19. Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Nineteen
Grace
The longer her mother paraded her around, the more Grace itched to get away. Her mother was most interested in having conversations with Berland’s wealthiest and most prestige families, Grace only wanted to celebrate the end of the second round with Eli.
Sensing her eagerness to flee, Grace’s mother leaned toward her and whispered, “One day it’ll be your responsibility to maintain these relationships. You could act a little more invested in the community you are meant to lead.”
Grace inhaled deeply and counted to three before responding.
“These upper-class families aren’t the only civilians worth entertaining.
Just because I don’t want to suck up to the snobs doesn’t mean I’m not doing my job.
I’m taking part in weekly community service and making rounds to ensure that families have what they need.
I welcome the newcomers and help them get settled.
I meet with local businesses to hear their concerns.
I do so much, but you only see my faults. ”
Grace faced forward, but she could feel her mother’s eyes burning a hole in the side of her head. She was sick of holding back. Sick of letting her mother tear her down and belittle her.
Her mother opened her mouth to speak, but Grace couldn’t take it anymore. She stepped forward, moving through the crowd back toward the mountain.
“Where are you going?” her mother shouted from behind her.
Tuning her out, Grace kept pushing forward and didn’t look back.
Grace made a quick stop at home to pick up a few things—clothing to change into along with some accessories, her toiletries for the evening, and something lacy and revealing to sleep in.
She had no intention of coming back home tonight.
Partly because she wanted to spend her time with Eli, but also so she wouldn’t have to see her mother again.
She couldn’t recall a time she’d ever defied her mother so boldly, and she wasn’t looking forward to the fallout.
Locking up behind her, she skipped down the hall to Eli’s apartment.
Her knuckles had barely rapped on the door when it flung open and Eli pulled her inside, kissing her swiftly.
Grace dropped her bag and slid her hands around his back.
Finding the hem of his shirt, she lifted until she could trace his skin with her fingertips.
His lips opened with a gasp at her cool touch, and she slid her tongue in, reveling in the way his body curved into hers.
He moaned, sending a surge of electricity down her spine.
She angled her hips toward him, and he slid a leg between her thighs, applying just enough pressure to make her tremble.
She hadn’t realized they were slowly backing up until her back hit the door. Eli trapped her, placing both his palms on the wood surface next to her head. She moved her hands through his soft brown hair and gently broke their kiss.
“As much as I’m enjoying this, I have plans for us tonight,” she said with a sparkling smile.
Eli’s cheeks were flushed, and he studied her like the last thing he wanted to do was to stop kissing her.
To stop touching her and eliciting those desperate moans from her mouth.
She could feel his hard length pressing into her stomach and knew how badly he yearned to toss her on the bed and settle between her thighs.
But her plans were better than that.
She pushed off the wall and leaned down to grab her bag.
Reaching in, she pulled out her outfit for the evening and two familiar black lace masks.
Eli’s eyes glossed over at the skimpy black dress in her right hand.
There wasn’t much fabric, and the longer he studied it, the darker his eyes went.
Then he looked at her left hand and saw the masks.
His smile was devilish. “Grace…”
“Surprise,” she said, tossing him his mask. “I thought you might enjoy a trip to Azalea’s this evening.”
Eli caught the mask with ease and licked his lips. Unable to hide his excitement, he adjusted the front of his jeans before inching toward Grace for another kiss.
As he pulled away, Grace ran her hands down his chest, toying with the buttons on his pants.
Rather than stopping her to do it himself, Eli watched while she unzipped his jeans and tugged them down his hips.
His large cock pressed against the fabric of his underwear, and it took everything in her to leave him unsatisfied.
She ached to feel him inside her, but if they eased their desires right now, they wouldn’t make it out of Eli’s apartment.
“Hurry,” she said. “Get changed so we can get out of here.”
Eli groaned but obeyed. He knew that waiting would be worth it for both of them.
While Eli dressed in dark jeans and a button-down shirt, Grace slipped into her silky black dress and matching wedge shoes with lace that tied in a bow around her ankles.
Although it was the middle of summer, she pulled on a light jacket that extended past her knees.
She didn’t want to give anyone a heart attack as they walked through town on their way to Azalea’s.
They held hands as they left the mountain.
By now, people had been drinking and celebrating for hours and most of them didn’t give Eli and Grace more than a second’s glance.
They only ran into one council member, who frowned as they took in Grace and Eli’s interlaced fingers.
Grace just smiled and proceeded down the path.
Once they got closer to the scandalous hidden bar, they put on their masks. No one was around to see them slip into their disguise, so their true identities would remain a secret once they stepped inside the little gem that was Azalea’s.
Eli opened the door and held out a hand. Under the mask, Grace spotted a small smile on his lips. “After you,” he said.
She stepped in to find the hostess waiting. A young woman with red curly hair and gold jewelry decorating her ears and neck. In fact, one gold chain dropped low between the curve of her breast and disappeared into her black top.
“Just the two of you? Would you like a table or a private room?”
“A table, please.”
The woman nodded and led them through the entry hall and into a room to the left side of the building.
Many of the tables were already occupied with folks of all ages and genders, sipping out of glasses while their shadows danced in the candlelight.
The focal point of the room featured a man hidden behind a mask like everyone else, but he held a guitar and sang in a deep voice that had the room hanging on his every word.
“Here’s your seat. What can I get you?” the hostess asked quietly.
“I’ll take a wine,” Grace said, removing her jacket and hanging it on the back of her chair.
Eli nodded. “Same for me.”
