CHAPTER ELEVEN
From my closet, I pulled out my blue skater dress, the outfit that had started it all. My old friend, I said, holding it up against me, preparing for a surprise date. If it had inspired Noah to give me a job the day of the interview, there was no reason he wouldn’t like me in it now. That was unless Julia had been correct when she said Noah had intended to hire me before I even stepped foot into Stafford Scientific, but that wasn’t an assumption I was willing to make. The implications of it were too overwhelming.
Stripping off the uniform of my work clothes, I put the skater dress on and covered it with a cardigan. The fabric may be made of cheap sandpaper in comparison to the garments Julia had picked out for me, but I no longer cared. I had to find a balance between my old and new life. This dress was that balance. Ignoring the heels on the floor, I pulled out a pair of ballet flats from a suitcase and slipped them on, completing the outfit.
“You’re wearing that?” Julia asked as I joined her in the front room. Standing in front of the mirror, she applied a dark red lipstick, preparing for her own date.
“There’s nothing wrong with it,” I insisted.
“That’s not what I meant. It looks great,” she praised. “Good thing we’re about the same size. If you’re going to return to your old wardrobe, I can start stealing all the clothes Mr. Stafford was kind enough to buy for you.” She puckered her lips. “It was my evil plan all along. Be your roomie for free clothes.”
“I don’t doubt it,” I said lightly as the device on my wrist buzzed, telling me Noah was waiting downstairs. “Gotta go. Have fun with Ronald.”
In the elevator, knowing there would be another lesson, my hands began to sweat. After the night on the rooftop, I could only imagine what this one would be like. The sensation of his palm running down my spine as he took me from behind lingered across my skin, making it hum.
“Imogen,” Noah greeted me when I stepped outside, as he leaned against the company car, his suit as black as the vehicle, as black as the night. “You’re as gorgeous as ever.”
I could say the same thing about him. At times, I found his raging masculinity intimidating, reminded that he truly was the lord of his castle. Tonight was one of those times. It must have been the black suit. Like a black hole, it sucked me in, made me helpless to his every carnal command.
“What is the lesson tonight?” I asked when we were in the backseat of the car, his hand on my leg, lightly stroking the skin behind my knee.
“Experimentation,” he revealed. “How can you know what makes you feel good if you haven’t experienced the sun and the snow, the sand and the grass?”
I looked at him meaningfully, holding his gaze. “I think I know exactly what I want.”
His caress across the back of my knee quickened. “I’m glad you feel that way, but the lesson continues. Sometimes the choice isn’t either that or this. Sometimes the choice is that and this.”
“Doubtful,” I said, having an inkling of what the night was about. Recent history showed I had a very specific type. Sandy blond hair. Bright green eyes. And an overbearing personality, for better and for worse. With Noah, it was only for the better. No amount of experimentation was going to change that.
We pulled up outside the club with the curtains and the lotus blossoms. Mortified, I recalled how I’d tripped over the barrier post after running away from Noah and his seductions. Straightening my posture, I refuse to be that weak again. The tigress in me came out. Propelled to play Noah’s game, I would see his lessons through and enjoy myself in the process.
Taking my arm, as if we are arriving at a ball and not an underground cavern of fetishes and one-night stands, Noah escorted me into the club. It was all the same. The contortionist spewed flames above the crowd of dancers, who thrashed around like frogs in a pond. In some ways, this was a pond, a place to go fishing. A hunting ground.
“Do you see anything you like?” he asked, holding tightly onto me, as if he were afraid that if he let go, I would be swept away in the current.
Testing him, I pointed to one of the contortionists, a man with the chest of a bodybuilder. “What if I choose a guy?” I asked.
“That would break our agreement,” he said disapprovingly. “You must stay loyal to me, Imogen.”
I’d suspected as much. “But if I pick a girl, you’ll be disloyal to me.”
“Tonight is about you, not me. I won’t be touching anyone. This is your time for revelation, not mine.”
I smiled roguishly. “How do you know I haven’t experimented like this before?”
“Have you?” he asked casually, showing no reaction.
“No, not even close,” I answer truthfully, starting to wish he was a little more like Corey, that he wore his emotions on his sleeve.
“Does being with another woman go against any of your moral beliefs?”
“No, but it does go against our agreement. It’s still cheating,” I argued, unable to think of another word. We weren’t in a relationship, but whatever this was, it was meant to be exclusive.
This seemed to please him, but he persisted. “I’ll bend the rules tonight, for the sake of the lesson. So choose.”
As we circled around the club, I had mixed feelings. I had once been the prey, and now I was the predator. On second thought, in a club like this, everyone was the prey, and everyone was the predator. We were all here for the same reason, ruled by our desires.
When I failed to select someone, we climbed the stairs to the VIP section and stood on the balcony looking down at the dance floor. “You have a better view from up here,” Noah said, standing behind me, his arms wrapped around my waist so tight I could feel the magnitude of his manhood. “Who stands out?”
I leaned back into him and turned my cheek, rubbing it against the muscles of his chest. “How can you expect me to even look at another person when you’re standing so close?”
Without budging, his cock swelled behind me. “Try.”
Discouraged, I vaguely scanned the dance floor, uninterested until I saw a woman enter the club. Wearing a leather catsuit that hugged her form, her wavy hair was dyed dark blue and went down to her hips, reminding me of a comic book character. With no better option, I drew his attention to her. “She looks pretty badass.”
