Standing, Charlotte circumvented her desk and strode out into the reception area, her gaze seeking out her next appointment among the dozen or so parolees and probationers waiting for their assigned officers. She spotted Jose Perez as he stood and strode toward her, a genuine smile on his face. Turning, Charlotte returned to her office with the young man on her heels. Taking her seat again, she leaned back and stared at him. “I take it that smile means you got a job.”

“Yes, ma’am. I did what you said and went to talk to that career counselor, and she found me a job in a restaurant, putting what I learned in prison to good use.”

Charlotte couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face. Despite turning to a life of crime to support his child and fiancée, he’d managed to hold on to the manners the grandmother who’d raised him had instilled in him. “That’s great. Which restaurant?” She grabbed his file and her pen to write down the information.

“It’s a place called Donovan’s Pub. The owner’s really cool. There’s another guy who works in the kitchen who did time, too.”

Her hand froze with the tip of the pen pressed against the page in his file as she tried to maintain the false smile that had replaced her real one. It took a moment for the shock to wear off at the mention of Mike Donovan’s bar. Well, at least he’d hired a kid who really was trying to turn his life around. She hadn’t known Mike had hired anyone from the ex-felon reintegration program sponsored by the state, but honestly, she wasn’t too surprised after she thought about it. She could see him wanting to give a job to someone who was trying to straighten out their life. That was the type of guy he was.

On her desk, her cell phone vibrated with a new call, and she glanced at the screen. Michael. She let it go to voicemail, not wanting to take a personal call with a parolee in the room. She’d call him back in a few minutes. She fought the urge to grin as she wondered if he was sweating nervously, waiting for her to return his call.

Turning her attention back to the task at hand, she wrote “Donovan’s Pub” down on the paper, then asked, “What hours are you working there?”

Jose rattled off his schedule, and Charlotte transcribed it. She’d have to do a drop-in at some point within the next two weeks to ensure all was well, and he indeed had the job. She could ask Mike, but doing things by the book was one of her fast rules. Besides, she didn’t want to mix business and pleasure.

After Jose left, Charlotte saw two more appointments before shutting her office door and retrieving her voicemail. Excitement pooled low in her abdomen as she listened to Mike’s hesitant message. His nervousness, combined with the sexy timber of his voice, was turning her on. While he hadn’t said yes or no, she was almost positive he was going to accept her offer. It had been several years since she’d played with a man new to the lifestyle, and she found herself anticipating it more than she’d expected.

Saving the message, Charlotte hit the callback number and waited for him to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Michael. Dinner sounds wonderful. I’m looking forward to talking with you. What time is best for you? I don’t want to interfere with your business . . . even if it is for pleasure,” she added with a seductive purr.

There was a few seconds’ pause, and she thought she heard him gulp before he finally answered her. “Um . . . is seven too late? It’s after the dinner rush so it’s less likely we’ll be interrupted.”

“Seven is fine, Michael. I’ll see you then. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Charlotte.”

Oh, yes. He’s definitely going to accept my offer.

* * *

At 7:00 p.m. on the nose, Mike almost swallowed his tongue as the front door to the pub swung open and Charlotte sashayed in. Her skin-tight blue jeans, calf-high biker boots, and emerald green top caught the attention of every guy in the place—and a few women. Well, actually, it was probably the stunning woman who was in the clothes that had a bunch of them drooling—Charlotte Roth was mouthwatering. But Charlotte ignored everyone else for the most part, although she smiled and greeted a few people on her way down the bar to where Mike stood. She’d immediately sought him out and remained focused on his face as she approached.

Swallowing hard, Mike’s gaze involuntarily dropped to the tips of her boots as they came closer and closer, before stopping right in front of him.

“Good evening, Michael. How was your day?”

His eyes lifted again, and he found a sexy and slightly amused smile on her face. And just like that, his cock twitched—several times, in fact. Come on, Donovan, get a grip.

“It was good. I hired a nice woman to take Jenn’s position when she leaves. Can I get you something to drink?”

“A white-wine spritzer, please.” As he went behind the bar to make her drink, she hopped up on one of the stools and hung her purse on one of the hooks he’d put under the lip of the bar for that purpose after a suggestion from Kristin Sawyer. As a guy, it never occurred to him that women were always trying to figure out the best place for their bags, where they were safe, yet out of the way. “Shelby mentioned you’re going to throw Jenn a going-away party.”

