He did, and I was rewarded with just a hint of a smile.“I doubt the master will care,” he said with a kindly tone of voice. “Not tonight.” He opened the door wider and I stepped aside so I could walk past him.
“Oh wow,” I said, gazing up at the crystal chandelier. The ceiling appeared to be about thirty feet high and a gorgeous spiraling staircase was in the middle of the room . “It’s so. So...exquisite,” I exclaimed. “I’d always wondered what it was like in here.”
“Impressed?” asked the doorman.
“Oh, yes.”
“May I...?” He reached for my cape, but I shrank back, my heart racing.
“No!”
The older man froze, both hands on the shoulders of my wrap.
“Um, no. I meant, no thank you. I’ll keep it, if you don’t mind.”
“As you wish, Madame.”
The room appeared to be completely round, which probably was an illusion judging by the architecture of the house. Still, it was breathtaking. The domed ceiling, painted robin’s egg blue with a crème fleur de lis pattern, surrounding a large stained-glass window in its center, framed with crown molding. Below were a dozen white pillars, elegant candelabras on the walls, and what looked like priceless paintings on the second floor. The staircase came around on both sides, sweeping down with a dramatic curved railing.
My mystery man was at the top of the stairs, draped in a dark cape, similar to mine. He looked taller. More dangerous, and still wore the proverbial mask. Confident and proud, carrying a gold-tipped walking stick.
He reached the bottom of the stairs, threw one end of his cape behind one shoulder and swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat.
He’s as nervous as I am.
He walked toward me, the heels of his shoes echoed on the hard wooden floors.
He reached my side, and paused, smiling, and then traced the side of my face with the back of his knuckles. Soft. Tender. Like he hadn’t seen me in awhile. My skin went all tingly and shivers skidded across me skin. My heart was pounding so hard, I thought he must hear it.
“You’re here,” he said, his voice like a cartoon character. It sounded like he’d sucked in CO2 from a balloon.
“You still have it,” I remarked.
“The condition with my vocal chords? Yeah. Unfortunately, I do.”
A flush of impatience went through me. Was he telling the truth? I almost reached to pull down the mask, but I was so excited by the romance of all this—the top hat, the house, the fact that it was almost midnight—that I refused to concentrate on the familiarity of his words.
I was in love.
With all of it.
No one had ever gone this far to impress me before. Not ever. Besides, I’d know Steve’s identity by the end of the evening. I needed to be patient.
“Come,” he said, leading me through the grand entrance and down a hall. “I have a few surprises for you.”
Stopping before a closed door, he turned the handle and picked me up in his arms. Then he gave the door a swift kick and carried me inside.
I gasped.
At least a thousand candles of all sizes and shapes filled the room, but what caught my attention, made my eyes tear up.
There, on the bedside table beside a huge four-poster bed was a bouquet of forget-me-knots in a huge clay pot. It could not have been easy to find a plant like that in the middle of winter. And get it to bloom.
Steve placed me gently on my feet and I immediately crossed over to the flowers. Bending, I cupped a tiny cluster to my nose, smelling its subtle fragrance. When I turned toward Steve, he was grinning.
“You... I can’t believe you did all this,” I said.
He cleared his throat. “I didn’t tell you everything,” he whispered.
I laughed. “Well, that’s an understatement.”
“No,” he clarified. “The flowers. They symbolize faithfulness, love, and remembrance.”
My breath caught. I’d never heard anything so romantic in my life. Was I in a fairy tale? I started to shake.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, sounding alarmed as he crossed the room quickly.
He pulled me into his arms. “Tell me.”
“You’re making me fall in love with you. Do you know that?”
I hadn’t actually known until just this instant. I’d suspected, but then there was that whole Chase incident to confuse me. Now I knew. No matter what this man looked like. No matter who he was, I knew I loved him.
He didn’t say anything at first. “Ready for your surprise?” he finally asked, glancing down at his watch.
I stared at my watch. Eleven-fifteen. Forty-five minutes until my mystery man revealed himself to me. I gave a half-hearted laugh. “Well, if this isn’t the surprise, I’m not sure I can take another one.” I unbuttoned his white ruffled shirt and tried to slide my hands inside, but he caught my wrists and pulled them down. “No touching,” he growled. “Not like this.”
“I don’t...”
He unbuttoned his cape and threw it on a chair. “Now, show me what you have on under yours,” he demanded, jutting his chin toward my cape. His voice was gruff without the sweet, gentle demeanor I was used to.
Who are you? What have you done with Steve?
I took a step back. “I didn’t know what to wear so I...”
“Take it off.”
“What?
“The cape. Take it off.”
I started unbuttoning.
“No, don’t,” he said abruptly. “I changed my mind. Turn around.”
I didn’t know what he wanted. It made me apprehensive. As I stood facing the window, my nipples chafed against the coarseness of my cape, and excitement lodged inside my throat.
“Stay like that,” he breathed coming from behind. Tonight you will do my bidding, Cinderella. I am your prince, and you are my slave.” He chuckled on the word, slave and I relaxed a bit at the playful tone. Somehow, I knew he wasn’t a psychopath.
I could feel his breath along my neck.
