“Can I get you something?” the bartender asked.
“How about the name of the strawberry blonde down there?” Terrence asked.
The bartender looked him up and down, but didn’t seem to recognize him. As one of the most sought after actors in Hollywood, Terrence had gone through great pains to disguise his appearance for tonight. His agent told him he didn’t care if he went to a BDSM club, as long as he wasn’t recognized. Terrence’s insistence that confidentiality reigned supreme fell on deaf ears.
Which was why he was sitting at a bar at a BDSM club wearing a wig and two days’ worth of scruff along his jaw. He doubted anyone would look twice at him and he didn’t think they would recognize him if they did. Probably they would think he looked vaguely like somebody, but would be unable to pinpoint exactly who.
“You look awfully familiar,” the bartender said.
Terrence flashed him a grin. “I get that a lot, must have one of those faces, you know?”
The bartender made some sort of noncommittal, grunting noise in his throat. “Yeah.”
Terrence waited. Had the bartender forgotten that he had asked about the girl?
The man behind the bar picked up a wet rag and began to clean the wooden bar. “Not sure who she is.” He wasn’t looking at Terrence as he spoke, but rather focused his entire attention on the wooden bar he was cleaning. “This is only her second time coming here.”
“She looks awfully young.” Terrence glanced at her again. His breath caught in his throat when he saw her look up and meet his gaze. Her eyes were the palest blue color and looked stunning in combination with her hair.
“You know the owner’s very strict about who gets in.”
“Yes, I know that.” Terrence didn’t mean to insult anybody by his statement. “If she’s in here, then she’s at least twenty-one.”
The bartender nodded but didn’t look up.
“You know what she’s drinking?” Terrence asked.
“Tonic water. With lime.”
Terrence kept a smile to himself. The fact that she wasn’t drinking alcohol might mean that she was looking to play. He had a very strict rule: he would never play with anybody who had been drinking. In his opinion, even one drink was one drink too many.
“Is she here with anybody?” he asked the bartender.
The bartender tilted his head and glanced over his shoulder quickly. Terrence couldn’t shake the feeling that the man knew more than he was letting on.
“No,” he said. “She comes alone. Both times she’s been here. Last time she didn’t play with anybody.”
Terrence wasn’t sure if he was passing along a warning or just handing out helpful information. He nodded. He wasn’t sure he wanted to play tonight anyway.
Well, he wanted to play, but he hadn’t decided yet if he was going to do anything with that desire.
Tonight, he told himself, it would be enough to talk to her. That was all. Though he really didn’t believe it.
Terrence left the tip on the bar and saluted the man still cleaning the bar top. With his gaze firmly on the strawberry-blond woman in the corner, he slowly made his way to her. She was talking to a group of three women he recognized as submissives from his previous visits, but she looked up as he drew closer.
The conversation stopped completely when he stood before her.
“Hey,” one of the submissive said. “Has anyone ever told you, you kinda look like Terrence Knight?”
He kept his eyes on the strawberry blonde as he answered. “Once or twice.”
Up close, she was even more gorgeous. She dropped her gaze to the floor.
“Look at me,” he whispered in a low command. He knew there were Doms who wanted a submissive to always look down. He wasn’t one of them. He thought a person’s eyes gave away too much information to not be aware of them.
She lifted her head and he was taken aback by her coloring. The paleness of her eyes when paired with the slightly red hues in her hair made her look like a naughty angel. He quickly shut down that line of thought, telling himself no good would come from fantasizing about her. At least not right now.
Her skin had a delicate complexion, and either she never went out in the sun or she covered herself with sunscreen.
“My name is John,” he said.
John was actually his middle name. Whenever he wanted to go somewhere and fly under the radar, he used the name John.
He frowned, realizing she hadn’t said anything in response.
“Your name?” he asked.
She looked at him with wide eyes. He cursed inwardly. Surely to goodness she wasn’t innocent.
“If that simple question is too much for you, you may want to rethink being here.” He didn’t say it to be cruel. The truth was, if she was that mousey, there were Doms at the club who would eat her alive. He told himself he was trying to spare her some heartache.
“Ronnie,” she said, with a slight lift of her chin. “My name is Ronnie. And I apologize for not answering you more quickly. You reminded me of somebody.”
“Terrence Knight.” He nodded. “I get that a lot.”
She smiled. It wasn’t a normal smile. The smile she gave him said that she knew what he was doing, she was well aware of his game, and that she wanted to play. “No,” she said. “Not him. Someone else entirely.”
