Brundar collected his equipment and put everything into a large gym bag. His demonstrations always drew a crowd, and this evening was no different. He liked that part. Teaching others how to do it right. Hopefully, this time Gloria’s husband was paying attention to what Brundar had been doing to his wife and would be able to replicate the intricate knots in their private play. Next class would be a hands-on for the participants, with the couples experimenting and Brundar only supervising.

It would be interesting to see how much they remembered. Worst case scenario, if they messed it up so badly that the knots couldn’t be untied and they couldn’t get their partners free, the ropes could be cut off.

“Brad, can you come into my office? I need to run a couple of things by you.”

Brundar lifted his head and regarded Franco. “About?”

“Your expansion plans.”

“You said you didn’t want the hassle.”

“I changed my mind.”

“Good.” Brundar’s ideas would bring much needed additional profit to the club. Franco’s reluctance hadn’t made sense. Just because they were finally breaking even, didn’t mean that everything was going great. In business, not moving forward didn’t mean staying in place—it meant going backwards.

Besides, if Brundar stayed to talk to Franco after closing, he couldn’t see Calypso as he’d intended, which was a good thing. He needed time to think, and if he went home with her, thinking would be the last thing he’d do.

It was shameful that he needed outside help to stay away from her. He had no willpower when it came to Calypso.

Gym bag in hand, Brundar followed Franco into his cramped office. The memory of Calypso sitting in the same chair he now took was playing a number on him. Franco said something, but Brundar wasn’t with him. All he could think of was Calypso’s lips as she worried them while going through the paperwork, and what they’d done after that.

“Callie asked me to tell you to call her, but you were busy. So I’m telling you now.”

“Did she tell you why?”

Franco smirked. “She tried to convince me to let her see the demonstration. I told her no. Obviously, she is going to try you next. Tenacious little thing.”

“You have no idea.”

Franco shook his head. “Pretty girl, but too mouthy for my taste.”

Brundar stifled a growl. “You have nothing to worry about. She is not after you.”

“Didn’t think she was, my friend.” Franco smirked. “Not for a moment. I’m just commenting on the fact that she is mouthy and far from submissive. I saw that you had her fill out paperwork.”

Damnation. He’d forgotten to destroy that file. “Shred it. She was curious. The paperwork was meant as a scare tactic. I had no intention of making her a member. Too young.”

“And too vanilla,” Franco added.

Brundar closed his eyes and counted to five, waiting for his fury to subside. Franco read Calypso’s file. It was worse than if he’d seen her naked. Her soul was bared on that questionnaire. But it wasn’t Franco’s fault. It was Brundar’s.

“Give me her file.”

When Franco just looked at him, Brundar felt like baring his fangs. Instead, he repeated, “Now, Franco.”

His tone must’ve penetrated Franco’s momentary stupor, and the man scrambled to riffle through the files in his filing cabinet.

“Here.” He threw the file to Brundar as if it was about to catch fire.

Franco was an ex-Marine, not a guy who spooked easily. Brundar must have looked terrifying.

“Thank you,” he said, his speech sounding something between a slur and a hiss.

“Your eyes are glowing.” Franco pointed at Brundar's face.

“Contact lenses reflecting the light.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit. Your eyes fucking glow. What are you?”

Hell and damnation.

Brundar leaned closer. “Look at them now. Do they look like they are glowing?”

“Yes.”

But it was too late for Franco. Brundar had him in a thrall. Justified this time. But as long as he was already in the guy’s head, he might as well erase the memory of that fucking file. In fact, he was going to erase this entire conversation.

In the time it took Franco’s eyes to regain focus, Brundar stashed the file in his gym bag.

Franco rubbed his temples. “Where were we?”

“Expansion plans.”

“Right. The liquor store next door is willing to let us have their basement. They are not using it, and we can connect ours to theirs by cutting out a doorway.”

“How much do they want for it?”

“That’s not a problem. A few hundred bucks a month. The remodeling is. I don’t have the funds for that, you know that. Are you willing to invest more?”

“I will invest my share and lend you for yours. I don’t want to own more than half of the club. But first, let me crunch the numbers again.”

Franco nodded, then rubbed his temples. “I know there was something else I wanted to talk to you about, but I can’t remember what it was. I must be getting old.”

“Are we done?”

“Yeah. We can talk about the other thing tomorrow if I remember what it is.”

“Goodnight, Franco.” Brundar lifted his gym bag and walked out.

Pulling out of the club’s parking lot, Brundar had every intention of going home. Instead, he drove to Calypso’s.

Not wanting to wake the girl, he let himself in using the spare set of keys the landlady had given him.

His careful steps were soundless as he entered Calypso's bedroom. For a few moments, he just looked at her, but then the compulsion to get closer animated his feet. He took a few steps and stood by the bed, watching her beautiful sleeping face for a few moments longer.

But it wasn’t enough either.

Defeated, Brundar took off his boots and his socks and climbed on the bed next to Calypso, lying on top of the comforter while she was bundled underneath it.

Better.

Some of the tightness in his chest eased. Brundar inhaled Calypso’s scent, feeling as if he was drawing his first full breath of the day. The thing was, he hadn’t been aware of the tightness and the shallow breathing until he came home to her.

A moment later, she turned in her sleep and threw an arm over him, then sighed as if until now she hadn’t been able to take a full breath either.