Chapter 10
Damon
The most alluring thing about her?
I can't have her. Not a single part of her. Everything I want—her body, her mind, the true person behind that outfit she's wearing—none of it is accessible to me. It has to be earned through hard work. It will take time. It may not even ever happen, though I highly doubt that outcome.
I always get what I want. Always.
But this time, with Elene, I will have to put some work into it. I won't get my fix just like that. Laying more money on the table won't help, buying her an extra drink won't help. She's a good girl, and she knows how to follow the rules. Besides, there's a reason why she's dressed in white tonight. She has slept with men in exchange for money before, but she won't do it here. There must be a reason.
Her fake eyelashes flutter nervously as she fights to find the right words. I don't think I could ever grow tired of watching her. The constant back and forth between her professional persona and the insecure girl hidden behind it. The girl I can't see. Not the girl in the tight corset, with seductive stockings decorating her long legs and her small breasts pushed up with such force that it's almost impossible to look away. Her platinum strands are loose today, her narrow shoulders draped in soft waves that are only slightly darker than the brilliant white corset around her torso.
"Tell me," I urge. "Tell me about the velvet rooms. Your madam refused to say much."
A smile crosses her face.
"Well, they are exactly what you would expect from the name," she begins, shyly looking up at me through her thick lashes. "Dark rooms with damask wallpaper and thick velvet curtains, the only means for privacy."
She pauses, displaying a cute smirk when her attention wanders across the room to something behind me. I turn around, my eyes following hers to the spiral staircase. A devil is leading a customer by the hand, swinging her hips seductively as she climbs the stairs in front of him.
"And inside the rooms?" I ask, turning back to her. "What will they find inside?"
Elene straightens her back, gaining height on me. She's no longer sitting at the bar as she was before, her body mostly turned away from me. Her position has shifted, her knees pointing my way and her body turned to face me.
"It depends," she says. "Everything has been accounted for."
"Everything," I repeat. "That's pretty vague. You'll have to give me more than that."
"Well, there's a room for pain," she starts, lowering her eyes to escape my gaze. "That's the red room. There are several of those. You know, for spankings, whippings—that sort of thing."
I nod when her eyes dart up to meet mine again.
"Then there's the blue room," she continues. "For sensory deprivation. There's no light and no sound. It's the only room that can be locked and it has a soundproofed door."
"No spanking in there, I assume."
"No spanking in there," she confirms, smiling. "Then there are group rooms, with larger upholstered surfaces."
"For orgies."
"Something like that, yes."
"I don't like sharing."
The smile on her face changes when she tilts her head to the side, shadows dancing on her porcelain skin as she looks at me.
"What do you like, Sir Graves?"
"Damon," I correct her. "And I don't think we should discuss this question. Not here, not tonight."
The expression on her face hardens.
"The black room," she says. "Maybe you'd like that."
"The black room?" I question. "What's that all about? Like a dark room?"
She shakes her head. "You would think that, right? But no, the black room is not defined by its lack of light."
"But?"
Elene leans forward. It's the first time that she's the one who closes the distance between us.
"It's the lack of everything," she explains. "Color, furniture, toys, utensils of any kind. Unlike the other rooms, this one doesn't provide you with anything but a blank canvas. It becomes what you make it."
Her face is so close to mine that I can feel the heat from her glowing cheeks and smell the vermouth on her lips. Only an inch, maybe two, that's all that separates our lips. I could kiss her. I know she wouldn't pull away, rules or no rules. I could steal that one thing from her.
But I won't.
She will only taste better if I wait. If I wait until she lets me in.
Until she lets me take her up to that room. The black room. Void of anything. The perfect place to strip her naked. To take her bare and raw, with nothing between us.
Her eyes follow me when I distance myself from her, turning around to the bartender.
"Another one for me," I say, glancing over to the waif-like beauty next to me. "You?"
She looks guilty when she shakes her head. "Just a water."
"Right, you're working."
She nods. "The night is still young."
The drinks are placed in front of us with swift, nearly soundless motions, the bartender disappearing from our vicinity in an instant. Her long fingers close around the glass as if it were a lifeline, saving her from drowning in a conversation that's going nowhere. She's not the only one who's new to this. I have never spent time with a woman under these circumstances. A woman dressed in sinful innocence, surrounded by kink and pleasure, the promise of sex so close—but I'm not even allowed to touch her.
As my eyes scan the room around us, I realize that the area has pretty much emptied. We're the only ones at the bar, and only a handful of patrons is still scattered across the lounges. The angels and remaining devils are competing shamelessly for their attention, something the guests visibly enjoy.
The stage has remained empty ever since madam introduced the girls, but I know there is a performance scheduled for later tonight. From the looks of it, most of the clients couldn't wait to get a taste of the rooms upstairs—and the girls that come with it—before the public performance downstairs.
Should I follow suit? Isn't that what all of this is about? Am I wasting an opportunity by spending the evening with Elene, someone I can’t even touch?
The imposing questions bother me only for a moment.
No. I'm doing exactly what I want to do. Even if she were to excuse herself and rebuff me right now, I wouldn't be interested in pursuing any of the remaining devils. I'm not here for a lay, not like that.
It would be different if she were one of them. If she could lead me upstairs. If she could show me the black room instead of just talking about it.
It would be different, but I'm not entirely sure it would be better. The whole thing would certainly lose part of its allure.
"Can I ask you something?"
I was so lost in thought that I didn't even notice that I was staring at her. Her hands, to be precise. My eyes rested on her slim fingers as they trailed back and forth along the rim of her iced water glass.
"Of course," I reply, fully returning my attention to her. “What would you like to know?”