Well. I won’t make the same mistake twice.
I come out of the shower and dry off. The mirror is all steamed up. I pick up a small washcloth, intent on rubbing the condensation off, so I can see myself—
I stop. I do trust Sylvain, don’t I? Yes, I do. I said as much. I’ve given my body to him.
I don’t need to see what it looks like.
I drop the washcloth, towel myself dry, and slip into the robe he left for me.
Chapter Thirteen
I come out and discover Sylvain scribbling furiously in a notebook. He does not acknowledge me.
I clear my throat. He does not look up. His hand runs across the paper. His focus is entirely on it.
I look around, spot and empty chair, and perch on the edge.
He will be ready for me when he sees fit.
Finally, without looking up, he says, “Come here, Dani. Take a look at this.”
I stand. His eyes dart to me.
“No,” he corrects. “I want you to show me what a good submissive you are. I want you to crawl.”
My heart starts beating faster. A devious smile tries to form on my lips.
This, I think, is exactly what I signed up for.
I make an elaborate showing of dropping to my knees. I pull open the sash of my robe for him.
I know how much he likes to look at my body.
But disappointment flares inside when he doesn’t even seem to notice. He’s back to that damn paper the moment my knees touched the floor.
Well. Looks like I’ll have to work for his attention.
I crawl toward him slowly. The cold stone slabs scrape my knees.
I move as sensually as I can, hoping he’ll look up. I want to feel his eyes on me. I want to feel the lust in them.
I want to be the source of that power.
Halfway there I stop. I take my arms out of the robe. Sylvain, who I didn’t think was watching anything, clicks his tongue.
“Did I tell you to get naked?” he asks.
Immediately I thrust my arms back. Since we’re not in the tower, I say, “No.”
“Mhm,” he murmurs. “Come on. Hurry up now. Right to my side.”
I crawl the rest of the way quickly.
He reaches down and slips his hand under the robe onto my back. His fingers are sure and firm. He runs them along my spine, then back across over my shoulders.
He grabs an ass cheek and squeezes.
I bite my lip in forbidden pleasure.
He takes his hand away.
He turns his notebook to me. It’s filled with all sorts of numbers and symbols and complex formulas.
“Tell me,” he says, “if any of this makes any sense for you.”
I scan the page. I remember Min telling me he was some sort of math prodigy. I was no slouch in school, but this is way out of my league.
“No,” I say honestly.
He grunts. “Me neither.”
In one quick motion he rips the page away, crumbles it up, and throws it across the room.
I look at him blankly.
“But you, on the other hand…” He lifts me up and sets me on the desk before him. He sits back in his chair and places both my feet on either of his thighs.
“You do make sense to me.”
I hold the robe closed against my stomach.
He runs a hand up from my ankle to my knee. Goosebumps of pleasure explode over my body.
“Would you like to play a game, Dani?” he asks.
“What sort of game?”
His hands run up my legs. He moves them under the robe. His strong fingers curl around my waist.
He tugs me closer. “The sort…” he says softly, “…that you and I would both very much enjoy.”
Slowly he eases the robe open. Now his hands are on my stomach. I’m trembling from excitement. His touch is so soft. At the same time, it’s so undeniably firm and strong and capable.
“Look at you,” he says reverently. “Look at this glorious body. Come here,” he whispers. “Scooch closer.”
I do. The open robe reveals everything to him.
One of his hands trails up over my midline. He skims past my breasts and places a finger under my chin.
Suddenly he stands. The pad of his finger tilts my head up.
He comes close and takes a deep breath, right at my neck.
I shiver.
“You smell divine,” he whispers. His clothed body rubs against my naked one. My legs itch to wrap around him.
“Would you like me to fuck you?”
A rush of the most decadent pleasure rips through me. “Oh yes,” I whisper. My voice shakes. “Yes. Yes please.”
“Hmm.” His cheek brushes mine. His lips are at my ear. “I would like that,” he rasps. “I would like that very, very much. But—” he steps away. “We are not there yet.”
“No?” Disappointment fills me. From his words alone I am already on edge. “When?”
He clears his throat and adjusts the neck of his shirt. “When I say so,” he tells me. “And no sooner. For now, I would like you to derobe.”
I do instantly.
“Lie back on the desk.”
I lower my body. I give a little gasp as the cold surface hits my back. My eyes are pointed at the ceiling.
“Now what?” I purr.
He walks around me. I see him in my peripherals. His arms are crossed. The way the shirt stretches emphasizes the muscles of his arms.
His cock makes a sizeable bulge behind his slacks.
“Did you like it when I asked you to touch yourself, Dani?”
“Oh yes,” I breathe. I close my eyes and bring my hands to my pussy. “But only because you commanded me to do so.”
“Hmm,” he chuckles. “Good answer. Would you like to do it again?”
I open my eyes and lift my head and look at him. “Only if you want me to.”
His lips curl in a small smile. “Fast learner,” he murmurs. “Yes, Dani. I would like you to.”
I sink a finger into myself. A moan escapes my lips.
“Yes,” he says. His eyes are locked on me. “Just like that. Keep going.”
