When he ran his hand through his thick, dark hair and sighed regretfully, a knot of something unexpected wedged in her throat – forgiveness. She tried to swallow it, but it stuck there. She wanted to forgive him, but she wasn’t ready for that yet.

He blew out a breath and reached up to unhook the buttons of his coat as his composure resurfaced. The sorrowful man who had been present just seconds before was gone, and in front of her stood Victor, in all his sexy confidence. Her anger slowly dissipated and the urge to leave, left.

A glance around the room made him walk toward the nightstand where he retrieved the television remote. He punched a few buttons on it and on a small box he removed from his pants pocket. The gray static of a blank channel flickered and Elsa was faced with a blonde-haired woman who looked a lot like herself lying on the bed.

He reached for her hand and laced his fingers through hers as he lay down next to her. “Look how beautiful you look on screen.”

She looked long and hard at the image she was seeing. It was surreal to see herself through his eyes. She released his hand and sat on the edge of the bed, staring at herself, studying and scrutinizing her own imagine, trying to figure out what it was he saw in her. His hands gripped her shoulders and jerked her close again as he sat behind her.

“You’re so Goddamn sexy,” he swept the long fake hair to the side. “Look at us,” he whispered as his hands moved across her shoulders and around to her breasts. “Can’t you see what I see?”

She shook her head. She didn’t see it. She wasn’t beautiful. At most, she was above average. She tugged the wig off and tossed it to the floor to see her true image. Victor was quick to remove the hairnet and untangle the mess of sweaty red hair on her head by combing his fingers through it.

“Do you see it now?”

The urgency in his voice was moving. She wanted to see what he saw. She wanted to be in his head and see things through his eyes. She turned her head side to side. Readjusted her body. Sat up straighter. Pushed her chest out. No. She didn’t see it.

“Maybe this will help.”

He jumped off the bed and came back within a minute with two damp washcloths. Kneeling between her legs, he began to gently wipe the make-up off her face. To see it on the television happening in real time, felt odd. Like watching someone else’s life playing out before her. Like watching a father care for a helpless child when they’d made a mess of themselves. Carefully, he dabbed each of her eyes until her lashes were free of mascara. He grabbed the second washcloth and continued on her face, lips, and cheeks.

When he was done, she was looking at her naked image on the screen. What she saw: Someone unsure of her strength. A woman who was unabashedly voyeuristic. A Chapter who was willful yet pliable. The real Elsa.

Reaching for his phone, he cued another song from her playlist, Eyes on Fire by Blue Foundation. He took a hold of her hand, stood her upright and began to undress her in front of the camera. She watched intently, concentrating not on her own image, but on Victor’s.

What she saw: A man who was intrusive and tenacious. A person who was shameless yet private about his sexual proclivities. A gentleman who could be thoughtful and tender. A lover who was gently insistent at times and demanding and rough at others. The real Victor.

Standing nude before him, he laid back on the bed, his dominant eyes staring straight through her. “Undress me. Slowly. We have all night.”

Suddenly she felt rooted to the spot where she was standing, not knowing what to do next. She had undressed men before, including Victor, but it had been done in the heat of the moment and rushed. There had been no attention paid to how their clothes had been ripped from their bodies. The way Victor was watching her expectantly, she wanted care to be taken when removing them.

Spellbound by his authority and the unreadable expression on his face, she climbed onto the bed next to him and slowly unbuckled his belt. She watched with curiosity as he craned his head to the side so that he could watch their images on the television. As she unbuttoned his slacks, she glanced over her shoulder to see what he found so absorbing.

She still didn’t get it.

***

Elsa slowly came out of her dazed state as she slid Victor’s pants down his hips, ghosting the palms of her hands up his thighs on her way up to remove his briefs. During her gradual process of removing every article of his clothing, he lay quietly with his eyes transfixed on the television like a movie critic watching an interesting cinematic piece of art.

Why couldn’t she see what he saw? It was right there in front of her. Her beautiful, nude body pleasuring him… Her ember-colored locks hanging over her shoulders and draped down her back… Her make-up free face… She was completely bare and real.

Her expression remained carefully neutral as she kept her gaze on him, waiting for some kind of reaction from him. As if on a mission to torture him with her casualness, she tugged his briefs down inch by slow inch until his semi-erect shaft poked out. She wrapped her skilled fingers around him and began the deliberate process of stroking him into complete hardness. He hissed through his teeth when all the blood flowing from his brain surged to his cock

He couldn’t take his eyes off of their image. They looked so damned good together. He watched on the screen as she stared at him, each of her movements enhanced by the HD clarity. He could see by her movements that she had never been the kind of woman to deny herself carnal pleasures. If she had been, she wouldn’t have taken him up on his initial inappropriate offer. She was a woman who made no effort at all to be sexy, yet sex appeal oozed from every pore of her body. Her scent, her aura, her pure femininity and vulnerability stirred his libido and thundered in his chest.

Sitting up, he maneuvered her body on top of his, facing her toward the television. He hugged her against his chest as she lifted her bottom to allow his penetration. Above him, her slender body curved and she began to rock with her eyes closed.

“Open your eyes, Peach.”

He would show her what it was about her that kept him enraptured. Hesitantly, she pried her eyelids open and fixed on their image. He cupped a hand beneath her ass, titled her hips and began a rhythm of lifting her to the tip of his cock and gently lowering her back down.

“Look how amazing you look being fucked,” his breath rushed out of him as she took him deeply inch by sweet inch.

Fully aroused, desire pulsated through his swollen and rigid shaft as he watched her uncomfortable expression turn to arousal. He dragged his tongue over her upper spine to her neck as the dampness between her legs began to flow freely.

“Do you see it?”

Her eyes widened only the slightest as she leaned back against his chest. Reaching an arm up and around his neck, she pulled his mouth close to her ear while her other hand slipped down her belly to her pussy. Two fingers spread her labia open as she ground down onto him, exposing the image of his cock disappearing into her pussy.

“Tell me you see it,” he groaned out when she worked her entrance over the tip of his shaft.

A soft moan of pleasure slipped past her lips as her long nails scratched over his scalp.

Their bodies moved in tempo to a song from his own playlist, Wherever You Go by Sleeperstar, as he maintained his slow rhythmic in and out motion of his cock. He grazed his teeth across her earlobe and slid his hands around her body. Palming a breast, he squeezed roughly, making her mewl softly. When he rested his other hand on top of hers to guide her movements as she circled a finger around her clit, her eyes grew wild and the first sign of understanding flitted over her face.