by Kitty French
He turned big, innocent blue eyes on her. “Do you have a cat? Is that it? Is Mr. Tibbles going to die without you going home to feed him?”
She narrowed her eyes and looked away. “I don’t have a cat.”
“A dog, then? Two screaming kids?”
Sophie sighed and flopped back on the pillow, the sheet clutched under her arms. “It’s just me and Dan.”
“Who isn’t there.” The quiet starkness of his words stripped away Sophie’s anger and left her defenseless.
“Right. Let’s start this conversation again. Stay with me until Sunday.”
Sophie propped herself up on one elbow and turned to him.
“What for?”
His eyes slid to hers. “Because you owe it to yourself. Because you’re young, and beautiful, and there is so much more to sex than you’ve experienced so far. You deserve to know it all, to feel it all, and I want to be the one to show you.”
“Has it occurred to you that I might not want to know?”
He shook his head with a low, sexy laugh. “It’s occurred to me that you think you don’t want to know. But then I touch you, and you come alive.” He reached across and picked a peach from the tray. “Aren’t you curious, Sophie? Really, don’t you want to know?”
Convention decreed that Sophie should refuse, but his directness demanded the same candour from her. She couldn’t bring herself to lie, yet equally couldn’t allow herself to admit the truth.
Lucien turned the peach over in his hands, knowing full well that it was so much more than an innocent piece of fruit.
He trailed a fingertip down the curve of it, and he may as well have been stroking her bottom. He was doing it again, subtly infiltrating her thoughts. If he ever gave up his life as the king of a sex empire, he’d make a crack hot hypnotist.
“Stay because I want you to, Sophie.” He brought the peach up to his nose and inhaled deeply.
“Stay because I can make you feel better than anyone else ever has.” He put the peach to his mouth, closed his eyes, and sank his teeth in deep.
Sophie’s nipples stiffened beneath the sheet. She couldn’t deny it. He’d won. She wanted his mouth on her rather than that peach, but the words wouldn’t come out.
He propped himself up on his elbow, mirroring her pose, then offered the peach up to her lips, close enough for her to taste it. “Bite.”
She closed her eyes and obeyed his command.
“It tastes like you.” His words caressed her as she ate the soft flesh. “Sweet.” His fingers touched her mouth as she swallowed. “And tempting.” Sophie couldn’t stop herself. She opened her mouth and sucked his finger in, swirling the sweet peach juices around him with her tongue. When she opened her eyes, he slid his finger slowly out of her mouth and into his own.
“I like the taste of you,” he said. “Tell me you’ll stay.”
Sophie gave him the tiniest of nods. “I’ll stay,” she whispered, then cleared her throat. “I’ll stay,” she repeated, louder this time. “I want to stay with you, Lucien.”
Lucien’s answering smile was full of sexual promise, and in one swift movement he leaned over and rolled Sophie on top of him. He was fully clothed, and there were layers of bedding between them, but Sophie could still clearly feel his arousal pressing up into her stomach.
His hands swept down the length of her exposed spine, making her gasp. She was nude apart from her hold-up stockings, and Lucien wasted no time in helping himself.
He filled his hands with her backside. “Now that’s peachy,” he said, with a sidelong glance at the abandoned plate of fruit, then he snaked a hand around the back of her neck to pull her mouth down onto his kiss. Fireworks exploded in her gut as his tongue slid over hers and his hips rocked, hard into softness. She couldn’t help it, she opened her legs a little for him, and his fingers slid into the crevices of her backside. His other hand moved to cup her head against his.
His fingers moved in long strokes, touching her everywhere. Sliding just inside her, then back out to trace lazy figures of eight on her clitoris.
“I’m going to lick you here.”
Sophie groaned with anticipation. God, she wanted his tongue there.
“And here.” He slid his fingers inside her again for a second, then slipped them out again and around to caress her bottom.
“And here.” His finger stroked the tight little entrance, making her squirm with shock.
“Lucien! No.”
