He straightens, gaining an extra inch or so.Six foot three. Four, maybe.“No.”
His instant response makes me want to smile, but instead I pout and say, “You don’t get to choose.”
Something serious darts across the mellow brown of his irises. “It’s me or no one.” His voice is gruff, but the warm hand he slides around my lower back is gentle. I feel dizzy with his proximity, barely able to catch my breath as he pulls me close. I melt into him; his heat, his strength. I knew I picked him for a good reason.“What’s it going to be?”
There isn’t a beat of hesitation before I whisper, “You.”
5
RAFE
She folds into my arms like a dream, as if I’m the only man she’s ever wanted. It’s an illusion, and I know it damn well, but tonight, I’ll let her work her magic. Let her fool me with her charms. God knows how many other men have fallen for them before me.
I don’t care to think about that.
Tonight, this nameless blonde with the laugh that sets my heart alight is mine.All mine.
My hand rests on her jaw, and her eyes are bright, a curiously golden brown beneath the mask. I probably shouldn’t be gazing at her like she’s a walking miracle if this is just a quick fuck. One random night.
I don’t do this—never do this—but for some reason, I’m going to do it for her. If she hadn’t walked into Delirium moments before us, I would likely have had a drink at the bar and quietly made my way home when Henry and Julian were distracted enough not to notice.
Her breath against my lips makes them tingle in a way I can’t recall having happened since I was a teenager. I could stay heredoing nothing but breathing in her exhales, trapped in some transcendent bubble.
It’s fucking weird, so I snap out of it and just… kiss her.
It starts slow, lips soft, but when I slip my tongue inside her mouth, she rallies, and each swipe of her tongue against mine lights a fire in my veins. I kiss her with a fervour I can’t control, swallowing the taste of her. Mint mixed with something far sweeter. Chocolate, perhaps.
Before tonight, I hadn’t kissed a woman in far too long, but it’s not abstinence that makes this kiss so heady, it’ssomething else. She tangles her fingers in my hair, tugging the strands at the back, which has my dick twitching in my pants.
Her mask grazes my cheek. I thought taking mine off might incentivise her to do the same, but she’s determined to keep it on for a reason I can’t fathom. Maybe sheisfamous and didn’t want to tell me, or maybe she has something to hide.
I wouldn’t care if she did. I’m already invested. Too far gone to stop.
My fingers trace the hem of her dress, and she puts her hand over mine, guiding my touch further up. There is no elastic, no lace trim at her hip. She’s fuckingbareunderneath. I break away, my breathing heavy.
“You want to do this here?” I ask, glancing around the large room, taking in naked dancers and people fucking out in the open, either in couples or groups. No one appears to be paying us any attention. The lighting is sensual, the glow of the side lights almost pink, like the last hint of a sunset.
Wecoulddo it here, but I’m already out of my comfort zone: the anonymity, the mask, the fact she won’t tell me her name. It’s a lot for a guy who’s never had a one night stand.
“It’s a sex club,” she purrs. “We can do anything here, but if you prefer a private room, they’re through there.” She nods her head towards another door.
“A room,” I confirm, and she takes my hand and leads me through the den, as it’s apparently known. Members move about in various states of undress, and we pass a woman on her knees, deep-throating a man in a waistcoat who’s holding a pocket watch like he’s timing her efforts.
But, in spite of everything happening around me, all I can think about is undressing the woman in front of me, whose hand still clasps mine. Her touch is an electrical charge, and I squeeze her fingers. She grants me a glance over her shoulder, mouth curving into the most beguiling smile I’ve ever seen.
A man like me has no place here. I don’t do casual. I’m not sure I can.
But fuck it, I’ll try it tonight.
A moment later, she swipes her card on a door. It clicks open, and we enter a luxurious bedroom decorated with dark walls and perfectly made black satin sheets on the bed. Handcuffs are linked by chains to the bedposts—something for later, perhaps. Several of the walls are mirrored, creating the impression of many more of us disappearing into the distance wherever I look. The blonde stops in the middle of the room, her masked face lit by the golden light spilling from the designer wall-lights around the room. She’s impossibly beautiful, even with the mask, like a piece of art in a high-end gallery, reflected from every angle. I’ve never seen a mouth so perfectly formed, a cupid’s bow so distinct that I want to run my finger into the dip to check it’s real. I want to part those lips and slide my thumb inside. Or better yet, my dick.
Her breasts rise and fall with each trembling breath. She might have looked confident earlier, but there’s a hesitancy about her now, as if she expects me to change my mind and leave her here alone.
I step closer until I’m only inches away, the two of us held in a moment that feels far too intimate for what we’ve agreed to do. For what I’ve all but promised her.
Anonymous sex.
I cup her jaw and run a thumb across her cheekbone. She turns her head, meeting my palm with her lips and pressing a soft kiss against it. She’s a perfect creature, and the way her head tips is almost feline as she nuzzles into my hand. Her softness, her curated femininity with the hair and the nails and painted lips, the dark lashes beneath her mask. All of it causes an urge to rouse within me, stronger than I’ve ever felt, to take and claim and grip her harder.
