I calmed as he calmed, our breathing slowing as sleep reached out, and it was there, in his arms in the darkness that I knew it was make or break for us, all or nothing.
“Let me take you,” I whispered. “Properly, bound and bruised and open wide for that strap-on. You have no idea how much I want that, how much it would mean to have the mighty Andy Morgan at my mercy. Even if it was just the once.”
I felt him squirm. “Even if Icouldgive you that, even if I could bring myself to push it that hard, why would I want to? How do I know you’re not just going to fuck off again when something else takes your fancy? You’re too flighty, Faye, you don’t know how to commit to anything, not enough to make it worthwhile.”
“You’re wrong,” I said, and I squeezed his arms tighter around me, tight enough to feel all the way through me. “If you give yourself to me I’ll give myself to you. All in, for keeps. I mean it.”
“You’ll let it all go? Italy? Vincent? This crazy desire for hedonistic gratuitous fucking? Don’t think I don’t know, Faye, I know how much you like variety. I don’t want to glance over my shoulder one day and find you fucking half the fucking club behind my back.”
“All in,” I repeated. “Nobody else. Except maybe Topaz.” I felt him flinch and fought the urge to giggle.
“We need rules, Faye, this can’t be a fucking free-for-all, not while we’ve got a business to run. You’re reckless and irresponsible and you’ll waltz us into a whole fucking world of trouble, if you’re not careful. Can you even begin to imagine that little spectacle with Topaz recounted in an industrial tribunal?”
I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn’t see them. “She wouldn’t, that’s ridiculous.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“Ok, so we’ll have rules. Topaz is a grey area, we can work that out.”
“We’ll think on it.” He yawned, and I was losing him. “Ineed to think on it.”
“Sure.” I squeezed his hand. “Just let me know when you know what you want.”
“There is one condition,” he said, and my heart stuttered. “Non-negotiable, if any of this is going to continue.”
“What is it?” I was nervous, so stupidly nervous.
“That I get to fuck Topaz’s ass before you do.”
***
Chapter Nineteen
Andy
I untangled myself from Faye slowly. She murmured in her sleep but didn’t wake, and I took a moment to watch her there, in my bed, her hair a tangled mess on the pillow, her pretty nipples poking out above the covers. She was beautiful. A beautiful, filthy, intoxicating siren of the deep. I grabbed my squash gear from the wardrobe, being careful not to bang the door. She didn’t hear me, didn’t even stir.
James was already waiting at the court. He was doing his warm up, his ripped hulk of a body raring to go. It always made me smile to see the man here, so at odds with the crazy fucking dominant performing in the mask every weekend. Fuck, how they loved him, the infamous Masque. I owed him some for the free entertainment, pulling the punters through the door for just a glimpse of him at play.
I dropped my bag on the bench and joined him in some stretches. The place was quiet, relatively, just a couple of guys smashing it out in a court a couple down from ours.
“I hope you’re ready to get your arse kicked today.” I smiled. “Last week I played like a pussy, this week you won’t be so lucky.”
“Last week you played like a man who’d had his backside tanned,” he smirked. “Don’t think for a second I don’t know what kind of limp that was.”
“You’re delusional,” I said.
“Sure I am.” His smile was broad and genuine. I liked James, he was my kind of guy. “Just keep running that mouth of yours, Morgan, and we’ll see who gets the ass-kicking.”
“It’s my win,” I said. “Suck it up, Jimmy boy, victory is mine. I can feel it.” And I did feel it until I reached for the racket and clamped my fist around it. Fuck, my fucking knuckles, they hurt like a bastard.
James raised an eyebrow. “Another sex-related injury?”
“Hardly,” I scoffed. “My fist had an unfortunate collision with someone who deserved it.”
“I hope they came off worse.”
“So do I.” I whizzed the racket through the air to practice and my grip held up. “Hardly a scratch.”