Warm hands came around to fondle my breasts. He groaned at finding me naked beneath the cape and then nibbled on my neck. “Ah, Cinderella wants to be bad I see.”
“Uh-huh.” If only he knew just how bad. I turned my head. Just enough so our tongues could meet. Stroke and dance with each other as my nipples hardened painfully. I groaned, my heart heavy with lust.
I didn’t wait long.
I felt the cool air behind me. The cape was swept aside. Then a hard, bare cock pushed firmly against my rump.
“How bad do you want to play, Cinderella?” His voice was like hot lava. It sizzled in my ear.
Large digits fondled my nipples.
“I need to be spanked,” I said. “And...and whatever else you want to do to me.”
His hot, heated body pressed against my back. I met it with a push of my own, absorbing his heat. So close, but not enough. I wanted him closer. Deeper.
He walked me over to an antique couch, expertly flipped the top buttons of my cape, and then growled. It puddled by my feet. “Mmmm, just the outfit I had in mind. Bend over.” He kicked out my legs and I fell into the back of the couch, grabbing it for support.
“What outfit?” I started to ask, but then his hand landed on my ass with a loud shuddering crack. “Oh!”
“No touching and no talking.” His palm found exactly the same spot in direct succession again. And again. When he finally stopped, I knew it was because I must have a fine, rosy glow.
Then he tied a blindfold over my eyes. “This all right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Good, because I have to take my mask off for what comes next.”
My breath caught and my nipples went hard as freaking pencil tips. The thrill of his words sent zings along my tender flesh.
I heard the jingle of a belt buckle behind me and I had the insane idea that if he hit me with it, I wouldn’t have minded in the least. I reached back to grab his cock. Or his hand. Whatever I could reach. �
�I need to feel...?”
Smack!
“Did you just slap my hand?” I giggled. “No one has done that to me since the third grade.”
“Maybe they should have.”
I felt nibbles along my neck traveling to my shoulders, down my back and then of all places, settle along my butt cheeks. “Beautiful,” I heard him whisper as he spread me wide.
He dropped to his knees, and swiveled around. He shoved a finger inside my opening. His hair tickled my inner thighs. So much so that I started laughing. “I’m...I’m ticklish there.”
“I forgot.”
I tensed.
He forgot?!
I couldn’t think straight when he stroked me like that. My mind was not rational. The fact that I couldn’t stand up straight, or even touch him, had me lifting on my toes. He alternated between nibbling just outside my core and running that delectable tongue of his north and south.
“Steve...? Oh! Yes. Yes.”
A long thick, finger stroked my wetness.
“Sexy,” he whispered. “And mine. All mine.”
Shivers of ecstasy sparked inside my bloodstream, racing to the finish. The room started to spin.
“Now on your back,” he ordered. He stood up, and guided me onto the bed. “After you kiss me.”
“Oh!”
I felt my hair being yanked back. Then his mouth claimed my own.
Hard.
Ravenous.
Greedy.
Sucking on my tongue so thoroughly I almost stopped him just so I could catch my breath. I heard the rustle of some fabric, the flickering of candles. I couldn’t see what he was doing. Only the shadows on the floor below my feet.
“Can I tie you up, Cinderella?”
Without waiting for an answer, he chuckled and said, “Of course I can. You’re my slave.”
The bed dipped with his weight. He pressed me into the mattress and covered me with his body. More kissing, and then, “You okay?”
“Yes,” I said, breathless. I still couldn’t see and I was beginning to get nervous.
He took both my hands in his big one, and tied them together, pulling it tight with a loud snap that anchored the darkness all around me.
I focused on his breathing, the tiny groans emitting from his gut. Again, something was off, but I didn’t know what. Familiarity? The funny thing was, I wasn’t frightened, but relieved somehow.
He raised my arms above my head and tied them to something I heard jingling. A chain of some sort. Then he pinned me to the bed with his large sprawling body. “I’ve been wanting to do this all day,” he said as he rained kissed up and down my flesh. I spread my legs and he placed them on his shoulders. I let out a yell when his tongue found my happy spot. I screamed and I wriggled, wanting him. Craving that tongue to go deeper. Harder. I couldn’t speak. My whole body was just ...one...big...exhausting...sensation.
As he continued to lick away, the neurons in my brain fired off all at once.
He paused. “Mmmm. Our favorite part.”
What?
Next, I was lieing on my back spread eagle with leather straps tied to both legs. I felt something cold inside my pussy.
Ice.
I gasped and my body went tense..
I felt it graduate up my mound, along my belly, and then circle each of my nipples I was sure they were like daggers right now.
Warm, hungry lips clamped on one nipple, drawing it out with his teeth and then sucking until it hurt.
“Oh God.” I was panting like a long distance runner, imagining what he would do to me, what I wanted him to do to me. Anticipating every minute of glorious, sensitive stimulation. His tongue. His lips. His massive, strong cock that would send me into orbit.
Then a buzzing sound that made my body arc right off the bed. Fresh moisture drizzled between my legs. The vibrator.
I felt his head bob in and out, his breath scalding my flesh.
