I roll my eyes and turn back toward Adam. “It wasn’t exactly part of the plan,” I say.
She laughs and looks at Adam with a shake of her head.
“Well, it seems to have worked.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Brett left town. He keeps saying he’s coming back, but I doubt it. And our VIP membership is down by fifty percent.
Every prominent member who felt safe keeping their dirty secrets here has left, which, if you ask me, is good.”
“Even my father?” Adam adds in.
“Oh yeah,” she replies, “I haven’t seen him around in months. The last thing he needs is to get caught here after what you’ve pulled.”
“So…” I say. “Are you going to let us in?”
“Sneaking around now? Last time you were trying to get attention. What changed?”
Adam and I glance at each other, but neither of us answers that question. She doesn’t need to know that we are what changed. Instead of pressing us for an answer, she smiles and opens the door wider to let us walk in.
“The Blue Room is open,” she says as we slowly pass her by. “Unless…the Black Room is what you’re looking for.
That’s open too.”
“Thank you,” I mutter as I take Adam’s hand in mine, leading him straight to the back stairwell and directly down the hall where the Black Room looms at the end.
Thirty-Five
Adam
E verything that exists behind the door labeled “Black Room” reeks of both salvation and ruin. The moment Sage opens the door, I feel everything inside me suddenly at war.
The things I want battling the things I know I shouldn’t have.
The man who wanted to be a hero against the man who knows heroes don’t truly exist—not like that. Not the way my father trained me.
The excitement of uncovering this new side of myself at war with the fear that I won’t ever become the good man I sought to be.
The terror of losing myself in unlearning the indoctrination I’ve been brainwashed to believe.
And the strongest battle of them all—this unyielding and intoxicating lust-fueled desire to dominate her against the shame of being a monster if I do.
I’m pretty sure I know which side is going to win.
Sage squeezes my hand as we walk inside. I try to focus on her because looking around the room is getting to my head at the moment. As she locks the dead bolt on the door, she keeps her eyes on me, and I force myself to breathe.
My cock is already throbbing in my pants, and I’m dying to touch her and relieve this ache inside me. Before she can say a word, I pull her into my arms, lifting her from the floor until she wraps her legs around me.
“I want you to take the lead,” she whispers against my lips.
Her eyes are still focused on mine as if we’re shutting out everything else. Until we’re ready to acknowledge them.
I drop her onto the elevated bed, leaning over to kiss her.
When we pull away from the heated exchange, she looks at me again. “I’m yours, Adam. You can do whatever you want to me, and if I need you to stop, I’ll say red, okay?”
“Red. Got it.”
Then she strokes my face as she gazes into my eyes, and it’s like she can see everything happening inside my mind.
Like she’s staring right into the battle that’s taking place there.
As she touches my cheek, she whispers, “It’s safe here.”
I let my eyes close, kissing her again. All I feel at this moment is relief and immense appreciation. How this woman seems to always know how to comfort me and bring me peace is either a sign that she’s simply perfect or simply perfect for me.
Do I bring her the same feeling? The last time I cared so much for another person’s well-being, I fucked it up. I don’t intend to do that again.
Sage needs me to protect her, keep her, own her. So that’s what I’ll do.
“Lie down,” I say in a low, assertive command.
Letting out a sigh, she releases her hold of my neck and lets her legs fall from around my hips. Then, she does as I say and reclines on the bed, staring up at me for her next instruction.
As I stand up and stare at her laid out before me, I let all the noise in my head silence. I’m not thinking about shame or fear. I’m focused only on her and how exquisite she looks.
In her thin cotton sundress, I run my fingers along the length of her bare thighs, lifting the fabric to reach her blue lace panties hiding beneath. Then I take my time, slipping off each of her shoes and drawing my touch all the way back up to her dress, lifting it up until it exposes her petite, perky breasts.
She shudders as I run my thumb over the hard bud on the right side. I love seeing Sage like this. Like she’s mine. She is perfect and beautiful and sexy, and she belongs to me. Not because I’ve taken her but because she’s offered herself up to me. Because she sees me as worthy of that.
Because I am worthy.
“Come here,” I say. So she sits back up and lets me pull her dress all the way over her head. Then I press her back down as I drag her panties down her legs. She’s lying naked in front of me, and it feels like I have the whole world in my hands.
I continue to play with her, teasing her with my touch until she’s practically writhing on the bed. My fingers cascade up her legs, tempting her to move but demanding she stay still. I want to cherish every perfect inch of her body before I wreck her. Because when I’m done here, I won’t be as gentle.
When she lets out a whine from my fingers sliding through her folds, I pull away. She’s fidgeting on the bed as I undo each of the buttons on my shirt. After I slip it off and hang it over the chair in the corner, I take a look around the room.
There are so many different kinds of restraints displayed—
cuffs, rope, gags, but when my eyes land on a long black bar with two leather straps on either side, I take it. Then I decide on the two black ribbons hanging from a hook on the wall.
Her eyes are settled on mine as I instruct her to hold her wrists out for me. While I tie her two hands together with one, she keeps her gaze settled on my face, the look of lust growing stronger with each second. As if the more and more she becomes restrained for me, the more aroused she gets.
Wrapping the other ribbon around her eyes, I watch her lips part as I take away her ability to see.
Then, I pick up the long metal pole, and I slip one of her ankles into the cuff, clipping it with ease. She shudders with anticipation.
“You said you want to be my fuck toy, didn’t you?”
She nods, biting her lip.
I move to the other ankle, drawing it out wide until her legs are spread for me. As I click the other one in, I give her a wicked grin she can’t see. “Because you’re a filthy little slut, aren’t you?”
She writhes a little, adjusting to the bar. “Yes,” she murmurs, and something inside me stirs at the sound of that.
She lets out a loud, frightened yelp as I yank on the bar, dragging her to the edge of the bed. Then, I grind my cock against her as I mutter, “You’re my filthy little slut.”
Humming with need as she tries to twist and writhe against me, searching for friction, I hold the bar in my hand, her legs high in the air.
“Say it again, Peaches. Tell me what you are.”