“Shut up,” she whispered to Nathan. “Get out.”
“I simply came to plead my case, Sam.” His slithery smile made him appear even more sinister. “After your little performance in the elevator, I knew I would have to come to you.”
“Aren’t you supposed to stick to certain areas in the building?”
“It’s my building. I can come and go anywhere I please, dear girl.”
She rushed up to him. “Stay out of my apartment. You got that, Nathan?”
Nathan nodded to the hallway. “He’s coming back. Think again about my offer, Sam, or I will be forced to put on a very good show for our mutual friend.”
Sam’s heart was pounding when Sebastian came back into the living room. Hurling her keys to the coffee table, his nostrils flared.
“Whose voice was that, Sam?”
“There’s no one here, Sebastian.”
He came up to her, grabbing her arms. “I heard a man’s voice at the door. I didn’t imagine that.”
“What are you doing here? You weren’t supposed to be back until tomorrow.”
He let her go. “I came back early to see you. I couldn’t stand the suspense of not knowing if you were going to take me up on my offer.” He pointed to the open front door. “I left two accountants and three attorneys to finish an important negotiation so I could hurry back to you.”
“How sweet,” Nathan purred.
“Then I come here and discover ….” Sebastian left his words hanging as he combed his hand through his hair.
“To discover what, Sebastian? There is no other man here. I’m not seeing anyone else. How could you possibly—?”
“You’re still doing it, Sam.” Sebastian tossed up his hand. “You’re hiding something from me. You’ve been keeping something, some secret you’re afraid to tell me. I could always sense it there between us.”
Nathan chuckled. “He always was a very astute business man. And very good with the ladies, I might add.”
Ignoring the ghost, Sam went to Sebastian’s side. “I’m not hiding anything. I told you my big secret. What more do you want?”
“Liar,” Nathan chastised. “Tell him Sam, or I will.”
“You expect me to believe that?” Sebastian’s eyes were swimming with disbelief. “I told you for this to work, you have to be completely honest with me. What are you so afraid of?”
Instead of arguing with him, Sam lowered her head. Perhaps it was time to end this, let him know about her ability, and then he would leave. It would be over and she could get on with her life.
“You’re going to do it, aren’t you?” Nathan clapped his translucent hands together. “Oh, bravo.”
“If I tell you the truth, you’ll leave and never come back,” she maintained.
Placing his hand under her chin, Sebastian raised her eyes to him. “I never run away from what I want, and I want you.”
Holding up her head, she leveled her eyes on him. “What if I were to tell you something that would scare the shit out of you? Would you want to hear that from me? Even if it was something that could jeopardize any hope we had of being together, would you want to know?”
“Sam, I think you’re being overly dramatic. What could possibly be so bad?” Sebastian gestured for her to speak up. “What? You’ve done time in prison, steal shoes for fun, or you have an evil twin?”
Running her fingers over her forehead, Sam turned to Nathan. “Tell me something only you would know. Something you two have shared.”
“What are you talking about, Sam?” Sebastian questioned.
She never answered him, but kept her eyes on Nathan.
Nodding in agreement, Nathan glanced up at Sebastian. “Tell him you know about Kimberly.”
She glared at Nathan. “Who’s Kimberly?”
“He met her through a mutual friend of ours, a painter named Ren Plancharde. Kimberly was one of Ren’s models. Sebastian commissioned a portrait of her from Ren, and when he broke it off, he gave me the painting. It still hangs in my penthouse.”
Sam squared her shoulders, and when her eyes found Sebastian standing behind her, he looked as if he had seen a ghost.
“How did you know her name was Kimberly?”
“Who was she?”
Sebastian lowered his eyes. “The woman I was with for two years. The one who left me for another Dom.”
“You commissioned a portrait of her from that artist you told me about, Ren … something.”
“Plancharde,” Nathan called out, sounding annoyed.
“Yes, Plancharde,” Sam repeated. “When your relationship ended, you gave the painting to Nathan. It still hangs in his penthouse.”
Sebastian folded his arms, looking pissed. “So you’ve been to Nathan’s penthouse, is that what you’re telling me?”
“No, I’ve never been—”
“You belonged to Nathan, didn’t you? Is that your big secret? You were his.”
“No, I’ve never been anyone’s—I’ve never had sex, for goodness sake, and I’ve never been to Nathan’s penthouse. I’m trying to—”
“He told you about Kimberly before he disappeared, I take it.” Sebastian narrowed his gaze on her. “My question is why? What are you up to, Sam?”
Sam edged closer to him. “Nathan didn’t tell me about Kimberly before he disappeared, Sebastian. He just told me about the portrait. A few seconds ago, in this very room.”
The light of genuine surprise lit up his rugged features. “What are you talking about? There’s no one else here.”
“No one you can see.” She twisted her hands together. “You want to know the big secret I’ve been so afraid to tell you? I—I can communicate with the dead.”
Silence. Stone cold silence greeted her. She counted off the seconds in her head as she stared at Sebastian, waiting for him to explode, scream, run … do something, but he didn’t move.
Nathan chuckled. “I think you’ve killed him, dear girl.”
