By Invitation Only Page 5

  My plans felt so perfect.

  Then she slipped her hands beneath my shirt and pressed them to my back.

  My world stopped. Fuck, if I didn’t know better, I’d think my heart stopped. Obviously not, since I was still alive and enduring the phantom pain that sizzled through me with her touch. The scars were why I never took my shirt off. The scars were why I never participated in or used the whip. I simply had too many nightmares. Sometimes I didn’t even have to be asleep to have them. No one knew about my scars. No one knew about my nightmares. No one.

  Now Alexandria had her hands pressed against them. Hell, she’d made me forget about them until now. I had even considered showering with her, when I never allowed anyone to see me shower. I swallowed hard, fighting the urge to pull away from her.

  Then her warm whisper touched my ear, and she said the same thing I’d said to her when I thought she would run from the applause. “Relax. Just let me hold you. I need to hold you.”

  It didn’t make the world a perfect place. It didn’t make me forget about my scars or how they came to be on my body. But it was better. Her touch took me to a place where I could breathe. Her touch didn’t hurt or make them itch.

  I’d had years of therapy at the expense of the VA.

  I wanted to laugh at the idea that all I’d needed was this woman’s touch. I was sure as hell glad I’d finally found her. I laid my face against the softness of her shoulder and took in the flowery, clean scent of her hair. I held her and let her hold me. I’d wanted nothing more than to show her pleasure.

  And she gave me the gift of release.

  Chapter Six

  Alexandria

  I don’t even know who this man is, and I want to give him my world. Whatever had happened to him to scar his body had been major. I wanted to hold him and keep him safe, let him know I accepted him no matter what. A short time ago, he’d lived up to his promise and had given me the greatest pleasure of my life, and we weren’t even near that swing thing. Except for having sex in public, we hadn’t really done anything kinky. I wasn’t even certain I wanted anything kinkier than this. What he’d given me was well beyond the greatest. Apparently, I didn’t need anything kinkier.

  He slid his dick out of me. I brought my legs together and searched for my little camisole. I know it wasn’t much, but it wasn’t quite as easy or comfortable to sit on the table naked now that we were finished as it was when we’d been lost in the heat of the moment. And while the audience thing had turned me on a few minutes ago, now I wanted to hide again. I found the camisole, grabbed it like a life ring, and slipped it over my head, not caring that it was inside out. His expression was full of amusement while he watched me. Behind his mask, his blue eyes sparkled.

  “No one is even looking at you. Except me.”

  He helped me off the table. Once I was standing before him and I knew my shaky legs would support me, he kissed me soundly. I mean it when I say the man could kiss like no other. Somehow he managed to put an electric current right into my lips. Despite the way my insides were still quivery from the orgasm he’d given me, he managed to send something extra zinging through me with the touch of his perfect lips.

  His kiss was slow, tender, meaningful, and managed to suck the breath right out of me as it sent my heart pounding again for more. It was of a perfect pressure, giving as much as it took.

  Then his lips were gone, leaving me breathless. He took my hand and led me away from the table. “Where are we going?”

  I didn’t really care as long as I was with him. Then I saw he’d led me back toward the door to the women’s room. Something worse than the anxiety I’d had of walking through that door hit the pit of my stomach. Was he done with me? He’d given me the pleasure he’d promised, and that was all he needed?

  No, I wasn’t ready to be done. I lagged in my steps, not keeping up with him in order to slow him down. I didn’t want to leave. Maybe since he’d come twice, he was done? I hoped not. I certainly wasn’t ready to be with anyone else, but I hoped he wasn’t ending the night.

  “To the together shower. I’d like to soap down every inch of you.”

  “Oh.” I let out a sigh of relief.

  “You didn’t think we were done, did you?”

  “Maybe.”

  With his free hand he caressed my jaw. “The night is still young, my love.” Then he pushed open the door that said TOGETHER.