He had a feeling she could be fun to play with. “Ronnie? Is it short for something?”
“Yes.”
He laughed when she didn’t explain further. “Can I get you a drink, Ronnie?”
“You may, but I’m only drinking tonic water with lime.” She’d twisted her barstool away from the group of submissives and she only faced him now. Her gaze was sharp and unrelenting. She uncrossed her legs and left her knees slightly parted. “I never drink alcohol when there’s a potential for play.”
“Neither do I.” His opinion of her was changing rapidly. Yes, he’d originally been drawn to her looks, but standing in front of her with her legs parted just enough to be a subtle sign she would be willing to play, he was starting to see there was so much more to her.
She sucked a sip of tonic water through her straw and the sight of those full, red lips around the piece of plastic did crazy things to his cock. She blinked innocently while taking another sip.
Oh yes, this one would be trouble.
He stepped almost in between her legs, invading her space on purpose. “Are you going to play tonight?”
“Maybe, if the right Dom happens to pass my way.”
He nodded to a group of nearby couches. “Would you like to go have a seat and talk with me about what you’re looking for?”
She tilted her head and gave him another once-over. “Okay.”
With a smile that looked more natural this time, she hopped off the stool and headed for a couch.
Watching her, Terrence had the craziest feeling he knew her from somewhere. It hadn’t hit him until she flashed that smile. The real one. But he felt it rather improbable that he could have met her and not remembered. Maybe she’d been an extra in one of his movies. That was more likely, but for some reason, she didn’t give off the actress vibe.
Either way, she had made it to a couch and was waiting for him. He had more important things to attend to at the moment.
He walked over to the couch where she sat. She scooted over as he took a seat beside her. He opened his mouth to talk, but before he could get a word out, she started.
“I’m not new to the scene,” she said. “But I’m new to this club. That’s why you’ve never seen me before, in case you’re wondering.”
“I wasn’t.” He kept his answer short. From just the few minutes he’d been around her, he had the feeling Ronnie would always try to top from the bottom. She needed a firm Dom.
He had never been as firm with Andie as he needed to be. Hell, he never got a chance to scene with Andie. He’d enrolled her at RACK Academy, and she had fallen for that Fulton guy.
It’d been too long since he??
?d been in this situation. At a club, with a willing submissive. His fingers itched with the need to dominate her.
“What I am wondering,” he said, “is what you’re here for tonight. What are you looking for? What do you need?”
She seemed pleased with his direct approach, and he wondered what kind of Doms she’d played with before who had not given her directness. “I like impact play. A little bit of humiliation. No sex.”
His cock protested. No sex?
Oh well, he enjoyed impact play, too. And he was willing to hand out a little bit of humiliation. As for sex, well, there was always his right hand.
He took a deep breath, decided on his course of action, and gave her a smile. “I believe I can give you exactly what you want, Ronnie. Let’s chat a bit more and then we’ll see, shall we?”
• • •
HOURS LATER, HE packed a satisfied and very much more subdued Ronnie into a cab. He’d offered to drive her to her house once he cleaned up, but she resisted. If she hadn’t given him her phone number, he’d have thought she wasn’t interested in seeing him again.
Still, he couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit rejected. Something was off, but he couldn’t put his finger on what exactly gave him that vibe.
“Good scene?” a familiar voice asked.
He looked up from packing his toys back into his bag to find Lennox standing nearby with Mariela at his side.
“Lennox. Man.” Terrence gave him a one-armed hug. “How are you?” He didn’t speak to Mariela since they were at a club and Lennox hadn’t given him permission.
“I’m great.” Lennox turned to look at Mariela, and at her smile, he lowered his head for a kiss.
Terrence chuckled. It was so good to see Lennox in love. If anyone deserved a long stretch of blissful happiness, it was Lennox. “I can see that. When’s the wedding?”
“We’re still discussing. I want a small and intimate ceremony. Marie wants to stop by a courthouse.” Lennox shook his head. “Which probably means we’ll be stopping by a courthouse. Though we do have a wedding to attend in New Orleans, and I’m hoping that’ll change her mind.”
The look she shot him very clearly said not likely.
“So, how was the scene?” Lennox asked again. He knew how hard it had been for Terrence to get back into the scene after his breakup with Andie.
“It was good. Enjoyed Ronnie. I can’t shake the feeling something is off, though.”
Lennox didn’t say anything. In fact, it was so unlike him that Terrence glanced up to see if something was wrong. His friend had turned pale.
