Chapter Twelve
Robyn
‘Sooooo …’
I winced, knowing exactly what Sasha was going to say, and feeling slightly amazed that it had taken her this long to mention it. Neither Chloe nor Sasha had said much on the short trip home from Club Twist, but now we were in our PJs and slouching on the sofa and I saw the inquisitive twinkle in my best mate’s eye.
‘Before we start the gossip, I remembered where I recognised your guy from,’ Chloe stated.
‘He’s not my guy.’ I didn’t add that from the way things tonight had ended, I’d be surprised if he ever spoke to me again.
‘Whatever. Is he married?’
Chloe’s question completely threw me, and I turned to her with a frown. ‘No. He said he doesn’t date. Why on earth would you think he’s married?’
She frowned and shrugged. ‘He was in my offices a few weeks ago with a blonde woman. I remembered him because … well … he’s quite memorable.’ She looked embarrassed by her admission that she’d been checking him out.
I couldn’t blame her, because Oliver Wolfe certainly was check-out-able, not to mention memorable.
‘Just because he was with a woman doesn’t mean they’re together,’ Sasha pointed out, stating exactly what I had been about to say. ‘It could have been a work colleague, a relative, or just a mate.’
Chloe nodded. ‘Yeah, it could. They looked pretty close, though. He definitely had his arm around her as they left.’
Now that brought me up short. Had he lied to me earlier when he’d said he didn’t date? Did he have a girlfriend? Or a wife? ‘Maybe it was a relative, a sister or something, and he was accompanying them to give advice?’
‘Maybe.’ Chloe sounded distinctly unconvinced. ‘I only saw them for a minute or so, so you’re probably right.’ She stood up and yawned. ‘Anyway, I’m knackered from all that dancing, I’m off to bed.’
I barely knew Oliver, so he didn’t exactly have to explain himself to me. Having said that, he hadn’t appeared deceitful at all, so once Chloe had left us to it I pushed her comments aside, and turned back to Sasha, who was still grinning at me expectantly.
‘Now, where were we …? Oh yeah … so, we’d only been in the club ten minutes when you disappeared with the gorgeous Mr Wolfe. I need details!’
It had been far longer than ten minutes, but I didn’t bother to try to explain that. Kicking off my slippers, I flexed out my toes then wandered to the booze fridge and grabbed a bottle of wine – if we were to have this conversation then I needed another drink.
‘Did you shag him?’ she asked, unembarrassed by her bluntness.
‘No!’ But I think I probably could have. Although it was difficult to tell, really, because he seemed to give out so many mixed messages. ‘Not everyone gives it out as easily as you, Sash,’ I joked as I made my way to the couch, hoping to deflect the attention away from me.
‘Yeah, yeah. I’m a slut. I get it,’ she said with a grin. ‘You both looked awfully cosy if you ask me. I saw hand-holding and everything. Do you fancy him?’ Her tone was just a little bit too interested for my liking. From the corner of my eye I could see Sasha watching my reaction carefully, and I tried to focus on the TV as a distraction from the blush that I knew was going to explode on my face any minute now.
And there it was. My cheeks felt so hot I was surprised that steam wasn’t rising from them.
‘Oh my God! You do like him. The plot thickens,’ she exclaimed with glee, turning to face me and snatching the TV remote from my hand. She switched it off, then chucked the remote away and poked my leg. ‘Or did something happen tonight?’ She leaned forwards on her knees and dumped her glass onto the coffee table with a thump. ‘There has to be a reason for that blush! Come on, spill the beans, what happened?’
‘Nothing happened,’ I lied weakly. Apart from some hand-holding, strange encounters with icy-stared women, his whispered dirty words, and oh yes, not forgetting how I abruptly declared I was leaving, only to have him up and walk out on me. Talk about complex.
Sasha, of course, was having none of it, and with a few more probing stares and encouraging arm flaps had managed to wheedle the full story from me.
‘So yeah, basically that’s it. He asked if I wanted to extend my research to physical stuff and I said no and left.’
As soon as I had finished my explanation she burst from her seat in excitement, clapping her hands and looking quite a lot like a performing seal as she jigged from foot to foot. ‘I knew he liked you!’ she exclaimed excitedly.
I took a swig of my wine and flopped back onto the sofa with a dejected sigh. ‘He doesn’t like me, Sash,’ I said, emphasising the word “like”. ‘He just wanted to show me some more stuff for my research.’
‘But he said he would get a thrill from helping you do it. I think that definitely hints that he likes you and wants more.’
‘Even if he did want sex with me, which I’m not saying he does, but even if he did, he’s a dominant, so it would only be because he likes the idea of me submitting to him. That’s very different from liking me. You know I don’t do casual sex.’
‘I know. But I have no idea why, it’s fucking brilliant,’ Sasha cooed with a grin. ‘Besides, he must fancy you, otherwise he wouldn’t have suggested it. He probably feels that crazy chemistry you mentioned just as strongly as you do. And you said all your conversations have been interesting so there must be something more than just wanting you for sex …’
Sasha leant in closer, and fanned her face. ‘I can’t believe he told you to think of him when you touch yourself. Holy shit, Robyn, that’s so fricking hot! He’s like the best of both worlds.’
His dirty words had been petty arousing, but I had no clue what Sasha meant. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, he’s like a complete gentleman, but with a filthy mouth and dirty mind. He’ll treat you like a princess, but shag you until you can’t walk straight.’
