Sordid (Sordid 1)

He’d wrapped his hands around my throat while we were soaked by the rainfall shower head. “Repeat it.”

There wasn’t a belt around my neck, and I was confident we had enough trust, so he was only making me repeat the mantra to exert his power. My voice was steady. “You get pleasure or I get choked.”

I knelt on the tile and sucked his dick while he twined his hands in my drenched hair. His deep moans of pleasure created a dark craving in me, and I was only half satisfied when he reached his end. He sensed it, of course.

“Don’t use any of my time to touch yourself today. I want you aching for it tonight.”

After the shower, he’d had to hurry to get out the door, and left me feeling restless and needy.

I was still sitting at the kitchen table eating a late breakfast when Jennifer appeared, garment bags draped over each arm.

“Oh, you’re eating,” she said without giving me a greeting. “I’ll go get these ready for you to try on.”

Jennifer had unwrapped several dresses by the time I plodded upstairs to my room. She noticed my appearance in the doorway and waved me in.

“Let’s start with these,” she said, pointing to the clothes laid out on the bed.

I gathered them up in my arms and went into the bathroom, feeling uncomfortable changing in front of her. I tugged on the outfits, one after the other, and paraded out into the bedroom like it was a bizarre fashion show for one. Two, really. Jennifer snapped pictures with her phone, and texted them to Luka.

The clothes were nice—they looked expensive and well-made. They weren’t things I would have picked out for myself. Some were a tighter fit than I was used to, and some were low-cut, but overall she’d done a good job.

“What’s Goran’s party like?” I asked her as she passed me a green dress on a hanger.

She hesitated. “It’s nice. Good food and good booze, and an excuse to dress up.”

The dress was slinky and much too sexy for me. As soon as I stepped out in it, Jennifer pursed her lips to one side. “No, that won’t work. Let’s do this one.”

It was navy blue, simple and elegant in the front, but backless, plunging all the way to the base of my spine. Lace trimmed the edges where it gave way to skin, and the dress fit me perfectly.

I tried to pry more information from Jennifer, but she gave tight, short answers to every question. Where is the party? Goran’s estate. How many people will be there? A lot. When there were no more clothes for me to try on, she hung what I was keeping in the closet and took back the others.

She glanced at the text message that popped up on her screen. “Luka’s downstairs.”

It was already lunchtime. I grabbed my iPad and followed her out of the room. Luka waited at the base of the stairs, his attention fixated on me, but his expression was unreadable. “The blue dress,” he said to Jennifer. “Does Addison have everything she needs for it?”

“Yeah.” She adjusted the strap of her purse, fidgeting.

“Good, thanks for your help.” The corner of his mouth pulled up into a smile. “She’ll look perfect.”

He used the word specifically to get under my skin. Why did I allow one innocuous adjective to hold so much power? It was a compliment and it made me feel warm and proud, but it also felt like a lie, too.

He held out his hand, wordlessly asking for my iPad, which I passed to him. He said goodbye to Jennifer and then we went into the office. I watched as he hooked the iPad up to the computer so he could download the new videos while we ate.

Did he notice the change between us during lunch as much as I did? The conversation flowed seamlessly for the first time as he asked about my family’s holiday traditions, and told me about his. Then, he dropped the bomb that if I wanted to go home for Thanksgiving break, I could, but it’d be with him in tow. He was my new boyfriend, after all.

“I don’t know if our relationship is serious enough,” I said, “to introduce you to my parents yet.”

He blinked slowly. “Is that a joke?”

“Maybe,” I whispered. “The truth is, I don’t know if I can prepare my parents for you. You’re . . . pretty intense.”

For a fraction of a second he seemed amused. “We’ll be fine. I can dial that back if I have to.” The word we lingered. Strange, but not unpleasant. Luka’s expression returned to his serious one. “Your task for this afternoon. Hold on, I’ll go get it.”

My nerves swirled. What sinful, dirty assignment was he going to give me? I waited with held breath as he left the table, disappeared through the doorway, only to return a moment later carrying the iPad.