Blush (9 page)

He hadn’t yet had cause to tell her how incredibly wealthy he was.

“Alex, really . . .” Maddy’s words trailed off under his gaze, and his eyes narrowed further. He wanted her to understand that this was nothing compared to everything that he wanted to lavish on her.

As if plucking the thought from his head, she swallowed whatever she was going to say and instead replied simply, “Thank you.”

Alex couldn’t help it. He grinned and guided her closer to the island. Pulling out one of the high bar stools for her, he clasped her around the waist and seated her gently, then reached for the bottle of wine that sat nearby, open to breathe.

She squinted at the label, wincing when she saw that it was the Mouton Rothschild again. “Just water, please.”

Alex couldn’t help but chuckle. Clearly the memory of her binge was all too fresh in her mind.

Still, he couldn’t complain. If she didn’t need a drink to relax around him, then she was trusting him a bit more.

“Just a taste?” Alex poured himself a glass and offered it to Maddy. Warily she nodded, her eyes widening when he kept his fingers clasped on the stem, entwining them with hers. Leaning in close, his breath misted over the skin of her cheek as he confided to her, “You’re the most fascinating woman I’ve ever met.”

•   •   •

S
urely it was just a line, though he seemed to be entirely sincere. Still, Maddy’s belly did a slow roll at the words and then again when, instead of relinquishing his control and handing her the glass to sip, he dipped his index finger into the swirls of red and painted the liquid over her lips.

She inhaled sharply and her tongue slid out to catch the drops. Maddy watched Alex’s eyes go dark as his stare followed the path of her tongue, and she could feel her skin turning red.

“That blush.”
This is it
, she thought. He was going to kiss her again. She wanted to undress him ever so slowly and explore the contours of his body. It was going to happen.

Instead he turned to the first of the plates that crowded the island.

“What is that?” It looked and smelled good, but Maddy had never been an adventurous eater.

“Bison meat loaf.” He filled a fork, then held it to her lips. She was ready to melt.

Alex Fraser is feeding me.

Even with her nervous stomach, she parted her lips to accept the bite. She chewed and swallowed—she was sure that it was delicious, but her senses were otherwise engaged.

“Good?”

“It’s lovely.” Maddy nodded her approval as the flavors burst over her tongue. Alex took a bite for himself, eating it off of the same fork. It was so intimate, and not at all what she’d expected from dinner with the business mogul—though she still wasn’t sure what, exactly, that was.

“You didn’t need to order so much, Alex.” As Maddy spoke, Alex laid the fork down on the wooden counter and pulled a new plate close. With his fingers, he lifted what appeared to be some kind of shellfish, swirling it through a thick, rich broth before lifting the new offering to Maddy’s lips.

“Open your mouth so you can try the mussels.” He ignored what she’d said. She wanted to please him, so she didn’t press, and again parted her lips. Something with an unfamiliar texture slid in. The taste was pleasant, but she didn’t like the rubbery feeling and made a face before she could stop herself, freezing immediately after, knowing she’d just been rude.

Instead of being agitated, Alex threw his head back and laughed, shoving the plate away at the same time. “I don’t much care for them either.” Leaning toward her, he brushed the residual broth from Maddy’s lips with his thumb. Before she could think it through, she nipped at it and he closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, they were dark and full of heat. “No more mussels. But you have to eat more.” He placed his hands on Maddy’s waist, squeezing briefly, and she shuddered.

“I’m not really hungry.” Not for food, at any rate. There were so many emotions pummeling her that Maddy wasn’t sure how much she’d actually be able to get down.

His expression stern, Alex continued to feed her, bites of tuna tartare, Brie en croute, crispy crab cakes, and deliciously spiced prawns. Between bites, he touched her casually here and there, a palm on her knee, a swipe over her mouth, lips whispering through her hair.

“Please.” She couldn’t do it. Not only was she unable to swallow any more, she was on fire, consumed by heat from his light touches.

“Are you full?”

