Desire

by Marina Anderson

  Amber certainly didn’t want to annoy him, and in one way she was pleased. If the weekend were extra interesting thanks to this Grace woman, then David wouldn’t be bored. A bored David wasn’t the best of companions.

  “Everything will run as usual,” she assured him.

  He grinned at her, suddenly looking almost boyish. Her stomach tightened with renewed desire. She was in thrall to every facet of this man, especially his imaginative and dark sexuality.

  After David had left to get Grace, Amber started to put the menus on the tables, and as she glanced at them and began to read the choices, she smiled to herself. She didn’t need to worry about this Grace. David had brought other women to the Dining Club, and none of them had ever got beyond table three. If anything, having her here would add piquancy to the situation.

  As usual, it was going to be a wonderful weekend.

  * * *

  Grace was still packing when David arrived. At over 6’ tall, he always made her little studio flat seem small. “I can’t zip my case up,” she said, letting him in. “The dresses take up so much room!”

  David glanced at a dress lying over the back of the sofa bed in the living area. “Is that one of them?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

  “Yes, and it took me hours and hours to find it so I won’t take kindly to you telling me you don’t like it.”

  Picking it up he frowned slightly, then held it against her. “Is green really your color?” he asked doubtfully.

  “No, but I was running out of time and patience.”

  “So was the dressmaker by the look of it,” he said with a laugh. “Never mind, let’s get away. We can do something about that later.”

  “Like what? Unpick it and start again?” snapped Grace.

  “Just pack it will you,” he said with amusement. “I thought women enjoyed buying dresses.”

  “I’d have thought you knew me well enough to know I’m one of the exceptions,” she retorted. “I’m much happier in…”

  “I know what you’re happiest in, and that’s nothing at all! Now, give me the case and we’ll be on our way.”

  As he concentrated on easing the silver Lexus in and out of the London traffic, Grace slowly began to relax. At last they were on their way, and had a whole weekend ahead of them.

  “Tell me more about this club,” she said. “How many members does it have?”

  “Not many, there are only eight bedrooms, although quite a few members don’t stay overnight, they leave after the Saturday evening is finished.”

  “You mean they leave after dinner?”

  She saw a small muscle was jumping in his left temple. “Yes, dinner and the entertainment.”

  “You make it sound like a holiday camp!” laughed Grace.

  “Sorry, I’m trying to do it justice without giving too much away, but I promise you it’s nothing like a holiday camp!”

  “I don’t know why you’re being so secretive about it.”

  “I want to surprise you when we get there. It’s not easy when you keep asking questions.”

  “Perhaps I don’t like surprises.”

  “Surely you do? I’m certain you’ll like this one anyway,” he said, and reaching out his left hand he squeezed her right knee reassuringly.

  Within five minutes of reaching northwest London, they stopped at a private gated entrance to a wide, tree-lined road with large houses set well back and surrounded by shrubbery-lined drives.

  “Very swish!” said Grace.

  David, who was quickly let through by a man sitting to the side of the gate, glanced at her. “I’m pleased you approve!”

  “Now is that sarcasm or irony?” mused Grace aloud.

  David drove slowly down the wide, gently curving road until he reached a walled front garden with security gates and high iron railings at the entrance to the drive. Opening his window he punched some numbers into the black box on the side of the gates and they swung open.

  As he drove through, Grace glanced back and felt a twinge of unease as she saw the gates closing softly behind them. She looked at her lover, but he was concentrating on parking the car in front of one of the garages set to the side of the large, three-story house, his expression closed and inward looking.

  It was only when he was taking their cases out of the boot that he looked at her. “Are you all right, Grace? You look nervous.”

  She shook her head. “I’m fine.”

  Putting an arm round her shoulders he gave her a quick hug. “Now we’re here you can relax and enjoy yourself,” he said as he rang the doorbell.

  While they waited for someone to let them in, Grace noticed a tiny black plaque with the words “The Dining Club” on it, set in the top panel of the white front door. “They’re not big on advertising,” she said to David, “that must be the smallest plaque you can get.”

  “They never advertise; they don’t need to,” explained David, and then the front door opened.

  An exceptionally beautiful girl and a strikingly handsome young man picked up their cases. David ushered her in, then greeted the very tall, muscular dark-haired man waiting just inside with a warm handshake. “Andrew! Great to see you again.”

  Andrew smiled. “It’s always a pleasure to see you, especially when you bring a guest. You must be Grace,” he added, turning to her. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  He was so relaxed and friendly that Grace’s initial nervousness started to wear off. He was taller than David, about 6’3” she thought, with broad shoulders and a strong upper body. His dark hair was quite long and unruly, his large, brown, thickly lashed eyes warm and welcoming.

  Looking around the vast, marble-floored entrance hall with its high ceiling and wide, winding staircase leading to the upper floors, Grace wondered who actually owned the Dining Club. With only a few members and, as far as she knew, only one dining room, she had no idea how it could be a profitable concern.

