by A. E. Murphy
“I’m pretty much invisible to sexual deviants and muggers. I’m not sexy and my clothes are from Primark.” I comment wryly and Elijah stares at me blankly in response.
“So, what about you?” I question him. “Did you go to university?”
“Actually yes, but only for two years. I didn’t graduate; it was unnecessary. I was simply made to attend a few business classes but mostly I partied and acted like a fool.”
Max chuckles. “I bet it was great. I was going to go to university but…”
“He had an accident,” I answer for him and shoot him a look.
“Accident?” Elijah prods, looking at me for the answer.
“It’s nothing.” Max shifts in his seat and takes my hand in his for support. “So, tell me more about you and I don’t mean the formal you.”
“What would you care to know?”
Grinning happily, Max releases my hand and clasps them before him. “Do you like Star Wars?”
“Doesn’t everyone?”
“Good answer.”
“Beer or spirits?”
“Spirits.”
“I like a beer but it’s cool. Whiskey is good too.”
I stand and test my strength. The men are too busy chatting to pay attention. What is it with men and their ability to lose sight of everyone and everything when they get excited? Not that I mind.
I’m not shy enough not to be nosy. I love snooping. My mum used to say that I was a cat in another life. It makes sense as to why I hate swimming and bathing too. I enjoy showering but that’s it.
Exiting the room, I step into the hall and glance at the staircase across the way. I’m not rude enough to wander that far into somebody’s home. I’m just going to find the kitchen to see if Mildred is there; perhaps she can keep me company while the men talk.
The hall is long and there are numerous doors. I open them as I go along and discover a large dining room, a large bathroom and finally the kitchen, which is three times the size of my entire street…Okay, that’s an exaggeration but whatever… It’s amazing.
I’m not much of a cook, I never have been, but I do enjoy cooking when I’m in the mood. This kitchen has me in the mood.
Mildred is nowhere in sight. I suppose it was wrong of me to presume that she’d be here. I hope I haven’t upset or angered the Duke by leaving their side.
I just needed to be out of there.
I can’t help myself. I search the cupboards and fridge, finding little to no food at all except raw ingredients. Their glasses and crockery are so fancy. I have no doubts that the cutlery cost more than my sofa.
Not that I’ve been searching through drawers or anything.
I stand at the window and rest my hands on the counter. I wonder what it would be like to live in a place like this. It’s so large and clean, it would take me a year to clean it all. I don’t think I’d like something this large. I want something bigger than what I have but I’d prefer cosy, not so much wall space.
“Enjoying the view?” Comes a deep voice from behind me. I press my thighs together.
“I’m sorry for abandoning you both; I felt like you needed a moment.”
“You’re embarrassed.” He states and I hear him take a step into the kitchen. My heart rate increases. Does he know? “You shouldn’t be. Everybody has fainted at some point in their life.”
Forgetting my rule, I turn to look at him and unintentionally meet his eyes. “Have you?”
His smile is small, wistful. “The night before I married.”
“Huh.”
He smiles wider. “I’ve never told anybody that before.”
“You were scared?”
“And very, very drunk. I was just twenty at the time.”
“Did you find her?” Max calls and steps into view. I divert my eyes from the Duke as my husband glances between the two of us, jealousy in his eyes. He’s like this with any man. It can be infuriating. “What are you doing, wandering around? This isn’t our house.”
My rule is to never berate him in front of others. I wish he’d sometimes extend the same courtesy in return.
“She’s welcome to wander all she likes.” Elijah seems like such a different man to what he was that night at the club. He’s so calm, so relaxed, and it’s very soothing. “Come, I’ll give you a tour. Surprisingly this is only the second time I’m seeing it and I have yet to see the spare rooms.”
“How long are you staying in town for?” Max asks as we follow Elijah back down the hallway and up the stairs.
“I have some other business to attend to so I’m unsure. It depends how long it will take. Maybe a few days, maybe a few weeks.”
“What business?” I elbow my husband, to stop him from prying.
“Club business. I own two nearby and a hotel on the river.” I notice immediately how he didn’t say ‘we’. Happily married people say ‘we’, not ‘I’. Are he and his wife separated? I’m trying not to think about it.
I don’t want to be a homewrecker so I kind of hope they are. I’m a horrible person.
The staircase opens up into a hallway almost identical to the floor below. He opens the first door, which leads to a huge bedroom with an en-suite bathroom. I only know that because somebody left the bathroom door open. The next room is basically the same.
“You can fit our entire flat into this room,” Max chuckles when we step into the third bedroom.
We head up a final set of stairs, which opens up into an office. It’s gorgeous and such a cliché for a man’s office.
I admire the walls full of books. I bet he hasn’t read any of them.
“I will admit, there is another reason I’ve called you here, Max.” He motions for us to sit in the chairs opposite his desk before walking around it and sitting in the leather chair. It spins and tilts. I want a turn.
“I wanted to offer you the money that your mother should have gotten had my father been a good man.” He gets straight to business. “So instead I’ve paid your aunt the amount that it would have cost to raise you and I’m going to offer the rest to you and your wife.”
