Pretty Things (The Pretty Trilogy #3) Read online

  I begin flicking through the images, expecting to torture myself and to be reminded of happier times. Instead, I’m stopped short at an image of myself taken a few short days ago. A screenshot of our last long distance encounter. I’m wearing the blindfold, and though I can’t see the embroidered words, there’s a certain resonance about them.

  Action is eloquence.

  And his earlier words echo through my head.

  You promised me you’d be safe.

  He wasn’t supposed to be here.

  I can’t bear to look at you.

  My thoughts begin to draw together, like drops of quicksilver rolling around and gathering in my brain.

  Kai. The love of my life. My husband. A man I really don’t know well at all. The bits I do know probably wouldn’t even be enough to fill out an online dating profile.

  Insanely handsome and incredibly wealthy (wouldn’t that catch attentions).

  Kinky with a side of dark and dominant (maybe this advert should be on fetlife).

  Kind (a bit of a sweetheart, actually).

  With a fondness for flash cars and Saville Row suits.

  An expensive taste for rich reds and smooth malts.

  Incredibly intelligent (with a partiality for obscure literature. Usage in the bedroom, where possible).

  An appreciation for aesthetics.

  Possessive.

  Funny.

  Incredibly warm.

  Protective.

  Loving.

  Honourable.

  The best of men.

  My man.

  And I wouldn’t be writing that advert at all.

  What if the reason he can’t bear to look at me is because of something he feels he’s done, rather than me? What if he’s running away because he feels he has failed?

  ‘Rashid!’ I begin to call for him before I’m even out of my seat, finding him almost immediately.

  ‘Madam.’

  ‘Where’s he gone, do you think?’ Rashid’s expression doesn’t falter, but for something sliding through his gaze—a fleeting sense of discomfort? ‘The hotel?’

  He doesn’t answer. He doesn’t need to. I already know the answer as my stomach plummets.

  ‘Take me. Please?’

  I haven’t changed my clothes. Not since this afternoon when I’d peeled the photograph from my skin, ripped it to tiny pieces, and showered to wash away Essam’s touch. I’m not the dressing for dinner type and I feel a little underdressed as I cross the expansive lobby of the hotel. The hotel. The one I never thought I’d ever enter again.

  My stomach stays on the ground floor, my nerves rising with the elevator as it climbs. Unsteady legs and good memories forced over fleeting images of the bad get me to his room, where I swipe the key-card against the door. Unsuccessfully, I find, several times. I begin to wave it a bit desperately, trying to find the correct hotel-key-card-semaphore-code for ‘let me the fuck in’. Maybe it needs to be recharged? Frustrated, I level my narrowed gaze on the patch of plastic housing the tiny red light—the one that I want to turn green—when the door suddenly opens, and I almost fall in.

  Catching myself on the doorframe, I stare at Kai’s waistband for approximately, oh . . . three million minutes, before straightening. Frantically scanning my brain for suitable words, Kai beats me to it.

  ‘How—why are you here?’ He doesn’t sound pleased.

  ‘I’ve left my pipe and deerstalker at home,’ I say straightening. ‘Not that it took much detection.’ The huff in my words is audible.

  He doesn’t answer; his gaze weighty and potent. And also a teensy bit pissed, if the slight glaze is anything to go by. Plus the tumbler half-full of whiskey dangling from the end of his wrist. Who needs Sherlock Holmes?

  ‘Feel like revisiting old times?’ he eventually says, his words almost leaving a physical sting across my cheeks.

  ‘My, you’re all about the feels tonight.’ I breeze past him when it becomes obvious he isn’t going to invite me in.

  ‘Kate, please. Not now,’ he says, despite closing the door and following me into the room.

  ‘Why?’ I ask, planting my arse on the sofa. On the table in front stands a half-full bottle of Jamesons. ‘Normally, you’d be up for eating chips out of my knickers anytime of the day.’ It’s one of Niamh’s. She has all the best lines.

  ‘Look,’ he says with a small sigh and an absolute reluctance to meet my eyes. ‘I’ll come back to the house tomorrow, but tonight—’

  ‘Tonight?’ I repeat with one raised brow, as he opens his mouth to speak again. ‘Tonight, I think you’re going to keep quiet and do what I say, for a change.’

