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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Carine entered stealthily through the back door at Clay’s and made her way to his office just in time to see him rise behind his desk. Before he could open his mouth to greet her, she said, “All right, I came straight here from work since you said you needed me for something urgent. It’d better be because I saw that woman’s car out there.” She gestured in the general direction of the front yard where all the guests of Clay’s Down and Dirty events parked.
Carine really didn’t want to have a fight, but she’d meant what she’d said the last time she was there. If anyone said a single mealy-mouthed word to her, she was taking off her pumps and knocking them to Valhalla. Not the good Valhalla, either, but that speck on the map in Chowan County that didn’t even have its own zip code.
Clay rolled his eyes, then closed and tied his smoking jacket tightly at the waist. He wasn’t wearing anything beneath it, which meant either that he was finally hard up enough to be seeking touch or he’d gotten an exceedingly late start to his Friday.
“For fuck’s sake, Carine, haven’t I always taken care of you?”
“That’s left to be determined.”
“You’re in a shitty mood. Commission fall through on you?”
“Oh, I’ve had a record sales month. Plus, I got to see Naomi all day because Val brought her to work.”
“So, you’re in a funk just because I asked you to do me a little favor?”
Carine folded her arms over her chest and drummed her fingertips against her biceps. She wasn’t entirely certain he was wrong. She had been in a wonderful mood until he’d texted her. That was only possible because she was practicing Olympic-level denial. All week long, she’d been convincing herself to justfeelbetter, and she’d finally decided she was going to fake it until she made it. She’d very nearly forgotten to think about how she hadn’t heard a peep from Heidi since leaving her at the car sales lot the previous week. Carine’s intention hadn’t been to find her there and hurl an ultimatum at her. She’d lost control of her impulses and her mouth, and probably, it’d been for the best.
Mrs. Murray had been well-intentioned with her advice, but there was a chance she didn’t truly understand the breadth and depth of her granddaughter’s stubbornness.
“What favor could you possibly want me to do for you that requires me to come all the way out here, Clay? If you tell me some wealthy donor’s been admiring my tits and wants to play, I will handcuff you and drag your bare-naked ass through a sandspur patch.”
“That’s the countriest threat I’ve heard directed to my person in a long time, but jeez, woman, cut me some slack. You’re not even on my list of gold-star members right now. You’d be more likely to make me lose potential donors than to gain new ones. And I gotta tell you, that’s a hell of a way to repay me for the years of good times I’ve coordinated for you.”
Carine drummed her fingers some more. She wasn’t going to argue with him about that “years” quantification, but if she distilled down the number of nights she’d been there and even further to the frequency she’d gotten any action at all, they’d be more in the range of a couple of weeks.
“This is a technical thing,” Clay said. “You’re the only person I trust to give me useful feedback.”
“On what?”
“I did some rearranging up in the playroom. Added a screen between the entry and the inner chamber for the folks needing a little extra mystery.”
“What do you mean by ‘screen’?”
“Panel so you can see silhouettes but nothing else. Different kind of sensory experience. Apparently, some folks like the implied masturbation but don’t necessarily want to be direct voyeurs to it all the time. Like to drag out the suspense and imagine what’s on the other side.”
“Sounds fascinating, but where do I fit into the experiment? I’m really not in the mood, Clay.”
He put up his hands in a gesture of easy defeat as though he’d never expected compliance from her in the first place. “Don’t need you to be. You go into your usual waiting place. Turn on the light in that corner and stay behind the screen. I’m going to send someone else in there. I’m soliciting feedback from both of you. Therefore, I’m not telling you who they are. Need to see if you can guess too quickly if it’s someone you know. Kills the excitement for some folks if they get paired with someone they know.”
“I could see where that’d be the case.” Carine glanced at her watch and did some mental math to figure out if she’d be able to leave in time to catch the start of her favorite show. She’d forgotten to set the DVR again. “What do you think, twenty minutes?”
Clay rocked on his heels for a couple of beats before grunting. “Maybe so. Keep your wits about you. I need the full rundown so I know what to tweak for next time.”
“Fine,” Carine said with exasperation. “Should I go now? Wouldn’t want to accidentally cross paths with whoever you’re sending in there after me.”
“Yep. The coast is clear. Just, uh…” Once again, he rocked. Usually, his raised eyebrows had a smirk accompaniment, but it seemed his mouth was running behind schedule, too. His lips were set in an unusually tired and flat line. “Read the instruction placard when you get there. Don’t go through the motions. I’ll be able to tell if you did.”
“You a peeping Tom now?”
“My peeping costs extra. You know that.” He waved her away. “Go. You’ll see what I mean.”
Carine gave him an eyeroll to bookend the one he’d given her and stashed her purse in his office closet. Normally, she would have asked for permission, but she was tired of asking for things.
She took the narrow back stairway to the upstairs and avoided being spotted by the regulars in the parlor. Clay had a rowdy bunch on his hands for the evening, and she hadn’t heard such a high level of chatter from the group in months. Usually, she would have been too curious to resist scanning the crowd, but for a change, she was content with letting her imagination suffice.
Taking the right turn at the top of the stairs, she could already see a few of Clay’s changes. In her limited spare time, Valerie had been helping Clay renovate and modernize the antebellum farmhouse. Apparently, Clay had coughed up some extra cash and gotten the lighting situation sorted out. Not only were there three sconces pitching a purposefully dimmed glow along the corridor but there was also a magnificent chandelier hanging just beyond the landing of the main staircase, which she hadn’t had to pass.
