A woman’s scream from outside the door chilled his blood. He knew that voice.
“Put me down!” Liz shrieked as he made it out onto the sidewalk.
“Kane, down. Now,” he ordered.
Without hesitation, the bouncer put Liz on her feet, and for a second, she looked as if she might attack the guy who outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds. What the
hell
was she doing here?
Chase gazed from her to the bouncers and back again.
“Sorry, boss. She tried rushing the door,” Aaron said.
“Told us she wanted to talk to you,” Kane added. The twins had a weird habit of finishing each other’s sentences.
“We told her she couldn’t come in unless accompanied by a member,” Aaron said.
“Right. I’ll take it from here,” Chase said. The bouncers returned to their spots beside the double doors.
He looked down at Liz in time for her to grab a handful of his hair with her free hand and yank his head down to hers. She fused her lips against his, and he practically growled at the sweet taste of her. She swiped her tongue along his lips, and he opened to her. She kissed him senseless and then pulled her head back.
“What the hell, woman?”
Chase had barely enough sense to move them away from prying eyes. He yanked Liz into the alley and slammed her against the wall, shoving his knee between her legs and lifting her to his height. His blood had gone from ice to lava in the span of thirty seconds.
Liz panted, licking her moist lips. She easily broke the hold he had on her wrist and wrapped her other arm around his neck. “They wouldn’t let me in,” she said breathlessly.
He hiked up the edges of her too-long dress, along her silk stockings, until he reached the scorching flesh of her upper thighs. God, was she wearing a garter belt? He could feel the silk of the straps on the outer edges of her legs. “And you want in?” he demanded.
“Yes,” she moaned.
“I can’t take you in there looking like a preschool teacher. Where’s the leather-clad erotica writer I met two weeks ago?”
“Give me five minutes,” she said, releasing her hold on his neck.
“You have thirty seconds. I have to get back upstairs. And you’re coming with me.” He left no room for argument or discussion. The hickey didn’t matter. The logic he’d been reviewing the past twenty-four hours about why getting involved with her was such a bad idea didn’t matter. She was here, needy and insistent. And he couldn’t resist her again.
She nodded and started to pull the dress up. He glanced around. No one was paying them any attention. When he returned his attention to Liz, he forgot to breathe. She was shaking out her hair, biting her lips, and wearing a black lace bra-and-panty set, complete with a full garter belt and sexy-as-hell stockings. Damn. She’d been hiding that body under such a sweet little dress.
He almost came in his pants for the second time that night. She dropped the dress on the ground and pushed her breasts up higher.
“Will this do?” When she looked up and caught his stare, a pink blush started coloring her whole body. “Uh, Chase?”
He grabbed her to him. “Stay close, and keep your mouth shut,” he ordered, not caring that he sounded like a brute. He pulled her under the protection of his arm. With her wearing this, everyone would notice her. And he had to make it clear from second one that she was his. Off-limits. He’d have put something on her neck as a collar if he’d had a necklace with him. To make sure everyone knew she was taken. His mark on her neck would have to do. But as they stepped from the shadows of the alley and into the lights outside the club, he realized the mark was gone. He tried not to feel disappointed.
She lifted her hand to her neck, covering where his mark should have been, and looked down at herself. “I don’t know if I can do this.” She started moving away from him, back into the darkness of the alley.
“Oh, no, you don’t. No running away this time. I’m bringing you in there if I have to carry you over my shoulder kicking and screaming.”
Her eyes narrowed, but not before he caught the glint of desire there. She might hate it, but the thought of him carrying her off caveman-style turned her on.
“I’m sorry about your face,” she said. “I was pissed.”
“Justifiably so. I didn’t have the right to do that to you. Though it seems to have faded.”
“It’s makeup,” she said, rubbing her neck.
He dipped his thumb into his mouth and wiped away the concealer. “Good.”
She glared at him.
“Sorry. But it’ll help.”
“With what?”
“Making sure every Dom in that club knows you’re not up for grabs. Now let’s go.” He held tightly to her shoulder and steered her toward the door. Kane and Aaron raised their eyebrows but wisely said nothing.
