“No? What’d you think? Maybe naked women sliding down poles?”
“I wasn’t thinking of poles,” he said, a grin on his face.
That right there was one of the reasons I liked Troy. It was rare to meet someone who didn’t walk on eggshells around me, scared to say anything except yes, sir or no, sir.
Although … I damn sure didn’t mind when Troy called me sir. Or rather, in his case, boss. I really liked when he called me boss. Too bad he didn’t realize I took it to mean something vastly different than a casual title. Although, if I was being honest, Master was what I preferred he call me. If all went well, he would. One day very soon.
“Is anyone here?” Troy asked.
I glanced around, somewhat surprised it was empty. “Doesn’t look like it.”
Then again, Luke spent less and less time at Devotion these days, choosing to share his spare time with his husband and wife and their brood of children.
I started for the stairs leading up to the second floor that overlooked the first. Troy fell into step with me.
“Those are private rooms,” I told him, pointing toward the opposite end of the hall at a line of closed doors. “One at the end is decked out with BDSM equipment. It took an act of Congress to get Luke to cave on that, but I finally wore him down.”
“And those glass things down there?” he asked, nodding toward the enclosures on the main floor.
“Scene rooms. For the exhibitionists.”
“Oh.”
I made it to my office, typing in another code to unlock the door.
“So, why are we here?”
“Need to check on something. Have a seat. I’ll be right back.”
I left Troy in my office and went to Luke’s. All of the member’s files were locked in the cabinets in his office and I had one members’ file in particular that I wanted to look at. A few minutes later, I found what I needed and carried it back to my office.
“Do you spend much time here these days?” Troy asked when I walked in.
“Not so much now that Dichotomy is open.”
“So, when you tell me you’ll be at the club, you’re referring to Dichotomy.”
“Mostly, yes.”
“This place isn’t as hard-core as I expected.”
I met his gaze and grinned. “You don’t know how many times I told Luke that.”
It was true. I’d wanted Luke to venture over to the darker side of kink, to incorporate more BDSM. Regrettably, Luke was more of the fetish variety, seemingly content with the voyeuristic aspect versus the kink. We’d butted heads on that so many times. Which was why I’d opted to open my own club, wanting to cater to those who were interested in the same things that I was.
While I had also invested in Alluring Indulgence—a fetish resort owned by the Walker brothers—it wasn’t mine to do with as I pleased. Considering my vast need for control, the only way I had found to soothe that urge was to build something of my own.
I sat down and began skimming the papers in the file. I’d just finished going through the first page of details when my cell phone rang. I glanced at the screen and smiled when I saw who it was. I punched the button and put the phone to my ear.
“Took you longer than I thought it would,” I said by way of greeting.
Xander grumbled, “Yeah, well. Wait until you have a sassy wife. Then you’ll understand that sometimes things come up that have to be dealt with.”
I chuckled. I could only imagine how a Domme who’d transformed into a submissive could test the waters from time to time. Some might call Mercedes a switch, but since she did not play with anyone other than her husband—and she only submitted to him—she technically wasn’t.
“I want to talk to you about Clarissa,” Xander stated, getting right to the heart of the matter.
“I figured as much.” I leaned back in my chair and unabashedly stared at Troy while I talked. “But I’ll tell you right now, if you’re looking to warn me off her, Xander, it won’t work.”
Troy’s eyes met mine and I could see his curiosity.
“Warn, no.” Xander took a deep breath. “However, I’m going to insist you proceed with caution.”
“Insist?” I had never been good with authority.
“Yes. I heard you had lunch with her again today.”
“I did,” I confirmed. “And what? She’s appointed you as her guardian now?”
“Not specifically, no. However, you don’t know her like I do, Trent, and I thought it only fair to give you a heads-up. She’s not a play toy you can toss around, then forget about.”
“And you don’t think she’s capable of telling me this herself?” I had to wonder if Xander knew the woman as well as he thought he did. Sure, I had sensed a certain level of submission in Clarissa, but I got the feeling that underneath all that was a woman who knew exactly what she wanted. My experiment today had proven I was right.
