Surrender

by Marina Anderson

  Surrender

  The Dining Club

  Part Eight

  Marina Anderson

  New York Boston

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  Chapter One

  Looking at Grace, freshly bathed and sitting curled up in the large armchair by the long window of their bedroom in a toweling robe, David felt a rush of tenderness toward her. She’d achieved so much during the four months they’d been visiting the Dining Club, and this weekend she’d amazed him by her capacity for controlled pleasure.

  He could no longer deny, even to himself, that he was in love with her, and it scared him. He’d never wanted this. He’d expected her to fail, then he would have had nothing to fear, for love and tenderness were the only things that did scare him. They left him vulnerable, and they would leave Grace vulnerable too because, no matter how much he was in love with her now, he knew that eventually he would tire of her.

  “What are you thinking about?” she asked.

  “How you looked earlier,” he said, not yet able to commit his love to words. She smiled at him, and he realized that, possibly even more worryingly, she was beginning to understand him. Joining her in the armchair, and settling her comfortably on his lap with her head against his shoulder, he stroked her long, dark hair. “Are you ready to hear about table five now?” he asked.

  Grace nodded. “Yes, and everything else that you think I should know about the Dining Club.”

  Holding her close to him, his fingers still playing with her hair, he struggled to think how best to explain it to her. After all she’d been through, she deserved the truth, but the truth might hurt her and she didn’t deserve to be hurt at this moment, when she’d passed her final trial so triumphantly.

  “Have you ever wondered who owned the Club?” he asked.

  “I did, but now I think it’s the new man who took part in tonight’s trial. He seemed to have authority, and he knew what he was doing too.”

  “He’s a business partner of mine, but you’re wrong, he doesn’t own the Dining Club. I do.”

  Grace looked at him in astonishment. “You said you had money invested in it, that you…”

  “I do have money invested in it. I own it.”

  “Then all along you’ve known what was going to happen. You must have planned the evenings right from the start. Everything that happened to me was designed by you.” She was clearly both shocked and hurt.

  “That’s not true, Gracie. Amber designs all the trials, I merely approve them. This weekend you’ve just finished never varies. If people reach the fourth table then that’s the trial they all take, which is why despite what I feel for you, I need Amber in my life too.

  “She understands what turns me on, what excites me and relieves the boredom of…”

  “Of being in a loving relationship?” asked Grace quietly.

  For the first time in his adult life, David wanted to lie. He wanted to tell this woman he was in love with that their relationship was all he needed, and all he would ever need, but he couldn’t do it. She’d earned the right to total honesty, even if that meant he destroyed their love at the very start. “Yes,” he admitted.

  Grace sighed softly, but curled herself more tightly against him. “I see. Please tell me about table five now.”

  “Table five is where Amber, as the hostess always sits. You see, the Dining Club doesn’t only open one weekend a month. There are themed weekends in between; bondage, S&M, and dominatrix breaks. Amber oversees them all.”

  “Do you come to any of them?” asked Grace.

  “I used to come quite a lot, but since I’ve met you I only come here if you’re working on a weekend. I prefer your company,” he added with a half-smile.

  Grace didn’t smile back at him. “Do you have sex with Amber? Privately I mean, not in the context of a specialty event.”

  “Yes, we’ve been lovers on and off for several years now. She fulfills a need in me that not all women would want to satisfy.”

  “What sort of need?”

  “Darling, I don’t think…”

  “I want to know everything,” said Grace firmly.

  “It’s only the darker side of sex, more pleasure pain than tenderness. Amber doesn’t do tenderness, as you’ve probably gathered.”

  “And table five belongs to her?”

  “Yes, unless someone wants to challenge her for the role of hostess here. The problem is that even if you do want to, and I believe you’d be a worthy opponent, it’s a full-time job running the Club. You already have a good career. You can’t want to give that up.”

  “I might,” said Grace. “I’d bring a lot to it, given my line of work. I’d be able to look at it with fresh eyes, make it even more exciting. After several years, Amber is bound to be stuck in a rut.”

  David knew that he had to be honest. “Not really, she’s very inventive.”

  “Don’t you want me to challenge her?” asked Grace, sounding hurt.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’m used to the Dining Club being a retreat from my everyday life. If you challenged her and won, then the two would merge, and…”

  “And you’d never be bored again!” exclaimed Grace. “I want to do it, David. I want to take the final step. Would it be like the other trials?”

  “No, it’s a head-to-head competition, and the result is decided by a vote.”

  “Who votes?”

  “The men who’ve taken part in the evening; they’re all connected to the Dining Club in one capacity or another. Andrew will be there of course, as he’s my manager, and Lucien, the man you noticed tonight.”

  “Don’t women take part in the evening?”

  “Only to assist with things; they don’t vote.”

  “How many times has Amber been challenged?”

