“This is going to sound really neurotic, but I don’t want Chris to know.”
“Because?”
“I don’t want it to be a big deal, and I know from her history she might think I’m doing it out of pity, and I’m not.”
Silence again. She bit her thumb and squeezed her thighs together. Damn him. Yes, if he’d told her he wanted to donate money she would have felt guilty.
“She would not have,” Ginny said. More silence. “Okay, you’re right. You’re good.”
She danced in place, her bladder about to explode.
“Great, I’ll grab my checkbook from the car and slip it to you.”
Leaves crunched underfoot as he strode away and Ginny stepped around the tent flap. She froze the instant she saw her, eyes wide.
“I didn’t mean to hear,” Chris whisper-spoke.
Ginny pointed. “You heard!”
“I’ve got to pee.” She pushed Ginny aside and strode to the cinderblock and metal bathrooms, her friend in tow.
“How much did you hear?”
“Everything. I think.”
“Oh thank god, I wasn’t going to be able to keep that a secret.”
Chris slammed the stall door in her face and shimmied out of her jeans, sucking in a breath as the rough fabric and cool air hit her ass. The bruises stung and the muscles in her bottom and thighs ached. Last night he’d fucked her crazy and today he showed her his sweet side. Her heart was ping-ponging around in her chest. Hundreds of people donated money to cancer causes across the world, but they weren’t Daniel.
Ginny tapped on the door. “I like this one. I want to get you two over sometime so we can do real couple things. I haven’t had a couples’ night in ages.”
But they weren’t even really together. Were they?
* * * * *
Daniel was fighting a serious case of the Mondays. He hated the weeks leading up to an unveiling. He needed to hire an assistant. Someday. That day was not today, however, seeing as he needed to recast two models, handle the catering and cleaning.
“Knock, knock, knock.”
Pushing away from the workbench, which was currently serving as a desk, he glanced at the clock. The entire morning was gone. Shit. He got to his feet and went to the doorway to see who his newest intruder was. With the show this week, his home seemed to have a revolving door newly installed.
“There you are!”
“Bianca, Clay, what a surprise.” He smiled down at his friends, some of the tension easing from his shoulders. If it had been another idiot Neil had sent over, he might have lost his shit.
“Yeah,” Clay drawled, “it’s such a surprise Monday comes around every week, isn’t it?”
“Oh, play nice, you two.” Bianca laughed and swatted her husband’s arm. “I brought takeout. You owe us details, mister, and lots of them, so get your ass down here.” She walked across the loft, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor.
“Yes ma’am.” He pulled the double doors closed behind him out of habit. He didn’t necessarily have time for lunch with his friends, but he needed a break from work and Chris was locked away in meetings most of the day. Probably for the best. It was one thing to enjoy spending time together, it was another to be connected at the hip.
“Don’t let her push you around.” Clay met him at the bottom of the stairs and shook his hand. “She’ll get ideas that she can do whatever she likes.”
“I will not,” she called from the kitchen.
The two men shared a laugh and joined Bianca in the kitchen.
“That smells fantastic, B.” He slid onto one of the barstools and accepted a heavily laden plate.
“Nu-uh-uh.” She kept a tight grip on the food. “Details.”
“All right.” He tugged the plate from her and set it down. “What do you want to know?”
“Is she a brat?” She leaned on the counter, propping her chin on her fist.
Clay smoothed his wife’s hair behind her ear. “B, what do you think?” To Daniel he asked, “So how is she different from Lucy?”
“In every way.” The force with which he made the definitive statement surprised him. It was clear from spending five minutes in her presence there was a difference between the two women.
“Well, all right then.” Clay laughed. “That’s how it is?”
He flexed his hand, rolling the idea around in his head, the same one he’d been mulling for a while. “I think so. We haven’t talked about it yet, but yeah.”
“Have you done more than play with her? What were you two up to the other night?” Bianca dished out her own food and picked at it.
“No. We’d been to dinner then. She’s come here, I’ve gone to her place. We did a charity thing this weekend. I enjoy her company and she’s sexy as hell.”
“I’d do her,” she offered.
“If I shared,” he countered.
