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“I do, sir.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nine’s shirt and tie land on a chair at the edge of the black curtains that sectioned off our area.
About to get real, I thought, and then Nine hit his stride, and the rhythm of the whip sailing through the air and then painting my skin with the most exquisite warmth coupled with the ropes, transported my mind to a place of silence, where there were no worries and no regrets. There was justnow, and now was spectacular.
My eyes drifted shut, and all that was left was Nine’s rhythm and the ebb and flow of breath in my lungs. There was no room for anything else. My focus narrowed to the moment, and for a split second, my mind seemed to leave my body, and when my knees buckled, Nine was there to catch me and lift me off the hook.
Nine carried me to the loveseat near the edge of our play area, and as soon as he set me down, he started removing ropes, rubbing circulation back into my skin as he went.
“If we were at my club, this part would go differently. More time, more thorough.”
Head lolled against the back of the seat and eyes still closed, I grinned, “It’s okay. I’ll give you a pass on this one.”
“Just want you to know, I’m better than this,” Nine said.
I cracked my eyelids to see him shaking his head. This really bothered him.
“Hey,” I said, reaching out to touch his arm.
He looked up without stopping the motions of his hands.
“It’s okay. Kind of different circumstances, you know?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “But still.”
Nine glanced over his shoulder and then back at me. “Crowd’s moving on.”
I canted my eyes that way, “Yeah, moving on to greener pastures.”
“Did you watch them?” Nine asked, helping to my feet and leading me to my shoes.
He lifted the cape to my shoulders, and an envelope fell out of the folds.
“Not really. Hard to keep my eyes open,” I admitted.
Nine passed the envelope to me and then started on his own clothes, leaving the shirt unbuttoned and his tie thrown over his shoulder. He extended an arm to me and carried his jacket in the other hand.
“Good,” Nine said. “Don’t open that until we’re in the car.”
We made our way out the front doors of the mansion without incident, and once Nine settled me in the car and we started home, I opened the envelope.
I held it up so that Nine could see it in the light from the street lamps. “It’s an invitation. VeryCount of Monte Cristo.”
“To what and where?”
“A white tie event in Atlanta. From Freemont himself.”
“That’s it,” Nine said.
I dropped the invitation to my lap and sighed, “So what was that whole thing we just went through?”
Nine cut his eyes my way, “An audition.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Mermaids and Sharks
Gate