He opened the door and led Liz inside. As expected, several eyes turned their way. And then the whispers started. It had been a long time since he’d walked in here with a woman on his arm. Silently, Liz let him lead her to the door marked HEAVEN, and he held it open for her.
“After you,” he said.
“What a gentleman,” she muttered. He could tell she was nervous. Her body language said she might bolt at any second.
Placing his hand at the small of her back, he leaned down to whisper, “If you run, I’ll chase you. And just think of what I’ll do to you once I catch you.” He licked her earlobe, and her mouth opened in a pant. After a gentle push toward the stairs, she started up, and he watched, mesmerized as her lace-clad ass swayed before his face. He resisted the urge to bend forward and take a nip. Barely. As she moved, the tattoo on her back rippled. A beautiful branch of a cherry tree wound from her left hip up to her right shoulder. He could picture himself licking every inch of ink until she was writhing in surrender.
When they reached the upper level, he took her hand and led her to the door where he’d left Lorenzo. Spike was just about to open the door when he saw Chase, and he bowed his head slightly and backed away.
“Thanks, guys,” Chase said. Lorenzo and Spike left without comment, but not before thoroughly checking out Liz. She seemed to shrink into herself beside him, and he blocked part of her body with his own until the other men were out of sight. She wasn’t comfortable in her skin at all. But that was a problem for later. “I was, um, well, kind of in the middle of something when you showed up. A friend of mine’s inside. On the bench.”
Liz’s eyes widened. “Oh.” She retreated further, crossing her arms in a defensive maneuver that made her breasts look fuller. He forced his gaze back to her face, but damn, it was hard.
“I’m sure she won’t mind if you come and watch. It’ll be good research. Don’t you think? You know, for your book?”
He didn’t know what had driven Liz to his club tonight, why she’d kissed him or agreed to come in, putting herself on display in a way she clearly wasn’t comfortable with. But he was going to push her further out of her comfort zone and see what happened. She was biting that bottom lip of hers, and he was having a hard time focusing. After a second, she nodded, and he opened the door behind him. Liz’s eyes went as big as saucers, and her face turned scarlet.
“You’re really sexy when you blush, did you know that?” he said as he backed into the room. Keeping his gaze locked on hers, he willed Liz to follow him. She did, and he shut the door behind them.
Liz froze, her gaze on Amber, all coiled tension waiting for him on the bench. “Oh, God. I shouldn’t be here.”
Chase glanced at Amber, not pleased to have such a private discussion in front of her, but he couldn’t leave her like this, and he certainly couldn’t let Liz go roaming the club without him. Besides, he
wanted
her here. Needed to show her how amazing it could be to submit herself to his will. If he could show her that he could be trusted not to hurt her, maybe she could let go of some of her control.
A wild look shone in her eyes, and he held up a hand for her to wait a second and went over to Amber, running his hand along the length of her body until he reached her head. She shivered beneath his touch, quaking. She wouldn’t take long at all to finish off.
“How are we feeling?” he asked, his voice dropping an octave.
“Good, Sir,” Amber said breathlessly.
“Wonderful. I brought a friend to watch.”
“Mmm,” was all Amber said in return.
“See?” he said, turning to Liz. “She doesn’t mind at all.”
Liz was crowded against the wall, as far from him and the scene as she could get while still in the room. Surprisingly, she hadn’t gone for the door. Yet.
“I’ll wait outside,” she mumbled with no conviction. Her gaze kept darting between him and Amber’s exposed, pinkened backside. The vibrator still peeked out from Amber’s folds as it hummed softly.
“I can’t leave you alone in the club. Not a good idea.” Everyone would be hitting on her. All she would have to do was refuse, and people would back off. But he couldn’t take the chance that she didn’t know that. Or that she would feel threatened. She’d come here with him tonight, kissed him until his toes curled, stripped in an alleyway, and walked in on his arm. That meant she was his, at least for one night. And he wasn’t going to let go of her that easily.
“Fine, then I’ll go home.”
She turned as if she might really leave him, and his hand shot out to capture her wrist. “Liz, wait.”
She turned back to him. “I…can’t.”
“You can.” He made it a fact, a statement that she couldn’t deny, but still she didn’t acquiesce. “Am I going to have to tie you up too?” he asked.
She stiffened, trying to wrench her arm away.