  “What did you want to do about lunch?” asked Andrew. “As you know the dining room doesn’t open until seven, but naturally we can send anything you want up to your suite and…”

  “That will suit us very well, thanks,” said David. “I’ll phone down later. Right now I think we’d like to go to our rooms and get settled in.”

  “Of course. I’m sure you’ll find everything you want in your rooms, but if anything has been forgotten then…”

  “I doubt if that will have happened, you know me too well,” said David, and Grace saw a quick glance pass between the two men, a glance that had an air of complicity about it, which made no sense to her at all.

  At the bottom of the stairs she looked to her left and through a partly opened door saw what she assumed must be the dining room. It looked huge, with small tables set well apart that all appeared to be set up for three people.

  “That’s odd,” she remarked as she and David went up to their suite.

  “What is?”

  “It looks as though all the tables in the dining room are set for three people. You aren’t likely to have three people dining out together very often. Two people or four, yes, but not three!”

  “Here we are, number one,” said David, inserting a key into the heavy, cream, paneled door and totally ignoring her remark. “Now our weekend break can really begin. In you go. I’ll bring the cases.”

  Grace walked in ahead of him, and heard the lock click softly behind them.

  Chapter Three

  The room they walked into was so elegant that it took Grace’s breath away. It was a large bedroom and sitting room combined, with a king-size curtained bed taking up most of the right-hand wall, its long, creamy peach-colored drapes falling in elegant folds to the deep, pale moss-green carpet. The two tall windows had matching curtains, draped along the top and then hanging in columns to the floor, while the rest of the room had a peach-colored chaise longue and three matching large velvet armchairs that looked big enough for two people to sit in. Close to one window were two small delicate cream chairs with cir
cular backs. The glass-topped coffee table in the middle of the room had a small vase of peach and white roses standing in the middle.

  “It’s beautiful!” she exclaimed, drinking it in and mentally storing it up for use in a period play sometime in the future. “Absolutely out of this world!”

  David smiled. “I hoped you’d like it. Take a look at the bathroom—it’s through this door here.”

  Opening some double doors he stood back to let her go through first. Her initial thought was that it was a drawing room, but then she realized that the floor wasn’t covered in carpet but in tiles cleverly designed to look like carpet. In an alcove on the right a deep, claw-footed bath was flanked by a large, soft chair, but one without arms, which she assumed was to make it an easy place to leave your towel or discarded clothes. She certainly wouldn’t dare throw her clothes on the floor, she thought to herself. On the other side of the room there was a small alcove with a basin and shelves, and directly opposite the bath there was an ornate mirror that ran from the ceiling to the floor.

  “I don’t know what to say,” she confessed. “It’s all out of this world. I imagined it would be far more modern. The house looked new from the outside.”

  “Some of the suites are modern. I guessed, given your line of work, you’d appreciate the thought that had gone into this design. And of course it’s very comfortable,” he added with a laugh.

  “Have you stayed here a lot?” asked Grace, as they went back into the main room.

  “A few times over the past three years.”

  She wondered if his other girlfriends had liked it as much as she did. She imagined they would have done. It was hard to think of any woman not liking it. The entire suite could have been designed as a backdrop for sensual pleasures.

  David was opening a small fridge that was concealed by one of the panels in the wall by the door. “I think it’s time we had some champagne.”

  Grace wandered over to the window, looking out at the trees, the immaculate expanse of lawn and carefully tended flower borders that made up the garden. All at once she felt the touch of an ice-cold glass against the back of her neck. She turned and David handed her a champagne flute. “To our weekend at the Dining Club,” he said.

  She’d only taken one sip when he gently took the glass out of her hand, put it down on the window ledge and turning her to face him cradled the sides of her face and neck in his hands as he bent to kiss her.

  The kiss was soft at first, and then he gently sucked on her lower lip, drawing it into his mouth for a few seconds before releasing it and then repeating the action. She relaxed into his hands, and felt his tongue sliding beneath her upper lip, running from side to side as she moved her whole body into his.

  The pressure from his mouth increased, and as she opened her mouth wider he sucked softly on her tongue. She began to tremble with desire, her body melting and merging with his. Slowly, steadily, the kiss became firmer, more demanding and she could hear his breathing quickening.

  “I want to kiss you all over,” he said softly, and with deft hands he quickly pulled her T-shirt over her head and removed her bra, so that her rounded breasts were free.

  She leaned her back against the frame of the nearest window as he unzipped her jeans and pushed them down round her ankles, making it difficult for her to move, even if she wanted to. Slowly, gently he licked and sucked at her rapidly hardening nipples until she started to moan softly. Then his head moved lower and he knelt down, easing the tops of her legs apart, but still leaving her jeans around her ankles.

  Grace’s breath caught in her throat as he parted her pubic hair with his fingers, nibbled lightly on her outer sex lips and then separated them before licking upwards with his tongue, which moved in long, firm sweeps.

