Black Light: Exposed (Black Light Series Book 2) Read online

  “Sometimes. Does that bother you?” Thomas rested his glass back on the table, his voice still light and casual.

  “Not at all! I was just curious.”

  “Madeline.” There was a chastising tone to the way he said her name, something about it making her want to apologize already even though she had no idea what she’d done wrong in his eyes. “It’s fine if it bothers you, and I’m happy to discuss it. None of this works if we’re not honest with each other. Honesty and communication are everything, and while I’m not asking you to blindly trust me right now, there does need to be some trust if you truly want to play.”

  The words settled like a weight in her chest, forming a lump in her throat that she had to take another sip of her drink to push down. Honesty was definitely not her forte. Licking a trace of vodka from her lower lip she glanced over at him, putting everything into maintaining the appearance of calm. “I know how important honesty is, and that was honest. I’m not a child, I know you’ve been with other people, as have I. We’re both adults, right?”

  He nodded and edged back to smile at her a little. “You’re absolutely right. So, why don’t you tell me what some of your favorite kinks are? I’m not saying we’ll do them, but I’d like to get to know you better.”

  “Well, you brought up spanking.” The grin that stretched her lips was honest, and he returned it.

  “I did. Do you like to get spanked, Madeline?”

  She felt her damnable blush returning, the curse of freckled people everywhere, but she spoke. “I do, and you can call me Maddie, by the way.”

  “Hmmm, Maddie…” There was a purr in his voice as he said her name and it made her press her thighs together. “Tell me, do you like to be tied down when you get spanked, Maddie?”

  The sudden lack of air in the room made her head swim a little as she imagined what some of those leather straps would feel like across her limbs, and there was no denying the rush of wetness between her legs. “It’s a definite turn-on.” Not a lie. It was like he’d reached into her fantasies and plucked it free.

  “What else do you like?” He leaned forward and rested his hand on her leg, inching up the hem of her dress just enough that the cool brush of his fingers teased the inside of her knee, and she realized she had parted them for him without thinking.

  A crack of leather striking skin made her muscles twitch and she met his gaze. “That.”

  Thomas tilted his head with a smile. “I think that was a belt, or a strap. Do you like to be spanked with a belt like a naughty girl?”

  If anyone had asked her that on any other day of the week she might have thrown her drink in their face, or flipped them off and said something about misogyny, but the low growl in his tone made her pussy clench with unexpected anticipation. “Maybe,” she admitted, and his fingers traced a little higher on her thigh, sending a rush over her skin.

  “You’re blushing, Maddie.”

  “I’m sorry.” Pressing her drink-cooled hand to her cheek she felt the burning heat. Her cheeks had to be flushed bright red from her own nerves and the beginning surges of the vodka. “I can’t help it, it just happens.”

  “I don’t want you to help it. It makes you look so beautiful, just… a little touch of innocence.” Thomas slid his touch higher, brushing the place where her thighs still touched and she was tempted to spread her legs wider for him. To offer herself up like some sacrifice. “But you’re not that innocent, are you, Maddie?” His hazel eyes bored into her with an eerie kind of power, and she felt her breath grow shorter as arousal stormed through her veins.

  “No, I’m not,” she whispered. Truth.

  “Do you want to play with me tonight?”

  “Yes.” Definitely not a lie. She wanted him. Probably more than she’d ever wanted any stranger. There was some dark mystery in him, some forbidden thing that called to the good girl in her and beckoned her closer. Some thing she wanted to taste, to feel, and this could be her only chance.

  “Say ‘yes, sir’ for me.” Not a request, a command… and, strangely, it only made her heart race.

  “Yes, sir,” she repeated.

  He gave her a look that promised corruption, and she realized she actually wanted it. Wanted all of it. The spanking, the leather, the bondage, and other things she couldn’t even name but she knew he could give them if she’d just give in. And she was definitely going to give in.

  For the sake of the story, of course.

  Lie.

