It would be easy to think this guy was just a pretty himbo, but he was alarmingly perceptive and knew just which buttons to push.
I paused to consider the disadvantages. I’d worked in total secrecy for my whole career, but I didn’t have anything to lose from people finding out besides my privacy. I wasn’t secretly a pediatrician like one of my coworkers and didn’t have any family to think of. My mom died when I was a kid and I hadn’t spoken to my dad in almost a decade, so his feelings were irrelevant. It could hinder me if I wanted to go back to a mainstream career choice, but I was beginning to think going back would be impossible anyway.
Besides, it was a little late now. His point rang true: I could either passively let this run its course or take the situation by the balls and make something of it. I’d never had any desire to be famous, but now that it had been thrust upon me, it would be nice to at least have a little control back.
I still wasn’t sure how going viral was going to impact my work. I wanted to think it would pass in fifteen minutes when everyone moved on to the next scandal, but it could drag on for a while and have a lasting impact. I was being inundated with new client requests, but my regulars were the bread and butter of my income and many of them were already spooked.
Being a politician’s dirty, scandalous secret all over the media was degrading in ways I hadn’t let myself work through yet. Being proudly displayed on the arm of Hollywood’s most desirable bachelor? That would let me rewrite my own narrative.
Alex Chase leaned closer, nearly vibrating with intensity. “I need you. The fans need you. Please help me, Lady Elena.”
Remembering to use my title had been strategic on his part. I could tell from the mischief in his expression. He was challenging me like he knew I liked it, like he was letting me know he was capable of going toe to toe with me. How could he possibly be having a hard time with this role? I longed to coax the dominance I felt lurking in him to the surface..
I let out the breath I’d been holding. “It’s going to cost you. I’m selling my privacy, not just my skills.
I was drowning in student loans. If everything else hadn’t been enough to convince me, the sum I could charge for something like this would be pretty influential.
Alex Chase pumped his fist in front of him triumphantly.
Rami, who’d been silently observing the exchange, shook his head, but sighed and held out a card. “Have your attorney call me. We can set up a meeting and I’ll get preliminary documents sent over to him.”
“I’ll havehergive you a call in the morning,” I corrected, taking the card. Ophelia, the coworker I’d just left in the dressing room, was the only lawyer I trusted to help me with this.
They both stood and I began escorting them to the guest elevator on the other side of the suite. Rami shook my hand. “Thank you for taking the time to meet with us, Lady Elena. We look forward to discussing it with you more soon.”
Alex Chase, on the other hand, asked, “Does ‘no penetration’ just mean no sex? I’ve been trying to figure this out since you handed me the rules.”
He was still teasing, still trying to nudge a reaction out of me. It was disturbing to feel myself wanting to smile back at that playful grin of his. “It means nobody sticks anything in anyone, Mr. Chase. No fingers, toes, tongues, toys, urethral sounds, dicks, vegetables, kitchen implements, or anything else you could think of…stuck in anyone’s orifices. Does that help?”
He nodded, leaning forward to stage-whisper to Rami. “I thought it was a sex dungeon. If they don’t do any of that…what’s the point?”
He hadn’t spoken to me, but I answered anyway. “Most of our clients don’t have such a limited imagination.” As the elevator doors slid closed I added, “I look forward to enlightening you.”
2
Alex
“Well, that didn’t go how I expected it to…” Rami muttered as we pulled into a parking spot outside of my favorite all-night diner.
I barely noticed we’d been driving in silence for the ten minutes it took us to get there from the dungeon because I’d been playing back every part of my conversation with Lady Elena over and over again. Dominatrix wasn’t a usual fantasy of mine, but holy hell did she do it for me. I wouldn’t want to be with a woman who got her rocks off beating me, but attraction and logic didn’t always go together.
It didn’t matter. This was purely about business and I needed to stay focused.
Rami may have been my entertainment attorney, but he was also my best and oldest friend. The disapproval had been rolling off him since I’d proposed a fake relationship with Lady Elena, but he’d been too much of a pro to argue with me in front of her.
He was working up to lecturing me, so I tried for humor. “Agreed. Why is it called a dungeon if it looks nothing like a dungeon? I feel kind of betrayed. It was like discovering the Golden Gate Bridge wasn’t golden when we were kids.”
He rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I’m talking about. I think you’ve managed to find the one woman on the planet who dislikes you…and you’ve asked her to be your fake girlfriend. For fuck’s sake, Alex, what were youthinking?”
“Was she a little terrifying? Yeah, maybe. But tell me that woman doesn’t know what she’s doing. Tell me you have any doubt she could take Lord Lucas Steel himself by the balls and make him do her bidding.”
I gave him a beat to argue with me, but he didn’t say a word.
I smiled as I pictured the way she’d looked at me like I was toilet paper stuck to her shoe when I’d given her a hard time. She was like plunging into an ice bath after sweating in a sauna for an hour. It was a shock to my system to be treated so dismissively after years of people giving me anything I wanted, but it was invigorating. I felt the same kind of thrill from rock climbing or surfing, the same kind of rush I got from being made to feel insignificant in a good way. She didn’t give a shit who I was any more than the waves or the mountains did, and she seemed just as capable of kicking my ass.
I patted Rami on the shoulder. “She’s exactly what we need. No question she’s got the scary dominant goods. She’s already consulted with heads of companies and politicians to teach them how to strategically explore their dominance. You heard the rave reviews people were giving her. She can help me so I don’t become a laughingstock and tank my career. If I can pull it off, I write my ticket going forward. But you saw the film. I’m in deep shit right now.”
Rami glanced over at me. “All of that makes sense, man. But a contract relationship?”
