Shane

 

I didn’t like that she’d called me on my shit about keeping my barriers up. There was only one person who made a habit of doing so. Max. I also didn’t care for her tone about Heather. But considering that once Heather got into my car to drive to Jersey for our meeting, she tried to dive into my lap, I could see where the jealousy stemmed from.

“Not today, honey.” I tried to let her down easy, but she wasn’t taking no for an answer.

Using a tone which instantly grated on my nerves, she whined, “But it’s been forever, and then you stuck me with Max the other night. Are you not attracted to me anymore?”

This was the shit I tried to avoid with females. There was no right answer aside from the words she was looking for, which was to allow her to suck me off in the car. What I was about to say would make my life a whole lot more complicated, but it was the truth.

“I’ve got something going on with Daniella.”

As predicted, this went over like a cum shot in the eye. “So, what? Now, all of a sudden, you do relationships?”

“Enough. My personal business is just that. We’ve always maintained a professional working friendship, Heather, and I would hate for this to come between us.”

She stewed on my warning for a few seconds.

Because I was tired of the shit she was giving Daniella in doing her job, I made myself clear. “Also, give her the receipts she requested.”

Heather glanced my way, about to open her mouth, but the look I gave her stifled whatever she was about to say.

It was good to know I hadn’t lost my touch on most women, making them recognize when I meant business.

“Fine.”

 

***

 

I’d avoided Daniella until later than planned. I could tell myself it wasn’t because she had my number about my defense mechanisms or it wasn’t because I was pissed the entire bar now knew I was in some sort of relationship with her—thanks to Heather’s big mouth. But the truth was that all of it had me feeling out of sorts. And I didn’t do out of sorts. I did control. And I did it well. Until recently, that is.

If I’d been a wise man, I would’ve marched up my steps to my office and told her this arrangement was off. Instead, I stood there watching her type away on her laptop, poring over the receipts Heather must’ve finally provided.

Sensing my presence, she glanced up briefly but then went back to work.

Huh. Not being a man who typically garnered this type of reaction from a woman, I wasn’t sure what to do. “I take it you got the receipts from Heather.”

She lifted her eyes, slid off her glasses, and met my gaze as I walked towards her. “Indeed. I’m guessing the thanks should go to you?”

Her tone was cool, professional even, but her eyes were anything but. They reflected her temper.

“None necessary. It should’ve been done sooner.”

“Right. Glad you could discuss that—and our arrangement—in the car ride with her.”

Ah. So that was the irritation. “It was either tell her we had a thing going on or let her suck my dick along the way.”

Although I wasn’t known for my filter, now would’ve probably been the time to exercise one. She was up and gathering her stuff, turning off the desk lamp and clearly ready to leave. “Good night, Shane.”

Fuck. “Wait. Look, don’t be mad. She made a move, and I shut her down. I don’t get why it would piss you off.”

“What pisses me off is I’ve had this plug up my ass all day with a promise of this afternoon, which you conveniently forgot about. I’m not well versed in the rules of anal etiquette, but that just seems straight-up rude.”

My brows shot sky high. “You still have it in?”

She threw up her hands. “Seriously? What the hell was I supposed to do with it?”

No wonder she was cranky. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing or else she’d give me a well-deserved punch in the face.

“I’m sorry. You should’ve taken it out. Just a couple hours a day, not eight hours.”

Her face was beet red, and I found it adorable.

“Great. Now I’m going to have a big gaping you know what.”

The fact she couldn’t say asshole had uncontrollable laughter bubbling up from inside of me. This, of course, only served to turn her a brighter shade of red and piss her off.

“Come here.” I pulled in her close to me, wrapping her up in my arms and breathing in her signature scent of something light and floral. “I’m sorry. It may not seem this way, but I’m not laughing at you. I’m only completely and totally enthralled by the combination of your humor and innocence.” I leaned back and tucked her hair behind her ear. “It makes me want to know what you’re thinking all the time.”

“Right now I’m thinking I’m a butt plug failure.”

We both erupted into a fit of laughter together.

Max interrupted, looking completely amused to find us both giggling like starry-eyed lovers in an embrace.

“Uh, sorry to intrude, but, uh, we have a situation down in room four I need your help with.”

Shit. “I need to—”

“Go on. It’ll give me time to, uh, take care of things.”

I chuckled, wishing like hell I could help.

 

***

 

Daniella

 

I took care of business by way of removing the plug. For the record, this wasn’t as sexy as when Shane had put it in. Then I took a shower, hoping he would join me any minute. Then, because he hadn’t, I went into the viewing room. I hoped I could see what might be going on with room four. But other than two couples having group sex, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Since when did four people having group sex become normal? Evidently, the club and Shane had changed my expectations.

