Perception (Club Destiny #6)(94)
Author: Nicole Edwards

But today was supposed to be the day that everything would change.

For both of them.

Quickly ridding herself of the killer heels she’d been wearing for the last few hours, Mercedes snatched them up in her hands before carrying them into her bedroom. When she stepped into the master bedroom, her beautiful sub was kneeling on the floor facing the door, his glorious body on display for her. She shut the door with a gentle click to alert him of her presence and then let her eyes roam over him.

His hands rested on his thighs, his cock semi-erect between them. His collar, the one she’d surprised him with just that morning, was around his neck; a thick, black leather collar that fit him perfectly. She’d left it on the dresser before she left for work. Another point in his favor – he’d found it and read the instructions.

The only other things on Xander’s incredible body were the nipple piercings and the magnificent tattoos that decorated his otherwise perfect skin.

As she moved slowly across the room, she could see the word “Trust” tattooed on his side, following the rigid line of muscle that arrowed down toward his groin.

“Have you been there long?” she asked as she moved toward the bathroom.

“No, Mistress.”

She didn’t say anything more even though the fact that he’d referred to her as “Mistress” should have thrilled her immensely. Just like every other time he’d said it throughout the day, it sounded hollow, and that bothered her.

Instead, she left him kneeling while she went through the oversized bathroom to her closet. Once inside, she put her shoes back in their place and then proceeded to change clothes. Her office attire wouldn’t do for tonight. She had an image to uphold after all.

Twenty minutes later, she ventured back into the bedroom, completely dressed. On the other side of the room, lying on the top of her dresser were the clothes she’d personally picked out for him to wear to the club tonight. After retrieving the pair of leather pants, a black t-shirt which would be removed as soon as they were inside, and his black lace-up boots, she returned to where he was still kneeling on the floor.

Before she asked him to rise, she admired him some more. Hell, seeing him on his knees, doing exactly as she’d instructed was heady enough, but the idea that he might be doing it solely to please her made her burn for him.

Sub or not, Xander truly was the most immaculate male specimen she’d ever seen. Without an ounce of fat on his body, the man weighed somewhere near two-seventy-five, give or take a few pounds. At six-foot-six-inches, he was massive, and Mercedes, not being one of those slight, skinny women, appreciated every single inch of him. In comparison, she felt incredibly feminine and sometimes even fragile when his arms were around her.

“Stand,” she instructed as she set his clothes on the bed next to where he was kneeling.

When he was upright, Mercedes moved in close, letting her body brush slightly against his nakedness. Even at five-foot-eight-inches with her five inch heels adding even more to her height, Mercedes had to look up into Xander’s eyes.

The heat she hoped to see reflected there would’ve made her body warm another degree, but that’s not what she saw. No, what she witnessed in Xander’s beautiful green eyes was a void, as though he couldn’t think or feel for himself unless she told him exactly what to do.

She wasn’t fond of that look.

Their previous conversation rang loud in her head.

“Remember that night at Kink when you volunteered to let Mistress Desiree demonstrate on you because no one else had the balls to do it, how did that make you feel?”

“Like I was in someone else’s body.”

That’s exactly what it was. He was somewhere else, but his body was there for her taking. He was doing as she wished, but his heart wasn’t in it.

Did she expect it would be?

Pushing the question out of her mind, she slid her hands, palms down, over his taut stomach, up over the thick planes of his chest and then around his neck, pulling his head down easily until her mouth met his.

“I missed you,” she whispered before pressing her lips to his. The kiss rapidly escalated, and Mercedes had to force herself to pull away from him. “Get ready, and we’ll leave in a few minutes,” she told him as she planted another short kiss on his lips.

“Yes, Mistress.”

That’s what she heard when he called her Mistress… Absolutely nothing. The word was right, but it was hollow.

Needing a moment to herself, Mercedes left the bedroom and headed to her guest bedroom where she kept her toys. She’d also stashed a few things she’d retrieved just that morning from Xander’s personal dungeon.