Ari raises an eyebrow as I walk into her domain. “I thought you were staying home tonight.”

Apparently news hasn’t traveled. “Chloe’s here. She wants a tour of the dungeon.”

Ari’s fast at the math of our lifestyle. She’ll know how long ago my siren in a red dress passed by her gate. I keep walking. Ari isn’t the woman I’m here for. I make it halfway across the lounge before I spot her, which has more to do with my nerves than the quiet corner Chloe’s tucked away in, chatting with a couple of subs.

I catch Quint’s attention. His text arrived shortly after Chloe’s voicemail and got my ass out of recording edits and into Dom gear. He nods back at me, and I’m not sure what to make of the look in his eyes.

It doesn’t matter. This is my scene coming up, not his. Because whatever Chloe might think this is, she’s just asked for a Dom at her back, and I’m fucking glad she decided to let it be me.

The two subs sitting with her take one look at my face and melt into the woodwork. She looks up at me, amused. “I didn’t realize scaring people was your kink.”

I take a seat beside her and kiss her cheek. “It’s every Dom’s kink, shorty.”

She makes a face, but we both know the nickname’s going to stick. “Thanks for coming.”

There’s only one way to have this conversation, especially with a woman who’s never inched anywhere in her life. “How were you planning on doing this before you called me?”

Her shrug is wry. “I thought Quint might give me a basic walk around and let me gather some information.”

He would have done it for most people who asked. I’m grateful he didn’t this time—and curious about what he saw that stopped him. “Why did you want to do it alone?”

Her eyes soften. “Because I can feel what there could be between us, and it’s not going to go slowly.”

I’m not sixteen anymore. “If we go.”

There’s pain in her softness. “Yes. I wanted to know more before I got you involved.” She sighs. “Maybe I walk in there and take one look and know it’s not for me.”

She wouldn’t be the first, but I came here to be her Dom. “If we walk in there, I want you to give it an hour.”

Her eyebrows go up.

Welcome to my world, shorty. “The club has safewords. Yellow if you need to hit the pause button, red if you need to stop. You can use those.”

Realization dawns on her face. “You’re treating this like a scene.”

I don’t know any other way to walk a woman around a dungeon and keep her safe. “Yes. My job is to see that you get what you need in there. Your job is to trust me to give it to you.”

Pain leeches out from her eyes over the rest of her face. “Even if it means I can’t be what you need?”

That’s a conversation for after the tour. One where I maybe introduce her to some of Quint’s shades of gray and flexible wiring. I lean my forehead into hers. Letting us both take strength from the answer that I know is the right one for now. “Even if. You’ve always been honest with me, even when it’s really hard. Whatever you learn in there, we’ll deal.”

She takes a moment—and then I feel her leaning. Putting weight on the emotional wall I just wrapped around us. Giving me what I crave as a Dom.

Trust.

I run a knuckle down her cheek. “Give me a minute. I need to check in with one of the dungeon monitors, see what’s going on in there tonight.” There are some things she needs to see, and more than enough members hanging out in the lounge to provide them on short notice.

Chloe nods at me, a little uncertain.

I let her stay there. One of the first and most important things I learned as a Dom was that growth, clarity, and pleasure all arrive more strongly when a sub starts the journey on wobbly ground. I hold her eyes a moment longer, promising her that steady exists, just not on her own two feet, and then I head for Harlan.

I need a woman in latex pants, stat.