“Whatcha doing in here?”

I spun around to see the object of my thoughts. Despite looking hot as ever, his eyes were tired. It seemed he was never “off” of work.

“Looking for you. What happened?”

He sighed. “Someone got too rough. It doesn’t occur often, but unfortunately, it does happen. It gets tricky because oftentimes an untrained submissive doesn’t recognize their limit. Even worse, an untrained dominant doesn’t always know how to use some of the devices.”

My jaw about dropped. I’d obviously guessed kinky stuff happened here, but I hadn’t thought about it from that perspective. “Any liability for your club?”

He shook his head. “There’s always a possibility, but we do make them sign waivers. Plus, we asked if she wanted to press charges and ensured she did not. Matter of fact, they left together, so I’m assuming they’ll work out whatever happened.”

Not for the first time, I wondered if I was barely scratching the surface of sexually satisfying a man like Shane. “Are you into that sort of stuff?”

He smirked. “Why? You thinking you might want to try to be submissive?”

I scrunched up my nose. “I don’t think I’d make a very good one. Most likely, you bossing me around would piss me off within minutes.”

He moved closer, grasping my waist with his hands. “You enjoy me being bossy.”

A smile curved my lips. “True. But I’m not really into pain for pleasure.”

“Says the girl who had a plug up her ass most of the day.”

I grinned. “I was told the end result would be worth it.”

He stepped into me, dipping his lips to my ear. “Oh, it will be. You’ll come so hard you’ll nearly pass out from it.”

Yes, please. “Mm, and when is this happening?”

“Sunday night. You’ll wear a bigger one tomorrow in preparation.”

I sighed. “I won't be here. I have a wedding to go to.”

“What wedding?”

“The one I told you about the other day. It’s my cousin, which means I can’t back out.”

He didn’t mince words. “Sounds dreadful.”

At least I had a sexy dress to wear. In fact, I looked pretty damn good in the black strapless Vera Wang dress. “It will be, especially if Eric shows up which, knowing him, he probably will.”

“Did he pay you half the money?”

I nodded. “Yep. Wired as directed. He has two more weeks for the other half. You know, I don’t even know if our friends have heard we broke up.”

That was weird. I mean, normally, didn’t a woman, upon realizing her fiancé was cheating, call her friends, have a girls’ night, and cry on their shoulders? I could say I hadn’t wanted to bother anyone during the holidays—which is why we’d done the whole shower and bachelorette party weeks ago. But the truth was that I’d been enveloped in the club and Shane so quickly that the whole tragedy had sort of slipped my mind.

He quirked a brow. “You didn’t tell anyone about the breakup?”

“Um, I guess I forgot.” Was it any wonder? Since Eric’s betrayal, I’d been absolutely consumed with either the man in front of me or his taxes. “My parents were out of town. Matter of fact, I think they returned today from their cruise.”

Crap. I guess I should call them since we’d only traded voicemails on Christmas. I dreaded having to do so. My mom would make my breakup with Eric a reflection of my inability to make a good wife. She’d then bring up the whole not-wanting-to-have-kids thing again. Evidently in her mind, my lack of desire to procreate made me somehow less worthy of love and marriage.

“Huh.”

I frowned. “What do you mean ‘huh’?”

“Sometimes people don’t tell others about a breakup because they hope to maybe work things out.”

I couldn’t help laughing. There was no part of me wanting to work it out with Eric. “That is not happening. Not only is he a thief, but also a cheater. Normally people are upset by a breakup instead of feeling freed, so maybe that’s why I haven’t told anyone. Because I realize it was a mistake to be engaged to him in the first place. Any chance you want to come with me?”

I realized my mistake the moment the words left my lips. Shit. Shane wasn’t the type of guy you brought to a wedding. He was intense and antisocial, for one thing. For another, we were merely having sex, not crossing all sorts of bridges into relationship land. “Sorry, forget I asked.”

“Why? Don’t want people knowing you’re with the owner of a sex club?”

Not for the first time, I sensed some vulnerability around the subject, so I decided to put the topic to rest. “Honestly, I don’t really care. Hell, I think half the people there would probably high-five me and the other half—Well, let’s just say it’s about time I stop caring about their opinion. After all, they thought Eric was a good guy, so what do they know?” I meant every word. My newfound resolution was to avoid trying to please others. From here on out, I was pleasing myself.

“Okay, I’ll go.”

“What?” I couldn’t be more shocked. “Seriously?”

He shrugged. “Sure. Why not.”

“You must really want butt sex.”

He grinned. The expression, though rare, looked good on him. “You have no idea.”