Southern Charmed Billionaire (12 page)

“What were you even thinking?” I whispered out loud to myself.
 

“Good morning, miss.” A woman’s seductive voice echoed off the high walls as I looked around to find where the voice was coming from. I instantly noticed the top of the ceiling. It was unlike anything I’d seen before. I imagined this to be what the gothic cathedrals in Europe to look.
 

Lost in my observations, I failed to see or hear the woman who called out to me.
 

No wonder I failed to see her. Not only was she wearing all black, but she wore a mask. It was a lace mask that covered the top half of her face. How strange.
 

“Here are tonight's coverings.” She handed me a black lace, which looked like the mask she had on.
 

“May I take your things, please?” Again, curiosity got the best of me, and before I could object and say I had made a mistake, that there had been a misunderstanding, she secured the mask over my hair, tightly, but not too tight. I didn't belong here, and the fact that she acted as if  I were expected only added fuel to the fire.
 

"Personally, I enjoyed last party’s mask, but with tonight’s theme of sinners and saints, the black lace is quite appropriate. Especially with the upcoming Easter holiday."
 

I took everything in with great interest. How
strange!
I supposed this was some sort of dinner, and wearing this mask only made me feel little bit better in my relative anonymity, being able to see what Atticus was up to.
 

"There you go. You know the rules, but I am obligated to remind you to keep your mask on at all times, even while engaging, unless you really do not care about your
identity.
 

Come to think of it, I could use a nice meal about now. I was, after all, taken from home hours ago, being whisked away here. What a night! And I sure worked up on heck of an appetite.
 

But then she held up something interesting that suggested something else. Was I at a costume party? Was it someone’s birthday I was crashing? It was a black teddy lingerie. It was high-wasted, as what was in style right now, and the top plunged very deep down the front. It suddenly dawned on me that someone, as in people, would see me in this revealing outfit if I chose to keep going further with this evening. Was all of this really worth it?
 

Yes.
 

“You can change right in here.” She held out her hand in the direction of a door and then led me the way.
 

Atticus
 

I took a sip of my scotch, refreshing my iPhone every minute, pleased and delighted that she had taken the bait and was now here.
 

I had instructed Maranda of the special instructions for Kate the moment I saw the red dot and action over the map, indicating that Elvis had left the building, and she was on her way.
 

My date was at the door. I had called her, as being the owner and created creator of this special establishment gave me special privileges through my phone. All other phones were carefully kept in a secret location for each guest, until it was time to leave.
 

Chapter Twelve
 

Kate
 

I
caught a glimpse of myself
in the mirror
as I
carefully put on the black lace teddy. What was I doing here, following Atticus out like
this?
What
was the
logic
in
this?
 

Nowhere, because logic didn
’t exist in this scenario
!
 

And
as for
this
outfit
?
I studied the
sexy contraption, a
designer lace
teddy I’d seen on billboards and
Victoria’s Secret
commercials lately. And
while
yes, a part of me always wanted to feel feminine and wear something like this
:
 

A.
I didn’t have the mone
y
 

B.
I never had
the time
, and
 

C. W
ho would I even wear it for?
 

Now all three previous
ly good
reasons floated out the window.
 

Money was no longer a factor; neither was time. And I’d wear it for h
im.
 

It was a beautiful
, yet fragile,
piece of lingerie.
Any
sudden
move
s and
th
at
delicate
number
could
rip
,
making
the
whole
damn thing
fall
apart
. That was the last thing I needed,
so I carefully slid it on.  
 

I turned around
, taking in
the
designer
cut in the back
, and how it revealed my derriere
.
There was practically nothing covering my ass.
 

Um, earth to Kate. Do you really want to prance out like this in sea full of strangers?
 

My eyes danced
over my appearance
in mischievous wonder. I had a mask on. And when you wear a mask, anything is possible, right? You’re allowed to become another person. It’s just the grand rule of every costume party.
 

What now?
 

The o
nly way to find
out
was
to
walk out.
 

So that I did.
 

I walked out of the dressing room, here in
God knows
where
in
the middle of
this freaking mansion
, all the while
knowing that this
was
a
huge
risk. But
if there
were
any way to risk something, it was with a mask on.
 

