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Chapter Five
Back at the lingerie shop, I stared at myself in the dressing room mirror, amazed by what I saw in the reflection. The woman looking back at me was sexy. I squared my shoulders and smiled. I’d never felt so fierce.
Maybe this whole fancy lingerie thing was overrated after all. Why had no one told me?
“Well?” Greer called from outside the door. “How does it fit?”
I ran my hands down the soft velvet reverently. “Like a glove,” I whispered.
“I’m coming in.” The door opened and Greer was inside before I could respond.
She gasped. “Rylan Janine, this is… you are…” She grabbed my hands and lifted them up, shaking her head. “I want to motorboat the hell out of those things.”
I blurted out a sexy laugh-snort combo, then pulled my hands out of Greer’s grip to cover my mouth. “You think it’s too much? Maybe I need a larger size–”
“Bruh. No.” She gave me a glare of annoyance. “That’s exactly how it’s supposed to look. Like it was made for you.” She turned me to the side and lowered herself so her gaze was level with my cleavage. “Look at them, oh my god. I might need to get one for myself.” She cupped her own breasts and pushed them up, then looked at mine. “Can you lick them?”
“Oh my god, get out of here.”
Scoffing, Greer placed her hand on her chest. “It’s a legit question, Rylan.” She bent over to scoop up my blouse and bra and tuck them into her purse, mumbling about how she’d want to lick hers if she could, then turned me around and tugged the sales tag off the corset. “Come on.” She pushed me back into the store.
The now-familiar cologne I’d smelled throughout the day teased my nose, locking my body in place as every hair stood on end. I tilted my head back to breathe it in, closing my eyes on a long blink. It was a scent I’d only just discovered this morning, but it was quickly becoming my new favorite. My stomach twisted into an excited little knot. Opening my eyes again, I scanned the store for the man it belonged to, hope blooming in my chest like a weed.
But there was no way he’d be here, right? What were the odds Cabot Reed would be at a lingerie store anyway, but also… we’d never crossed paths before today, and now suddenly we’d be bumping into one another at White Rabbit of all places?
Ha. Right.
A man and woman stood near the cash register. He must wear the same cologne as my new boss. It wasn’t an unlikely scenario. Bumping into Cabot Reed outside of Reed Tower, however, was as unlikely as they came. I was almost embarrassed by the way my body reacted to that scent and the way–shamefully–I’d actually hoped to see him.
Movement caught my eye at the back of the store as Mina stepped out of her office.
“What are you doing?” Greer asked. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”
Smelled one, was more like it.
“Sorry,” I said, forcing my feet to move forward again.
“Ready?” Mina asked.
I nodded. Ready for what, I didn’t know. Bondage and latex, I guessed.
Mina turned to face the back wall. Beside the door that led to her office, and hidden among the ivy stretching from floor to ceiling and covering the entire back wall, was a keypad. She keyed in a sequence of numbers and a door that I hadn’t even noticed slid open to reveal a dark stairway leading to a basement.
A flutter of nervous anticipation tickled my chest as I side-eyed my best friend. What exactly had I allowed her to rope me into?
Provocative music filled the air, the deep thumping of bass traveling up to us from the lower level. My pulse beat a little faster as the music, combined with the dark stairway–and, let’s be honest, the seductive scent of a cologne I now wanted to spray all over my sheets–filled me with an intoxicating buzz of adrenaline. Someone here definitely shopped at the same department store as the CEO of Reed Publishing.
If I found the guy, I could ask the name of the cologne and pick some up for myself, then whippit the shit out of it.
Don’t judge.
As Mina motioned toward the stairwell, Greer slipped her hand into mine, laced our fingers together, then gave me a firm squeeze.
“Ladies, welcome to the Rabbit Hole.” She turned and began to make her way downstairs.
As we followed, I took it all in. Black walls were draped with swathes of deep purple velvet. The stairs were painted black until about halfway down, where they became black and white checkerboard, starting out in smaller squares and morphing into larger squares the further they descended, giving an optical illusion effect that made them almost appear to be moving. The Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland vibe from the lingerie store continued down here, taking on a more sensual vibe. Sexy.
Dark and moody.
Rawr.
A woman stood at the base of the stairwell, smiling up at us. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and her eyes were covered with a three-inch swatch of black lace. She wore a black corset similar to mine, only, instead of velvet, hers was latex. And instead of pairing it with slacks like I had, the woman was in an ankle-length hot pink latex skirt that fluted out like a mermaid’s tail at the bottom.
This had to be Lacey. I glanced at Greer to confirm and–
Oh yeah. We definitely had a cartoon-hearts-shooting-out-of-the-eyeballs situation on our hands. yep, cartoon hearts shot out of her eyeballs.
“Mistress Sinclair,” the woman said. “Thank you for coming.”
“You know I wouldn’t miss your debut for anything.” Mina leaned forward and placed a kiss on each of the woman’s cheeks. “Lacey, this is our newest hire, Rylan, and I think you already know her friend. Rylan will be taking over at the store when Laurel leaves to have Isaac.”
“Welcome to the Rabbit Hole, Rylan.” Lacey smiled widely, then looked back at Mina. “So Laurel’s not going to just pop the kid out in the stock room and keep on working?”
They both laughed, then Lacey focused on Greer, smiling widely as their eyes locked. “I’m glad you came.”
Greer squeezed my hand but didn’t say anything.
I’d known the girl since middle school and seen her speechless all of zero times.
“Um,” I said, attempting to take the focus off my friend’s lovestruck awkwardness. “Thank you for telling Greer about the job opening, Lacey.”
“Yes,” Mina agreed, “I have a good feeling about Rylan. Thank you for making the connection.”
Lacey bowed her head. “My pleasure, Mistress.”
“Shall we?” Mina asked, motioning into the dark underground.
Why not? A quick glance at my best friend told me I was on my own for the foreseeable future. Heart eyes was an understatement.
Slipping my hand from Greer’s grasp, I left her with Lacey and followed Mina–
“Oh, wait,” Greer called after me as if the robots had suddenly rebooted her motherboard after the momentary malfunction. “It’s a masquerade theme tonight.” She looked at Lacey for confirmation, who nodded.
Great, a masked ball at a sex club.
Digging into her purse, Greer pulled out two black half-face masks and handed me one.
I gave her a look that I hope portrayed what have you gotten me into? and accepted the mask, then settled it over my eyes.
Masked up and ready for… well, not really sure what I was ready for, actually… I followed Mina into a large open space that was set up like a nightclub, so that wasn’t too surprising. I’d been prepared for a fashion show in a night club-type environment. There was a bar on one side, a dancefloor in the middle, and a stage on the opposite side of the dancefloor, mirroring the bar. What I had not been prepared for was the amount of exposed skin.
As I followed Mina deeper into the crowd, I tried to scan the patrons without losing sight of my new boss. People parted like the Red Sea for Mina, similar to the way people in Reed Tower cleared the way for Cabot Reed. They murmured their hellos, smiled up at Mina with respect and admiration, greeted her with quick kisses on each cheek, then settled back into their positions facing the stage.
