by Poppy Flynn
Things really couldn't be much more perfect, Laurel thought happily. Well, there was room for improvement, of course, but she could be patient. Seducing Connor was an exercise in time, but she loved him, couldn't imagine her life without him. If it took a while to get him to see things the same way, accept just how perfect they were together, well, she could wait as long as it took, though, it was definitely time to step things up a bit now that he was spending more time back at head office again since the merger was pretty much complete.
The wedding was behind them and Joel and Desi would be leaving soon on their delayed honeymoon, which meant Connor would be here full time, filling in for Desi for the duration of their absence. That would give her the perfect opportunity to cement their relationship. He'd come so very far, staying over at her place during most of his visits instead of at the hotel, often cooking for the two of them. He had a space in her wardrobe where he left his own things between visits and kept a spare toothbrush in her bathroom, obviously at home in her apartment and comfortable with the arrangement.
Plus, Perversions had reopened. Except, it wasn't Perversions any more. Oh, no, it was a new branch of the prestigious Club Risqué, and from what Laurel could discern, Connor's membership for the original club covered him to attend the new one, too, so there were no restrictions on them scening there together.
The refurbishment was fantastic, keeping the unique vibe of the downstairs bar and dance venue, with its kinky entertainment, almost unchanged. But upstairs was a revelation. It had been sectioned off securely from the lower tier membership, with state-of-the-art fingerprint scanning and an additional private access so that members no longer had to compromise their privacy by coming in through the nightclub. The playrooms had all been overhauled into proper, luxurious theme rooms to cover every scenario you could think of. French boudoir, suspension room, headmaster's office, boardroom, wet room, prison cell, turret room, sultan's throne room, doctor's office, and more. They were comfortable and allowed for proper aftercare.
Then there was the brand-new dungeon—except it was upstairs—but they called it the dungeon regardless. It had been fashioned from rejigging some of the playrooms and from utilising the space taken up by the four large, overnight suites, which the new owners believed were redundant and too difficult to monitor, and also from incorporating part of the wide viewing hallway into the new room. Certainly, the new configuration allowed for many more members to participate, so the loss of some of the individual playrooms was repaid tenfold, never mind that it made it so much easier to monitor everything. Plus, there were seating and viewing areas for members to mingle and negotiate and socialise. No expense had been spared in the quality and diversity of the equipment and the various stations. And on top of all that, they had started running both Dominant and submissive training courses as a compulsory requirement for membership so that everybody had at least the barest induction into how to use all of the equipment correctly.
Laurel was lucky, because she already had the certification to prove that she had attended a recognised and accepted course, so there was no delay in processing her new membership. And an additional benefit, as so few of the members had any kind of formal training since it hadn't been a requirement at 'Perversions', was that the new manager and psychologist, Micah Flynn, had asked her if she would be prepared to become a 'club submissive', an experienced sub who acted as a role model and confidante for other submissives, helped out and mentored new members, took part in demonstrations, escorted out of town guests, assisted during training classes and the like.
Since Connor was back on the south coast more often, Laurel had been satisfying herself by helping out at the club. It bestowed her with a generous reduction in fees. Just as well, too, since the new membership subscription for the very exclusive Club Risqué was substantially higher than Perversions and would have been a significant drain on even her own well-paid PA's salary. And she was meeting some diverse and interesting new people. The improvement in the facilities and the standards had brought in a much higher quality of membership as well as weeding out many of the more unsavoury characters. She had to admit, though, that it had been quite a surprise to see Desi's closest friend, Charlotte Chapman, attending one of the submissive courses she had helped out with and even more of a surprise to find that Micah Flynn was contracted as her training Dom. She'd gotten the impression during Desi and Joel's wedding that there was something significant between Charlotte and Jake, but perhaps she'd been mistaken.
What she wasn't mistaken about was the budding relationship between Logan Thornton, the Blackwood legal director, and the Finance Manager, Luanna Morgan. Although she hadn't yet seen them at the club together—or even separately—she knew without a doubt that Logan was a Dom. It seemed that most of the Blackwood associates were. She just wasn't so sure that Luanna was a submissive, so when the opportunity to find out came up, Laurel had no compunction about inviting herself along to the lunch engagement Luanna had asked her to arrange with Desi.
Sitting in the restaurant a few days later, the three of them exchanged the obligatory, perfunctory small talk while the waiter took their orders.
While Desi was a great deal more circumspect, Laurel had no such qualms and launched straight in, in her usual bulldozer style.
"So, how's it going with the luscious Logan," she asked with a cheeky grin. "Have you uncovered his kinky side yet?"
Luanna stopped with a forkful of food halfway to her mouth and just stared at her in shock.
"Laurel!" Desi warned, frowning disapprovingly at her. "They might not have gotten to that," she said in a low voice, but there was no way Luanna didn't hear, especially with her focus pinned on them both.
Laurel merely scoffed at that idea. "Of course, they have! Why do you think she was so keen to set up a lunch date?"
