At Madison's weighted look, Logan relented. "All right. Just promise you'll stay here, where the guys at the door can see you. It's a nice place, but not the nicest area. Sometimes you New York types think you're the only one with violent crime."

"Hey, our muggers can kick your muggers' a.s.ses. But since either one could kick my a.s.s, this is where my a.s.s will be staying." She scooched up to the pillar and gave said booty a little shake, eliciting a chuckle from her companions.

"Do that little move when Des first sees you and we won't see you again tonight." Madison winked at Logan. "Don't pretend you didn't notice."

"On the contrary. I'm going to take you inside and see if you'll do the same move for me. Only I'm going to be that lucky column. Double entendre fully intended."

Madison laughed and the two of them went inside, though Julie was amused to notice Logan stop by one of the doormen and point her out. Protective men could be so offensive and s.e.xy at the same time.

Now that her escorts had gone inside, she could put her hand on her stomach and try to hold in the swirl of nerves happening in every area of her body. She was no stranger to embracing drama, but putting on this outfit wasn't about her a.s.serting her flamboyant personality. As such, when she'd looked at herself in the mirror, she'd almost retreated to her little black dress. Then she'd looked at his text again about what she should wear. She thought about it now, and what might happen when he arrived. Would he like what she'd chosen?

Adrenaline was keeping her toasty. She sent one of the bouncers a little wave as he looked in her direction and made eye contact. Madison had said everyone involved in events like this was usually part of the lifestyle, so Julie wondered if he was Dom, sub or switch. His formidable appearance made no difference; she'd learned that much.

The other couples, singles and groups she saw going into the building supported that. Bless a world where racy, barely disguised fetish fashion could pa.s.s as club wear. She kept herself occupied by guessing the Dom or sub orientation of the people approaching the door with their invitations. When she went inside, she'd find out if she was wrong or right.

Would the large male with a woman half his size be a sub who liked to kneel and kiss her stiletto clad feet? Would the threesome of two men and one woman tie her up in so many ways she'd be unable to move as they feasted on every part of her body? Protected s.e.x was allowed at this party. Everyone would be what they most desired to be with one another. At least that was how she was picturing it. Maybe the reality would be even more fantastic than that.

She'd chosen her own part for tonight, embraced it for her own pleasure as much as the pleasure of her Dom. Remembering their first meet and the temporary tattoos on Des's arms, as well as his fascination with her curves, she'd catered to those tastes and dressed accordingly.

She was a starlet. A lush, Hollywood starlet, unattainable except by one man. The man who made her knees weak. The one coming across the parking lot toward her.

While he was wearing an outfit far different from anything she'd previously seen him wear, she'd know the way he moved anywhere. Her gaze tracked and lighted on him when he was ten paces away from his parking s.p.a.ce.

She'd wondered if he'd look as good in slacks as he did his customary jeans. She'd have to find out another time, because he wasn't wearing slacks. What he had chosen gave her heartrate another nice b.u.mp.

He was wearing a black utility kilt, the sporran held in place with a combination of silver chain and sleek black rope that pa.s.sed over his hip bones. He'd left the ties loose enough at the neckline of his black laced shirt to show a triangle of his chest and the light layer of gleaming dark hair over it. The sleeves were fitted to his taut biceps and rolled up to reveal his forearms, which bore laced black gauntlets. The folds of his sleeves were secured with another short fall of silver chain and held there with silver Celtic knot studs.

He'd donned a black felt fedora with a black braided rope band, his hair sleekly queued back beneath it. His black combat boots had silver buckles with skull heads.

It was Goth meets Scot meets 1950s style meets... h.e.l.l, it defied description. It was Des, and it worked on him, from head to toe. She'd take his idea of formal wear over a tux any day.

Then she lost her train of thought, because he saw her. His shift in expression pulled her into a world populated only by the two of them and a lot of pa.s.sionate, dirty, sacred, sweaty, breathless scenarios of s.e.x, taking, and pure need.

