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  Emily’s eyes shot wide. Shit. This was why she never should have gone with V to the club in the first place. They worked in a high school, for crying out loud. Either of them could get fired if anyone found out they were participating in anything remotely seedy.

  Besides, they’d learned nothing about Claire except the unlikelihood her sister had been involved in drugs in a club that didn’t serve alcohol. Still, there was always the possibility someone knew something. It wasn’t like the cops were dashing around town trying to solve the mysterious death of some twenty-seven-year-old drug addict. If Emily wanted any answers at all, she was going to have to ferret them out herself.

  “Em? Are you there? I’m totally kidding, you know. Right?”

  “Yeah.” Emily tried to giggle, but couldn’t quite manage it. She’d clearly lost her mind for the last ten hours. She had no business entertaining the possibility of returning to that club, let alone becoming a “trainee” to a hot sexy stud like Rider. Who, you might want to recall, was considerably younger than you. Guys that age did not settle down and have serious relationships.

  As if Virginia could read her mind, she asked, “How old was that guy anyway?”

  “No idea. Don’t care. Doesn’t matter.”

  “You sure? You seemed pretty into him last night.”

  “Yeah. Well, that was last night. This is today. The sun is out. I’m thinking clearer.” You can tell yourself anything you want.

  “Em, come on, girl. Live a little. The guy was totally into you. You know you’re interested or you wouldn’t have come with me three weeks in a row. You knew the chances Claire got her drugs from anyone in the club were slim after the first night, and yet you went back with me two more times because I was intrigued with the place. You’re curious too. Let your hair down and give it a shot. What’s to lose?”

  That was just it. Emily thought there was a lot to lose. If anyone at work found out, she was toast. Of course that was true for V also. The high school would frown on either the librarian or the History teacher spending their free time at a fetish club. But there was more at stake. Emily was afraid of losing herself…

  “Em?”

  “I’m here. There’s still the possibility someone knew something about Claire even if she didn’t meet her dealer there.”

  “It’s possible, but does it matter?” Her voice was kind. She didn’t mean to insult.

  Emily understood completely, but it didn’t alter her need for answers.

  “I’m so sorry, hon. The whole thing sucks. Listen, I’ll let you go for now. As for Claire, I don’t think she was getting drugs from anyone at Extreme.”

  “Yeah, me neither. But it doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a connection there, someone who knew her. Maybe she had a Dom. Maybe someone was with her the night she died. I need to know.”

  “I understand, sweetie. And hey, you don’t need an excuse to go to Extreme again. Even if this thing with Claire is a dead end, it doesn’t mean you can’t continue to go there. If you find you like the lifestyle, go for it. I’d give it a shot if a hunk like that guy came up to me—in a heartbeat.” Virginia chuckled.

  “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I’ve gotta go. Books are waiting for me to read them.”

  “Sure. Talk to you soon.”

  “Bye, V.” She hung up, still lying on the bed, naked, facing the ceiling, her chest heaving. She closed her eyes and replayed her conversation with Rider last night for the tenth time. And for the tenth time, her sex grew wet. Not surprising. The man was a hunk and the way he spoke to her made her shiver with need no matter how many times she ran through their interlude in her mind.

  After several minutes, Emily pulled herself off the bed, unwrapped her hair, and padded toward her dresser for clothes. The second she pulled her panties over her bare sex she moaned. No wonder women found this appealing. Her clit was practically exposed to the cotton of her panties. Every touch against her bare skin seemed more intense.

  Ignoring her plight, she quickly tossed on some comfy shorts and a tank top. She had a stack of reading material a mile high in her living room needing attention. And she had ten weeks to get it all done before the school year started again.

  This was how her summers were spent, reading new books to make sure they were age appropriate and getting them categorized for the library. She loved it. She might not make much money, but she enjoyed the job of helping teens learn to love reading so much she would never consider a different career.

  She grabbed the first book on the stack and curled up in her favorite rocking chair by the sliding glass doors in the back of her kitchen. The best part about living in Vegas—the sun shone nearly every day, lighting up her kitchen in the morning before moving to her living room in the afternoon.

  Within minutes, she was so consumed by the book, she let the rest of her weird world slip away for the morning.

  •●•

  Rider showed up at the gym at nine a.m. ready to spar. After a night of tossing and turning, thinking about the sexy woman hidden under the conservative clothes last night, he needed the physical release of a good workout.

  When he entered the gym, he found Mason and Rafe already hard at work in one of the rings. It wasn’t surprising. Those two often arrived before anyone else. They’d been close friends since college and had known each other the longest of The Fight Club members. Not to mention, both of them had met and hitched with a woman within the last year.

  Rider waved and headed to the locker room to stash his things. He found Gage tying his shoes. “Ready to get your ass kicked?”

  Rider smirked. “Are you?”

  “I don’t need to be.” Gage’s smile widened. “Meet you in the cage?”

  “Yep.” It had been a few weeks since they’d had an actual fight, so Rider and Gage had agreed to a skirmish this morning to stay on top of their game.

  The owner of the gym, Joe Marks, would be their mock referee.

  When Rider entered the octagon, he found Gage stretching his neck in both directions, his gloves on, his mouth guard in place. He spoke through the plastic with a lisp. “Come on, man. You’re dragging around today like an old guy.”

  Joe chuckled in the corner. “I heard you had a woman last night.”

