Shay was proud she’d kept her cool for most of her shift. She served partially dressed patrons with ease, even fought the impulse to stare at the appendages of the entirely naked ones, and she no longer felt the cloying discomfort whenever her gaze brushed past sex scenes in the main room.

In fact, she was beginning to enjoy watching, a little too much. Her G-string was uncomfortably soaked, and every time Leo walked into view, she cursed the way her nipples tingled. It was worse when he came to check on her. She ached to grab his shirt collar and drag him into the storeroom.

But that wasn’t how things worked down here. Everything was about exhibitionism, not hiding in storage closets and making out in the dark. More importantly, it wasn’t what Leo desired. As the minutes ticked by, her motivation to give him what he wanted increased. So did the nervousness.

“Can I order a juice, please?”

Shay smiled at the petite brunette and nodded. “Sure.”

Another thing she loved was the professional manner in which everyone interacted. The cost of entry downstairs included free alcohol, yet none of them rushed to get their money’s worth. Everyone played it cool, keeping level-headed. The perception of a seedy sex club was entirely different from the reality of Vault of Sin.

Shay handed over the juice and tingled with the brush of someone’s gaze on her skin. She turned her head and found Leo watching her, his eyes glazed with lust. Her focus lowered to his crotch and she shuffled uncomfortably at the thickness pressed against his zipper.

Whore.

She smiled to herself. Yep, her thoughts were those of a bona fide slut, and she didn’t give a rat’s ass. She’d never been so aroused in her life. And right now, she didn’t care what was turning Leo on. All she wanted was to sate their cravings.

As she continued to serve polite patrons, she watched him mingle in the main room. He put those who appeared nervous at ease. Always remaining the professional host with his confident posture and commanding stare, all the while glancing at her every few minutes with irises that never ceased making her burn.

To stop herself from escaping to the bathroom for her own private play session, she turned her back to the room and began wiping down the shelf filled with high-class liquor bottles.

“Leo.”

The purred feminine call had Shay snapping round on her heels. The petite brunette she’d served earlier was now draped around Leo, both arms wrapped around his neck with a familiarity that flicked Shay’s jealous-bitch switch.

The only thing between the attractive woman and the boner Shay wanted to grapple was two thin layers of clothing. Keep calm. You can’t stab people. She swung back around, trying to curb her inner bitch by keeping busy, and accidentally nudged a bottle of lime-flavored syrup off the counter.

Fanfuckingtastic.

“Shay, are you all right?” Leo called, his voice more authoritative than concerned.

“Peachy.” She chanced one last look at him and the leech hanging from his neck before she grabbed a dust pan from under the counter and began cleaning the sticky mess.

So much for her keeping her cool. Her eyes were burning and palms sweating with the need to start her first cat fight.

Just imagine what it will be like next week when you’re working back upstairs and unable to keep an eye on him. Shay growled. Was it always going to be like this—peaks of arousal followed by consuming lows depressing enough to make her needy and weak?

“This sucks.”

Surely there was something she could do to turn the tables. It wasn’t about claiming him in front of a crowd. It was about feeling secure and confident again. It was about regaining her strength. She just wasn’t sure how.

* * *

Every muscle in Leo’s body was tense as he tried to keep his erect cock from rubbing against Grace. There was only one woman causing the current pubescent reaction to his body, and the sassy little wench was probably muttering a curse under her breath, hoping his eager appendage would fall off. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to ditch the woman before him just to sate Shay’s unease.

It was a tough line to draw, but this was life in the Vault of Sin. He would never dishonor a monogamy vow. Ever. However, in the past he’d been intimate with more than one of the women participating tonight, and he wouldn’t alienate them by brushing them aside.

It was still his job to make everyone comfortable within these sordid walls, and as long as he wasn’t reciprocating any sexual advances, he wasn’t doing anything wrong.

“You’re stiff,” Grace murmured.

No shit. He was hard as stone.

Grace giggled to herself. “I mean your posture. What’s wrong?” She released her arms from his neck and met his gaze.

“I’m fine. Just a little out of sorts tonight.” He glanced toward the bar. Shay rose to her feet with the dustpan in hand and shot him a scowl before breaking eye contact.

