Nora Payne hasn’t looked at me in two days.

To be fair, she didn’t do much looking at me around the office anyway but she’s going out of her way to avoid me now.

Until yesterday, her daily routine was set in stone. She’d get here before nine, pluck around in her office for an hour checking emails and reviewing everyone’s work from the day before. Then, she’d get up and make a slow clock-wise ring around the desks, starting with marketing directly left of her office. Then, she’d check in with the creative team. And human resources. She’d go all the way around until she’d hit accounting, where my temporary desk currently resides.

Now, all of a sudden, that routine is practically nonexistent. She’d hit all the other places, but she won’t come near accounting. Not even once in two whole days. If she needs something numbers-related, she calls my supervisor, Ali, and Ali goes into Nora’s office.

I shouldn’t care. I’m not here to make friends with her, but…

I’ve never seen her at Red Brick before.

I didn’t even think she’d be the type.

My type.

This puts quite the wrinkle in my side hustle. I want to know more about the mystery that is Ms. Nora Payne but I also have to get that client list.

It’s Wednesday. Alex will be bugging me any time now for an update and I’ve got jack shit in the realm of progress.

I have to get into her office.

End of the day will probably be easiest. It’s not unusual for Nora to be the first employee in and the last one out. I just to find the right moment to—

Where is she going?

I crane my neck to peek out of my cubicle. Ms. Nora Payne just waltzed out of her office with her briefcase, her purse, and her phone. She shut off the lights and closed the door. She never does that unless she’s leaving for the day but it’s not even five yet.

I watch her walk from her office toward the elevator. She purposefully takes the scenic route to avoid accounting. My guts twist. She’s literally going out of her way to avoid me but she’s got nothing to worry about. Nothing Red Brick-related, that is…

I want her to know that.

I bolt out of my chair and follow her to the elevator. She walks quickly with her head is down, clearly not in the mood to talk to anybody but she’s going to talk to me.

Nora boards the empty elevator and I pick up my pace to catch up before the doors close and I lose my one chance at a private moment to clear the air.

I slide a hand between the doors, blocking them from closing and they pop back open again.

Nora raises her head, looks at me, and her breathing stops.

I step on, turning to stand beside her and tapping the button to close the doors. She shifts slightly to the left, putting a foot of space between us and I try not to take it personally.

The doors close and the elevator begins its slow trek down to the ground floor. That gives me about twenty seconds to say what I need to say but that’s not nearly enough time.

I reach out, hit the stop button, and the elevator crawls to a halt.

“Ms. Payne,” I say, turning to face her. “Relax.”

She blinks, her wide eyes staring at me with a mix of nervous fear and shame. “What?”

“Relax,” I say again. “It’s all right. Your secret is safe with me.”

“Secret?”

“The Red Brick Road. We saw each other there.”

She adjusts her purse strap on her shoulder as her cheeks burn a bright pink. “Look, Clive, I don’t think we should talk about this.”

“Why not?” I shrug, smiling. “So, we’re into BDSM? It’s not a big deal.”

“I’m not...” Her voice breaks.

“Nora, it’s okay. Luckily for us, privacy is the most important rule in the community. It’s tighter than Fight Club in there. Believe me. No one’s ever gonna know unless you want them to. I sure as hell won’t say a word.”

Her shoulders release a bit of tension. “Okay,” she breathes out.

I lean against the wall, trying to shift the space into something more casual to get her talking. “I never saw you there before,” I say. “First time?”

“Uh...” She wets her lips. “Yeah, kinda.”

“What’d you think?”

A quick laugh twitches her mouth. “A little overwhelming.”

I nod. “It can be. Dom or sub?”

She raises her head a little higher. “Is that how you guys shake hands or something?” I laugh. “I swear, I was there for maybe twenty minutes and I heard so many people asking that question.”

“It narrows the pool a little,” I say. “Lots of folks are there to get down to business and go home.”

“I could tell.” She squints. “Is that why you were there?”

“In a way,” I say, being vague.

“Well, Dom or sub?” she asks.

I smile. “Dom. You?”

Nora pauses, her eyes shifting as if we’re being watched but it’s just us in here. “Sub,” she finally answers. “I think.”

My brow rises. “You don’t say?”

“Is it that surprising?”

“Kind of.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, it surprises me, too. Honestly, I haven’t… you know. Just sort of learning the rules right now.”

“Well, it’s a good place to learn.”

“That’s what I hear.” Her throat clears. “Anyway, I should get going.”

“Bit early, isn’t it?”

“I have a... personal matter.”