  While the women’s room had been more of a locker room with bright lights and white tile walls, the together room was dim with small alcove-type shower cubicles. The shower in one was running, steam pouring from above the closed curtain. I couldn’t tell if there was one person behind the curtain or five. I only heard the running water.

  He led me to the far end of the room. Next to the cubicle he chose stood a bench with a basket containing scented oil, soap, shampoo, and clean towels.

  Within a few moments, we were lost in the steam of the spray. I wanted to laugh. A smile broke over my lips.

  “What?”

  “I’m completely naked except for a mask. I’ve never worn a mask in the shower before.” I didn’t confess that the last time I’d worn a mask was probably several years ago at Halloween.

  “Don’t take it off. You know the rules,” he reminded me.

  He slid his shirt off and dropped it on the bench. I had no doubt he was self-conscious about the scars, given the way he’d responded to my touching them. “But you already know who I am.” I kept my gaze on his face, on his eyes. I looked down and saw his fabulous cock. Within seconds he had me covered with soap suds.

  “But no one else does. It’s part of what makes this place so exciting—the mystery of it. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  “I might have thought that when I stepped through the door, but now I don’t have an answer.” I slowly rubbed soap over his chest, taking in his muscled abs as I massaged them with the bubbles.

  “Why not?” He kissed my shoulder before sliding his soapy hand over it.

  I spread my soap suds lower, loving the way the mask, this place, had given me a brazen courage I’d never known I possessed. He had given me courage. He had shown me—invited me—to touch him. His dick was nice to touch: not too soft, not too hard, not grossly big, nothing I had to hunt for. It was perfect. And it had fit me perfectly too. I wasn’t certain how to explain how I felt. “Well, I think even if everyone I saw out there switched masks, I would still recognize each one in some way. I would know which guy kissed that woman on her thigh. I would know which woman held the other woman’s leg in the air. I would know the couple who couldn’t seem to stop kissing. And I don’t know their names.”

  “You certainly noticed a lot. But then I already knew how observant you are.”

  He ended his statement with a groan as I rubbed my hand over him before I cupped him. I couldn’t hold back any longer. I wanted to show him a bit of the pleasure he’d given me. I dropped to my knees and took him in my mouth.

  The wonder of him sent a tingle down my throat. He groaned. Lost in the warm spray of water, the heat of his touch, and the power that came with control, with having his dick in my mouth—it was like nothing I’d ever done before. His tangy taste was the biggest turn-on. His groans and the twitch of his cock along with my tongue action were breathtaking. I loved it. I bobbed my head up and down. I felt his strong fingers in my hair, holding me, helping me, urging me on. His hardness touched the back of my throat.

  And still I wished I could take more.

  He removed his hands from my hair. I heard the snap top of a bottle. Then I felt his hands on my back. It was the most luxurious rub anyone had ever given me. The rich scent of the flowery oil engulfed my senses and made me want more. Hell, I wanted all of him. I wish I could have swallowed him whole. I tried to.

  Then he was thrusting and shuddering in my mouth. I was prepared to swallow, wanting and needing to take every part of him into my body. But he pulled me off, forced me to stand. “No…” I said in a harsh whisper, remember
ing there were others in the shower not far away.

  “Yes. I need your tongue in my mouth.”

  He pressed me up against the wall and held me up as I wrapped my legs around him. As he filled me with his hardness, I slammed my lips against his and gave him what he needed. He cried out as he came inside me, but the sound was lost down my throat. It wasn’t quite what I thought I’d be swallowing, but it turned me on and made me tight and wet like only he seemed able to do.

  A few minutes later, I again stood before him and soaped him. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring and touching him with my slippery, sudsy hands. “You are so perfect.” The words left my mouth before I even thought. They were true, and I couldn’t help but think them. I had never been touched by such a perfect man before.

  He grasped my wrists and stopped my ministrations, taking me by surprise. There was a harshness as well as a sadness in his gaze when I looked at him. It was a terrifying turnabout after seeing the fire of passion there. “What?”

