All her anger and rage disappeared being replaced by sheer fear.
He took a few steps away from her and to his relief her voice stopped him.
"Please… don’t leave me here alone…" He stopped and she took a step towards him. "I'm sorry I bit you, I…"
He turned to look at her.
"Now you want the help of a… what was that you called me? Ah, yes, a clumsy gorilla?" he said, in a tone colder than the freezing breeze swirling around them, crossing his arms over his chest. She brushed her hands over her naked arms, starting to feel very cold.
"I'm sorry, ok? I was scared to death and you managed to scare me even more," she retorted, letting her bad temper take control.
Alec shook his head in disbelief and turned around again, done with her. The woman was truly ungrateful, and he had done more than enough helping her to hide from the guys chasing her. He could almost bet she had gotten herself into that situation through that big mouth of hers.
"God, what do you want from me, a written apology? I'll get you one as soon as I get home," she exploded, afraid he could actually leave her there. "I don't even know where I am, and I left my purse and my coat back at the club," she added in a plaintive tone.
He stopped, again shaking his head impatiently, before turning to look at her. Despite the dim light, he was able to see her naked arms and notice for the first time the absence of any warm piece of clothing.
"This is really my night," he whispered to himself, scolding all the gods of the universe.
He turned around and took off his coat and handed it to her, keeping his jacket.
She grabbed it reluctantly, putting it on. Her nostrils were invaded by a scent, a mix of sandalwood and musk that was enthralling. She took a deep breath and looked up at him.
"I had been walking for almost fifteen minutes and I didn’t see any taxis, so I guess I better call one," he said, with resignation in his voice.
"Why haven’t you called one from the start?" she asked, suspicious.
"Because I wanted to walk for a while, and good thing I did, don’t you think? Otherwise, who knows what would have happened to you," he sneered..
He grabbed his cell phone and called the taxi company he usually used and asked to be picked up. They told him that due to the weather and the amount of people requiring their services it would take them at least an hour to get there.
Sighing with frustration, Alec made a decision and asked them to pick him up at his club.
"It will take them an hour to get here, so I've decided to wait for them back at the club where I was," he informed her.
"What if I don’t want to go there with you?" she asked, furious with his authoritative tone. Who the hell did he think he was to order her around?
"Well, you can stay here, I'm sure your friends must be on their way back to the club, so you're free to stay here and wait for them," he answered in a very cold tone. He had lost all compassion he might have felt for the brat.
He started walking back to the club and she started following him only seconds later, muttering softly. He was determined to ignore anything else coming from her. When the taxi arrived at the club, he would get her into it, pay for it for her and send her home. Hopefully, he would have forgotten about her within ten seconds afterward.
She was having trouble walking in her heels. Her run for it had left blisters on her feet and it was hurting like hell, but she had no intention of letting him know that. So, she kept walking for a couple of minutes until the pain became unbearable.
She stopped for a few seconds and tried taking them off and walking barefoot, but the hard asphalt was almost frozen and was even worse.
She muttered, completely enraged with herself and the whole world. This was certainly a night to forget, forever.
She put on her shoes again, but she just couldn’t take it anymore.
"Hey, you… mister," she called to him since he was a few steps ahead of her.
He didn’t pay her any attention, so she tried again.
"Hey, come on, I know you heard me," she yelled at him, leaning against a lamppost.
He finally stopped and turned to look at her. They were almost at the club's entrance, so what could she possibly want?
"What's the matter now?" he asked, showing all his impatience.
"I can't take another step. Do you think you could send the taxi here when it arrives?" she explained briefly.
"We're a minute or two away from the club. I'm sure you can take that," he replied, furious at what looked like laziness on her part.
"Well, I can't. I'm not taking another single step," she insisted, crossing her arms over her chest.
He walked towards her, looking bigger than ever as he towered over her.
"Don't you think you have caused enough trouble, as it is, you little brat? I could be home by now, quietly enjoying my night, and instead of that, I'm out here in the cold, putting up with a spoiled little brat, who thinks her will is the most important thing in the world," he ranted, furious.
"Well, excuse me, sir, never mind me. Please go back to your quiet life, I won't bother you anymore," she answered, determined not to be intimidated by him.
He lost his temper. For the first time in a long time, he just lost it.
He grabbed her by her elbow and simply dragged her along behind him.
She gasped, surprised, the pain in her feet getting worse.
"Let me go! You have no right to do that!" she screeched, but he just ignored her. Tears started to run down her cheeks, the pain too hard to bear. "Let me go, please," she begged.
At first, he thought he wasn’t hearing well. It looked as if she was crying, but that couldn’t be right, could it?
He stopped and looked at her. They were under the dim light of a lamppost and he was able to see the tears running down her cheeks.
"Please, let me go," she repeated, freeing her arm from his grip.
"What's going on? Why are you crying?" he asked, cold, still suspicious.
"I can't walk anymore," she said again.
"Why not?" he asked, treating her like a stubborn little child.
"Because it hurts too much," she whispered, wiping the tears from her face.
