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“We can’t, Elsie, we’re working but you two go ahead and we’ll be there in spirit.”

Elsie is almost jerked back like a rubber band, she didn’t budge John or Brian pulling on their hands. 

“Yeah, Cat Woman, you go ahead, we’ll have fun watching,” Brian says, quite the naughty boy.  

We pop and grind on the dance floor, laughing and moving.  Damien comes and joins us on the dance floor with a friend of his, that little tattoo boy can really move for a grunge kid.  After three more songs I see Mr. Grumpy Bear Marco giving me the death glare from the edge of the dance floor.  When he catches my eye he motions me to him with his finger.  I excuse myself and meet him by the bar.

“Can I have a bottle of water please?”  I say to the bartender.

“Have fun with John and Brian?” Marco asks.

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

“They snuck up on us and scared us, I guess they were just checking up to see if we were having a good time.”

“Come on, Elizabeth, I want to introduce you to someone if you can tear yourself away from Dr. Love over there.”

I open the bottle and swallow half of it in one gulp and look at Marco like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’

“Marco, may I remind you that this is a party and I have friends, believe it or not, and some of them are male.  We are just having a good time,” I lift the bottle to finish it off.

“I’m sorry, you’re right, I’m being unreasonable.  I just wish this wasn’t a business function for me.”

Aw, he feels left out.  I’m so thoughtless.  He wanted to spend tonight with me and I knew he was hurt since the first time I told him I was going to be at a party tonight with Elsie. 

“No, it’s my fault, I’m sorry, but not for hanging out with my friends.  I understand what you are saying though.  I’d love to meet this person, let’s go.”

He moves to lead me to this associate of his, placing his hand possessively on the small back of my back, it turns me on every time he does, sending electric shocks coursing through my body.

We come up to Liana and another gentleman.  They turn towards us, Liana smiles a very fake camera ready grin and the guy at first glance seems nice and very laidback.  But looking a little closer his eyes are very sharp, not missing a thing. 

“Elizabeth, this is Steve Mikelson, my right hand man.  His father was one of the original members of the company when it began."

Steve shakes my hand, taking it in both of his big calloused ones.  That surprises me, from first glance I wouldn’t think he would have working man’s hands.  There is something about this guy that I can’t put my finger on though, his relaxed disposition is not all he appears to be.

“Elizabeth, it’s great to meet you.  I was wondering when Marco was going to bring you out of hiding and stop being so selfish with you.” 

The charm oozing from Steve is impressive and immediately disarming, he has a talent for quickly putting people at ease.  I see Liana out of my peripheral vision and I can tell her nostrils are flaring.  Whoaw, She-Devil, put those claws in.  It’s very difficult for me to believe that her strong animosity towards me is from jealousy alone, a grown, sane, intelligent woman wouldn’t act like this just from an attraction to a man, yes, it is Marco, but still, this is extreme. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too Steve, thank God Marco has you, I’m sure he’d be a mess alone.”

Steve’s smile is genuine, almost boyish. 

“Well, someone has to keep things working,” he laughs and everyone joins in.

I look through the crowd and see Brian watching us from across the room.  He has a serious expression on his face, but I suppose that’s normal for someone working private security with such high profile people in attendance.  I look towards the other side and John is standing stone still as well looking out over the crowd.  I envision them going out on some covert operation with guns and grenades strapped across their chests and knives tied to their legs.  I can certainly see the military men standing here in this room regardless of what they’re wearing. 

“So you and Marco have worked together a while?” I ask Steve.

“We pretty much came down from New York together.  The man who started the company, Vinny D’Angelo is an old friend of my dad’s, that’s how my family ended up in Florida, I guess Marco too.”  He looks over to Marco and he nods his head in agreement.

“So how do you like Wilmington?  It’s quite an impressive project, I must say,” I ask him, genuinely curious to know how this obvious good looking playboy likes our little city.  I wonder if he feels like a fish out of water.

He smiles crookedly and answers, “It’s been very, very accommodating, I couldn’t have asked for better.”

Interesting answer but I smile and nod, no one knows what someone else is in to and who am I to judge.

I turn in the arm Marco still has circled around my waist.  I stopped worrying about Liana a long time ago, I’ve decided I’m not wasting any more of my time and energy on that woman.  Unless she crosses that line, she doesn’t exist to me.  Marco looks down at me and kisses my forehead.

“Are you having a nice time, Elizabeth?”

“Yes, Marco, and it was really a nice surprise to see you here.  Even if we’re not ‘together’, it’s nice knowing you’re here.  I missed you.”

His eyes twinkle and it gives me butterflies in my stomach, “Me too, baby.” 

He pulls me closer and places another kiss on the top of my head.  I feel him sigh deeply against my chest and it warms me inside. 

“Marco,” Liana’s icy voice breaks our intimate moment.  “Don’t you think you should stop being distracted and focus on what’s important?”

The hair on the back of my neck has just stood on end as I turn to face her.

“My dear, I think it would behoove you to pay attention to how you present yourself rather than your assumptions on what’s best for others.” 

Her eyes widen unbelieving that I basically put her in her place.  I turn back to Marco, my back rigid as I’m trying to hold on to my composure.  Why he keeps her around, if he’s not fucking her, is beyond me.  We will definitely have to talk about this.

“Liana,” Marco’s voice is strained, “I will be the one to decide what’s important for me and I suggest you remember that.”  The fight to keep his temper under control shows only in the tight muscle of his jaw.

The color drains from Liana’s face and her expression pinches, she’s biting her tongue and it’s killing her.

“I should get back to Elsie, she’ll think I dumped her.” 

The fact of the matter is I’m not feeling exactly comfortable with Steve and Liana especially after that snide comment.

