Page 26 of Meet Me In The Dark
I freeze just inside the doorway, letting everything sink in.
I’m walking into a sex club, or, more accurately, a lounge that could be mistaken for an upscale cocktail bar if not for the way people are touching each other.
I move slowly toward the bar, pressing my fingers against my mask to make sure it’s still in place, and order something with vodka. I don’t care about the mixer. I just need something to calm my nerves.
The bartender slides it across the bar a momentlater.
I sip.
Vodka cranberry.
That should do it.
I’m halfway through when a woman sits on a stool next to mine, her emerald dress catching the dim light. She’s smiling like a cat who’s just spotted an unsuspecting mouse.
Dropping her clutch on the bar, she spins to look at me. “You’re new.”
It’s not a question.
I swallow and avert my gaze. “Is it that obvious?”
“Only to people who’ve done this before.”
I offer a wobbly smile in response and admit, “First time.”
“I could tell,” she says, crossing her legs. Her heels glitter in the low light, dangerously high and sharp at the toe.
“What gave it away?”
“It’s all in the body language,” she says, and I’m suddenly aware of every stiff inch of mine.
I take another sip of my drink. “I guess I’m trying to figure out what I’ve walked into.”
The woman leans her elbow on the bar, her hair draping over one shoulder. “What you’ve walked into is a place where everyone here has a desire they’re curious enough to explore. That’s all.”
“What about you?” I ask before I can stop myself. “Why do you come?”
“Sometimes to watch. Sometimes to play. Sometimes just to feel like I’m not the only freak in a room.”
My eyebrows shoot up.
“I mean that in the best way. Everyone’s gotsomething. Some people want to give up control. Others want to take it. Some want to be watched. Some want to be invisible. Some are here because they’re trying to feel something again. There’s no single reason. Just choice.”
That word hangs in the air.
Choice.
I’ve spent so much of my adult life being careful. I’ve never done anything like this.
She rises from her stool and beckons me with a tilt of her chin. “Come on. I’ll show you around.”
My grip tightens around my glass. “Now?”
“Unless you’d rather stay here until your vodka wears off and your courage runs out.”
Okay, well, I can’t argue with that.
I down the rest of my drink and set the glass on the bar. “Lead the way.”
