by Emery Cross
After emptying my stomach in the toilet. I stood up on shaky legs and rinsed my mouth out at the sink, followed by a couple of shots of mouthwash. I glanced at my reflection. My ghostly pale complexion combined with the smudged black makeup around my eyes made me look as if I was going for the heroin-chic aesthetic.
Rafferty appeared in the doorway, his big frame nearly shut out the bedroom light. “Babe, you all right?”
I glared at him in the mirror. “Did you really think I was going to service your circle of entitled friends?”
“What the fuck did Max say to you?”
“He was just figuring he was next in line when you passed me off.” I was feeling claustrophobic with his body blocking the exit. I shoved past him out the door. I sat down with my back against the bed and hugged my knees.
“I never discussed our financial arrangement with anybody. He put two and two together himself.” He leaned against the door jamb, his arms crossed over his chest. “Besides, why would I recommend your services? You haven’t kept up with my demands.”
He pushed himself off the wall, strode into the bathroom, and yanked open the bathroom drawer. With an accusing lift of his brow, he held up the box containing the anal plug.
My cheeks flamed with embarrassment. It was just one humiliating experience after another.
“Was I supposed to wear that dancing?”
He dropped the box back in the drawer and slammed it shut. Tension stiffened his entire frame. Why did I have the crazy urge to assure him that I would never cheat on him? We had one single day left, and he was acting as if he were my husband for life.
“You don’t dance with partners at a club like that. You just dance.”
His shoulders relaxed a notch.
The balcony door was ajar, and the sounds of the party drifted into the room. “It sounds as if your guests are getting restless,” I said.
I could tell my dismissal of him rankled, but I needed some time alone.
CHAPTER TWO
REMI
After showering off the night’s grime and makeup, I returned to the bedroom to find Veronica snooping around. She had my diamond necklace clutched in her hand. I was beginning to wonder if the guests would ever go home.
“So you’re the slutty ‘cousin’.” She crooked her fingers in air quotes. “Real diamonds for Diamond the lap dancer. How fitting.”
This conversation was starting pretty much like the one at the cocktail party when her lookalike friend had cornered me in the restroom. But, I was keyed up enough to fight back this time. “And you’re the ex-what? Friend with benefits?”
I made the mistake of grabbing a robe from the closet. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of all the gorgeous new clothes. “How long have you been living here?”
“A little under two weeks. And how long did you live here?” I asked with a smirk.
“When he told me tonight he’d met someone else, I never imagined someone like you.”
“That’s interesting, Veronica. Because you are exactly as I imagined.”
She made a sour face. “You’re going to ruin him.”
“Rafferty Cade is capable of handling anything.”
I wasn’t in the mood to listen to a continued dissection of my character. I walked to the wall unit and punched on some heavy metal music and quickly cranked the volume up.
Instead of driving her away, as I had hoped, the pounding music seemed to antagonize her more. She marched over to the closet and started yanking handfuls of my wardrobe off the hangers. She followed that up by sweeping the dresser clean of perfume bottles and candles. For her finale, she flung the diamond necklace hard enough to crack the mirror above the dresser. She surveyed the wreckage, then smoothed her hair before walking stiffly out the door. I turned the volume down before I gave myself a headache.
Perfume permeated the air from a broken bottle. Scattered beads, from a pretty little cocktail dress I’d never had an opportunity to wear, littered the rug.
Rafferty found me as I was putting a dress back on the hanger.
“Sorry, I had a bit of a tantrum.”
“Little liar. Veronica told me what she’d done just before she stormed out.” He bent over and plucked a couple of candles off the rug and replaced them on the dresser. “Why would you protect her?”
I shrugged. “No one loses it like that unless they’re crazy in love.”
“And what do you know about that kind of love?”
I jammed the hanger onto the rack. “You should have asked me about Sam. You had no right discussing my life with Jace.”
“But you don’t tell me anything, do you, babe?”
