Page 53 of The Breaking Point

Nobody but you?my traitorous brain asked.

“What are you doing here?” I asked again, my jaw clenched.

“I could ask you the same question.”

I knew that we were drawing a nice little audience, but I didn’t give a fuck. Most of all, I wanted to understand why Grace was here at all.

I grabbed her arm again, but she pushed me away. A guy in a blue mask stepped up.

“Is there a problem here?” he asked Grace.

I gritted my teeth, forcing myself not to deck the guy for interfering.

Grace raised her chin. “Everything’s fine. My friend here was just going to buy me a drink.” Her gaze slid to mine. “Weren’t you?”

I scowled but finally nodded. The last thing I needed was to get thrown out of the club for fighting.

Grace shot the blue-mask guy a smile that only pissed me off more. I needed to calm down.

Grace was an adult. If she wanted to enjoy herself at the Scarlet Rope, what right did I have to stop her?

When we reached the bar and had ordered drinks, I led Grace to a semiprivate booth in the corner. We sat down and stared at each other, waiting for the other to say something.

Then Grace burst out laughing. “You look like you’re about to have a stroke. Or that you’re just super constipated.”

I wasn’t going to laugh. This was a serious matter. But hearing Grace’s laughter melted away my anger, damn her.

“I think I’d prefer a stroke,” I said wryly. “At least then you’d feel sorry for me.”

She grinned. “I’d never feel sorry for a big, strong man like you. You don’t need my pity.”

“No, but I do need you to explain why you’re here.”

When she just pouted, I sighed. Christ, I was putty in her hands, wasn’t I?

“Mac invited me,” I said. “He told me this was a good way to distract myself.”

“And did it work?”

“Kind of.”

“You seemed very ... interested in what you were doing back there.”

Although it was dim, I could see a blush creeping up Grace’s cheeks. How much had she seen? Had she watched me whip Shayla?

And if she had, had she enjoyed watching it?

“I mean, you can sleep with whoever you want,” Grace was saying.

“I haven’t slept with anyone from here.”

Grace blinked. “Seriously?”

I felt embarrassed for some reason. So much for my playboy reputation. “I just came here to ...”Whip a woman who looked like you to make myself feel better?

Yeah, like I could say that to Grace.

“I want to experiment some with BDSM. Mac loves it. I wondered if I would,” I said.

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