“Ouch.” Grace followed his line of sight. “Your new bartender doesn’t look happy.”

He released a grunt of frustration and shook his head. Shay looked like she wanted to flay him alive.

“She’s gorgeous though.”

“Yeah.” There was no denying it. “She is.”

“Oh, damn.” Grace took a step back and tilted her head to meet his line of vision. “Did I cause that? Are you two together?”

Leo struggled to paste on a smile and met Grace’s gaze. “It’s okay. I don’t think either of us know what we’re doing at the moment.”

“She’s not into girls, is she?” Grace grinned and waggled her brows.

Fuck. His dick pulsed, fighting with the zipper of his pants. He’d been down here too many times to have a hair-trigger cock, only the thought of Shay and Grace made his blood surge south. “She’s not into the lifestyle.”

His own words resonated, penetrating his cloud of arousal. This wasn’t her scene. He was pushing her to change her ways. The exact thing he’d hated other women trying to do to him.

“Give her time. Apart from glaring at you with contempt, she doesn’t seem to have an aversion to the club itself.”

He nodded, gaining some comfort from the possibility of truth in her words. “Yeah. I’m trying.” Only he didn’t know how long he could stand back and let Shay move at her own pace. He was too eager to have her splayed before a crowd. To have others watch as her beautiful face contorted with release. To see her luscious breasts, smooth stomach and tight pink pussy moving in a dance to set them all on fire.

Yet, he’d drive himself insane with lust before he pushed her.

“Go to her.” Grace jerked her head in the direction of the bar. “Give her my apologies. And if she’s ever into a bit of girl-on-girl action, I call first dibs.” She strode around him, slapping his ass hard enough to make him take a step forward.

Perfect timing. Shay hadn’t missed the friendly tap. She stood tall with one hand tightly fisted around a mop handle. Her eyes were glittering and her cheeks flushed with spite. And he couldn’t help acknowledging with a grin that she looked hotter than he’d ever seen.

Her nostrils flared as he made his way to the bar, instinctively staying on the customers’ side so he didn’t get a mop head to the balls. “I’d ask you how you’re doing, but your facial expression says it all.”

“I estimate you can see about a tenth of the emotion I currently feel.” She scrunched her nose and sashayed her angry ass to the small storage room behind the bar.

He strode after her, the first time he’d ever chased a woman. Thankfully, she ditched the mop and made an attempt to push her way back to the bar., but he blocked the doorway with his body.

“Let it out.” He blocked the doorway with his body. “Tell me what’s making you want to claw my eyes out.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” She scowled. “I don’t appreciate other women touching you. It’s not something I think will ever change. And definitely not a scenario I want to imagine every time you’re down here without me.”

“You mean you can never get used to me rejecting attractive women so I can be with you? Because that’s the way I see it.” He stepped into her, grabbing her around the waist. “It will take time for everyone to know I’m no longer open to play. I’m not going to send out a fucking memo. So to some extent, you need to get over it.”

She released a derisive laugh and shook her head in frustration.

“This isn’t going to be the reason you walk away from me,” he demanded. “This is the reason you’re going to stick around. Because you’ll soon realize you have what every other woman in here wants. Me.”

“Arrogant much?”

He smirked and shrugged a shoulder. “Is it really arrogance if it’s true?”

“Yes.”

He softened his features and brushed his lips against hers before she could pull away. “Grace told me to apologize to you. She realized why you were giving us the evil eye.”

“Great.” She stepped out of his embrace. “Now I’ll be known as the jealous bar bitch.”

“You play the part well.”

Her eyes flared and he caught her wrist when she tried to slap his chest.

“Look.” He chuckled. “I told her I was taken and she backed off. You should be happy. Even more so, that she then became more interested in seeing if you were into girl-on-girl action.”

“What?” Her eyes widened.

“You heard me.” He bridged the distance between them again, pushing them farther into the darkened storeroom, not giving a shit if patrons were waiting for bar service. “So should I be jealous?” He backed her into a wall, and leaned his body into hers. “Because I’m not. I’m hard as hell thinking about another woman going down between your pretty thighs.”