Seduction, page 12
I laughed, but my laughter died in my throat as we reached the window that looked out on the terrace. I watched in horror as Justin stood up, picked up a plate, and threw it on the ground. It shattered into a million little pieces. And then he grabbed two glasses off the table and did the same.
What is he doing? Had he lost his freaking mind? I pushed out the doors and was about to open my mouth when Daphne clapped.
“Yes, just like that,” Daphne said. “I know neither one of us is Jewish, but I’ve always wanted to smash plates and glasses.”
Justin stomped down onto the shattered glass for good measure. “I can definitely get behind this idea. It’s quite satisfying.” He grabbed another plate and threw it on the ground. “Mazel tov!”
Okay then. I’d thought he was throwing a tantrum. I should have known better. Justin was a professional. He was really only showing me his sassy side because we were friends.
I stood on my tiptoes and kissed James’ cheek. “I’ll be right back. I need to ask Bee something.” I hurried off before he could ask me if I was going to question her about sex altars. He knew me too well.
“Hey, Mason,” I said. “Could I switch places with you real quick?”
“Trouble in paradise?”
I laughed. “No. I just need to ask Bee about sex altars.” Oh my God. Had I just said that out loud? These hormones had turned my brain to mush.
Mason laughed. “Well, Bee knows plenty about those.”
Bee lightly slapped his arm before he stood up.
Mason winked at me and walked around the table, plopping into the chair beside James. They started laughing about something.
Probably me. But hopefully not. I turned to Bee as I sat down. “So tell me everything. What happens at a sex altar?” I started eating the crab cake that had just been served. I didn’t care that I was using Mason’s fork. Bee looked surprised, but she didn’t know what it was like to be this hungry. My baby boy was insatiable.
She laughed. “Oh. I thought you were joking. I figured you just wanted to sit with me so we could talk about how all this food is perfect and Daphne is a psychopath.”
“Well that too, yeah.”
Daphne had just turned up her nose at the crab cakes. She truly was insane. These were award-winning crab cakes. I added them to my mental list of things to sneak off and eat during her wedding.
“So are you planning on creating a sex altar for James?”
“No, he’s setting one up for me. I think. I don’t really know how any of that works.”
“It’s not very complex. You know the altars at churches?”
I nodded. “The table where they pour the wine and all that.”
“Right. So it’s like that. But instead of blessing the food…James will be blessing your body. Worshipping it really.”
“Worshipping it?”
“Yeah.”
“How exactly?”
“However he feels like. You’ll be tied up, so you’re kind of at his mercy. His mouth, his cock, toys, other stuff. One time Mason used candle wax on me and I freaking loved it.”
I take it back again – Bee and Mason were kinkier. “Didn’t that hurt?”
“Don’t tell me that a little pain doesn’t make the pleasure that much better.”
I nodded. I really loved when James spanked me. I pictured the slap of his palm and then how soothing it felt when he gently rubbed the tender skin. Every time he did that I ended up practically dripping with desire.
“But it’s like…fun?” I asked.
“Oh, it’s the most fun. I definitely recommend silk restraints though. The metal really bites into your skin if you know what I mean. Rope is pretty painful too.”
I laughed.
“No, I’m serious.” She grabbed her wrist. “One time I had bruises for a week. Worth it though.” She winked at me. “You know what? Now you’ve got me wanting to do a sex altar thing tonight too. Lord knows we’ve earned it after this torture. I’ll do one tonight too and we’ll have lunch tomorrow and talk about all the sexy things our men did to us. Deal?”
“Um…”
She put her hand out.
I shook her hand without even thinking about what I was agreeing to. Damn, I really am terrible at negotiating.
“Get ready for the night of your life,” Bee said.
Chapter 15
Sunday
Ian drove us girls back in Justin’s car. Another thing Justin insisted on. He wanted to drive in James’ car. And…apparently I gave him whatever he wanted all the time. James really did need to handle negotiations from here on out.