“I couldn’t eat another bite.” Maddy nodded vigorously to support her response, and he again laughed, in a wonderful soft sound that tickled inside her ear. His lips trailed lightly from her ear across her cheek and down to her neck. His fingers tugged lightly on the chain of the locket that she always wore, and she froze, suddenly panicked.

“Picture of a former lover?” The surface of his voice was amused, but it was swirled through with something that sounded like jealousy. His fingers toyed with the clasp of the locket.

“No!” Maddy snatched the locket from his fingers and leapt backward, off the stool. Her heart rate was up and her breath came in short pants. Her body was reacting now more from anxiety than desire.

Alex looked angry, not, she thought, because he so badly wanted to see the picture, but because she was keeping something from him.

“No. I don’t show that to anyone.” With her heart pounding in her ears, she stared back at him, clutching the locket tightly in suddenly sweaty fists—but she wasn’t going to back down, not on this. This secret of hers was too precious, too fragile, to share with someone so new to her life.

The sensual haze that had wrapped them tightly together as they ate was broken. Maddy could see Alex drawing into himself, becoming once again the casino magnate, not the would-be lover.

“Well, even if you won’t share with me, I have something that I need to share with you.” His jaw was set, and if Maddy had to describe how he looked, she would have said apprehensive, or maybe resigned.

She couldn’t imagine what he could show her that could elicit either sentiment from him. He had already discovered more about her than she’d let anyone else know, and he was still there.

“All right.” What else was she going to say? He had been so sweet, had gone to so much trouble for her tonight. It had been a wonderful evening. She could hear him out, even if the dinner date had veered off of the sensual course that she had so anticipated.

“I know I’ve been hot and cold with you. It wasn’t because I wanted to.” Alex held out his hand; then, as if thinking better of it, he retracted it before Maddy could place her palm against his own. “There are things that . . . fulfill something in me, things that I very much want to do with you, but that I didn’t feel right introducing to someone so sweet and innocent.”

“I’m hardly an innocent.” But she supposed she could see where Alex had gotten that idea. Maddy felt a rock settle in her gut, weighted with a hefty dose of irritation. Still, despite the ominous tone that now permeated the air, Alex was still gentleman enough to usher her ahead of him.

With the slightest of touches to her waist, he guided her down yet another hallway. At the very end was a closed door. Pulling a plastic key card from his pocket, he slid it into the slot beneath the handle.

Holy crap.
He had a locked room in his home? What was on the other side? The bodies of every other woman who had been lured to the penthouse?

“You’ve shown me that you’re plenty strong enough to make the decision for yourself, Maddy. And I’ll do everything in my power to convince you to be with me, but I will also understand if you don’t want any part of this.” Maddy stepped backward, only to be met with the solid warmth of Alex’s body. She prepared to flee, but the heavy metal door swung open, and the sight beyond it shocked her still.

What have I gotten myself into?

•   •   •

T
he room that Maddy was standing in was a study in black and gray. Directly in front of her was what appeared to be a swing, suspended from the ceiling. Beyond it, against the wall, was a giant wooden X and something that looked like gymnastics equipment. Shelves on the wall displayed a variety of instruments that, unless she was very much mistaken, were whips and canes.

Startled by the sight in front of her, Maddy looked to the left, where she saw a massive wooden post, a coil of leather at its base. Right, and there was another set of shelving holding bars, handcuffs, and other things whose purpose she couldn’t even begin to guess.

The truth hit her like a freight train, and her knees buckled. What had she gotten herself into? Alex placed his hands at her waist, holding her up. She looked up at him, her feelings coalesced into a thick, unidentifiable miasma.

His face displayed no emotion—deliberately, she thought. “Do you have any questions?” This was business Alex, always stoic and in control.

Maddy looked around the room quickly, then squeezed her eyes shut. She wasn’t repulsed—no, not at all. Confused, yes, and a bit disoriented, but underneath it all was a heat that was spreading out slowly from the apex of her thighs, suffusing her skin with its warmth.

“What is this place?” She had already guessed—she knew what he was about to say. But she still wanted to hear it from him.

“This is my dungeon.” Alex still wasn’t expressing any emotion toward her—or was he? There was the slightest flicker in his eyes when Maddy looked up at him that told her that what she thought of this place mattered to him.

