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“I guess I should bring you through the front door so you can see what patrons see. It’s not the same when you come in the front door during the day when there’s no one around. It loses some of its magic when it’s empty.”
She nodded, and shot him a look of apprehension, as though seeking his reassurance. Man, was he a sucker for a girl who needed him. Even just a little.
Making a show of being a gentleman, he helped her out of the truck and walked her through the parking lot, making sure to tuck her hand into the crook of his arm. She allowed it, and he wondered if it was just that she was too shy to pull away. If things were going to go any further between them, they were going to have to have a discussion about it first.
Tom stopped them at the door. “I take it you’ve seen her ID, Will?”
“I haven’t, actually. Ms. Callahan?”
Juliet gave a short laugh. “Your bouncer is my new best friend.” She handed over her ID. Tom checked it and handed it back.
“Have fun, kids.”
She grimaced up at Will. “Having your bouncer checking ID at the door really decreases that feeling of anonymity that you’d hope for coming here.”
“Our staff signs nondisclosure agreements. You’re a guest here, not a member, so he has to ask. Checking ID may ruin some of the mystique, but so would getting arrested for having minors in my club.”
“Touché.”
They walked in, and she paused at the door, but it was difficult to tell if it was to drink in the ambience, or to convince herself not to run away screaming. For the first time in years, he tried to see both his work and personal life through her vanilla lens.
The main room was dimly lit, and music throbbed just over the din of conversation. The seething mass of people was a blur of black clothes and bare skin, with pops of red and green here and there. In the distance, Will could hear someone sobbing, but whether it was in pain or pleasure wasn’t immediately obvious.
The whole place smelled of lust, sex, heat, with an undercurrent of sweat and some fear. Maybe a hint of blood. A few submissives were dancing, and the sound of floggers and whips punctuated the rolling growl of the music.
Members and friends started noticing them right away, calling out greetings, coming over to chat. Juliet was quiet and beautiful, for all the world seeming like she belonged there even though she was dressed like an innocent. If she was shocked she wasn’t letting on—she observed without comment and without rubbernecking.
He could tell from friends’ expressions that they wondered when he’d started dating someone. He’d been single for ages, so little miss Juliet was attracting a lot of attention he hadn’t realized she’d receive, but there was no way to quickly explain they weren’t an item even though she was walking in on his arm. Then again, letting them think she was his was easier than explaining she was off-limits.
He walked her around, got her a soda, and let her see what there was to see. She seemed to handle most of it okay, so after a bit he decided to up the ante. When he brought her upstairs, her hold on his arm went from a bit tense to a death grip while they looked in on some of the action in the rooms with open doors. It was difficult not to watch for her reactions to various scenarios. She wasn’t ready for anything too hard-core, but she surprised him with some of the things she seemed to be responding to.
In the room at the end of the hall, they found his friend Ambrose roughly manhandling his submissive. Juliet clutched his arm convulsively, and for a moment he thought she’d freak out, but instead she watched, lips parted. Ambrose wrestled Everly down and laid into her ass with an earnestness that made Will wonder what his friend’s hellion had done this time. When Ambrose wrenched off his belt, Juliet gasped and let go of Will’s arm, heading back down the hall.
She hadn’t gone far. Leaning back against the concrete wall of the hallway, she gasped for breath, hand pressed to her breastbone as though she was having trouble getting enough air.
“You okay?” he asked. “The couple in there are friends of mine. That’s part of their dynamic. It’s all consensual.”
She nodded, and he did his best not to appear to notice her fierce blush.
“What part bothered you? The violence? It looked a lot worse than it was.”
A shaky exhalation escaped her. “I’m fine.”
“Were you scared?”
The blush flooded her face a deeper crimson. “No.”
Fuck.
He got closer. He couldn’t stop himself. She was trembling, beautiful—her blue eyes wide and glassy.
“You like rough stuff, sunshine?” He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and she shuddered, her gaze hot.
“I don’t know. I’d never really thought about it.”
Will really wanted her to be telling the truth so he could find her less interesting, but the lie was obvious.
“Yes, you have.”
