“She scares the crap out of me,” Deanna admitted with a shiver. “By all means, don’t get caught.”
“Mistress?” Emily echoed.
“Yes, and a very strict one,” the little blonde explained. “She’s one of thirty charter members.”
Her catsuit-and-whip impression made much more sense now.
“Don’t look so shocked,” Julia whispered. “Haven’t you ever pictured her with a slicked-back bun, glasses, and a paddle in hand—like a headmistress?”
Emily grimaced. “No, but thanks. Now I can’t unsee it.”
Deanna laughed, soft and lyrical, turning heads. She leaned closer. “Smart submissives steer clear of her—unless you’re into that.”
“I don’t know what I’m into,” Emily admitted. “But thanks for the warning.”
She glanced at the cross, licking her lips, watching the play of muscles in Devil’s broad back and the unmistakable fucking motion of his hips, a hint of taut ass visible where his waistband sagged. All she could see of his fiancée was her face over his shoulder, revealing pure, unadulterated pleasure. The intensity of it—of them—stirred an ache she hadn’t expected and didn’t understand.
“Didn’t I say it would curl your hair?” Julia asked.
“Yeah, but you left out a few important details. You failed to mention that every man here would be drop-dead gorgeous and ooze masculinity. And that there was a torture chamber. Or that it was straight out of the Spanish Inquisition, packed with kinky gear I couldn’t dream up if I lived to be one hundred.”
“I figured Mistress Regina would have told you what to expect,” Deanna commented.
Julia snorted. “She told her to check her prudish sensibilities at the door.”
“It’s not that at all,” Emily protested, just as Devil’s shout of pleasure rolled through the room. “I mean, seriously.” She gestured toward the smoldering scene. “A heads-up would’ve been nice.”
Deanna deadpanned, “This is one of those things you’ve got to see to believe.”
With the big finish over, the crowd moved on. When Dev released Cari’s wrists, her arms wound around him and she buried her face in his neck. The tenderness stirred Emily as much as the steamy scene.
But Devil wasn’t quite done. He gripped her hair, held her head still, and kissed her—slow, voracious, and nearly as hot as the scene itself. Then he swept her into his arms and carried her away from the brightly lit cross.
A wistful sigh escaped Emily. It wasn’t just the sex. It was the devotion—the way they seemed built for each other. God, she wanted that. Needed it. So why couldn’t she have it with someone who saw all of her?
Julia leaned forward and gave Deanna a look. They giggled, hands over their mouths, until a few frowning onlookers, mostly men, shushed them.
“What’s funny?” Emily asked, having missed the joke.
“Your reaction,” Deanna said. “Newbies usually go one of two ways. They freak out, realizing this isn’t for them, then run for the door, or they’re into it because they see it’s about more than whips and chains.”
“You’re obviously in the into-it group,” Julia observed. “Because your jaw hit the floor—again.”
Emily knew she looked as stunned as she felt—wide-eyed, naïve, completely out of her depth. She’d imagined kink as glossy and scripted, something reserved for fiction or whispered rumors. But this? This was raw, intimate, unfiltered, and far more intense than anything she’d ever dared imagine.
“We better go before we get caught gawking,” Julia urged, tugging her hand.
Emily glanced back to thank the sub who’d befriended her, but she was gone.
“It’s past midnight,” Julia said as they wove through the crowd. “Nothing is going to top what we just saw. The lounge outside is about to fill up.”
Emily cast one last look at the cross. The owner and his bride-to-be had blazing chemistry. She’d never come close to having what they shared. Her few experiences were dull as dust. No one had ever made her shout to the rafters. Feeling oddly hollow, she followed Julia through the throng. She stepped into the humid night air, Devil’s gentle laugh still in her ears and a yearning in her chest, one that money couldn’t fix. A yearning she’d felt once before—when she’d walked away from something she wanted too much.
Chapter 6
Alec eased through Devil’s Pointe’s security gates just past midnight. The jam of vehicles in the lot told him most of the membership was in attendance—or close to it. If not for the reserved spots in front of the guesthouse, his company-issued Durango would’ve been parked on the street. He shouldn’t have been surprised. Saturday was the club’s busiest night, and things rarely wound down before two.
When he opened his door, a strong whiff of asphalt hit him. A closer look revealed no lines painted on the new blacktop, which explained the parking chaos—cars and SUVs angled every which way. Getting everyone out at the end of the night without a scratch or a ding would take a miracle.
