The king was dressed in leather chaps and nothing else, and he was enthusiastically whipping the couple that had been kneeling in front of the thrones. They were on their hands and knees, and she could see fine red lines crisscrossing along their backs.
“Jackson is a master with the whip,” Colleen said when she looked back and saw Mallory was gaping. She had to practically yell in her ear over the noise of the music and the crowd.
“What’s it feel like? Doesn’t that hurt?”
Colleen cocked her head. “A bit. At first. Then the endorphins kick in.”
“I had to ask,” Mallory said, not sure whether to be appalled or intrigued. “I thought the fashion side would be a little more … I don’t know. Stuck up?”
“The people here tonight are prospective members to the VIP side of Couture. If they can’t handle this, they can’t handle Club Inferno.” Colleen led her to the middle of the dance floor. “I have a Master’s class to teach tonight. Have fun. If you decide you want to get lucky, use a condom, please.”
“Wait, you’re leaving me here all alone?”
Colleen fixed her with a stare. “Go make friends. Dance. Have a drink, for crying out loud. You’re safe here.”
Mallory felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes. Crap, she was a mess if she was getting all choked up about being safe in a sexy nightclub. “Thanks, sis.”
Colleen shook her head and hurried through the crowd. They had their ups and downs, but her sister always had her back. Mallory spun around in a circle, taking in the flashing lights and people dancing. Making her way up to the bar, she eavesdropped in on a few conversations.
“It’s like he has magic fingers! I haven’t had a massage so relaxing in decades.”
“I didn’t like the taste of it on the banana. I don’t think it’s the good chocolate.”
“It’s a video game, but you wear a full-body sensory suit.”
Mallory ordered a Manhattan and charged it to her room. Leaning her back against the bar, she took in the Hot Spot in all its glory. There was a man hanging upside down from a rack. He was naked except for a tiny leather G-string. Women were lining up to spank him. He already had several handprints on his muscled backside. Without realizing it, she had drained her glass. The man was let down after a few minutes, and while his cheeks were as flushed as his backside, he was grinning broadly.
Safe, sane, and consensual. Just like Max said.
Ordering another drink, she sipped delicately through the tiny bar straw and felt her hips sway with the Pitbull song the band was playing. The dancers were writhing together in a sea of flesh and leather. The stress that had been bunched into a ball in the center of her back started to ease for the first time since she’d left David. She was surrounded by people having fun and losing their inhibitions—along with several items of clothing. Tugging down self-consciously on her skirt, Mallory scanned the bar area. She should have fought to keep on her jeans.
Several men and a few women made eye contact, and she knew all she had to do was walk over and say hello and she could be out on the dance floor grinding with a stranger. A tickle of excitement started in her belly and her breathing quickened. Would she wind up with her legs wrapped around some muscled stud, while he nailed her against the wall? She finished the drink in a quick swallow and ordered a third.
Deciding to take it easy because the dance floor was tilting a bit, Mallory ate the cherry out of her drink and tried to tamp down her frustration. It was almost enough to make her wish David were here, just so she’d have someone to take into a dark corner or one of those rooms that looked like confessional booths. Mallory made her way over to one. She looked over her shoulder, but no one seemed to think anything was amiss. Opening the door, she sat on the bench. It was nice to be off her feet, and the wooden booth muted some of the Ke$ha remix that was blaring while the band took a break.
The small room had a bench and four walls. It resembled a confessional, but without all the religious baggage. There was a window carved in the wall about face height. After taking a fortifying sip of her drink, she slid it open. A blindfolded man looked up at the noise. He was shackled to the wall. His jeans were puddled around his ankles and a woman was on her knees with his cock in her mouth. Mallory watched her head bob up and down his shaft, her hair flying around her face. The man strained at his bonds, writhing in ecstasy.
“You like to watch?” he said in a husky voice.
“Yeah,” she surprised herself by answering.
“I like an audience. Are you in there alone?”
“Yeah.” She took a drink.
“That’s a shame. There’s room enough there for two. Are you wearing a skirt?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Go find someone to lift it up and give it to you while you watch. I’ll be here all night.”
“Oh.” Mallory leaned back, shutting the window. She tanked the drink, feeling the wetness between her thighs and a pulsing need to do exactly what the man suggested. She sat there for a moment, her head spinning pleasantly. Mallory was reaching the stage where she didn’t have to think anymore and she was beginning to like it.
The band started playing “Time Warp” from The Rocky Horror Picture Show as she left the booth. She shimmied over to the bar for a refill. Manhattans tasted good. She finished that one quickly so she could get in line with the rest of the partygoers with her hands on her hips. Maybe she could dance away the need to have sex. Or maybe she should go back to her room and break in the new vibrator.
“Having a good time?” Max said.
Whirling, she put her hand on Max’s naked chest. His hair was loose and hanging down to his shoulders in a soft, black wave. Women were gawking at him and Mallory stepped in closer, as if staking a claim. “I’m so happy to see you,” she gushed, while the tiny part of her brain that was still sober tried to tell her something very important. But she didn’t want to listen to it. “Do you want to go into the confessional booth with me?”