He sunk his teeth into her lower lip. “No?”
He didn’t move his fingers away from her bottom, but his touch was so feather-gentle that she stopped trying to wriggle away. “It might surprise you.”
She shook her head. It was a taboo that she’d never been interested in breaking. And she still wasn’t, but there was something undeniably sexy at the feel of Lucien touching her there.
“I’ll add it to my list,” he breathed into her mouth.
Sophie lifted her head a fraction, and the movement pushed her spine downwards, which in turn pushed her backside down a little deeper onto his hand. Her eyes opened wider. He said nothing, but instead gave her a long, knowing look. He was on to her. He knew that she’d already grown to like the alien feeling of his attention there.
“What list?”
“The one in my head of things I’m going to make you do this week, Princess.”
Sophie felt beyond filthy. She was lying on top of a man who was playing with her bottom and filling her ears with promises of a week of unadulterated, uncensored pleasure. She was full to the brim with dark, luscious desire, and ready to follow this big Viking sex god into his thrilling, unfamiliar world.
His hand lingered for another moment on her backside, then he sat up and rolled her off him.
“Get dressed, Sophie. We’re going downstairs.
CHAPTER TEN
Sophie hung back by the open door to Lucien’s suite, dressed once again in her green dress and high heels, but bereft of her knickers. They were in Lucien’s pocket, and no amount of pleading for them back had made the slightest jot of difference. He’d laughed at the idea that she’d never before left the house without underwear, and pocketed them regardless of her protest.
He stood at the bottom of the small flight of stairs and beckoned to her.
“Come on, Sophie. I’m going to do a full walk through, and you’re coming with me.”
“But…” she glanced desperately down at his pocket. She really wanted the security of her knickers.
“Stop looking at my crotch and come here.” He reached for her hand, taking the edge off his words. She stepped uncertainly down to stand next to him, feeling wrong and exposed even though she looked perfectly decent to the unknowing eye.
“That’s better, Sophie. Now, I’m going to do a full check on the place, and you are going to do your job as my PA and accompany me.”
Sophie found small solace in the fact that he’d given the event a work-related slant.
“Shouldn’t I have a clipboard, or something?” she asked. She’d feel so much better if she looked official, distinct from the rest of the club’s clientele. Something to mark her out as staff, rather than as a pleasure-seeker.
Lucien laughed at her.
“Don’t be ridiculous. We’re aiming to blend in, not stick out and put people off their…” he turned to her and licked his lips. “Their stride.” He ran a hand over her backside and leaned close to her ear.
“I don’t think I’m going to let you wear knickers again this week.”
The man was lethal. This was all a big game to him, and he was a world-class player. Sophie straightened her spine and pushed her shoulders back. The thought of seeing the club with people in those rooms, on those beds… she shivered. She sort of wanted to run home, even without her knickers, but she had to acknowledge that a bigger part of her wanted to stay and see what lay beyond. She reminded herself that regardless of everything else, she was supposed to be here in her capacity as Lucien's PA. If she thoug
ht of it that way, maybe she could make it through the next few hours.
“Lead the way, Mr. Knight.”
He inclined his head and placed his hand on the small of her back.
“Stay close to me. No one will touch you unless you touch them first.”
She’d been apprehensive before. She was terrified now. What if she stumbled into someone, or brushed past them by mistake? Would they tie her to the bed and give her thirty lashes? And would Lucien intervene, or would he consider it all part of her sexual liberation?
“Sophie?” Lucien came to a stop and looked down at her. “For God’s sake, just relax, will you? This way.” He moved towards a fire exit, and threw her an enquiring look when she didn’t automatically follow.
“We’ll go down this way and come in through reception,” he explained, holding out his hand again. “I want to see it through the eyes of our paying customers.”
Sophie threw one last, longing glance over her shoulder at the now locked door that stood between her and sanctuary, and then followed Lucien out onto the fire escape.
