CHAPTER TWENTY
Owen
Tabby’s curiosity about the perversions of Club members, myself included, wasn’t just an exciting topic for her. With each question she threw my way, I felt a stab of anticipatory delight. My plans for the vibrating panties had extended only as far as the blackjack table when I purchased them, but watching her try to stand while her clit was assaulted was exponentially more arousing. I may not have been keen on answering her questions, but I was ecstatic to have her ask them and watch her lower lip start to tremble as she choked on restrained moans.
Only three women were left on the stage now, Pippa amongst them. I’d felt her staring at me from the moment she’d stood in her designated spotlight, and I was sure it hadn’t escaped Tabby’s notice. Pippa might as well have been part of the wall, though, because I hadn’t looked at her once. How could I have been expected to acknowledge her when I had a blushing, panting, stubborn nymph at my side with panties certain to be soaked thanks to my handless ministrations?
“Did you want me to be up there when you thought about bringing me here the first time?”
The question threw me for a loop, and I was speechless for a moment. From the outside in, it seemed a perfectly reasonable inquiry, and it was a notion that had legitimately crossed my mind upon initially meeting her, especially when she’d so adorably tried to clean my pants in front of a crowd. The concept was foreign to me now. I didn’t have the slightest interest in seeing Tabby standing in one of those spotlights, ripe for the picking of whatever lucky man had the best hand. It was inconceivable she wouldn’t be the first chosen, after all.
“I considered it briefly,” I told her. The answer was honest but edged, forcefully injecting my current displeasure with the thought. “Briefly.”
“Why’d you change your mind?” she asked.
This also gave me pause, but not for the same reason. I was reluctant to share the truth. “I developed different intentions,” I confessed.
“When?”
“When I realized you were too spunky to pass on.” I slivered my gaze to her as the animal inside me sniffed prey. “I had my own selfish interests to indulge.”
“And what interests were those?” she pried, fluttering her lashes to feign naivety.
I pressed the remote in my pocket, and Tabby instantly crumpled. Her torso shot forward, effectively pushing her ass back against me, while her knees threatened to give way. I clasped my hand around her middle to keep her upright and felt her chest contracting with haggard gasps. Her skin was hot to the touch, microscopic beads of sweat beginning to sheen along her temples, and with her back flat against my chest I could feel her heartbeat quiver. In an instant, I had my hand beneath her skirt, prying the offending panties aside to slip a finger into her. She clenched around me, and I knew there were only seconds before she detonated.
Partially as a favor to her and partially because I wanted her exultation to be a scene exclusively for my eyes, I turned the vibration off. She continued to shake. Her nails clamped onto my hand, which was still pancaked over her belly to keep her stable, and she slowly returned to a regulated breathing pattern.
The second Amanda announced the auction over, Tabby turned to face me. Her face was still heated and her eyes were glossy. “I’m ready to go now,” she whispered.
I couldn’t have reacted faster. I’d been ready to get her alone from the time we left the blackjack table, and knowing she was now quivering in such a state that the lightest touch to her pussy would likely send her rocketing into oblivion was making the blood leave my brain and crash to my groin like a tsunami. Not bothering to talk to anyone or say obligatory farewells, I snatched her hand and started weaving through the ballroom.
We’d made it into the reception area and were almost to the door when we were stopped, and it was by the last person I wanted to see at that moment.
“I was wondering if I’d get a chance to talk to you!” Pippa’s voice was higher-pitched than normal, verging on screechy, and the darkness clouding underneath her makeup boded nothing good.
“Hello, Pippa,” I said stonily.
Tabby had stiffened. I could feel it in the way her fingers became tight between mine. She offered Pippa a courteous smile, but the usual warmth she emanated was absent. I waffled between enduring a brief, pointedly polite conversation with Pippa for the sake of propriety or merely striding past her and getting Tabby out into the limo as quickly as possible.
I didn’t have the chance to decide. Pippa stuck a hand out to Tabby in robotic fashion. “I’m Pippa Marquardt.”
“Hi,” Tabby replied. Her voice was as courteous as her appearance, but she took Pippa’s hand gingerly, like she was afraid of contracting something. “I’m Tabby Rickard.”
Pippa made a small noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort of amusement, and I gave her a warning look. Unfortunately, the questionable girl was too focused on Tabby to pay me any mind. Her lips were spread in a thin, ingenuous smile as she said, “I haven’t seen you here before.”
“No? I’ve been here.” I had to give Tabby credit. She had a way of maintaining sophistication while delivering her snappish wit. I also appreciated that she didn’t reveal she’d only been to The Club once before because I knew it would drive Pippa crazy wondering how many times the members had lusted after Tabby when she wasn’t around for them to lust after her.
“Ah.” Pippa tilted her head. “But you weren’t in the auction.”
Again, Tabby proved herself impressive as she sweetly returned, “I’m not an auction type of woman.”
Dense as she might have been, the veiled insult didn’t evade Pippa, who righted her head and darted her eyes to me instead. “I guess you could say it takes a special kind of woman to do it. The auction isn’t really suitable for just anyone,” she said. Though she was making eye contact with me, it was evident she was still engaging Tabby in the conversation by the way she kept her body turned a fraction away from my direction.
Tabby didn’t respond this time. I found myself admiring her for her silence as well. Most women in the upper echelon of our society considered insults about anything personal — their style, their net worth, their husband, their choice of dinnerware, or even their name — a declaration of war. Had Pippa made the exact same jab to someone like Amanda, she would have found herself on the receiving end of an assault that dragged every piece of dirty laundry out of her hamper while soiling those that were clean in the process. For months afterwards, Pippa would’ve been ostracized from any high-profile social gatherings while having her entire history ransacked for any skeletons hiding in her closet until she either had to move to another city and start fresh or pull out her claws, fight back, and hope to reclaim her place. I’d once heard as a child that men fought with fists and women fought with words. In our white-collar world, men fought with lawsuits and acquisitions to bring about financial ruin, and women fought with unsent invitations and well-placed rumors until the victim found herself on the front page for an alcohol-induced assault on a neighbor. Tabby wasn’t of this world, though, and I found myself astoundingly refreshed by how much class she displayed in her implied classlessness.
“Well, Owen,” the grudging woman trilled, “I’m glad I saw you! I got to learn something new about you and everything.”
“What do you mean?”
She motioned to Tabby, palm up. “I didn’t know you liked your women for free.”
Still, Tabby said nothing, but her fingers became so rigid they started painfully squeezing mine. I’d known Pippa was capable of jealousy, but I’d hoped she would find it in herself to rise above her unhappiness and recognize Tabby as the innocent bystander she was. Apparently, I had no such luck, and I didn’t need to look at my lovely companion to know she was upset by the insinuation Pippa had made.
“I prefer them that way,” I icily said. Not wishing to allow her a platform to continue her verbal tirade, I slipped past her with Tabby in tow and added over my shoulder in a tone reminiscent of the Arctic, “Have a good night.”