“Fine.” She sighed and patted Clay’s hand. Neither of them had missed the grimace that flitted across his face. Daniel knew only that after their engagement, Bianca no longer added others to their play unless it was in a nonsexual role. Since neither had offered an explanation, he’d never pried into their personal life. “So when do we get to hang out with her? And how do you feel about acquiring Lucy? If they’re sisters, there’s got to be sister drama.”
“What about Thursday?” Clay asked.
He froze, his fork halfway to his mouth, wheels spinning like crazy. “Damn, I hadn’t thought about that. That’s—that’s perfect. Hell, yes, I’ll see if she’ll come Thursday.”
“What about the sister?” Clay reiterated his wife’s question. “She’s a bitch.”
He nodded but was too busy patting down his pockets looking for his phone. “Yeah, Lucy’s going to be a pain in the ass, but I think Chris is worth it. They don’t do a lot together. I don’t think it’ll be a big deal, plus we’re on the same page where Lucy is concerned.” Saying it out loud solidified it. In fact, he had an idea. “Hey, pass me that pad of paper, will you, Clay? And where’d my phone go?”
Chapter Ten
“Daniel?” Christine pushed the front door to the loft open and stuck her head in.
The space looked the same but there were additions. A few tall tables along the walls with candles waiting to be lit. Two men in black pants, vests and white shirts were setting up a bar under the stairs and to the right of the door. Stacks of glassware sat at the ready against the wall. Three people in white coats moved around the kitchen, putting together finger foods.
She walked farther into the space, looking around at the small alterations. Personal items were gone, including the family photographs and an odd knickknack or two, but overall it was the same place.
“Hey, up here.” She turned toward his voice. Daniel stood at the top of the stairs, half hidden behind one of the doors. “Come up. I’m getting some things finished.”
She felt a little like Belle tiptoeing into the Beast’s lair. She let herself into the workshop since Daniel had gone back to whatever he was preparing, and froze in the doorway.
She didn’t know what she’d expected the workshop to be, but it wasn’t this. It was huge, with two rows of long, wooden tables, each with an overhead fixture and several other lamps with bendable necks to get the light right. Each one had tools and bits of things that might have been metal or stones or beads placed in neat trays. Farther back were larger machines that did God only knew what.
Daniel was at one of the closest tables with another man she’d never seen before. They were both so wrapped up in what they were doing, neither noticed her edging closer to get a look at the jewelry.
He’d shown her pictures, but nothing could beat the real thing. The theme seemed to be swirls and circles. There were necklaces that would cover all of the real estate between a woman’s neck and boobs, others that were simple, understated pieces with a few stones. Earrings and bracelets and rings. It was all grouped in what seemed to be items that went well together.
“Hello, and you are?” The other man’s clipped voice startled her into stepping back.
“Chris. Damn, you look good.” Daniel wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to the table. “Neil, meet Chris. She’s agreed to help my sorry ass tonight.”
Neil gave her a skeptical once-over and bent back to fiddling with what looked to be a bracelet. Or maybe a cuff of some sort.
“Neil handles all of the production for me. Keeps me from having to learn how to tell people what to do.”
“Oh.” She nodded and smiled, not having the foggiest idea what he meant. She’d ask him to explain later, with small words and a lot of show and tell. “So what do you want me to do?”
“The list.” Daniel let go of her and turned a complete circle before spying what he needed across the table. “There it is. This is a list of all the people coming in tonight. The bartenders, servers, clean-up people and models. I can’t run around and check in with them, things are running too far behind. Can you take this list and these sheets and check off who is here? If they aren’t here, call them and tell them to get here.”
She took a clipboard with neatly printed pages and the handwritten list. “Sounds easy enough. What else?”
“Would you mind playing hostess? This has gotten much larger than last year, and I can’t greet people and do everything else.”
“Doesn’t sound too hard.” She pasted on a bright smile. She did not enjoy the limelight, and playing hostess was about as central as she could get without being a model or taking his place in the scheme of things. Served her for wearing a bright-red dress. But for him, she’d do it. She took a deep breath and repeated that thought, making it her mantra for the night. Besides, it was a kind of service to do this for him.