I run a finger over my folds. I feel so vulnerable on the desk like this. So vulnerable, so open, so very much exposed.
But I do it for him. For that reason alone, I already love it.
I play with my clit. Sylvain watches me. I plunge my finger inside of me and feel my warmth. Sylvain watches me. I grab my breast with my free hand and start working myself faster.
Sylvain, unmoving, watches.
My skin prickles from his gaze. A second moan escapes my lips. My fingers move faster. A gasp comes with a sudden jolt of pleasure. Another one. A third moan.
Sylvain stands and watches.
Soon my eyes are rolling to the back of my head. I start to lose myself. I wish he would join in. I wish he would touch me.
But for now his gaze is enough. And I still have the marks left on my body. I am grateful for those.
Wet sounds fill the air. I cannot keep my gasps in. They roll out of me, together with the moans. Maybe they’re exaggerated a little, but I want to give him a good display.
The gasps start to come quick. The pleasure is building. My eyes shutter completely closed. The orgasm is just about to take me when Sylvain suddenly barks, “Stop!”
I’m jerked out of the moment. My eyes pop open. My head shoots up.
He is standing with his pants around his knees, his cock in one hand, staring intently at me.
A new thrill shoots through my body.
“I’m going to make you come now,” he says. I notice a shot glass in his other hand. I don’t know where he got that from. “But first…”
He reaches over to a side cabinet. He opens it.
Out comes a bottle of dark green liquor.
“Touch yourself,” he commands. “But do not orgasm. Stay on the edge.”
Can this man not make his mind up today, or what?
My fing
ers return to my pussy. I rub them over it slowly.
He pours the liquid into the shot glass. He turns around. He lets his pants drop and steps out of them.
He approaches me. I start to touch myself with more pressure. I circle my hand and dip my fingers in. All the while, my legs are spread, my breaths are heavy, and my back cold against the lacquered oak desk.
Sylvain reaches the desk. The shot glass is filled to the very brim. The liquid inside is so vibrant it looks almost poisonous.
“This,” he says, holding the glass between us. “Is absinthe. Do you know what that is?”
I give a little nod. “I’ve heard of it.”
“Good.” His eyes dart to my pussy. “Keep going, Dani. Don’t stop.”
My fingers resume their slow exploration.
“This is the game that I propose,” he says. He runs a hand over my forehead. “Lie back again.”
I let my head down.
“Open your mouth,” he says.
I do.
“And now…” he lowers the glass between my teeth. “Hold it. But don’t spill a drop!”
A shock runs through me as I understand what he intends for me to do. I try to hold the glass there.
It’s slippery.
Still, I do my best.
“Good,” he says, when we achieve a final balance. My head is trapped in one spot. I can’t move it for fear of spilling the drink.
“Now, Dani,” he says. “Absinthe is a very precious liquor. Properly made, it’s also very rare. Quite strong, too.” His hand makes a light grazing over my body. My skin prickles from his touch.
“It’s nothing I would ever give a girl like you. And I haven’t. This is my drink. You’re simply holding it for me.”
I hear the amusement in his voice.
“The goal here,” he says, his hand clamping down on my inner thigh. He squeezes hard. “Is not to let any run down your throat.”
He strokes my leg then takes my wrist and pulls my hand from my pussy.
“I am going to enter you now.”
My eyes go wide, and I nearly choke as he slides his cock into me. There’s no protection! I didn’t think he wasn’t going to fuck me! He’s so big, he fills the entirety of my walls!
“Remember,” he says, looking down at me. “Not a drop.”
My breaths turn into little, short, choked gasps. Sweat lines my brow.
He grabs both my wrists. He pins them to the table. All the while that damn shot glass is lodged between my teeth, and I do my best to stay still.
He draws himself out slowly… and plunges back in with one enormous thrust.
My body jerks. The drink in my mouth wavers and spills.
Harsh, stinging liquid burns my throat. Tears sting my eyes.
Sylvain pulls out the moment it happens. He rips the glass from between my teeth. “God,” he curses. “That’s it. Game over. You lose.”
He tips his own head back and downs the shot.
Then he picks up his pants, slides them on, and simply walks away.
Chapter Fourteen
I lay there for a long time, waiting for him to return. Waiting for my body to calm down.
That was… strange. Not in a good way. Not in the in expected way.
Something’s affected Sylvain. He does not seem like himself.
Could it be my fault?
When I finally decide he’s not coming back, I sit up. I look at the cabinet he opened, stocked full of fancy-looking bottles.
I pick the robe up and slip it on. Sylvain entered me, but he did not fuck me. He was only there for a few strokes.
And he didn’t use a condom. I’m supposed to trust him with that?
Too late for me to back out now. I hope he has a clean bill of health. Then again…
Then again, I’ve seen how well he cares for his body. I’m sure he does.
As I’m about to walk out of the room I hear the piano playing.
But the music is off. It’s all wrong. It doesn’t flow like I’m used to.
It sounds like a struggle.
I wait for it to smooth out. It does not. Sylvain is fighting the keys.
Quietly, I make my way through the castle to his room. The music stutters and stops, and then picks up again, even as I walk to him.