“I don’t… I don’t know what to say.” Max looks to me for something. I don’t know what to say either.
“It’ll come with a condition.” He gives a long look to both of us. Max nods for him to continue. “We get to know each other first. I have family but, to be frank, they’re all a bunch of stuck up pompous old idiots. I have only one family member who I enjoy spending time with, my cousin Sybil.”
“You want to pay us to get to know you?” I ask, feeling a little bit offended. “We’re here because we want to get to know you, not because we want your money.”
The heel of Max’s shoe presses down on my toes. I instantly clamp my mouth shut.
“I know that, but still… I’d like to guarantee it.” Elijah states and opens a drawer in his desk. He slides a cheque our way. “Here’s a down payment.” He pulls open another drawer and slides it towards my husband.
Max takes it and his mouth falls open. “This is for ten grand.” He looks to me and I can see him struggling not to cheer.
“That’s very generous,” I tell the Duke, but I know that ten grand is little more than pocket change to him. I also don’t feel like this money is coming without strings. What is this man’s game?
My eyes narrow suspiciously at Elijah and he cocks his head and narrows his own. “I feel as if I’ve met you before.” My heart goes crazy; it’s beating so loud you could probably hear it in the next room.
I blink, keeping my cool. “I’m sure I’d remember meeting you… a Duke.”
“Yeah, she would have told me.” Max grins lovingly at me. “Wouldn’t you, babe?”
“Of course.” I hate myself.
“I’m losing my mind apparently.” He chuckles and I find myself leaning towards the sound. It suits him. “Can I treat you both to dinner? To celebrate new beginnings, so to speak.”
“I can’t, I have to be at work in half an hour.” I look to Max.
He shrugs. “I’d be glad to.”
I look out of the window. It’s starting to get dark and I’m in the city centre. I need to call Rick; he’ll probably already be on his way to mine.
“I’d tell you to take the night off, but something tells me you’re the type of woman who doesn’t miss work lightly.” Elijah stands and motions for us to follow him from the room. “Can I offer you a ride?”
“No, I’ll be… I’ll be fine. The warehouse is only around the corner from here anyway.”
“I’ll have my driver give you a lift. After your spill today… are you sure you’re capable? I could speak to your boss?” He suggests and presses something on his wrist before waiting for my answer.
“Honestly.” I assure him. “I’ll be fine. I faint sometimes, it happens. Work are aware.”
He nods, respecting my decision. “What time do you work until?”
“Five.” Another lie. I only work until two, but the hours stated on my fake documentation to throw nosy people off states that I work the five until five shift, five days a week.
At this rate I’m going to have to have a proper shower at work.
“He’ll be outside in ten minutes. Let’s go back to the living room and share a drink.”
“You need to hurry,” Rick snaps after I finish with my second client of the night. Being an exotic dancer isn’t easy. I leave prints on a lot of people. My last client fortunately didn’t require too much teasing. He’s an elderly man who comes to me on a weekly basis and comes for me every time. Sometimes twice. He’s a big tipper.
“What?” I pant, needing a ten-minute break. “Why?”
“He’s back.”
“Who’s back?” I cry but I already know. Shouldn’t he be with Max? I’ve only been gone three hours.
I genuinely lured myself into a false sense of security.
“I can’t,” I say before Rick responds. “I’m too tired.”
“I can’t cancel…”
“Please.” I beg. There’s no way I’m going to be able to hide my identity and I don’t trust Rick enough to confide in him. He’s about the money and he might use it against the Duke. “I genuinely can’t.”
“He’s not going to be happy,” Rick bites.
“Offer him a different dancer.” I press the button to the elevator, my movements sharp to show my annoyance.
“They’re busy and he won’t want them.”
“You haven’t asked.”
“Because he specifically said, ‘I want the same girl as before. No exceptions’.”
I level him with a glare and put my hand on my hip. “If I don’t want to, you can’t make me.”
“You’ll do this, or you’re fired.” He yells and I stiffen.
“Are you kidding me?”
“I have to keep him happy… You don’t understand, Enna. He has me by the fucking balls.” Shade looks over, assessing our situation, and gives me a sympathetic look that I can barely see in the dark hallway. It offers me little comfort. “Please. You can keep ninety percent of whatever he tips you.”
Jesus… he must be in a bind, but I probably won’t be tipped if he figures it out anyway. It’s too risky.
“I can’t…” I say sadly. “I’m sorry. You’re just going to have to fire me.”
“What on earth? Did he do something to make you uncomfortable?”
I step into the elevator as soon as the doors open. “It’s complicated.”
Rick’s eyes widen. “You know him?”
I don’t respond.
“Fuck… you know him,” he answers himself and rubs his eyes with his hands. “Does he know that it’s you?”
I shake my head, just slightly.
“I don’t know what to do…” Rick whispers and runs his hands through his hair. “Just… go have a shower and go on to your planned client. I’ll deal with it.”
“Thank you,” I say softly and as soon as the elevator doors open, I flee to my room.
I choose a light blue selection of satin underwear today. I haven’t yet worn this set and in it, I feel powerful and sexy. As I always do in my armour.
