Read Story: SEASON 2 EPISODE 58

And god, could she fuck…

“She’s one of the best lovers I’ve ever had,” I admitted. “Tender and caring when needed… wild and fierce when that’s what I want… and the way she handles Bobbi…”

I recalled that first night in the dungeon she commissioned for us. Helen was dressed in all-black, wielding a crop. The way she caressed Bobbi’s skin with the tip of it… the way I watched Bobbi, who claimed to have no interest in her own gender, turn into a veritable puddle around that woman…

I sighed… I missed Helen. I missed her calming presence. I missed her wit and charm. I missed feeling her lips on mine as I slid inside of her.

“She’s one of the most important women to me,” I said.

It would have been hard to choose between the two women who had become the twin pillars in my life: Helen and Erin.

“She sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime girl.”

“A lot of the women in my life are,” I said. “I’ve realized that it’s one of the things about being this wealthy—it’s much easier to find the really good ones.”

“You’re right,” Astrid said, her simmering expression faded as she got a far-away look in her eyes. There was a subtle change in her smile, becoming less predatory and more… wistful. “Often, they find you.”

“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience,” I said.

“Mmm,” she said, staring at something in the middle distance that wasn’t there. “I had a relationship like the one you had with Helen. Isak.”

“Had?” I asked.

Her wistful look turned a little sad, and she didn’t answer immediately. Her stare slowly shifted until I had her gaze again. “He’s gone.”

“You mean he left you? Or he died?”

“Both,” Astrid said. “My family gets a lot of attention in Northern Europe. He… some of the lifestyle disagreed with him, so he left. I found out a year later that he passed. Cancer.”

Suddenly, my problems with Chloe seemed so insignificant compared to this woman trapped in wreckage and remembering an old love that she’d lost. “I’m sorry to hear about that, Astrid.”

She gave me a faint smile. “Thank you. I sometimes wonder if he had more faith in us, would I have been able to provide him the type of care he needed to survive?”

“You can’t think like that,” I said. “It’ll drive you crazy.”

“I think we both know I’m already a little crazy,” Astrid said with the faintest sting in her tone. The sudden shift left me flat-footed, and it took me a moment to figure out what to say.

She was referring to our earlier disagreement about how she treated Bobbi and our lesser moment of tension when I called her out for manipulating me. At both points, I thought of her as a monster. I’d written her off as a spoiled, rich princess who got exactly what she wanted without concern for how she treated others. I assumed my first impression of her as a mild-mannered, sweet woman was nothing more than a facade she employed to disarm people around her.

What if there was more to it than just that? What if she were just a broken woman? How did the saying go? “Hurt people hurt people?” She reminded me of Bobbi and Helen—Bobbi, who had no family she could rely on and had been taken advantage of, only to be discarded because she hated herself so much that she actively pushed people away. Helen had been conniving and manipulative in the early stages of our relationship. Then I discovered that she was simply scared of her husband and the gilded cage he’d built around her. My relationship with Bobbi still had a long way to go, but I felt like we were making progress.

Helen, though…

I gave her a second chance, and she had risen to the task. She wasn’t just a lover and a damn good lawyer. She was a compass and one of my most trusted advisors..

Maybe Astrid needed the same thing?

“I might have been a little harsh a couple of days ago,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

Astrid gave me a smile tinged with sadness. “I might have been trying to pull at your strings a little, but with good reason. You’re my lifeline, Marcus. I’m completely at your mercy here, and you’ve been nothing but good to me. You could have left with Chloe, but you didn’t. Part of me wanted to show you how grateful I am.”

A pang of guilt shot through me. I had stuck around, sure, but it was only on Chloe’s insistence—something Astrid didn’t need to know.

“That was only part,” she continued. Her earlier heat grew brighter in her eyes once more. “You’re attractive, Marcus, and despite making me as comfortable as possible, I’m cold and lonely. I wanted a little more attention from you.”

An intense moment of silence followed, and that smoldering gaze did things to my body that I had a hard time ignoring. Astrid was a lovely woman—tall and willowy with a dancer’s build. She had the poise and grace to match. Even injured and trapped, she carried herself with a regal bearing that belied a bravery and steadfastness that few could match. Her porcelain skin and cool demeanor gave her fine, elfin features a cold, almost immortal beauty. The twin furnaces of blue-green flame suggested that she was anything but cold to the touch, though.

I was confused. Two days ago, I considered this woman a monster. Now, I was connecting with her on levels I hadn’t with the woman I’d been sharing my bed with. Chloe had been hot with a primal need. She had shared her body with me, and I had been given a glimpse behind the veil she kept up, but I was still starving for intimacy. Now, Chloe had turned cold on me, making it harder to ignore whatever this was between me and Astrid.

And let me say one more time, Astrid was a gorgeous woman.

“I’m going to get us some food,” I said, adjusting the erection in my pants as I got to my feet.

“I would love that,” Astrid said. She didn’t seem put off by the fact that I hadn’t acknowledged her confession, which, if anything, demonstrated her diplomacy and grace even more. She would have made one hell of a companion when navigating the waters of business and wealthy social dynamics.

“Before you go, though,” she said, “Could you get my neck and back with one of these wipes? I know it’s been rather cool, but lying down like this for days has made my back sweat, and it feels a little uncomfortable.”

“Um, sure,” I said, approaching her. I took one of the wipes from the small packet I’d given her as she sat up about as far as she could, which was at roughly a fifteen-degree angle.

“How do you want me to do this?” I asked, stepping into position. Once again, I found myself just behind her with the top of her head just above my crotch as she supported herself with her elbows.

She tilted her head so she could look up at me, her summer-sea-colored eyes luminescent. “Just get at whatever you can.”

I crouched behind her as I wrapped the wipe around the fingers of my right hand and then slipped it down the back of her shirt. Astrid’s eyes fluttered shut as I ran the cool, alcohol-soaked rag across her skin, wiping away days of grime.

My lips were inches from Astrid’s forehead as I set to work, and my free hand slid to the back of her neck, resting at the base of her skull to help support her head. I gave it a light squeeze, and the corners of her lips turned up in a little smile.

“Mmmm,” she groaned softly, her head lolling back a little more so that her nose and lips were inches from my face.

This felt a hell of a lot like manipulation, but after what she’d confessed, it didn’t feel like much of a threat. Besides, giving her a quick wipe-down in a place that was impossible for her to reach felt like a reasonable ask. It wasn’t exactly her fault that I was making her feel good in the process.

I worked up her back with my other hand, concentrating on the ridges of muscle along her spine and turning it into a half-bath, half-massage. She let out another soft moan and then swallowed, giving me a lovely view of her throat as it worked—that pale, perfect throat.

Up her traps and onto the back of her neck, I finished wiping her down and then slowly lowered her to the cushion. As I slid my hand from underneath her head, her eyes fluttered open, and she gazed up at me again. I could have been seriously burned by the heat from them.

The tip of her tongue slowly slid into view, running briefly across the center of her upper lip before disappearing again, a subtle gesture. Her pink lips—wet with moisture—parted, and her breath washed over me, strong and earthy mixed with a hint of mint. I found myself hovering infinitesimally closer to her with every heartbeat. Just a few inches, and I could have a taste…

Neither of us moved for a long moment.

Then, Astrid broke the spell first.

“Thank you, Marcus,” she said, giving me a grateful smile.

“No problem,” I said. “I’ll be back with some food soon.”

I walked away before I could do something I seriously regretted.

Only… if that were the case, then why did every step away from her make me feel that much worse?

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