Fill Me [Dungeon Masters 3] (Siren Publishing Menage Everlasting) Page 3
Elijah handed a card to Phoenix.
“And you?” Asher asked her.
“I own Paddle My Ass. It’s an adult store. Some of your people have visited it once before. But my name is Ryia, not Maria. I must have mumbled when I spoke to Phoenix.” Ryia hoped she hadn’t hurt Phoenix’s feelings. She’d been very friendly and welcoming. Ryia had so few friends or even friendly acquaintances that she’d hate to upset the woman.
But much to her relief, Phoenix didn’t complain at all and the conversation flowed fast and furious about the various exhibitors and their products. Time seemed to race by, and Ryia was startled when her cell phone beeped to remind her to go back to her room and get ready for the meet and greet that evening.
Conversation stopped and she was embarrassed as she said, “I’m sorry. It’s been lovely talking to you all, but I need to go now.”
Phoenix looked at her own phone. “Hell, where did the time go? I must rush as well. I want to wash my hair and it takes forever to dry.”
Her hair was black and very long. “Is there a hair dryer in your room?” asked Ryia.
“I always bring one. Without help, it’ll never dry.”
“Thank you for spending time with us. I hope we see you again later this evening,” said Asher.
Ryia thought likely he meant Phoenix, but she thanked them all anyway and headed for the elevators. She’d enjoyed being part of a group, talking to people about nothing in particular, relaxing and having fun. She didn’t have very many opportunities to do that. Of course, as a small business owner she talked to people all day, in person, online, and on the phone, but it wasn’t the same as sitting down and just…hanging out really.
Still, that was another nice thing. She had a lot of exhibitors to follow up and get ideas to improve her business and she had a bunch of lectures and workshops she planned to attend this weekend. Sitting and talking to a passel of strangers was just a bonus. It was all good. Now she needed to concentrate on getting ready for the meet and greet.
* * * *
Elijah and Asher were back upstairs in their room. It wouldn’t take them very long to have a shower and get ready for the evening program, but it was the only place they could talk without risking being overheard so it made good sense to return.
“Did you like Phoenix? I knew you’d want that long black hair,” Asher asked his friend.
“You know altogether too damn much.”
“Well?”
It was very early yet. Hell, they’d only been here a few hours, but Asher felt a huge weight on his shoulders, that this was their one opportunity to find a mate. That these few days were the magic turning point, and that they had to make use of every possible moment to find their woman. Besides, Phoenix was pretty and friendly. He’d liked talking to her. It was just…He forced his tense muscles to relax and waited for Elijah to speak.
“I did like Phoenix. She’s smart and funny and that hair is perfect. But did you see Ryia’s eyes? They’re violet. I mean, like really. Not blue or gray, but violet. Maybe it was a trick of the light or maybe they’re colored contact lenses, but she doesn’t seem the stuck-up sort to wear colored contact lenses to me, and I couldn’t stop looking at her eyes.”
“What about the rest of her?” asked Asher quietly.
“She’s a lot quieter and more self-controlled than Phoenix but she made sense when she spoke, and I liked her.”
“I did, too. I thought Phoenix was fun, but Ryia appealed to me even more. It’s like she’s a gift and I want to be the one to unwrap her and see what’s underneath.”
“If you’re talking about her personality, yeah, I do, too. If you’re talking about her body, she isn’t skinny, but I rather like the idea of lush hips to hold onto and generous breasts to suck.”
Asher grinned. “You’ve changed your mind since a couple of hours ago, then.”
“Not changed, no. Maybe broadened my requirements some.”
“Uh-huh. So tonight, at the meet and greet, what do you want to do? Home in on Ryia and Phoenix, or look some more?”
Asher watched as Elijah paced across the room. Backward and forward, back and forth. It was a spacious room, but it wasn’t really big enough for a man of his size to walk far. “How about this? We get there early and circle the room, talking to people. Unless we find someone we both want to get to know, when Ryia arrives we talk to her and whoever she’s with. Maybe sit and have a drink with her. Then we decide whether to stay with her or look some more.”