  She could feel her juices flowing now, and he sucked at them before swirling the tip of his tongue around the whole rapidly engorging area. Her moans of delight filled the room and then, as she felt the first tingles of an orgasm beginning he thrust his tongue deep inside her for a few wonderful seconds before moving his head and biting hard at the soft flesh at the top of her left thigh.

  With a cry of shock she tried to move, but she was trapped by the window frame and her own jeans. “What are you doing?” she cried. “That hurts. Let me go!”

  Ignoring her words he simply returned to licking the soft, wet channel of needy flesh, before lightly touching her clitoris with the tip of his tongue.

  To her surprise her excitement began to rekindle, but then he bit her again, at the top of her other thigh, and she started to struggle to free herself.

  “Relax,” he murmured. “This can feel good, I promise you.”

  “I don’t like it! I…”

  She stopped, as a strange sensation started to build deep inside her. It wasn’t the way her orgasms usually began, it was a deeper, more intense feeling, and gradually she felt her body tighten and almost without thinking she thrust her pelvis forward wanting, needing, something, anything, that would enable her to climax.

  To her astonishment, the moment her hips moved, David released her, moving away and leaving her both frustrated and shocked.

  “That will do for now,” he murmured, “we’ll finish later on.”

  “You bit me!” said Grace accusingly.

  David shook his head. “I nipped your skin, and you liked it.”

  “I didn’t like it.”

  “But your body liked it. Be truthful, you want to come, don’t you?”

  Confused and bewildered she nodded, her cheeks flushed with shame. Kissing her lightly on the forehead he began to help her get her clothes back on. “Later,” he murmured.

  “I don’t want to wait until later. Don’t you understand? I didn’t come!” protested Grace.

  “You weren’t meant to come. Now let’s drink our champagne, and I’ll explain more about this weekend.”

  Feeling thoroughly frustrated, Grace finished straightening her clothes. David was already seated on one of the large chairs by the glass-topped table. As she walked past him he caught hold of her, pulling her down into the chair with him.

  She tried to wriggle free. “Let me go, you’ve annoyed me.”

  “My darling Gracie, I wasn’t trying to annoy you. I suppose I was half-testing you and half-preparing you for this evening. Come on, drink some champagne with me.”

  “What do you mean, ‘preparing me’ for this evening?” she asked, finally taking a sip of the champagne but refusing to snuggle up against him.

  “As you’ve clearly suspected from the beginning, this isn’t going to be an ordinary weekend break,” said David, resting one arm along the back of the chair so that his fingertips brushed against the nape of her neck.

  “You’d better explain exactly what you mean,” responded Grace, wishing that he’d stop touching her as she was still aroused but unsatisfied.

  He nodded in agreement. “We’ve been going out together for six months now, and I felt the time was right to introduce you to another part of my life. It’s a very important part, and obviously I’m hoping that you’ll share my enthusiasm for it, but I’ll understand if you don’t. I’ll be sorry, but I’ll understand.”

  Grace took another sip of her champagne. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I have a feeling it’s something I definitely need to know, especially as…”

  “Especially as what?” he asked quietly.

  She sensed that to tell him how much she cared for him would be a mistake. “As I thought we knew each other pretty well already. No one likes to discover their judgment of someone is totally wrong, especially me, as I need to be a good judge of character in my line of work.”

  “Grace, most people keep parts of themselves hidden from the rest of the world. Haven’t you any deep, dark secrets or feelings that you never vocalize?”

  “No, I haven’t. Tell me about this weekend before I get up and walk out of here,” she retorted, her anxiety rising with every word he spoke.

  His finge
rs stopped moving against the nape of her neck. “This club isn’t really a dining club. It’s a club for people with specialized sexual needs and desires. They come here so that they can enjoy themselves safe in the knowledge that they’re surrounded by like-minded people.”

  Grace frowned. “Why do they need a dining room for that? There are plenty of clubs in London that cater for all kinds of sexual tastes.”

  “True, but sometimes people need a place to bring someone they’re involved with who doesn’t know some of their, shall we say, more unusual sexual needs. This is a safe place for them to find out if that person can ever be happy sharing their world, or if the relationship is doomed to failure because they can’t.”

  Remembering the way her lover’s teeth had closed over her soft inner thighs, causing her moments of genuine pain, Grace began to understand what he meant. “Can you explain more about the dining room?”

  “There are four tables, five if you count the top table, but you don’t need to get involved with that. Each table is numbered from one to five. As you noticed, every table seats three people. This is because at every table there are two people like you and me, who are here to discover whether they are well suited sexually or not, and either another Club member or one of the staff. Needless to say, all of the staff here have a very wide range of sexual skills.

  “Tonight you and I will sit at table one. If the evening goes well, and you want to come back next month, we’ll sit at table two. This means that each month there is only ever one new guest, as all the visitors either progress up the tables or choose to leave. If two people leave after the same weekend, then a member of staff fills in at the higher table. We like to keep the novices coming, for the benefit of our members.”

  “Is every novice, as you put it, female?” queried Grace, who although shocked was surprised to realize that she was also beginning to feel a sense of totally unexpected excitement.