Chapter Seventeen

Sasha

My whole body is on fire as Booker kisses me. I’ve never been kissed like this before. I’ve been kissed, obviously, but it was always so chaste. So respectful.

This is pure carnal passion. I can’t get enough of him. I press my body against his as he claims my mouth as his own, and I’m happy to let him. I imagined his face so many times with Master, and now I know what it really feels like to touch him.

To feel his lips against mine.

I hear his bag drop to the ground. The elevator doors close and we sink a few feet. Booker releases me, and I am left bereft and empty for a moment. I’m dazed and filled with lust, my mind completely clouded over. I watch as though from outside my body as Booker presses the button to hold the elevator, and we come to a complete stop.

When he looks back at me, his lips twitch upward in a sexy grin.

“Looks like we have all the time in the world,” he breathes.

Without hesitation, he’s back by my side. He sweeps me into his arms and kisses me again, his lips soft and demanding all at once. I open myself to him. I’ve wanted to give myself to him so much that I can only relish this moment, this sensation.

Booker’s hand glides up and down my back before it slides to the front and cups my breast. I gasp against his lips, and he pulls back a fraction of an inch.

“What are you going to do to me?” I ask.

It’s so much different, asking it out loud. I’ve only ever done this kind of thing through a text. In real time, it feels so much dirtier.

In the best possible way.

Booker continues to stroke my breast through my blouse. There are far too many items of clothing between me and that hand. I want to bare myself to him. I want to be naked before him, just as I’ve imagined, and I want his fingers to do the work this time.

His tongue.

He leans close so that his lips brush against my ear.

“It’s a surprise,” he whispers.

I shiver as his fingers move to the buttons on my blouse. He undoes each one, then pulls my white shirt out from my pencil skirt. His hand slides along the bare skin of my stomach as he skims his fingertips up to my bra. His eyebrows narrow for a moment.

“Hmm, this isn’t the direction I feel like taking. Let’s go this way.”

His hand glides back down until it reaches the hem of my skirt. He locks eyes with me as he loops his thumbs beneath the fabric of my skirt, then tugs it down. It slides to the floor, leaving me in nothing but a pair of black silk underwear.

“Lie down,” he commands.

Just as Master would.

I don’t break eye contact as I slide back along one of the walls, then land on my bottom. Booker kneels down and grabs my hips. He pulls them closer to him, then glances at each of my knees before he spreads them. I open to him, my pussy hot beneath the smooth fabric of my underwear. His eyes are hungry as he stares at my hot molten center. He reaches for me with his thumb and runs it along my slit, and my panties go wet.

“That’s a good girl,” he says. “Nice and wet. Just like I want you.”

He runs his thumb up and down, and my juices leak through my thin panties. When he reaches my clit, I jump and gasp, but he doesn’t stop. He slides his thumb masterfully along my tender flesh until my hips rock and arch toward him. My body is begging for more.

Booker reaches for my underwear then and tugs them all the way down to my skirt, still stuck at my ankles over my heels. With one smooth motion, Booker tugs them all away, and I am naked from the waist down before him.

He spreads my legs again and lies on his stomach as he runs his tongue along the inside of my thigh. I watch him. I watch every move he makes. I want to commit it to memory, so I always know what this kind of pleasure looks like. So I can access the memory in my dreams.

His head moves closer to my vaginal lips. When he gets there, he looks up at me and grins, then licks the tip of my clit. I jump, and he chuckles, then clamps his mouth on it and sucks in and out. I moan and my head tilts back against my will as he sucks. His index finger toys with my outer lips before he slides it to my tight opening.

He slips a fingertip inside me while he continues his sucking motion. It’s the most intense sensation I’ve ever felt. His finger moves in a little more before he pulls it out and circles my opening, spreading my lips. His tongue darts out and slides along my slit, and I cry out in ecstasy. He removes his finger and replaces it with his tongue. He slides it into me and licks his way back to my clit, where he once again continues that delicious sucking.

My legs shake. His tongue flicks against my bean, and I can’t contain myself. My entire body pulses in an orgasm as I cry out. Booker’s tongue doesn’t stop. Instead, he flattens it and increases the pressure, lapping at me as my sensitive body alights in flame.

“Booker, I… I… can’t!” I scream.

I’m beyond incoherent. His tongue is my lifeline, and I don’t want it to break. My legs continue to shake as he keeps working to get me toward that second orgasm. Just like he said he would. Master is ever the generous lover.

Now I know that to be true.

“Oh my god!” I scream.

My body jerks as another powerful orgasm rocks through me. This time, Booker does stop. I can hardly breathe. My chest rises and falls with the effort. I’m scared to look at him, but I have to. Now that the lust cloud has dissolved, the reality of our situation is settling uncomfortably back between us.