"Because we're friends and I'm going away for a while?" Desi returned sarcastically, shaking her head and throwing Luanna an apologetic look. And as if it explained everything, she added, "This is Luanna we're talking about here!"
Laurel looked in disbelief from Luanna to Desi as that thought had never crossed her mind and noted uncomfortably that Luanna's colour rose from low down on her chest, flowing up to suffuse her face until it was obvious she was nothing short of mortified.
Seeing her discomfort, Desi gave Laurel a sharp elbow to the ribs. "You've embarrassed her now!" she chided.
For the first time, Laurel was sincerely contrite. Taking a quick look around them, she leaned forward and whispered, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."
Luanna reached for her water glass and took a large gulp. Clearing her throat, she replied tentatively, "It's okay, I'm not upset. You just surprised me, that's all. I had no idea you were aware or even familiar with Logan's…um…fetishes."
At that, Laurel was completely nonplussed. Then she let out a small cry and immediately slapped her hand across her mouth, darting a glance at the other clientele once again. Lowering her voice once again, Laurel apologised once more. "I really am so sorry, Luanna," she said earnestly. "It didn't occur to me that you weren't aware of the rest of us!"
"The rest of you?" Luanna uttered faintly.
Desi rolled her eyes. "Jeez, Laurel. When you make a leap, you really do jump in with both feet, and right now, the pair of them are in your mouth!"
To Luanna, she said, "Just ignore her. Since the new club opened, she's like an overzealous child!"
Luanna looked from one to the other. "You mean Club Risqué? Are you both members?"
Now it was their turn to stare, and Laurel started to laugh. Desi, on the other hand, picked up on the subtleties and waved Laurel to quiet down.
"I know I've mentioned my own situation in the past, Luanna, but since you emphasised the word 'both', I can only assume that you were already aware of my own involvement at the club and that would imply that Logan has discussed it with you." She waited momentarily for Luanna to nod her confirmation before smiling and adding, "I'm glad."
"I encouraged Logan to explain my role in the Shibari display we did for the opening weekend," she finally conceded then turned back to Luanna. "Did you want to ask me anything about that?"
"No, I did want some insights into the lifestyle, since I'm totally unfamiliar with it, but I wanted to talk generalities, not about that in particular," Luanna admitted.
Desi nodded. "The lifestyle is very confusing when you find it unexpectedly. Especially if you come to it a little older."
Next to them, Laurel snorted. Desi hushed her again.
"Was it like that for you?" Luanna queried, eager to gain some of the understanding that Desi could impart.
"Not exactly," Desi admitted. "I got into the lifestyle when I was eighteen and I loved it. For about a year and a half, I lived and breathed it, but I turned my back on it after a misunderstanding and only took it up again recently."
"When you met Joel?"
Desi chewed on her bottom lip as if considering how much to divulge, then she shrugged and smiled. "Actually, it was Joel who introduced me to BDSM. My involvement with the lifestyle has only ever been through him."
"Whoa!" Laurel exclaimed in shock. "Back up, lady, I've missed something here! Are you saying that you and Joel had a thing going over a decade ago?"
Desi smiled a secret smile that highlighted her single dimple. "Yes," was all she said.
"Well…" Laurel was unaccustomedly speechless, but it didn't last long as she was unashamedly inquisitive.
"So, did you know all of them back then or just Joel?" Laurel quizzed, eager to know whether her boss had known Connor back then, but not wanting to look quite that obvious.
Desi raised her eyebrows in surprise, as if she'd thought they'd always known the answer, then she shrugged. "I met Joel and Jake at University, Logan was there, too, but I only really met him through the BDSM club we all visited."
"Not Connor?" Laurel prodded.
Desi shook her head. "Not Connor," she concurred. "Although, I think he must have come on the scene at about the same time as I left because I'm aware that they've all known each other for over a decade, but I didn't meet him until he came here for the takeover."
Laurel was unusually quiet for a while, battling to keep her feelings from the past several months from showing on her face, but the struggle clearly wasn't missed by her boss.
"What?" Desi asked bluntly.
Laurel sighed theatrically and pulled at the sleeve of her blouse repeatedly in a nervous motion, not quite able to look Desi in the eye. "I thought you had something going with him a while back," she revealed finally.
Desi's eyes widened in clear shock. "Why on earth would you think that?" she demanded.
"Just some things he said a time or two," Laurel conceded awkwardly.
Desi's eyebrows beetled together, and she had a faraway look in her eyes as if she was thinking back to recall certain details. Then she narrowed her gaze at Laurel.
"In the interests of friendship and full disclosure, I'll say this once, and then the subject is closed and none of its open for discussion," she said stiffly. "We did a scene, a few months ago," Desi divulged quietly, still observing Laurel closely.
"It was a private one, set up by Joel and which Jake talked me into. The reasons are personal," she said with an air of finality that broached no argument. Maybe it was something Desi wasn't wholly comfortable with, either.
Then she pinned Luanna with a very direct look as well. "It involved Logan, too," she disclosed.