He came to a stop, twenty feet of parking lot between them. Hooking a thumb into his waistband, he c.o.c.ked a hip to settle in and do an in-depth inventory of her, starting with the four inch heels she wore. The strappy shoes buckled over shimmering stockings that were attached to slim garters. He could tell she was wearing garters, because in her position, leaned against the pillar, the skirt had inched up on the right side enough to show a peek of the ribbon attachment to the stocking.

The dress was ruched sunset-colored gold lace over lighter gold satin that hugged every curve to the mid-thigh hemline. On the sides, from hip to thigh, the satin under layer was absent, so lace covered only skin. The bodice of the dress displayed her b.r.e.a.s.t.s like unfrosted cake, the satin straps snug over her shoulders adding to the high, firm, pushed-together and quivering display. While he couldn't see it yet, the straps connected at her nape and one narrow line of satin followed her spine to the back of the dress, scooped well below her shoulder blades. It gave a man's hand plenty of area to caress before he decided to explore how the fabric clung to her round a.s.s.

It was a dress a woman from the age of silver screens would have worn, and in which she would have been immortalized. She felt exactly that way as Des consumed her with his dark eyes.

Shifting away from the pillar, she stepped off the curb. She'd practiced a sultry, hip-swinging walk, intending to add it to the fantasy, but there was no need for calculation. Her body moved the way she felt and how he'd demanded-as the most desirable thing he could ever want.

His attention followed the movement of her body, the quiver of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and lingered over the fullness of her hips. When he reached her face, she knew the makeup Madison had expertly applied had turned her striking brown eyes into pools in which a man could be lost. She wanted him to dive into her very soul and stay there. She'd take care of his every need, because he would do the same for her.

When she reached him, she didn't say anything. Normally, a hundred things would have come to mind. Sa.s.sy, snarky or smarta.s.s, words tumbling out from her moist lips to protect herself from being perceived as too over the top, to mitigate self-consciousness, or to let him off the hook before he could say or do something that might disappoint the fantasy. But she chose trust, and stayed quiet, drinking him in with her eyes the way he was doing to her.

His hair was burnished like a bird wing, his eyes as penetrating as she'd ever seen, his lips inviting. You're beautiful, she thought, and her hands curled at her hips, wanting to touch. Touch him for her own pleasure, or touch herself for his, and to see if she could feel all the energy his admiration had fueled beneath her skin.

Keeping his eyes on her, he opened the sporran. "Turn around," he said in his compelling voice. With the things moving between them, it was an unmistakable order, sending a quiver through her. She obeyed, c.o.c.king her hip to emphasize her a.s.s, and was thrilled at his muttered expletive, a reverence. He stepped close enough his body brushed hers and his arms came around her.

Her heart thudded hard in her chest. He held a strap of thin woven cord, intricately worked with knots and delicate silver links. Tiny charms which had the Celtic design of the studs holding his sleeves sparkled from it. When he fitted the strap around her throat and buckled it, she thought of the times he'd put both hands around her neck. He'd made this for her himself, she was sure of it. The knots pressed into her throat, a mild but stimulating pressure.

"I thought you said collars weren't your thing."

His grip settled on her hips, and he pulled her closer to him in one smooth move, a decisive impact that took her breath and pressed the sporran against her b.u.t.tocks. "I've never had the urge to make sure other men know the woman I'm with is taken. Often, thoroughly and with extreme prejudice."

The surge of response heated her from head to toe. "Oh...well. Okay." She closed her eyes as he nuzzled her throat, biting it below the hold of his gift. Then he had his fingers in it and twisted, restricting her air so her head tipped back, her fingers lifting to curl around his wrist.

"Feel that?" he whispered, a dangerous rumble. "Your life in my hands, love. Yet you stay so still and trembling, not fighting it, like a wild creature that's given me her trust. Tell me to stop."

She shook her head, fingers tightening on him. He let out another curse beneath his breath, and slowly eased the hold, ma.s.saging the constricted area. She kept her eyes closed, absorbing his touch. G.o.d, she really had missed him.