  She knew it was a lie as soon as the idea passed into her head, because while she was sure this would make for one hell of a headline, the fact that she was easing her knees apart in hopes that this absolute stranger would inch his fingers just a little higher was all about her own wicked little desires and the epic sexual drought she’d been in for almost a year.

  Dragging his trimmed, manicured nails across the delicate skin of her thigh, he captured her eyes for a moment – and then sat back and removed his hand completely. She leaned forward as if she could somehow follow his touch, but then caught herself and snapped her knees back together.

  He chuckled softly at her obvious self-correction. “You’re a lovely submissive, Maddie, that’s for sure.”

  “Thanks,” she replied lamely, her mind wrapping around the term and aligning it with everything she’d ever heard, or read, and everything she could see now. Time for a gamble. “And you’re dominant.”

  “I figured that was pretty clear.” He watched her carefully over the rim of his glass as he took a sip of the golden liquid.

  Right. Alcohol. That was a good idea.

  She took another hearty drink, appreciating the warmth blossoming in her stomach that matched the heat in her cheeks and the growing fire between her thighs. “So, question. Do you want to play with me tonight?”

  “I do.” He inclined his head towards her as he tilted his glass back and forth on the tabletop. “But I want to remind you again that although you’re my guest, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. I paid for your admission here, not for you.”

  Ah.

  While she hadn’t been thinking of it that way, hearing him say it aloud did bring some level of comfort to her. He was like some white knight, no, a dark knight. The kind of knight that would rescue a princess and do a hell of a lot more than kiss her when he found her – and for the first time in her life she definitely wanted to be the princess in the story. “Thank you for saying so, but I’m fine.”

  Just hopelessly turned on and soaking wet, but fine.

  “Good. Back to your question, I would absolutely enjoy playing with you. The idea of tying you down over the end of one of those couches and turning your ass as beautifully red as your cheeks has me, admittedly, very turned on.”

  Talk about honesty. Her throat was dry, and she tilted her drink up only to be disappointed as she swallowed the last bit of the only alcohol she’d have before whatever came next.

  “Does that interest you, Maddie?”

  She nodded slowly as she lowered her empty glass, forcing herself to speak. “It does.”

  “Look at me when you answer me, please.” That edge was back in his tone and she lifted her gaze to his, unaware that she’d been staring down into the ice and lime.

  “It interests me.”

  “Sir,” he corrected.

  “Sir,” she repeated.

  “Wonderful.” Thomas smiled like a wolf and finished the last sip of his scotch before standing. He offered her his hand again, and she took it, abandoning her glass to the tabletop. Only Maddie stood more carefully than he had, because her legs seemed to be as unsteady as a newborn foal. “What is your limit for our play tonight? I won’t go beyond a belt or a strap, since that’s what we’ve discussed, but may I touch you?”

  “Oh God, yes, please.” She answered too quickly, borderline pathetic and desperate due to the pulse pounding in agreement between her thighs.

  Smooth.

  His laugh was full of dark promise as he lifted his free
hand to brush a thumb across her cheek, tucking a strand of unruly hair behind her ear. “I would love to watch you come under my touch.”

  Maddie’s knees almost buckled as she stared up into his maddening eyes, sometimes a hint of green, or gray, amidst the forest-tinged brown. “That would be fantastic.”

  “Sir,” he added for her, again.

  “Sir,” she repeated, again, and the smile he gave her was full of approval that she devoured like she was starving.

  Gripping her hand a little tighter he started to lead them back into the maelstrom in the center of Black Light. Everything was more intense now, people were half-dressed, a woman was crying as she held onto a bar embedded in the back of a chair, the man behind her using a riding crop across her thighs. Instead of the fear she expected, Maddie felt a heady rush that made her breathing grow short.

  Then she almost tripped over her own feet when she realized she was looking at Senator Robert Paulson getting a blowjob from a woman on her knees in front of him, his hand clenched in her dark curls. More shocking was the fact that his wife, the woman she’d seen pictured at a charity event in the Post just a few months before, was sitting next to him, nibbling her way down his neck before he pulled her into an open-mouthed kiss.