Ian dropped off Daphne and then Bee.
“See you tomorrow,” Bee said and hopped out of the car. “I can’t wait to hear all about it.”
Ian pulled away from the curb and I wondered if he had any idea what Bee was referring to. I’d be absolutely mortified if he knew I was about to experience a sex altar tonight with James. I’d be mortified if anyone other than Bee knew. Or maybe Mason. But only because they did stuff like this all the time. Anyone else…nope. Mortifying.
Ian and I were both quiet on the drive home. Which was unusual for us. Which made my stomach twist with knots. Good God, he knows! I cleared my throat. “So…what’s up, Ian?”
His eyes glanced in the rearview mirror, connecting with mine for a second before moving back to the road. “Nothing.”
Nothing? Really? He definitely knows. And then I remembered something terrible. James had said the sex altar was almost set up. Which meant…someone else had set it up. And there were only so many people who could have done that because Ian was with us. “What have Briggs and Porter been up to today?”
“Working.”
How vague. Working on what? I bit the inside of my lip. If I was lucky, James was just messing with me and hadn’t actually asked for anyone to help with it. But that didn’t mean Briggs and Porter wouldn’t know about it soon. “Have Briggs and Porter already gone home for the evening?” There were cameras all over our house. I didn’t love the idea of anyone watching our sex altar-ness.
“You know one of them stays at all times, Penny.”
Oh, right. “Maybe they should both go home tonight. Give them the night off. They’ve earned it. You too.”
He looked at me in the rearview mirror again. “You know I can’t do that.”
I did know that. James and his crazy rules. We were safe and happy. We didn’t need three security guards. But I also refused to let any of them go because they were all wonderful guys. Maybe we just needed fewer cameras. Or maybe James had set up the sex altar in the bathroom where there weren’t as many cameras. Although a sex altar over a toilet didn’t exactly sound very sexy.
“Is everything alright?” Ian asked.
“Mhm.” Nope. “Did James mention anything to you about…tonight?”
“No, what about tonight?”
Did he actually not know? Maybe I was just overacting. I mean…who the heck would James let in our house to set up something crazy like that? No one. That would be way too awkward. Which meant Ian was being quiet for another reason. “Is everything alright with you?”
“Just lost in thought.”
“About what?” I held my breath, half expecting him to say sex altars.
“Nothing.”
He was being so weird tonight. “Are you mad at me or something?”
“No, not at all. I love working for you guys.”
Okay. I was about to ask another question when he pulled up to our apartment building.
“I gotta get this car to Justin’s place. I’ll be back in a bit.”
I’d have to question him another time. “Thanks for driving.”
“Always,” he said with a smile.
There was the friendly face of Ian I’d grown to love. I opened up the door and stepped out before he could do something silly like open the door for me. I was capable of opening doors myself. I walked into our apartment building, waved to the concierge, and stepped onto the elevator.
The doors dinged and I stepped off. I looked down the hall at the security door. I wondered whether it was Briggs or Porter who was watching us tonight. One of them was certainly in for a treat.
I opened up our door. “James, I’m home!” I dropped my keys on the kitchen counter.
There was no response.
“James?”
No response.
We must have beat them back. Which was good because that meant that James was driving carefully. I eyed the fridge. It was super tempting to have some watermelon. Or a pickle. Oh, or both. I was just about to grab the handle to the fridge when I thought I heard a noise upstairs.
I froze. “James?” I whispered this time.
No response. But I hadn’t really expected one. He wasn’t home yet. It must have just been my imagination playing tricks on me.
But then I heard another sound. Almost like a banging noise. I grabbed a knife out of the knife block. I have no idea why. I barely liked cutting up raw chicken. There was no way I was about to stab an intruder. But I still found myself tiptoeing toward the stairs.
“Penny?”
I screamed at the top of my lungs and spun around.
Briggs was standing there with his hands out, like he was worried about what I was doing with a knife.
