by CR Robertson
Suddenly, everything I’d tried to suppress in a box broke free. I went from being an emotionally distant professional woman to someone crying over a freaking cushion.
“You okay?” Xavier stood staring at me, his gaze darting around the apartment after he made sure I was okay.
“I’m putting all this down to pregnancy hormones.” I sniffed.
“Do I need to do anything?” he asked, putting two bags filled with containers on the work surface.
“Just hold me.”
“I can do that.” His arms closed around me and his chin propped up on my head. He smelt like he’d just had a shower.
“Were you at a gym?”
“No. Why would you think that?”
“Why do you have that just-showered freshness?” I asked suspiciously.
“You don’t want to know, Cas.” The tone in his voice said what he didn’t want to say.
“Is he gone?”
“Hmmm. Are you wearing my shirt?” He changed the topic of conversation, his hands roving over my ass. “I could get used to this.”
“You’ll have to when I’m the size of a whale.” He laughed when I rolled my eyes.
People say you’re eating for two when you’re pregnant. I was pretty sure the baby wasn’t even the size of my thumbnail, but Xavier had brought enough to feed an army. He spread the boxes out and handed me a fork.
I wasn’t sure if it was weird that he pretended the past few days hadn’t happened, or that it made me relax. He chatted about the latest Midnight property, picking up the conversation from nearly a week ago.
He made me laugh at some of the fantasies people asked to be included, vampires and werewolves being close to the top of the list. Who knew that people wanted to be bitten by fake fangs or wear a big, hairy wolf costume during sex?
The day caught up with me and Xavier noticed me yawning. “Bed,” he instructed.
“I preferred my own bed,” I bitched.
“Your bed made my back sore. The mattress needed replaced and you know it. You’re being a diva.”
My grin made him smile, and I padded into the bedroom to hunt for my nightdresses. His shirt hung from the handle into the wardrobe when he walked in.
“Hmmm.” His hands traced down my arms. All I was wearing was panties and the bandages the hospital put on me.
“I was looking for my nightdresses.”
He kissed the side of my neck and I leaned back into his chest. “I need you naked tonight.”
In other words, whatever happened today, Xavier needed human touch. There were times we went for walks or watched crap on television together and he never once took even my cardigan off. Other nights, he needed the touch of skin on skin.
Grabbing his hand, I led him to the bed and pushed him onto it, straddling his hips.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked, running my hands down his chest.
He shook his head, staring up at me with those blue eyes that bored deep into my soul.
Wrapping myself around his neck and tightening my legs around his waist, I held him. “Thank you for saving me.”
“You saved me first.”
Every day, I’d expected the anvil to fall and herald the end of our relationship. Xavier was so far out of my comfort zone that I’d felt I was on borrowed time. The past few days had put a lot of my fears to rest in that regard. He could have turned off his phone and left me to a grisly fate.
He lifted my head until he stared deep into my eyes. His lips coaxed the tension from me, his hand splaying over my stomach protectively. Everything about our relationship had been secret. Now the dynamics had changed and there was a permanency that had never been there before. It gave me a confidence that had been lacking in the past.
Xavier put me into bed while he got ready. He paced the room, putting his watch in the display case, his jeans on the chair in the corner. All the little things that he did unconsciously. He caught me staring and gave me that salacious smile that made my insides tighten in response.
“What’s that look for?” he asked.
I shrugged, fluffing the pillow behind me. “I guess before it always felt like you were on loan to me. Now it feels like you’re mine.”
“It takes you to run away and get abducted to realise that I would never have let you go?” He gave me that exaggerated incredulous look that suggested he thought I was mad.
“Apparently so.”
“I will never understand women,” he muttered, turning the main light out on the way to bed.
I snuggled in, settling myself on his chest. “What am I going to do about my job? Al will be furious I started a relationship with a client.”
“Technically, we started our relationship far from your office where neither of us knew who the other was.”
My cheeks flushed. “I’m not telling him I met you in a sex club.”
“Are you going to avoid mentioning that to our children as well?” he teased.
“What am I supposed to say? I met your daddy the first night I visited a sex club. The first man who fucked me was really bad at it, but while I was lying there, your daddy gave me my first real orgasm?”
His laugh vibrated under my ear. “That sounds about right.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” I challenged him.
“What? We’re both consenting adults.”
“Dick,” I muttered.
“We both know that you love my dick, so that really isn’t an insult.”
There was no winning with him when he was in this mood. The painkillers I took before dinner had eased the pain in my side, so I could finally get comfortable.
“Are you going to wiggle about all night?” he asked, his hand steadying my hip.
“I sleep better after an orgasm,” I pouted. It was true, I did.
“No sex for you. Doctor’s orders. On the other hand, I can have as much sex as I want.”
He was deliberately being a dick. My hand slid down his boxers to grab the aforementioned appendage. “Since I’m carrying your child, you do realise that if this goes anywhere near another woman’s vagina, I’ll cut it off and have it mounted on the mantlepiece.”