  My stomach is knotted, but I’m relieved I didn’t stumble over the words. Kai’s mouth snaps closed like a trap as I rise to stand in front of him. He watches me through those dark, inky lashes, and despite my heels—I may not have changed, but I know my man—my head barely reaches his chin. Leaning forward, I place my lips against the hollow in his throat.

  ‘Kate,’ he whispers, a sound all gravelly and bordering on a moan. A sound I’d bottle, if I could. ‘You shouldn’t have come here.’

  ‘Why?’ I whisper, placing my palm over his heart. ‘This tells me I need to be here.’ At the same time, I reach into his pants pocket, pulling on the black silky edge of something I’d noticed at the door. Because it’s not the steady beat of his heart that tells me I’m doing the right thing, or even the erratic pulse in his throat.

  Welcome bondage, for thou art a way to liberty, the scarf reads as I pull it free.

  I exhale a shaky breath, relieved I’ve followed my heart. He didn’t leave because he couldn’t bear to be near me, and tonight Kai will welcome bondage, because tonight I know he needs to be free—free from guilt.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Kai’s lips tremble almost imperceptibly, and a pulse hammering in his neck. His long eyelashes cast dark shadows under his eyes, his gaze almost bruised and definitely reluctant.

  ‘What’s this?’ I ask softly, running the embroidered silk through my hands.

  His gaze flicks to mine, a definite frown marring his gorgeous face. ‘You know what it is.’

  And I do. It’s the scarf he used to bind me to a chair in his bedroom at the beginning of this whirlwind relationship of ours.

  ‘A scarf?’ My question is part sweetness, part tease, as I take the glass from his hand.

  The corners of his mouth quivers again, this time the result of repressing a smile. ‘Something like that,’ he answers, his voice low and a little rough. He inhales then, as though to speak, before finding my finger pressed against his lips.

  ‘Shh. You don’t need to say anything. Besides, you know that’s not right. You told me so.’ I loop it over his head as I speak, my fingers then moving to my denim shirtdress, where I begin to loosen it, button by slow button as Kai tries not to watch. I’m left inches from him in my underwear and nude heels, very aware of the rise and fall of my breasts, encased as they are in a blue lacy bra.

  It helps that Kai seems pretty aware, too, his chest so close and moving almost as rapidly as my own. I pull the silk from his neck, the room silent but for the sound of our breath and the soft susurrus of silk against skin.

  ‘It can’t be a scarf,’ I repeat. ‘Because a scarf’s purpose is to keep you warm. That leaves only a restraint to tie, or a blindfold to steal your sight, to increase your pleasure tenfold.’

  Kai’s eyes burn with the weight of his sudden expectation; confusion clouding the gold as I begin to fold the silk in half, before tucking it into my elastic waistband. I lean against him, my lips hovering just over his.

  ‘Looks like you’ll have to wait and see.’

  It’s hard to resist, but I don’t kiss his pillow soft lips, instead lowering my mouth to the hollow of his throat. My fingers make short work of his shirt buttons as his hands find my hips, the heat in his large palms making me jolt. With each button loosened, I place a kiss against his warm caramel skin, until I’m able to pul
l the cotton free of his pants.

  ‘Will you . . . let me?’

  The hard planes of his stomach contract under my fingers as I run them up his torso, wrapping my hand in the soft hair at the nape of his neck. In the absence of a reply, I pull him to me, past his hesitancy, until our mouths meet. I kiss, petal soft lips and teasing slides of tongue, controlling the rhythm, because this dance is ladies’ choice.

  His hands slide to cup my arse but I pull away, my hands drifting to his shoulders as he groans. I slide the shirt down his arms, but not all the way. As the fabric reaches his elbows, I move around his body, pressing myself against the warm solidness of his back.

  ‘Do you trust me?’ Kai shivers as my breath meets his skin.

  ‘You shouldn’t be here.’ His words sound almost like a lament, but as he doesn’t try to step away, I ask my question again. ‘Of course I do,’ he says, rougher now. ‘That’s not—’

  I steal the words from his mouth when I grasp the shirt hanging from his arms, and pull tight.

  ‘Kate.’ My name carries a warning. One I won’t heed.