“She should wear the Millennium Rose,” Neil said without lifting his head from his work.
Daniel gave her a once-over. “You’re right.” He turned back to the table and selected a creation of four different metals swirling together with stones nestled in their midst. “Hold your hair up for me?”
She chuckled and swept her hair to the side. “You just assume I’ll wear it?” The cool kiss of the jewelry against her skin caused her to shiver.
His lips grazed her neck above the clasp. “Of course you will. I say so.”
His voice dripped Dominance. Her nipples hardened and she leaned back against him. He kissed her cheek but that was it.
She sucked in a breath and tried in vain to tell her body nothing else was going to happen. “Anything else I should do?”
“No. I really appreciate you doing this. It’s a lot to throw at you, I know.”
“Hey, you called, I answered. Let me worry about this stuff and you do whatever it is you do.”
He pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “You’re a lifesaver.”
She preened under his appreciation, ready to tackle the world if he asked. Instead, she took her lists and cell phone downstairs and began taking care of the details, like making sure there were coasters and the models knew what floor to come to. They were tiny tasks, but they kept her on her toes right up until a few minutes before people were supposed to arrive.
Desperate for a moment away from the hairspray and inane questions, she grabbed her purse and escaped to the half bathroom she hadn’t noticed tucked under the stairs. She’d never given any thought to the side rooms, but Daniel actually had two rooms, with actual doors, that the staff was making use of.
Before she’d even pulled her powder and lipstick out of her purse, someone knocked on the door. She rolled her eyes at her reflection.
“One minute.”
“It’s me.”
“Oh, come in.”
She popped the lock and the door swung in. Daniel closed and relocked the door. He’d changed into a black-on-black suit, no tie, with a few shirt buttons left undone at his collar. A simple pin on his lapel was the only adornment.
“You look nice.”
He crowded her back and pinned her against the sink with his hips. There was a fierceness to his eyes, the set of his mouth, that spoke of intent. She reached for him, wrapping her arms around his neck and meeting him halfway. He took her mouth in a rough kiss, gripping her ass and leaning into her.
“Fuck, I only have a minute,” he gasped against her cheek.
She continued to cling to him. Her legs seemed to have turned to jelly. “Uh-huh.”
“How is everything?” He smoothed his hands over her sides, down her hips and to her thighs.
“Good.”
He hiked up her skirt and smoothed his hands over her legs, his thumbs skimming the lace of her panties. The ones she’d bought Sunday after realizing he’d already seen every good pair she owned.
“I only have a minute.”
She pried her hands from his shoulders and gripped the edge of the counter. They had important things to do that did not have to do with her pussy. “You already said that.”
Daniel tugged her panties down and let them fall to her knees. “Sit on the counter.”
Her heart rate kicked up and her world narrowed to Daniel. She sat on the edge of the sink. “You said you don’t have time for this.”
He dropped to his knees and removed her panties, shoving them in his pocket. “I never said I didn’t have time for this. I just said I only have a minute. How fast can I make you wet?”
She declined to answer that. Instead she shifted her legs open wide to accommodate his shoulders. He thrust his fingers into her pussy, flicked his thumb over her clit and grinned up at her.
“Someone’s a very naughty girl,” he purred.
“Do you want me to apologize?” she managed to get out without gasping as he continued to pump her.
“No, I like that you’re my naughty girl. You do have to be quiet. If you make a sound, I’ll stop and you won’t be allowed to come until after everyone has left.”
He curled his fingers and hit her G-spot. Bursts of color lit against the backdrop of her eyelids.
“Mm, yes Sir.”
“You have to watch me.”
She pried open her eyelids and watched as he bent over her. Her ass was half in the sink, the medicine cabinet hit her shoulders. She noticed odd details in those seconds, the matching towels, the reed diffuser and her purse now on the floor. The moment Daniel’s lips touched her, everything else ceased to exist.
He thrust another finger into her sheath and used his tongue on the sensitive nub. She gasped and bit down on her lip to keep from crying out at the rough way he touched her. Her heels hit the wooden doors below the sink as her muscles jumped. Her nipples pulsed, aching for attention.