Out of the corner of my eye I could see him hovering, his big body seemed to vibrate with fury. I busied myself with putting another garment on a hanger.
“You still intend on leaving me after tomorrow?” he asked, his voice was strained.
I hesitated, hoping he’d offer me something other than a financial incentive to stay. It didn’t have to be an avowal of love, but something beyond cold hard cash. When he didn’t, I simply answered, “Yes.”
CHAPTER THREE
REMI
Rafferty didn’t come to bed that night, and sleep came in troubled snatches. I woke in a sweat, my nude body exposed, the sheets twisted around my calves.
Feeling groggy even after showering, I welcomed Mrs. McCay’s delivery of a cup of coffee. I was just starting to feel a little bit human when my phone chimed.
“I want Diamond tonight. And I expect the trifecta…mouth, pussy, and that pert ass of yours.”
Aggravating bastard. His attitude should have made it easier to think of leaving him, but it didn’t. He was lashing out because he was frustrated. Rafferty Cade was a man used to getting his way. “As you wish, sir,” I said.
“I like that,” he drawled. “Keep the ‘sirs’ coming. And practice those bullshit lines you tell your clients. I want to hear every fucking one of them.”
I clutched the phone he’d given me, trying to resist the urge to shatter it against the wall.
“I left a credit card on the dresser,” he said into the silence. My face grew hot with humiliation. I realized he’d seen me all tangled in my sheets this morning and had certainly deduced the restless night I’d had without him. “Fitch is at your disposal to take you wherever you need to go. Buy the sluttiest lingerie you can find,” he said before ending the phone call.
When I climbed into the back of the sedan, I was still bristling at his arrogant manner. I hoped wearing out his credit card might improve my mood. I picked up a curling iron, sparkling eye shadow and nail polish at the local drugstore. I splurged on an amazing fragrance at a perfume boutique, then made poor Fitch drive me to a store located on the strip near Victor’s auction house. Fitch avoided looking at the storefront with its mannequins clad in an assortment of blush worthy styles from see-through maid uniforms to leather bindings. The store had everything a girl might want to entertain her special guy.
There were crotchless teddies, feathered nighties, leather thongs, vinyl corsets, and chain-mail bras and undies. In the end, I opted for no lingerie at all, just jewelry. I purchased fake diamonds galore—bracelets, shoulder-length chandelier earrings, and an anklet. But it was the far more risqué items that I thought might interest Rafferty; a pair of nipple clamps connected by chains to a gem studded collar and a matching pair of panties, which were little more than a chain thong studded with imitation gemstones.
After spending the afternoon primping, I slipped a robe over my glittering self and carefully propped myself on the lounge in the sitting area, trying not to disturb my curls. I’d left the balcony door ajar so I could hear his car coming up the drive. The moment the garage door sounded, I parted the silk robe and adjusted the gold chains which were attached to the cente
r of the collar, stringing them between my cleavage and then under the inside curve of each breast. Gritting my teeth, I attached the clamps to my nipples. I inhaled sharply as I closed the robe. Even the light-as-air silk was too much for my pinched nipples.
I schooled my emotions when he stepped into the room. He was in his shirtsleeves with the cuffs rolled up. He took a seat on the edge of the bed and began removing his shoes.
“Finish undressing me,” he said as he set aside his black oxfords. His deep blue eyes were so intense, I had a difficult time holding his gaze.
“Don’t you want a drink before we get started?” I stood up in my five inch crystal-clear mules and sashayed across the room to where I’d placed a decanter and two tumblers, nerve-wrackingly close to where he sat.
“No questions this time. Just do as I say.”
I blushed recalling how I’d peppered him with questions after the auction. I replaced the stopper in the decanter.
“First get rid of the robe,” he said.
My hands were trembling as I began untying the sash. I found myself stalling, taking far too long to loosen the knot, because it suddenly occurred to me I’d gone too far with the Diamond theme. He would not be pleased. My heart racing, I slipped the robe off my shoulders and let it puddle at my feet. I held my arms a little away from my body. “You wanted, Diamond.”
