Page 52 of Tethered Souls
Fuck.
Goosebumps tickle across my skin, raising the hairs on my arms and neck. Shifting awkwardly on my feet, I release the hem and then straighten. Reaching around me, I slowly undo the zipper, pulling it and a row of shivers down my spine. With the cool air kissing the small of my back, I reach up to slide my left sleeve down my arm. I hold the dress to me as I do the same on my right. The whole time, he doesn’t look at me, his eyes still on his screen, and a flash of nerves suddenly hits me. I’m terrible at this. I’m making things worse between us. I’ve never stripped for someone before. Am I supposed to move more? Supposed to sway my hips –
Varius looks up at me then, his gaze dark and piercing. “Keep going,” he murmurs.
Electricity arcing between us, I wet my lips and slowly drag the dress down my body. The soft polyester rubs across my bare nipples, making them hard. I’ve never bothered with a bra, my chest too small to be worth the effort.
His gaze drops to them, hunger darkening his visage as his fingers finally still on the keyboard. I pause a moment, letting him look his fill before letting the dress fall freely to the floor.
He lingers a second, still focused on my breasts.
Then his eyes lower ever so slowly to the V of my thighs. Feeling a bit bolder, I hook both my thumbs under the sides of the black lace that’s all that’s covering me. My breathing turns heavy as I tug them off inch by tantalizing inch until I expose my shaved pussy – my attempt at being “fancy” for tonight’s party.
A flash of thunder crosses his face, and I swallow hard, my pulse suddenly racing. His eyes lift to mine, and it takes everything I have not to step back, an instinctive urge to increase the distance from the monster in the dark staring back at me.
“You shaved,” he growls.
“Um, yeah?” My eyes flick away nervously, not knowing what I’ve done wrong. “The party is tonight and –”
“Don’t do it again.”
I blink as I gape at him. “What?”
“Your pussy, little monster, is mine. If you want to do anything to it, you’re to ask me first.”
“That’s barbaric.”
“That’s my right and one I will not hesitate to enforce.”
I snort. “You can fucking try.”
He stares at me, a wolfish smile on his lips that tells me in no uncertain terms that he won’t just try. He will fucking succeed. And punish me for it too.
“Try on the dresses, Micha,” he says softly.
To a young, naive girl, that might sound like he’s giving up, bowing out, throwing in the towel and letting me have this one by changing the subject, but I know he isn’t. I back up, my senses flaring, screaming, “Danger, danger, danger!” But then I root my feet, a thrill shooting through me, not just over the wicked promise in his eyes but in the way it feels like the world is shifting. My world. Our world. Where perhaps I become more than just a womb and he becomes more than just a neanderthal.
He sought me out yesterday, needed me despite his lack of words and declaration. He used me not just as a thing to breed but apersonto find connection with. Comfort from. A lifting of his pain.
He might not’ve voiced anything at all, and I might have no idea what’s bothering him, but to a man like Varius – to a paranoid monster who trusts no one and carries his heavy burdens alone… Yesterday speaks volumes. It means I could truly have something here as long as I take my time wooing him and don’t fuck it up.
So with that goal in mind, I grab the first dress, a white floor-length number by Tom Ford. Theclick-clackof the keyboard starts up again as I remove it from its hanger. I pull the invisible zipper on the back of it down all the way, then shimmy into it. All of the dresses have already been tailored to fit my size, and it goes on beautifully, fitting to my specific curves.
I never liked shopping for fancy clothes before I went with Sau, but bloody hel, she knows how to pick the right clothes to make you feel beautiful. Strong. Happy to try on another one. And another.
I run my hands down my thighs, smoothing out wrinkles that exist only to gather my strength before looking up at Varius. “What do you think?”
It’s plain white of a completely plain design other than a ruched effect flowing off one shoulder. But it’s sophisticated and glamorous in its simplicity.
When he looks over at me, I rotate in place so he can see the full thing. He stops me when I have my back to him by saying, “Bend over.”
My pulse spiking, I hesitate for a second. The slit up the back already runs up to mid-thigh. If I bend over, there’s a good chance he could see everything. My breathing turning shallow, I keep my knees straight as my hands touch the floor.
“Spread your legs.”
Ever so slowly, I shuffle them apart. The lips of my pussy open, and heat rushes into my face as I wait for his next order. Not a movement, not a sound comes from him. And then…
“Not that one.” His fingers fly across the keyboard once more.
