I take back everything I said about wanting Elias to do his worst. This is torture. He is barely putting his hands on me, running them over my back as if they are the tips of feathers. I've arched into his palms, but he just as quickly moves them away. This is supposed to be a massage and the best I'm getting is tickle tortured.
I squirm against the table and turn my head, giving him my best side-eye. "Elias," I hiss. "What are you doing?"
"My worst," he says in a flat voice, and I want to knock him upside the head.
My nostrils flare, and I put my face back in the hole and stare at the floor for a moment before turning back toward him, deciding to play dirty. "This is supposed to be a massage and I happen to be sore after my trip to the bottom of the pool last night. Ya know, where I had a rope tied to my leg."
He twists his mouth as if I've made a valid point, which I have. His hands become firmer on my shoulders, kneading my muscles in a way I didn't know I needed until now. My body melts into the cushioned table, and I'm liquifying under his fingertips. That is until he moves under the straps of my sports bra crossing my back. They are purposely pushed down my shoulders, giving me the feeling of being undressed.
"Better?" he asks, a hint of playfulness in his voice.
"Yes and no," I say, matching his flirtatious tone. "The massage feels much better, but now you're sort of taking off my bra, and I'm having flashbacks to last night, which is making things a little..." I clear my throat. "Uncomfortable in certain spots."
His fingers work down my spine and press into the small of my back. "That's a shame. I hate to hear that you are not having the experience you were hoping for." Just like he did with my bra, his fingertips dip below the waist of my pants. An onlooker would think it is an innocent brush of his fingers, but what it is doing to me is anything but.
I swallow and clench my thighs together, my breaths coming quicker as I mirror his earlier action and clench the edge of the table. "Oh, the experience is actually quite good. Especially when you do that," I say, adjusting so my hips roll against the table just to get his reaction.
He listens to every step Lars gives, keeping his hands moving the entire time. Like a good student, he moves to the back of my legs as directed. And holy shit, when he moves up my thighs, his strokes are very intentional. He massages the backs but his pinky brushes against the seam of my leggings over and over again. This is nothing like what I was doing to him. He is coaxing me to an orgasm in front of everyone.
I am soaking through my leggings, and it's embarrassing. I've never been so responsive to someone before in my life. Is this because he's a vampire? What the hell is happening to my body?
"Elias, please," I groan, trying to keep myself under control. "I'm afraid I'm going to..."
Ever the gentleman, he backs off. But his continued touch does nothing to ease the ache between my legs. I'm torn straight down the middle. Touch me more. Touch me less. I want to feel that stoke of passion I felt last night.
His palms glide up my sides, his fingers brushing against the sides of my breasts. His chest presses to my back as he leans over me and whispers, "You're afraid you're going to do what, dolce tentazione?"
"You know what," I murmur.
"Say it."
Turning my face so our lips are just inches apart, I say, "I'm afraid I'm going to come, Elias. That I'm going to fall apart right here and show everyone just how fucking mad you drive me."
"And what a beautiful sight for them to behold," he says, gliding his hand down my ass, making sure to brush against my pussy again. "Do you think you'll moan my name when it happens?"
Oh, Hades. He really means to make me come right here. I already feel my muscles clenching around nothing, desperate for him to fill me. "You know I will, Elias. And will you do that sexy, throaty groan thing when you finally let me get my hand around that cock? Because if you make me come in front of all these people, my hand will be down your pants so fast, you'll think I became a dreamrunner overnight."
He moves to the back of my leg and caresses it. "Tell me, Cordelia. Are you ever going to give up control? Is everything going to be tit for tat with you? Because I have no desire to be dominated. I give and I take."
I suck in a sharp breath. Does he mean dominate like...spicy book dominate? I'm definitely not asking him right now. "You've got me all wrong, herra. I don't want to dominate you. I just want to give you something back for all the..." I clear my throat. "Good feelings you've given me."
"I will tell you when I'm ready to take that from you. Until then, stop acting as if you will have any say in what I do to you. The only control you have over me is with one word...stop. Have I made myself clear?"
If my leggings weren't soaked through before, they are now. How does he know exactly what I've wanted with every single partner I've ever had—not that there have been many to speak of, but still. I've always wanted this push and pull, the game of consensual non-consent, the chasing and catching. How does he know all of this? Just because I admitted I have a slight fear kink?
"Perfectly clear, sir," I gasp, barely able to get out the words.
"Master. You will call me master, because I plan on learning every curve, every dark secret, and every way to make you scream my name. By the end of the summer, I will have mastered everything about your body, Cordelia."
It's a promise that most couldn't keep, but I have no doubt that Elias will make good on it. Even if I thought he couldn't, I would be a fool not to let him try. I have a feeling that what he is offering, I will never find again with someone else.
"Yes, master," I say so quietly that I question if the unfamiliar words have left my mouth at all.
"Good girl," he says, and the praise does something to me that even his hands didn't.
"Thank you, everyone, for participating in today's event," Lars says as his assistant stretches his arms over his head. "We hope what you learned comes into good use when taking care of your partners."
"Only if you're planning on leaving them aching for more," I mumble.
Elias chuckles as he holds out my jacket for me. "You could always go run that pent up energy off."
"Run? You're funny, I don't run—" I stop short and look at him over my shoulder as I shrug my jacket on. "Wait. Like....run? Like...you give me a head start...like, a big one, because remember, I have asthma. And then...you come find me?" My heart speeds up at the thought of running away from Elias as if he were hunting me and then waiting for him to discover me.
He tilts his head to the side and takes his time studying me. I can almost see his thoughts like dark clouds rolling through his brown eyes. Does my question intrigue him? Would he chase after me like he did that first night in the cemetery? Does he find it strange that I get aroused by the prospect of it?
"Is that what you dream about, the creatures you were taught lurking in the night hunting you down for their own pleasure?" he asks.
"The image in my mind has never been so dark before...not until I met you," I answer honestly. "I never thought it would actually happen, so I never really entertained it. But now...it seems like I may have found a man who is willing to try."
He looks out one of the tall, slender windows that line the wall of the ballroom. "I'm going to guess that this fantasy of yours normally takes place in the middle of the night and not broad daylight." He turns and flashes me a panty-melting smile. "I will file the information away for a night when I think you are deserving of the fear. Until then, let's play it safe with a shower and then lunch."
"Safe isn't fun," I reply with a cocked eyebrow.
"No, it's not, Cordelia." He clasps my hand in his and leads me out of the ballroom.