Chapter 16 #2
A flicker of surprise dances across his face. “You’ve brought Edie here?”
“Logan will arrive with her any minute. He’s to bring her straight to me. I’ll be waiting in suite twenty,” I say, snatching the bottle from his grip. “And next time I give you an order, follow it without question.”
“As you wish…” His words fade, but he lingers, unwilling to leave. I can sense what’s coming, and I have no patience for it tonight.
“Don’t test me, Viktor,” I warn. “I know what I’m doing.”
Viktor nods, smoothing out his expression. “I’ll keep Sybil occupied.”
Spinning on my feet, I pass by the crowded dance floor, then descend into the club’s shadowy basement. As soon as I enter the suite, I set the bottle of wine on the side table by the four-poster bed, slip off my jacket, and drape it over a chair, sinking into the seat.
Around me, the room glows with soft lighting, casting shadows over the red satin sheets.
Black silk cascades from the canopy above, pooling at each corner of the bed.
In the far corner of the room sits an armoire filled with paddles and whips, blindfolds, gags and masks, nipple clamps, cock cages and other toys for inquisitive patrons to indulge in.
Like all of the suites, three of the walls are painted a deep mulberry, while the fourth, once transparent, is now opaque.
Edie demanded secrecy, and with a single touch to the control panel set into the wall, I’ve granted it.
Pulling a pack of cigarettes from my pocket, I light one, inhaling the smoke deep into my lungs.
The nicotine does little to relax me, but if I don’t occupy my hands, I may take out my cock and relieve the ache in my balls before she’s even arrived.
A firm knock breaks the silence. I exhale a ribbon of smoke, letting it curl through the air before I say, “Come in.”
Logan opens the door and steps aside. Edie passes him with a gentle tip of her head, her hair spilling past her shoulders, brushing against the white shirt tucked into a navy silk skirt that sways just above her knees.
A leather handbag rests at her hip, its strap tracing a line across her chest. My gaze falls to her feet, and I can’t help but smile.
Once again, she’s wearing the same shoes she wore the night we first met.
“Dorian?” she whispers, and I realise I’m sitting in a pool of shadow, the light not quite reaching this corner of the room.
“You can go now, Logan,” I say, taking another drag on my cigarette, the tip sizzling briefly before I stub it out in the ashtray situated on the small table beside me. He hesitates and I stand, stepping into the light, sliding my eyes to his. “Leave.”
With a stiff nod, he retreats, shutting the door quietly behind him.
“I’ve always wondered what these kinds of rooms look like,” Edie mutters as my gaze tracks over her. She notices me staring and adds, “I wasn’t sure what was appropriate to wear to a sex club.”
“You look beautiful,” I respond, moving towards her. “And these rooms aren’t just used for having sex.”
“No?” she questions, her eyes drifting to the four-poster bed behind us. “Is that bed just for sleeping on then?”
“Sometimes, yes.”
She lifts a brow. “Liar.”
I grin, reaching for her hips and tugging her towards me.
She comes willingly, her palms flattening against my chest as my fingers curl around her flesh.
“Okay, I admit it, for the most part these rooms are used for fucking, but on occasion a patron will simply watch one of my performers dance. Like I said, Avant Garde isn’t just a sex club, we also provide a different kind of pleasure. ”
“I hope those bed sheets are clean,” she teases as I reach for her hand, cupping it in mine. Her mouth drops open as I press a kiss to her palm, my lips dragging to the pulse in her wrist as I kiss her there.
“I can assure you, my club is kept clean, and my patrons are well looked after. As you will be.”
“The music isn’t what I was expecting either,” she muses, tilting her head, the steady beat drifting into the room and echoing the quickening rhythm beneath her skin.
“What were you expecting?”
“I honestly don’t know.”
Draping her arm over my shoulder, I slide my arm behind her back, my other hand cupping hers against my chest as I press my lips against her ear and say, “Dance with me?”
She doesn’t respond with words. Instead, she sways with me as we turn in a slow circle in the centre of the room. With every pulsing beat of music, her body relaxes against mine, and when she rests her cheek against my shoulder, letting out a soft sigh, I draw her closer to me.
I’m not sure how long we dance for, but it’s long enough to forget about the monster who lives beneath my skin and simply exist in this moment, as a man in the company of a woman, not a vampire eager to sink his teeth into his next meal.
“Dorian, why am I here?” she eventually asks, pulling back as she gazes up at me. “I mean, as much as I’m enjoying this dance, this isn’t what I was expecting.”
