He cupped my chin. “And how will I know if you’re really not into it?”
I thought about it for a second. “I’ll tell you tostop.”
13
MAIA
Now
* * *
“Just him in there. Everything looks good to me. You ready?”
I took the hand Dean offered me and stepped out of the car, finding my balance on ridiculous platform heels. I almost always wore practical shoes these days, so something that used to be as familiar as breathing was suddenly a challenge…and wasn’t that just the perfect metaphor for where my life was?
Dean was the head of security for the Key Club, the dungeon I briefly worked at, but he also helped with security when any of us were taking an escort client.
He looped a key necklace over my head. “Just in case.”
It looked like an antique key, the symbol of the Key Club, but it was really a fancy panic button that tied into Dean’s security system. If he wasn’t nearby, he could call the cops, but only as a last resort because that could backfire spectacularly for a sex worker.
I squared my shoulders and faced the plane, impressed to see it was a new eco jet that didn’t use fossil fuels. A point in favor of my enigmatic new client.
I was nervous like it was my first time, but rode the nervous rush for the high that it was. All these years after my first client, I still felt the flood of emotions right before meeting a new client.
When I ascended the steps and entered the plane, I detached from reality, letting everything else fade away until nothing existed but the luxurious plane around me and the fantasy we were about to act out.
The client hadn’t been specific about how he wanted me to meet him, just that I should be blindfolded when he got there. But given the hints of his preferences he’d given, we could do better than that…
He wanted to make sure I was comfortable with things before doing bondage and roleplay, but I was comfortable with it now. Why not let him have the full fantasy?
“Here should work,” I said softly, nodding to the bench seat that looked like a couch on one side. There were three thick armrests with cupholders that divided it up, so I took my dress off and draped myself across the middle one on my stomach, letting it prop my hips up. I was wearing delicate black lingerie that wasn’t especially elaborate, but was hot because of how little it covered. My nipples were peeking over the shelf of the bra and the thong only covered the tiniest triangle in the front.
Dean rapidly twisted a length of rope into cuffs that he looped around the armrest in front of me and then let me slip my wrists into the cuffs.
“You want me to leave it loose?” he whispered.
“No, it’s fine,” I said tugging them snug against my wrists. I wanted this fantasy to feel real for my sake as much as the client’s. I couldn’t get out of this tie without help now, and knowing that would change the whole vibe for me in a way I couldn’t fake.
Dean held out a blindfold and I nodded, so he slipped it over my eyes. He patted me twice on the shoulder to let me know he was leaving, so I gave a thumbs-up.
I listened as he hefted the door of the plane closed behind him and descended the steps. He’d be waiting nearby to pick me up and here if I needed him.
But he wasn’t what I needed in that moment.
I needed the distraction from my life, from my empty bed, from the brutal truth of Zane’s stupid song.
It was quiet for so long, I wondered if the client changed his mind about the whole thing, but then I heard slow, deliberate footsteps moving from the back of the plane.
He was coming.
Everything inside me kicked into hyper alert as I listened to his approach, wondering what he would do when he got here. Where would he touch me first? What would his voice sound like?
The footsteps finally reached me, then stopped.
He just stood there. I had to assume he was staring at me, but he didn’t say anything. What was he thinking?
He took a step back and sat on the couch opposite me. Was he just going to sit there and stare? Did he want me to start roleplaying?
