Go Deep (5 page)

The final touch was the mask. Once she put that on, she
screwed up her courage to look at herself in the bathroom mirror. At the sight
of her reflection, a surge of such fierce power rushed through her that she had
to steady herself on the bathtub. The woman who stared back was an erotic work
of art. She was sensual, stunning, alluring. She was someone else. Someone who
didn’t jump at the sound of a quiet rapping on the door.

She was someone who sauntered to that door and opened it
slowly, teasingly drawing out the moment. Someone who didn’t recognize the man
who faced her.

Chapter Five

The man who must be Gavin scorched her body with a long,
deliberate look from head to toe. Every part of her came to life under his
scrutiny.

“Gavin?” Her voice sounded tinny to her own ears. “That’s
you, isn’t it?”

He was dressed all in black and wore a black mask that
covered the upper part of his face. He looked dangerous and very, very sexy.
Her eyes drifted to his pants. Black leather. His shirt was made of softer
material that clung to his muscles. He looked like a lethal cat burglar who
planned to surprise some lucky lady in her bedroom and steal her jewels right
after ravishing her.

She shivered at the fantasy.

“Let’s go,” Gavin said. His voice sounded lower, rougher
than normal. And his tone left no room for anything other than obedience.

“Out there?” She shook her head in panic. “I don’t want
anyone to see me.”

“Well, I do.” There was that tone again.

“Gavin, be reasonable. I mean, look at me.” She looked down
at her chest, where darkened nipples pushed against the fabric. The sight gave
her a wild pulse of excitement. She looked like someone in a movie. Or in a
photograph.
The
photograph flashed into her mind. Her knees went weak.

“I’m looking. So will every man out there. They’ll all wish
you belonged to them. But you don’t. You belong to me. Time to go.”

He opened his hand. A leather collar nestled in his palm. A
collar just like the one…

She went faint. Gavin must have seen the photograph. He must
know all the dirty thoughts she’d had. All the air seemed to disappear from her
lungs and the room blurred. Would he scorn her now? Shun her as she deserved?

“I’m going to put this on you now,” came Gavin’s stern
voice, like a lifeline through her fog. “Once it’s on, you must do what I say.
I wouldn’t want to have to use the leash, but I will if I have to.”

She shook her head quickly. She didn’t want a leash. Or
maybe she did. Unbearable excitement pounded through her veins. He came close,
his presence so overwhelmingly powerful she bowed her head to him. She smelled
the spicy, rawhide scent of leather and felt his fingers on her skin. He turned
her so her back was to him. Stiff, cool leather surrounded her neck. As soon as
he fastened the collar, a strange feeling came over her. By marking her like
this, wasn’t he assuming responsibility for her? Anything that happened after
this, anything she did, would be
his
doing.

No one could blame her. Especially not…but she pushed the
ghost away.

This was Wild Nights, and she was wearing a mask and a
collar. Anything could happen and it would be all right. The sense of freedom
intoxicated her.

“Who are you?” she asked him without raising her head,
surprising herself with the question. Maybe she wanted the illusion to be
complete.

Gavin ran his index finger along the lower edge of the
collar, back to front, testing its tightness. Then he went lower, across the
exposed skin between the collar and the netting. She wondered if he could feel
the frantic beat of the pulse in her throat. He seemed more interested in the
curve of her breast, following the plump flesh to the edge of her nipple.
There, he scratched the nipple with his thumbnail.

A shivering, silvery feeling shot through her. Her tongue
tingled and her whole body jerked in response.

Good God, where had that come from? She never jerked like
that. She was always calm and cool, even in bed. But the person who had put on
this outfit, the person who loved the feel of a collar around her neck, that
person had jerked.

With his thumbnail, he drew a line along the edge of the
corset to her other nipple. She held her breath, bracing herself for the
thumbnail, but instead he squeezed the nipple between his thumb and forefinger.
Squeezed and rolled until a sound ripped from her throat that she’d never heard
before, never even imagined. A sensual, guttural, needy sound.