His black eyebrows rose. “Holy fuck.” His blues eyes darkened with a heated and hungry look that set my pulse racing. “Get your teasing little ass over here.”
My breasts jiggled provocatively inside the chain bra as I tottered over in my towering heels.
I caught a strong whiff of booze as I stepped between his spread thighs. He’d never come home from work smelling like alcohol before. I placed my hands on his shoulders and dipped my head, running my tongue over his firm lips. “Mmm. Scotch?” I slid my hands from around his neck and began undoing his tie.
“Bourbon, actually.”
“Bad day at the office?”
He shrugged. “Wouldn’t know. Never made it there.”
“You’ve been drinking all day?” Though he had a dejected look about him, he seemed remarkably in control for a man who’d spent the day in a bar
He trailed his fingers through my curls. “Sorry, Diamond, my girl. You won’t be getting a reprieve. I’d get hard for you if I was unconscious.”
“I don’t want a reprieve! You are the best—”
I let out a little cry, as he tugged gently on one of the chains sending a charge through my entire body.
“I don’t want any of those bullshit ego strokes after all,” he said.
“But, Rafferty—”
“Just stop.” Another thrill went from my nipples straight to my pussy as he tugged a little harder.
He wasn’t going to believe a word I said tonight. Besides, my ultra-sensitive nipples wouldn’t be able to take much more.
I managed to unbutton his shirt, despite the fact that he was twisting around trying to get a good look at my backside the entire time. He kept running his fingers over the chain that ran up my crack. I was shoving the shirt off his shoulders when he fell back on the bed, hauling me with him.
I gasped as my nipples met the unforgiving hardness of his chest. He rolled me off of him and, while observing my reaction from beneath his thick lashes, he removed the clamps and unhooked the chains. He cast them aside, so all I was left with was a gem-studded collar. Free of those painful restraints, I sighed with relief.
He leaned in to smell the perfume at my throat. “God, you are delicious.” When he worked his way down and started suckling my breasts with his hot wet mouth, his tongue swirling around one tender nipple and then the other, the pleasure was so exquisite I moaned aloud. He added his talented fingers to the mix, and rubbed the gems strung on the thong along my slit until my pussy pulsed. When his thumb slid beneath the chain to my naked skin and circled my clit, I began chanting his name.
I whimpered as his hand stilled, and his mouth stopped its seductive pull on my nipple. I opened my eyes to find him staring down at me. “Call me, sir.”
I wanted to say something flippant, but I couldn’t manage it. I just gave a pathetic nod of my head.
He resumed his erotic onslaught, nipping at one of my erect nipples while his fingers gently pinched my clit. All the drinking he’d done had certainly not affected his unerring ability to make me come. I panted through my parted lips as he brought me to a climax.
The orgasm left me ticklish and my skin shivered as he tried to remove the thong.
“How do you get this thing off? I’m not fucking through metal netting.” His hair fell forward as he fiddled with the clasp. When he couldn’t unlatch it, he grabbed both sides of the chain.
“You’ll break it.”
His powerful hands snapped the heavy clasp. “Fucking right, I will. I paid for it. And I sure as hell won’t let you wear it for someone else.”
He shimmied the opposite of a chastity belt down my legs, and it hit the wood floor with a clang. He stood up and quickly shed the rest of his clothes. I let my legs fall open in invitation. He groaned at the sight of my eagerness. Gripping my parted knees, he spread me as wide as possible, then leaned over and licked my heated, slick pussy. I writhed with pleasure as he lapped greedily at my pink folds and then plunged his big tongue inside me. I’d assumed the night would be devoted to his selfish pleasures, but instead, he was lavishing attention on me.
