Wicked Encounters (The Wicked Series: Season 1)

Twenty-Six

The waves are crashing on the shore, the gulls crying back and forth over the noise. I glance over at her, and her blonde waves are blowing back over her shoulders. She's radiant, even with no sun to reflect off her skin or moonlight to sparkle in her eyes.

I'm distracted by her beauty for too long, and she doesn't wait for me to start the conversation. "So...there's no one around now...which playroom will it be, Elias?"

My lips pull up into a smirk and I turn to face her, taking both her hands in mine. "Before we talk about this, we have to set some ground rules. Is there anything you are 100% not comfortable exploring with me?"

She looks up at the sky and down at her feet before meeting my gaze. "I don't want you to actually hurt me. Beyond spanking or..." The blush I love so much deepens on her cheeks. "Biting me if you decide. Otherwise, I don't want you to inflict pain on me on purpose. Everything else...I'm open."

"Everything else?" I ask, cocking a brow.

"I—I mean, I think so."

It is that uncertainty that makes me positive that this is not my decision to make. Cordelia is smart and I believe she could be open to a lot. I just don't think she understands how vast the possibilities are. We could spend the rest of our time on the island in those rooms and only touch on a fraction of the debauchery that is rumored to go on in them.

"I appreciate your desire to please me. And trust me when I say that giving me control over the situation turns me on. But I've spent decades experimenting with my sexuality, and there is so much for you to still explore. We will go down into the playrooms, but I'm not choosing what we do. If something intrigues you, we will try. And if we spend some time down there and you choose to keep what happens between you and me in our room, I will have no problem with that."

She shifts side to side. "So we will watch?"

I ease her battered bottom lip from between her teeth with my thumb. "Does that make you uncomfortable?"

She lifts one shoulder in a shrug. "I don't know. I don't really want to watch anyone else. I just want to be with you. I—" She coughs and if possible, that blush deepens even further. "I wouldn't mind, though, if someone else watched us..." She looks out at the water and kicks at the sand. "Or...if you and I watched each other. That, I would like. A lot."

A type of happiness that I haven't felt in a long time bubbles inside of me. She is so willing to step over this line with me and trust me with things I know her society says are better left unspoken. That deep-seated idea that she is playing with taboo things is evident in her quiet confession.

I tilt her chin up and brush my lips against hers. "All I ask is that you go in with an open mind and communicate with me if things get too intense. I want to share this with you, but before I completely corrupt you, I'd like to have dinner, just you and me."

"I can do that, and I'd love to have dinner with you."

"Perfect." I take her hand in mine and walk her back to the house. We reach the staircase in the foyer, and I say, "I have a couple of things to take care of, but I'll meet you in the gardens at sundown."

The brightest smile consumes her face. "Sunrise. Sundown. I have a thing for the gardens."

I kiss her cheek and whisper in her ear, "Make sure you wear something that makes it easy to get my hands on you."

*****

I feel like I'm going to be sick. Cordelia and I have shared meals together nearly every night for the past seven weeks, but something about tonight feels different. I'm so nervous, I feel like I could faint, and that's no exaggeration. And it isn't just because we're going down to the playrooms tonight.