Chapter Fourteen
“Stop fidgeting,sir. You’re not helping thematter.”
Alexander glared at Samuel. “All the advances in science and technology over the years and no one’s found a way to make thissimpler?”
“It’s a bowtie, sir. It’s not supposed to be simple.” Samuel coaxed the tie into place, then stepped back. “There. Now don’t go fiddling with it. And for God’s sake, snap out of this snit before you go and pick up Miss Bennett. I’m quite certain she will not appreciate theattitude.”
Samuel strode out of the room after Alexander’s withering glare. It didn’t help that his majordomo was right. He hadbeen in a bloody awful mood all day. Alexander shrugged into his jacket and gave his appearance a once-over in the mirror. His tense shoulders interrupted the lines of the jacket. With a deep breath, he forced himself to relax. Spending the past day and a half trapped in stuffy conference rooms with even stuffier lawyers had soured his mood. Only the prospect of seeing Elizabeth tonight kept himsane.
He usually hated parties, but with Elizabeth at his side, perhaps the drudgery of arranged seating, speeches, and making small talk with some of his business associates wouldn’t be quite so awful. And later…she’d agreed to spend the night with him. He wanted her bound to his bed, blindfolded, andbegging.
At Elizabeth’s door, Alexander fought the urge to fiddle with his tie as he waited for her to answer hisknock.
When she did, he forgot tobreathe.
Her golden locks tumbled from a messy up-do over her shoulders. Only a hint of makeup enhanced her features, a touch of glitter to her eyelids, a shine of gloss on her lips. Her fingers fluttered over the string of citrine diamonds around her throat, the necklace, bracelet, and matching earrings on loan, with an option tobuy.
Sparkling golden fabric swathed her body in gentle waves and curves. The shimmering gown wrapped her in sunlight, and the heels put her at least three inchestaller.
“Eliz—” He cleared his throat. “Elizabeth, you are a vision. Your hair…” Alexander reached out to touch the silky locks, but she stepped back, nearly losing her balance. Gripping her elbow, he steadiedher.
“No touching. Kelsey worked on me for two hours to get my hair to stay this way. If I’m photographed with my hair a mess, she’ll have myass.”
“Kelsey doesn’t get your arse,chérie.I do.” Alexander slid his arm around her waist, fighting the urge to take her home and skip the ball completely. “Tonight, I intend to show you what I can do to you naked. Youhavebeen thinking about that, have younot?”
“Everynight.”
Despite her quiet tone, she held his gaze, though her cheeks flushed a delicious shade ofpink.
Alexander leaned in and brushed his lips to her cheek. The faint scent of almonds and gardenias wafted over him. He’d smelled that scent before. The night she’d come to dinner. “What else did the talented Kelsey do to you,Elizabeth?”
She squirmed, and the blush spread down her neck to herchest.
“What,” he kissed up to her earlobe and twirled his tongue around the drop of ice that dangled, “else.”
“She…ah…oh… She works at The Waxing Spa on Newbury Street.” Elizabeth’s legs trembled as Alexander skimmed his hand down her hip until he found the slit in the dress just above her knee. Trailing the pads of his fingers as high as the dress would allow, he reveled in the tiny mewls and moans she made as she clutched at hisshoulders.
“We should go before I lose all of my resolve and take you right here.” Once Alexander was confident she could stand on her own, he stepped back enough to drink in the sight of her body again. Elizabeth clenched her fists at her sides, fighting for control of herbreath.
He retrieved her wrap from the bedroom and, after drawing the flowing number in the same shimmering gold around her shoulders, Alexander stopped her from securing thebutton.
“Allow me, Elizabeth. Trust me to take care of you in every way.” He fastened the button and rested his hands on her arms. “Allnight.”
“I don’t get a say in anything?” she asked. “You want me to be your slave? In public? I don’t thinkso.”
He barely stopped his jaw fromdropping.
“I did someresearch.”
Alexander didn’t want a slave. No, that was his brother’s predilection, but knowing Elizabeth was comfortable enough to research what he might want and wasn’t bolting at the very mention, waspromising.
“I will never be your Master, Elizabeth. The role has never interested me, and you…you are no slave. I am, however, your Dom, and perhaps one day, I will be more. Tonight, I ask you to put your trust in me. With the press, on the dance floor, and later…in the bedroom. Youalwayshave a say. You have a brilliant mind and a strong backbone, and I never want you to feel you cannot usethem.”
A hint of a smile curved her lips, and she hadn’t dropped her gaze. Most subs he’d played with before were conditioned to never look their Dom in the eyes unless commanded to. He’d enjoyed the dynamic, on the surface, but the interactions had always left him wanting more. Now, he knew why. Elizabeth’s strength and spirit made them equals, even when he commandedher.
Alexander offered her his arm. “You take my breathaway.”
“And you look good enough to eat,” she said as they waited for the elevator and then immediately snapped her mouth shut,embarrassed.
