Chapter Twelve

“Are there any last-minute arrangements or issues I need to know about before I take off for the night?” Kennedy asked Cooper. She needed to get back to her apartment to shower and change before Isaac came to pick her up at eight thirty. Just the thought of where they were going had butterflies the size of china plates rioting in her belly.

Was she truly willing to do this? A BDSM club? Really?

“Tonight’s pretty solid. I did have a chat with Anschau’s man, Nick. They refused the security team for tonight. Appears our guest is going out.”

Yeah, with me.

It was on the tip of her tongue to say the words aloud, to confide in a friend the sheer unreality of knowing she was going to Club X with the biggest rock star in the United States, but she didn’t. She couldn’t. Violating Isaac’s privacy wasn’t a line she would cross, no matter how much she craved reassurance.

Besides, she knew Club X’s owner, Perez. Isaac’s safety would be his top priority. She had worked closely with him to cover other high-profile clients choosing to visit the somewhat infamous club, and the man had been the soul of discretion. Likely they already had plans to conceal Isaac’s identity before he ever crossed the threshold of Club X. She had the impression that Isaac and Perez knew each other, though she wasn’t sure she wanted to know how. She wasn’t even certain she wanted to go. She only knew she had to, if for no other reason than to get to the bottom of what she felt every time Isaac held her captive—with the rope, a touch, a look.

“Everything all right, Kennedy?”

She shook off the fog of her thoughts and gave Cooper what she hoped was a confident smile. “Of course. Now close up shop and get yourself home to your wife.”

“Yes, boss.” Cooper stood to drag on his suit coat. “I’ll head home to my other boss now.”

Kennedy laughed. Keysha was the least bossy woman she knew. Cooper’s wife didn’t need to be—Cooper was so in love he practically fell over his feet to please her. Luckily for her friend, Keysha felt the same. Kennedy often teased them that their sticky-sweet relationship was going to put her into a sugar coma.

“Send Keysha my love,” she told him, and as he walked through the door, “Remind her to keep me on the babysitting list for when the third little Cooper arrives.” Child number three was due in about a month, and Kennedy had every intention of spoiling their two boys, Jasen and Ezrah, while Cooper stayed with Keysha in the hospital.

“We are not having another boy; I am telling you. Positive thinking!” Brown eyes glared down at her with a mix of amusement and impatience.

“Whatever you say, Daddy.” Since Keysha refused to find out the sex of the baby, all Cooper had right now was wishful thinking, but she knew how much the couple was hoping for a girl this time.

That didn’t mean she was above giving Cooper a hard time.

He snorted at her sarcasm and headed down the hall. Kennedy gathered her things and locked her office door, a grin on her lips.

The grin died fifteen minutes later when she finally faced her closet, trying to decide what to wear. Her extensive wardrobe didn’t include PVC or other BDSM club wear. In the end she settled on a silky corset and miniskirt, covered in a thin silk shirt she left unbuttoned and tied at her waist. The high-heeled boots gave her confidence, not to mention lengthening the lines of her legs. Her hair fell in loose waves around her shoulders, her makeup smoky and mysterious. Just right for a nightclub.

Now if only Isaac was pleased.

She was kicking herself for the thought when she opened the door to his knock. The groan he gave at the sight of her shouted a resounding yes.

“Does that mean I’m dressed appropriately?”

“It means you’re lucky I don’t call this all off and drag you into the bedroom instead.” He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, his broad chest expanding in a way that had Kennedy’s own breath quickening. After moment he leaned in for a brief kiss. “Okay, I think I have the lust under control.”

Kennedy laughed against his lips. “Keep talking like that and I may not be the only lucky one tonight.” Especially looking at him. The man’s blond hair was just the right amount of disheveled, a casual contrast to the perfect Dom portrait the rest of him painted. Broad shoulders stretched the white linen shirt he wore to mouthwatering perfect. Leather pants molded to slender hips and thick thighs. Low-heeled boots only added to the sense that he surrounded her, dominated her.

Overwhelmed her.

Isaac straightened slowly, one big hand coming up to cup her heated cheek. “If you let me anywhere near you, Ken, I’ll be the luckiest man on the planet.” His serious tone matched the intensity of his eyes. “I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen anything in my life as breathtaking as you.”

She swallowed hard against the emotions inside her—fear, wariness, the melting awe of having a man like this say such beautiful things about her—and rose on her tiptoes, wrapping her hands around his neck. She pulled him down until they were nose to nose. “Thank you.”