“What?” Terrence asked.
“Ronnie?” his friend asked. “You played with Ronnie?”
He was definitely missing something.
“Yes, do you know her?”
“Do I know her? No. But I know of her father. Perhaps you’ve heard of Senator Lewis?”
It took a second or two for that information to sink into his head. Senator Lewis was a very vocal, very right-wing conservative politician from either Alabama or Mississippi. He was the spokesperson for the ultraconservative viewpoint. And rumor had it, the wealthy senator had ruined quite a few careers in his time.
And Terrence had tied up his daughter and beaten her.
Granted, she had asked for it, and he’d given her multiple orgasms. Yet somehow he doubted that would go over very well with Senator Lewis.
“Fuck,” Terrence said. Another thought crossed his mind. “Wait a minute, how old is she?” He didn’t think it was his imagination that he had remembered reading about her during the last election. He was quite positive she’d been under eighteen then.
His hands started to shake. What if she was underage? Suddenly, information that the club’s owner never let anybody in who was under twenty-one didn’t matter much. After all, everyone made mistakes. Although his was turning out to be colossal.
“She just turned nineteen,” Lennox said immediately, and Terrence breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“At least she was legal. I was worried there for a minute.” Still, nineteen was much too young for him. And for the club. What had the world come to? Was he going to have to card future play partners?
“Somehow, I doubt pointing out of the fact that his daughter is legal will have much bearing on Lewis if he finds out about this.”
“He’s not going to find out, though,” Terrence said.
“Let’s hope not.” Lennox slapped him on the back. “Come have dinner with Marie and me.”
Terrence agreed, but even a nice dinner with his friends did little to quell the sense of foreboding. His fears were confirmed when he checked his voicemail from the restaurant and listened to a message from his agent.
“Call me when you get this. Do not go home. There’s a shitstorm brewing and your name’s written all over it.”
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THE FLIRTATION
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On Sunday Lynne was merely bored, but by Monday she knew she had to get out of the penthouse or she’d go crazy. What she needed, she decided, was new lingerie. Lingerie always made everything better.
As far as addictions went, she thought her obsession with lingerie was relatively harmless. She limited how much she spent, though it did help that the Wests paid her well. And she usually tried to buy when the designers were having a sale. No one else knew about her addiction, because her love life was nonexistent.
Late Monday morning, she called for a cab and made her way to what had been her favorite shop for upscale lingerie when she lived in the city. She felt like a kid at Christmas, thinking about what she’d look for. Knowing she had sexy things on underneath her clothes always made her feel more confident and secure. For her first week of school, she thought a simple bra and panty set would work.
Once she made it into the store, she waved hello to the sales associate on the floor, smiling brightly when the woman scurried over to her.
“Lynne! I thought you had fallen off the face of the earth. Where have you been?” She leaned closer and whispered, “You missed our annual clearance sale. That’s not like you.”
“I know. It killed me to miss it. I’m living in Delaware now, but I’m here in the city for the summer.”
“Delaware?” The saleslady looked at her in shock. “Why?”
“Job. The law firm I was working at let a lot of people go.” She shrugged. “I was one of them. But I have a great job now, and I love it. Delaware has been nice.”
“As long as you’re happy.” She pointed toward the back of the store. “Got some new corsets you should check out.”
“I’ll go look.” She adored corsets. Maybe she should get a corset and forget the bra and panties. Either way, it didn’t hurt to look. She walked to the corset display, surprised to find another customer already there. Not wanting to disturb her, she scooted behind her to look at the corsets to her left.
“Lynne?”
She stiffened and turned in surprise. “Anna Beth?”
The tall woman with dark hair stood with one hand on her hip. “Look what the cat dragged in. It is you.”
Lynne gritted her teeth. She supposed she should have felt a fondness toward Anna Beth. After all, she was the one who’d given her the final push to actually attempt the BDSM lifestyle. But she didn’t. The woman was a total bitch.
Anna Beth’s look was cruel. “You still reading those ridiculous books, or did you become woman enough to handle a real Dom?”
Lynne would never forget the day Anna Beth had caught her reading a BDSM romance in the employee break room. She’d shaken her head and said reading about it was fine, but living it was so much better. She then went on to brag about hot Dom after hot scene after hot sex, shutting up only when the break room was invaded by a senior partner. Later that afternoon, Anna Beth had left a card on Lynne’s desk with the name and address of the club she frequented.