room until I’m standing next to a sofa. I can’t take my eyes off the mirror.
The men do not notice me. Their eyes are glued to the spectacle.
The women are beautiful but unfamiliar. They aren’t from Fortune but have the polished look of a Twin Cities woman. Their undulating bodies shimmer and glow in the soft light. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch movement and my gaze is drawn away from the women toward a man sitting in an arm chair. His legs are spread wide and between them a woman kneels, her head moving up and down. His one arm is bent backward and his hand is gripping the frame of the chair behind him while his other hand is buried in the hair of the kneeling woman.
If this is a quiet night, I’m wondering what a mash is.
“This what you wanted to see?” A low voice rumbles next to my ear. Michigan’s big body is behind me, close but not touching. A whiff of tobacco, spearmints, and warm male musk surrounds me. It’s intoxicating.
I don’t answer him right away but instead take in the entire room again. The men around the room are transfixed by the women dancing. A fire could be raging where Michigan and I are standing and no one would move. I’ve never seen a woman exercise this kind of power or be the subject of this kind of desire and adoration. Even if it is momentary, what a heady feeling.
“I didn’t know what I wanted to see,” I reply with heartfelt honesty. “But this is amazing.”
Chapter Five
Michigan
W hen Annie turns up at the clubhouse wearing Easy’s cuff, my first instinct is to shove her out of the granary and drive her back to the parish home. Then I would find Easy and beat him into the ground. It occurs to me that the beating won’t be a sufficient deterrent. What if he decides to spring this shit again? Bringing some innocent to the granary wearing his claiming cuff? He’s a fucking fool. Time to teach him a lesson.
It’s Wednesday and the regular mash takes place on Friday but there’s always something going on at the granary and tonight there’s a show. I lead her upstairs to show her exactly what being with a Death Lord entails so that I won’t have to kick her out. She’ll run out on her own, full up with horror. But now I can’t take my eyes off her.
She’s not what I expected.
Oh, she’s red as a beet but transfixed by what’s taking place. And aroused. Her hand is touching her pleasure points. Her throat, the top of her chest. She rubs a finger across her chest, getting deeper and deeper, lower until her fingertip disappears below the cotton of her neckline.
It’s a path I want to trace with my own tongue.
And the need to punish anyone has evaporated, replaced with a lust.
I don’t know what is turning her on right now but there’s no doubt in my mind that if I reached between her legs, she’d be wet. How wet is gonna drive me mad.
I counsel myself to calm the fuck down. Just because a strip tease and sex show turns her on doesn’t mean she’s ready to be sandwiched between Easy and me for even one night.
No matter how many lectures I repeat in my head, my brain has no control over my body. The lure of Annie is too great. My feet move and I find myself standing behind her, looming really. This close I can see the rapid rise and fall of her small chest.
“This what you wanted to see?” I ask.
Her breathy, forthright response shakes me. If she’s not going to resist, then how can I? I plant a hand against the wall, high above her head to prevent myself from ripping off her clothes and giving everyone else in the room something new to stare at.
“Ever been to an amusement park, Annie?”
She nods and fixates her doe eyes on me. It’s a good thing I’ve braced myself because being the primary focus of her attention is staggering. As she runs her hot gaze over my face, takes in my chest and then fixates on my obvious erection, I mentally recite the alphabet backwards. If I don’t gain some control, I’ll come in my pants like an