I nod. “All right.” I extend my hand to enable the elevator again, but stop. “Can I give you a tip?” I ask her.

“… Okay.”

I turn to her again. “Wear a choker or a scarf the next time you go to the club.”

She tilts her head. “A choker? You mean, like a necklace?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

I lean closer. “Because it signifies that you already belong to someone,” I explain. “Trust me, it’ll deter some of the more intense patrons.”

She nods. “Oh. Okay. Thanks. That’s... a good idea.”

“Like this...” I pull my white handkerchief from my breast pocket, quickly unfolding it as she watches with interest. I grab two opposite corners and roll it into a long line. “May I?” I gesture to her neck.

She doesn’t say no but she doesn’t do anything to make me stop either. I take a short step behind her and lay the handkerchief around her neck, tying it off at the back. Her throat clenches with nerves and her pulse pounds in her artery, thumping the skin up and down.

“There,” I say. “No one will touch you. Unless you want them to, that is.”

Nora looks at herself in the reflective wall. “That’s a good tip,” she says.

“I see a lot of beginners get scared off too quickly,” I say. “Don’t want that to happen to you.”

Her eyes flick over at me. “Why not?” she asks.

“Because you seem like you’d be a lot of fun.”

She lets her face fall to the floor, possibly concealing some embarrassment. It’s a side of Ms. Nora Payne I never thought I’d see — let alone exist at all. Nervous and delightfully timid.

I like it.

I look down her cheek, following a line to her neck and along her sharp collarbone. All the way down to her professionally-hidden cleavage. I catch something sticking out of her purse from the corner of my eye — a small, black harddrive with the initials LBB scrawled in permanent ink on a worn, white label.

Nora shifts on her toes and straightens up. “Well...” She extends her arm and slaps the button with the flesh of her fingertips. The elevator starts again, softly bouncing an inch before continuing its decent downward. “I’ll have to remember that.”

She reaches behind her neck to undo the knot but I lay a soft hand on her elbow.

“Don’t,” I say. “You can keep it.”

“No, I shouldn’t—”

“It looks good on you.”

Her fingers curl away from it as her eyes twitch in hesitation, but she slowly lowers her arms again.

“Thank you,” she says.

We both look forward at the elevator doors. Just another few seconds and we’ll hit the ground floor.

“Hey, Clive.”

“Yes, Ms. Payne?”

“What kind of guy carries around a handkerchief anymore?”

I smile as the doors slide open. “The kind who likes to keep his hands clean,” I answer. “After you.”

She turns her head to look at me one last time with puffy, pink cheeks before stepping off. When I don’t move, she pauses outside the elevator.

“Are you getting off?” she asks.

I smirk. “Not yet but I will.”

Her eyes widen but the doors close again before she can say a word.

I let out a quick laugh and hit the button to head back up to the fifteenth floor. Sure, blatantly hitting on my boss probably wasn’t the brightest move but hell — she looks way too damn cute with that collar on.

Nora Payne is a submissive. Who fucking knew?

I lean into the corner and grip the rail on either side of me as the car rides back up.

Not just any sub either. A newbie sub. One who can easily be bent and shaped. One who isn’t totally aware of her limits yet. The kind who’s open to experimentation.

My favorite kind.

I bite my cheek. Bad idea. Very bad ideas.

Have I forgotten what I’m really here for?

The elevator stops and the doors slide open, revealing that illuminated, neon logo on the wall.

Little Black Book.

It takes another hour for the rest of the staff to clear out. Desk lamps flick off one-by-one until it’s just the receptionist left. She has to stay and answer phones until the last possible moment. Poor girl.

“Have a good night, Clive,” she says as she passes by my desk.

“Goodnight,” I say, forgetting her name.

I wait until ten seconds after I hear the elevator doors shut again. Total silence fills the floor, practically screaming in my ears.

Finally, I stand up and walk across the room to Nora’s office to jimmy the door open again.

Hopefully, this personal matter keeps Nora at home for the rest of the night. I just need ten uninterrupted minutes here. The janitorial staff usually starts emptying trash bins at six. I should have just enough time.

I sit down at her desk and wiggle the mouse to wake up the computer. She definitely charged out of here in a hurry if she left all of this on. Either that personal matter is serious or she was really, really eager to get out of here and away from me. I won’t take it personally.

I take a breath before diving in. Client files. That’s all I need to swipe and I’ll be out of here...

I double click the database software, hoping the security there is as lax as the building. It pops open and I smile at the stupidity of it, to be honest.

Millions of users access Little Black Book every day and I’m about to get the names, addresses, and credit card numbers of each and every one of them.

I blink. It’s empty.

