sex. Beneath the sweet scent he caught the undertones of female arousal.
She wore no mask.
His gaze greedily took in every familiar feature. The graceful curve of her jaw and cheek; the arching red brows; the red lips. Her Caribbean blue eyes flickered warily but she stood before him in all her glory, daring him to turn away.
He closed the distance between them. Thrusting his fingers within the fire of her hair, he lifted her face up and gazed deeply into her eyes.
“You’re beautiful.”
Then his mouth took hers.
It was a kiss of raw hunger and demand; a need to possess and be possessed; a vow to give pleasure and to take. Her lips opened under his, her tongue tangling, thrusting as they drank from one another.
Her hands slipped around his shoulders as his lips closed around her tongue and sucked, drawing her very essence into him. His teeth sunk into her ripe lower lip, taking love bites, and he trailed kisses across her cheek, exploring every feature that had been hidden by the mask.
When he lifted his head, her eyes burned as if with fever. Her nails dug fiercely into his shoulders.
“Take me, Phantom. Take me now. I belong to you.”
He lifted her up and they tumbled to the bed. There was no teasing, no love play, as she ripped off his robe and ran her hands over his long, lean body.
They were ravenous for each other; hands and tongues and lips tangled together. He cupped her buttocks and sucked on her nipples as she reached down and took his throbbing cock between her fingers and squeezed.
She wrapped her legs around his hips and they rolled over in the cool, satin sheets. Then she climbed on top of him, grasped his cock, and impaled herself with one smooth push.
He groaned. She gasped.
She arched back so he buried himself to the hilt in her tight, clingy heat.
He sat up on the bed and wrapped his arms around her so they were face to face, flesh buried within flesh, gazes locked.
Her nipples pressed into his chest. His lips hungrily took hers and plunged inside her mouth as deeply as his cock. He rocked his hips. Once. Again.
She cried out as convulsions shook her body. The orgasm overtook her.
He shouted her name and followed her over. Her teeth savagely sunk into his shoulder as she clung to him.
Hailey slid down from the pinnacle with his cock still buried inside of her.
Her flesh pulsed and quivered in tiny vibrations and she turned her head to press kisses over his mouth, enjoying his ragged warm breaths against her mouth.
Her fingers gentled and stroked back his silky, black hair, then lingered over the gleaming smoothness of his mask which still hid him from her full view.
“I can’t get enough of you,” she whispered, then nipped at his bottom lip. His mouth curved upward in a smile. “Would you like to know another one of my fantasies?”
A deep chuckle rumbled his chest. “If it’s anything like the last one, they’ll be carrying me out on a stretcher.”
She licked at his jaw and tasted clean soap and the salty tang of male sweat. His rough stubble prickled against her tongue.
“Never. You’re my new superhero. No Viagra ever needed. Hours of pleasure guaranteed, until a woman begs for mercy.”
“What is this superhero called?”
“Studman.”
He laughed. “Batman. Superman. Spiderman. Now Studman.”
“Exactly. Still want to hear my fantasy?”
“Go ahead.”
“I lock you in a room and take away your clothes. You’re at my command every hour of the day, completely at my mercy, and you’ll do anything I ask. The only way to escape is to please me, so you work very hard at it.”
“Hmmm. Sounds like what we’re doing now except I’m the one who has to obey.”
“Exactly.”
“Hailey?”
“Yes?”
“That’s my sexual fantasy, too.”
She laughed with him, snuggling into his arms, her fingers playing with the swirling dark hairs on his chest. “There’s one other part in my fantasy I forgot to mention.”
“You have whips and chains.”
“No, but I may have to add that one in later.”
“What is it?”
“You have no mask.”
He grew silent. The sounds of the party drifted up the stairwell and reminded them of the short hours left. “Once I remove my mask, the game is over. I want a little more time with you.”
She blinked back sudden tears, and concentrated on the moment, wanting to pull every second of pleasure from the man beneath her.
“Then take it, Phantom. Take me over and over until the bell rings.”
His eyes blazed with promise. “I intend to.”
He rained kisses over her face, naked from the removal of her mask. She shook slightly and knew no other man had every taken her body and soul like her Phantom.
“Give me a little more on our last night together, Hailey,” he said.
She tossed him a wicked smile. “I thought I already did.”
He chuckled. “I mean truth. Tell me what you want from your life. Tell me what you still fear.”
This time, when she spoke she had no mask to hide herself. This time, she didn’t need one. She already spoke to the man she loved, and refused to hide anything. Hailey wanted to tell him the only thing she wanted was him, but he asked the question with the assumption this was their final meeting.
“I want to build something that lasts,” she said softly. “Don’t all people want the same thing? Someone to remember them. If I can’t do it with children or the love of my life, I’ll pick friendship. I’ll pick rewarding work that makes a difference.”
He waited a while before answering. “If you had a chance to have this love of your life, would you be strong enough to reach out for him?
“Yes.” She spoke the truth. Ciro Demitris had given her that gift.
“And your fear?”
“You already erased my fears, Phantom. The only thing left to be afraid of is being without you.”
He turned from her then, as if he couldn’t bear the emotion of looking into her face. Hailey took the time to ask her own questions. “And you? What do you fear?”
His voice came from a distant place. “I fear the truth,” he said. With one quick movement, he rolled over and pinned her to the mattress. “But you’re here now. Mine for the next few hours. That’s all I need.”
Then his mouth took hers.
The evening slid by with slow strokes of the clock, as they roused one another to make love through the night.
He took her places she had never seen before.
She showed him a tenderness and emotion he had never felt before.
The bed became their escape from the world beyond, as the full moon shimmered in the sky and the sounds of the party rose and fell through the rooms. And when the bell finally chimed at dawn; when the music and laughter and screams grew to a crescendo, he sat up in bed and looked at her naked body.
“It’s time, Hailey.”
His eyes were filled with resolve, and another emotion she couldn’t put a name to.
A glint; a glimmer; something she needed to hold onto but was too afraid to demand from him.
Did he love her? Would he walk away without a second thought?
Was she just another woman involved in his masquerade, a rousing distraction to never be thought of again?
She sat up. Heart pounding wildly against her chest, she waited.
He reached up and with one savage motion, ripped his mask off.
Hailey sucked in her breath as she stared at the man before her. The man she knew. The man who had played a game and betrayed her trust.
Theodore Rivers.
She watched in shocked silence as he dipped his head and popped out the contact lenses.
Then he reached up and rubbed his fingers through his hair.
The strands fell over his face as they had so many times in the past. The diamond in his left ear winked like a beacon signaling his deceit.
His brown eyes gazed into hers with a steadiness that prevented her from turning away.
And suddenly, his voice and scent and touch made sense, and she gasped as the pain shook through her body.
“Why?” she moaned. “Theo, why would you do this to me?”
He flinched at the accusation. His voice was low and urgent. “Hailey, you have to listen to me. If you decide you never want to see me again, I can accept the consequences. But this was my only chance, a chance of a lifetime, and I’ll never have a regret about taking it.”