  I have fallen through the fucking looking glass.

  Thomas led them towards a wall that had a series of doors, one of them propped open to reveal what looked almost exactly like the exam room at her doctor’s office, including a set of stirrups tucked into the table. She swallowed, relieved when he paused at an oversized, plush leather chair away from it, but from somewhere deep inside there was a flicker of regret that he hadn’t led her into that room. Hadn’t shown her what possibilities existed there to lead her even deeper down the rabbit hole.

  ‘Next time,’ a tiny voice inside her whispered, but she balked.

  What next time? You didn’t even get invited tonight!

  Stepping behind her Thomas pulled her back to reality as he brushed his hands across her shoulders, down her arms, before transferring them to her waist. He settled his grip at the swell of her hips, pulling her firmly back against him, and there was no mistaking the erection pressing against her ass. “We’re going to use the club’s safe words, Maddie. Yellow if you want me to slow down, and red if you want me to stop. I will always respect them and listen for them, and I want you to repeat them for me so I know you remember them.”

  There was a buzzing in her ears, an intense rush in her bloodstream that made it hard to focus, but she managed it as she shifted her hips against him to the rhythm of the low music. “Yellow if I need you to slow down, red if I want you to stop.”

  He stilled her movements with a groan, digging his fingers more firmly into her hips. “You will not hesitate to use them. Promise me.”

  “I promise.” She gasped as he slid one of his hands up her stomach to tease the underside of her breast through the infuriating barriers of the dress and bra. “Sir,” she added and he pressed his hips more firmly against her.

  At least she wasn’t the only one drawn tight by their tempting discussion and the orchestra of sex around them.

  “I want this dress off, are you okay removing it?” He barely finished speaking before she dropped her little purse to the floor and started reaching back for the zipper. With a soft chuckle he brushed her hands away and began to slide it south.

  It was agonizingly slow, his knuckles brushing each newly bared inch of skin, and there was static electricity rushing through her in his wake. Finally, he nudged the shoulders of the dress forward and she pulled them down, letting the fabric fall to pool at her heels.

  “Step out,” he commanded, and she did, his touch grazing her ankles as if he were ready to steady her in case she lost her balance. Such a tiny gesture, but it caught her attention in the oddest way. Nothing had ever been like this, no one had ever been like this. Making her somehow feel important moments after she’d met them. Feeling special, protected, even though she was in a room full of people who were now seeing her in her favorite bra and panty set.

  Thank God I did laundry, she thought to herself as his fingers trailed up the outsides of her calves, her thighs, her hips, her waist, and then he cupped her breasts and pulled her back to his chest. She felt the buttons on his shirt, the strained fabric of his pants in front of his hard cock, and her body responded instantly. A surge of wetness between her thighs, her pussy slick with need, urging her forward with the pounding beat of her heart. Urging her to dive in to whatever he had planned.

  “You are so gorgeous,” he whispered directly into her ear. One hand roaming lower over her soft belly, the curve of her waist, and then squeezing in at the hips she always complained were too wide – and yet, against him she believed his words. Not too pale, too curvy, too speckled by freckles, but gorgeous. “Are you blushing for me, Maddie?”

  He nudged her hair away from her neck, leaving chaste kisses across the flesh leading down to her shoulder. With a quieted moan she arched against him and nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  A low groan thrummed against her back, the rumble of it felt by her ribs. “Bend forward, arms outstretched to the other side of the chair.”

  She followed his direction, pressing her hips against the arm of the chair and reaching to the other side. Thomas ran his warm hand over the swell of her ass, toying with the edge of her underwear. Then he spanked her, a sharp sting that made her jump, but she returned her hands to the other arm of the chair quickly.

  “What did you forget, beautiful?”

  “I don’t know,” she breathed, so beyond aroused that she was struggling to think straight. Fuck the story for the moment – this was intense, kinesthetic, experiential research.

