Shadows in the Dark (Dark Lotus #1)

12. Brynn

“Brynn, did you get all that?”

Randall’s question snapped me back to reality and I was thankful that I was not on video. Looking down at my notes, I was glad my hand had apparently kept up while my mind wandered. I couldn’t stop replaying what had happened the night before.

“Brynn?”

“Yes,” I replied, shifting my attention back to Martin for the remainder of this call.

“Sorry, I was having trouble unmuting myself. Yes, I got all of the bullet points for the deck. Since it’s similar to a presentation you did about three years ago, I may find that one and pull out some of the language. I’ll finesse it, of course, but why reinvent the wheel? You said it well the first time.”

Martin Foster chuckled at the obvious flattery, said he was looking forward to seeing the material all put together, and wished me a good afternoon.

Martin reminded me a lot of my paternal grandfather, and he had always told me I reminded him of one of his granddaughters. I had a soft spot for the man and he knew it. He also used it to every advantage, but I really didn’t mind.

Martin could have asked someone else to pull his presentation together, but the last time he did that, while I was out of town, the deck had been returned to him full of errors. He no longer trusted anyone else to assemble them for him.

Now that I was no longer on the phone, I gave my mind free rein, knowing good and well where it would wander.

Last night had been… unexpected… to say the least, and in more ways than one. EREBUS69 had taken me by surprise not only by turning on his video, but also by speaking. He’d made sure I wasn’t able to see his face at all, but his voice painted a picture in my mind of what he might look like.

Dark hair, of course, to go with the aura of mystery surrounding him. His accent… holy fuck… his accent made me think of ancient places in Europe. Had Blair ever experienced anything like this? Was this part of BDSM? I could only assume so, but so far, I hadn’t run across anything like that in the diary I was reading.

I kept feeling like there was more. Blair had this whole other part of her life that she’d kept from me. That being the case, it wasn’t that far out to think that there were other diaries she’d written in but had stashed somewhere that made it… or them… much more difficult to find.

When he’d greeted me, I’d been so intrigued that I surreptitiously hit record on my phone, and now I was glad I had. The words he said… the descriptions he used… the images he’d evoked in my head… I’d not ever had a man speak to me that way.

The physical reactions had actually shocked me. How was it possible that he made me aroused to the point of orgasm? We hadn’t even been in the same room together, and he never touched me, yet I came hard for him.

I orgasmed again this morning when I’d replayed the recording from last night. It worked better than coffee for getting me up and in the shower. Even now, my breasts felt heavy and they physically ached for the touch of someone I had never met. I pressed my thighs together, but that did little in the way of stopping the tingling sensation I felt between them.

“For fuck’s sake, get a grip on yourself, Brynn,” I muttered, pushing away from my desk. Lug Nut’s ears perked up and he raised his head, silently asking if it was time for a walk.

“It’ s a bit early, bud, but we can go. I’ll walk you longer. It will be good for both of us.”

The dog smiled at me, stretched, and trotted over to the front door where he stuck his nose in his toy basket, producing the leash I used for our walks.

“What a good boy,” I crooned when he returned to me, leash in mouth. Once he was clipped in, we started out in the opposite direction of the way I usually went. The dog seemed confused at first, looking up as if to ask where I was going, but once he took in familiar smells, he settled in, tail wagging when he saw people approach.

I was so glad that Lug Nut seemed to be doing well after Blair’s death. Now and then, he would whine and pace the house, but those times had lessened after I gave him one of her T-shirts to sleep with. He slept with his nose down into the fabric, like he was breathing her in, and I liked to think it helped. I had come to adore the dog, and it made me feel better to know he liked me.

An hour later, we were headed back home and once inside, the dog got a long drink of water before going back to his bed for a nap.

“I envy you, dog. I still have a slide presentation to finish.”

I juggled Martin’s deck with creating expense reports, typing meeting notes, and booking flights for all three of my bosses before I called my day complete.

Dinner consisted of grilled chicken and a salad, while dinner conversation was talking to Lug Nut. I was largely a loner and had been my entire life. Going out with “the girls” had never been very appealing to me. Because my upbringing had been a bit difficult, the only real friend I’d had was Blair. She had always been there for me, as I had been for her.

Except when it really mattered.

“Not fair,” I said aloud to no one. “I had no idea what she was doing and obviously, I had no clue about this other life she had been leading.”

I didn’t understand why she had kept secrets from me and that was one thing that nagged at me constantly. I wasn’t younger by much, and I certainly wasn’t that na?ve. All I had now were the journals and the hope I would find something in them the more I read through them. At this point, I was basically willing an answer to leap off the pages.

“If I could find out who “Him” or “Sir” is, I would be able to start with that person,” I said, believing that individual would be able to help me learn more about Blair, and potentially put together missing pieces so me and my family could get closure.

Thinking of another him, I glanced down at my phone, knowing all I needed to do was find the recording and hit play on it again. Just the thought of doing that made my nipples peak and I wanted to experience the same feelings I’d had the night before all over again.

Settling in my bed, I put in earbuds, feeling my face heat when I started the playback once more. EREBUS69’s deep, accented rumble filled my ears and when I closed my eyes, I could see him sitting in silhouette just as he had last night. The lighting on his end had been atrocious, and I knew that had been intentional. While it was frustrating, it also added an element of illicitness to the whole thing, which made it… and him… that much hotter.

The display lighting from the laptop screen had been very dim, but I had been able to catch an outline of well-defined abs. So well-defined, I could trace every line with my tongue.

“Are you wet, Karma?”

“Hell yes, I am,” I panted, my fingers skimming over my intimate flesh exactly as he had ordered before.

It didn’t take much for me to be right back on the edge, quivering and aching to climax. He wasn’t watching me, but it was so easy to imagine he was in the bedroom, standing over my bed and giving me directions on what he wanted me to do.

A fresh rush of moisture began to drip onto the sheets beneath me, and I whimpered, wishing he was there to taste me. Where in the world were these thoughts coming from? I wasn’t a prude, but I was managing to shock myself with the graphic nature of what I was thinking.

“Oh, god,” I breathed, my fingers beginning to move faster, still following the path his words were taking. He had apparently unlocked a kink I didn’t even know I had because every time he described how he was going to fuck me, my hips bucked off the bed as though I were rising up to meet his thrusts.

Catching me by surprise, my orgasm claimed me and I yelled out “Sir!” before arching up off the mattress. I saw stars and my heart literally skipped a beat while I rode it out.

Collapsing back on the bed while still trembling with need, I shook my head, laughing ruefully. If I reacted this way to just the man’s voice, I would more than likely combust if I ever got the opportunity to actually meet him in person.