Blush (18 page)

“
H
oly shit.”

Maddy had been home from her shift at the diner for less than five minutes. As promised, there was a large box wrapped in brown paper sitting on the woven mat in front of her door.

As Mrs. Wilson from down the hall peeked out of her door with curiosity, Maddy lugged the box inside, placed it on the table, and attacked it with a kitchen knife.

“He’s nuts.” She couldn’t hold back the exclamation as she discovered the contents of the box. The items inside were layered with delicate pink tissue paper, but that didn’t soften their shocking impact. “I’m not going out in public dressed like this.”

The first item was a bustier. It was constructed of black lace that tapered to a V in the front and back. The slim straps were satin ribbons, far too easily untied.

Maddy would blush wearing this in the bedroom, let alone in public.

Closing her eyes for a long moment, she tried to gather some mojo. It didn’t help, but a quick glance at the clock told her that she had only twenty minutes before Alex would arrive.

The next item was a skirt, which soothed her shocked sense of propriety initially. It was almost ankle length, lightweight material, and the prettiest shade of bright blue.

Maddy held it up to the light to get a better look at it . . . and that was when she realized it was completely see-through.

She searched the box rapidly. Surely there were some missing pieces—a cardigan or a slip.

She came up with a set of strings that kinda, sorta resembled a thong, a pair of strappy black stilettos, and a boxed set of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Blu-ray Discs. The latter made her grin and melt a bit inside, thinking of him drinking out of her silly coffee mug, but her nerves still refused to dissipate.

Trapped, Maddy looked at the clock on the kitchen wall. Alex had been very specific about wearing only what he sent and nothing more. And he was enough of a control freak that she knew, deep down, he hadn’t made a mistake.

Mortified, she carried the items to the bedroom. A small part of her considered refusing, considered dressing in her own clothing.

But there was that trust issue again. She closed her eyes against the headache that threatened, and after stripping, pulled on the shreds of clothing that, to her way of thinking, barely constituted lingerie.

Thong, skirt, bustier, heels. Maddy avoided the full-length mirror in the bedroom as she hurried to the bathroom to comb her hair, brush her teeth, and add some mascara and lipstick.

What she saw reflected there stopped her in her tracks.

She looked . . . well . . . She looked sexy. Really sexy. The bustier pushed up her breasts, which looked lovely and creamy white next to the black lace. Though the blue of the sheer skirt wasn’t next to her face, it nevertheless managed to brighten her skin tone.

Maddy was stunned enough by what she saw that she was able to ignore the fact that she could easily see the entire thong through the sheer material.

The alert on her iPhone reminded her that she had only five more minutes. She hastily applied mascara and rosy lipstick, then scooped her hair into a bun rather than her usual ponytail.

She liked the look of her naked neck, rising above the ribbons of black.

At the door, she contemplated pulling a jacket or wrap around her, since desert nights could get extremely chilly.

Wear nothing that isn’t in the box.
Maddy had to admit that she was tempted to do it, just to see what would happen. Then she thought of Alex’s expression when he was angry and was overtaken with the mental image of a lion devouring a lamb.

She left the wrap. She would behave.

She looked at her cell phone again. He would be there any minute. As the seconds ticked by, Maddy started to feel as though the walls were closing in on her. Her hand was turning the knob of her door when she realized that, given her attire, waiting outside was probably not the best idea.

Her doorbell rang, and she started, even though her hand was already on the door.

“Oh God,” Maddy whispered to herself as she looked down and took one deep breath. She might have been nearly naked, but she looked good.

“Wow, Maddy.” Alex looked her up and down slowly, and she could see the pleasure in his expression.

Little champagne bubbles of joy bathed her skin. “Hi.” She smiled shyly. She felt better about her clothing now that he was looking at her like that. She averted her gaze to the floor, trying one last time to gather up her courage.

When she looked up, Alex’s wolf had taken over. Maddy swallowed thickly and her arms twitched, wanting to cover herself, since his avid stare made her feel so exposed. Somehow, she didn’t think he would like that, and she was too nervous to deal with the punishment part of the festivities just yet.