"I'd rather just have you to myself right here, right now," he said, echoing her own thoughts. "But we can create a world just for the two of us, no matter how big the crowd. As much as I want to have you alone, I want to watch you react to what you'll see in there."

Stepping to her side, he tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow and touched her chin when she opened her eyes and looked at him. "Want to go watch things far less amazing than you, but still well worth seeing?"

"Smooth talker." Her smile died, because his eyes were too hot, mouth too firm. There was a whole conversation going on beneath the surface, for both of them. A storm of epic proportions. His attention was like a full body wrap around her senses. She wanted him so badly her body felt weighted by it, and she put that need in the clutch of her fingers on him. His answer came through the stroke of his hand on her hip.

"Come on," he said, and led her across the parking lot to the door.

Chapter Twelve.

The guys at the door opened it for them, so Des didn't have to let her go. They went through the foyer checkpoint, cl.u.s.tered with people and rich scents of perfumes and colognes. Everyone was dressed for pleasure. Leather, lace, silks, satins and sparkles. She loved noticing the details and maybe she would later, but right now she only had one focus. As Des offered his invitation, she lingered on the way the laced gauntlet defined his arm. He wore no rings on his fingers, no jewelry, but that would make sense, wouldn't it? He wouldn't wear anything that could foul a rope. She was already close to him, but she shifted even closer, inhaling his scent.

Tonight there was something different. Like an exotic blend of masculine spice, possibly the type of aftershave he'd used.

He noted her proximity, his hand curving around her waist, palm resting on her b.u.t.tock, fingers curved over her hip bone. His gaze slid over her parted lips, down to her throat. While he waited for his hand to be stamped, he bent and kissed the top of her breast, making her drop her head back and shiver at the brush of his jaw on her tender flesh.

Then her hand was stamped and he was escorting her forward to a set of double doors that opened to release the energy and noise of what lay beyond.

In some ways, it was no different from any nightclub she'd ever visited, crowded with people, inundated with music and visual stimuli, though she heartily approved of the current song choice of Bruno Mars' "Moonshine." There was a flashing dis...o...b..ll, which delighted her, casting a snowstorm of light on the crowded dance floor. Solid spotlights divided the main room into gold, green, blue and red sections and imprinted the party goers with that color, depending on where they wandered.

"A dungeon is usually quiet, focused on building the intensity between Dom and sub," Des said in her ear. "While I prefer that, this will be a fun change. A party can give you a different kind of privacy, thanks to the festive chaos."

She was going to ask him what he meant, but he directed her attention to everything happening around them. And there was plenty to see.

The gold lit section had the dis...o...b..ll and dance floor. As they moved past that area, she saw suitably sensuous movements that matched the music. Depending on what the partic.i.p.ants were or were not wearing, some weren't far off from outright copulation. Correct that. One couple who completed their turn against a wall stopped there, using it as a brace and confirming the undulating hip movements were actual thrusting. During the turn, the woman had had one leg high on her partner's hip, but now, he lifted both legs around him to achieve deeper penetration as she clung to him, fingers digging into his shoulders.

Des let her linger there, watching the many different forms of foreplay and f.u.c.king done to a primal under beat, mixed with actual dancing. Couples became trios or more, all sorts of cross touching and stroking going on, one dance rippling together. Her own body rocked with the rhythm of the song, rubbing her against Des's body behind her. When he cupped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, a gentle, foreplay, she had no embarra.s.sment or self-consciousness, sighing with need when he put his mouth to her throat and suckled the pounding artery.

He'd lowered his hands to her waist and she had her fingers wrapped in them when he lifted his head and moved them onward to complete their brief tour of each section.

Fire and electric play happened in the red lit area. Flogging and impact play in the blue, rope work in the green. Except for the fire play, there was overlap in all, restraints with rope combined with paddling or wand play, wax play mixed in with fire. It was an erotic circus, and the flashing light and shadows made all the players look surreal and breathtaking, caught up in a dimension where the world outside of work and worries didn't exist.