“What about her ass or mouth?”
“Zee,” I growled.
“Only kidding, baby. He doesn’t want to work for anyone but you.” He kissed the top of my head. “You need to rest.”
“I don’t have to have sex to have an orgasm.”
He laughed and tugged me against him tighter. “Yeah, but when I go down on you, you arch your back and throw your arms about. Definitely bad for a broken rib.”
“It’s a conspiracy against orgasms,” I snarked.
“Sounds like it, baby. You’ll just have to lie there and think about all the things I’m gonna do to you in The Twilight Rooms when you get better.”
“Now I’m never going to get to sleep.”
“Night, baby.” He kissed the top of my head again.
Life really sucked when you were in bed with the hottest man in your world and you couldn’t have any fun.
“Maybe you should take your hand out of my boxers.” He was already hardening against my fingers that were absently stroking him.
“Oops.” I snatched my hand away.
“Looks like we’re both going to sleep frustrated now.”
I grinned in the darkness. He was a dick sometimes, but he was finally all mine.
***
Chapter Twelve
Cassandra
The Twilight Rooms were nothing like I expected. They were opulent, like a beautiful, old mansion with chandeliers and sweeping gothic designs. Some women wore long, flowing dresses, others their underwear, some even sat naked beside a water fountain in the middle of the central entrance hall. Two massive reception rooms were to either side of the hall and a stunning staircase climbed up both walls to a balcony at the top.
In my mind, The Midnight Rooms were a collection of empty rooms with the odd piece of furniture like a bed or sofa, or containers
of condoms and lubricant. It was sexy in the dark, but I was sure it didn’t look so glamorous to the cleaners who came upon wastebaskets filled with used condoms and open lubricant sachets.
“You okay?” Xavier whispered from beside me. He oozed sex appeal in his black suit and button-down shirt.
“Yeah.” I clung to his arm, his ring heavy on my finger. True to his word, it appeared the day after I left hospital. We’d be married right now, only I insisted I wanted Megan to be my maid of honour and for our day to be a moment that both of us would remember.
My dress was plain black and straight to just above my knee. The front dipped into a precarious V that allowed a peek at my breasts. Xavier had bought it for me, and it accentuated all my best bits and made me feel sexy and powerful beside him, as if I belonged there.
“Tonight is just for you to view what happens here. Remember that everything you see in the rooms is consensual.” He’d told me this a dozen times already. This was the world of pleasure and pain that Xavier created. At times when he talked about it he was excited to show me this world, and other times he seemed anxious.
My fingers tightened on his arm and he glanced down at me. “Why don’t you show me your Twilight Rooms?”
The reception area faded away as Xavier led me through the doorway to our right. The room was decorated in cream walls with deep red velvet curtains. A massive mantlepiece rested in the middle of the back wall of the room, with bookcases on either side of it filled with leather-backed volumes.
Xavier opened a door that was inset in the bookcase to the left of the mantlepiece, adding an air of mystery to his tour. A long, dimly lit corridor stretched behind the room. Black wallpaper with red flowers covered the walls. Occasionally, there was a room door open.
Xavier stopped beside an open door. Six women in white lace underwear sat on their knees in supplication. A male in a black suit wandered among them explaining etiquette used by subs. “In The Twilight Rooms we use the traffic light system when you are within your role. Green is that you are agreeable to what is happening. Amber tells your Dom that you have reservations. Red is an immediate stop with no questions asked. We take everyone’s pleasure and safety seriously.”
I imagined myself as one of those women, but the only man I wanted towering over me was Xavier.
“Do they come here to be specifically trained?” I asked, resting against his strength.
“Yeah. Some women don’t want husbands or partners. They have high-powered careers and just need an outlet. A sub hands over control to her Dom, but she has the ultimate power because she can stop what is happening at any time.” Xavier’s arm slipped around my waist as he leaned down, his lips touching my ear. “She holds the Dom in the palm of her hand because in that moment, he belongs to her alone.”
A shiver rippled down my spine because I knew he was talking about us.
Xavier led me to another room, the women in it were still dressed in white lingerie, but this room had furniture. One woman lay on a medical table with her arms tied at the wrists to the restraint above her head. Another woman was attached to a St. Andrew’s cross, while another was on what looked like a horse saddle with her hands tied behind her back.
“The subs learn to be pleasured using different props. We try to ensure they are comfortable with anything they will encounter in the rooms upstairs. They will learn to associate all these with pleasure until there is no fear attached. They know that no matter what happens, they will always enjoy their experience. We can’t guarantee that in The Midnight Rooms.”
I stared up at him and his eyes were trained on the woman suspended on the cross. It looked like that was one of the props that Xavier preferred. “Why can’t you?”
His gaze moved to mine. “Because all our Doms are trained to ensure they know exactly how to balance pain, pleasure, and control. They know how to take their partners to the edge and fulfil their every fantasy. In The Midnight Rooms, anyone with a dick can have sex. Up here everyone knows where the g-spot is and how to use it.”
