Black Diaries

29. First Taste

Gently, Elliot sat me down on the ground. With wondering eyes, I looked around the huge, dark space. As I watched, lights came on as if by magic, banishing the darkness and revealing an oasis of sleek, gleaming elegance worthy of a king. Mirrored floors, walls of dark wood and polished steel, lilies blooming in sleek vases along the walls... it was like a dream, or a modern fairytale.

Lowering himself to my height and gripping my shoulders, Elliot gazed into my eyes.

"Wait here."

There was a dark fire burning in his eyes that was not to be denied. I nodded, and he turned, vanishing into the next room. Moments later, the soft notes of strings playing from the next room drifted towards me. For a moment I wondered whether he had an orchestra hidden away there. I wouldn't have put it past him. But a moment later, when he emerged with a remote in his hands, I knew better.

Dropping the remote onto a chaise longue, he beckoned to me.

"Come."

My heart leapt at the barely restrained need in his voice. I went without hesitation. As I stepped closer, the notes of the music enveloped me. It was a hauntingly beautiful piece, happy and sad, slow and yet always striving to go faster, further, higher, to fly among the stars.

"What is it?" I asked.

He pulled me into a room, where the first thing that came to my attention was a huge bed with white sheets.

"Reinecke's Harp Concerto in E minor."

"Harp? I don't hear a harp."

"Have patience." Laying me down on the bed, he leaned down towards me and stroked one long, elegant finger down the side of my face and over my throat, making me shiver with anticipation. "All good things take time."

At those words, I felt my pulse quicken.

"Is that so?" I whispered, gazing up at him, standing there, towering over me. "And what good things do you have planned for tonight?"

"Dark things, Cassidy. Delicious things. Close your eyes."

"But..."

Before I could get another word out, his finger was at my lips, silencing me. Bending over me, he took my chin in his hand and forced me to gaze directly into his eyes.

"I said close your eyes. Now."

And my eyes slid shut without further protest. The moment they were closed, the tones of a harp rose up around me, enveloping me, carrying me to sweet, unfathomable heights. Elliot's finger slid away from my lips, down, over my throat and farther on. From out of the darkness, I heard his soft footsteps circling me, like the footfalls of a panther.

"Tonight you're mine," he repeated his earlier words. They were imbued with power. "You will do nothing I do not tell you to. You will just lie and listen and dream. Because tonight, Cassidy, your darkest, most forbidden dreams will come true."

The finger traveled on, leaving a line of living fire between my breasts, trailing across my belly and farther down. It felt as hot as a blowtorch and as soft as the feathers from the wings of a fallen angel. And I still was wearing all my clothes!

That, however, was soon to change.

"Cassidy..." His voice was the murmur of distant stars. Unexpectedly, his lips grazed my ear and I sucked in a breath. "You can still stop this, Cassidy. Just say the word, and I'll stop."

Stop? "Don't you dare!" I managed. I didn't want him to stop. I wanted him to go on! I needed him to go on. I needed him.

Out of the darkness of my closed eyelids, I heard an even darker chuckle. "As you wish."