“I agree, but one of the first things we do when we talk to her is find out if she’s got a significant other. If she has we need to get looking for someone else.” Even as he spoke, Asher knew he didn’t want to do that. It was stupid. He’d only met the woman a few hours ago and he knew almost nothing about her. And yet…Something about her drew him to her. Phoenix was bright and fun. But Ryia? She was multilayered, with depths he wanted to explore. So long as she didn’t have a husband with a shotgun in her room.
* * * *
Elijah paced around the room while Asher showered. He’d dressed in his good black pants and a simple blue button-down shirt. He would be wearing a tux for the formal dinner tomorrow night and he’d brought a couple of neckties with him, but didn’t really think he needed to wear one tonight. The dress code was business casual, which didn’t really help him at all. Except he guessed it meant no jeans, no wife-beaters, and no flip-flops.
He wondered if the women would be wearing dresses with plunging necklines and equally plunging backs. Or tight-fitting clothing that outlined their shape. But then he thought of the long skirt Ryia had been wearing. It was alluring in its way as well. Because she hid her skin, that made him wonder about it. When every inch of a woman was on display, there was no mystery left at all. Not that he was complaining. He liked looking at asses and tits as much as any other red-blooded man. But if Ryia was covered up, that’d make undressing her all the more fun.
That made him think, though, that maybe women liked a man to dress up nicely as well. So he opened his luggage, took out a black necktie, and stood in front of the mirror, giving himself a half Windsor knot. He knew several different ways to tie a necktie, but as a kid he’d been told the half Windsor was a real man’s knot, so that was the one he tended to use. Whatever, he’d dressed up.
He turned around to face the bathroom, about to tell Asher to hurry up, when his friend appeared, his hair still faintly damp, but looking all set for the evening, and also wearing a tie. It seemed like once again they’d thought alike. That was very special to him. Since they were going to share a woman, they needed to be able to work together, and so often they could.
“Great minds think alike.”
“Huh?” Asher stared at him.
He touched his tie.
“Oh, yeah. I thought it was better to be overdressed than underdressed. I can always take the tie off and put it in my pocket, but I’d rather not get turned back at the door and have to come up here and start again.”
Elijah hung his conference lanyard around his neck, and then checked he had a tiny notepad and a pen with the cap securely on it in his pocket. He wasn’t just here to find a woman and fuck her until she agreed to mate them both. He did actually want to learn things to ensure The Dom’s Dungeon remained the top BDSM club in Richmond.
He started to walk to the door, tapping his pockets to ensure he had his cell phone and his room card, but Asher said, “Wait up a moment.”
“What have you forgotten?”
“Condoms and lube.”
“Hmm. Good point. We might as well be organized and hopeful, although the first night is a bit unlikely, don’t you think?”
“Probably, but a good Boy Scout is always prepared.”
Elijah watched as Asher dropped a strip of condoms and a small tube of lube into his pocket and then took them out again and put them in this other pocket. Before he could ask for an explanation, Asher said, “I don’t want to pull them out accidently if my cell phone rings.�
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“God, no. That could be embarrassing.”
Without needing to talk about it, they took the stairs down to the conference floor, and walked down the hallway to the main ballroom, which was where most of the events would be held. Elijah mentally sized up the dimensions and decided it was likely slightly smaller than the room where the exhibition was being held, but not a whole lot. Round tables had been placed near the walls, with chairs facing into the center of the room. A bar was already open at one end of the room, and also on that wall was a long table holding warming trays stocked with finger foods. Several waitstaff stood behind it. A pile of plates and forks was at one of the tables, indicating the way guests were supposed to line up, but right now only half a dozen people were there and they were all either talking to the waitstaff or to each other.