I thought of the first man I encountered down there. He certainly hadn’t known what to do with his appendage to bring pleasure to anyone but himself.
Further down the corridor, a woman was blindfolded and strapped, kneeling into a chair that seemed built for that purpose. One man stood behind her, his ass tightening on every thrust into her, a man in front of her had his cock in her mouth. She was helpless to do anything since her arms and legs were firmly attached to the chair.
“This allows the sub to learn to hand over control. She can do nothing but accept what the Doms give her. She needs to learn to trust them and not panic. This is where our subs learn their limits. Some decide they only like one partner, others that they are comfortable taking three men at once.”
My gasp drew his attention.
A salacious smile curved his full lips. “You don’t need to worry about that, because the only man who’ll be touching you is me.”
My eyebrow arched. “What if I want to embrace the entire scene and select myself a Dom?”
Xavier chuckled. “Good luck with that, considering there isn’t one who’ll go against what I say up there.”
I deliberately narrowed my eyes to show my displeasure, but all that did was amuse my overprotective fiancé.
“You’re cute,” he said, kissing the end of my nose.
“I’m meant to be a sexy seductress,” I pouted.
He bit his bottom lip, his head coming down until he kissed my neck. “Keep that up and I’ll show you what an attitude adjustment feels like in here.”
Holy fuck, my panties caught on fire. Suddenly, I wanted to be on my knees in front of him, allowing him to command my body. Xavier had me on a sex embargo until I was fully healed. Right now, I was so horny that I wanted to push him into one of the rooms and ride him until both of us screamed.
My hands grasped his waist. “Maybe I’ve been a very naughty girl and need that.”
His body stiffened and his hand fisted at his side.
I stood on my tiptoes, using my grip on his waist to balance me, and pressed a kiss to his throat.
Xavier’s hand grasped my neck gently, pinning me to the wall. “You need to stop tempting me, Cas. I only have so much control and you need to heal.”
“I’m not going to break.”
The woman in the room screamed in ecstasy as the man behind her continued to thrust. The other man had obviously finished with her mouth since he’d disappeared. There was something taboo about watching people having sex without their knowledge that made a pulse beat between my legs.
Xavier’s hand increased the pressure on my neck, his pupils dilating. I leaned in to his hand, desperate for his touch. He shook his head and released his hold, instead grasping me by the arm and moving me on around the circular corridor.
Another open door, and this time a woman was suspended, her arms attached to a wooden beam, her ankles in restraints and legs apart. The man behind her held a crop. Every time he struck her ass, she counted and thanked him. He protectively caressed the red skin he created from his spanking.
My hands gripped the doorframe as I watched. She moaned as he fondled her between the legs, his other hand arcing back with the crop. He stepped back and struck her on the right ass cheek.
“Ten, thank you.” Her hands gripped at her restraints, her ass presented for his caress.
“The flush of her cheeks means the blood is flowing to that area of the body. It means that everything in her pelvic area is more sensitive, including her clit.” Xavier’s arm wrapped around my waist, his lips trailing down my throat. “Right now, she’s hovering on the edge of orgasm. With the right push, she’ll go right over the edge.”
Without warning, the man behind her unzipped his trousers and pushed into her forcefully.
“Yes, master, thank you.”
I leaned back into Xavier and felt his reaction to the stimulus in front of us. My ass rubbed against his hardening length.
�
�Fuck, Cas, you need to stop.”
I didn’t want to. In fact, stopping was the opposite of what I wanted to do. The man’s grunts and woman’s moans ignited my blood. The sound of their flesh slapping together made me want to touch myself because Xavier was driving me crazy with his gentle caresses and deep, slow kisses that never led to fulfilment.
“What’s behind the closed doors?” I asked, my voice husky.
“Personal playrooms. Anyone training has to leave the door open, but the others are available for use if you want somewhere extremely private.”
I didn’t think, merely took his hand and opened the door closest to us.
When we were inside, Xavier turned the key to lock it.
The lighting was dim but his eyes blazed as his hands grasped my hips and walked me slowly backward into the room.
“I was trying to give you time to heal,” he rasped.
“I don’t need to heal, I need you.”
My back hit a wall and his hand wrapped around my throat again, his head descending until his lips hovered over mine. “You don’t want me like this, Cas. We need to leave now before my demons come out to play.”
My head tilted back so I could stare into his eyes. “Maybe my demons want to play with yours.”
He growled, his lips finding mine, his tongue seeking and destroying everything in its path. He made me want to be adventurous, burn away the old me and replace her with a seductress who set his blood on fire the way he did to me.
My fingers tugged his shirt from his trousers, so I could feel his flesh, my nails scratching up his back to mark him.
“Fuck,” he muttered into my mouth.
Every part of me was on fire. I wanted nothing more than to lay myself on the altar of desire and sacrifice myself to sin and debauchery.