Page 18 of A Man After Midnight

Caroline pursed her lips as she thought for a moment. “No,” she answered truthfully. “Those are two adjectives I wouldn’t think to use in describing me.”

“I thought you were quite elegant when I saw you sitting in the bar the other night,” he admitted. “I pictured you wrapped in silk, red lips, a cigarette on the end of a long holder. The outward shell displaying an icy, yet beautiful, temptress underneath. And I was right. Whether you admit it or not, you were made for sex.”

Caroline cleared her throat at the mental picture he gave her and tried to find enough saliva to lick her suddenly dry lips. She strove to regroup her thoughts and steer the conversation back on solid ground.

“So, if you’re from New York, why bother sightseeing something you grew up with? You probably missed something very important today at the conference.”

“I’m sure by now Ms. Crenshaw has told you that I’m CEO, and one perk of being boss is having your admin assistant sit in for you once in a while,” he said with a crooked smile. “Besides, I’ve got limited days with you.”

Yes, very limited. The reminder suddenly made Aldy’s fears seem inconsequential.

“Then what’s on the agenda tonight, Mr. Calder?”

He studied her face, his eyes tracing over every curve. She waited, and figured he had something big ready by the way his eyes darkened with desire. Her stomach quivered a little with anticipation.

“Have you ever been to a sex show?”

Caroline cocked her head, not sure if she heard him correctly. “Excuse me?”

“A sex show,” he repeated.

“What does that mean? What’s a sex show?”

“The higher priced version of a backroom peep show.”

She sat back for a moment, studying his face, trying to determine if he was serious or not. “Why would you ask me that?”

“Do you trust me, Caroline?”

This wasn’t the first time he had asked that question. The first, however, had been superficial, just a way to experience a bit of fun from a weekend fling. Now it seemed different, deeper. His statement about different rumors suddenly made a lot of sense.

“There is a club called Perversions,” he continued, as if she hadn’t hesitated. “It caters to eclectic tastes, of erotica.”

“Do you go there often?”

“I own a membership.”

“A membership?”

“It’s not the type of club that is available to everyone … only to a certain type of clientele,” he said in a dry tone.

“I take it a rich clientele.”

He nodded. “That is one requirement.”

Caroline sat up straight, her mind racing. “What exactly do they have at Perversions?”

“Doesn’t the name say it all?” he asked with a smirk.

“It could be a misnomer,” she reasoned. “Like the funny bone. Or Greenland.”

He laughed. “I’m amazed at how you managed to mention Greenland in a discussion about sex,” he said, shaking his head.

“The question that comes to mind is, how do you find a club called Perversions?”

He shrugged. “I’ve never been embarrassed about what turns me on.”

“So you pay to have sex.”

He held up a finger. “That’s not what I said. I don’t have sex at Perversions. But I do like to watch. Occasionally. And some clients of Troublemakers have, shall we say, sundry tastes.”

“Oh.” She scrunched up her nose and shuddered. “For some reason, that gave me a mental picture of Aldy that I really did not need in my brain.”

Wren grabbed her hand and rubbed the palm with the pad of his thumb. “Want to explore something different?”

Caroline studied his slate grey eyes, seeing the challenge he presented to her. He’d asked if she trusted him, but what he really meant was if she was strong enough to accept a different side of herself. He’d already blindfolded her and had sex in public with her, but did she really want to face what really turned her on? Life with Greg had been simplistic and sex had followed the logistics of that life. Now, finally free of that marriage, did she have enough courage to confront all of her fantasies?

“Yes,” she said, so softly that he leaned closer to hear what she said.

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