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He stays quiet for a moment, but then he trails his finger over my cheekbone, leaving sparks in its wake.
“You drive a hard bargain. So I’ll promise you this. As long as we’re playing together, I won’t play with anyone else.”
“And by play you mean…”
“Kiss. Touch. Have sex. Fuck. You will be my only playmate, Francesca. Until you say otherwise.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The Phantom
I can’t believe those words just came from my mouth.
My cock is so hard, so straining, to the point that I don’t think I can make it to the club. I want to find a secluded area in the hallway and take Francesca up against the wall.
This woman—Francesca—who has no interest in being my angel of music, just made me promise something I’ve never promised another woman, at least not recently.
Emotion is roiling through me. Emotion I’m not used to. I like to concentrate on the physical for both of us.
I draw the line at emotion.
But my God…
I’m feeling something for this woman.
She says she doesn’t even know me, but do I know her any better? I know her name. I know what she does for a living. But that’s all. I don’t know anything else about her. Where she went to school. What she likes to do in her spare time. Her family.
I want to know these things.
I want to take my mask off with her. Let her see who I truly am.
I want to give up the fantasy for reality.
We could still have fun. We could still go to the club. We could still have any kind of physical intimacy that we both agreed to.
But we could also have more.
For the first time in a long time…I consider what having more could mean.
And I like the idea.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Frankie
I have no reason to trust that he’s telling me the truth. I know next to nothing about him.
But the sincerity in his voice is unmistakable.
He’s willing to play only with me for as long as we play together.
It’s far from a relationship, but do I want a relationship with someone I don’t even know?
Whose face I’ve never seen?
All I do know is that I’ve felt more in the short time we had together at the club than I ever felt with Penn or anyone else.
I want to feel it again.
And again.
I want him to show me what he desires, and I want to be the person who can fulfill those desires.
“All right,” I say. “Let’s go.”
“Now?”
“Why not? You’re here. I’m here. The club is here…somewhere.”
“What about our date tomorrow night?”
“I suppose if you want to wait, I can wait,” I say.
“Sometimes,” he says, “anticipation makes things better.”
“I’ve been anticipating for a week.”
“Have you?”
“But I suppose I should be honest with you about something.”
“By all means.”
“Although…why should I be? You’re hardly honest with me.”
“You need to do what you feel is right,” he says. “As do I.”
“All right,” I say. “I’ll tell you this because I would want to know it if I were you. I went on a date tonight with another man.”
His jaw goes rigid. “Oh?”
“But I’m not with him now, as you can see. Somehow I ended up here.”
“So you didn’t sleep with him.”
“If I had, I’d probably still be there.”
“Indeed. Why didn’t you?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I can’t get you off my mind. You, who won’t tell me your name, who won’t let me see your face.” I caress the stubble on the unmasked side of his face. “Why do you have this enigmatic hold over me? I can’t figure it out.”
“Perhaps it’s because I won’t tell you who I am. Perhaps it’s because you can’t see my face.”
He raises a good point. I smile. “There’s one way to find out. Tell me who you are. Show me your face. Then I’ll know if I’m still as intrigued by you as I am now.”
He pauses a moment. Then, “Would it surprise you to know that I actually do want to show you who I am?”
I lift my eyebrows. “As a matter of fact, yes, that surprises me. Clearly you’ve been Phantom for a long time around here.”
“I have, because it works for me. At least it has up to this point.”
I gasp with hope. “So you’ll show me your face? You’ll tell me your name?”
He chuckles, and that sexy and raspy voice of his makes me shiver.
“Not quite so fast, Francesca.”
I smile. “I noticed you stopped calling me Angel. But I still prefer Frankie.”
“I’m doing what you asked me to do. I’m calling you by your name.”
“And I’d like to do the same for you.”
“Perhaps in time.”
“I saw a few other people in the club who wore masks,” I say. “But very few, actually. Most people go in there showing the world who they are. Why don’t you?”
“I’ve told you. I like the fantasy.”
“Is this fantasy for you? Or for your partners?”