She was sure that was a tired description for the marvelousness of it, but circus was what came to mind. Especially when they pa.s.sed a gold painted woman moving through the crowd, her Mistress guiding her on a leash. The submissive wore an elaborate headdress that gave her a mane like a male lion. She wore an impressive strap-on, the harness of which seemed to be holding her long tail in place over her backside. Julie noticed the "lion's" Mistress had a hand on the base of the tail and was playing with it. The tail was anch.o.r.ed to her body via a d.i.l.d.o sunk deep into her backside.

At Julie's fascinated regard, the Mistress slowed. "My exotic pet wants to play with others tonight, Spiderman. Would you like your sub to be f.u.c.ked by her? Or feel my pet's claws?"

Before Julie could react to the Mistress's remarkable request, Des slipped his hand around her throat, just under her jaw, fingers hooking the rope and chain collar. A reminder that the question had been directed to him, not her. "f.u.c.king her is my pleasure alone, Mistress, but yes to the claws."

He tipped up Julie's face, an unspoken but clear command to keep her gaze on his. They hadn't discussed what Julie might or might not like, but she trusted Des to suggest things she might like. She also trusted him to honor her and not get out of sorts if she backed away from something he wanted her to do. Frankly, she was less worried about their lack of formal communication than her certainty she might not refuse anything he demanded, not when he was in his full Dom-wizard mode.

The lion sub had glittering metal tips on her fingers she feathered artistically high in the air where Julie could see them before she dragged them down Julie's front. Over the exposed curves of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, to the edge of lace that barely covered her nipples. Before she could worry she'd sc.r.a.pe those, the sub had dropped to her knees and reversed course, talons digging in and sc.r.a.ping up her inner thighs. Des shifted to grip her around the waist, so when Julie instinctively leaned back, her knees loosening to give those talons more access, he held her up. She made a noise of confused arousal and, as he turned her to face him, he adjusted his hand so it was still on her throat, keeping her head tilted up to meet his eyes. His grip was firm, intended to put strain on her neck, to make her feel the pressure of the knots in the collar he'd put upon her, as the Mistress asked a follow up question.

"What a lovely open back this dress has. Would you like my kitten to mark her there?"

Des caressed Julie's throat. "How painful do you want it to be, love?"

"As painful as you want me to feel it."

In a rational moment, could she explain how the flash of approval in his gaze, how pleasing him, made her feel? And how that connected to anything he did to her. It made pain something different, though she was no pain junkie.

"Make it hurt, Mistress Pride," Des said, keeping his attention wholly on his sub. "But don't break her lovely skin."

Julie sucked in a breath when the talons raked her back. They didn't draw blood, but they left stinging sc.r.a.pes. Whereas the "lion" had been slow and deliberate when marking Julie's front and legs, now her movements were quick slashes, like a whip strike, making Julie bite back a startled cry. Then Des's palm was over the crisscrossing marks, stroking the abrasions. Julie was pressed full against him, straining, needing.

"Thank you, Mistress." He held Julie fast as the woman and her pet moved onward, and Julie dipped her head to his throat, her lips almost touching his collar bone, shallow breaths bathing it.

"Let's go watch some rope work," Des said. He shaped her body against his side, moving her through the ocean of people. Maybe because of where her head was, the noise had become a dull roar, her nerves tingling at the stimulation of nothing more than air movement, the barest brush of bodies against her, the full press of Des's.

She would have felt overwhelmed except he was her boat on these waves. What if he'd told the Mistress he wanted her lion to f.u.c.k Julie from behind? What would his expression have said to her, while he kept her chin tipped up to stare at him and that feminine body and thick rubber c.o.c.k took her over the edge?

Two days ago she'd believed she was a voyeur only. That she had no interest in public s.e.x. They'd been in this room less than twenty minutes and her previous boundaries meant nothing. Only what he wanted.