Sophie clamped herself against Lucien's side as they bypassed the small queue at the front door. The club looked different now that darkness had descended. The smoked glass exterior took on a menacing stance without the sun to glint off it, and the subdued lighting in reception added to the air of anticipation that radiated from the waiting customers. Sophie sneaked the smallest glance at them as she passed, then looked away hastily. From what she could see, most people looked pretty regular. Maybe she’d overblown things in her mind. It was a club. She’d been clubbing enough times, the people in the queue had been no less dressed than regular clubbers.
Lucien nodded at the security staff and placed his hand on Sophie’s back again to steer her past reception and through the double entrance doors.
He leaned down and placed his mouth close to her ear as they stepped down into the packed, shadowy club.
“We’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy.” The unexpectedness of the phrase made her suppress a giggle. She relaxed a little. Sophie let her eyes rove around, taking in the fact that this previously empty room was now filled with people. On first glimpse, it almost looked like any other club. Music pumped, the bar glittered with countless spirit and mixer bottles, and the dance floor heaved with gyrating people. However, a closer look confirmed that they weren’t dressed like the clubbers outside. Obviously the changing rooms were mostly a place to get rid of eighty percent of your clothing. Women shimmered in tiny, see-through dresses, or basques, and occasionally next to nothing at all.
“Drink?” Lucien asked, raising his voice over the music. Sophie frowned.
“It doesn’t seem very professional.”
“Consider it part of your disguise.”
He guided her to the bar, and Sophie’s eyes wandered as Lucien ordered drinks from the immediately attentive barman. A guy was perched on a stool at the end of the bar, and it took several seconds for it to register with Sophie that his cock was buried in the mouth of the brunette between his knees. Holy fuck. She looked away hurriedly and found Lucien’s amused blue eyes watching her. The subdued lighting shadowed his face and gave him a slightly menacing air. Could she trust him to take care of her here? What if he suddenly stripped his clothes off and expected her to jump naked into the writhing hot tub? It was strange. She’d only known him for a tiny amount of time, yet she was – unfathomably – certain that she could trust him.
He offered her one of two tumblers.
“What is it?”
“Vodka.”
“Neat vodka?”
He shrugged. “You can have ice if you like.”
She sipped it cautiously and straight away choked on the throat-stripping intensity of the spirit. Lucien rolled his eyes and held out her glass to the barman, who emptied a silver shovel of ice into it without a flicker of expression.
Lucien turned to lean against the bar and surveyed the room.
“Sit for a second. I need to watch it all working.”
Sophie glanced down at the high designer metal stool next to him and wished she had some hand sanitiser.
“Just sit on it. It’s scrupulously clean.” Lucien anticipated her thoughts once again, and it was her turn to roll her eyes as she climbed up onto it. Why did they make these things so bloody awkward?
Lucien steadied the stool with his hand. “I wish I’d been standing in front of you just then. I think you just flashed that guy over there.”
Sophie’s eyes shot around in panic. There was no one watching her except for Lucien, who was openly laughing. He patted her knickers in his pocket.
“Funny,” she muttered sourly, and crossed her legs to be doubly sure that no one could see up her skirt.
A woman with long black curls and a sprayed on red lace dress sashayed up to the bar next to Lucien, close enough to make ignoring her impossible. Her curvy body brushed against his from shoulder to thigh, and fear prickled along Sophie’s skin. Had she got him wrong? Would he accept this woman’s none-too-subtle invitation? Sophie glanced up at him as he inclined his head at the woman in impersonal greeting, then turned his back on her to face Sophie with deliberate slowness. The unexpectedness of his mouth on hers a second or two later knocked the breath from Sophie’s lungs. He tasted of vodka and lust, and she opened her mouth to let his tongue glide over hers. His lips were firm, his hands even firmer as they held her hips.
“Was that another part of the disguise?” she breathed when he released her, her mouth tingling from the vodka and his kiss.
“No.” His thumbs massaged her hipbones. “I kissed you because, even though you’re totally overdressed, you’re still the sexiest woman in the room.”
