The Exhibitionist
Page 51

“Come.”
A few more teases of his finger and my climax crashed over me. He grunted in victory and gave my hair one final tug before allowing his own release.
The space around us seemed suddenly much more quiet and it finally hit me that the music had stopped. The only audible melody was the sound of pleasure from the couples around us and our own pounding hearts.
Nathaniel groaned behind me, but pulled himself up and smoothed my skirt down. I wasn’t sure I was physically able to move. He rubbed my arms and took my hands. “Are you okay?”
“More than okay, Master. Just on pleasure overload.”
He kissed my neck. “Let me help.”
His touch no longer bore its earlier hastiness, but instead was gentle and controlled. He eased me up and away from the wall, picking up my discarded bra and shirt, and helping me back into them both.
The crowd, aware that we were finished, began talking among themselves and stepping away. Slowly, the noise level grew again. Or maybe it was only that my heartbeat slowed back to its normal rate.
“Ready to go to our room?” he asked with a soft kiss to my forehead.
His question made me realize how tired I suddenly felt and I wanted nothing more than to be in bed, held snuggly in his arms.
I swayed slightly. “Yes, Master.”
He slipped his arm around me, holding me close and secure, and we headed toward the courtyard’s exit and our waiting room. As ready as I’d been hours before to be part of the crowd, I surprised myself with how ready I was to escape it.
And I wasn’t positive, but I was fairly certain, right before we left the crowd completely, I sensed him turn his head. Looking back to the spot where the threesome had been.
Because we didn’t have anywhere to be the next morning and no one to wake us up, we stayed in bed longer than normal. It’d been so long since we woke up to each other. Hunger finally drove us out of bed and we dressed leisurely and hit a local café for brunch.
Nathaniel’s talk wasn’t until the next day, leaving us plenty of free time. We arrived back at the hotel after eating and stopped in the lobby to decide what sessions we wanted to attend. We stood off to the side, our arms brushing as we looked over the schedule.
The elevator doors pinged in the background and I would have continued looking over the schedule if the lady who stepped off hadn’t laughed. But she did and Nathaniel’s body stiffened at the sound. It was such a contrast to the easygoing attitude he’d had all morning that I glanced up and followed his eyes. What I saw hit me in the gut.
“That looks like Charlene,” I said.
Whoever she was, she hadn’t seen us yet. She was too busy laughing at something one of the two guys she was with said. I tilted my head. The same two guys from both the dance floor and the threesome scene Nathaniel had been obsessed with.
And he hadn’t said anything yet.
“It is Charlene.”
“It appears that way.” He spoke in that monotone voice I hated and his face held no expression.
The group of three moved closer to us and I knew exactly when she saw us. Her lips curved up into a smile that could only be considered evil and she excused herself from the two men.
“Nathaniel,” she said. “I thought we might bump into each other. I was surprised, though, to see you watching our little scene last night.”
Heat consumed my body. She was the reason he watched the threesome so intently the night before.
Nathaniel didn’t say anything. That pissed me off, too, until I saw him motion one of the men over. “Permission to address your submissive?” he asked the man Julie had danced with.
“I don’t care,” the man said. “She’s not mine. We just hooked up for the weekend.”
That dimmed her high-wattage smile just a bit.
Nathaniel nodded and turned to address Charlene. “Because of our working relationship, I would prefer we stay away from each other as much as possible in situations like this.”
“Of course,” she said. “Hello, Abby.”
Before I could reply, Nathaniel held up his hand. “You do not have permission to speak to my submissive.”
“My apologies.” She looked me up and down before heading out the door with the two men.
My body shook as the threesome walked away. What. The. Fuck? Charlene was a submissive? And Nathaniel knew?
It doesn’t mean anything.
I snorted at my brain’s attempt to reason with my emotions. It sure as hell meant something. If it meant nothing, Nathaniel would have told me last night what he’d seen.
He’s around submissive women all the time.
Yes, but he doesn’t work with them and have weekend meetings with them and they don’t fall all over him.
You told him you trusted him.
That was before I found out Charlene was also a submissive. Besides, the fact that I trusted him didn’t change the fact that I didn’t trust her.
Wonder how long he’s known.
That was a good question. Did he know when he hired her? Or did he find out later?
Does it matter?
It did. For some odd reason, I needed to know how long he’d known she was a submissive.
“Fucking hell,” I said as understanding hit me. “You knew. You knew she was a submissive.”
“Let’s go upstairs,” Nathaniel said.
I didn’t want to go upstairs. I wanted to go somewhere and be by myself so I could process this new information. But I was in a relatively strange place and I didn’t know it well enough to determine where I might find a quiet spot.
I did know that we should get out of the lobby, so I gave Nathaniel a curt nod and breezed past him to the elevator bank. I might be going upstairs, but I wasn’t going to touch him.
When we got to our room, I suddenly felt exhausted and I plopped down on the couch and crossed my arms.
“How long have you known?” I asked.
“I found out the weekend we moved that she was a submissive.”
Not too long ago, then. “So you didn’t hire her because you knew she was a sub?”
“I don’t make it a general practice to hire someone based on their sexuality. Opens you up to lawsuits.”
“But the fact is, you knew and you didn’t tell me.”
“To be honest, there never seemed to be a good time to say, ‘Hey, by the way, Charlene’s a submissive.’”