No. It was because everything he wanted was something she wanted. He was reading her cues and responding to them, just as Logan had said. But knowing it was her response as much as his commands directing her only made it more unsettling.

As they moved forward, other things added to that shaky feeling. At the impact and flogging area, Julie saw Logan and Madison. He'd bound her to a cross and was showing several groups his single tail techniques. He'd shed the coat and had the sleeves of his white dress shirt rolled up.

"Logan's always in demand to teach at these things," Des said in her ear. "He's patient about it, though I expect that's why he likes playing at home alone with Madison the best."

Though Julie was sure Madison agreed with that, her friend didn't look like this spicy public twist on their relationship was bothering her, probably because she still had Logan's full attention. Even as he was teaching, he kept returning to Madison, stroking her, rea.s.suring her, commanding her focus with sudden little flicks from the whip, a s.e.xy, masterful gesture that made Julie's stomach flip flop too.

Madison's glazed expression and the marks already on her said he'd started this some minutes before. He'd removed Madison's dress, leaving her in crimson bra and thong only. When Logan started throwing the whip again, there was a swift continuous fluidity to it. As he struck her b.u.t.tocks, between the shoulder blades, along the back, the upper thighs, she was jerking in her bonds and making cries that Julie couldn't hear over the music and crowd noise, but could see from the working of her throat and parted lips.

Logan caught the fall of the whip and strode back to her, dropping his head to kiss the red netting of marks between her shoulder blades. His hand slipped between her body and the cross. His own body moved in rhythm with hers, rubbing himself against her backside as he worked his fingers inside her panties. His lips were against her ear.

As her view changed, Julie realized Des had maneuvered her to where she could see Madison's feverish eyes and Logan's concentrated expression, the movement of his lips. She couldn't hear the words, but she didn't need to do so. Everything he was doing showed he was in control, and he was reinforcing that, stimulating her with words to that effect. Julie imagined what those words might be.

"I'm doing what I want to you because I'm your Master. You're hot and wet, because that's the way I want you. You'll let me f.u.c.k you, whip you, restrain you, and you'll come for me with the same obedience and desire, because you get lost in this, in serving your Master..."

Whatever he actually said had Madison nodding, her lips stretching back in a plea. Julie remembered her first experience with Des, when it was just them on the stage. He'd painted her such a vision of a full audience she'd almost felt stage fright. Until he'd murmured it's just us.

She understood now what Des meant about the anonymity of chaos. Logan might be aware of his audience, those he was teaching, but a very important part of him was in an isolation chamber built through the strokes of a whip, the give and take of power, the love between him and his wife.

Madison came as Des's grip on Julie's hips became bruising. Julie leaned into him, breath shallow and every muscle taut, nerves thrumming as Madison's body bucked between the cross and Logan's protective larger frame. As she came down, he was kissing her shoulder, her throat, and she pressed her face into his palm.

Des moved them forward again. In the fire play area, a dramatic flogging with a cat o' nine caught her attention. The tips of the flogger had streaks of blue and gold flame as a Mistress wielded it on the back of her female sub. Lit wands were being rolled over naked supplicants stretched out on padded tables. The fire masters followed the wands with quick, intimate strokes of the male and female bodies they were using, reminding her of Tony and Charlotte.

The scent of candle wax touched her nose as she saw two men working on another man, creating a random design on his back, b.u.t.tocks and legs with shades of purple and green candle drippings.

As she'd seen Consent coming together, she'd had a taste of this, how every expression of BDSM could be magnified with color, sound, taste, texture. Here she didn't have to detach and see it through the eyes of a managing director. However, since that was so much a part of her, she couldn't help making a few mental tweaks on the blocking of the Consent showings next week, and on Lila's upcoming production. She told Des some of those suggestions as his head bent attentively to her, his lips curving with amus.e.m.e.nt, probably at her multi-tasking.