He had a way of saying the last thing Sophie expected, of mixing up the tender with the filthy that rendered her speechless.
Even here in the middle of this charged, sexual atmosphere, Lucien shone. A carnal beacon. Dangerous. Delicious.
“Let’s walk.” He helped her down from the stool and led her around the edge of the dance floor. Sophie tried not to look too closely at people as she passed, but she couldn’t stop her eyes from straying, or her body from reacting to it.
A woman wearing a tiny black thong hung upside down on the pole, a guy’s hand between her spread legs. On the sofas, couples groped each other openly. Lucien’s fingers laced through Sophie’s and she held on tight when they passed a couple screwing against the wall, his trousers around his ankles, her legs wrapped around his hips. Lucien’s arm fell around Sophie’s waist. Reassuring. Predatory.
“This way.”
He headed through an archway at the rear to somewhere he hadn’t shown her on the earlier, tamer tour.
“Do you like the movies?” he whispered, and pulled her sideways into a darkened room.
It took a few seconds for Sophie’s eyes to adjust to the darkness and realise she was inside a cinema, but not any kind of cinema she’d ever been to. Something told her that they wouldn't be buying popcorn here. The seats were all grouped in pairs and covered in leopardskin, and the movie scrolling across the screen was hardcore porn. Sophie stared at it, transfixed. She’d never really been attracted to any kind of porn, so to see it suddenly so lewd and huge in front of her came as a shock. There didn’t seem to be all that many people in the room, but those that were there made no secret of the fact that they were having sex.
Lucien tugged her into a love chair tucked away right at the back of the room.
“Lucien, we can’t…”
“It’s marked private. No one will look unless invited.”
His mouth landed on hers the instant he had her cornered, and the fire in her belly lit with indecent speed. She was surrounded by wall-to-wall sex, and in the arms of a man who wanted her with a passion that bordered on obsession. His lips clashed with hers, and his tongue thrashed and licked inside her mouth as his fingers sought her nipples through the material of her dress.
Lust slayed her. Fast, hard need ma
de her crawl over to straddle his lap. His erection burned between them as he dragged her skirt up roughly and pushed his hand between her legs. She cried out, and he clamped his other hand over her mouth.
“Don’t make a sound.”
He pushed his fingers inside her, and her face contorted with the effort of silencing her pleasure.
“People will consider it okay to come and watch if you make a racket,” he whispered, taking his hand off her mouth. She nodded, wide-eyed, afraid he was going to stop, knowing he wasn’t. Operating on instinct, she reached down and massaged his bulging erection, then popped the top button of his jeans. This was the third time he’d touched her intimately, and she wanted to even up the score. She wanted to feel his length in her hands, in her mouth, inside her body. He moaned and shifted underneath her.
“Not here, Princess.” Sophie grumbled in frustration when he caught her wrist. “I want to hear you scream the first time I fuck you.”
He pulled her own hand down between her legs and nipped her ear.
“Get yourself off.” His fingers still pumped inside her, rhythmic and deep. Sophie could feel her clitoris under her fingers, and she couldn’t resist the urge to do as she was told. He licked the fingers of his other hand and reached around her thigh to stroke her perineum. She tensed, knowing where he was heading.
“Behave yourself.” Lucien laughed into her mouth. “I’m fucking you with my fingers. You’re fingering your own clit. Now I’m going to touch your ass, and you’re going to love it.”
His wet fingers stroked their way up to play around her anus just like before as his fingers pumped harder into her sex. Sophie moaned. It was filthy erotic, and he bit her lip when she started to lose control of her ability to be silent.
“You’re so fucking sexy, Sophie,’ he murmured. He knew how close she was and urged her on with whispered sex words and deeper thrusts of his fingers. Sophie sunk her nails into his shoulders and ground her teeth as her orgasm started to build. Lucien sensed it and pounded his fingers faster into her, dripping words in her ears that embarrassed her with their crudeness and pushed her climax further over the boundaries.