  ‘Not a scarf and not a restraint,’ I say, twisting and tightening his custom tailored shirt, around and around, until his wrists are bound. Trailing my finger down the long line of his spine, I taper it around to his waist as I move. The hairs on his arms prick and stand, before I’m in front of him once more.

  His gaze pins mine, no longer confused or hesitant, but darkly dilated and framed by those lashes of inky black. Knots of muscles strain his shoulders, while veins and tendons stand to attention in his throat. I swallow thickly at the sight of him. He’s never once been anything but in control, but right now bound—however unconvincingly—he’s the kind of beautiful that hurts my heart. Powerfully beautiful.

  My body hums with need and I almost throw myself at him right then. The only thing holding me back is the thought that, while I’m sure it’s something we both want, it’s maybe not what we need.

  ‘You know what I’m thinking?’ I whisper.

  ‘That you find you like the sight of a tortured man?’

  Not what I was expecting, my mouth curling along with his. ‘Oh, sweetheart,’ I say quietly, an echo of something Kai once said resonating. ‘This isn’t torture. At least . . . not yet.’

  ‘Kate,’ Kai says again in warning, though I note his shy smile hasn’t gone.

  Taking the length of silk from my waistband, I feed it between my hands once more. ‘I’m thinking we’re wearing far too many clothes.’

  Looping the length around his neck, I begin walking backwards into the master bedroom, pulling him with me.

  Two small lamps are lit; one on a nightstand, the other on a chest. The drapes are open; the windows covered by gauzy voiles which mute the city lights below. This room is familiar, but its memories are tainted now. Sensory memories. Cigar smoke and hurt. The low velvet chair Kai once tied me to rests in front of the same large gilt framed mirror, but both pieces are now sullied by other memories. It’s almost as though the room is filled with ghosts.

  ‘Why here?’ I find myself asking. Surely there were a hundred more places for him to turn.

  ‘I thought—expected this would be the last place you’d come.’

  ‘You thought I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to?’

  He nods, unspeaking as I lay my own head against his solid chest.

  ‘Then maybe you don’t know me very well, because I think I’d follow you into hell.’

  Kai’s laugh is short and bitter, echoing in my chest.

  ‘I’m surprised you don’t feel I’ve already led you there.’

  My fingers still hang from the ends of the silk as I lift my gaze, Kai’s head turned towards the window, only the graceful curve of his jaw in my line of sight. I yank the material hard, forcing his head down—forcing his gaze back to mine.

  ‘You don’t get to choose. I do.’ I press my lips against his, using the moment to slip the silk from his neck. ‘Close your eyes. You’re about to have your pleasure increased. Tenfold.’ And with that, I tie the silk in place, and lead him blindfolded to the bed.

  ‘Sit down.’ My words are still soft but heavy with the weight of my command. Wonder if it’s okay to admit to being turned on as he does?

  ‘The kitten has claws,’ Kai murmurs, settling himself, no doubt uncomfortable due to his arms, and possibly the bulge in his pants. Suddenly, he stills and sits taller, his head tilting as though listening hard.

  ‘You’re such a tease,’ he growls.

  ‘Am I?’ From a few steps away, I throw my bra over him. His chuckling stops at my next question, his face folding into a more serious line.

  ‘Tell me why you’re here.’

  ‘I told you. This was the place I thought you wouldn’t come.’

  ‘No, Kai,’ I say in a deliberate purr. ‘I know. The photograph, it had to hurt. Seeing it, knowing Essam—’

  ‘Don’t,’ he rasps. ‘Leave it, Kate.’

  ‘You said you couldn’t stand to look at me. Good job you’re wearing a blindfold now, huh?’

  ‘Come closer, kitten. I don’t need to see you to want you.’

  My heart lifts; confirmation of a thought I’d fought not to recognise. ‘You do still want me?’

  ‘All. The. Fucking. Time.’

  ‘The feeling’s mutual.’ I’m naked now, but for my heels. ‘But mutual is overrated, according to you. Do you know,’ I continue, drawing closer to the object of my desire and the bed. ‘You’re my waking thoughts, and my daydreams? My night-time obsession, as well.’