 Gosh
.
I
couldn’t
believe I had even gotten this far!
 

“Here you go.”
The waitress
handed me a glass of
c
hampagne
,
which I gladly
accepted
to calm my nerves. I nearly dropped
my
flute from my sweaty fingers and shaking hand. “Are you ready?”
 

 I
nodded. I
wasn't sure what I was ready for
,
but why the hell not
?
Six pathways
lie before me;
which
one
would my borrowed heels take?
 

She led me to
the second archway
on
the right. As soon as my feet tread into the entrance, light burst from everywhere
, illuminating my view.
B
efore me
were
twenty or so beautifully lit grand crystal chandeliers
,
sparkling
in their
luminescent
glory
. What once was dark was now dazzling
with
light
. The entire scene was breathtaking and mesmerizing.
 

A Sinners and Saints party
.
 

That
’s what she’d
said it was. Was
I Sinner…or Saint
?
 

She continued
leading
me down
the
corridor
,
past different doors that
each contained
different sounds behind them.
 

Past one door, I heard
an abundance of laughter.
 

W
e walked
further
, and I heard china clanking against beautiful violins and string quartets.
 

 
As we passed yet
another door
I
over
heard
the sounds of
moaning.
An erotic chorus of
sounds
seeped from underneath the door’s crack, causing
me to stop in my tracks.
 

What the fuck was going on and what was this?
 

“Come along, please.”
My escort
instructed
in a clandestine effort to move me along whilst maintaining discretion.
 

My heart doubled its speed as we
continued our journey, my mind racing with confusion and nervousness as I attempted to figure out what I was walking into
.
 

She finally
stopped at another door. I strained to hear
something
,
anything, b
ut it was serenely quiet.
 

“I believe what you're looking for is through this door.”
 

“Is…
is it?”
 

She nodded.
 

“Have fun,”
S
he cooed, p
r
opping her elbow on her hip
.
H
er dark painted eyes
sparkled seductively
behind the mask
as she
stared at me. “Go ahead,
” she urged.
“Y
ou may open the door.”
 

Gulp.
 

I slowly turned the gold handle
as I listened to
the
clicks
of her heels
as she began
sauntering away.
 

To my surprise, there
he was, Atticus, sitting on the edge of the sleigh bed with a mask on
,
holding a drink in his hand.
I knew it was him because I knew his suit. I knew his signature ring. I knew him.
 

I don’t know what surprised me more.
 

Seeing him, o
r
seeing
all
of those
adult toys displayed in clear cases
. They were
framed in gold on the wall
behind him
. And no
, they were
n’t
Toys
R
Us toys.
 

They were
a
dult toys.
 

What the fuck was this?
 

You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to put this all together—
 

Bed. Toys. Lingerie.
 

This was some sort of high-class sex party.
 

Once he looked at me I realized this was it. There
’d be
no turning back.
And though he’d seen me
…d
id he know it was
me
?
 

“What's your name?” He
asked
.
 

Ah,
so I guess
he d
oes
n't know
. I bit my trembling lip.
 

"Rachel."
 

"Rachel
,
"
he repeated.
 

He stood up and walked towards me
, moving
like a man
on
a one track
mission
: to
fuck.
H
is hands
landed on
my shoulders before traveling down to my waist
. They picked
me up
as if I were
light as a feather.
 

Whoa
. My legs wrapped around him
almost too easily
as he carried me
several feet
and pressed me up against the wall. Holy shit
,
this was fucking hot.
 

Breathless and blown away by it all, I was speechless as my hands steadied themselves against his shoulders, my attempt to remain balance
d
. As strange as it was for us to have a masked encounter, I couldn
’t help but feel like I was about to have an erotic sexcapade with Batman.
 

He
wore a hard mask that made him appear more striking than ever before; I didn’t even know that was possible.
 

His
hardness
pushed against me through
his pants
, letting me know what was about to happen. There’d be no turning away from this,
and I didn't mind one single bit. I needed to
feel
this passion. I needed to release this hungry desire I had for him to fill me
up
so I could get it out of my system and get focused on this fake
pregnancy we’d planned
.