Page 13 of At Her Service (Club Velvet #2)
CHAPTER 13
A bby punched the code into the keypad outside Valerie’s study. A second passed. Then, the door unlocked with a click.
She pushed it open and stepped inside. In the center of the room was a large mahogany wood desk, a plush leather chair behind it. The wall to one side of the desk was made up of the same floor-to-ceiling windows as the rest of the house. The other three walls? They were entirely covered in bookshelves, bursting with books.
She stared at the shelves. She’d never seen so many books outside of a library. She could spend hours in this room just flicking through them. But she had a job to do.
She walked over to Valerie’s desk and slipped into the leather chair, resting her arms on the armrests as she spun around in it. It was even more comfortable than it looked, and it was big enough to curl up in with a good book and a cup of cocoa. Or a glass of wine. That was more Valerie’s speed. Lounging in her chair in nothing but one of her long, silk dressing gowns, a glass of wine in her hand, her copper-brown legs crossed one over the other, dark hair cascading down bare shoulders to her breasts, which peeked out from the top of her robe…
Focus, Abby. You’re not here to fantasize.
But she couldn’t stop herself. Since that night in her bedroom, she’d been consumed with thoughts of Valerie. Her voice, sultry but firm as she whispered each command. Her presence, so regal, so overpowering that Abby could feel it without Valerie even touching her.
Her body, and the way Abby’s own body obeyed Valerie’s words before her mind did.
She leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. She should have felt humiliated by what had passed between them, by the way Valerie had left her alone right after. A part of her did feel hurt. But an even bigger part of her wanted more .
She needed to tell Valerie that. She needed to talk to her about what had happened. But every time she tried, her tongue tied itself into knots and her body grew weak.
And she just couldn’t do it.
But it was obvious that Valerie didn’t want to talk about that night either. While she’d stopped avoiding Abby and seemed to have warmed up to her again, she hadn’t said a word about what had happened. Abby didn’t understand it. How could Valerie ignore what had happened between them when it was all Abby could think about?
She swiveled around in the chair, facing Valerie’s desk. That night? It had probably meant nothing to her. Sure, she’d admitted she was attracted to Abby. But could Valerie ever be seriously interested in someone like her when she had a Hollywood superstar like Francesca Moreno beating down her door?
Abby could never compete with that. Especially since Francesca and Valerie had years of history. They’d been married. They had a kid together.
Her stomach churned. Never in her life had she felt smaller than she had in Francesca’s presence. The woman was so glamorous, so magnetic. She dominated the room in a way that Abby had only ever seen in, well, Valerie.
But Valerie hadn’t even bothered to introduce Abby to her. It was like she’d forgotten that Abby existed. But why would either of them pay any attention to her? She was just the nanny.
Abby sighed and began looking through the papers blanketing Valerie’s desk. There were a few official-looking documents, but most of them were scripts, all annotated in Valerie’s graceful handwriting. None of them matched the title she’d written down. Neither did any of the scripts in the drawers of the desk.
Abby got up from the chair and wandered over to the small table by the window. The script wasn’t there either. And it probably wasn’t in the filing cabinet. Most of those drawers were locked.
There was nowhere else it could be.
Abby cursed. She’d have to call Valerie to tell her. But she’d left her phone in her purse, and she’d left her purse on the hall table.
She glanced at the bookshelves. Valerie’s collection of books seemed endless, and more than half of them were vintage. Would she ever get the chance to see inside Valerie’s study again?
It couldn’t hurt to take a closer look.
She turned to the nearest bookshelf. It was filled with contemporary novels of all genres, from literary fiction to thrillers. Had Valerie read all of them? She was a writer and a producer, so it made sense for her to be well-read and up to date with the latest fiction. Some of her films had been based on novels.
Abby pulled a book out at random and read the title. Her face flushed. It was a romance novel, one she’d read before, and it wasn’t for the faint of heart. Erin had caught her reading it years ago and had teased her mercilessly about it for an entire week before sheepishly asking to borrow it. That had been the last time she made fun of anything Abby was reading.
She returned the book to its place and wandered over to the shelf on the opposite wall. The books here were older, mostly classics. Most of them looked older than Abby herself.
She ran her hand along the shelf, taking care not to let her fingers touch the books. But as she scanned their spines, her eyes fell on a copy of Wuthering Heights . It was one of her favorite books. And Valerie’s copy was ancient, but it was in pristine condition.
Is this… is this a first edition? There was only one way to find out. But she needed to be careful not to damage it.
Abby glanced back at the door, then reached up and pulled the book out from the shelf gingerly. But it only came out halfway before getting stuck.
She tugged on it again, harder this time. It didn’t budge. But something behind the book clicked.
And the entire bookcase moved .
Abby backpedaled, looking around frantically. What did I do? How do I stop this?
But it was too late. The bookcase slid to the side, revealing an entire room behind it.
Abby’s pulse pounded. She stepped toward the newly formed doorway, peering inside. But the lights were off and the curtains were drawn. All she could make out in the darkness were vague shapes.
I shouldn’t go in there. I shouldn’t even be looking at this. I need to leave and tell Valerie what happened. It was an accident. She won’t be mad.
But something made her hesitate. And before she knew it, she’d stepped past the bookcase and into the room.
The moment she crossed the threshold, the lights flickered on, illuminating the vast room. Abby blinked. A bedroom? It looked like one. A large four-poster bed made up with silken sheets and arrayed with pillows sat on a platform at the far end of the room. There were a dozen chests of drawers and cabinets and trunks scattered about, which seemed excessive. But otherwise, it looked just like any other bedroom in the house.
Abby frowned. Why would Valerie have a secret bedroom locked away behind her study?
She scanned the room again. Her eyes fell on a large, framed canvas above the head of the bed. It was a black and white painting of a woman, completely naked and bound with ropes that were artfully tied around her body, immobilizing her completely…
Wait. Wait. Abby stepped toward the four-poster bed, examining it closer. The wrought-iron bed had little rings attached to the frame every foot or so in a way that almost looked like a part of the elaborate design.
Almost.
She swiveled around. Nearby was a bench that was shaped like a sawhorse, but padded and upholstered with leather. It clearly wasn’t designed to sit on. And the wall beside her? It had thick, black leather cuffs bolted to it three-quarters of the way up the wall.
She took a step back, her thighs hitting an ornate dresser made of dark wood behind her. She turned and opened a drawer at random. It was filled with toys. Adult toys. Whips and floggers, riding crops and canes, blindfolds and handcuffs and ropes.
Abby’s body began to burn. This was why Valerie’s study was off-limits. It wasn’t the study itself that she wanted to keep hidden. It was this room.
And there was only one purpose for a room like this. One reason Valerie would have one in her house. From the moment they’d met, Abby had felt it. The way Valerie was always in control. The way she could make Abby’s knees weak with just a look. The way she commanded every room she was in.
The way she commanded Abby in her bedroom that night.
Her heart thumped. This was why she’d been so drawn to Valerie from the very beginning. She’d never understood it when others talked about what they were attracted to in a person. Their looks, their job, their gender. None of that mattered to her.
What mattered was that they made her want to fall to her knees and vow to be theirs .
She closed her eyes, running her fingertips over a soft velvet blindfold. As she did, she imagined Valerie slipping it over her head, fingers caressing her face as she whispered all the dirty things she was going to do to her?—
A voice broke through her trance, clear and sharp. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Abby yanked her hand back and whirled around.
Standing in the doorway, her arms crossed and her eyes fixed on Abby, was Valerie.