“I’m pleased you’ve followed my instructions so well.”

She didn’t understand why it mattered so much that he was pleased, but it did. “They weren’t that hard to follow.” This wasn’t exactly true. She still had to walk across the parking lot dressed like . . . she was.

As if sensing her dilemma, Alex shrugged out of the suit jacket that he was wearing. He placed the heavy fabric around her shoulders and buttoned it in the front.

It was way too big, covering Maddy to midthigh. She wanted to wrap her arms around herself to better soak in its warmth.

It smelled so good. It smelled like him.

“That should keep your neighbors from getting an eyeful.” Alex surveyed her, and something in his gaze told Maddy that he liked seeing her in his clothing. “But make no mistake, Maddy. Where we’re going tonight, the suit jacket won’t be allowed.”

His words were ominous enough to pull her attention away from the sight of him in his shirtsleeves, the top two buttons of his plum-colored shirt undone.

He was really just too good-looking to be true.

“Where are we going?” Once seated in the Turbo, Alex turned the car back in the direction of Vegas. Maddy had assumed that he would simply take her back to the penthouse until he’d made the comment about not being able to wear the suit jacket where they were going.

But if they were going to the penthouse, she was fairly certain that she’d be naked.

“If I tell you, you’ll obsess and worry the entire way and be unhappy by the time we get there. So I won’t tell you. I’ll show you. By then you’ll have so much to look at that you won’t have time to think too much.”

“Alex.” Despite his reassurances, his words made Maddy’s heart begin to beat double time. She curled her fingers into the edge of the leather seat as the Turbo sped down the freeway.

“Almost there.” They were on the edge of the city, in a neighborhood far removed from the neon lights of the strip. It was filled with businesses and dotted with the occasional house. It was one of these that Alex pulled up to, a monstrous two-level with a sweet Victorian design.

There were no signs, nothing to indicate that it was more than a home beyond the valets dressed in discreet black suits at the door.

“Will you tell me now?” Maddy didn’t think that her nerves could take much more.

Alex chuckled as he guided the Turbo up in front of what appeared to be the valet service. He was at her car door before the others could reach them, helping her out.

“Mr. Fraser. It’s been a while.” The man smiled at Alex, then turned his gaze to Maddy. He looked her up and down, and she suspected that he knew she was wearing something naughty beneath the suit jacket. “Very pretty, Alex.”

She felt exposed and somehow as if she should have been insulted, but she wasn’t. Instead, that flush of pleasure washed over her, perhaps because something in this man’s bearing reminded her of Alex.

“Maddy, this is Julien Knight. He’s the manager of this fine establishment.” The man, who was lean and lethal-looking as a panther, had flawless golden skin, black dreadlocks pulled back in a ponytail, and an eyebrow ring. He wasn’t her type at all, but he managed to exude sex appeal all the same.

“Oh, hello.”

Julien took Maddy’s hand and kissed it, his mouth warm against the skin of her palm rather than the top. He looked up at Alex with a cocked brow. “She new to this?”

“Very.” Alex placed an arm around Maddy’s shoulders, and even she couldn’t miss the fact that he was staking a claim. “She’s visiting tonight. Hands off.”

His tone was light, though she could hear the danger behind the words. Rather than scampering away in terror as many would have done, Julien threw his head back and laughed.

“Heard, understood, acknowledged,
el capitaine
.” Still chuckling, Julien waved them forward. “Go, go. I have work to do.”

Maddy looked up at Alex in alarm. If someone else spoke to him like that, she suspected they’d have found themselves out of a job.

Instead, Alex was grinning, like he was in the company of an old friend.

“Come on, Maddy, before Julien makes a bigger play for you.” He was half joking. Maddy was puzzled by the interaction she had just witnessed. The Alex she was seeing right now was more relaxed than she had ever seen him.

Alex pushed the heavy mahogany door, ushering Maddy ahead of him. She blinked at the change from the bright presunset light of outside to the dim, candlelit-enhanced interior.

“Welcome to In Vino Veritas.”

