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My mouth went dry as he stopped a couple of steps in front of me. Even with the heels on, he still dwarfed me.
“You look stunning, Ravena,” he said, his gravelly voice making me shiver.
I loved the way he said my name, as if he tasted and savored every syllable while picturing it was me rolling over his tongue. Although I didn’t sleep around, I wasn’t prudish and had no qualms taking my pleasure when and with whom I saw fit when the fancy struck me. But until today, never had I burned so fiercely for a man. Had Anton and Grace not been present, I’d already have torn Ravik’s clothes off.
“Thank you,” I said with a teasing smile. “I’m glad you approve.”
He snorted. “I most certainly do.”
“Let us be on our way,” Anton said, leading his wife to the elevator, his hand resting on her hip.
Ravik gestured for me to proceed before shadowing me. The lift chimed seconds before the door opened. We entered, Ravik filling up the space, the top of his head almost touching the elevator’s ceiling. He stood close enough for me to feel the warmth of his body. I wanted to lean against him and feel his hands on my bare skin. The elevator came to a stop, its door opening. As if he’d heard my unspoken wish, Ravik placed his callused palm on the naked small of my back to give me a gentle nudge to exit the cabin. A bolt of lust exploded in the pit of my stomach, and my nipples pebbled.
His thumb gently caressed my skin before he removed his hand, leaving me feeling bereft and needy. Exiting after us, Anton and Grace quickly took the lead. Two massive Braxians awaited us at the entrance; Ravik’s security detail. I couldn’t imagine why in the world someone as fearsome and powerful as he would need them, but then again, he was the ruler of his planet.
It took us ten minutes to walk from the penthouse to Risqué. The walkways bustled with activity; many of the patrons making their way to their place of choice to have their meal—some casually strolling, while others hurried through the crowd. Despite a dominant number of humans, no doubt due to the large number of Terran colonies nearby, a wide variety of alien species commingled. While the dress code in public areas was fairly strict, masters were allowed to have theirpetson a leash. So far, all of the ones we’d encountered—but one—had been human pets.
Where patrons nodded respectfully in greeting upon seeing Anton, most of them cowered and made way for Ravik. My man was a behemoth. When one patron almost bumped into me, Ravik placed his hand on my hip to pull me to him.
To my delight, he didn’t remove it, even after the ‘danger’ had passed.
By the time we reached Risqué, his hand no longer rested on my hip but on the bare skin of my back. A bit of a hush fell over the crowded place upon our entrance. Many eyes widened and mouths slightly parted in shock as the patrons took in the giant by my side. Unlike Grace, I wasn’t an exhibitionist. Yet, the bewildered stares of the crowd lingering on Ravik’s possessive hand on my back did weirdly delicious things to me. I loved knowing that the mere sight of my man set such fear in them. ThatIwould be the one to tame that fearsome beast.
We reached Anton’s private booth, located on an elevated dais against the back wall in the center of the dining room. Circular in shape, it offered a perfect view of the stage and of the dance floor before it. There, a handful of couples swayed to the soft ballads played by a small orchestra. Grace and I slipped onto the seat covered in dark red leather, her from the left and me from the right, before our men took their places at our sides. I let my gaze roam over the room. The beige walls made it look immense, the color sharply contrasting with the shiny, dark brown, wooden floor. Wall lamps, propped at the top of pillars strategically placed so as not to obstruct the view of the stage, provided a soft, ambient light.
Considering the chic décor and refined clientele, the presence of more pets kneeling at their masters’ feet surprised me. The one closest to our table appeared to be a human male. However, a set of straight lines on his skin, above his collar, reminded me of gills. From a distance, I couldn’t tell whether he possessed webbed hands and feet to confirm my assumptions he was a human-Jalunian hybrid.
A pretty, blonde waitress in a second-skin of a white leather dress with matching blood red lipstick and high heels, came to ask what we wanted to drink. Her green eyes flicked a few times towards Ravik. I had to bite the inside of my cheeks as her expression alternated between fear and awe of his brutish face and massive, muscular arms. I realized then that Ravik’s guards had made themselves scarce, although I didn’t doubt for a minute that they lurked well within intervention range.
After the waitress left to fetch our drinks, we consulted the menu and finally settled for The Train, a degustation option with wine pairings in which we would receive samplers of every single item on the special menu until we begged for mercy. It offered well over one hundred specialty dishes from twenty-three different planets, and an extra forty dessert choices.
The evening proved quite delightful with the food being as exquisite as the company. Learning about Grace’s singing career, and all the work that goes on behind the scenes, fascinated me. Discovering more about Anton’s immense pleasure barge empire had my head spinning. Running Venus Hive alone seemed like an impossible undertaking. And yet, he had six more stations scattered throughout the Eastern Quadrant.
However, Ravik turned out to be the most pleasant surprise. Having witnessed the wonderful relationship of many couples who had experienced the Tuning, I hadn’t questioned Ravik being the perfect match for me, being my soulmate. But behind his rough, barbaric exterior, the Magnar hid a keen intelligence, an impressive breadth of knowledge in art, culture, and obviously politics, but best of all, an irreverent sense of humor like me. Except, in his case, he liked fucking with your mind and making you wonder if he was serious or not.
Grace gave up somewhere around dish sample number twenty-one. I plowed through an additional seven before yielding as well. The men chowed down on at least double that. Anton conceded first. Although Ravik stopped at the same time he did, I suspected he could have gone on much longer.
Nevertheless, appearing sated, he leaned back against the leather seat, and spread his right arm on the backrest behind me. While he didn’t touch me, the heat of his skin had me tingling and craving for greater contact.
Anton gently brushed Grace’s hair from her face before caressing it with his fingers. She turned her luminous, amber eyes towards him and smiled. He leaned forward and kissed her softly.
“Let’s dance,” he whispered to his mate.
She nodded. They excused themselves and slipped off the couch, Anton leading Grace by the hand. I envied the easy love and obvious devotion between them. Without going into details while she’d done my hair earlier, Grace had given me a glimpse of some of the hardships she and Anton had faced before finally finding happiness together. The haunted look on her face that I’d caught in her reflection in the mirror hinted at far more terrible times than she’d let on. While she clearly wanted Ravik to find the same kind of happiness, and also appeared to like the idea it might be with me, Grace had given me a clear warning that a difficult road awaited us ahead.
Anton pulled his wife into his embrace. She buried her face in the crook of his neck as they began to move to the music. His movements, incredibly fluid for someone so big and muscular, impressed me. I turned to face Ravik and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
“Aren’t you going to invite me to dance as well?” I asked.
“No,” Ravik said, his voice devoid of any emotion.
My brows shot up. “Seriously?”
He nodded.
“Why? Are you afraid to step on my toes?” I asked, taken aback.
Seeing how he appeared to want to devour me for dessert, I had expected him to jump at the opportunity to hold me close.