Relieved they weren’t just jumping into the heavy conversation that was coming, he grinned as he grabbed a bottle of white wine and a glass. “Word spreads fast. I only mentioned it to Shelby yesterday when she and Parker brought the boys in for lunch. It won’t be a fancy thing, but a lot of her regulars will be stopping in, and friends and family of course are invited, including you. Kristen and Angie offered to notify everyone this week. We’ll just set up a buffet and have an open bar for a while. She deserves a party—everyone loves her here.”

“She’s a sweet girl. She’ll do well in social work.”

Setting Charlotte’s drink in front of her, he snatched another glass and poured himself a club soda. “Yeah, she really likes it.” He shot a glance at her. “So, how was your day?”

“Long, as usual. But a certain voicemail I received made it much more enjoyable.”

A blush stole across Mike’s cheeks. Damn, how does she do that to me? I never blush!

“I’m looking forward to our discussion about your decision, but first there’s something else I need to tell you. Can we go into the party room where we won’t be overheard?”

Mike’s stomach quivered, and he tried to remind himself nothing was going to happen between them here. The doors to the party room were open and anyone could look in and see them. “Ah, sure.” He grabbed a menu and a list of specials. “Why don’t you let me know what you want to eat first, and I’ll put in the order. Someone will bring it in to us.”

“Are you joining me? I hate to eat alone when I’m with someone.”

Trying to ignore how jealous it made him feel thinking about this gorgeous woman having dinner with another guy, Mike took a sip of his drink before answering her. “I haven’t had dinner yet, so, yes, I’ll join you.”

“Good.” She quickly perused the specials. “The salmon looks delicious, but instead of rice, I’ll take a double helping of the vegetables if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. Soup or salad with it?”

“No, thank you.”

Taking the menus back, he jotted down her order on a pad and added his before handing it to one of the waitresses. Since Mike wasn’t going to charge Charlotte for the dinner, it would only screw up the night’s receipts if he entered it into the computer. Picking up his and Charlotte’s drinks, he canted his head in the direction of the unoccupied room. “Shall we?”

She gave him a broad smile that caused butterflies to take flight in his stomach and his cock to twitch again. Retrieving her purse, she stood and led the way with Mike’s gaze glued to her shapely ass. He wasn’t surprised when she sat at a table toward the back of the room facing the door to the bar. The only other door in the room was an emergency exit that had no handle on the outside. With her career as a state parole officer, Charlotte clearly had the same instincts that Mike had observed in Jake and his co-workers. None of them liked to sit with their backs to a room or door.

Setting the drinks on the table, Mike took the seat across from Charlotte. Now that they were alone, he had no idea what to say. Thankfully, she didn’t have the same problem. “I usually don’t mix business with pleasure, but I can’t avoid it this time. I understand you recently hired an ex-felon, Jose Perez, to work in your kitchen.”

Mike’s eyes narrowed in alarm. “I did. Is he trouble?”

“No, not at all. I actually don’t think he’ll be a repeat offender. I just want you to know I’m his parole officer, and I’ll be doing an occasional drop-in to see how he’s doing. Most of my visits are to the parolees’ homes, but I will do one or two at their job sites. I wasn’t sure if you were aware of that and thought you should know before I do my first one. I haven’t told Jose you and I are acquainted, but it’s inevitable he’ll see me here, off duty, at some point.”

His shoulders relaxed again. “Thanks for the warning, but Jose isn’t the first guy I’ve hired out of the career program. There were two others—one worked out, the other didn’t. For what it’s worth, he’s been doing great this past week. He learned a lot in the prison kitchen and is picking up the routine here quickly. He hasn’t given me or the staff any problems. In fact, my evening chef, Tommy, said Jose is ten times better than the last guy. In this business, it’s wise to keep your chef happy.”

“I’m sure.” She leaned back in her chair, and rested her hands on her lap. “Now that business is out of the way, let’s focus on pleasure. Have you come to a decision about exploring the lifestyle with me, Michael?”

Her confident expression told Mike she already knew what his answer would be, but it didn’t make it any easier to say it. He shifted on the chair, more from her scrutiny than the seat itself being uncomfortable. “I . . . uh . . . yes . . . I did. But I have a bunch of questions first.”

“Okay. Shoot.”

“Um . . . all right. The first question is about a contract. Jake said we’d have a contract between us with . . . um . . . an end date.”