“The what?” He saw where she was pointing. “Hell yeah, but I don’t think you know what you’re asking.” His smile flashed and he held her close to him when she jumped to the left and almost fell on her ass. “Wow, you’re trashed.”
“I’m having a great time,” Mallory told him. “You’re so strong and handsome.”
“Yeah, I hear that a lot from drunk women.” He swayed with her, dancing to the beat. Mallory had to hold on because the room was spinning.
“I think you hear that from sober ones too. Buy me a drink?”
“I think you’ve had a few drinks too many. This is your first night at the Hot Spot, after all; you might want to ease into this.”
“I have, but don’t worry. I plan on being on time for your nine a.m. class. But you have to tell me, why nine? Noon is good. Maybe some people want to sleep in after a night of boozing and whipping.” She leaned in close to him. “Did you know that Jackson is a master with the whip?”
“My goodness, Dr. Bryant, you have been sowing some wild oats tonight, haven’t you?” Max said. “I didn’t peg you for the BDSM type.”
“I’m not usually. But Colleen had to go teach a class. She said the dolphins were good.”
“Dolphins?” He looked into her eyes, cocking his head.
“Yeah, the pain only hurts until the dolphins come in.”
“Endorphins.”
“That’s what I said.”
“Maybe we should make it an early night?”
“Why, are you not feeling so well?” Mallory stumbled. “Me too. I’m not used to drinking so much so fast.”
“You’ve had a tough time lately. But liquor isn’t the answer.”
“What is?” She squinted at him.
“You might want to set up an appointment with Dr. Strauss.”
“Doctor Who?”
“Dr. Strauss is a therapist.”
“You think I should see a shrink?” Mallory wrenched away from him and got carried along in the crowd. “Wheee,” she said
as she was whirled into a group singing Journey’s “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’.” She sang at the top of her lungs, throwing her arms around two strangers as they belted out the chorus.
“Excuse me,” Max said, breaking in and dancing her back toward the exit.
“I’m just letting my hair down, Max.” She laid her cheek against his chest. “Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?”
“I’m showing off my assets, hoping to get some more sign-ups for tomorrow’s class.”
Mallory slid her hand over his bicep. “You’d have better luck if it wasn’t nine o’freakin’ clock in the morning.”
“I was hoping to get the after-yoga group.”
“Although, with your pecs I’d follow you anywhere.” She petted them. Or did she? Hopefully that was all in her head. “This place is wild. The colors, the skin. God, I’m so horny I could short-circuit my room vibrator.”
Max coughed nervously. “Mallory, you’re killing me here.”
“Do you know Sam fucks like a machine?”
“What?” Max barked.
“But he’ll break your heart.” Mallory nodded sagely and tried to climb up on a table to dance to “La Vie Bohème” from the musical Rent.
“This is the weirdest mix,” Max said as he picked her up in his arms and carried her out of the nightclub. “Watch your head.”
“Wow, I can hear again,” Mallory said when they entered the hallway and the door shut behind them. “Hey, Axe,” she waved to the doorman, over Max’s broad shoulder. “It’s back to the vanilla wing for me.”
“Did you have fun?” Axe gave her a thumbs-up.
“It was amazing.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
“He’s such a nice man,” Mallory said to Max. “Why are you carrying me? I can walk.”
“This is faster.”
“So why did we have to leave the party?”
“You’re looking a little green around the gills, and I didn’t like how some of the more predatory members of our club were looking at you—especially after you made your vibrator announcement. We don’t allow our members to play with strangers after they’ve imbibed too much.”
“You’re looking out for me.” Mallory gave him a noisy kiss on the cheek. “That’s so sweet.”
“I’m not that sweet. I’m hard as a rock from having you plastered up against me.”
“Can I see?” Mallory tried to peek, but he held her firmly to his chest.
“If you weren’t drunk, you could do a lot more than look at it.” He shook his head. “Your sister would kill me.”
“She doesn’t have to know.”
Max set her down in front of her door and took the keys out of her unsteady hands.
“It’s the no frater … no fr … no screwing around with her sister, right?”
“I didn’t say it was easy. Or that I’m not tempted.”
“Rules are made to be broken. Ask Colleen—she breaks them all the time. That’s all she ever did when we were kids. She was the troublemaker and I was the good girl.” Mallory made a face. “Can I tell you how sick and tired I am of being the good girl?”
“Is everything all right?” A woman opened her door and stood out in the hallway. She was in a puffy bathrobe and bunny slippers. She managed to make it look stunning. Long black curls danced to her shoulders. All Mallory could focus on was her pouty red lips and big blue eyes. She looked like a doll.
“I know you,” Mallory said, shaking her finger.
“Sorry to bother you, Anya,” Max said. “I’m just putting Mallory to bed.”
“I’ve had too much to drink,” Mallory said. “But you look so familiar.” She blinked her eyes, because her vision was a little blurry.
“I get that a lot,” Anya said. “Do you need me to look in on her?”
“Yeah, if you would,” Max said.
“No problem. I’m still on Paris time anyway.”
“Oooh-la-la,” Mallory said and then laughed. She was so funny.