The center of the room was empty, and he assumed that was where people would stand around to talk. A quick glance showed him a podium at the far end of the room where the sponsors would make formal speeches. Okay, he could deal with that. Having assessed the room in his security guard persona, he now relaxed into his looking-for-a-mate persona and looked more carefully at the other people in the room.
They’d deliberately arrived early, but even so likely there were fifty people in the room. Of course, out of four hundred that wasn’t many, but it was a start. Without saying a word, he and Asher joined a group in the center of the room and began talking. But in less than five minutes it felt as if he was at work, just trying to be nice to paying customers. When one of the men said, “I think I’ll get a beer. Does anyone else want one,” he and Asher took the movement in the group as an opportunity to leave it and find another circle of people.
But again and again the same thing happened. He supposed it was nice talking to people in the same sort of industry as himself. But it felt like work. As if he had to be polite to clients. It didn’t feel like when he and Asher had been chatting with Ryia and Phoenix. That had felt like friends hanging out together.
Each time they moved from one little group to the next, Elijah looked around for Ryia, but he couldn’t see her. Of course, she wasn’t very tall, so she wouldn’t stick out in the crowd, but he knew he’d recognize her and he was looking forward to seeing what kind of dress she’d be wearing. At the moment, there was everything from floor-length gowns to ultra short mini-skirts. But there were no jeans anywhere. The men were in suits or dress pants, and the women in dresses or dress pants. Hmm. Maybe she’d be wearing pants. Something silky and slinky, or maybe something more like the bold colored palazzo pants a few women wore.
The room was filling fast, when he finally saw her arrive, pushing some brochures into her conference bag. Dammit, she must have been in the exhibition hall all this time. He could have—no, they needed to check out the other women here. Looking around was an important step to take. But Asher’s body language told him quite clearly there was no other woman here he wanted to get to know better. Well, none as yet.
Before he could say anything, Asher changed direction and started moving through the crowd over toward where Ryia was. Yes. That’s what he wanted, too.
* * * *
Ryia slid into a chair behind a table. Her back was to the wall and there was only just enough space for her to settle on the chair. She placed her conference satchel on the empty chair beside her and pulled out the convention program she’d been marking as she looked at each display in the exhibition room. She drew a neat line through the first letter of the name of each exhibitor she didn’t need to visit again. There were a few she wasn’t sure of, but she didn’t like to pull out all the business cards and brochures she’d collected and sort through them right here.
The meet and greet didn’t really interest her as such. It wasn’t like she was here to schmooze for clients. Although another time, if she rented an exhibition stand herself, that’s what she’d do. It wasn’t even as if she was here to hook up with some sexy man and get fucked. Although over the last few months she’d started to wonder what it would be like to fuck someone other than Miles. He’d been her first and only lover, although he’d rarely been particularly lover-like.
But still, she had started to think that maybe somewhere out in the big wide world was a man who wouldn’t be so thoroughly repulsed by her weight. Possibly a man who was a tad overweight himself. And that together they might find happiness. Not that she would ever get married. It’d be way too complicated to explain her previous so-called marriage.
Ryia thought for a moment about the delicious men she’d met earlier. Asher and Elijah. But of course they’d really been talking to Phoenix. They were just being polite including her in the conversation. Still, they’d both been devastatingly handsome. She was certain either of them would give her a mighty fine orgasm. Not that they would want to. Who would look at fat-and-ugly her, when there were dozens of beautiful women here who’d be so much more interesting and pleasant to talk to?
Her fingers itched to pull out her brochures and do some work, but she needed to be polite. This was the first official session of the convention. She’d paid good money to come here to learn, so she needed to pay attention to the speakers when they were introduced. And if she sat here, against the wall, she wouldn’t be tempted to go and fill a plate with the enticing food she could smell, even from right over here. It would be as delicious as Asher, she was sure, but she’d eaten a cookie today and hadn’t been wrangling boxes of stock to burn off those calories yet. So no supper for her today. Dammit.
