My words were barely a whisper but I could tell he’d heard them. I’d heard them and had to quickly slip back into character because my accent had slipped out. Face covered up or not, I wasn’t going to risk being found out. Of course, there were ways to handle my secrets getting exposed if it happened. I simply didn’t like the mess of the different sides of my life mingling. Society was far too strict on women with things like sex and their control over their own bodies. If anyone I knew in a professional capacity knew I frequented a place like this, even if I never partook in activities, my myriad of degrees would be deemed worthless in their eyes all over what they would think was a moral failing.
Pompous, self-righteous pricks.
I had to blink again because my mind had wandered but my eyes had not. They were still on the person in front of me and I was battling with myself on whether I should poke him to see if he was corporeal or not. This place was one where the bounds of normal society were loosened but I could see the red and black bracelet on his wrist that matched mine. It signaled that permission was needed before someone could physically engage with him and now I was even more curious as to why he was here.
My God, what are you doing, Asha?
Right now I was gawking. And frankly, I couldn’t help myself. A half mask covered the defining features of his face but it didn’t matter because what I could see showed he was undeniably attractive. His jaw was wide and strong, cheekbones razor sharp and his lips full and a deep pink with a darker top lip that accented the deep bronze of his skin. His height was impossibly tall and although I knew genes were funny things his features didn’t match his height. At least I didn’t think they did. This man was almost two meters tall and despite my normally impressiveheight of 5’11, I had to crane my neck to look up at him. And that was with the heels I’d worn tonight.
“Is that flirtatious banter or are you questioning your lucidity because you’ve taken something?”
My brows dipped and I glared at him from beneath my mask. His words caused an immediate reaction and I hated him for it. His voice was arresting. So deep I was surprised that I’d heard him over the moans and fanfare of people reaching their peak around us. And the sound sent that fire skittering through my veins yet again. My hair was pulled back into a bun that now felt too tight as I battled the urge to squirm beneath his watchful gaze. My focus now sharpened on the person I felt would change my mind on men being a worthless distraction beyond the need to procreate. And judging by the near-ambivalent look on his face I knew he was amazing at it. No one who didn’t have verifiable proof of their efficiency and mastery of a subject would look so disinterested in a setting like this. He had nothing to prove and that made me even more intrigued.
“No, on both parts. I’m questioning your being real purely out of the disordered chaos that I call a mind. Surely someone like you who deigns to walk these halls isn’t here for any reason but to intimidate all who seek their desire unconventionally. I feel as though your pleasure is found in proving to them that they would never measure up to someone like you.” I waved my hand around the room allowing my eyes to linger on a woman who was forming a five-pointed star with men making use of both her hands and orifices.
There is no way that feels good.
When I turned back to him, his smile had only gotten broader, those full lips of his not losing their plumpness despite how he was smiling at me. And strangely enough, I knew this wasn’t something he did often by how awkwardly charming thegesture was. That made me feel something I wasn’t about to put a name to.
“Again, it sounds as though you’re flirting with me.”
I was struck at the course he seemed to want to chart with me and my attempts and shooing him away were proving futile.
“Trust me, I’d never have that inclination.”
Five minutes ago I would’ve been far more assured of that stance than I currently was but he didn’t need to know that. Frankly, I wasn’t well-versed in how to flirt but this banter felt like something akin to it. And again, I had no idea why it came so naturally.
“You seem to have a disdain for the people here and what they’re doing. Are you curious or are you here to remind yourself that you’re above this type of thing?” He folded his broad arms across his chest and that’s when I realized he was wearing the type of clothing that emphasized every muscle on his body but would prevent anyone from being able to detail what his skin looked like beneath. He must have recognizable tattoos or birthmarks. He was either government, military or a criminal. I laughed because it wasn’t like those worlds were mutually exclusive. Hell, the creators of the laws did so in order to be in the positions of power to break them with no repercussions.
He seemed to ignore my laughing so I followed up his question with a question. If he wasn’t thrown off by my madness maybe I needed to let it out in full display so he had a reason to be.
“What type of thing?” I wanted to elaborate but refused to. The desire for our banter to continue was my primary focus.
“Being so gauche as to desire something as base as pleasure.”
His description had my interest piqued, which was infuriating but this was the most fun I’d had atExplicitsince I’d become a member so I played with him for a while longer.
“You find pleasure a base endeavor? That’s a fascinating concept if that’s what you’re admitting. I would think someone with your height and build didn’t need to be in a place like this to seek attention.”
“And somehow I know you’re making a simple observation yet it still seems like flirtation to me.”
He was witty. Besides my father, I hadn’t known anyone who I could tolerate being around and even he had his moments where masking my disdain was the only way to keep me tolerant of some of his movements. I broke another rule as I felt the sides of my mouth lift into a smile.
“You’re right, it is a simple observation. Nothing more.”
His mouth quirked again, as if he knew I refused to admit that I was flirting with him. The last thing I wanted was for him to think something more was going to come of this. My social battery was going to hit zero soon because a place like this was a drain on my spirit. For some reason, I wasn’t eager to run away from him like I should’ve been.
“I would believe that if I hadn’t seen how easily you’d dismantled a man that is very close to being a billionaire. No one in this place tends to so easily dismantle a man of that caliber without there being more to you thansimple observation.”
The way he knew so much about my little pet beneath his mask had me curious about his other observations. I knew a lot about the people here. Like the woman being made into a star was the very unhappy wife of a politician who was very well known. The thing was he was here, watching her being bargained away and used. I didn’t know if he desired being a cuckold or if having the information that his wife’s frequently used caverns gave him access to were his true kink. It was probably a mixture of both. Political marriages in this city were normally about power and nothing about love so I was sure that she was a useful tool in his arsenal and she got the pleasurehe was probably unable to provide from others without causing a scandal. All while they boasted about their family values and strong religious convictions.
Hypocrisy made my skin crawl but whatever worked for them.
“Hmmm.”
It was all I could respond with because this man needed to be handled with more regard than anyone else here. I’d normally walk away from a conversation that got too intense but rarely had one ventured into territory that I found titillating before. It was always centered on what they wanted to do for me so they could do whatever they wanted to me and those conversations made me drier than the Sahara.
His brows rose and he crossed one arm over the other a move that made the broadness of his arms and chest all the more obvious.
