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"There is a stockroom by the elevators on the mezzanine level You will meet me there in fifteen ive you the pleasure and pain you crave I will not ask you the questions you do not want to answer That is not what I care about"
Then he was gone, the shockingly intione to the stockrooasping and in tears Her whi of her, as if he knew that hat she needed She’d wanted punishiven her both She hated him, and yet he was in that desolate part of her soul, such that when she met him several times a year, it always resulted in the sa for Derek in her heart, even as her body spasht She wasn’t yin and yang anyht had becoray, a color she was pretty certain was beco every day
SHOWN IN BY RAINA’S DAY HOUSEKEEPER, WALKING THE long hallway to the parlor, Ruby remembered why she didn’t come here that often It whetted that cruel need The hallas lined with erotic oil paintings, blatantly depicting every is, a chainedwhipped by a pair of feie style, oral…
But thepiece was mounted over the fireplace in the parlor In the lush oil painting, a rugged, virilenaked before hi black-tie formal, only he’d shed the coat, rolled up the sleeves He’d lifted her chin, his fingers stroking her throat Her hands were tied behind her back and bound to her ankles, so she was helpless to him But her eyes, riveted with absolute attention on his face, were adoring As he gazed upon her, his expression made it clear he was completely in control, yet soed to each other, complex nuances of surrender and possession It was a decadent, graphic and reverent vision, all at once
She hated that one,at it
The pictures weren’t hereclose to the military base and a major seaport, Raina had a plethora of international clients Even those who had a good colish could stumble when they tried to voice their fantasies A picture orth a thousand words, and having the visual à la carte menu was a bordello tradition that dated all the way back to the times of Pompeii Typical Raina, none of the pictures were cheap porn renditions, but all fine, expensive pieces done by ulping down the offerings like an all-you-can-eat buffet that never filled the sto in a ravenous body that wanted et lost here forever, like Ulysses on Circe’s island Why the hell had she come?
The housekeeper had said Raina ith solass of her favored white zinfandel and so either one Raina’s custo put even Disney to shame
What the hell She finished off about half before she heard the brush of Raina’s bare soles on the polished winding staircase in theat her usual casual saunter, that pendulum sex walk that was iender, orientation, species or religious affiliation
"You know that act’s wasted on"You could clop down here like a Clydesdale, for all I care"
"Your firstI know you’d do ht Bitch"
Ruby meant it with the usual acid affection, but when Raina stopped in the doorway of the parlor, her true greeting, her intention to pour out what had happened, where she was going, her desire to confide in one of her closest friends, faltered She detected genuine anger in Raina’s gaze, even soone as if it had never been Raina’s usual expression was back in place, cool, indifferent amusement
Unlike Mikhael’s true indifference, however, there was a softness to Raina, a kindness and generosity of spirit that had ret ca that was a road she couldn’t go down
"Everything all right?" Ruby asked, rising Recognizing that Raina’sto do with her, protective concern filled her instantly "So so to the rescue, so unwilling to let anyone help you You , my dove You should have been a ue, but that cut a little too deep She shrugged it off Maybe she wasn’t going to get the friendly reinforceirl talk she’d hoped to find here, but so be it "I caood-bye for a few days" She took a breath "Derek’s found me, and he’s asked for ave any e ironclad control of facial expressions was a key job requireer still had Ruby a little rattled "Of course he has," Raina said dryly "Figures he wouldn’t show up unless he needed so"