I find him there, obviously. The scene is the same as I’ve seen before. Except for one big difference:
There’s a half-empty bottle of cognac by his side.
I swallow. An entirely different type of fear takes me. I did not know Sylvain was a drinker. As far as I have seen, he thrives when he is in control.
But today, something’s happened to him.
He turns around as soon as he hears me. His body sways.
God, he’s already drunk.
And it’s been what, half an hour since he left me? Maybe less?
“Dani,” he says. “Ms. Middleton. Come here. Come here, precious girl.”
I wrap the robe tightly around myself and approach with caution.
“Would you sit?” he asks, patting the bench beside him.
I do. But I’m all stiff. He smells strongly of liquor.
Alcohol makes people unpredictable. Sylvain is unpredictable enough as is.
Right now, he is a firecracker waiting to go off.
“Dani…” he says. He reaches up and touches my face.
I turn my head away.
“No.” He grips my jaw. “No, you do not do that.” But then his hand falls away. Some of the fire goes out.
“I failed you,” he whispers. He runs a hand over the piano keys. They make a mournful sound.
I eye him. “How?” I ask, uncertain.
“You were not out for a few hours,” he says. He looks right at me.
I notice, for the first time, that his eyes are rimmed with red.
“No?” I whisper. A sick feeling starts to come over me.
“No,” he says. “You were out for nearly two days.”
I gasp.
“I know, I know, I know!” he curses. One fist slams into the piano. “I talk to you about trust. But you trusted me, and I—I failed you!”
He looks away in disgust.
“So… the doctor?” I say.
“I called him in right away. We monitored you together. He told me all your signs were fine. He told me you would wake quickly. But…” he looks at me. “You did not.”
I blink rapidly, trying to make sense of this.
“So you lied.”
“Yes,” he says. “Yes, Dani, that I did. And it’s been digging away at me ever since.”
“That’s why you were so… uncertain, with me, today?” I ask.
He casts a haunted look my way. “That’s right.”
I hesitate for a moment.
Then I reach out and brush his arm.
“You shouldn’t have been,” I say. I look him in the eyes. “I still trust you.”
“You shouldn’t.”
“I do,” I insist. “It was my fault I wasted the water. It was my fault what happened to me.” I rub his shoulder, then draw my hand away. “I can see that now.”
Sylvain’s eyes narrow in thought.
“Besides,” I add. “I’m fine now. And Sylvain…? I—I want more.”
That seems to give him his old confidence back.
He draws himself up. Suddenly he is not the morose drunk but the cool, commanding man I submitted to.
“Very well,” he says. “We will take this as a lesson for the future. I told you this would be a journey between us. Both you and I learned something today. You, that I am not infallible. And I, that you are capable of empathy.”
He reaches into his jacket and takes out a long iron key. He holds it before my face.
“Do you know which door this opens?
The cell, I think. I nod.
“Take it, then. Tomorrow, we begin afresh. Today’s incident will be forgotten. And I…” his eyes focus on me. “I will make the lost days up to you, Dani. That, I promise
.”
The command in his voice is back.
I absolutely love it.
I take the key. A chill of excitement roots itself in the pit of my stomach.
“You have five minutes to get there,” Sylvain says. He looks at his watch. “I’m timing you. Run.”
Chapter Fifteen
I spend the night in the little, cramped room, sleeping on the floor.
I do this to myself, I think. Don’t I?
The answer is a loud and clear, Yes.
It lets me fall into a deep, untroubled sleep.
**
The door swings open and slams against the wall, startling me awake.
Sylvain stands there. He glowers down at me, full of unsuppressed rage.
Oh God, I think. My stomach seizes up. What happened now?
“UP!” he snaps without preamble. “Get up!”
I scramble off the floor and get on my feet.
He flings something at me. I see it when it falls to the floor.
A brown leather collar and leash.
“Put that on around your neck,” he tells me. “You are not allowed to speak until I give you permission next.”
Oh, this is the man I’m used to. Even though I’m frightened and uncertain, this is what I want.
I pick it up. It looks like an old dog collar. The leather is creased and worn.
I bring it to my nose and sniff. It even smells used.
Sylvain takes a menacing step toward me. “Did I tell you,” he threatens, “that you could smell it?”
Quickly I shake my head and hurry to fasten it around my neck.
“Good,” he says. “Turn around.”
I do. I squeeze my eyes shut when my back is to him. My hands close into fists in anticipation of whatever is to come.
He hooks the leash on. Then he lifts the bottom of my gown and squeezes my ass cheek.
I jump.
“Mhmm,” he murmurs. “Now down on your knees. Now!”
In a hurry, I drop to the floor.
Sylvain tugs the leash. I’m yanked to him.
“Try not to fall behind,” he says, and starts to stride away
I crawl as fast as I can after him. The leash tugs on my neck. It hurts my throat. But no matter how fast I go, I cannot keep up to his long, sure strides.
Every time I fall behind and the leash goes taut, he gives a savage yank. I’m hauled forward and fall to the floor. He waits a second for me to rise, then continues on.
The Alastair Affair 3: Dani Page 5