  “Whenever I give you a command, let me know you’ve heard it by saying ‘yes, sir’, alright?” There was infinite patience in his voice, and she nodded as she looked down at the dark brown leather of the chair’s seat.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Mmmm, I do love the way that sounds when you say it.” Thomas Hathaway, her tall, gorgeous, incredibly hot savior ran his hand over the place he’d just swatted, squeezing the flesh in a firm grip. “Stay right here, do not move. I’m getting something to tie you up with. Would you prefer rope or leather cuffs?”

  His touch hadn’t left her yet, and she chewed on her lower lip, imagining the texture of both and unable to decide. “Surprise me, sir?”

  The devious laugh that came from him was followed by a gentle kiss pressed to her spine. “Alright, Maddie. Don’t move.” Then he stepped away, and she could feel the air cooling the dampness of her underwear.

  How on earth was she so turned on before he’d actually done anything to her?

  It felt insane, she was insane for being half-naked and bent over a chair in public, in front of at least one senator and God only knew who else. Doubt and panic started to edge their way in, competing with the mind-numbing arousal that had owned her so completely a moment before, but then he was back. He trailed his fingers over her lower back, then up the line of her spine before he gathered a fistful of her hair and gently lifted her head.

  Thomas crouched on the far side of the chair, his eyes level with hers. “Still okay, beautiful?”

  “Yeah,” she nodded, and it made her hair pull slightly against his grip. The tingle of each little pin-prick like sting made her squirm against the armrest. He tightened his fist in her hair and the short moan that escaped her lips was unconscious. “I mean, yes, sir.”

  “Good girl.” Those words flooded her with warmth, and there was no hiding the self-satisfied smile across her lips. “So beautiful,” he mused as he released her hair and lifted the rope. It was shiny and black, not the coarse rope she’d imagined in her head, but she quickly realized that was probably a good thing. He fiddled with it out of sight for a moment, his chestnut brown hair falling over his forehead as he worked. Then he lifted what looked like cuffs, except in the center was a coil of rope instead of chain.

  “Wo
w,” she whispered, mostly to herself, but he smiled.

  “They’re called Texas Handcuffs. Now, put your hands through.”

  She obeyed, and with the tug of the two ends of rope the silky cuffs tightened. The effect was immediate, her heart rate increasing further, and the knotting tension in her lower belly grew stronger. He pulled her arms straight, straining her over the middle of the chair, and she lifted her head to see him working.

  Oh, shit. He’s tying the rope to the chair.

  For a moment she felt a flicker of panic, but then the arousal was back as he met her gaze and pressed two fingers to the centers of both of her palms. “Squeeze for me.”

  “Yes, sir,” she replied as she obeyed.

  “If for some reason they get too tight, you tell me. Say yellow, and I’ll check in and fix it. You shouldn’t lose circulation to your fingers, alright?” His concern for her safety edged back the hint of panic even further. When she stayed silent he tilted his head at her, his brown hair shifting across his forehead.

  “Oh! Yes, sir.” Maddie swallowed as he grinned at her, reaching a hand forward to trace her still flushed cheek.

  “I’ve got some questions for you, Maddie.” He stood, withdrawing his touch as he walked around the chair to where she couldn’t see him.

  “Questions?” she asked. Wasn’t she supposed to be asking the questions?

  “Yes.” Thomas’ voice was a low rumble behind her, and then the sharp sting of a spank landed on her ass. It shocked her more than it hurt, but she still gasped loudly and pulled against the rope. “Keep your heels on the floor, beautiful, and listen to me.”

  “Okay.” She nodded and then another swat landed, a little harder. “I mean, yes, sir!”

  “That’s a good girl.” He had a smile in his voice. “Let’s get you warmed up.” He began to spank her, sharp stings followed by warm heat that bloomed over her skin. Never truly painful, but always a shock that made her push up onto her toes before she forced her heels to press back into the carpet.