“I’ll come over in a little while, I’ve got some other people to talk to, ok baby?”

Yeah, to get away from these two.

“I can’t wait,” I say looking up into that face.  I see the real man behind that mask he wears for the world, the one that says cool, powerful, calm, confident, and maybe a hint of danger if you cross him.  I see endearing, kind, gentle, and compassionate as well.  Maybe so much so that he’s afraid of getting hurt. 

Chapter 11

Elizabeth

We are in his condo in the bedroom.  The lights are low and there is soft classical music playing in the back ground.  I didn’t know how erotic classical music is before Marco took me to the symphony at Thalian Hall.  That was the most sensually seductive night of my life, beginning at the restaurant all the way through until I feel asleep.  I know that whenever I think of that night for the rest of my life my body will react with a deep primal need that only Marco could have elicited and satisfied over and over again, taking me to that point of maddening hunger then making me shatter in total bliss.

He comes up behind me and places his hands on my shoulders with his fingertips touching my throat as he gently caresses my face with his, breathing in deeply so I feel the rush of air against my sensitive skin.

“I’m going to pull all of your hair back, my queen, I don’t want it in the way tonight,” he says softly in my ear as one of his hands removes the crown from my head and places it on the table.

“In the way for what?” I ask quietly.

“I’m going to flog you tonight, Elizabeth, tantalize every cell in your skin, making it sing with its kiss, but before that I’m going to put the Ben Wa balls inside you so every time you clench when the flogger touches you, you’ll squeeze them making them massage you inside, rubbing against your walls, until you finally can’t let them go and you’re dying to cum.”

Oh.  My.  God!!!  I cannot say anything as my sex aches with need at his words.  My mind is beginning to enter that state of erotic detachment, that feeling of being high from intense arousal.  He is my poison and my antidote and I want more and more, everything he can give me, until I crumble in ecstasy.   

He moves back slightly and begins to gather my hair in his hands, stroking and smoothing the thick mass into a ponytail using the tie from my braid.  His touch is slow and sensual as he wraps the length of it around his hand. He pulls my head back against his chest with his fist full of my hair, opening my neck to him, licking, kissing, and nibbling it.  I reach back and grab hold of his hard thighs, digging my nails into them through his pants.

“Strip for me, Elizabeth,” he says quietly in my ear.  He lets me go and goes to sit in the chair in the corner of the room, leaning back with his gaze fixed on me.  There is an intense look in his hooded eyes, his hands are stretched out along the arms of the chair and his intensity is reflected in his clenched fists.  I can see the erection growing in his pants and it stimulates me more and I know that this is going to be another one of those nights.

I slide the zipper down on the gown I’m wearing then slowly push it from my arms letting it puddle on the floor at my feet as I step out of it.  I raise my hands to slide the zipper down on the corset opening freeing my breasts and letting them fall.

“Now the hose and the shoes, baby.”

I slide my shoes off then turn to my side and raise one leg up to rest my foot on the bed.  I slide the stocking slowly down my leg then I do the same with the other.  Placing my feet on the floor, I turn to face Marco again completely naked. 

And I wait.  I wait for more direction because I know it’s coming.  Marco sits silently still looking at me, filling his eyes with me.  I don’t move as the anticipation of what’s to come builds within me each passing second.

He pushes himself from the chair and stands in front of me and begins to trace along the swells of the bare flesh of my breasts and I feel my nipples harden.  Lowering his mouth he follows the path with his tongue then dips it between them licking the valley there.  His hand slides up the insides of my thighs grazing my lips as his mouth claims my nipples, sucking them in his puckered lips, rolling them between them and flicking them with his tongue.  As he rises his mouth leaves a burning trail over my shoulder and up my neck.  His thumb swirls around my clit teasing that swollen nub then makes its way inside of me, pushing against my walls, driving me higher.  I grasp it, hold it, and squeeze it with all of my need.

“Lay down on the bed, baby, I want to tie you.”

His voice is gravelly and commanding and his eyes are intense.

Crawling to the center of the bed I lie down on my back and spread my arms and legs, reaching out to the posts waiting for my restraints, my fists clenching in anticipation.  As my sex pulses I can almost see in my mind’s eye my arousal being squeezed out of me from the clenching of my inner walls, my desire rising quickly. 

Marco moves from the bottom of the bed to the head, grazing my body with his fingertips as he does.  That light touch along the length of my body sends a ripple of shivers through me.  He takes my hand and places a Velcro cuff around my wrist.  Working his way around my body he fastens the other hand then my feet, always leaving a light trail with his fingertips as he moves.  He comes to stand at the head of the bed again and picks up a small box that I recognize, it’s something we bought at Adam & Eve.  Marco pulls out two silver balls attached by a string and begins to roll them around in his hands.

“These are the Ben Wa balls, Elizabeth, I’m going to slide them inside of you now then I’m going to blind fold you.  Ok, love?”

Holy fuck, he’s going to flog me…and I know I’m going to love it!

“Yes.”  The excitement I feel inside is heard in my words.

Moving back down to the foot of the bed he holds the balls in one hand and strokes my sex with a finger from the other.  Oh, those incredible fingers of his, sliding, gliding, moving through my lips, my folds, around my clit, in my hole, they’re making me drunk.  He lowers himself and begins to slide the balls over my mound, rolling them over my clit, around and around my sex and it feels divine, before pushing them up inside of me.  I don’t really feel anything until I clench then it feels…yummy.

He picks up one of my stockings and comes to stand by my head.

“Lift up love.”

I do and close my eyes.  The nylon touching my skin is always another match to my fire, making me burn hotter.  I love how my other senses instantly intensify, I feel more, hear more, smell more and I can smell Marco and he always makes my mouth water.