“You’re working hard.” The deep, sexy voice startled her, making her head lift up so her brain could match the face of the attractive Elijah to the voice that had sent an erotic chill racing up her spine.
“Oh, no, not really. I’m just making a note of the exhibition displays I want to revisit.” She realized after she stopped talking that she was babbling rubbish. That was the kind of unnecessary chatter that would have led to Miles duct-taping her mouth closed for the rest of the evening. And she still hadn’t learned to think before she spoke. Which only proved that in some ways she continued to be incredibly stupid.
Fortunately neither Elijah, nor Asher, who was right beside him, seemed repulsed by her verbal information overload.
“You’re far more logical than we are. We just wandered around looking,” said Asher with a smile.
Scared she’d babble again if she spoke, Ryia simply nodded, dropping her papers and pen into the conference bag and putting it on her knee to free the chair beside her. Not that she expected them to sit with her when there was a room full of more interesting people to talk to. It just seemed to be polite. That was all.
Nevertheless, Elijah sat down beside her instantly, and Asher walked around the table and took the chair on the other side of her, pushing the table out farther from the wall as he did.
Elijah crossed his arms on the tabletop and stared at her, making her wonder if she had ink on her nose or something. But he smiled and said, “You have the most amazing eyes I’ve ever seen. I’ve never met anyone with violet eyes before.”
Ryia smiled. “My mom wanted to name me Elizabeth because of my eyes, after the actress Elizabeth Taylor, who had violet eyes, but dad had planned for me to be called Ryia, so I’m Ryia Elizabeth.”
She looked down, forgetting the happy memories of her father and remembering the harsh criticism of Miles. “Close your fucking eyes. You’re a freak, Ryia. Those eyes prove it just as much as the tons of lard on your ugly body.”
I will not let him remain in my mind. He’s gone and I need to wipe away all the horrible things he said to me.
A large warm hand covered her elbow, causing her to look up in a hurry. Elijah gently pulled on her arm and she lifted her hand, not understanding what he wanted, until he held her hand in his.
“Don’t look down. Your eyes are stunning. Look up and at us and tell us some more things about yourself.”
“I’m very ordinary. Why don’t you tell me more about yourselves instead? You both work at
The Dom’s Dungeon you said? Tell me about it.”
“Have you ever been to a BDSM club?” asked Asher.
“No. I—” Saying she’d gotten married in high school probably wasn’t a good thing. Her not-marriage wasn’t anything she could discuss here. Instead she said, “I’ve been busy establishing my store. I guess now it’s starting to go smoothly I could go out and visit one someday, maybe.”
“We’d like it very much if you came with us to the dungeon. We’d enjoy showing you all around,” said Elijah.
She smiled. Likely, they were just being polite.
“Have you ever been handcuffed and spanked? Or wanted to be?” asked Asher.
Some nights when she’d been lying on the floor, bruised and in pain, she’d thought about BDSM and wondered about pain being sexy. More recently she’d understood that there was a world of difference between carefully moderated and appropriately placed spanks and what Miles had done when he was filled with anger.
“You were supposed to be telling me about yourselves.”
“Were we? I’d much rather get to know you a whole lot better,” said Asher, picking up her hand and stroking his thumb over the inside of her wrist. Instantly her cunt was filled with honey and her nipples hardened into points. Holy hell. No one had ever done that to her before and it was incredibly carnal.
The men began to talk to her about the club where they worked, but Ryia struggled to follow the conversation. With one man holding her wrist and the other her other hand, her brain had gone into hibernation. Suddenly all she wanted was to jump into bed with one or the other of these men. She had no idea why they were talking to her instead of speaking to one of the pretty girls in the room, like Phoenix. But they were. And they were bringing about inside her a raging desire to be fucked, even though she knew likely as soon as they saw her chubby body their erections would die down and they’d hate her. But just one night of being loved. Was that too much to ask? Or would it just be another case of rejection and heartbreak for her?