“Say something,” she begged. “I can take anything but your silence, Sebastian.”
At first he shook his head, and then he began to chuckle. “If you really wanted to come up with a way to refuse my offer, Sam, all you had to do was say no. I didn’t need all the theatrics.”
“This is not a trick, it’s real.” She tossed her hands up in disgust. “I’ve had the gift all my life. I wish I didn’t, but I do, and now you and Piper are the only ones who know. I see ghosts everywhere I go. I hear them even more. It’s not like I can control it.”
He blew out a frustrated breath. “You expect me to believe that Nathan Cole is in this apartment with us.”
“His spirit is, yes,” she asserted.
“His spirit? So he’s dead.”
Sam nodded. “Pretty much.”
The light in his eyes changed and Sebastian cocked his head to the side. “Then why is he haunting you?”
Sam was taken aback by the question. “You believe me?”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Nathan floated toward her. “Sebastian can help you, Sam. He has the resources to help find out where I’m buried.”
Sam glanced over her shoulder at the ghost. “Is that why you’re bugging me, Nathan? To get Sebastian to help you?”
Sebastian held up his hands. “No way. Why would I help Nathan Cole?”
Sam shrugged. “I don’t know. He hasn’t told me that part yet.”
“Yet?” Sebastian wiped his hand over his face. “Sam, do you know how crazy this sounds?”
She was crushed by his statement; he didn’t believe her.
“There is something else you can say to convince him,” Nathan revealed.
Sam shook her head. “It’s hopeless.”
“Sam, tell Sebastian you know about the Corde Noire Society.”
“What is that?”
“The club we belonged to. The one for Doms like us. A place where there are no rules, no limits to our play.” Nathan motioned to Sebastian. “Tell him.”
Not entire
ly convinced Sebastian would believe her, Sam faced him. “Nathan just told me about that club you two belonged to. It’s called the Corde Noire Society.”
“How did you…?” Sebastian’s brow furrowed, and then his eyes slowly wandered around the living room. He stepped up to Sam’s side and took her elbow. “I think it’s time you come with me.”
“Where are we going?”
He ushered her toward the front door. “I’m getting you out of here.”
* * *
Driving along the darkened streets of the Central Business District, Sebastian kept a death grip on the leather steering wheel of his black Land Rover. Sam didn’t question where they were headed; she was just relieved he hadn’t run away.
After pulling into the garage of the Dane Shipping building, he took the car to the upper level and parked in a reserved spot next to an elevator marked Private.
Sam realized then he was taking her back to his place, but for what purpose?
He opened her car door and held out his hand to her. Grasping his hand, she stood from the car.
“You’re trembling, Sam.”
“I’m afraid.”
He lowered his head to her. “Of me?”
“No, of what you’re thinking.”
He let go of her hand and slipped his arm around her waist. “What I’m thinking might surprise you.”
“I don’t understand. Aren’t you scared of me? Don’t you think me some kind of mutant?”
He encouraged her toward the elevator doors. “Sam, I brought you here because I think there is something you need to understand about me.”
Inside the elevator, Sebastian punched in his private code and the car sped upward. As the floors whizzed by, nightmarish scenes rolled through Sam’s head. She pictured attendants in white coats waiting inside his penthouse, or Sebastian drugging her before he took her to some makeshift torture chamber. Resigning herself to whatever fate he had planned, she didn’t care what happened to her. She had lost any chance of being with Sebastian. Nothing else mattered anymore.
When the elevator doors opened, she spied the small pond in the entryway.
“Sam?”
When she looked up, Sebastian was standing next to his open front door.
She nodded dutifully and walked inside.
After he shut the front door, Sebastian took her hand. He led her down the dark steps to the living room. When he stopped in the middle of the room, Sam felt the air around her change.
There it was. That odd sense that they were not alone. Cocking her head to the side, she searched the room with her mind for the source of the intrusion. The otherworldly energy of the spirit she had sensed the first time she had come to the penthouse took shape.
“That is the exact look you had on your face the last time I brought you here. I asked you to tell me what you were thinking then. Will you tell me now?”
Slowly, she raised her eyes to him. “You’re not going to like it.”
“Tell me, Sam.”
“There’s someone here. The spirit of a man, older … he’s faint.” Then she heard it. “Jack, his name is Jack.”
The smile that ran across Sebastian’s face was so unexpected, she took a frightened step back from him.
“Jack is my father,” he softly admitted. “He died in this penthouse ten years ago. Heart attack.”
The sense of relief and anger that catapulted through her was riveting. “You knew he was here and you said nothing to me?”
Sebastian gave a curt nod. “I didn’t say anything to you before, for the same reasons you never told me about your little gift. I didn’t want you to think I was crazy.”
She pointed at him, her mouth ajar. “You can see him, too?”
He shook his head. “No. There was a psychic, a friend of Nathan Cole’s, who came here once. She told me he was hanging around. It explained a few strange incidences that have occurred in this penthouse since I moved in.” He took her hand. “I think having that kind of ability makes you very special, Sam, not a mutant.”
When he pulled her forward, Sam almost toppled to the floor. He believed her and accepted her. This was something she had never experienced.