"What?" he shouted astonished.
"My feet hurt too much, ok? High heels aren't designed for running, and I ran quite a bit," she finally explained.
He crouched and lifted her right foot, taking off her shoe. Her blisters were bleeding now and it was obvious she was in pain.
He rested her foot gently over her shoe and he got up.
"Why the hell didn’t you tell me about it?" he asked angrily..
"I told you I couldn’t walk anymore," she answered, reproachfully.
He looked at her, shaking his head in disbelief.
He picked up her shoes and gave them to her before he took her in his arms and carried her the rest of the way.
"You don’t have to do this…" she started saying, feeling uncomfortable.
"Please, do me a favor, will you? Be quiet for a couple of minutes," he asked, still enraged over her behavior.
She snorted but didn’t say anything else.
Chapter Three
It only took him a couple of minutes to get to the club. He rang the bell and waited for the security guard to open the door.
"Sir Alec, I didn’t think you would be back," the man said, surprised to see him carrying a woman.
"Neither did I, John," Alec answered, entering the room and standing her up on the soft carpet. "Please tell Mike I'm here with a guest. I'll take her to one of the private rooms," he asked, politely, "A taxi will come to pick us up, so I'd appreciate it if you’d let me know when it arrives,"
"Sure thing, Sir. What room will you use?"
"Is the blue room empty?" Alec asked.
"Yes, Sir, it is."
"Good. I'll use it then.
Katherine was so astonished with the place that she didn’t react immediately.
"Wait! What? I'm
not going anywhere with you," she protested.
Having lost his last thread of patience, Alec simply carried her again and took her to the blue room ignoring her protests.
He opened the room, took her to the bed, and unceremoniously dropped her onto it.
Katherine let out a small cry and tried to get up.
"I swear to god that if you get up from that bed, I'll tie you to it and gag you as well," he threatened her, his tone as cold as ice.
"You can't do that," she protested, but she didn’t make a move.
"Don’t try me," he warned her.
He approached her and helped her out of his coat.
For the first time, he was able to see her clearly. She was petite. She couldn’t be taller than five feet, thin, but with generous curves, long blonde hair and a face that made you think of naughty elves.
She was wearing a sleeveless, short, black dress and her legs were covered with black stockings, completely ruined by her attempt to walk without her shoes. He went to the bathroom to pick up a first aid box, returning to the room to treat the blisters.
"There's no need for you to do that. I can take care of that when I get home," she said, feeling uncomfortable. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, her legs hanging from it.
He knelt in front of her and put both of her feet on his hard thighs.
"I'll be the judge of that," he said, coldly and she decided to let him do it. It was useless discussing things with him. His will was harder than titanium.
He rolled down her ruined stockings, and every time he touched her, every time his fingers brushed her skin, she felt rushes of energy running wildly through her body. Carefully, he cleaned the wounds and neatly covered them with gauze pads. His touch wasn’t doing much to help her keep her self-control. She could hear the thundering of her heart against her chest.
Trying to think of something else other than his touch, she took the opportunity to look at him carefully. Even on his knees he looked tall. He was way over six feet, with a broad, strong, muscular body. And as if that wasn’t enough, the man looked way too handsome. It was a pity he was nothing more than a presumptuous, cold, arrogant troll.
"There you go. That's the best I can do." He finished cleaning her other foot and took the first aid box back to the bathroom.
"Thank you. I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble," she said when he returned. She looked around the room, feeling a bit uncomfortable. After all, she was in a bedroom with a total stranger, sitting on a huge bed.
As her gaze took in more detail, she gasped, surprised. The bedroom was no ordinary room. Hanging from the ceiling were a few chains, the bed had cuffs attached to both the headboard and footboard and in a corner, there was a spanking bench.
"What kind of club is this?" she asked, in a murmur.
"It's just a club. Don’t worry about that," he retorted, cold as ice.
She was starting to think the man was colder than Jack Frost. He sure was able to throw droplets of ice your way like sharp daggers.
"Please, answer me," she asked, her curiosity reaching the highest levels.
"It's just a club, a private one," he repeated, not willing to give her any details.
"It's a BDSM club, isn’t it?" she insisted.
He ignored her question taking a seat in an armchair used for spankings. He was tired. The night had been a real nightmare and he was desperate to put the woman in a taxi and forget he had ever met her.
She jumped out of bed, burying her feet on the thick carpet as she walked towards the spanking bench. She had never seen one, other than in pictures, and she ran her hands over it, checking the cuffs, the red leather upholstery, and the smoothness of the wood.
"What is this for?" she asked, her curiosity stronger than her common sense. "Are you a Dom, a submissive or…?" she asked again, teasing him, without looking at him, still examining the bench.
He didn’t answer, and she turned to look at him.
His face was a perfect mask, made of the hardest rock and she felt a shiver ran down her spine.
Alec looked at the woman running her fingers over the spanking bench, with an unconscious caress. Her curiosity bothered him, and he had no intention whatsoever of satisfying it.