  David thought for a moment. “Three times in all, but no one has ever come close to defeating her. In truth, I think you have a chance. You’re possibly more suited to the theme of the trial than she is, but Amber likes her job and will do anything to keep it.”

  “I only need to know one thing,” said Grace, and he could feel her body trembling slightly. “Do you love me, David? If you do, I need to hear you say it.”

  Caressing the nape of her neck, he kissed the top of her spine, and heard her sigh with pleasure. “Yes, Gracie, right now, at this moment, I do love you,” he said truthfully.

  Slowly she slipped to the floor, shrugged off her robe and then unzipped him, bending her head toward his rapidly hardening penis. “That’s all I needed to know,” she said. “I definitely want to challenge Amber for table five.” With that she started to run her tongue around the underside of the ridge below the head of his erection and with a soft sigh he gave himself up to the pleasure of her skillful tongue, and was equally aroused by the prospect of what lay ahead following Grace’s totally unexpected but exciting decision.

  * * *

  “She passed!” exclaimed Amber, hurling herself at Andrew and punching his chest with her fists. “No doubt David is telling her all about table five at this very moment too. Why didn’t you stop her? You said you’d help me!”

  “I tried to make her fail, but nothing worked,” protested Andrew, grabbing her wrists to protect himself. “She was pretty
amazing this weekend. I don’t think anything could have stopped her.”

  Amber wriggled in his grasp, trying to free herself, but he was too strong for her. “What am I going to do?” she cried. “I hate the challenge for table five.”

  “Well you’re just going to have to learn to be more submissive, if it ever comes to that,” replied Andrew. “Personally I don’t think she’ll give up her career in the theater for the Dining Club.”

  “She might not want to, but she won’t fancy sharing David with me either, so what choice does she have?” retorted Amber, landing a kick on Andrew’s shins in order to break away from him.

  “That hurt!” he exclaimed.

  “Good, it was meant to hurt. You’ve let me down, and all because you’re secretly in love with that wretched girl too.”

  “Pull yourself together,” he snapped, pinning her to the wall by her shoulders and dodging her flying fists and feet. “You really do need to learn to control yourself,” he added, grabbing the neckline of her dress and tearing it open down to the waist, leaving her perfect breasts exposed.

  Amber continued to fight him, but he knew better than to stop now. Bending his head he bit her shoulders and breasts, jamming one knee between her legs so that his thigh was pressing against her pubic mound.

  Her breathing grew ragged and Andrew put his left forearm against her throat to keep her against the wall, while reaching down with his right hand and pushing the leg of her panties aside before thrusting two fingers inside her.

  Amber began to writhe with excitement. Her face was flushed, her eyes bright and when Andrew rotated his thumb on her clitoris while pressing firmly against the internal walls of her vagina with the two fingers she started moaning.

  Lowering his head he drew her left nipple into his mouth, sucking on it hard then releasing it for a few seconds. “Don’t stop!” she shouted, thrusting her hips forward to try and precipitate her climax. Now he used his body to pin her to the wall, freeing his left hand. Swiftly he gripped her right breast and began to squeeze it, softly at first but then harder and harder until she gasped with pain.

  Pain was an aphrodisiac for Amber, as Andrew knew very well, so he kept his grip steady, moving the fingers of his other hand in and out of the soaking wet opening between her legs until, with a scream of excitement, her body jerked and shuddered as her orgasm swept through her.

  Quickly Andrew unzipped his jeans and entered her with hard thrusts that made her gasp for breath. His body slammed into her and he rested his hands on the wall for support as his testicles pulled up tight against him and then he was emptying himself inside her as she climaxed for a second time.

  After that she was quiet. Her breathing slowed, and eventually she sat down, pulling the tattered pieces of her dress up. “What will become of me if I have to leave here?” she asked despairingly.

  Andrew had never heard her so despondent. “You must make sure that doesn’t happen,” he said firmly. “You’ve seen off three challengers since you started here. You know what’s involved. Grace doesn’t have a clue. You hold all the cards.”

  “You’re wrong,” said Amber. “This challenge suits her, that’s what worries me.”

  “Then you have to learn to control yourself better,” said Andrew. “I’ll help you practice if you like. I’d rather enjoy seeing you obeying orders.”

  “You’ll be one of the judges, and anyway I’m not sure where your loyalty really lies,” retorted Amber. “Perhaps you’d better go away and think about that before next weekend.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean you should consider what would be best for you. Do you really want to work with Grace, knowing she can never be yours? Or would you prefer things to stay as they are? If that happens, then eventually David will tire of Grace and things will return to normal here. If she wins, she’ll change everything. She’s clever and ambitious, there may not even be room for you by the time she’s reorganized things.”

  She was right thought Andrew as he was driving home. He couldn’t affect the outcome of the challenge, but he did need to think about what he would do if the once-unthinkable happened, and Grace replaced Amber as the Dining Club’s hostess.