“Briggs?”
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I heard a noise.”
“So you grabbed a knife instead of calling me?” He stepped forward and grabbed it out of my hand. He opened his mouth and then closed it, like he knew whatever had been about to come out was inappropriate. He was probably wondering what the hell I’d been thinking.
But I hadn’t been. I was just scared. “I’m sorry, I heard a noise upstairs. And James isn’t back yet.”
“Well, please call me next time, okay?” He looked a little calmer now.
“Can you go check?”
He smiled down at me. Like I was a silly kid asking him to check under my bed for monsters. “It’s just Matt and Tanner.”
“What?”
“Yeah, they came to set something up.”
“Set what up?” I swear I stopped breathing.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged and put the knife back in the knife block.
But I knew what they were doing. Good God, no! No! Matt and Tanner were setting up the sex altar. Why? Why on earth would James do this to me? I’d never be able to face either of them again. But…maybe I was early enough to stop them. Maybe they hadn’t seen what they were about to set up yet.
“Um…if you’ll excuse me.” I was about to hurry up the stairs, but Matt and Tanner had just appeared at the top of them. Looking like they’d just finished a hard project.
Tanner ran his fingers through his long hair that had gotten sweaty on his forehead. And he was wearing a fucking construction belt!
No.
And Matt wiped some sawdust off his cheek before he saw me and winked.
No!
They started walking down the stairs.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Briggs said from behind me and left. How badly I wished I could run after him. I wanted to hide. I wanted to do anything other than face Matt and Tanner.
“Nice to see you again, Penny,” Tanner said. He grabbed my hand and drew it up to his lips. He placed a soft kiss against the back of my hand. I’d seen so many movies about old fashioned gentlemen, but Tanner was the only one I’d ever met in person. We hadn’t hung out that much, but every time I saw him, I liked him more and more. I had no idea why Rob hated him so much. He was so nice.
“So…um…hi,” I said. I didn’t really know what else to say.
Tanner smiled and dropped my hand. “You’re blushing.”
Yeah, that made sense.
“How was food tasting with Daphne?” Matt asked and opened up the fridge. He pulled out two beers and tossed one to Tanner.
Tanner caught the bottle in one hand and then flicked the top of it off with just his thumb.
How the heck did he do that? Did he have the world’s strongest thumbs or something? That was an oddly particular and impressive talent. “You know how Daphne is,” I said and turned to Matt. “Is that why you didn’t come today?” I was thankful for the change of topic. Let’s talk about Daphne and how she should be banned from all restaurants.
“Nah. I just already had plans to hang out with Tanner.”
“In my house?” I asked. Damn it, why did I just redirect the conversation to the awkwardness?
Matt laughed. “No, we were on our way to the bar around the corner when James called me.”
They were on their way to pick up chicks at a bar. And James diverted them here for…God. I looked back and forth between him and Tanner.
Tanner took a long sip from his bottle. “I owed James a favor,” he offered.
“Oh. Okay. Cool.” I scratched the back of my neck. I had suddenly forgotten what to do with my hands. “Do either of you want some watermelon?” I couldn’t embarrass myself if I had a mouthful of watermelon.
“I’m quite alright,” Tanner said. “Thank you for offering. But you might want to rethink that. The last thing you want is to need to pee while you’re all tied up. Unless James is into watersports…”
I closed my eyes and pretended like this wasn’t happening. But when I opened my eyes Matt and Tanner were still standing there smiling at me. “If you’ll excuse me. I’m just going to go kill myself.”
Matt laughed. “It’s fine, Penny. We had nothing to do today anyway. And it’s not like neither of us has set one of these up before.”
How kinky were all my friends? I was beginning to think I was the only woman on earth who hadn’t been worshipped at a sex altar.
“I have one permanently mounted in my apartment,” Tanner said. “Or two, depending on the day.”
