Page 11 of Royal Pain

She barely turned her head, just enough to see me, instead concentrating on a martini of some type. We sat in silence for a couple of minutes and I was going to allow her to be the first one who said anything.

When she did, it was with that caustic mouth of hers. “Do people always do your bidding? Do they consider you some celebrity and need to kowtow to you as a requirement for their membership?”

“Absolutely. It’s written in their membership agreements.” I knew that would get to her. Now she snapped her head in my direction, glaring at me as if I was an alien who’d just landed.

“You are perhaps the most arrogant, self-centered ass I’ve ever met and I assure you, I’ve met lots.” Her voice was still charming, even if it had an edge to it.

“Why, thank you. I’ll take that as a compliment.”

The way she lifted her drink, studying my face with such venomous eyes meant she was considering tossing the drink in my face. I’d had it happen plenty of times, but watching her mentally struggling with the decision was more fun than I’d had in a long time.

“Bastard.”

“I don’t think you really want to waste extremely good vodka and blue curacao. I’m certain Tommy over there can provide youwith a cheap alternative that might even stain my shirt. If that’s what you want.”

At first, I thought for certain she was going to blow a gasket but instead, she smiled sweetly, even placing her palm against my shirt. When she crumpled her fingers around the soft material, I was certain I heard her purr.

“Now, why would I ruin a perfectly good shirt when it’s the jerk I’d be going after?”

She had a way of making me laugh, another rarity. “Well, you do have a fairly good point. Are you always so negative to someone who saved your friend’s life?”

The moment she pointed a finger in my face, even daring to brush the tip across my lip, I wasn’t certain entertaining her… vengeance had been in my best interest. Given my shorts were fairly tight, I was certain she could tell how aroused she made me.

In fact, it was as if she was reading my mind, sliding her gaze to my crotch, daring to continue being a bad girl by licking her bottom lip. Damn, the sexy move was hot as Hades.

“I’ll remind you, buster, thatwesaved her life. You and I.”

“Ah, yes. The perfect team.”

“We aren’t a team, just two people who actually gave a damn.”

“A real compliment. That looks much better on you, lovely Evangeline.” I don’t know if she had been surprised I’d remembered her name or what, but her features softened somewhat. When they did, it was easy to think of her as the most incredible, exciting woman alive.

“Touché,” she said, lifting her glass. “Another thank you to a real hero.”

Even though I knew a touch of sarcasm lingered in her attempt at a real compliment, I had a feeling at that moment she was going through some shit. That was the only account for the hard edge of her voice and the sadness in her eyes. I’d become pretty good at reading people.

Some asshole had hurt her, jading her once happy go lucky personality.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot. Why don’t you allow me to introduce myself in a different way?”

“Why the hell not?”

I held out my hand for a shake, which seemed to surprise her again. “My name is Gage Royal. I’m one of three brothers who own the joint. We were shocked to find the two islands for a fairly cheap price, investing several days in the jungle living and avoiding wildlife before we made our decision to purchase both.” I allowed myself to laugh.

“Really?”

“Yeah, we did. I won’t lie; it was an awakening experience since up to that point our idea of camping had been glamping. In a hotel. However, it truly gave us an appreciation of the lay of the land, the beauty of Mother Nature, and the fact we weren’t going to consider what a couple investors had suggested, basically bulldozing so much of the beautiful foliage. We came back from our spur of the moment adventure sunburnt, sore, incapable of doing anything for a few days but with ideas that turned into a vision. It was truly a remarkable time, shaping us entirely differently.”

“What did your rich parents think about what you were doing?”

She’d been doing some research. I liked that. “That we were completely nuts. But we were dead set on the idea and nothing and no one could deter us. We designed both, hiring the right people to make the vision come true, but watching as our dreams were almost shattered several times was more difficult than just about anything. Between the hoops with two different governments, we had to jump through several times regarding getting water and electricity plants built, the construction delays and the exorbitant costs and other overruns, we almost killed each other by the end. But the Royal Players Club turned out more incredible than we’d ever dreamed.”

I had to scan the bar and surrounding area. She continued staring at me. “Why a kink club?”

I laughed, taking a sip of my drink. “Why not? We were members of stodgy clubs for old men. We started asking them what kind of club they would pay significantly to be a member of and the overwhelming and somewhat surprising answer was a private BDSM club. I’ll be honest with you, I thought the dudes were pulling our leg, but I was the one who did the research and there are plenty of BDSM clubs across the United States. But very few are private, and many are simply glow and show. No substance. No training. Some of what they did was scary.”

“Hmmm… I’ve been to one club in my life and the place looked like a dungeon, all the waiters and waitresses in dark hoods and wearing leather and chains. It was very gothic but nothing I wanted a part of.”

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