  “I am far from perfect.”

  I hardly heard his whispered words over the spray of the water. Hell, he had promised me nothing but pleasure, and he’d delivered too. I was not about to let his insecurities ruin it for either of us.

  I used his own grasp on my wrists as leverage as I rose up on my toes and soundly kissed him. I gave him no choice but to kiss me back. When I broke the kiss, I forced him to hold my gaze. “Yes, you are. And what you’ve given me tonight is more perfect than anything anyone has ever given me. You made the rule that there can be nothing but honesty between us. So please accept everything I tell you as the truth. Do not argue with my compliments. Ever.”

  After a moment, he gave me half a grin. “Giving me orders, are you?”

  “Right now, I am.”

  The distaste I had seen in his eyes was gone in an instant. He held my face in his hands and kissed me again. His kiss reached right into me and melted my heart. I wouldn’t know him if I passed him on the street, but I knew my soul would certainly recognize him.

  “Touch me more,” he murmured between kisses.

  “Kiss me more,” I commanded as I touched him all over, learning his body.

  He did.

  Chapter Seven

  Raven

  I watched Alexandria from afar, my identity still a secret. Holy fuck, what a weekend. She turned my world upside down. I admit that since becoming owner of the Castle, I have played with a lot of women, but none of them ever left me with the insane need for more. Okay, I’ll be honest. I love sex, and I always want more. But that was just it; it was just sex, just the need to get off and come. I’ve never had any emotional attachment to any of my liaisons at the Castle. Not me. I come here and I think, hell, that felt good, or that chick has great lip action, or I go down on a woman because I like the taste. But never because the idea of her coming makes me crazy. I had an idea that if I got Alexandria to come to the Castle, it would be wonderful.

  I didn’t know it would be life changing.

  I didn’t know my heart would ache when I woke up Sunday morning without her. I didn’t know the simple sound of her voice would make my dick spark to life and stand at attention. Up to now, I’d always been able to control that part of my anatomy. Now as I watch her, I feel like I’m riding a seesaw. I want to go up to her and kiss her, knowing she would recognize me in a heartbeat just from my kiss alone. At the same time, I know I can never do that. There’s that chance she’d smile, kiss me back, and say, “I’m so glad it’s you.”

  But I have the feeling she’d be more likely to say, “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  While it’s true she accepted my scars, what did that really mean? I had just made her come. I had just made her scream. Her mind was clouded with passion. If I had taken her to dinner or out for a drink and then made love to her in her bed, would things have been the same?

  I have no answer. And yet I can’t stop wondering.

  On that one perfect night of bliss, I kissed her until neither of us could think. I kissed her as I dried us off after our shower. I kissed her as I took her to my private room. I kissed her until we fell asleep. I kissed her as we shared breakfast together. She’d asked me not to stop. And I didn’t. Until she got in her car and drove through the gate back to her world, back to her life.

  A life I could only watch from a distance.

  It tore me in two to do so.

  Alexandria

  Bloody hell, I couldn’t think.

  As I sat through the Monday morning docket, it took every ounce of energy I had to pay attention to the cases. Ray was well into a big case, and there was a lot of discussion and questions about it. I might have heard half. Sue had two cases. Danny complained about getting Judge Reinheart for his case. I gave a brief summary of the case that ended Friday. And when I say brief, I mean brief. Hell, I could hardly remember anything beyond my weekend. I finished by giving a short overview of the latest case to hit my desk. There wasn’t much I could say about it. I needed to concentrate more on it, needed to read the files that James brought me. That should help, but so far, nothing I read made any sense. I wasn’t able to concentrate. All I could do was replay the weekend over and over in my mind. My pussy quivered as I thought about each and every delicious detail. Whether with need for more or because it had been exercised to its limit, I couldn’t tell. All I knew was that my focus was elsewhere and my nipples were hard and uncomfortable in my bra. In fact, everything I wore was tight and uncomfortable. At the same time, I felt naked, as if everyone stared at me without my mask on.

