Page 25 of Velvet Sin
“Somebody has to do it,” I pointed out with a shrug.I could do this.I could be cool and go with the flow.
“Whatever happened to the girl who was out of her element around here?”Chloe was still in disbelief, staring at me in shock as I walked out from behind the front counter and joined Blake on the other side.
I was starting to wonder what happened to that girl too.
There was no time for that, though thinking about it might have been easier to handle than thinking about what I had just gotten myself into.It was all fine and nice to agree to help, but reality was a little different.I followed Blake across the main floor, sticking close to the wall, pointedly ignoring the activities going on around me.This would be fine.A little light flogging.Maybe I would ask for a bonus, like whatever fee Dante would have paid the girl I was replacing.I’d be one giant step closer to my goal of affording a better apartment.
My nipples stood out against the sheer bra and almost sheer blouse I was wearing, and not out of arousal.It was fear.Fear that did not lessen as I entered the group playroom, where couples and single guests mingled while waiting for the demonstration to begin.Blake led me to a tall, muscular man dressed in black leather pants and boots but nothing else.His arms, shoulders, and torso were intricately inked, making him overwhelming to take in.
Blake didn’t seem to agree.“Jake, this is Eleanor.She’ll stand in for your partner tonight.Take it easy on her,” he added, almost as an afterthought.
Jake looked me up and down with narrowed eyes before running a hand over his shaved head.“Have you ever done this?”
“Not once,” I admitted, fighting against the trembling that had started.“So, you know.Like he said, take it easy on me.”
“Fair enough.We’ll do the lighter version of my usual demonstration.If anything gets to be too much and you want me to stop…” he explained, “… use the word red.If you need me to slow down but are okay to continue, use the word yellow.”
“If I say red, you’ll stop?No matter what?”I asked, almost choking on my growing fear.
He didn’t hesitate.“Immediately.”And I believed him.He did this for a living and was clearly a professional.“You’re going to need to lose the pencil skirt, for sure.The blouse too.It looks nice, and I don’t want to rip it.”
Well, shit.If I got through this without puking or peeing myself, it would be a miracle.
With Blake tapping his foot impatiently, I unbuttoned my blouse and set it aside, then unzipped and wiggled out of my skirt.Really, I was no more exposed than I would be if I wore a bikini, even if my bikinis weren’t normally sheer.The blue and purple spotlights focused on the X-shaped cross in the center of the room wouldn’t leave much to the imagination.
I needed to get over it.This wasn’t about me.It was about the customers and the demonstration.
I was only a body.
Blake stood in front of the cross and welcomed the attendees to the demonstration while Jake used the leather straps attached to the cross to restrain me.He didn’t cinch them very tightly, which I was glad for, but there was no way of freeing myself.
Say red if it’s all too much.You can say red, and he’ll stop,I reminded myself with every breath I took.Those breaths came a lot faster once my attention landed on a table covered in floggers, a paddle, a riding crop, and even a small whip.
He was going to use those on me?
What the hell had I gotten myself into?
11
DANTE
Blake:Don’t worry, everything is under control.Sorry if I gave you a heart attack.
I rolled my eyes at Blake’s most recent message, one in a string of increasingly frantic texts and voicemails he sent while I was in the air and having issues with the WiFi.The girl hired for the impact play demonstration was apparently sick and couldn’t make it.Thankfully, he’d found someone to fill in before I landed.
This was why Blake made a better behind-the-scenes partner.He dealt well with numbers, data, ideas.When it came to day-to-day management, he was a little too high-strung to be effective.How could anyone respect a guy who ran around like a chicken with his head cut off?
But all was well by the time I left the airport, and I was glad I’d arranged for a car and a driver to pick me up rather than driving myself.Things back in Manhattan were going well, but it had been a long few days, meeting with investors, taking lunches and dinners with colleagues.Noah Goldsmith had been one of them, along with a few of his longtime friends.He and his wife, Sienna, were frequent visitors to the club, and Noah had promised to take a trip out to Vegas soon.I’d suggested having them out to my new home, which was in the process of title transfer and would officially be mine within another week or so.
Cash purchases always moved faster—another perk of success.
With everything going well in New York and LA, I could turn my attention to Vegas and the possibility of opening another location.Blake’s idea about specializing from one club to the other, catering to a specific crowd, had been percolating in the back of my mind ever since he brought it up.It would mean spending more time here, but that was what the house was all about.It would give me that luxury.I could invest real time into securing a foothold in the town.
Though I wasn’t kidding myself.My pulse pounded harder the closer we got to the club.Lenny would be working.It had been three days since I saw her.It didn’t matter that we hadn’t done more than cross paths around the club with her pulling the usual cordial act.Professional.Pretending there was nothing drawing us together.
It was easier for her.I didn’t look like walking sex when I showed up for work the way she did, and it was getting harder to keep my hands to myself.There was only so far I could stretch my self-control before it snapped like a rubber band.Now, sitting in the back seat of a BMW, my hands closed into fists as I imagined everything I’d like to do to her.
There were groups of people waiting outside the club doors, hoping to get in.The sight satisfied me even as I wondered what the hell was taking so long to process newcomers at the front counter.Rather than try to fight my way through the front door, I took the side entrance leading straight up to the office.Strange how comfortable I’d started to become here.I felt at home in a way I never had in LA, where I’d spent most of my time until now.Was this nostalgia coloring my thoughts?“There’s no place like home,” the way Dorothy said.