“Shit, shit.” He let go. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. That was a really bad joke. Give me a second to bring Spike back in here, and then we can go.”
“No. Don’t. Finish what you started. That’s not very fair to your, um…” Her voice trailed off.
“Amber,” said the woman from the bench.
“Right. Not fair to Amber. I shouldn’t have come here.”
She turned away from him again, and he crowded her against the wall, caging her body in with his arms and dipping his head to the back of her neck, where the smallest of the cherry blossoms lay. “Stay,” he said, not caring that he was begging. He placed a kiss on the flower, and she shivered. “Please?”
She moaned but quickly snapped her mouth shut. God, why did she fight so hard against her desires?
After a moment, she nodded, and he turned her around and lifted her chin until her gaze collided with his. Her pupils were dilated, her eyes wide, and that gorgeous pink blush still suffused her skin.
With a gleeful smile and a parting caress, Chase strolled back to the end of the bench. He held his finger to his lips, and Liz dipped her head, standing near the wall of the room. She was going to watch him work. His balls constricted. Good thing Amber wouldn’t last long, because neither would he.
Chapter Nine
Oh, God, oh, God! What had she been thinking? She was standing here practically naked and watching as he—
Thwack.
Chase’s hand landed hard on the woman’s backside, and Liz clamped her mouth shut against a squeal. She shouldn’t be here for this. It was a private, intimate moment, and it should disgust her.
But she felt the answering rush of heat from within every time Chase’s hand made contact and Amber moaned. He turned the edge of the vibrator peeking out from Amber’s exposed labia. They were bare, bright pink, and in full view. She’d never wanted to be that up close and personal with another lady’s…lady bits.
Her whole body was hot, and she was sure if there was a mirror close by, she would be lobster red from head to toe. The buzz of the vibrator mixed with the rhythmic slaps of Chase’s hand, bringing a tingle to Liz’s nipples.
“Please,” Amber begged.
Chase massaged the backs of her legs, and Amber cried out. Liz should have closed her eyes, refused to watch, or left the room already. What kind of reckless ninny was she?
“Now,” he commanded in a voice that made Liz’s body flame hotter. He brought his hand down in one final hard smack, and Amber screamed, her body bucking and writhing against the restraints of the spanking bench. Liz leaned against the wall for support, her legs unable to hold her body weight as that sound of raw pleasure echoed through the room.
Her head felt fuzzy, her body hyperaware, as if with the slightest touch, she too would shatter into pieces. The wails continued as Chase rubbed Amber’s ass, her back, the tips of her folds. Watching him touch another woman should make her feel something other than abject desire. Pressure built between her legs, and she knew she had to get out of here soon. This was too much.
Her body was begging to be the one Chase stroked. She could so easily picture herself on that bench, beneath his talented touch. Would she like being spanked? She didn’t think so. Yesterday, that answer would have been a definite
no
, but now, after watching him bring another woman to orgasm by slapping her ass with his open palm, a strange tingle inside made Liz wonder. She couldn’t look away as Chase slipped the vibrator from Amber’s sheath.
The woman couldn’t
still
be orgasming, could she? The high keening sound now coming from her told Liz
yes
, she could and was still coming. Liz’s nipples were tight, her panties distinctly wet. She was so hot and bothered that she could die of embarrassment. She’d run without thinking into situations before, but nothing like this.
Chase bent over the bench, and Liz couldn’t help but relish the way his snug leather pants showed off his ass. She bit her lip, trying to rein in her crazy hormones. She’d never reacted to a guy this way, and she’d definitely never been so turned on by watching a couple together. And Chase was mostly clothed. He was undoing the leather straps from Amber’s wrists, and Liz could almost feel that soft leather against her skin again.
A flashed image of her on that bench, her ass high in the air, pink from his touch, had her gripping the wall. A moan escaped before she could help it, and Amber and Chase turned to her.
“I think maybe she enjoyed the show,” Amber said, her voice hoarse from all the screaming. Chase grinned but then returned his attention to Amber, helping her to shaky feet. She swayed into him, and he wrapped an arm affectionately around her body. A lick of some dark part inside Liz told her she should rip that other woman from his arms, but she quickly tamped it down.