“Wow. That dress…”
Sarah forced a smile and allowed him to kiss her on the cheek again. At least there was one good thing. With the heels, she didn’t feel quite so short.
“Ready?”
She wasn’t, but she nodded anyway.
“The limo’s waiting out front.”
Limo?
He obviously noticed her distress. “Yes, I went all out, I know. But the extra money was worth it.” His smile widened. “Tonight is going to be so worth every penny I spent on the rooms and the dress.”
That’s what he thinks.
Sarah didn’t bother to tell him that she was the one who’d sprung for the dress, as well as her room. Bill clearly thought spending money made him a man, so she’d let him go on thinking that. For now.
Crap.
Bill took her hand and led her to the main entrance of the hotel. She couldn’t help but notice people looking at her as she passed. She wasn’t sure if they were admiring the dress, thinking she was a hired escort, or wondering whether she was going to take a tumble in the heels. The latter was a definite possibility. She attempted to cloak herself in confidence, though she felt like a fraud.
Thankfully, the limo ride was short. Only five minutes alone in the car and they had arrived at their destination.
Devotion.
For some reason, that name sounded familiar to her, but she didn’t know why. Commercial, maybe? From the outside, it looked like a fancy night club. If that was the case, then it was obvious Bill knew nothing about her because the last time she’d been to a club… Crap. She’d probably been in her early twenties? It had never really been her thing.
She was more of a homebody. She would prefer to sit at home with a glass of wine and a good book or a cup of hot tea and a chick flick. That was her idea of a good time, didn’t matter which day of the week it was. Paul had been the same way, so it had worked for them.
The first clue that something was off was the fact that there wasn’t a line to get in, yet there were two huge men standing guard at the front door. They didn’t look like ordinary bouncers, and the reception area definitely didn’t look like the standard nightclub. Not how she remembered them anyway.
A pretty blond was sitting at a glass desk—the type they’d have in a high-end office building—her perfectly manicured hands clasped together on the top. She smiled up at them as they approached.
“We’re on the guest list,” Bill noted sweetly.
The woman peered at the iPad screen. “And your name?”
“Bill Kasin.”
“Ah, yes. Mr. Kasin. You’re Bob Masterson’s guest,” she said politely, obviously recognizing his name. “My name is Emily if you have any questions. We were sad to hear Mr. Masterson couldn’t make it, but glad that you could.”
The woman’s gaze slowly slid over to Sarah, a warm smile on her face. “And your guest tonight is…?”
“Sarah Davis,” Bill offered.
The woman typed in her name on the iPad, then peered up at them both. “I’ll just need you both to review and sign a nondisclosure agreement.” She pointed to a small seating area as she passed over another iPad.
Sarah couldn’t hide her confusion. A nondisclosure agreement? What the hell kind of place was this?
Bill chuckled. “Of course we’ll sign it.”
Without reading the form, Bill signed his name using his finger, then pointed the iPad in her direction. “Your turn.”
Sarah peered down at the device. She started to scan the document, wondering what she was getting herself into, but Bill put his arm around her. “Just sign. It’s good. Bob told me everything I need to know.”
Knowing it wouldn’t make a difference one way or the other, Sarah scribbled what might’ve passed as her signature and took a deep breath.
“You’re good to go in,” the woman said sweetly. “There are a variety of masks available in the changing rooms if you’d like. Theme night and all. Have a wonderful evening.”
Changing rooms? Masks?
What the hell?
“Thank you, Emily,” Bill replied, taking Sarah’s hand and leading her to a door on the left.
It was at that moment, when he pulled that door open and escorted her into the main portion of the club, that Sarah retracted her earlier statement.
The night… It could definitely get worse.
Much, much worse.
DYLAN HADN’T KNOWN EXACTLY WHAT to expect when he arrived at Devotion, but he’d heard enough about the place that he wasn’t surprised.
