“I did.”
“You don’t owe me anything,” Sinclair replied. “Greta will bill me the hundred grand if she invites you into her inner sanctum and you accept. If you get what you need before that, I keep my dinero.”
Carly whistled. “Welcome to the big leagues of kink.”
“Ash needs you,” Sinclair said. “You’re the player and the private eye. How’s he supposed to sleuth around on his own? He’s got to participate or they’ll become suspicious. This club isn’t for voyeurs. It’s for players.”
Hugging herself, Carly shook her head. “I can’t do the marriage thing.”
“Too late now,” Sinclair said. “You have an easy excuse as to why you’re exclusive. You’re crazy in love and only play with each other.”
“You can’t fake being hitched to me?” Ashton asked. “I’m kinda insulted.”
“Okay, you two, you have a lot of work to do before tonight,” Sinclair said.
“Tonight?” Carly and Ashton replied in unison.
“Greta does Meet-and-Greets every other Friday. You can’t sit on this for two weeks.” Sinclair texted them the address. “It’s in the ritzy neighborhood of Lincoln Park, on East Capitol Street. Greta will invite you to have a drink with her, so create an airtight story. Make it simple. If she likes you, she’ll ask you back or she might invite you upstairs to play. Be prepared. Keep in mind, hers is a tight-knit group. Word has it, the senator is one of them.”
“Thanks for your help,” Ashton said. “This had better work.”
“I believe in you.” Sinclair walked around his desk and gripped his shoulder. “Together, you two are unstoppable.”
“Down the rabbit hole we go,” Carly said. “Do you own a mask, Ash?”
“No.”
“Take anything you need from my store at the club.” Sinclair handed Carly a key to Uninhibited. “This is my spare, so I’ll get it back from you whenever.”
They walked the two blocks to Uninhibited and went into the boutique. As she browsed the masks, Ashton moseyed around. Sinclair stocked everything from masks, play costumes, and hand-held sex toys to specialty items like sex chairs and a sex machine.
She found him eyeing the sex machine. “This looks barbaric,” he said.
“There’s something for everyone in the world of kink.”
“As long as you’re mine, you won’t need a contraption like this.”
Her heart fluttered as they stared into each other’s eyes. I’m sure I won’t. They had a lot to do and little time, so she shoved down the butterflies and selected two black masquerade masks. One was a simple eye mask; the second would conceal three quarters of his face.
“How am I going to kiss you in that thing?”
“What’s kissing got to do with this?”
“If we’re having sex, there’s kissing.”
“Sex is our cover for sleuthing, Ash. Internado cannot recognize you.”
“Right.”
Sex with Ash. Eyeing his scruffy face and wild head of hair, her insides tightened in anticipation. “You’ll need to wear a wig.”
His boisterous laugh made her smile. “Are you kidding me?”
“No.”
They left with the masks. While he weaved his way out of Georgetown, she ran through a mental checklist.
“You’re quiet,” he said, crashing in on her thoughts.