Pressing into me, he kissed my temple. “Then we should invite her to join us.” Snapping his fingers, he summoned one of the club attendants.
When the attendant handed the woman a piece of paper, she looked up at us with a lazy, seductive grin. Minutes later, she sat with us in the VIP section. Wedged between her and Noah at a table, I blushed, uncertain of what to say. The woman seemed completely at ease, dominating the air around us with her raw sexuality.
“You can call me Kay,” she said, fixing her attention on Noah. “And you can buy me a dirty martini. I like it dirty.”
“Don’t tell it to me,” he said, pushing my hair off my shoulder with a gentle affection that seemed out of place in the club. “Tell it to her. This is all about her.”
“Even better,” Kay said intently, causing me to shrink.
She must have sensed my intimidation because she immediately eased up. “I’ll drop the act. Clearly, naughty talk is not what you’re looking for.” Her eyes moved to Noah then back at me. “Don’t do anything you don’t want to do. I often see girls in here pressured by their boyfriends for a threesome. I’m game, but only if it’s what you truly desire.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I mumbled, but I did feel better. I already admired her audacity, but her candor made me like her even more. My intrigue peaked. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Good,” she said, relaxing into her seat. She addressed Noah. “Forget the martini. I’ll have a beer.”
“Are you from Chicago?” I asked, realizing we weren’t going anywhere anytime soon, not if we were ordering drinks. Well, she was. I was still forbidden to drink.
“Born-and-bred,” she answered. “My brothers actually went to boarding school with Noah here. Or is it Corey? I could never tell you guys apart.”
My mouth dropped open. “You guys know each other?” I asked, stunned.
“No,” she replied. “I know of the Stafford brothers, mostly from the events the boarding school put on, but they don’t know me.”
“It’s a big city, but it’s a small town,” Noah commented.
Strangely, it made me even more comfortable around her. We were both outsiders looking in. “Do you come to this club a lot?”
“Not enough,” she said wryly. “What about you?”
“I’m new to town. This is the second time I’ve been here, but it’s not really my scene.”
With the energy of a fellow tigress, she scrutinized me. “Are you sure you’re not just doing this to please him, the macho businessman telling the new girl what to do?”
Noah didn’t seem at all offended, but he answered for me. “Imogen does what she wants. She’s a rebel. I couldn’t tame her if I tried.”
Knowing how he thrived off structure, I wasn’t surprised that he thought of me that way, but I wondered if his opinion would change if he knew how much I wanted to settle down and live a peaceful life. “It was his idea to come here, but I freely followed. I’m curious,” I admitted, both to her and myself.
Reaching towards me, Kay seized a piece of my hair that I had tucked behind my ear and brought it forward so that it hung around my eyes, like hers did. “Then forget the beer, and let’s satisfy your curiosity.”
Pushing her chair aside, she sat on my lap, facing me. Nervous, my breath caught in my throat. I hadn’t expected to be doing this here, out in the open. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I only bite if you ask me to.”
Before I had a chance to reply, she lightly tugged on my hair so that my head tilted and she kissed my neck. Her lips didn’t have the same firmness as Noah’s, they were soft and delicate, like the lotus blossom. It was nice, but I didn’t feel any arousal.
Beside us, Noah watched, but I didn’t get the sense of a man who was turned on. He was more like my bodyguard protecting me.
When she kissed my neck again, I giggled. I couldn’t help it. But then I remembered the lesson Noah had taught me about releasing my inhibitions, and I closed my eyes, enjoying the tender caress of her lips against my pulse. It made me smile.
“That’s enough,” Noah said gruffly, standing. “The experiment is over.”
“But we just got started,” Kay objected, winking at me.
“You’ll find others you can play with,” Noah barked, insinuating it was somehow her fault any of this was happening.
“Is it over?” she asked me.
I cringed. “Yeah. I’m sorry.”
“Never apologize,” she told me firmly as she hopped off my lap. “Especially for someone else.”
“I’ll put a thousand-dollar tab on the bar for you,” Noah offered.
“Don’t bother. I’m here to have fun, not to be bought. I can pay for my own drinks. Later,” she said to me, smiling. Ignoring Noah, she returned downstairs to the dance floor.
Back in the car, Noah clenched his jaw, clearly upset. “We won’t be going back there,” he fumed, clicking his neck. It was not like him to show such emotion. I liked it. It reminded me that he wasn’t a sexy clone, but a sexy human being.
“Why?” I asked, challenging him, hoping I could get him to reveal how he truly felt about me.
“We just won’t. I’m done with that place.”
“Are you mad at me?”
“Of course not. The opposite. I’m very much not mad at you, and that’s what makes me so frustrated.”
His answer wasn’t good enough for me. “That makes no sense, and you know it. We both know why we won’t be going back to the club. You just won’t admit it.”
He ran a hand through his hair, messing up his perfect style, but then he regained his composure, sitting up straight as he adjusted the sleeves of his suit. “That’s not what this is about,” he said, a statue once more. “This agreement is temporary.”
Blinking back the hurt I felt, I fell into silence. If Noah refused to express his true emotions, then neither would I. We could go on pretending that neither of us cared what happened after the year was over.