In fact, it was exactly how he’d envisioned it. That was probably due to the fact that he knew Luke McCoy rather well. The man seemed to have a certain taste and this place reflected that. Underneath all the chrome and glass, there was a fetish club. A classy, high-end sex club that didn’t attempt to hide what they were all about. At least not once you were past the prim receptionist and the two massive guys guarding the entrance.
As he looked around, Dylan realized it wasn’t all that different from Luke’s original fetish club, simply named The Club. Dylan had only been twice many years ago, back when the darkness was closing in over his head. He’d enjoyed himself—as a natural voyeur, that wasn’t hard to do in a place like this—but hadn’t been able to bring himself to go back. When that one closed and this one opened, he had resigned himself to never getting to see the inside.
For the first fifteen minutes or so, Dylan slowly toured the main floor until he managed to make his way to the other side, seeing several people he recognized. When Xander Boone waved him over, Dylan pasted on a smile and joined the group.
“Good to see you again,” Xander greeted, his deep baritone warm and friendly. “You remember my wife, Mercedes.”
“Of course.” Dylan nodded toward the beautiful brunette at Xander’s side.
Taking a step back, he glanced at the others standing around, chatting and smiling.
“Dylan!” McKenna Murphy called out, stepping up to him when he turned. Her arms embraced him, her fiery-red hair tickling his chin. “So good to see you.”
“Thanks,” he replied, hugging her back and looking up to see her husband, Tag, staring back at him.
“We missed you at the wedding,” she said, stepping back and looking up at him.
Tag and McKenna had tied the knot a while back on a cruise ship. He’d been invited, but Dylan had had to refuse. He hadn’t been in the right frame of mind, and the last thing he’d wanted to do was bring the party down.
“Congrats, by the way.”
“Thanks.” She took a step back, positioning herself beneath her husband’s protective arm.
Dylan shook Tag’s proffered hand. “Good to see you.”
“Surprised to see you here.” Tag’s tone was cordial. “We thought you’d never show up.”
“First time for everything,” Dylan said, glancing around. He nodded at a couple of other people he recognized.
“Well, I think you’ll fit right in,” McKenna said with a smirk. “We know beneath that rough cowboy exterior there’s a devious kinky side.”
Dylan laughed. She was right about that, but he doubted many people knew that about him. That was a side of himself that he’d buried more than two decades ago, when he’d finally convinced Meghan to marry him. She hadn’t been into that scene, and he’d loved her too much to risk losing her, so he’d opted to pretend that part of him didn’t exist.
A waitress appeared. “Can I get you something to drink, sexy?”
“7-Up,” he said.
The woman’s dark eyebrow lifted. “That’s it?”
“Yes, ma’am, unless you’d like to toss in a lime.”
She nodded, then took drink orders from the others before disappearing again.
A hand came down on his back, and Dylan turned to see Cole Ackerley-McCoy standing beside him.
“So good to see you, man,” Cole greeted. “Welcome to Devotion.”
“Nice place,” Dylan said, glancing around.
As they should be. Dylan knew that Devotion was a highly coveted fetish club—one of the few in the area. After Luke had abruptly closed the doors on his last one, he’d opted for something slightly different. Thanks to a blackmail attempt—someone looking to leak the names of the club’s members—Luke had done what he had to in order to protect everyone involved. He’d shut the doors and opened Devotion. Needless to say, every member signed an iron-clad nondisclosure agreement as well as paid a hefty fee to attend.
“You bring a date?” Cole asked, stepping back and studying Dylan.
“Not tonight.” While he waited for his drink, he looked around, took it all in. There were quite a few single people there. More than he’d expected, actually. To hear Logan, Trent, Tag, or even Xander talk about it, couples seemed to make up most of their clientele, which made sense.
Maybe tonight was an exception. It did seem to be themed, though not many people were in costume, but there were quite a few masks worn. He figured that could’ve been for anonymity as well.
Once the waitress returned with his drink, Dylan took the glass, clutching it tightly in his hands.
“I don’t wanna keep you,” he told the others.