  ‘Come closer,’ he whispers, his tone low and raspy. Kai’s chest rises and falls steadily, the muscles in his shoulders defined and pronounced. I’m no fool—I’m sure he could pull his arms free if he wanted, but there’s something keeping him from me.

  ‘My . . .’ I whisper, climbing onto the bed and at his side. ‘What big . . . muscles you have.’ My fingertips trail his bicep, eliciting a whole-body shiver.

  ‘All the better to hold you with,’ he says with a teasing smile, one sharp bicuspid peeking from behind his curved lips.

  ‘And my, what beautiful teeth you have.’ I draw my thumb against his bottom lip, his smile widening a touch as I do.

  ‘All the better to eat—’

  ‘Not just now, Romeo,’ I whisper. ‘Because I need you to tell me why you couldn’t—why you can barely look at me.’

  His mouth clamps closed, his lips now just a line across his face. A muscle in his jaw begins to tick as he makes to turn his head from me, but not before I catch it in both my hands.

  ‘Tell me,’ I hiss, licking the jumping muscle. He shivers as my hair trails his chest. ‘Your cousin sent you naked photographs of me, and you know he didn’t take them.’

  ‘Of course I fucking know,’ he grates out, looking like he’s about to explode.

  ‘Then tell me.’

  ‘I don’t fucking know!’

  ‘Liar,’ I whisper in his ear, my tongue flicking out to caress the shell.

  ‘Stop it.’ A growl.

  ‘You can’t stop me. You can’t stop me from doing anything. You can’t—’

  ‘Do you think I don’t know that? Do you think I don’t feel impotent enough? He fucking attacked you, Kate, and I left you alone! All that’s happened . . . it’s my fault. If I’d been here—’

  Sliding my legs wide, I slip over his lap. ‘If you’d been here, it would have happened some other way. You need to stop punishing yourself.’ My hands glide to his neck, my fingers grasping the ends of the ties. ‘I want you to punish me instead.’

  He blinks heavily—once, twice—as the silk falls between us, his pupils reacting to the light.

  ‘Don’t, Kate. This isn’t your fault—’

  ‘It is. It’s my fault. There are more photos.’ He nods and sweet relief spreads through my insides. ‘I’m sorry I lied, but I didn’t want to disappoint you. I didn’t want you to—but I did lie. To you. Even though I didn’t mean to.’ F
oot, meet idiot, rambling mouth. ‘And I want you to. Please, anything. ’

  ‘Don’t promise me things you can’t mean.’

  My hands retract from his hair, slipping around to cup his face. ‘Why can’t I?’

  ‘Leave it, Kate. I’m too angry—’

  ‘You told me once that passion and anger are often two sides of the same coin. Kai, come on, make me atone.’

  Proving my theory that I’ll never make a bondage expert, Kai pulls his wrists free from his shirt. In an instant, his mouth is hard against mine, his tongue thrusting and demanding a return. His hands knead and touch my back and arse as though to make me aware of his possession—his need. Then, suddenly, I’m in the air, his arms banding my butt and he lifts me as he stands. The hard press of his body against mine spikes desire deep in my veins, rushing through the limbs I try to wrap him in. I’d expected him to throw me to the bed, when instead, he moves us to the chair that I’ve both loved and then loathed.

  As my feet touch the floor, Kai stops kissing me before turning me to face the mirror with both hands against my waist.

  ‘This is your last chance to say no.’ Our eyes connected through our reflections, he lifts the weight of my hair in his hands. My head falls to the side and he bends to kiss my neck, my eyes rolling closed. ‘Don’t make me do this,’ he whispers against the sensitive space. ‘Not today.’

  His words and tongue echo in between my legs and I push back against the weight of his body, curling my fingers into the back of the chair, desperate to make this right, desperate for him.

  ‘Please,’ I whisper, not sure what I’m pleading for, not sure how he can be so hard yet so reluctant.

  Kai flexes into me again and I whimper—one small sound lengthening into a libidinous moan as he pushes his knee between my legs.

  ‘You don’t want this. You don’t need to feel my anger.’ His words are low, throaty and heartfelt—almost a plea—even as he lifts my knee onto the seat of the chair. ‘How I feel—I don’t think I’ll be able to stop. Please tell me you don’t want that.’

  ‘I don’t want you to stop. I want you to be free.’