"We were intimate, all of us, but I did not have intercourse with either Logan or Connor, nor have I ever," she finished uncomfortably, though it seemed that her discomfort wasn't related to the act or to the telling, but rather something far more intrinsic and personal to the situation she had found herself in. As much as Laurel knew and as little as Luanna knew about BDSM, both sensed that this had been no ordinary scene.
"I know that, "Luanna replied softly, reaching across the table to squeeze Desi's arm. "Logan told me as much. There're no hard feelings from me."
Not for the first time, Laurel realized that much was true for her, too. Well, now, at least.
Desi looked at Luanna in relief but still viewed Laurel with something akin to suspicion, and Laurel knew she needed to set things straight.
"I was a little jealous," she admitted. "I know it wasn't my place to be, because Connor and I have no contract, but I thought you were muscling into what I considered to be my territory," she said, trying to keep any telltale inflection out of her tone.
Desi's mouth opened in a perfect 'o' and she stared at Laurel in astonishment for a long moment. "Is that what all the snubs were about?" she accused. "All those snippy comments and the brushoffs? You were giving me the cold shoulder because of Connor?"
Laurel was somewhat abashed and gave a tiny nod.
Desi huffed out a breath. "You should know better, Laurel," she admonished gently, taking her hand. "Connor is an unattached Dom and he doesn't show any signs of changing that any time soon. Not for anyone. You're going to set yourself up for a huge fall, if you're not careful, and the consequences could be harsh."
Laurel nodded her acceptance unhappily. "I know. I just can't help how I feel about him," she murmured quietly, her whole character seeming to deflate before the eyes of her two colleagues, who shared a worried look.
"I'm serious, Laurel. Whatever is going on between you and Connor, you're far more involved than he is."
Desi hesitated, wondering if she should reveal the rest, but then decided that tough love was sometimes the best option.
"I know you and Connor have been involved since he arrived that first week at Universal—what, nine, maybe ten months ago—but after the scene I just told you about, which was maybe only four months ago, he offered to play with me anytime I felt like hitting him up. So, all those months you've been playing with him and nobody else, he's still keeping his options open. And he wasn't just saying it, Laurel. He was absolutely serious, and I'm not telling you this to upset you. I just don't want to see you become too dedicated to a Dom who won't ever see you as anything more than a passing playmate. He's not the type to even see you as an exclusive contractual submissive, even a temporary one. It's not the way he operates."
Desi grabbed both Laurel's hands in her own and was completely earnest. "Connor is a good man and a good Dom, but he lives and breathes the BDSM singles lifestyle and you'll only ever be just another sub to him. Please don't invest too much of yourself in him. I don't want to see you get hurt."
Tears welled in Laurel's big blue eyes, but she blinked them back with determination. "I know that," she choked out. "I really do, but he just has some damn hold on me that I can't seem to shake off." Laurel took a deep breath, and the others watched as she pulled herself together, both of them realizing that the girl very obviously had feelings that probably weren't returned to the same degree.
"But I'm fine," Laurel stated, seeing their concern. She waved a hand in front of her as if it was of no consequence. "I don't have any unrealistic expectations about Connor."
But the way her eyes jerked off to the left as she said it, instead of holding their gazes, had her friends fearing that might be otherwise.
Laurel ploughed on, forcing herself to say all the right words, the ones that would curb their suspicions.
"I'm a club submissive, just like Connor is a club Dom; we're both in it for the lifestyle and the variety. Unlike you involved types," she snorted out with a large dose of what she hoped didn't sound too much like false bravado.
If either of them thought the same, then they let it go and Desi turned her attention back to Luanna. "Honestly, I think Laurel's right. There are two distinct kinds of submissive," she pondered. "Those who are in the lifestyle because of a partner and probably wouldn't be involved otherwise, like me and probably you. And those like Fluff." She tipped her head toward Laurel.
"Who are in it for the lifestyle and choose their partners accordingly."
The conversation turned general again and that was probably just as well. Laurel heaved a silent sigh of relief as it returned to generalities.
"Fluff?"
"That's my club name," Laurel explained, recovering herself. "It gives us anonymity in the outside world. Miss Desirae here goes by Daisy. Not very inspired!"
Luanna shook her head. "I have a real problem with the submissive thing," she sighed. Laurel just laughed, Desi joining in with her.
Desi patted Luanna's hand. "Believe me, you're not alone there. That's one of the biggest stumbling blocks for most women coming into the lifestyle, whatever their age!"
Laurel nodded her blonde streaked head vigorously, glad she was no longer in the spotlight. "In this modern culture of women's liberation, that very word sets alarm bells ringing. We've all been brought up to think of ourselves as equal. We've argued about it and fought for it and wholly embraced it, and then somebody throws around the word 'submissive' and it's like tossing in a grenade and everything blows up." Laurel might be impulsive and sometimes whimsical, but she wasn't the flighty bird she sometimes came across as.
Desi gave her an approving smile and turned back to Luanna. "It's best to try and think of 'submissive' as really just a title and remember that just because someone is given that title, it doesn't necessarily mean they are subservient."