Page 14 of Role Play
Within seconds, the throbbing headache pulsed less and dissolved into a mild thrum in my sinuses. "The warmth of your own breath alleviates the symptomsfaster."
His eyes fastened onto mine, searching, wandering over my face. “Why do you watch me so closely?” I asked before I had the sense to stop myself. My lips brushed the palm of his hand and the intimacy of my mouth on his flesh sent a shiver tumbling down myspine.
Surprise edged along his features as he blinked and pulled me upright. Only he didn’t unthread his fingers from my hair. His index finger twirled around the strands. “I see you’re feeling betteralready.”
“That’s not an answer to my question,” I said, feeling suddenlyemboldened.
“Does it bother you? Beingwatched?”
Yes. “No.”
The right side of his mouth tilted into a grin. “You’re different. I likedifferent.”
I shrugged. “So that’s it? Just because I don’t look like the typical Los Angeles bottleblonde—”
“Watch it,” Andrea murmured from behind the bar, shooting me awink.
Ash’s eyebrows folded together in the center. “I don’t mean different physically. You’re unique. There’s an energy about you that I findintriguing.”
Energy. Maybe he did feel that connection we had back in his office. That swirling, kinetic energy that made time slow down when I was locked into hiseyes.
Ash moved back to his seat and took a sip of his drink. When I didn’t answer him, he pressed further. “So, you came to LnS to see what’s behind the curtain?” he asked, leaning his forearms against the bar. I followed his gaze where he inclined his chin to the back door. The super secret upstairsmembership.
“Everyone knows what’s behind the curtain,” I said. He was so much taller than me that even leaning like he was, his eye line was still higher thanmine.
Ash tilted his head in question. “Do they,now?”
I nodded. “The Great and PowerfulOz.”
He chuckled, a graveled, warm sound that vibrated to my toes. I could have crawled into that chuckle and nestled in for a nap. “Not quite. The Great and Powerful Oz was all a hoax.” His eyes flicked over my shoulder, landing briefly on the door behind me before coming back to mine. His face was mere inches away and his gaze kept traveling back and forth from my eyes to my lips. Did I have something in my teeth? Why the hell was he looking at me like that? Especially when he frequented a club like this—a club where there were women in tight leather and corsets and probably willing to do all the fetishy things Ash apparently loved to do—like spanking and… and… well, shit. I didn’t evenknowwhat other kinds of things they did back there. Other than the little bit of sugar kink I saw in books and movies, I had no idea what went on at these kinds ofclubs.
“What happens in there?” Ash went on. “It’s great. And powerful. But nothing about it is ahoax.”
I swallowed, looking down at my white t-shirt that was dirty from work and my loose-fitting jeans. Neither of which I had bothered to change before coming out tonight. “Well, then… I guess that’s a… horse of a differentcolor.”
His grin spread to a full smile, lighting up his face. I didn’t see him smile much on set. He wasn’t grumpy necessarily, just not very genial. But that smile? It was… wow. It revealed a set of straight, white teeth and created one dimple beside his righteye.
His white Oxford shirt was crisp and ironed and left open at the throat. His broad shoulders were like an invitation—begging to be grabbed and held on to or traced by the edge of a woman’s fingernail over the hard, curvedmuscles.
I caught my lip between my teeth and drew in a deep breath through my nose. “Actually, I just come here to visit my friend who workshere.”
Andrea stiffened behind the bar as I revealed the truth. My best friend looked panicked for a second, and I widened my eyes, questioning without actually verbalizing. What was her problem? Ash would find out anyway when Andrea showed up on set to meet about thewardrobe.
Ash’s pleasant demeanor shifted so rapidly that it left me breathless. “Is that so?” he asked. The words themselves were fine—it was the tone beneath them. A hard, dangerous edge that dared Andrea to say the wrong thing inresponse.
I held my breath as my elbow brushed against his. The feeling of his flesh touching mine caused heat to pulse between my legs and his gaze jerked back to me. Hot, intense eyes regarded me sharply. “Funny,” he continued. “Andrea’s not supposed to talk about this place. Ever. She signed a contract stating asmuch.”
My spine bristled at the accusation. “She didn’t talk about it.” Well, she kind of did—but just in general terms. She never mentioned anyone’s name or Ash specifically. And I’ll be damned if my best friend was going to get in trouble or worse—fired—because I had a bigmouth.
He arched an eyebrow. “Oh? I find that hard tobelieve.”
I snorted and shook my head. “So just becauseyoufind it hard to believe that means it’s not true? Up until about two minutes ago, I had no idea you’d ever stepped foot inside this club.”At least that much is true, I thought as I kicked back my bar stool,standing.
Yeah, that was a dumb idea. My 5’3 frame didn’t quite have the impact of standing up to the big, bad bully, and I was suddenly lower in his eye line than I had been when sitting on thestool.
“Luce…” Andrea warned. Yeah, I was pretty sure this was the two vodkas on an empty stomach talking, but it wasn’t fair that Andrea get fired for this. I was already getting screamed at by Kelly on set because of Ash. I wasn’t going to let my best friend get fired, too. Andrea had kept the damn secret—which if you knew that girl at all, that was a freakingmiracle.
I held up my hand, waving away Andrea’s concern. “All I’ve known for a year is that she works at this bar—and that it has some kink thing going on in here. Which… look around, Ash. Anyone with half a freaking brain can figure that out. Then again, maybe you’re not used to being around women who can think for themselves, so I’ll explain it for you. I was able to put two and two together. Look over there… see that girl with the leather corset walking around with a whip? Yeah. Not something you see at Buffalo Wild Wings. And the cages on stage that the burlesque dancers sit in? Oh, and let’s not forget the dog collars and the back door that’s guarded like the goddamn Pentagon.” Whoa. Yep,definitelythe vodka talking. I hadn’t spoken that way to a superior since college when my guidance counselor suggested I move back in with mysorority.