“See?” Matt gestured to Tanner. “Nothing to be embarrassed about.” But then he looked back at Tanner. “Wait, do you really?” He laughed. “Where are they?”
“In my sex dungeon of course,” Tanner said and then turned his attention back to me. “Well, we should probably get out of your hair, Penny. Your husband just got back and I have a feeling he’ll want you all to himself. But if you’d like an audience, I’m free all night. I can even arrange for an entire gallery if you’d like.”
A gallery?! Was that the official term for a group of perverts? I looked over my shoulder. James hadn’t come in yet. “No gallery. And how do you know he’s back?” I turned back to Tanner.
“He wrote to me.” Tanner coughed. “Texted me, I mean.” He pulled out his phone almost as if he needed to prove to me that he had one.
Okay. Tanner really was a nice guy. Hell, he’d just done James a huge awkward favor in his spare time. But Rob did maybe have a point…Tanner was a bit strange.
“Oh, I almost forgot my houseboy,” Tanner said. He walked to the bottom of the stairs. “We’re leaving!” he yelled.
Wait, was there someone else involved in this ridiculousness?
A short little man in a butler’s outfit ran down the stairs. “Sorry, Master Tanner,” he said. “I was just putting the finishing touches on the altar.”
No! I didn’t even know this man and he knew about the sex altar? I cleared my throat, hoping that would be the end of that. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Penny.”
“Oh, don’t mind Nigel,” Tanner said. “He’s my houseboy. He likes it when you ignore him. Just pretend he’s a piece of furniture. Let him blend in.”
I looked at Nigel and then back at Tanner. “I don’t really understand anything that you just said.”
Tanner laughed. “I get that a lot. Well, we’re off. Enjoy yourself,” Tanner said. “I’ll see you again at the wedding.”
I waved goodbye to him and Nigel, but then caught Matt’s arm. “You invited him to the wedding?” I whispered. “Rob’s going to kill you. And who the hell is that weird little man?”
Matt laughed. “Tanner’s houseboy. He literally just told you that.” He lowered his voice. “Nigel is super creepy, right? He really likes to stare.”
We both glanced toward the door, where Tanner and Nigel were waiting for Matt. Tanner was looking at his phone but Nigel was staring directly at us. Or…rather…at Matt. He was definitely just staring at Matt.
“Anyway,” Matt said. “Every single guy needs a wingman at a wedding. It’s bro-code. Rob will understand.”
“Will he? Because he was pretty upset today that you were hanging out Tanner instead of going to the tasting.”
“Rob will be so busy on his wedding day that he won’t notice. Trust me.”
I did not trust him. Rob had basically thrown a hissy fit in the car. “Matt…”
“Don’t say you don’t trust me,” he said. “You trusted me to set up a freaking sex altar in your apartment. Have fun, Penny.” He kissed my cheek and then left with Tanner.
My stomach was uneasy from the fact that Matt was inviting Tanner to Rob’s wedding. And even more uneasy because there was a sex altar waiting for me upstairs that two of my friends plus Nigel had just built. Was James trying to mortify me? Was that part of it? A religious shaming thing? Because I’d had enough of that growing up in a Catholic church.
I didn’t know whether to run upstairs to look at it or stand by the door and freak out at James when he came in.
I didn’t have to decide, because right then, James walked in. He was smiling, not a care in the world.
“James Hunter, did you seriously ask our friends and Nigel to build a sex altar for us upstairs?”
“Who’s Nigel?” James asked.
I ignored the question. Nigel was the least of our concerns. “Do you have any idea how mortifying that is? I’ll never be able to look at Matt or Tanner or Nigel ever again without thinking about that.”
“Well, hopefully after tonight you’ll only be thinking about me when you think of sex altars.”
“It’s not funny,” I said and lightly slapped his arm. “This is so embarrassing.”
“I love when you blush.”
“Don’t flirt with me! You are in so much trouble.”
He flashed me his perfect smile.
“I will slap that smile off your face.”
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