THE RED ROOM

The door clicks shut with a final thud that echoes right through the soles of my feet to my very bones as I stand frozen in the center of the room... Slowly, the full weight of where I am crashes down on me like an avalanche!

​The room is covered entirely in deep, scarlet red tones... It looks less like a bedroom and more like some kind of seductive dungeon designed for a singular... sinful purpose! The bed in the center is so massive, it could easily fit four people!

And on a long, low glass table next to the bed, arranged neatly, is a collection of items that makes my brain completely short-circuit and my face heats up so fast I'm surprised smoke doesn't start pouring from my ears.

There are leather collars lined with soft fur... a wicked-looking leather whip with a polished handle, and silver cuffs that catch the light. My gaze jerks away and unfortunately it lands on something worse... A giant mirror mounted on the ceiling, perfectly framing the entire bed directly below.

My mouth falls open.

Why would they need a mirror there?? Actually... No... I don't want to know.

I immediately look away again and let out a tiny, choked gasp as my eyes dart to the far wall... Hanging there is a huge, hyper-realistic painting of a completely nude woman sprawled across a dark satin sheet in a seductive position, her spine is arched and her head is thrown back in a look of pure ecstasy... her fingers are buried intimately between her legs!

My face is probably as red as a tomato now as I avert my eyes from the erotic painting... Everything in this room screams its purpose... There is no misunderstanding here.

I whirl around and see the stranger is still standing there, watching me silently with those liquid amber eyes... My stomach does another violent flip!

Well... Yay for my mission to get laid, I guess?

If this room is any indication of his intentions, I am definitely going to achieve my goal tonight. But looking around now, this is looking a bit more intense than I thought it would be. A lot more intense... Downstairs, the idea of losing my virginity to a hot stranger felt like a bold, rebellious, abstract plan to escape having my first time with Pierre... But here? In this room? With... him?

A cold shiver of panic runs down my spine. I'm not nearly as brave as I was thirty minutes ago... Could I really do this? Could I actually take off my clothes, climb onto that massive red bed, and lose my virginity to a complete stranger?

A stranger who looks like he walked directly out of some forbidden fantasy?

Suddenly the stranger moves without warning and my thoughts scramble instantly as he starts to take off his dark jacket! My mouth goes completely dry...

Dear Lord! I never knew taking off a jacket could look this sexy!

His forearms flex as the jacket slides down and fully reveals his thick, muscular biceps, completely coated in intricate, dark tattoos that swirl down to his wrists...The heavy muscles in his arms flex beautifully under the red lights as he tosses the jacket effortlessly onto a nearby chair.

I stare at him shamelessly without blinking... Like a deer caught in freaking headlights... Which is probably embarrassing... But can you blame me?! Honestly? At this point I don't care... I'll probably never get the chance to see anyone this sexy ever again... I mean, he looks like something pulled straight out of a dark romance fantasy or a highly inappropriate wet dream... He is utterly, completely unreal!

Before I can even recover from his scandalous biceps, he reaches for the hem of his dark shirt and in one smooth, swooping motion, he pulls the fabric up and over his head! The shirt disappears and I almost stop breathing altogether!

Holy... Crap!

My heart rate speeds up drastically, pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribs until it's hard to even breathe! My mouth falls open a little as I stare openly at the shirtless, flawlessly ripped, heavily tattooed masterpiece standing before me!

His chest is broad, his abs tightly packed and shadowed under the scarlet glow, and a dark trail of hair disappears straight into the waistband of his trousers! The tattoos on his neck extend down across his collarbones and bloom over his chest like dark ink spilling into water...

​As if that wasn't enough he runs his large, tattooed hand through his tousled dark hair, shaking it out and the gesture is so effortlessly sexy that my stomach does another flip and I'm sure I'm close to passing out now!

Get it together Barbara!...

For several seconds he doesn't even seem to notice me watching... Then his gaze suddenly lifts and locks directly onto mine and I freeze!

Something shifts in his expression and his head tilts slightly... Like he's trying to solve a puzzle or like he's looking at me and finding something that doesn't fit... But then his gaze lowers to my quivering lips and something hungry creeps into his eyes.

​Then he speaks, "Come here."

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