Max opened her door and guided Mallory inside.
“I really appreciate this, Max.” She hugged him when he closed the door behind him. “It’s so nice to be taken care of for a change. Anya doesn’t have to look in on me. I don’t want to be a bother.”
“Oh, let her. She’s new and she doesn’t have many friends here. Some of the women here can be real judgmental.”
“They don’t like her? How can you not like someone wearing bunny slippers?”
“They look down on her because of her weight.”
“Huh?”
“She’s a plus-size model.”
“Of course she’s a model. She’s gorgeous.”
His arms went around her and she felt safe and snug wrapped up in his arms. “I’m glad you’re not like those bitches. You’re something else, you know that?”
“I’m not that drunk, you know,” she said, her hand wandering down to his ass.
“Drunk enough,” he said and tilted her chin up so she was looking at him. “If you want to play when you’re sober, let me know. I might have a way around the ‘don’t fuck my sister’ rule.”
“Play what?”
“Anything you want. I’ll teach you self-defense in my dojo, but after that if you want to sample the wild side of Couture, I’ll be your personal guide.”
“What about Colleen?”
“She knows her way around already.”
“Gorgeous and funny,” Mallory giggled until she hiccupped. “I want your hands on me.”
Max groaned and held her against him.
“Oh,” she sighed. “You are hard.” She pressed against his erection.
“You’re killing me.” He dropped a chaste kiss on her forehead. “I’ve got to go before we both wind up hating me in the morning.”
“I wouldn’t hate you.” She swayed a bit when he put her at arm’s length.
“I want you to have all your wits about you when you and I hit the sheets.”
Mallory moaned, a soft little sound that had Max’s eyes fixated on her mouth. “You said ‘when,’ not ‘if.’ ”
He guided her to the bed and gave her a slight push so she sprawled out on her back. Kneeling, he gave her a wicked grin as he slowly took her boots off. “You’re probably not going to remember any of this.”
“I will if you stay with me.”
He eased her under the covers and went into the bathroom to get her a glass of water.
“If you regret any of this tomorrow morning, don’t. You deserved to get a little crazy.”
“I’m not crazy.”
“I know.” Max helped her take a sip of water. He put a jar of aspirin on the bedside table next to the vibrator. “But don’t be embarrassed. I meant everything I said.”
“Max, I don’t like my life,” she said, her lower lip quivering.
He sat next to her on the bed. “What do you want to change?”
“Aside from my ex and his drugs?”
He nodded. “We’ll figure something out.”
“I’m one big ball of stress and regret. I feel like a kid looking in a candy store window. I can see all the goodies, but I can’t reach them.”
“You just have to go through the door.”
“What if the door’s locked? What if I don’t have any money? What if the store is closed?” Mallory sat up and grabbed his shoulders. She swayed as a wave of nausea hit her. “I didn’t think I drank that much.”
“Let’s give the metaphors a rest for right now. You don’t have to solve all your problems tonight. I’ll see you in the morning. Nine sharp. Don’t think I’ll go easy on you.”
She slid her hands up to his cheeks. “Max, thank you.”
He kissed each of her palms and got off the bed. “We’ll see how you feel tomorrow.”
She watched him leave, before lying back and enjoying the bed spins.
Chapter Seven
Anya knocked on the door at seven a.m.
“Don’t hate me,” she said. Sh
e held up a large coffee and a handful of creamer cups and sugar packets.
Mallory staggered back to the bed and sat down.
“Max said you wanted to go to his nine a.m. class.”
Mallory tried to get words out, but all she could do was stare at Anya. It just wasn’t fair that someone was so pretty so early in the morning. She had on snakeskin pants, a matching belt around a black silk shirt, and boots that Mallory would kill for.
“You look like you could use a shower. If you want, I can put together an outfit for you. If that’s not a little creepy, having a stranger go through your things. It’s what I do. I’m the Queen of Accessories.” She gave a hesitant smile.
Mallory tried to give her one back, but it hurt too much.
“I’ll just go,” Anya said and put the coffee down on the night table.
“Wait,” Mallory croaked. “I’m sorry. I’m so hung over.”
“It’s okay. We’ll talk later.”
“Thanks for the coffee.”
Anya waved as she closed the door.
“I liked your slippers,” Mallory said to the room. She had to work on her timing.
A long shower and the coffee helped. Mallory felt like a human being again. She grabbed a pair of sweats and a T-shirt and went out into the hallway, hoping to remember which door was Anya’s.
The first few doors no one answered. One really irate man slammed the door in her face. She couldn’t blame him. Finally, Anya opened the door.
“Hey, sorry for before.” Mallory pushed a hand through her hair, self-consciously.
“No worries—come on in.” Anya paused after closing the door. “You’re not wearing that, are you?”
“What?” Mallory looked down. “I’m going to a self-defense class.”
Anya tilted her head. “Yeah, but you’re wearing gray and white. It washes you out.”
“I don’t really have exercise clothes.”
“Well, good thing for you, I’ve got the key to the sample room. Come on, girlfriend—we’re going to deck you out in some bling.”
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