I gave her ‘I thought you wanted me to be bad’ look and disappeared behind the rope before she could make up her mind. A quick check over my shoulder confirmed no one was following me. Rounding a corner, I paused in the open doorway to admire what looked like the family dining room. All gold, cream, and crystals, it was a rich woman’s dream come true. The chatter of the students behind me still reached my ears and I chewed my lip for a moment debating whether to continue my bad girl trip or return.
A glint of light shone from down the passage. The alluring pull to find out what lay ahead had my soft footsteps following the polished tiled floor. When calming silence followed, I knew I’d ventured too far from the group. Finding them in this massive place would take time. Still, my eyes refused to glance back, or at my watch. Instead, it stayed captivated by the portraits hanging in the room—well, ballroom suited it better—that I’d walked into.
“Wow. So many,” I whispered into the silence.
There were hundreds of gold frames, starting from the high ceiling to normal eye level. It was fascinating. I moved from one to the next, reading the nameplates of those within reach. Two things caught my eye. Firstly, they were all images of men—not a single woman in sight even when I pivoted on a slow three-sixty turn to take in the other two walls. Nope. Just men. And two. Despite their different facial features, they all had blue eyes in varying shades. How was that possible?
The images of only men were easily explainable. They were probably war heroes who either fought or lived at the castle? However, the consistent eye color was not so easy to clarify unless they were family portraits. Were the painters instructed only to paint blue-eyed men? That would be a creepy notion if it were true. Even members of the same family had different eye colors. Still wondering about that, I didn’t realize I’d moved toward another doorway until soft sounds halted my feet.
“Shit!” I muttered, panic licking at my nape. Trying not to move, I pressed my shoulders into the wall. Not like it would keep me hidden. “Idiot.” Craning my neck, I tried to look inside the slightly open door. It was too dark to make out anything. As I saw it, I had two choices. Creep into the room in the hopes of not being detected or retreat. Where I stood was in a vast open space, and if I made a run for it, I’d be caught just from the noise of my running feet alone. “Screw it.” Swallowing my anxiety and with my back against the wall, I slowly inched forward.
The bulky door was heavy, the thick wood rough beneath my fingers as I pushed. It creaked open, and I stilled hoping it was just me that heard the soft sound. When nothing happened, I gritted my teeth and tried a little more until there was enough gap for me to slip through. Unable to make out much except that I stood just inside another large room, I squinted. Amber lighting from flickering candles tucked into alcoves high up on one wall cast shadows across the room as my eyes adjusted to the dimness.
The first thing I noticed in the softly lit space was the smell. A sweetly spicy scent like the incense my gran would burn during prayer rituals. I smiled in memory until the abrupt sound of someone choking filled the air. The blood turned icy in my veins.Oh, God.Was someone being strangled? Was I going to witness a murder?
Paranoid, I was about to turn back when someone growled, “don’t move.”
Busted.
I stiffened, digging my toes into my shoes to keep from running. Gulping for air, I took another few steps further into what I now recognized as a chapel. My eyes searched the pews looking for life before it flicked to the front of the room, starting up from the large wooden cross on the wall before dropping in a slow fall.
Then I saw it.
I felt my cheeks flush, yet I couldn’t move or drop my gaze.
In front of the altar, with his face angled downward, stood a man dressed in a white shirt open down the front and dark pants. His hands tangled in her blonde hair, and a woman was kneeling in front of him while he guided her head back and forth.
“Open wider,” he demanded, in another growl, his tone impatience.
Gagging sounds, now louder, came from her as she lifted her hands and pressed them flat on his stomach.
Oh, my God.
I’d never witnessed a blowjob or any sexual act before. It was a pretty hot sight, and I couldn’t look away until the air grew warmer. I licked my dry lips, conscious my body was reacting most strangely. My breasts felt heavier, my nipples hardened under my school shirt and the uncomfortable ache between my thighs startled me. Trying to get cooler, I pulled at my collar, my fingertips grazing heated skin.
Was this normal?
“All the way in,” he ordered.
That deep voice did strange things to my heartbeat.
Get out, I urged my brainless self.
Taking a step back, I immediately froze when his head lifted at that exact moment, his gaze locking with mine. Given the dim lighting and the distance between us, it took a moment for my eyesight to adjust before my mouth dropped open in a silent scream of shock, waiting for him to stop and come after me. But he did no such thing, and he didn’t stop her either. Instead, he continued watching me, his intense gaze almost burrowing into my soul, his lips curled in a smirk, one that I found alluring and sexy. I trembled, every inch of my skin on fire.
“Suck harder,” he commanded, his gaze still locked with mine as though he were speaking to me. His hips rocked back and forth in a steady rhythm, almost matching the mad thump of my heart against my chest.
Some part of me knew I should run, but my legs stayed riveted to the spot, my breath hitching in my throat, and I was sure I wasn’t taking in enough oxygen. That weird ache between my thighs grew in intensity and I had the uncanny urge to touch myself down there, something I’d never attempted.
“That’s it,” he groaned. “I’m going to fill your dirty mouth with—”
In my haste to block out the words, I turned sharply, and my elbow knocked a vase sitting on a pedestal to my left. I scrambled to catch it but missed and it clattered to the floor in a resounding crash, breaking the silence.
“Hey!”
I looked back as the man released the woman’s hair and stepped away. Not bothering to reply, I shot out of the room and raced down the passage, opposite the direction I’d come through, until it gave way to a large hall filled with knight’s armor and weapons. Footsteps gathered momentum behind me and the glance over my shoulder cost me. I tripped, not noticing the long rug in the middle of the tiled room until it was too late. Hands flailing, I attempted to regain my balance. I failed.
“Oof,” I wheezed, face-planting on the floor. Breathing hard, I rubbed my smarting brow.