Still squeezing her nipple, he leaned close to her ear and
said hoarsely, “I’m your master. The master of your body. Everything here is
mine. And I intend to use it exactly as I please. Understand?”

Her senses whirling, she nodded.

“As your master, I demand one thing you cannot deny me.”

“Wha… What?”

He tightened his hold on her nipple, plucking it until she
cried out. With his other hand he pulled her against his body. She felt his
aroused shaft against her ass.

“This. Your response. You are forbidden to hold anything
back. Anything. I want your cries, your moans, your screams, your curses, I
want to hear it all. If I feel you’re hiding anything, there will be
punishment. Do you understand?”

“Pu-punishment?”

“Punishment. For instance, right now we have a choice. We
can walk through the roadhouse, in front of everyone, like two adults going to
a slightly risqué masquerade ball. I’ll even give you a cloak to wear if that
makes you more comfortable. Or we can walk out there with you on a leash like a
proper slave girl. And I’ll make sure your nipples are nice and swollen and
juicy before we go. You won’t be able to hide a thing.”

She trembled against his hard chest. Part of her, the
naughty, shameful part, craved the scene he described. The other part shied
from it.

“No, please,” she whispered.
Not yet.
I’m still
getting used to this.

He seemed to understand without her explaining. “You’ve
behaved well so far, so there’s no need for any punishment. But don’t push me.
Don’t hide. Don’t hold anything back.”

“I won’t.” She wasn’t sure she could, to be honest. The
feelings he was drawing from her were so new and overwhelming, she didn’t know
how to handle them.

But Gavin had shown her the way. Give her feelings to him.
Give everything to him. It was all his, after all.

She felt a sudden chill as he moved away from her, and in
the next instant, warm fabric enveloped her. A black cloak, big enough to swirl
all the way around her body. He tied it in the front, a tender focus in his
black eyes.

“You look very beautiful and erotic,” he told her as he tied
a bow at her neck. “Any man would count himself lucky to get a look at you. But
I’ll leave it up to you. Just keep in mind, everyone takes Wild Nights very
seriously here. You’re absolutely safe. No one will ever mention anything that
happens here. Understand?”

She nodded. And believed. She hadn’t believed until she’d
skated with Eagle and felt the wild, free air dance around her. Here in Wild,
they’d all stepped out of normal time and place and into another zone, an
unpredictable yet utterly safe zone. Kind of like the Twilight Zone—except it
was the Wild Nights Zone. The thought amused her.

“Are you ready?”

“I need my shoes.”

Beneath his mask, Gavin’s lips dented in a smile. “I’ve got
them right here.” He went to the small closet and pulled out a long shoe box.
He drew out a pair of long, shapely, burgundy velvet boots. They were the
sexiest footwear she’d ever seen, the way they curved and displayed. Boots for
a courtesan, for a legend. Her mouth watered at the sight.

Gavin helped her into them, pulling the laces tight around
her calves. They were luxuriously confining, blissfully useless for anything
except posing provocatively.

“What about the snow?” she said wistfully. “They’re too
beautiful. I don’t want to ruin them.”

“Don’t worry about anything.” He ran his hands along the
back of her leg. The material was so thin she felt every touch. “I’ve got it
all taken care of.”

“They fit me perfectly.” Her forehead puckered in a frown.
Her feet were unusual—one was a half size smaller than the other. How had Gavin
known?

“Sweetheart, have you forgotten you belong to me? I know
every part of your body. Intimately.”

Her face flamed under her mask. Had Gavin really been paying
that much attention to her all this time? Sometimes it seemed they lived
parallel lives, his hockey, her art framing. But the fact that he knew her odd
shoe size made an unexpected little bridge between them.

What else did he know about her? Somehow, he’d known she’d
like this. She hadn’t known it herself, but he had.

“Thank you, my master,” she whispered. The words hung
sweetly in the charged air. As if in reward, he curved his hand around her
buttocks and urged her forward. Her body followed his command. The boots
snugged around her legs. The height of the heel made her walk differently. Her
ass curved out, her breasts thrust forward, her muscles flowed with a liquid
motion. With her first step, the cloak fell away, revealing a glimpse of her
obscenely clothed front.

