Chapter 23
“Are you all right?” Tommy asked as he leaned against the door to the room we shared. Our dinner jackets had already come off. “Your eyes look…tired.” He glanced at the rope of pearls, which I had placed on the bedside table.
“No,” I stated flatly as I stripped the blankets off our bed, leaving them puddled on the floor. “Forget the pearls. I won’t let you use them on me.” He flinched, but I ignored his hurt. The thought had come to me that in order to protect both myself and my lover, he would need to make love to me this night. “Get undressed, Thomas,” I ordered, quickly undoing the studs that fastened my cuffs and shirtfront and peeling it off. I stepped out of my shoes, then dropped my hands to my trousers and undid them, and I stood there naked before my lover, whose mout