He had brought her to this room because it was one of the simplest in the club, and because he couldn’t leave her in the reception area, seeing everyone who came and went from the place.
They had very good reasons to keep the club private and exclusive for members only.
"God, are you sure you're made of flesh and blood?" she spurted, upset with his refusal to answer her simple question, hating the impassivity of his expression.
He got up and took a few steps towards her.
She stepped back. One thing was for sure: the man was dangerous.
"Do you want me to prove it to you?" he asked, with a low, hoarse tone of voice that ripped shudders from her body.
"No, thank you, you don’t have to prove anything to me," she answered, taking another step back. "Can you call the taxi company and see if they are close to getting here?" she asked, changing the subject and walking discreetly towards the door. He stretched out one arm and grabbed her by her wrist pulling her closer to him.
"Maybe I feel the need to prove it to you," he said, looking her straight in the eyes.
"No… I'm sure you… don’t feel that," she stammered, feeling rushes of energy flowing through her whole body, from where his hand touched her skin, her heart thundering in her chest.
He grabbed her other wrist and pulled her even closer, as he leaned his head towards hers.
"You have no idea what I feel and what I don’t,” he said and his words sounded so threatening, she shuddered even more.
He released her wrists and cupped her face with both hands, claiming a hard, deep kiss from her lips, his tongue penetrating her mouth, assailing every single corner of it, making it his, completely and indisputably his.
His hands pulled her even closer and she was able to feel the warmness of his body radiating heat to hers. She threw her hands around his waist, completely lost in the swirl of emotions his touch and his lips awakened in her.
He finally let her breathe. One of his hands grasped her mane, pulling her head back, exposing her sensitive skin to him, as his mouth drew a trail of fire with kisses and nibbles along her cheeks to her ears, down her neck, across her shoulder line and back up to her mouth again, setting a wildfire within her, making her moan out loud.
His other hand ran down from her face to one of her breasts and he cupped it, barely fitting it in his palm, his fingers burying themselves in her tender skin with a tight squeeze, ripping shudders of pure desire from her body.
In that moment, someone knocked on the door, and he slowly removed his lips from hers, giving them one last nibble before he raised his head.
"The taxi is here, Sir Alec," the security guard's voice sounded on the other side of the door..
"Thank you, John," he answered, his eyes still locked on hers, his breath as heavy as hers. "It seems you were saved by the bell, little brat," he said, letting her go. "A piece of advice; be careful when you play with fire. You might get seriously burned."
She gulped but decided to remain silent.
He handed her his coat, trying to help her put it back on.
"Maybe I shouldn’t wear your coat," she said.
"It's cold outside. You can return it later," he said, his tone not allowing any refusal from her.
He helped her walk to the taxi, and to her surprise, he didn’t get in with her. He paid the taxi driver and told him to drive her to wherever she wanted to go, and said goodbye.
"Take care. I can't say it was a pleasure knowing you, but it sure was interesting," he said when she was already inside the taxi.
She snorted and said nothing else.
Her mind struggled between two opposite feelings: relief and disappointment. Knowing she would never see him again didn’t feel right. Actually, it felt more wrong than any
thing she had ever felt in her life. But she had no intention of doing anything to fix that.
He obviously was out of her league and she would be better off without him in her life.
"Thank you for your help," she said, in a cold tone without even looking at him. He closed the door and the taxi left.
Alec stayed there watching the car disappear into the dark night and sighed, not sure whether he was relieved of disappointed. The little brat seemed to be something special.
Chapter Four
Katherine woke up the next morning and her first conscious thought was of him. Somehow, she knew she would have a hard time forgetting him and the way he had affected her. Especially when she knew he was a Dom, a real one, and not one of the fakes she kept meeting at the BDSM clubs she was able to visit, like the ones she had met the night before, She should know by now that going alone to a place like that wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but her best friend Lucy had cancelled at the last minute, and she just didn’t want to stay home.
Despite all of the night's distress, she was happy she had gone to the club. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have met him, and even if she never saw him again, he had made her believe again that finding a real Dom wasn’t just a dream.
She got up reluctantly, her feet still extremely sore. It was a good thing it was Saturday and she didn’t have to go to work until Monday.
Anyway, she would have to go back to the BDSM club to get her coat and her purse with her cell phone in it, but she intended to go during the afternoon since she didn’t want to take the risk of meeting last night's trolls. She would also have to return his coat. The thing was made of expensive cashmere and it probably cost more than she made in a month.
The phone rang and she realized that must have been what woke her up. She grabbed it from her nightstand.
"Hello?"
"Katherine, don’t tell me you went alone to the club last night." Lucy's voice almost left her deaf. "I called you like a hundred times last night."
Katherine frowned and prepared herself for her friend's scolding.
"Ok, I'm not telling you that."
"Oh, I knew it. You can be so stubborn. Do you know just how dangerous that could have been?"
Dark Romance Novel - Submission + Taken + 1 Mystery books Bundle Set (A Dark Romance Series Novel) Page 101