“We’re just here to hang out. Who knows where the night’ll take us?” McKenna said.
“Sounds like the perfect plan to me,” Dylan said, nodding toward them. “I’m just gonna…”
“Talk to you later,” Cole said, still watching him closely.
Turning away from them, Dylan headed toward an empty table in the far corner, hidden partially in shadow. Not many people were in that area and he wasn’t disappointed by that. He needed a little time to acclimate to the place. It had been a long damn time since he’d been out like this. Meaningless hook-ups weren’t his thing, no matter how much he tried to make himself believe otherwise.
“Hey, man.”
Dylan turned at the deep voice that sounded from his right. He smiled when Luke McCoy approached, holding out his hand to shake when Luke joined him. “How’re you?”
“Damn good,” Luke said with a smirk, giving Dylan’s shoulder a squeeze. “Never thought I’d see this day. Glad you could make it.” Luke peered around briefly. “You bring a date?”
That seemed to be the question of the hour.
“Not tonight, no.” Hell, he didn’t know a single woman who would be comfortable in a place like this. For a brief second, he tried to imagine Sarah here, but he couldn’t see it. She was far too sweet and innocent for a place like this.
“Well, there’re plenty of singles here tonight.”
“I noticed.”
The place was packed. Not body to body, but as the minutes ticked by, it seemed more and more people were coming in. He had no idea how many people officially belonged to this club, but he figured probably a couple hundred. Not to mention their guests.
“You doin’ all right?” Luke asked, drawing Dylan’s attention back to him.
“Yeah. Hangin’ in there.”
“I was talkin’ to Alex. He told me y’all are considering a merger?”
Dylan nodded. “It’s a done deal. Inevitable, really,” he admitted.
It was no secret that CISS wasn’t doing so hot these days. There were quite a few security companies in the area, one in particular that seemed to be choking out the rest of them.
“Sniper 1 Security’s not a bad way to go,” Luke admitted.
“No, it’s not. And if they agree to take us on, which it looks like they are, then we’re all set.” Although Sniper 1 would consolidate the home-monitoring division, keeping a majority of CISS’s employees, they would still have to eliminate a few positions. Dylan knew Alex was fighting tooth and nail to keep every employee they had, though, so negotiations were going slow.
“Glad to hear it. I think that’ll take a lot of pressure off Alex.”
Dylan was sure it would. Unfortunately, a lot of that pressure had been Dylan’s fault. If he hadn’t been so selfish over the past few years, giving in to the depression and ignoring everything else, he wanted to believe their company could still be thriving.
But one thing he knew for certain, he couldn’t change the past. Moving forward, one step at a time, was his only option.
“If you’re looking to invest in something else,” Luke began, turning to face Dylan completely, “you might want to talk to Trent Ramsey.”
“Your silent partner?”
Luke grinned. “Wish someone would explain the silent part of that to him. He’s in the process of opening another club. Cole and I will be involved, but he’s looking for someone who can manage the thing when he’s not here. His acting career hasn’t slowed down, but he’s insistent that this is what he really wants to do.”
Dylan considered that for a moment. He’d been tossing around a few ideas of his own, trying to figure out what he was going to do with the rest of his life. “Thanks. I’m definitely open to talking to him.”
“I’ll tell him to give you a call,” Luke noted. “Well, I need to go find Cole and Sierra. If you need anything, holler.”
“Will do,” Dylan said, forcing a smile. “Thanks.”
“Anytime, man. Have fun tonight. Let loose a little.”
That was the plan, but he didn’t tell Luke as much. Instead, he downed the rest of his 7-Up, and then ordered another when a scantily clad waitress stopped by his table.
While he waited, Dylan realized the night was going to be over before it ever started. Even though his body temperature was rising thanks to the fantastic visuals going on around him, he simply couldn’t see himself getting involved with any of these women, single or otherwise. Sure, the idea of them was fantastic. Although Meghan hadn’t ever been into the adventurous stuff, she’d obliged Dylan’s kinky side a time or two before they were married. Not as much as he would’ve liked, but he’d loved her enough that he’d buried that side of himself.