She tore her stare away and sucked in a searing mouthful of air.

“I think I would like that drink now.” Pulling out of his grasp, Maddy scurried out of the “dungeon” and back down the hall to the kitchen. She wasn’t offended by the things that he’d shown her, but he’d thrown her for one hell of a loop, and she couldn’t think straight.

Plus, the wine was in the kitchen, and she found herself desperately in need of a drink.

“Hell.” Not bothering with the glass, Maddy lifted the bottle to her lips the second that her fingers clasped the smooth surface. She chugged, gulping once, twice, then wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand.

Alex entered the kitchen several moments later, after the wine had had a chance to fizz its way into her bloodstream. She appreciated the time he’d given her to compose herself, which she knew wasn’t accidental.

“So?” Crossing the room toward her, Alex removed the bottle from Maddy’s hand and tidily topped off the red liquid in his own glass. Every inch the gentleman, he seated himself on a bar stool and looked up at her, frank curiosity gleaming in his eyes.

“So.” She remained standing—she was too antsy to sit. There were a million questions swirling through her head, and she plucked one randomly and spat it out of her mouth.

“What is the swing for?” Biding her time while waiting for his answer, she reached for his newly filled glass and sipped from it herself, using the action to hide her embarrassment. There was also a surge of something like desire running through her. From the smirk that crossed Alex’s lips, she knew that she hadn’t succeeded in hiding her interest.

“That is a sex swing.” Taking the glass back, he drank, too, then reached out to trace a fingertip over Maddy’s abdomen. She shivered at the touch. “A ceiling suspension swing, to be precise.”

Right. Of course it was. “What is it for?”

Alex didn’t bother trying to hide his smirk that time. “It is to support one partner during . . . let’s call them unconventional . . . sexual positions.”

“Oh.” Maddy wasn’t completely naive, but the lovers she’d had could have been counted on one hand.

She knew nothing of dungeons or sex swings.

“Why did you show it to me?” After taking one more sip from their shared glass, Maddy set it down on the polished wood of the island with a sharp
clack
, then twined her fingertips together and studied them intently. Alex trailed his fingers up from her belly, between her breasts, and under her chin, tilting her head until she was forced to look at him.

This was what she wanted—when he looked at her, when he touched her, she felt alive.

Now that he’d showed her the room, his touches—his attitude itself—had become exponentially more sexual. It was as if, now that he’d told her it was her decision to make, he was going to make damn sure that she decided in the manner he wanted.

“I am interested in you, Madeline. Very, very interested in you. But I am not ultimately interested in a vanilla relationship.”

Maddy’s stomach rolled and her mood soared before crashing. How was she supposed to take this news? What was he saying? She wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted herself, but she knew from past experience that the idea of casual sex didn’t sit well with her. Still, she wanted Alex and was tempted to take whatever she could get.

“So . . . you want to . . . whip me?” Maddy could feel herself blushing further, but it wasn’t fully with embarrassment. A mental image of herself pressed against that massive wooden post in his dungeon, the flick of that coiled leather whip against her skin, did something to her insides, making her feel feverish all over.

She was surprised that she wanted that image to become a reality.

Alex smiled at her, but his eyes darkened with something that looked surprisingly like hunger, and she knew that he was thinking along the same lines as she was.

“It’s more complex than that, Maddy. I am a Dominant. I want, very much want, for you to be my submissive. I want to use everything in that room with you, in every imaginable way.” He paused and sipped, giving her a moment to process.

“For you, I’d be tempted to try something vanilla, but you need to know that ultimately I wouldn’t be happy. I need . . . more . . . than the vanilla world offers.”

“Vanilla?” Maddy’s mouth went dry.

“I’m not interested in regular sex. No dominance, no submission. No bondage, no discipline.” When Alex said the words, they sounded dark and delicious, even as they scared and titillated.

“As a Dominant, I might use punishment to train you in the proper behavior for a submissive, but the end goal is pleasure—a lot of pleasure—for both of us.”