I shamelessly lifted my hips to meet his hungry kisses, and in moments, reached an even sweeter climax than the one before. He lay down beside me and pulled me into his arms as my body continued to spasm gently. I tasted bourbon and my own excitement on his lips as he slanted his mouth over mine.
“My turn. Sir.”
His eyes were half-lidded with lust as I knelt beside him. I pulled my long hair back, but it took me a couple of tries to knot it because he was rubbing one of my kiss-swollen nipples between his thumb and forefinger. As I lowered my head to service him, he propped himself on his forearms to get a better view.
My chandelier earrings grazed his skin as I kissed my way down the thin trail of hair on his abdomen. I sighed in appreciation as I began working my way up his thick, throbbing erection. Making love to his cock made my heart pound. I was sure he could see the frenetic pulse beat at the base of my throat as I tasted, teased, and slurped him. I felt inadequate, I still hadn’t learned the trick of getting more than half of him inside my mouth.
I lifted my head and closed my fist around his cock. His shaft was wet from my kisses and my hand slid smoothly up and down the length of him. “I’m dying to fuck,” I said.
He seemed disconcerted at my sudden request but rolled over and tucked me beneath him. I clutched his muscled back and spread my legs to accommodate his big frame.
As he thrust inside me, tears trickled from the corners of my eyes, wetting my hair.
He stiffened, holding himself above me. “What the hell’s going on?”
“Nothing.” I lifted my pelvis, forcing him deeper. “It just feels so good.”
Frowning down at me, he used his thumb to rub away some tears at my temple. I reached for the lamp on the nightstand.
“Leave it on.”
He resumed fucking me, but I’d thrown his rhythm off. I wasn’t sure if he couldn’t bear seeing my tear-stained face any longer, but he pulled out of me and flipped me to my front. I got up on my knees, but kept my face buried in the pillow, deliberately angling my bottom.
He groaned with masculine appreciation as he stroked his hands over my curves.
I grabbed the lube from the table and awkwardly passed it back to him.
“Whoa, sweetheart, are we in a race here? I was hoping to fuck your tight little pussy from this angle.”
I quickly sat up, put
ting my back to the headboard.
He was kneeling on the bed, his masculinity on full display. His muscles glistened with sweat, his cock was dauntingly hard, and he was flexing his strong jaw in annoyance.
“Hurrying to check off all your obligations, Diamond?”
“Of course not, Mr. Cade,” I said, though he’d gauged the situation correctly. I had been rushing. I was afraid I’d lose my nerve. He wanted to imprint himself everywhere on me, and in me, and I would suffer a lifetime for it. I would never stop yearning for him.
I tried for an alluring smile, but failed miserably. My lips were trembling. “Actually, yes. I’m anxious.”
“The only thing required from you, baby, is a little obedience.”
He grabbed my ankle and pulled me toward him. My knotted bun came loose, and my hair fanned out behind me. He applied a generous amount of the lube to his fingers and his cock. My nostrils flared as my breathing became shallower.
I jolted as he squeezed the gel onto my anus and rubbed it in with the pad of his thumb.
He focused his burning gaze between my spread legs as he worked one slick finger into my tight passageway. He groaned. “I could come just looking at you.” One finger was not so very different from the plastic plug I’d worn, but when he attempted to push in a second one I tried to squeeze him out.
“Bear down, sweetheart.”
He wanted obedience, I could give him that for his final night. “God, that’s tight,” he said under his breath once he managed to shove the second finger inside me. His chest was heaving as he began pumping his fingers, never pulling them out completely.
“Baby, get up on your knees again.” His commanding voice resonated through me. He kept his fingers buried deep within me as I rolled onto all fours. The moment he pulled his fingers out, he spread my cheeks and pressed his cock to my anus. I clenched my teeth as he entered me. It was amazingly invasive and painful at first, but he stroked my back and called me Remi and I fought my tears. I was desperate to please him. His body vibrated with tension as he held himself back, allowing my body to adjust to his cock before pushing further inside me.