It’s still surreal how just a change of clothing and style can change your entire attitude. Maybe this isn’t my armour, maybe my baggy clothes are truly my armour.
This is too philosophical for too late at night.
“Is he in already?” I ask Shade who nods, his eyes on the monitors. I go to the suite and inhale a ragged breath before exhaling a calm one. The tension in my body melts away as I resign myself to the other me, the darker me.
I step into the room and a grey light spills from the ceiling, making my skin shimmer and glow. It really brings out the blue of my gown.
Where is he? My client who likes it when I call him professor isn’t on the usual bench closest to the pole.
The door closes behind me and a chill sweeps down my spine.
“I like this colour on you.” Fingers give the back of my gown a tug.
Holy fuck.
It’s him. My body becomes tense. My heart begins to hammer against my chest and my breathing grows ragged, making me feel faint.
I need to speak. I need to do something.
“Me too,” I say and I’m impressed my voice only wavers slightly. “My Lord Duke.”
“Ah, so you do remember me then?”
If only he knew. “Take a seat.” I’m going to kill Rick. “Please.”
“Please?” He steps around me and tries to capture my eyes with his icy greys. “Will you tie my hands down?”
“Will you touch me?”
He grins and it’s too perfect, too handsome. “Not without your permission.”
Something I definitely won’t be giving him. “Then it won’t be necessary.” I point to the bench. “Take a seat.”
He does so, though he’s frowning. I’m failing as Enna. I’m too worried that he’ll recognise me. Not only that, but he’s my husband’s brother. How do I knowingly play the part of willing whore to my brother in law?
I can’t leave; I’ll put too much suspicion on myself and cause a scene and I don’t trust Rick to not tell Max, or even Elijah, who I am and what I’ve been doing.
“Maybe I didn’t want this seat.” He crosses his arms over his chest and quirks a brow at me.
I blink, feeling my irritability rise steadily. “No?” I’m not in the mood for this entitled prick’s attitude.
“Nope.”
“Then which seat would you like, my Lord Duke?”
He looks around the room, studying the items cast in the strange grey lighting. His eyes study the throne, the soft benches and, as I slowly grip the pole and move around it, letting my hand fluff my hair as I go, his eyes study me. He seems to quickly forget about sitting elsewhere.
I open my gown, slide it down my arms and throw it at him. He catches it and brings it to his face. “You smell heavenly.”
“Thank you.”
His lips twitch. “You’re welcome.” I watch his eyes move up and down my body, his gaze hungry. “Are you going to do more than just circle the pole all night and strip?”
“That’s my job.”
“It wasn’t your job during my last visit.”
I grin. “It was; I just broke the rules.”
“Huh.” He sits back and shifts down the seat a little. His legs spread wide in a casual pose. “And you’re not breaking the rules this time because…?”
“Because you didn’t tip me enough,” I lie and his eyes flash dangerously as he asks, “I didn’t?”
Shaking my head, I pull myself up the pole. I’ve done this too much tonight; my arms are weakening. “No. I could have been fired.”
“For touching me?”
“Yes.” Although I know Rick wouldn’t fire me for my display, if Shade were to tell him how touchy feely I became, he wouldn’t be happy. He’d offer to move me to the brothel.
He tilts his head. “You desire me?”
“I desired to orgasm.” I bi
te my lip, not daring to tell him how much I truly did. More than anything.
“Which you did.”
I smile, remembering the burning and the pulsing release that I felt, though he can’t see it through the mask. “Which I did.”
“How much should I tip you this time?”
“How much do you think I’m worth?”
He sits up and rests his arms on his knees. “Is this a trick question?”
“Perhaps,” I bite on my lip immediately after. The pain helps to keep me focused on the fact that this is make believe and not real. I walked into this job knowing the risks. “Perhaps you’ll offer the wrong amount and I’ll never dance for you again.”
I hear him swallow. “I don’t know what to offer.”
I stand on the step that joins the bench to the ground, my thighs between his parted legs, and raise my foot before delicately bringing it and resting it above his right shoulder. My hands make quick work of his tie, pulling it free. “How much would you offer to fuck me right now, in this position?” His nostrils flare and his hands reach up, ready to touch the delicate skin of my thighs.
I whip him around the face with his folded tie. “No touching.”
“I forgot.” I see his eyes close for a few seconds as he regains control.
“Would you like to be restrained?” I lean forward, my foot still over his shoulder.
His hand tugs on his trousers at the crotch and he shifts in his seat. I watch his fists close by his thighs as he attempts to restrain himself. “You’re so flexible.”
“I am.”
“You need to stop hitting me.” He doesn’t seem upset that I did and I know it excites him. I haven’t hit him hard or in an aggressive way.
“When you stop being a spoilt Duke, I’ll think about it.”
He breathes in deep as if trying to catch the scent of my arousal. “Show me.”
“Show you my pussy?”
“I love it when you name it that,” he murmurs, his eyes locked on the satin thong keeping my folds concealed from his view. “Now show me that delectable…”
“Pussy?” I finish and his eyes flash again, almost glowing with lust. “You have yet to answer my question.”