I refresh the database, giving it a quick close and open again. Must be a glitch. It has to be a glitch.

Again, it’s empty.

There’s no way this is accurate. Unless…

I close it down and run an administrator search for the database’s application files. There should be a log in there that will tell me the last time the client list was accessed. That will point me in the right direction.

I open it and scroll down to the most recent auto-entry.

Today at 3:45 PM.

Last accessed by NPayne.

Full copy and… deletion?

From the looks of it, this same entry occurs once every day. Monday to Friday.

I sit back with wide eyes.

That harddrive in her bag. LBB.

She walked right out the door with it. Apparently, she does it every freaking night.

I knock my knuckles against the desk in frustration. “Fuck,” I whisper.

* * *

I stand beneath the shower head for far longer than I should. My skin tingles and my fingertips are starting to prune but it’s not like I get to experience a hot shower every day.

“Yo, Clive! You in here?”

I think to ignore him. I can just claim I didn’t hear him when he inevitably shows up at my locker in ten minutes.

“Clive!”

I take a deep breath and hold it for three more seconds of toasty water before reaching out and turning the knobs off.

“Yeah,” I answer, my voice echoing through the showers.

Shoes tap in my direction across the locker room. I grab my towel off the rack nearby and wrap it around my waist before Alex pokes his head in here.

Alex pauses in the entryway, fully-clothed in his gray jumpsuit. “Hey,” he says. “Why didn’t you answer?”

“Because I’m naked… in the shower,” I say, passing around him toward my locker.

“Fair enough. I caught the end of your run before. You’ve really got your speed back up.”

“Yeah,” I mutter.

He takes wide strides to keep up with me. He’s either about to keep complimenting me or he’s going to spit out the words I’ve been dreading all day ever since I left Nora’s office.

“So, did you get it yet?” he asks, fulfilling the prophecy.

I pop open my locker and look around, focusing for any prying ears but the room is mostly empty. Late evenings are usually pretty dead at the gym but I don’t mind. I don’t get as many funny looks that way.

I reach inside for my deodorant. “No,” I answer him. “I can’t get it.”

Alex blinks. “What do you mean, you can’t get it?”

“I mean,” I give my armpits a quick swipe and push the cap back on, “I got on her computer today and it wasn’t there. She takes it with her. There’s nothing I can do.”

“Takes it with her where?”

“I don’t know. Home, I guess.” I fish inside my gym back for a pair of underwear. “I can’t get it outside of work hours and I haven’t the slightest idea how I’m supposed to access the CEO’s computer while the place is crawling with employees, so… I can’t get it. Sorry.”

Alex grits his teeth. “Figure it out, man.”

“Figure it out?” I repeat.

“Yeah, figure it out.”

“I can’t just figure it out, Alex. This shit is officially out of my league and I’m not risking my job over this.”

“Clive…” He flexes his jaw. “Do I need to remind you how much money that list is worth to us?”

“No—”

“Two million dollars,” he says anyway, his voice echoing through the lockers. “Half for me. Half for you. I have a buyer lined up and he’s willing to pay cash, Clive. Cash.” His eyes fall on my leg. “I told you I’d make it up to you and you agreed one million bucks more than makes up for what happened.”

My foot twitches. “I know I did, but—”

“So, risk the fucking job, man.” He points the name badge on his jumpsuit. “I’m not cleaning gym toilets for the rest of my life here.”

I step into my jeans and grab my boots. “And what exactly is this buyer of yours planning to do with the list once he gets it?” I ask.

He throws up his hands. “I don’t know nor do I care. It’s not my problem that a bunch of lonely losers plugged their information into an app in the hopes of getting laid. And it’s not your problem, either, so get your shit together and find out how to get that list so we can both get paid.”

“Alex, I’m desperate for that money as much as you do but this isn’t about me getting my shit together,” I say. “This is about Nora Payne taking—”

Her work home with her.

I can’t get the client list during work hours, not without the very real possibility of getting caught, so I’ll have to get it after…

And I already know where she likes to hang out after work.

“Taking what?” Alex asks impatiently.

I grab a black shirt from my bag and throw it on. The reflective bands on the arms flip up so I smooth them down again before stuffing my bag inside and slamming the locker.

“Give me a few more days,” I tell him as I grab my jacket. “I have to get to work.”

“Clive—”

I ignore him as I walk out of the locker room, listening to the hum of my own thoughts as a plan forms in my head.

Ms. Nora Payne is learning the rules.

She needs an experienced Dom to teach her how to be a good submissive. Someone she’ll be willing to put her complete trust in.

She’ll find one.