Page 37 of Black Velvet

I pause, giving her a moment to process my words. My finger is still connected to her lips and her blue eyes are locked onto mine, wide with a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

"What are you here for then?" she asks in a whisper, her breath warming the tip of my finger as she speaks.

"You," I say. "And I will come back for you, but I want to lay down some ground rules before that happens."

"Ground rules?"

I nod. "Yes, and I will only see you again if you're willing to agree to them."

I give her a moment to reply and withdraw my finger from her lips, but she just looks at me with an expectant expression, beckoning me to continue by jerking her chin forward. All right then.

"I don't like to share," I begin. "I assume you need this job. I'm not sure if exclusivity has ever been part of your portfolio, but it's what I would ask for as long as we play with each other. I don't want you to be available to other men."

"Not even as an angel?" she asks.

"Not even as an angel," I confirm. "What I want is this: you naked, waiting for me here in this room every night starting at nine o’clock. You'll wait for me here kneeling beneath the lamp, with your hands on your thighs, palms up, eyes down, until I tell you otherwise."

The expression on her face is impossible to read. It could be anything from shock to surprise to confusion. It's most likely all of that combined.

"But I don't work every night," she says.

"You will from now on," I advise her. "I, however, won't show up every night. I won't tell you what days I'll be here, but when I am I want you here exactly in this spot just as I described. You'll be here every single night. If I haven't shown up by ten o’clock, you will get dressed, leave, and go directly home."

She furrows her eyebrows. "You want me to kneel in this room for an hour every single night and wait for you?"

"You won't have to wait that long on the days I show up."

"Then why should I wait for an hour?"

"Because I told you to," I simply say.

She huffs and crosses her arms in front of her naked chest. Her pink nipples are still hard, begging to be tortured and teased. I wonder if she's sensitive there. If all goes well, I will find out soon enough.

"Does it occur to you that I might have a life?" she asks. "There's a reason why I didn't pick up shifts every single night. Because I don't have to. I make enough by working only two or three nights a week, and—"

"Do it, or we're done," I say. "I'm not debating this with you. And I'll double whatever the madam is paying you. I know I'm asking a lot from you, and I want you to be compensated accordingly."

Her eyelashes flutter nervously as she tries to make sense of my words.

"You can't be serious," she stutters, her voice breaking on the last word. "Why does it have to be this way?"

"Because I say so," I retort, unfazed by her reaction when she rolls her eyes at me. "You can say no. I'm not forcing you to agree to this."

She glances at me, biting her lower lip, while she ponders the implications of my demands.

"I don't know if the madam will agree..."

"I'm a VIP member, and she assured me that membership includes extra privileges," I say. "I'm sure she won't argue if I'm taking advantage of that. The only one who has to agree to this is you, Elene."

She lowers her eyes, and I need a moment to realize that she's doing it because she's trying to hide another set of tears from me.

"Hormones?" I ask in a clumsy attempt to lighten the mood.

She gasps and quickly wipes away the tears in a sudden motion, making it seem as if she didn't even realize that they were even there.

"You don't understand," she mumbles, pressing her lips together to stop herself from speaking.

"Understand what?" I inquire, placing my hand on her shoulder. I only rest it there for a moment before I move on to caress her naked back, eventually pulling her into an embrace. She's cold. I can feel her shivering when I press her against my body, allowing her to seek warmth and comfort when she wraps her arms around my waist.

---