He bent forward to open the door ahead of her. “Don’t
forget, you’re a knockout,” he growled in her ear. “And don’t forget, you’re
mine.”

His. All his. She repeated it to herself as she sauntered
down the hall toward the living room. She was doing exactly what her husband
and master wanted her to do. None of this was her fault. If she enjoyed the
swish of the cloak against her legs, the wisp of air against her nipples, the
clasp of leather around her midriff, well, it was what he wanted.

Hold nothing back.

As she stepped into the living room, Gavin a breath behind
her, she straightened her back so the cloak fell all the way off her shoulders.
Let them see the dark shadow of her aroused nipples. Let them ogle her, admire
her. They wouldn’t even recognize her. She was a sensual apparition behind a
mask, a Wild Nights fantasy come to life.
Anything goes, nothing counts.

A scattering of men lounged in the living room. From behind
her mask, she gave them a quick survey. Most were strangers. She spotted only
two of the Renegades. They were playing cards and sharing a bottle of whiskey.
A young woman was curled up in the armchair in the corner with a paperback. A
hunter type sat at the piano bench and pecked out
Oh My Darling, Clementine
.
The others blended together in a wild blur as Gavin prodded her into the room.

Everyone looked up and froze. One of the Renegades players
dropped his hand of cards. The piano went silent. The room went electrically
still.

As if someone else had taken over her body, she gathered the
moment to her and swayed across the floor with a stride that said, “Look at me.
Want me. Crave me.”

The piano started up again, this time with a slow, sexy
burlesque tune. She used its rhythm to help her navigate across the room. The
men looked at her with open lust. In the corner, the paperback girl’s jaw
dropped open. She looked…jealous, that was it. For Beth, it was all fuel for
the fire. The sexual heat flaring through her grew with each step. Her nipples
burned under the fascinated attention of the crowd. The skin of her inner
thighs went damp. The more she emphasized the swing of her hips, the more she
felt the thong teasing her sex. If only she could take it off and let the fresh
air caress her pussy.

Her pussy? She never used that word. And yet now that she’d
thought it, it wouldn’t go away. The word kept repeating in her imagination
with a sultry rhythm.
My pussy is so hot, my pussy needs some stroking and
some licking and some loving.
Swish, sway, swing of the hips, brush of
Gavin’s hand beneath her cloak, in the crevice between her buttocks.

A moment of panic struck and she nearly stumbled. He was
going to feel how slick she was. How turned-on. What would he think of her
then, knowing what this sexual strutting before strangers was doing to her?

His strong hand steadied her. He murmured something to her,
but in the confused din of her thoughts, she couldn’t make it out. She tore
away from him and ran the rest of the way across the room and out the front
door.

A blast of deep-freeze air slammed her in the face. The
temperature had dropped well below zero since her walk to the lake. And the
cloak wasn’t nearly enough protection. She wrapped it around her and looked
desperately around the dark, empty street. What happened now? Where could she
flee to without slipping in these crazy boots and landing in a snowbank?

She’d disobeyed Gavin’s orders. She’d held back. Instead of
allowing herself to enjoy her moment of sensual display, she’d panicked and
fled for safety.

Harsh footsteps sounded behind her, then the door opened at
her back. She spun around to face Gavin. Her mouth opened to explain, to
apologize, but the words ended in a puff of surprise as he whisked her off her
feet and settled her into his arms.

As he strode down the street, it occurred to her that this
was the second time today she’d been carried like a baby in a man’s arms.

Gavin was just as strong as Eagle. He never faltered, even
though the icy wind blasted them with a full-frontal assault. Down the block
they went, down an alley. She twisted her head to see where they were going,
but she wasn’t familiar enough with the town for it to matter. At the end of
the dead-end alley sat a series of small log cabins. They walked past every one
until they came to the very last, most private cabin, set in a grove of spruce
trees all by itself.

Gavin set her on her feet, took a key out of his pocket and
unlocked the door. He fumbled for a light switch. Before he found it, she
peered at his face in the darkness. His mouth looked grim.