When I finally brave a look, I can’t read his expression. Does he expect me to make my move now? Is it my turn to please him, like we would have done were this a text conversation? In my mind, Master and Booker are two different men, so I’m looking at one and seeing the other, and my mind is a jumble. I would never presume to make a move on Mr. Knight, the boss. I would jump on Master in a heartbeat.

Ugh, this is all so damn confusing!

“That was…” I say. I can’t complete the thought. Is it weird to say that it was nice? Pleasant? The hottest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life?

Seeing my unease, Booker smiles and hands me my skirt.

“Yes. It most certainly was.”

He stands and presses the button for the elevator to resume movement. I wonder if this is it. Are we done here? There is so much that we haven’t said. I’m confused and sated and empty all at once, and it’s not an altogether pleasant sensation.

Not to mention I have about two minutes to get dressed before my ass is exposed to the entire lobby downstairs.

I slide back into my panties and skirt, then step into my heels. Booker bends down and slides the strap of his work bag back over his shoulder. I can’t read him. That’s distressing on so many levels. The man just had his tongue in my… well.

You would never guess that now. I turn to ask him what the hell is going on in his head when we reach the lobby and the door opens.

I stare out at an empty foyer, grateful no one is here. I must look like I’ve been ravaged by this man. I imagine my hair can’t be in that neat little chignon I made up this morning while I was delaying my commute. I can feel strands of it draping down my shoulders, in fact. I must look like a complete mess.

“What now?” I ask.

I need to know. What does Booker have planned? Is this where we are now? Physical in secret without words? I can’t live like that. I wonder if he can. What was it Lucy said? This was how he operates? No feelings, just sex?

That’s not what Master would do. There is so much more to him than meets the eye. More to him than whatever reputation he’s built up for himself. When Booker looks down at me, I can still see that hunger in his eyes and I know.

We’re not done yet.

“Come home with me,” he says. “Come home with me and I’ll show you what it means to live, Angel. I’ll show you what it means to feel. Can you do that? Can you handle it?”

It’s not quite a demand and not quite a request. Somehow, he’s managed to land perfectly between the two, managing to still be controlling while providing me an exit, if I so desire one.

I don’t. I have so many unanswered questions. I have so much more I want to do. What happened in the elevator was a teaser, but what if there’s more?

I hope there’s so much more.

“OK,” I say. The barest hint of a smile dances across his lips before it disappears. He pulls out his phone and presses a button, then slides it back into his bag.

“This way,” he says.

We step onto the empty sidewalk to see a black town car waiting at the curb. Booker steps up to the car and opens the back door then steps aside.

“After you, Angel,” he says.

I shiver at the use of that name. It feels so strange, hearing him call me that. My worlds have tangled and collided, and I have no idea what I’m doing here. Flying by the seat of my pants, I guess.

One never knows where they might end up with Booker Knight.

Booker slides in beside me. The car is already warm. It smells like luxury. I don’t know how else to describe it. Maybe it’s the scent of the leather seats or the crisp uniform of his driver. It’s a world I’ve clearly never been privy to, though I’ve always known on some level it existed.

The streets of New York whiz by as our driver makes his way in silence. I feel a little uneasy with all this quiet. Why aren’t we talking like we do in the app? If this were the app, we could be having jovial conversation the whole way. Is Booker that different in person? He can’t talk unless it’s in text?

I stare out the window and wonder if I should ask to be taken home instead. Booker slides his hand into mine and gives it a squeeze, and when I look at him, I still can’t read his expression, but there’s a question there.

Is he asking me to be patient with him? To wait until he’s comfortable with our twisted situation?

It’s a fair question. I don’t know if that’s the one being asked, though. I’m about ready to launch into a series of questions when the driver pulls up to another curb, and Booker opens the door. When he releases my hand to get out, the emptiness returns.

What’s that all about?

Booker says nothing to his driver as he closes the door behind me. He presses his hand at my lower back and guides me into a posh apartment building. When we reach the elevators, he walks past them to a separate set and inserts a key.

Wow.

I step inside the elevator and watch as he presses the button for the top floor. We stand side by side in silence once more as my mind drifts to the last thing we did in an elevator just like this one. Maybe it’s my turn to press the pause button and go down on him, but I don’t have the guts for that yet.

Maybe in time. If we ever learn to trust each other like we did before we knew who we really were.

The elevator dings at the top, and when the doors open, I’m greeted by an expansive penthouse apartment. Windows all around showcase the city of New York, but that’s really the only decoration. The place is fairly barren, no pictures anywhere, no sign that anyone actually lives here. It’s like a hotel room, as though the person living there never intended to stay long.

I realize in this moment that I know nothing about the man standing before me, even as I know everything. When I look at him, I can’t stop the question from coming.

“What am I doing here, Booker?”

In his gaze, I find my answer, and my whole body grows hot.