...but as softened music from the DJ played through the speakers reaches my ears, I see only Ivan sitting in the lounge facing the hallway, setting up a couple of fluted glasses next to a champagne bottle and setting them on the floor beside the couch.
He looks up as his ears pick up my footsteps, and that easy smile crosses his face again.
“You’re quicker than I expected,” he remarks, standing to his feet.
“I…”
I have no idea how he slipped past me without my noticing. He’s wearing a slim-cut suit as deep and stormy blue as his eyes, with a tie as black as the ceiling in the lounge. He strikes a starkly contrasting image to the orange room, yet he complements it like the centerpiece of the whole place.
“Ivan, I had no idea you were—”
He puts a finger to his lips, stepping forward slowly as his eyes take me in. I obey, letting my purse slip into a chair as he comes close to me with hungry eyes.
“You’re more beautiful than the day I first laid eyes on you,” he says, putting his hand on my arm and letting it run down its length. He takes my hand and gives a slight nod to the couch, leading me there with a gentle tug
"This is a new outfit," he points out.
"I've had a little extra spending money," I say back with a shy smile, and he guides me to sit down on the couch across from him. "I didn't know if I'd hear from you today, but—”
I'm quieted as he lifts my bare leg into his lap, running a warm hand up my thigh while his other hand unfastens the clasp of my shoe, letting it clatter to the ground.
"Did you think I'd let you say goodbye to this cold year alone?" he says in a low tone as he does the same to my other foot.
"Whatever you please," I say, my voice steady but my heart pounding.
Ivan tilts his head to the side. "You're uneasy, I can tell."
"Not because of you," I'm quick to backpedal, "these past couple months have been...absolutely unheard-of for business, I had no idea this place had so much potential to—”
"Katy," he hushes me with his voice, powerful hands massaging my tense calves, "Katy, listen to yourself. I don't have to touch you to know you're wound-up."
I lower my eyes bashfully, but he leans across the couch, turning my chin back up to meet his gaze, to which I obey.
"I want to make this evening something special. Soon, it will be a new year. I will see to it that you'll want to remember this one more than the last," he says, reaching a hand into his coat.
He withdraws a black silk blindfold.
My heart flutters, and I realize I'm instinctively biting my lip.
"I think this might help block out some of the distracting annoyances, no?" He stands up, leaving me draped over the couch, eyes even on him as he moves behind me and lowers the blindfold.
"All you need to do is take it off, if you wish, or tell me to do so. I won't refuse you." A smile spreads across his face again. "It would be no loss for me to see those beautiful doe eyes again."
That smile is the last thing I see before the cloth darkens my world.
My hands grip the edges of the couch in anticipation as I hear the sounds of his clothes coming off. I have no idea what he has in mind, and with my eyes shrouded in cloth, I'm entirely subject to his direction.
Strong hands feel up my sides and at his guidance, I wiggle out of my dress as he slips it off my shoulders, leaving me exposed on the couch before him. I can feel a flush in my face, and I bite my lip. I've never brought this kind of action to work. Ever.
Hell, I've never even changed clothes at the bar, and now I'm lying on a couch in nothing but the lacy underwear I put on this morning. I'm totally exposed, and my heart flutters at the thought that anyone could walk into the private lounge and see us like this — I didn't lock the door behind me, I was in such a rush to get to Ivan.
"You're still nervous," I hear Ivan's voice say as he guides my hands to rest up above my head, his other hand slipping around the back of my neck. My mouth parts, but I suddenly realize my body is too excited to compose a response.
"Let me help you relax," his rumbling voice orders, and I feel his mouth at my neck. I try to recoil from the feeling, but I feel his grip on my wrists tighten, holding me in his power with a single hand while the one on my neck teases me to expose more, let more of myself open before him as he sucks at the sensitive skin.
Then his hand slips down my neck and to my back, where I feel my bra being unhooked. Ivan tosses the fabric aside, then slips my panties off me with the same dexterity.
He backs off a moment, but I can feel his gaze bearing down on me. I'm strewn out over the couch, now totally naked save for the black cloth over my head, and I realize my heart is pounding its way out of my chest.