I want to flop down in the big chair in the corner of my store, the one I use to keep nervous men from knocking into all our displays. But I know from past experience that the second I do that, a customer will walk in the door, and they expect the owner of Pretty Things to match her wares. Classy, sexy, and offering escape into a moment where nothing practical matters.

Clearly they’ve never run a business. However, inventory’s finally done, my new orders are ready to head out the door, and I didn’t strangle Mandy even once, for which I deserve chocolate and a martini. I wave at my perky assistant, dressed in her signature pink, which is a little dusty from digging through boxes in the back room. “Go home.”

She looks moderately horrified. “It’s not closing time yet.”

She’s still not entirely convinced I can handle the store without her. The fact that I did so for nearly ten years somehow isn’t convincing. However, I didn’t hire her to understand me—I hired her to fill in for my holes, the ones that have no patience left for fluttery brides and their overexcited mothers. I would pay Mandy’s sizable salary, and gladly, for that alone, but she’s also detail focused and never forgets a customer or her preferences, and in these four walls, those are worth their weight in gold. I pull a curvaceous water bottle out of my bag and point Mandy gently at the door. “Go. Let Brandon rub your feet.”

That gets her moving. The man in her life is treasure and she knows it.

I take a seat on the stool behind the counter as she leaves and drink the water that will have to stand in for a martini until closing time. I hide a sigh as a tinkling chime announces a new arrival before I do much more than wet my lips. I manage a slightly frayed smiled at the young woman, blonde, gorgeous, and utterly self-confident, who has just entered. “Welcome to Pretty Things.”

She takes her time scanning the store and then strides over to my counter. “Hi. I’m Ari, and I’m hoping you’re Chloe.”

She’s younger than most of my clientele, and this is no bride wandering into an upscale lingerie boutique for the first time. “Yes, I’m Chloe.”

Her smile could melt far harder walls than mine. “Perfect. Harlan said you would be easy to find.”

My afternoon just got a lot more interesting. The big man with the tough-guy ink and soft eyes is one of my best customers—and the manager of the best kink club in town, so if I’m reading the light in the bright-blue eyes facing me right, an idea I’ve been noodling on and off over the past couple of months may have just come to me.

I grab a second stool and slide it around the counter. “You’re from Fettered?”

She grins, and I’m looking at a younger version of me. “I am. I have a business proposal I want to discuss with you.”

I know what the younger version of me would want to hear. “Good. If you hadn’t come to me, I was planning on coming to you. I think half your membership has wandered through my shop recently.”

I’ve said exactly the right thing. She’s delighted, and young enough to show it. “You make really beautiful things, and our members are smart enough to appreciate quality.”

That they are—and they show off their sexy underwear a lot more frequently than most of my clients. Which is why my brain’s been noodling. “Tell me what you have in mind.” I know my request is a bit of a test. I’m the last person to judge someone for being too young or too female to have good ideas, but I want to know who I’m dealing with. And I’m fascinated and pleased that Fettered has sent Ari in as their representative.

“We’d like to work with you to develop some styles more specifically suited for the kink lifestyle. With features like tie releases so that underwear can be removed from a restrained sub.”

She’s watching me carefully. The tests are going both ways. I give her what she needs. “Thank you for not assuming I’m too boring and vanilla to run with this. I got into this business out of my work designing theater costumes. You won’t find shock or judgment here.”

Her whole body warms. “I like you. Harlan said I would.”

That’s entirely mutual. “I appreciate him sending you to me.”

I leave space, and she steps into it gracefully. “We want someone who can handle frank discussions of our needs and then turn them into something beautiful that will last through the abuse our members might put it through.”

I laugh, because she’s a deep pool of awesome and she clearly knows it. “Most of my designers and seamstresses also work in theater. Trust me, there’s nothing you can do to lingerie that an actor can’t do to their costume.”

She grins at me. “Maybe don’t tell the Doms that straight off. They might take it as a dare.”

I laugh and look around my shop, because we’re likely to get interrupted any minute, and I want to know more about this deal we’re going to grow between us. “Were you hoping I could sell it here?”

Ari follows my eyes around the store and makes a wry face. “I don’t think that’s helpful for either of our brands.”

My weeks of noodling crystalize around her words. It’s time to find out just how deep into this a sex club is willing to go. “I could develop a line specifically for those with more kinky desires, but designing the pieces is only half the game here. We’d need the retail side too. An online presence, perhaps, but I’d strongly suggest a physical storefront as well. These items won’t be inexpensive, and quality sells best when people can touch and feel.”

She leans forward a little, and I catch a glimpse of very shrewd negotiator in her eager blue eyes. “We were thinking you could develop the line for Fettered. We’d sell it at the club. Nothing that needs to be staffed all the time, at least to start, but something like a portable shop that opens a couple of afternoons or evenings a month. In our lounge, maybe, where people can model for each other.” She winks. “That will sell a lot more merchandise, trust me.”

She’s pitching with passion and interest and not a trace of nerves. I wonder if Fettered knows what they have in her. “Would you be representing the club’s interests as we work out the details?”

She grins. “Yes. It was my idea, and I know how to keep the Doms I work for in line.”

She gets bonus points for every part of that sentence, and so do they. Which is unfortunate, because it means she’s not poachable. “Good. It sounds like you have a solid idea of what you want, and potentially a lot of people who would like to have some input. I’d like to get them engaged early on so the designs can fully reflect what they need and want, but I’d also like to define a small group, on your side and mine, who will be making the decisions.”

It’s a speech I’ve given before—herding theater people isn’t for wimps.

She’s nodding before I’m halfway finished. “Perfect. You’ll have both. I’ll handle sign-off from our decision-makers. As far as input, I can gather a group to talk to you, or, if you’d rather, you can come hang out in the lounge one night and observe and ask questions.”

Test number two just landed. This bright-eyed woman doesn’t give an inch, even when she’s smiling, and I’ll be smart to remember that. “Both. I’d like to visit your club, and I’d like to bring a few of my designers to a smaller meeting with some of your members. I’m thinking there might be some interest in special orders as well.” Which will have my people drooling. They make the same thing more than once because I pay them very well to do it, but they adore creating things. They’ll be all over this. I don’t let the warm glow of that show—lovely as she is, Ari’s the toughest negotiator I’ve faced in years. She doesn’t need to know I’m a cupcake for my people.

Ari’s eyes flash amused. “If you’re willing to consider special orders, I hope you can handle a stampede.”

We’re going to get along very well. “We can. Is there anything else you want me to hear before someone walks in who wants the only shade of green panties I don’t carry?”

She stands up from her stool, laughing. “Just one. Scorpio was wearing a gorgeous black silk corset last night. Please tell me you have that in blue.”

I don’t—but I will by tonight. And I think I might just pay a certain club a visit to deliver it.