Didn’t mean he wasn’t interested in letting it out from time to time. Only he’d been hoping for something a little more than one encounter in front of a bunch of strangers. He still couldn’t stop thinking about the night he’d fucked Sarah up against her living room wall. The woman had been so uninhibited it had actually shocked him. That night, no doubt about it, had probably been the most intense sexual experience of his life, and it had been vanilla compared to some of his darker desires.
Which was either sad or scary.
He didn’t mind the voyeurism or the public exhibitionism, which Devotion offered plenty of. Those drew his interest. He also didn’t mind the sharing. It was something he longed to do again, but he wasn’t sure it was in the cards for him. No matter what, he wanted to experience this with a woman he’d wake up next to in the morning, not one who would disappear from his bed—or him from hers—before the sun was up.
Scanning the room once more, Dylan decided he’d give it a few more minutes, then he’d probably head home. The idea of Devotion was obviously more impressive than the real thing. At least for a single guy like him. Now, if Sarah were here, that might be a whole different…
“Bill. Seriously. I can’t believe you did this. What were you thinking?”
Dylan’s entire body went rigid when he heard the woman’s voice. It sounded so familiar. Too familiar. But there was no way that could possibly be…
Turning, he scanned the few couples standing nearby, and his gaze landed on the one woman he never would’ve expected to see there. Then again, based on the tone of her voice and the incredulous expression on her face, she probably hadn’t thought she’d be here, either.
Seriously. What were the odds?
“Come on, Sarah,” Bill countered with a self-righteous huff. “We’ll stay for a little while. Let’s mingle. You’ll love it. I know you will. Just let go of some of that—”
“What?” she questioned, her body going stone-cold still.
Dylan couldn’t look away, wanting to know exactly what Bill would say next.<
br />
The man sighed. “You don’t have to play coy with me, Sarah. I’ve seen those books on your shelf. This is the real thing,” Bill said defensively, waving his hand.
“Books?” Sarah’s anger appeared to take on a life of its own. “Those books were written by one of my friends. I’m not … into that stuff. It’s fiction.”
Dylan grinned. Sarah must have Ashleigh’s books on her shelf. It made sense why Bill would’ve thought she’d be interested at least. His sister wrote erotic romance, and to hear people talk about them, they were rather steamy. Not that he’d ever read any of them, nor did he have plans to.
“Come on.” Bill grinned. “I know you can’t be that much of a prude.”
What a fucking dick. The guy had absolutely no game if he thought that shit was how to win a woman over.
“Look, I forked over the money for the hotel and the limo, even the dress. Plus I got you in here. The least you can do is appear appreciative. You haven’t even given it a chance.”
“I can’t believe you!” she squealed, then pulled away when Bill attempted to stop her.
Dylan was instantly on his feet, moving toward them.
Bill reached for her again, his hand sliding around her bare upper arm.
“I’m not staying, Bill,” Sarah hissed.
“Yes, you are.” His tone took on a hard edge. “For a little while anyway.”
“Let her go,” Dylan commanded, his tone hard, a red haze clouding his vision at the sight of Bill’s hand on her arm.
Bill jerked away from her, obviously shocked by the rough tone. Sarah spun around to face him, her eyes wide.
“Dylan?”
He offered a smile as he regarded the two of them briefly before meeting Sarah’s stunned gaze.
“Come on, Sarah,” Bill said, grabbing her arm again.
Sarah jerked away from him, stumbling slightly in her heels. Taking advantage, Dylan placed a firm hand on her shoulder to steady her, then moved closer, his eyes never leaving Bill’s. The guy looked rather pissed to see Dylan twice in one day. Not that he gave a damn.
“Dylan? Oh, my God. What are you doing here?” Sarah whispered harshly, staring up at him.
“Some friends of mine own the place,” he told her. Not a lie.
Distraction (Club Destiny Book 8) Page 11