There has to be a catch.
The overhead lights came on in the kitchen as soon as they crossed the threshold. The shiny white-granite countertops and stainless appliances glistened under the lights. Stopping at a cabinet door above the sink, Sebastian let go of her hand.
“I always knew you were keeping something from me.” Reaching into the cabinet, he retrieved a bottle of vodka and set it on the countertop.
“How long have you known your father is here?”
Removing two old-fashioned glasses from another cabinet, Sebastian glanced back at her. “Since soon after he died. I’ve always had problems with the lights going on and off, and a few subs, who have stayed here, complained of feeling as if they were being watched.” He put the glasses down next to the bottle of vodka. “But you’re the only one who sensed him.”
She stood by as he poured two glasses of straight vodka. “Am I one of your subs?”
He never raised his eyes from the counter. “Only if you want to be. This has to be your decision, Sam.”
“How can I make a decision like that? I have no experience with being a sub.”
Putting the bottle down, he lifted a glass and held it out to her. “You need to ask yourself if you want to be taken care of by me, guided by me, and trained in how to please a man in every way possible.”
“You make it sound … tempting.” Sam took the drink from him.
“Is that a yes to my proposal?”
She shot back a long swig of the vodka. The burn of the alcohol traveled all the way to her stomach. Clutching her glass, she knew she could never refuse Sebastian. She was going to do as her Aunt Gertie had always advised. Sam was going to grab life by the balls.
“I will be yours for as long as you want me, Sebastian.”
He came around to her side and pried the drink from her hand. “Perhaps we should talk about this.”
Sam held her shaky hands together. “If we talk about it, I might change my mind.”
He set her vodka on the kitchen counter. “You must have some questions for me.”
“Nope. I’m good.”
He wiped his hand over his face. “Sam, we need to discuss what you are and are not willing to do as my sub. You have to understand what you are consenting to. You might not like some of the things I want to try.”
“Are you going to hurt me?”
Hiding his eyes, he turned to the sink. “No, of course not. I have no wish to hurt you.”
She inched up behind him. “Then I have no worries. If I don’t like something I can just yell cat, right?”
* * *
Gripping the edge of the sink, Sebastian felt that kick from the pit of his stomach. The same sensation he got whenever he was around her. He had never experienced it with his other subs. They had been accustomed to the lifestyle, had consented to his rules, and knew exactly what was expected of them. Yet, here was a woman who had no knowledge of men and was willing to hand herself over completely to him. It scared him to death.
He dug his nails into the stainless sink. “How can you trust me so much, when you don’t even know what I’m capable of?”
She rested her hand on his back, twisting his stomach into knots. “It’s because I trust you that I’m not afraid. I want to please you, Sebastian. I want to be yours.”
There it was, that moment of complete submission he craved from every woman.
Turning around, he cupped her face. He knew in that instant, none of his conquests would be as sweet as her. Unable to hold back any longer, he kissed her tantalizing red lips.
Sebastian expected some show of fear or apprehension from her, but all he could sense was her raw desire. He could taste her want, feel her blood pulsating with need, and it thrilled him. He urged her lips apart and pierced her mouth with his tongue. He thought of her wil
ling and pure body ripe for the taking and he grew hard.
The first to pull away—something he had not expected to do—the hunger in her kiss was driving him mad. His ever-present grip on control was slipping away. Sebastian had to stop, or else he would be lost in her completely.
She gazed into his eyes. “So when do we begin?”
He let her go and stretched for the vodka glasses on the counter. Handing back her glass, he lifted his untouched drink.
“Let’s toast on this.” He tipped his glass against hers. “To you officially becoming my sub.”
Sebastian gulped back the shot of vodka, silently praying he was doing the right thing.
The sound of her empty glass hitting the granite countertop brought him out of his contemplation.
Like a child at the gates of Disney World, Sam’s countenance was one of complete exuberance. “What happens next?”
He studied her, running through the scenarios of submission he had dreamed of trying on her. But all of his training would mean nothing until he had truly made her his.
“Are you prepared to find out if you’re still a virgin?”
She nodded resolutely. “Yes.”
He arched a concerned brow. “If you are a virgin, the first time will hurt.”
“I know. Will it hurt the second time?”
He grinned. “It will be better than the first, I promise.”
Taking her to a recessed flight of straight stairs, located just to the side of the entrance hall, he guided her up the steps.
On the second floor, they made their way down a short hallway with oak paneling and light Berber carpet. He halted before the entrance to a large bedroom, done in muted beige carpet and light taupe-painted walls. Two of the walls were nothing more than windows that peered out over the city and river. An arched doorway was cut into another wall. Sam dipped her head toward the door and surveyed the shiny glass and white bathroom beyond.
Leading her to the bed, Sebastian was acutely aware of the slight tremble in her right hand. When he set her on his king-sized flat bed, she seemed to calm a little. As he stood over her, removing his jacket, tie, and shirt, she sat back on the bed taking him in.
After he had thrown his shirt to the floor, he motioned to her. “Stand up.”
Dark Attraction: The Corde Noire Series Page 14