Hard hands gripped her hips and forced her closer, the reality of his erection against her belly testifying to the truth of his words. Hard lips took hers, demanding entrance, and when she opened for him, his tongue slid inside. Warm. Wet. Wonderful. By the time he released her, they were both breathing hard.

Isaac smoothed his thumb along her bottom lip. “Keep thinking about that tonight, love.”

As if she’d be able to think about anything else.

Isaac’s grin said he knew exactly what was whispering through her mind, damn him.

They sat in the back of the Escalade for this trip, Nick in the middle seat along with two other members of Isaac’s security team, the other two in the front. The seating arrangements gave them some privacy, though not much. Kennedy held on to Isaac’s hand and tried to trust in the security of his hard thigh against hers, his strong hold, but the closer they got to the club, the tighter her breath and her grip became no matter how hard she fought it.

“Easy, Ken.”

The way he said her name always sent a flutter through her, but even that couldn’t overcome the anxiety coursing through her in increasing waves. Staring hard at their entwined hands, she admitted, “I don’t know why I’m scared.”

He’d seen the fear even before she had. She’d taken the steps to face it, but admitting it aloud?

Isaac moved his arm from the back of the seat to her shoulders, tugging her firmly against him. Her legs he pulled across his lap. The tightness of his grip grounded her, steadying her nerves, her breaths slowing to match the beat of his heart beneath her ear.

“Learning new things about yourself can be scary. You think I wasn’t terrified the first time I set foot in a club like this?”

His thumb stroked the curve of her thigh just below the hem of her skirt. She shifted against him. “Why did you? How did you know…that…was what you wanted?”

“How did I know I was kinky?” He hmphed a laugh. “I didn’t, not really. I’d always explored, but that night I was just tagging along with a mate, wanting to see what the hype was about, what made the lifestyle so fulfilling for him. But even then, some part of me, the part hidden deep beneath the curiosity, knew there was something more out there, something that spoke to me, that would satisfy me far more than just sex ever could.”

“So it’s never just regular sex with you?” Because she happened to enjoy regular sex. There was nothing like the occasional spontaneous quickie or hurried shower sex before work.

“Of course there is.” Isaac slid his finger beneath her skirt, sending a pulse of need to her lower belly. When she glanced up at him, his light eyes glowed in the dim vehicle. “For some people, BDSM is the only way they can get off, and that’s okay. But I like all kinds of sex—fast, slow, kinky, rough, fun. You ask me, and I’ll do it,” he said with a quirk to his lips that looked at once boyishly shy and fiercely hungry.

She struggled against the overwhelming temptation to kiss that look off him right then. “Then why the rigging? What do you get out of that?”

A frown creased his brows. “I’m not sure I can explain it. I’m not even certain that every experience yields the same results.” He seemed to think about that for a moment. “On the one hand, the repetition of tying, the art of placement and form—it’s both calming and creative. Like art. Or music. Sometimes there isn’t even a sexual component to it, which is why I work with both male and female subs at different times.”

“So tonight”—she swallowed hard—“you’ll be…with…uh…” Maybe be with wasn’t the right phrase.

Isaac seemed to understand what she couldn’t put into words. “Perez asked if I could spend some time with his latest class of Doms.”

Kennedy shook her head. “First, there’s a class for that? And second, are you demonstrating for them or…?”

“Yes, there’s a class for that,” he told her, his voice revealing his amusement. “And I’ll be demonstrating on them, not for them.”

“But…why?”

“Because if a Dom is going to be using rope on his sub, he should have it used on himself first. Experiencing what you plan to dish out gives a Dom greater insight into what the possibilities are, the drawbacks, and definitely the hazards.”

He’d told her he wouldn’t be tying women tonight—she didn’t think she could stand watching him put his hands on another woman, caress her, tease her, control her. But she hadn’t considered that Doms would actually want to experience what their subs went through at their hands.

Somehow the image of Isaac in rope, being controlled, wouldn’t gel in her mind. Maybe he’d show her someday. If there was a someday.

“So no sexual component?”

Isaac’s eyes flared with heat. “Tonight, no. But when I’m rigging under other circumstances…”

The memory of her hands hooked over her head, the heat of his body on hers as the ropes strained against her wrists, expanded the fire already on slow burn in her lower belly. “Right,” she said, then cleared the gravel from her throat.

“Right,” Isaac said, staring at her mouth. Just when she thought he’d ignore the crowded SUV and kiss her senseless, Nick turned in his seat.

“We’re here, boss. Ready?”

Gaze still locked with hers, Isaac ran his tongue along his bottom lip, the hunger in his eyes searing away any fear that tried to rise at Nick’s announcement. “I’m definitely ready.”