She rocked her hips, seeking that added bit of sensation, a little more friction, and he gave it, grazing her nubbin with his teeth. Her muscles fluttered and her toes curled. She bit down on her lip harder as release ripped through her body. Her back arched and her head hit the glass. She closed her eyes, overwhelmed by the pleasure bouncing along her synapses. She was vaguely aware of Daniel smoothing her skirt down over her knees and his breath fanning her cheek.
“Good girl.”
Her eyes fluttered open to Daniel’s face filling her vision. Some of the tension was gone. The glint in his gaze spoke more of mischief than ferocity, not that she’d minded that much. She mustered a smile and lifted her hands to caress his chest and down to his abs.
“No time.” He caught her hands against his stomach and pressed a kiss to her lips.
“But you’re the one who needs to relax.”
“I’ll use your mouth later.” There was a dark promise in his voice and she liked it.
He helped her to stand and retrieved her purse from where it had fallen.
“Can I have my underwear back now?” She accepted the purse and held her hand out.
Daniel grinned and cupped her ass. “Not a chance.”
He kissed her protest away and left her, purse in hand, alone. She stared at the door. Was he serious? This had to be a joke. Seconds ticked by and he didn’t poke his head back in the door.
He was serious! He wanted her to pretend to be a fancy, fashionable socialite with no panties?
She hurriedly powdered her nose and slicked on a little gloss to hide the teeth marks, but it only accentuated her swollen lips.
Exiting the bathroom, she kept her back to the wall and smoothed her skirt down. Could everyone tell what they’d just done?
The bartenders didn’t bat an eyelash in her direction and across the room the models stood in a group around the TV, watching highlights from some reality show. No one glanced at her or gave her the stink eye.
Gathering her nerves, she strode across the room, her skirt fluttering over her bottom. Heat rose from her neck, nearly strangling her with the intensity. Still, she managed to slip into the bedroom, partitioned off with a screen, and stow her purse under the bed.
If possible, she would have liked to have hidden there all night, but she’d promised Daniel she would play hostess. Still, she took a moment to close her eyes and find a bit of inner calm.
“Just answer the door, smile and chat with people,” she muttered under her breath. She tried not to fidget with her dress, mindful that the more she played with it the more likely it was that someone would notice her lack of panties.
Somewhat prepared, she stepped out into the loft and gathered her clipboard before it was cleared off by the wait staff. The whole event was a little overwhelming to just be tossed in the deep end and expected to swim laps. She didn’t regret her choice to help, but she wished she had a better understanding of what was going on tonight. It sounded like a home trunk show of his jewelry, except much more upscale. Not that she minded doing what she could. Seeing what he made was exciting. But acting hostess for his party, being introduced to his clients and guests, was a huge leap into the relationship three-ring circus.
While she’d been in the bedroom a few people had arrived and were clustered around the bar, chatting with one another. Daniel strode past, his forehead marred with lines and muttering to himself. He headed for the stairs and took them two at a time. Without him, she felt adrift. She clung to the clipboard as if it were a safety blanket and took up a post near the entrance. When the doorbell rang she started before remembering why she was there.
Snatching the door open, she pasted on a smile. She was helping Daniel.
“Welcome—”
“Christine, hi!”
She grunted as Bianca walked into her, embracing her tightly. Clay stood back, an amused smile on his face.
“Christine, nice to see you again,” he said when his wife released her, and extended his hand. He looked vastly different with clothes on. Or more of them. Instead of the leather pants and collar, he wore a charcoal suit, white shirt and gray-and-pink-striped tie. If she hadn’t met him at the club first, she’d never have imagined him a submissive.
“Hi. It’s nice to see you too.” And it was. She might not know Daniel’s friends, but she liked what little she knew of them.
“How’s it going?” Bianca turned to survey the room, looking every inch as though she belonged. Heels boosted her up to an average height, while a gray silk dress molded to her body in a sensual way. “Where’s Daniel?”
“It’s going good, I think. And he’s upstairs. Something about something not being something.” She let out a nervous chuckle. “Really, I have no idea. I’m just the greeter.”