  * * *

  “What do you mean, you can’t make Sunday?” asked Fran in disbelief. “What the hell’s more important than a first read-through that’s taken weeks to set up?”

  Grace didn’t know what to say. “I’ve no choice, Fran. It’s something that’s come up unexpectedly and…”

  “Unless someone’s bloody dying I can’t imagine what it can be,” snapped Fran.

  “I’m sorry, but I have to be somewhere else. I can’t explain more, and I’m really sorry. I know it’s terrible timing.”

  Fran laughed bitterly. “That has to be the understatement of the year. Just don’t let it be something you have to go to with David, because if it is I’ll never forgive you.”

  Grace didn’t answer.

  “It is, isn’t it? You’re swanning off to some posh event with Mr. Moneybags and abandoning MY play. Go on, admit it.”

  “It’s not like that. If I could get out of it I would, but I can’t,” said Grace, feeling close to tears.

  “Then explain to me exactly what it is that you can’t get out of, because I can tell you right now that this is so unprofessional I can’t believe you’re doing it.”

  “I can’t tell you. I’m not allowed to tell you,” said Grace.

  “Not allowed? Is it some Masonic function, where they’re admitting women as a treat for being good girls? God, what’s happened to you? We used to laugh at people like that.”

  “People like what?” asked Grace. “You don’t know anything about David, so don’t try to judge him.”

  “I know he’s changed you,” retorted Fran, picking up her jacket and shoulder bag.

  “Please don’t walk out on me, Fran,” begged Grace. “I don’t want us to fall out over this.”

  “Well tough luck, because we just have. I’ll tell everyone you’re sick, which is true in a way, as you seem to be lovesick. Don’t expect to be welcomed back with open arms when you and David break up though. I thought you valued our friendship, but clearly I was wrong.

  “You know, if you were head over heels in love with that chap we met at the King’s Head I could understand it better, he was a real hunk, but I have no idea what you see in David. All I can say is, he must be bloody good in the sack.”

  Grace felt her cheeks flushing, and hastily turned away from her friend. “I’m truly sorry, Fran,” she repeated. “And I wish I could tell you more, but I can’t. I should be able to get your play up and running though. It’s probably only Sunday I’ll have to miss.”

  Fran was speechless for a moment. “You ‘should’ be able to get my play up and running? Fine, but remember this. If you want to screw up your entire career through lust or whatever you choose to call it, it’s up to you, but lust doesn’t last. What will you do when David tires of you and you’re just another forgotten director who was once tipped for great success?”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” responded Grace, stung to anger by her friend’s words, which were too close to home to be comfortable. “I won’t let him tire of me.”

  Fran raised her eyebrows. “Really? Well short of casting some kind of spell over him, I don’t know how you can possibly say that. How can any of us know that someone we love will never tire of us? We all change, Grace. It’s called growing up, I believe. I’m beginning to feel really sorry for you.”

  “There’s no need,” retorted Grace. “I’ve never been as happy as I am at the moment.”

  Fran looked at her thoughtfully. “Yes, you do look happy; different, but happy. I still think this is a disgusting way to treat a friend, but if you’ve discovered the secret to eternal happiness, then feel free to let me in on it sometime. Until then, I’m leaving.” With that she walked out of the flat, banging the front door shut behind her.

  Alone and
shaken, Grace turned her thoughts to the coming Sunday. Now, more than ever, she knew that she had to succeed in the challenge. After everything that Fran had said, she was even more certain that her decision was right. What she really wanted to do was to run the Dining Club, and make a life for her and David that would totally fulfill them both. The moment she’d set foot in the Club her life had changed irrevocably, and she was now so consumed by her love for both David and the Club that nothing else mattered, which meant that Amber definitely had to go.

  Chapter Two

  On the Sunday morning, David collected Grace from her flat at six-thirty in the morning. She’d already been awake for over two hours, her mind racing as she tried to imagine what might lie ahead of her, and how she could summon up the skills necessary to defeat Amber in the challenge for table five.

  “Dark circles?” he queried, touching her face with the tips of his fingers. “I hope you haven’t been awake all night?”

  “No, although it would have been nice if we could have spent the night together.”

  “Unfair to Amber, don’t you think?” he queried.

  “You really are totally impartial about this aren’t you,” she said incredulously. “I thought you said you loved me, and that you wanted me to do this.”

  He cast a quick sideways glance at her. “I certainly said I loved you, because I do. I think the decision to take on the challenge for table five was yours alone though.”

  “But we agreed it would be good for us, for our relationship. We talked about that.”

  “Damn these lights, they’re all on red,” was his only response, and she realized that he didn’t want to talk about it.

  “David, please tell me that you want me to win,” she begged him. “I need to know that.”

  “I’ve known Amber a long time, and we’ve a lot of shared memories, Grace. I’m one of the judges in this competition, and I take part in the challenge. It wouldn’t be fair if I was more in favor of one of you than the other.”

  “But…”