She raised an eyebrow in curiosity, not annoyance like he’d expected. “You and Jake talked about you and me?”

“Yeah. He told me he went to see you and stuck his nose where it didn’t belong. But he didn’t try to talk me out of it, if that’s what you’re asking. He just wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting into, then promised to stay out of it.”

“What you’re getting into . . . so that means your answer is yes.”

It took him a moment to realize he hadn’t actually said yes to her, yet, and that she needed to hear it. “Uh . . . yes, I’ll admit, I’m curious and interested, but like I said, I have questions.”

“I’d worry if you didn’t. So, the answer to question number one is yes, we’ll have a contract. It will spell out exactly what I expect from you, what you can expect from me, what our hard limits are, and, yes, there will be an end date, one month from the day we sign the contract. On the end date, if, by mutual agreement, we want to renew the contract, with or without any amendments, we will.”

“Okay, I can deal with that.” After talking to Jake and Nick and researching more, that was the answer he’d expected to hear from her, which is why he’d started off with that question. Now for the harder ones. “Um . . . I guess the next question is . . . um . . . are you going to want to degrade and humiliate me? I read some Dominants get off on that . . . the subs too. I’m not too keen on that.”

“Which is why we’ll negotiate your hard and soft limits.” Reaching into her purse, she pulled out several folded pages and opened them. “This is a limit list, and most items on it are negotiable with me, Michael. You’ll know full well which ones aren’t before we both sign the bottom of the contract. If public humiliation is not your thing, then I’m willing to abide by that—it’s not one of my favorite parts of the lifestyle anyway, but some subs crave it. However, that being said, there are some acts you might think are humiliating, while I believe they’re a sign of your respect and submission.”

He leaned on his forearms crossed atop the table. “Such as?”

“Such as, I would expect you to kneel in a presenting position when instructed. That would be with your knees shoulder-width apart, head bowed, and hands clasped around your forearms behind your lower back. Mind you, it wouldn’t be all the time—only during play—and it’s something Nick does with Jake, in case you’re wondering. In other words, it’s not unusual in the lifestyle.” She paused. “Do you have a problem with that?”

He took a moment to consider it and think of it from her point of view. “No, I don’t think it’ll be a problem—as long as it’s done in private.”

The corners of Charlotte’s mouth ticked upward. “I would expect it more than just in private, Michael. It would also be in public at the club.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Th-The club? We’d be going to The Covenant?”

“Not at first, but yes, at some point I’ll want to take you to the club.”

Okay, he hadn’t expected she’d want him to go to the BDSM club with her. In fact, he’d never been inside it even though he’d been to the Trident Security compound many times.

“And I promise,” she continued, “that you and Nick will not be the only two alpha-submissive males there. There are quite a few.”

“Alpha-submissive? What’s that?”

Charlotte’s smile widened as her gaze roamed his arms, shoulders, and chest, appreciatively. “Men . . . or women, who have alpha personalities everywhere other than the bedroom. It’s more common than people suspect, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it.”

Suddenly a flash a jealousy coursed through him, and he wondered how many of those alpha-submissive men Charlotte had been with. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to pick up on his thoughts.

“I’ll give you plenty of notice before we go, and we won’t be able to play there until your application is completed and a health exam is done. In fact, that’s another thing we have to talk about. I’ll require you to wear a condom whenever we play and for you to schedule a complete physical with your doctor within the next week. I have a copy of my own recent physical for you as well.”

Charlotte paused, and Mike was about to ask another question, but slammed his mouth shut when he realized one of the waitresses had entered the room, carrying their dinners. He sat back from the table, so she could set the plates down. “Thanks, Claire.”

“No problem. Do you need anything else?”

Mike didn’t, and he eyed Charlotte who shook her head and responded, “No, thank you. This looks and smells wonderful.”

“Enjoy.”

As Claire left them alone, Charlotte picked up her fork and took a bite of her salmon. Her perfect, red lips opened then closed around the morsel. Her eyelids fluttered shut and she let out a small, satisfied moan. “Mmm. Delicious.”

This time his cock did more than just twitch inside his jeans. It swelled. Never in his life had Mike thought of watching a woman eat as foreplay, but damn, Charlotte was turning him on. If he didn’t get control of himself, he’d be on his knees before she was halfway through her meal, begging her to do whatever she wanted to him.