“I promised you nothing would happen in this room without prior agreement. I’ve been waiting for you to lead the way.” I press another tender kiss against her lips. “Tell me what you want.”
“On the way over here, I considered asking Logan to turn the car around and take me back home.”
“So why didn’t you?” I ask.
“Curiosity mainly and, of course, the promise of orgasms…” She flicks her gaze away, her cheeks colouring, then she lets out a soft laugh, focussing back on me again. “I need to find my way back to who I was before Robert. I believe being intimate with you sexually, will help me to do that.”
“I’m honoured,” I say, meaning it.
“But as much as I want you, I don’t know if I’m ready to sleep with you. I just… It’s been.” She sighs. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been completely naked with another man, and I need time to feel comfortable in my own skin, with who I’m becoming,” she explains.
“Then I’m prepared to wait. We can dance all night, if that’s what you wish.”
“You misunderstand…” She bites her lip, and I suppress the urge to slam my mouth against hers. “I want—”
“What do you want? Tell me.” I insist, pressing my compulsion against hers, trying once again to see if I can find a crack to sneak through, just like I’ve attempted every time we’ve met. Of course, I don’t, and strangely, it’s a relief.
“I want to feel pleasure. I want to come, Dorian.”
“Then that’s what I’ll give you,” I reply, taking her hand and leading her to the bed.
“Dorian, I—”
“Please, sit. I’m not going to do anything you don’t want. If you’re not ready to strip bare, then I’ll respect that.” She fiddles with the strap of her handbag, and I hold out my hand. “Let me take that for you.”
“Thank you,” she whispers, handing it over as she settles on the edge of the bed whilst I hang up her bag, slip off my shoes, and kneel before her.
“What are you doing?” she asks, her eyes drinking me in hungrily.
“Taking your shoes off so I can massage your feet,” I explain, gently removing one shoe, then the other. My hands glide up her legs, my fingers grazing over her silky tights as I push up her skirt until it rests across her thighs. “Lift up for me.”
She meets my gaze, her lips parting on a soft breath as I wrap my fingers around the waistband of her tights and knickers, gently sliding them over her hips and down her legs, slipping the material off her feet. Then, without thinking, I lift her lacy knickers to my nose.
“Fuck,” I groan, her heady scent fucking with my need to stay strong, to not give into my baser needs.
“Dorian,” she gasps.
“Believe me, you smell good enough to eat,” I say, pocketing her knickers and discarding her tights. Grasping her left foot, I gently press my thumbs into her arch. She leans back on the bed, her fingers curling into the satin sheets as I massage her foot.
“How are you so good at that?” she murmurs.
“I’m a man with many hidden talents,” I reply, smiling at the blush pink varnish covering her toenails. “You have very pretty feet, Edie.”
She lets out a soft laugh. “Do you have a foot fetish?”
“I have a you fetish,” I reply, lifting her foot to my mouth and kissing the bridge before wrapping my mouth around her big toe and sucking on it.
“You don’t have to do that.”
I release her toe. “Because you don’t like it, or because you think I don’t?”
“You do?”
“You don’t?” I throw back. If a vampire could blush, I’m sure I would right now.
“It’s… nice,” she begins.
“Nice?”
“I’ve never had my toes sucked before. I’m not sure what to make of it.” She pauses, cocking her head to the side. “Do it again.”
I lock gazes with her, bringing her toe to my mouth. She shifts on the bed, biting on her lip when I dig my thumbs into the underside of her foot and suck her toe into my mouth once more. “That’s…” she moans. “Pleasurable.”
“Good,” I reply, kissing her foot, before gently lowering it to the floor, “And whilst I could happily suck on your toes all night if you’d like, I’m desperate to kiss every single inch of your body.
Will you let me, Edie, because fuck, I want to taste all of you.
” My hands drift up her legs and cup her knees as I drop my gaze to between her legs, and the slash of pink that glistens there.
“But most of all, I want to taste your pussy again. I need to.”
“God,” she stutters, and my head snaps up.
“You know how I feel about hearing another man’s name on your lips,” I warn, my voice drenched with lust and threaded with jealousy.
“Who said God is a man?” she argues. “Besides, I was cussing.”
“If you want to cuss, then use my name, and if you want to pray to a god, then make sure it’s me you’re praying too because, believe me, by the time I’m finished you’ll be in heaven.”
She laughs. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Can’t say anyone has said that to me before, but I stand by what I said.”
“Seems like you’ve got something to prove, but I will warn you, I don’t orgasm easily.”
“That’s not what happened in my car, or at the Unlit Lounge,” I remind her.
“You caught a lucky break,” she teases.
“On both occasions?”