“
In Vino
What?”

•   •   •

W
hile she was distracted, Alex placed his hands at her shoulders, pulling the suit jacket away.

She clutched at it. “Alex, we’re in public!” She hissed as his insistent fingers brushed hers aside and, to her obvious horror, peeled the jacket off of her.

“No!” Her hands fluttered up, then down, then back up again, trying to cover everything all at once. “Give that back!”

“Maddy.” His fingertips never leaving her, Alex circled around until he was standing in front of her, blocking her view of anything but him.

She was new to this, but she needed to understand. When they were in his club—when they were in any club, or in any kind of sexual situation—he was in control.

If he wanted to share her beauty in an outfit he’d chosen for her, that was his decision, not hers. And he’d gone very, very easy on her in regards to the clothing he’d chosen.

“What you wear tonight is not your decision; it is mine. If I choose for you to strip naked and continue the evening in your skin, then that is what you will do. And you will not protest, because this is what pleases me.” Maddy opened her mouth, then closed it again, glaring instead of speaking.

Her expression told him that
no way
was he stripping her naked in public.

She was going to be upset.

“What is your safe word, Maddy?” He caught the merest glimpse of a scowl from her. She looked so cute and sexy when she was mad.

“Blackjack,” she muttered and fisted her hands at her sides. She was quite clearly not happy with him.

“You are free to use it.” His voice was mild, his expression neutral as Maddy’s head whipped up to look at him with wide eyes. His meaning came through loud and clear.

He watched as she battled with herself.

When she lifted her chin slowly and returned Alex’s stare, she was clearly still not feeling too friendly toward him.

He was proud that she’d won out over her insecurities, but she still needed to understand that, in this situation, she needed to respect him.

“Watch it, Maddy.” Although his voice was mild, Maddy’s eyes widened slightly with frustration, but he didn’t give.

It wasn’t enough for her to simply be here. She needed to give it her all.

Maddy forced her lips into a stiff semblance of a smile. Alex nodded, pleased, and ran his knuckles over her cheek.

“Trust me, babe. Remember?” He heard her sigh as he turned and walked down the long hallway, leaving her to follow.

She had to trust him, but it was a process.

“This way.” Alex gestured them through a door to the left. Maddy still seemed preoccupied, and it took a moment for her to look up at her surroundings.

“What is this?”

Alex tried to see the room through the eyes of someone seeing it for the first time. At first glance, the room appeared to be an upscale restaurant or bar of some sort. It oozed opulence. An ornate assortment of tables and chairs were placed in what seemed to be a haphazard manner around the room, though they looked too good where they were placed for it to have been anything but intentional. The tables were draped in black, and the chairs were midnight and gold, which matched the great swooping strings of gold lights that adorned the ceiling.

A massive bar of polished black wood stretched along one side of the room. Above it, gold-tinted wineglasses hung upside down from black racks, all neatly ordered and shiny.

The wall behind the bar—in fact, every wall in the entire room—was glass tinted the palest gray. If a person squinted, they could see that the glass was in fact floor-to-ceiling cabinets, displaying as well as organizing their contents.

What they were displaying was wine. Racks of it, rows of it. The entire room was floor-to-ceiling bottles of wine.

Alex approved of the music that was playing, recognized the song “Vampires” by Godsmack. The music combined with the unique atmosphere lent the entire scene a sexy, Gothic feel.

He and his partners had worked hard to make it stunning.

“Let’s have a drink.” Maddy resisted. He turned, raised an eyebrow at her, and she cooperated by walking forward with him.

He knew that she was embarrassed, but he was about to show her something that would hopefully put her mind at ease.

“Maddy, look.” He placed a hand at the small of her back, then urged her forward, gesturing around the room with his hand.

This early in the evening, there weren’t many patrons. He saw three couples, one threesome, and one man sitting alone. All had golden glasses and wine bottles, and one table had a plate of grapes and cheese as well.

“Huh.” He heard Maddy inhale sharply as she finally clued in to what he wanted her to look at.

He bit back a smile.