I gulp down the lump in my throat. There’s only one way to find out.
Stella reaches up and gently squeezes my shoulders. “Well, then. Let’s go meet your master.”
As expected, the dining room is lit like a deep cave. It doesn’t matter that it’s daytime, just like the girls’ rooms there are no windows to let in the sunlight. The entire sight is déjà vu. Each of the Matthews is positioned around the dining table exactly how they were when I met them last night. Felix sits at the left end, Griff at the right. Raife and Adam are side by side at the end opposite me.
Unease settles around me. I didn’t expect all of them to be here for this. Does this mean I’m supposed to serve all four, like Aubrey?
A nagging temptation to glance at Adam pulls at my chest. Just one look. One peek at his expression to get a glimpse of his regard for me after the Dark Room. Mindlessly scanning the others, I make out Adam’s form in the corner of my eye. But it’s not enough. Clasping my hands in front of me, I lift my chin and lock eyes with Raife instead. He’s the one I want.
Except it’s near impossible to focus on him.
I can sense Adam’s heavy gaze on me by the trail of warmth heating my skin. He doesn’t say a word. Doesn’t shift in his seat or greet me. He doesn’t have to. A pulsing energy buzzes off his body, bouncing between us like a circuit stuck on a loop. It vibrates against my bones as if the hard lines of his body are once again pressed against me. His strong hand cradling my jaw. Warm fingers brushing my hair across my neck. Lips softly ghosting over my throat.
“Sleep well?” Raife’s question is mocking as he glances between me and Adam.
I clear my throat. “Yes.”
He grins. “Fantastic. Stella?”
Delicate fingers intertwine with mine, and Stella leads me toward the Matthews. In the center of the dining table sits a serving tray with a stainless steel dome cover. I look from the tray to Stella, my brows knitted, but she just smiles.
“Eleven minutes,” Felix says from my left, glancing down at his watch. “No time for games.”
Raife waves a hand. “Nonsense.” His lips quirk as he slowly drinks me in from my head to my high heels. “There’s always time for games.”
“On your knees, slut.” The rough command comes from Griff. When I glance at him, his eyes are black, and his lip is curled. I continue to stand, and he runs a finger over his elbow, where I know a cut remains beneath his suit. “You got a hearing problem?Slut.”
A rhythmictap, tap, tappulls my gaze across the table. Adam’s leaning back in his seat, the top few buttons of his black shirt undone, legs outstretched. His eyes are honed in on the silver tray between us, his jaw hard, as he continues to methodically tap one finger on the table.
“Knees,” Griff barks. “Now.”
Lifting my chin, I fall to my knees and flick my eyes to Griff. “Better?”
He quirks an eyebrow. “For now.”
“Huh.” Raife cocks his head to one side as he stares at me. “Yes, you’re right. She does look far better down there. Stella, if you will?”
“Yes, Master.” Stella steps around me to reach for the tray’s dome cover. She lifts it and sets it aside, revealing a single, thin scarf. Agoldscarf. “Congratulations, Emmy,” Stella says softly as she retrieves the scarf and proceeds to tie it around my neck. “Raife Matthews is officially your new master.”
My legs grow heavy, making me thankful I’m not standing. My stomach flutters with a rush of surprise mixed with anxiety. There’s something very different about the idea of having Raife as my master versus the moment it becomes a reality. It feels too fast. Too unexpected. Tooeasy. Aubrey may have said he claims almost everyone at some point, but last night in the Dark Room he seemed like he couldn’t have cared less about actually claiming me. Not when he’d pawned me off to his brothers for ‘relief.’
I drag my gaze back up to Raife’s, hoping to mask my suspicion.
A full smile stretches across his sharp face. His dirty-blond hair sits in a perfect, hard shell on his head, his suit crisp, hands folded in front of him. “Well, have you nothing to say, lovely? Are you not as pleased as I am?”
It takes a second to remember my purpose here, to get my act together. Too easy or not, Raife is my key to Frankie, and I’d be a fool not to take advantage of the circumstances. As Raife waits calmly for my response, thetap, tap, tapacross the table gets louder, faster.
I pull my shoulders back. “I’m more than pleased. I’m eager to serve you.” I don’t know why I do it, but my eyes shift to Adam like he has a magnetic pull over me. For the first time this morning, he breaks his attention from the now-empty tray and looks straight at me. His finger stops tapping. Something darkens in his eyes as they flick down to the gold scarf around my throat. A muscle in his jaw ticks, his stare narrows, and the next word pours out of me in a whisper like it’s meant for one person only. “Master.”
A chair scraping against the floor drowns out my whisper as Adam abruptly stands.
My breath catches in my throat.
His eyes are midnight blue flames, pure streaks of fire, igniting my skin with a burn that melts my insides. As I squirm under his stare, the feeling dips between my thighs, thrumming with heat. I suck in a gulp of air and press my legs together.
His gaze drops.
My pulse is erratic, but I can’t calm myself as I watch him work his jaw from side to side, slowly run a hand across his lips. His intensity fills every inch of the room. He glances up at the quick rise and fall of my chest, then tears his eyes from me as he turns and walks around the table, straight past me and toward the exit.
