Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 78521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“I want you, too.” Fuck, I can already smell the musk between her legs.
I lead her to a door at the end of the hallway. The sign on it reads simply Private. I key in a code, shielding my fingers from view, as is my habit.
“Are you ready?” I burn my gaze into hers.
She nods.
“I need an answer.”
“I’m ready,” she says.
I turn the knob and open the door. “After you.”
And she gasps.
I’m not surprised. She was probably expecting a red room of pain or a dungeon of some sort.
Not my taste.
A king-size bed is the centerpiece. The head and footboards are black lacquer, and the bed is covered in mahogany silk. It’s similar to my bedroom in Boston except there are no windows in this room. No Boston Harbor. No Manhattan skyline.
We’re truly underground.
The decor of the room is purposeful. The bed draws your gaze as you enter, and it’s not until you glance elsewhere that you see the room’s secrets.
In one corner is a leather table with straps and stirrups. In the other corner is a stockade. Hanging on the wall are floggers and handcuffs and whips.
Against one wall stands a chest.
I walk toward the chest and open the top drawer. Rope. All different colors and textures of rope.
“I can’t tell you how pleased I was when I found you masturbating to the bondage photos,” I say. “I enjoy many aspects of this lifestyle, but bondage is my favorite.”
My cock aches inside my pants. Just the thought of tying Skye up, of turning her into a work of art.
Hell, she’s already a work of art—those lips, those tits, those big brown eyes.
Anticipation surges through me.
“What are you going to do to me?” she asks.
“What would you like me to do?”
Her lips twitch slightly. “Whatever you want.”
“Good answer.” I finger the diamond choker at her neck. It’s warm from her skin. “You’re wearing my collar tonight, but as I said before, that’s only for your protection. We’re alone here, and you may remove it before we play if you’d like.”
She brings her hands to my fingers at her neck. “I’d like to wear it. For tonight, anyway.”
“As you wish.”
Though I force my expression to remain stoic, her decision warms me. Arouses me.
I want her wearing my collar.
I want that sign that she’s mine and no one else’s.
Fuck. There’s a big part of me that wants her wearing it always. Twenty-four seven. In every fucking Instagram post.
This collar. This collar that says “property of Braden Black.”
“Braden?”
“Yes?”
She clears her throat. “How many other women have been in this room with you?”
Fuck. Is she really wanting to go there?
This room has seen many women, but none of them meant a thing compared to the woman standing before me now.
“Skye…”
“I’m not asking for names or anything. I just… I’m not naive. I know I’m not the first.”
“What if I told you that you were the first?”
“I’d say you were lying.”
I resist breaking into a grin, keeping my stoic demeanor. “You’d be correct. You’re not the first. Perhaps, though, you’ll be the last.”
She widens her eyes. “You mean that?”
“I never say anything I don’t mean, Skye. You should know that by now.”
“You want me to be the last?”
“I said perhaps, Skye. I’m not clairvoyant. I can’t predict the future.”
“But you want—”
“I love you, Skye. I’ve never said those words to any woman before you. I make no promises about anything other than this moment, but at this moment, I love you.”
“I love you, too, Braden.”
“What we’ve done in my bedroom in Boston only scratches the surface of what I can show you. Of what I want to show you.”
“Is this the kind of stuff you like to do all the time?” she asks.
“Yes, this is a lifestyle choice. I don’t indulge in club scenes regularly, as I’m not always here. I still live in Boston.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve already explained part of that, but also, by only indulging in my darkest side on occasion, it’s more special. Like anything, if you do it constantly, you become used to it. The thrill lessens.”
“I see.”
Does she? Whether she does or not, she eventually will.
“Are you ready, Skye?”
“For…all of this?”
“To follow me under. To the darkest side of my fantasies.”
She swallows. “Yes, Braden. I’m ready.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
I loosen the ties on her corset and help her step out of it. Then I remove her stilettos, her garter belt and stockings, and her thong.
“Put the shoes back on,” I say, my voice a low rasp.
She obeys.
She’s naked except for the black platform stilettos.
I suck in a breath. “Fuck, you’re sexy. Take a seat on the table.” I gesture to the leather-covered table in one corner of the room.
She walks to the table and complies.
I bend over the chest of rope, pull out some dark red pieces, and return to her. The texture of the rope is hot against my fingers.