Long after the fireworks ended, Leland stood alone on the lawn. He’d said good night and watched her walk up the slope until the house swallowed her. This was the last time. He’d told himself that before. Tonight, it had to hold.
She was dangerous. An attachment that could easily get out of control.
It had come close tonight, when he’d broken another rule. Aftercare that had lasted longer than it should have. But, knowing it would be the last time he held her, he’d lingered, for himself as much as for her.
In nearly four years at Devil’s Pointe, he’d engaged with many submissives, women who understood what he offered and wanted only that. None of them stayed in his head afterward. Julia did.
More than a decade ago, a phone call that changed his life had taught him why he didn’t do attachments. He’d never forgotten. And yet, beneath the rules, the determination, the hard outer shell he’d built, he was still human. And Julia was different.
Warm in a way that wasn’t forced. Funny in ways that caught him off guard. Competent without trying to be. When she submitted, she wasn’t playing a game. It came from somewhere genuine and unguarded. It mattered more than he cared to admit that she trusted him with it. That was the most dangerous thing about her.
After three times, there was no clean path out for either of them. He would have to make one. But he wasn’t a man who manufactured excuses. He’d made himself clear during their first negotiation. He would handle her carefully, make sure Julia understood, without making it larger than it needed to be, that there wouldn’t be a fourth time. What they had ended tonight between one burst of light and the next. It had to.
Turning, he followed her path up the slope. At the stone patio, he paused and looked back. The fireworks were gone, but the grass still held the impression of what had passed.
He thought of the risks he took when he forgot himself. Then he thought of Julia. He’d seen the beginnings of affection in her blue eyes. Continuing when there was no chance of permanence wasn’t fair to her.
He chose distance; that was the price of his past.
Decision made, he walked inside. But the wanting didn’t ease. And neither did the nagging suspicion that he’d made a mistake.
Chapter 1
The address was correct. She’d checked it twice.
The building looked like a renovated warehouse. There was no name on it, but theMembers’ Entrancesign on the door and a camera mounted above it hinted she had found the right place. A hulking form stood in the shadow of a single light. Julia should have hit the gas and kept driving. Instead, she parked.
Eight weeks ago, she’d stood beneath a sky filled with fireworks in Leland Hale’s arms, believing she’d found something real. Then nothing. He’d said no strings. No expectations. But she couldn’t believe it had meant so little.
At Alec and Emily’s wedding, he’d looked her in the eye and told her the opposite: what they shared meant too much. Apparently caring about her but still walking away made perfect sense in Leland’s world. She was still trying to figure out how both things could be true.
It left her with a dilemma: how to move on. Remaining at Devil’s Pointe, seeing him every night, and watching him with other submissives wasn’t an option.
Julia looked through her windshield at the entrance to The Underground, the club that kept popping up in her online searches. Not one club but three locations: North Miami, Miami Beach, and another downtown. All public clubs. Different themes and clientele. It had received mixed reviews, ranging from hidden gem to enter at your own risk.
None of it inspired confidence. Still, if she was serious about moving forward, she had to start somewhere.
The Underground North was closest to home, so, here she was.
She stepped out of her car, smoothed down her dress and her hair—returning to her natural blonde hadn’t changed anything, humidity still made it big—took a deep breath and headed for the entrance.
The man straightened as she approached. He took her ID, angled it toward the light, and handed it back. With no greeting and barely a grunt, he pushed the door open for her and returned to watching the parking lot.
Inside, a woman with purple hair and black lipstick sat behind a counter. She handed her a clipboard without looking up. “Read and sign.”
Julia scanned three pages of legalese shielding the owner from liability. Only one paragraph covered consent and safewords, and she saw nothing about privacy and confidentiality.
Alarm bells went off in her head, but not enough to bolt. She signed and returned the clipboard.
“Forty-dollar cover,” the woman muttered while scrolling on her phone.
“That’s kind of steep for a weeknight,” Julia commented as she sifted through her wristlet wallet.
That made the receptionist look up from the screen, only her eyes moving. “Doms pay double. Subs are half price on Wednesday, if you want to try then.”
Not likely, she thought, and passed her two twenties.
At the entrance to the main room, Julia paused, slipping into an old habit she’d learned at twenty-three, when she first entered the lifestyle: identify the exits, scan for immediate red flags, and get a feel for the room before committing to it.