  I had the mask tucked safely inside my bag. Just in case I got a note delivered, and I needed it during business hours. One could dream, right?

  Hillary, one of the law clerks, entered the conference room with a tray of coffee cups and a carafe and set it in the center of the table. A few minutes later, she returned with a box of doughnuts. I shouldn’t take one. Hell, my clothes already felt tight. Maybe the sugar rush would give me something else to think about besides having a masked mystery man who made me come. I decided I didn’t care about my clothes feeling tight. I took a doughnut. My first bite melted in my mouth, reminding me of his kisses. Hell.

  The third time Hillary came into the conference room, she brought files and mail and messages and distributed them to the appropriate person. By the time the meeting was over and I was walking to my office with a pile of mail and case files, I was working through a sugar rush. I plopped the stack on the edge of my desk and sat down. I wasn’t so sure I was ready for another big case. The last one had left me emotionally drained. If I hadn’t been able to let off so much tension and sexual steam Friday night, I might have had to call in today and take the day off. I clearly needed more downtime to de-stress. I nearly laughed. Strange to think that my time at Midnight Castle had been therapeutic.

  But oh, yes, it was.

  I simply could not stop thinking about my time there.

  Every time James came into my office with a message, my heart pounded, thinking, hoping there might be another invite.

  Now that I had time to think about it, I hated the way we’d left things up in the air. At the time it had felt right to say “I’d love another invitation” when he’d asked if I’d like to come back again. I should have said yes right then and asked him what night I should be there. But with the way I’d worded it, he’d merely replied, “Then I shall, indeed, send you one.”

  So now I had to wait for one. And the waiting…

  Well, it was eating away at my insides, while my pussy and nipples ached for his touch. My lips tingled with the need to kiss him. I wanted to taste him again. I wanted him to taste me too. No man had ever done to me or made me feel what he had. Never again would romance books or a guy who was into just tying me up be enough.

  I was like a drug addict who needed another hit.

  Agnew came to my door. There seemed to be a subtle aura around him. He watched me with what touched me as certainty—or maybe that was cautiousness. But then as usual,
as soon as I felt I figured him out, he managed to change direction. The truth was I simply could not trust him. I noticed for the first time his eyes were blue.

  “I plan to appeal.”

  I blinked and stared at him, trying to make sense of his words. Did he look like my masked lover from Friday night? Could he be the one? Had it been Agnew who’d set my skin on fire, who’d sent my soul soaring to the sky? I hated that I couldn’t help but question it again, especially after I noticed the color of his eyes.

  Please, no, don’t let it be him. I couldn’t handle that. I couldn’t let him touch me. He was my opponent. I sparred with him in the courtroom and used every strategy I knew to whip the pants off him. The man who’d licked me and touched me and fucked me Friday night had had the ability to peek inside me, see my soul, and learn my secrets. I could never let Agnew in, give him that much power, no matter how much I wanted it. He just didn’t feel right to me. Yet, because I’d never seen his face, I just didn’t know.

  For a long moment, I stared at his lips and his jaw because that was all I could really see of my lover’s face. Agnew’s lips didn’t look the same. Or was that just me and my wishful thinking, hoping it was something different? After all, the lighting at the Midnight Castle had been candlelight with all its shades and shadows.

  “No doubt.” He probably thought there was something wrong with me, given how long it took for me to reply. I shrugged. “Knock yourself out. I’ll be there again to stop you.”

  He actually stepped into my office and walked over to my desk. I stood.

  He openly studied me. “Are you all right today? You look a bit flushed. Did you have a wild weekend or something?”

  My heart hammered. Fuck. It really was him. He’d turned my world inside out, and now he was fishing for compliments. Not only was he not getting them, but if I ever received another invitation, I planned to ignore it. No matter how much my body protested.