The vibrator muffled inside me, massaging my tender walls, but soon as I felt myself rising, the sensation unbearable without release, he’d pull the toy out. Replace it with his tongue.
“That’s it baby. Come.”
That voice.
“Come for me, Abby. Come with my tongue inside you.”
He was inside me. Making me tremble and quake.
My head whipped side to side and I heard little smacking sounds.
When he reached up to tweak one of my nipples, I grabbed his hand and placed it on the other. That was all it took to send me over the edge and my arousal kicked into high gear.
My back arced, lifting off the bed, eager yet fearful, my release so amazing I couldn’t keep it to myself. I felt his hands cup my buttocks, raising me to his lips.
He wasn’t stopping. Not even a little.
So sensitive. So very sensitive.
I wanted to close my legs, say I couldn’t take any more and they stiffened in their confinements.
I was blind now, and it had nothing to do with the silk scarf around my eyes. Unable to see everything around me except this brilliant, mesmerizing man who obviously could not get enough of me.
I screamed through a second orgasm. Then shouting for him to fuck me like a real man.
Seconds later, I felt his cock fill my entrance.
The bed rocked against the wall as he pumped out a frantic rhythm. Growling and squealing because that’s what the voice box made the words sound like.
This man. This sexy, mysterious, man. How could any woman turn someone like him away?
You did.
When he collapsed on top of me, panting, his skin dripping of hot exhausted sweat, I fumbled to trace his face. He took my hands away and placed them on his head. I ran my fingers through his hair.
“Well that burned a lot of energy,” I said.
He moaned and then kissed me on the lips before I asked, “So when is the unveiling?” I tried to cast my eyes downward, because the blindfold had loosened around my head. I still couldn’t see much. Just wet skin and dark chest hairs.
“Soon. Very soon,” he said.
“Yes!”
“What?”
“Your voice. I know who it is now. You’re Robin Williams in the genie from Aladdin.”
A light chuckle drifted over me.
“Nice try, Mr. Comedian, but I know who you are now.”
Chapter Sixteen
Chase
“Fuck do I know?” I shouted into the phone.
“She doesn’t know it’s me yet.”
Like a coward, I was hiding in the bathroom talking to Zac, because I’d actually freaked the fuck out when I realized this was the moment of truth. The only thing that gave me some twisted sense of security was knowing Abby was still tied up, and couldn’t pull my mask off herself if I changed my mind.
She would if she could. Defrock me, that is. I wouldn’t put it past her. I knew this woman. She wasn’t the kind of person who allowed others to make her promises they couldn’t, or wouldn’t keep.
What if she can’t handle the truth?
“Yeah, I know I have to tell her eventually. Don’t you think I know that, but why now? We’re getting along so well, Zac.”
What I meant was, she and Chase were getting along well. She absolutely loved her birthday party, and after everyone had gone, we talked. Not just talked. We’d connected too
“Why mess with that?” I asked. “And what if she can’t forgive me for lying to her? What if she sees it as nothing more than manipulative behavior?”
Uproarious laughing on the other end.
“Yeah, very funny,” I said. “What if she thinks I’m a conniving bastard that will do anything just to get what he wants? Don’t answer that.”
I looked down at my half flaccid cock. God, Abby had been amazing. I’d almost forgotten how amazing we were together. Our tryst inside the office had been quick—there’d been no time for foreplay—but this...this was off the charts.
It wasn’t just the sex. I couldn’t go back to her hating my
guts again, or worse, not having her in my life at all. There was always that chance of I pushed her too far, she’d find employment elsewhere. What would I do if she quit Remington Enterprises?
I gripped the edge of the sink with one hand, naked, and then peeked my head around. There was a white, terry robe on the back of the door. I threw it around my shoulders.
You left her tied up and naked, without anything, or anyone to keep her warm, you asshole.
“I only have a minute here. I have to get back.”
A long pause.
“I don’t agree,” I said. “And besides this was your kooky idea from the very start. I told you that.”
“Where is she? Um... Never you the fuck mind. I gotta go.” I clicked the end button.
I took a deep breath and opened the door a crack, shouting, “Five minutes, Cinderella. I’m gonna take a quick shower. Don’t get in any pumpkins.”
FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, after drying off, I emerged from the bathroom, ready to face Abby.
She was gone.
THE MONDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS had been like every other Monday of the year, only worse. Instead of my morning coffee from Star Bucks, brought in by Zachary—he was nowhere to be found—I had to get the sludge we called mojo from a machine. Some of my best staff members were on holiday until a few days after New Years, and Abby called in sick every day this week.
I wasn’t buying the sick thing. My girl was never sick. Had she guessed my identity and if not, why had she left? If she did know who I was, it could only mean one thing. She was mad as fucking hell and hadn’t decided how to string me up the balls just yet. I had the sinking feeling, she was trying to decide whether to stay or leave her job as well.
I took a sip of my coffee. It was cold.
I felt like I’d just been kicked in the teeth and my heart had been used as a punching bag. The only good thing about the last few days, was it gave me more time to figure out what to do. What lame excuse I could give her. How I could bargain this whole charade away. Could I pretend we would stay friends, promise I’d stop trying to seduce her to get her back? Nope. Not possible. Not after last night.
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