‘Oh my God, Sasha! Shut up!’ My cheeks were now bright red, and so hot that I felt like sticking my face in the freezer for half an hour. Mind you, the thought of Oliver treating me like a princess then shagging me senseless definitely had an appeal.
‘So anyway, I was chatting to this guy tonight, Samuel, one of the club members – well, I say chatting …’ Sasha wiggled her eyebrows and flashed me the filthiest grin. ‘Really it was mostly kissing …’
Closing my eyes, I shook my head in disbelief. ‘I thought Chloe was looking after you. How the hell did you still manage to hook up?’ I squeaked.
‘I didn’t “hook up”, we just had a snog. The blond guy I liked didn’t seem interested, and when Chloe went off with someone I had free rein,’ Sasha said with a happy sigh. ‘After Blondie, Samuel was the best looking, and made it very clear he was interested in me.’
It didn’t surprise me that Sasha had pulled, it was a pretty regular occurrence, but something else she said had really shocked me. ‘Wait! Stop. The. Press,’ I said, holding up my hands to halt any further talk. ‘Chloe went off with a guy? Our Chloe? Chloe, who doesn’t even talk to men, went off with a guy?’ My eyes were boggling out of my head by this point. This was like the news of the century.
‘Kind of. I think they just talked.’
That was still fairly major progress for Chloe. ‘Who was it?’
‘Some cute Japanese guy. He was giving a demonstration of some bondage thing, wrapping this woman up in ribbon and rope.’ Sasha paused and looked thoughtful, ‘It had a name, Kina… something. I can’t remember.’ She dismissed the name with a floaty wave of her hand. ‘Apparently, it appealed to her arty side. Chloe thought it looked beautiful, so she wandered off to have a closer look. They chatted for a bit and he asked her to come back next week. That was when Samuel approached me, so I didn’t see her for a bit after that,’ she finished with a dreamy sigh.
Bloody hell, I could hardly get my mind around all of this. Not only had I spent the night chatting to a dominant who wanted me to explore more physical things with him – whatever the hell that meant – Sasha had hooked up with a guy, and Chloe, the prude of our house, had found interest in some random rope guy. How we’d all changed! Well, not Sasha; her behaviour was pretty much run of the mill.
‘Anyway … what I was trying to say, was that Samuel was really shocked when he saw Oliver leading you off by the hand.’
Now that sounded interesting. ‘Why?’
Sasha retook her seat and gave me a smug smile. ‘He said Oliver never mixes with the customers, and never ever makes public displays of affection like that. Reckoned it was the first time he’d seen him with a woman in years.’
OK, so she definitely had my attention now.
‘Oliver hinted that he didn’t date, but he didn’t say why. Did Samuel give you any more details?’
Sasha shook her head. ‘It was loud, so difficult to hear, but no, I don’t think so. He just seemed really surprised to see Oliver approaching you.’
Hmm. And he’d held my hand three times now, which if he didn’t do public displays of affection was probably quite symbolic.
Sasha’s eyes narrowed, then she turned to me and grinned broad and wide. ‘Fuck it, you should totally do it, Robyn. Do some “physical research” with him, see where it leads.’ She even used her fingers to make speech marks as she spoke, but I was already shaking my head.
‘Are you totally insane?’ I screeched, before clapping a hand over my mouth so I didn’t wake Chloe.
‘I am a bit insane,’ she conceded with another smile, ‘but he’s hot and probably wants to show you a whole other world of pleasure. He’d be good in bed, I’m sure of it. He’s older and he’s got that competent look about him.’ Well, if anyone would know, it would be Sasha and her vast bedroom experience. ‘Actually, now I think about it Samuel said Oliver has a good rep in the sack.’
‘What? How the hell would Samuel know about Oliver’s capabilities? Is he … are they … have they slept together?’ My voice was hoarse and dry, I totally couldn’t imagine Oliver in bed with a guy.
‘No!’ Sasha laughed. ‘Although Sam said sexual freedom is quite common amongst the members of the club, but no, he just told me that when Oliver used to partake in club stuff he was really well respected amongst the members. He hasn’t had a sub for ages, but the rumours are that he was an amazing dominant and lover back when he used to play. Controlled and really strict, but always abiding by the rules of safe, sane, and consensual.’
Wow. Okay then. I suddenly felt warm. Too warm. I could totally imagine Oliver being controlled. He was always so correct and dignified, and I had no problem whatsoever imagining that he’d be a good lover – something about his confidence and grace just implied it – but strict? He’d never appeared overly strict in our interactions. Although thinking about it, I had seen a colder, harder side to him when he’d talked to Dominic. He’d been pretty severe then, but at the time I hadn’t minded because it wasn’t directed at me.
I chewed on my lip, unsure as to whether the thought of him being masterful and commanding with me scared me or aroused me. From the way I suddenly had to fidget in my seat to calm the ache between my legs, I suspected the latter. Not that it mattered, I told myself firmly. I had enough research for my book now, I didn’t need to go back to Club Twist any more.
‘How long has it been since you got laid?’ Sasha asked from beside me, breaking me from my reverie. ‘Way toooo long. That’s how long,’ she answered with a grimace, not giving me the chance to give a more precise reply, but to be fair she was right. With my little period of celibacy, it had been an absolute age since I’d gone to bed with anything other than my right hand or battery-operated boyfriend.
‘No,’ I replied firmly, causing Sasha to flash me a devious look. ‘No, Sasha, I mean it. I’m not going back there again.’ But even as I spoke I wasn’t entirely sure who I was trying to convince, Sasha or myself.