Grace waited for Eli to sit, then ignored her own seat and moved to his lap.
Eli wrapped a hand around her back and placed the other on her bare leg. He immediately slid it higher, his finger delicately grazing her sensitive skin.
She smiled as she thought about their first trip to Azalea’s.
He’d been so shocked and timid but also up for anything.
She loved that about him. He never tried to tame her or expected her to settle down.
Eli saw her for who she was and loved everything about her. He encouraged her to be wild and free.
Now he was pushing his hand up her inner thigh with no inhibitions.
Not once did he glance around to see if anyone was watching.
Grace, however, looked over his shoulder and surveyed the room.
The idea of watching and being watched was one of her most frequent fantasies, and why she had so often come to Azalea’s even before she’d met Eli.
Most people’s attention was directed toward the man serenading them, and she could hardly blame them. His voice was mesmerizing and even with a mask, his eyes were beautiful enough to melt the coolest patron.
Eli nibbled her ear, and her eyes rolled back in her head. She shifted so her back was against his chest, wrapping an arm behind his neck as her head rolled to rest on his shoulder.
Beneath her, she felt him suck in a sharp breath as his fingers finally met the apex of her thighs. “No panties?” he asked, rubbing a gentle circle over her clit.
She sank further into him, her breathing turning shallow.
His lips grazed her ear. “I asked a question.”
Biting her lip, she tried to focus beyond the mind-numbing sensation currently happening between her legs. What had he asked? She felt a finger slide inside her and pushed her ass against the ridge in his pants. Right. No panties.
“I didn’t want lines.”
Eli chuckled. “That’s the only reason?”
His finger stroked her inner wall, and he patiently moved it in and out of her. She clenched around him, desperate for more.
“N-No.”
“Why else would you leave the panties behind?” he asked in a low voice that rumbled in his chest.
Grace’s eyes fluttered closed, and she rocked her hips, praying he’d give her more. Her body shook with anticipation.
“Grace.” He spoke again, more commanding this time.
“Hmm?”
“Answer me.” His words were pleading. Like he ached to be satisfied, too. As if the hard length pressed into her bottom wasn’t sign enough.
“I wanted you to have easy access.” She gasped when his finger slid out of her and began to circle her clit again. Squeezing her thighs together, she could feel just how wet she was from his touch. Her speech was needy and breathless. “I was hoping you would touch me.”
“Like this?” he asked, pushing two fingers inside her.
“Fuck.”
“My god, Grace. You look so pretty when you’re riding my fingers.”
A wicked grin flashed across her face. “Even prettier when I’m riding your cock.”
Eli moaned and used his free hand to grip her face. He forced her to face him, devouring her lips while he continued to play with her pussy.
When he broke the kiss, Grace leaned forward. He pulled his fingers from her, and she missed them immediately, but he worked quickly to unbutton his pants and pull them down. His underwear followed shortly after and once his cock sprang free, Grace returned to her position.
Wrapping an arm around her waist, Eli reached for his shaft and pressed it against her entrance. He teased her, covering himself in her arousal before gently pushing the tip in.
Her entire body pulsed with uncontrollable energy. With Eli’s free hand, he held her firmly against his chest and pushed farther inside her, stretching and filling her until she couldn’t take it anymore.
“Open your eyes, Grace,” Eli said.
She hadn’t even realized she had closed them, but she opened them at his request. Looking around, she noticed that multiple couples were now focused entirely on them.
Watching as Eli’s cock worked in and out of her.
A woman to her right sat on her partner’s lap, grinding on him while his hand traveled up her shirt.
On her left, she caught a man with his hand hidden beneath the table.
The woman next to him bit her lip while her chest heaved.
“You’re right. You’re a fucking piece of art while you ride me. Everyone thinks so.”
Grace’s legs fell open further, and she threaded her fingers in Eli’s hair.
Seeing the small crowd so enamored by their bodies moving together was a feeling unlike any other.
She’d never felt freer of the obligations that always held her down.
Unconfined by the expectations that kept her lifeless like a statue.
A doll that the people around her got to dress up until she looked and acted the way they needed her to.
Here, Grace was no one. Just another faceless guest in the house of pleasure. And yet she felt more like herself than she ever did outside these walls.
She rocked her hips and Eli picked up his pace, thrusting into her with passion and enthusiasm. Her legs tightened, but she couldn’t squeeze them closed while Eli’s knees held them open.
At the center of the room, the musician had stopped singing, though he continued to strum his guitar.
A beautiful melody filled the air, and it sounded how Grace imagined lust and ecstasy would.
Quickening in all the right places and hitting notes that made the hair on her neck stand straight.
It seemed as though he played a tune just for her. For them.
Eli rubbed her clit to the melody and drove into her with everything he had while the music swelled, reaching its peak and dancing back and forth between the highest notes.
Everything hit her at once. The pressure inside her, the captivated gazes of the patrons, the soft, pleasured moans of Eli behind her…
Grace shivered as waves of agonizing bliss rippled through her body. Her pussy spasmed around Eli’s cock and he groaned his approval. She struggled to catch her breath as the aftershocks of her orgasm coursed course through her. By the time they ceased, her body was limp and completely spent.
Eli pumped into her a few more times before he came undone and spilled inside her.
She fell back against his body, breathing heavily while he peppered kisses over her neck.
His fingers still massaged her clit, and she whimpered, grabbing his hand and forcing him to stop. It was too much for her to handle.
She faintly heard the musician begin to sing once more, but she found it hard to focus on anything at all.
“You okay, my love?”
Grace smiled. “Never better.”