When they were back at the dance floor, her Master decided to pull her away from practical thoughts. Des guided her into an impromptu waltz, palm at her waist, other hand firmly clasping hers. She followed his steps, the turns, and he found a path through the dancers that made her feel as if she were gliding. On the far side, he turned her, bringing her back against his body so she could rub against him, making sure she concentrated on his groin area. Though the sporran was in a frustratingly inconvenient spot, she made sure he felt the urgent press of her own body.

"Tease," he muttered.

She was and wasn't. Teasing implied playfulness, some type of planned, intended provocation. She was too mindless for any of that. She wanted him to know how all this was making her feel. Being dressed like this, out with him, as his.

His eyes burned into hers as she faced him. They were still, the music winding around them, the whole world moving. He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm, working his way to her wrist, around the outside of her hand, over each finger, playing with them with tongue, lips and teeth. Just his attention on that one part of her body, his grip hard on her wrist, made her sway, her other hand clutching his waist.

"Desmond." She breathed his name. She didn't say his full name often, but she wanted to say it now. She wondered if he had a middle name, and she asked him, in that same whisper. It was too loud, so she thought he wouldn't hear her, but somehow he did.

He held her close to answer. "Desmond Arthurius Hayes."

Humor penetrated her haze of l.u.s.t, reflected in the twinkle of his brown eyes. In the mix of shadows and light, the irises were mola.s.ses-colored with flecks of gold. "Betty named me after her uncle. He died a month before I arrived. She said I had his smile."

So his mother had refused to even give him a name. The thought gripped Julie with a fierce anger and protectiveness that, combined with her arousal, almost made her dizzy. Curving her fingers over his hold on her, she lifted onto her toes to press a kiss, soft and urgent at once, against his lips. She may not have wanted you, but I do. I want you more than I've ever wanted anything.

The kiss said all that and more. His expression flickered as if he heard the message, his jaw flexing and eyes briefly flashing with emotions just as strong.

Taking her elbow, he drew them to a section of wall flanking the rigging area. The green light spotlighted the different forms being tied on naked flesh, the intense concentration of the riggers. There were different colored ropes and clips. Some of the Doms used frames to suspend their subjects. Others used hooks dropped from the ceiling beams. Others worked entirely on mats on the floor or on chairs or against poles.

The lighting allowed a lot of shadows in the corners. Des maneuvered her into one, so the only thing in her vision was him, with some ambient glimpses of bound and suspended subs twisting in the background. He slid his fingers under her skirt and she grabbed his shoulders as he pushed past her barely-there thong and thrust two fingers into her soaked c.u.n.t.

"Just what I thought," he said softly. "Wet enough to satisfy a parched throat. You want to come, love."

She nodded and he thrust a little deeper. "Wasn't a question. Beg for it, in that s.e.xy, pleading voice you have when you're hot and wet."

"Yes...please."

His eyes glittered with pleasure as she sounded as he'd predicted, a shiver of longing through her words.

"Hmm. We'll see." He idly rubbed his thumb over her c.l.i.t and she jerked up off the wall like he'd touched her with electrical current. "I like to see you suffer like this," he said ruthlessly. "I bet you'd give me one h.e.l.l of a b.l.o.w.j.o.b right now. Enough to convince me you deserve to come."

She remembered he liked her to use her words. "Yes, please. Let me do that."

His brown eyes were firelight. "No. It's enough to know that you would drop to your knees and suck me off without question if I told you to do it. I want to see you come. Now."

He was rubbing her again, and the climax came at his command, her hips working against his touch. He caught her nape and jerked her to him to kiss her hard and deep as she cried out her release in his mouth. Tears spilled out, that surfeit of emotion that always surged from her subconscious when he commanded her body in new and unexpected ways. It was a painful, perfect edge between ecstasy and heartbreak, between getting everything she'd ever wanted and knowing she was giving him the power to take it all away.

He worked her through the full range of sensation, until she was sensitive and his fingertips were barely brushing her, yet still she convulsed against him, her weak fingers over his wrist. She didn't pull him away, but pressed closer, and he understood, adjusting so his palm cupped her c.u.n.t, sealing in aftershocks that coursed through her like rippling water.