  Rider narrowed his gaze at Gage and then turned toward Joe. “Hardly. I spent a few minutes talking to a newbie, helping her get a feel of the place. The rest of these bastards…” he nodded toward Mason and Rafe and then the other direction where Conner and Zane were lifting weights, “…have blown it all out of proportion.”

  “Was she hot?” Joe asked, ignoring everything Rider said.

  Gage jumped forward on both feet, his bounce indicating he was ready to get the show on the road. “She was a cougar.”

  Rider rolled his eyes. “She was barely thirty.”

  “Yeah, but for a young guy like you…” Gage laughed.

  Rider was twenty-five, hardly too young for a woman like Emily. He shook his head. What the hell are you thinking, man? She isn’t your woman anyway. His friends were distorting the evening until even Rider had it blown up larger than it had actually occurred. Chances of Emily returning to the club next Friday were slim.

  He’d tested her, pushed her boundaries, given her something to think about. Sure, it hadn’t escaped him how turned on she was, but it didn’t mean she would succumb to his demands and give a shot at being trained in the D/s world.

  Turning his attention back to the ring, he finished strapping on his gloves and bounced into the center. “Let’s do this.”

  Joe rang the bell, and the mock match was underway. Unlike a regular match, Joe shouted out instructions to both men as they sparred. The goal this morning was to hone their technique.

  Both men bounced on their feet.

  When Gage jumped forward with a left hook, Rider dodged to the side and counter attacked with a roundhouse kick that landed high on Gage’s bicep.

  “Good, Rider. Make sure you don’t get off balance when you land.” Joe
remained to the side of Rider in the cage.

  Gage immediately followed the kick with a wide sweep of one leg, taking Rider down to his knees.

  “Dammit.” He jumped back to his feet instantly, but furious with himself for not seeing that one coming.

  “That’s what I meant about being balanced.” Joe pointed at the floor. “If you don’t come out of the roundhouse steady on your feet, your opponent’s gonna take you out.”

  Rider bounced back a few feet, staying in motion, but giving himself a chance to regroup.

  “Good. Now, Gage, get a few punches in while Rider is off-balance.”

  Rider squared up against Gage, prepared to block anything Gage threw at him.

  Gage threw a left hook and immediately followed it with a knee strike, but Rider anticipated the move and bent to lock Gage in a neck hold. Gage backed up, ducking to escape the arm around his neck.

  Rider pulled him toward the ground, aiming for a takedown. If he could secure Gage in a submission hold…

  But Gage managed to escape and threw a jab, hitting Rider in the jaw. They backed off for a second and then came back toward each other. Rider landed a leg kick to Gage’s left side, causing Gage to falter long enough for Rider to follow up with a sweep that knocked Gage to his knees.

  Joe’s voice droned on in the background, shouting out advice and maneuvers while Rider kept one ear trained to his coach.

  Gage clinched Rider around the waist to avoid the takedown, but this only gave Rider the perfect position to jab Gage in the head. Suddenly, in a perfect sweep, Gage took Rider down and landed on top of him, grappling for a better position.

  Rider was unable to regain control. He squirmed to get out of Gage’s submission hold, but Gage had the upper hand.

  They continued to spar. Normally, they were evenly matched. Today, however, Rider was not on top of his game. Gage repeatedly got the better of him.

  When they finished, exhausted and in desperate need of more water, Rider plopped down on the corner bench, tipped his head back, and squeezed his water bottle directly into his throat, swallowing until he didn’t feel quite so parched.

  “When are you seeing her again?”

  Rider jerked his gaze to Gage. Joe had already ducked out of the ring, leaving the two of them to stretch and get on with their day. “Who?”

  “The librarian, of course.”

  “Stop calling her that.”

  “Why? It suits her. Makes a good nickname. I mean she had to look for it. Why not?” He chuckled.

  “I’ll tell you why not.” Rider leaned his elbows on his knees. “Because guess what she does for a living?”

  Gage’s eyes went wide. “No shit.” Now he laughed outright. “That’s rich. Oh Lord, the guys are going to have a field day with this one.”

  Rider shook his head as he grabbed his discarded gloves, his water bottle, and his towel. Ignoring Gage’s mirth, he exited the fenced area, and made his way to the locker room.

  Gage followed. “Do you think she’ll come back again after the way you grilled her last night?”

  “Not sure.”

  “But you asked her to.” It wasn’t a question. Gage was astute.

  Rider nodded as he pushed into the locker room. The rest of the guys were already in there between the lockers. They had some sort of radar honed in on Rider to annoy him to death.

  Gage chuckled. He spoke to the room at large, a bit louder. “Who thinks the librarian chick will show up again next Friday?”

  Two of the four raised a hand. All of them laughed.

  “For fuck’s sake. Don’t you guys have anything better to do?” Rider asked, yanking open his locker, unwilling to admit he feared the chances were about as fifty-fifty as the vote had gone.

  “We do,” Mason said, “but this is so much more fun.”

  Conner whipped out his baseball cap from his locker and laid it upside down on the bench. “Wagers, fellows.”

  Rider stiffened. He turned to stare at all of them. “How old are you guys?”

  “Old enough to know this is going to be the most fun we’ve had in a while,” Rafe said.

  Gage grabbed his wallet from his locker and opened it to take out some bills. “I have twenty that says she shows up but fails to submit in any way.”

  “I’ll bet on that.” Rafe tossed his twenty into the hat.

  Conner stepped forward, opening his own wallet. “Twenty says she doesn’t show.”

  Zane smacked his money on the bench next to the hat. “I’m with Conner. No way that woman returns after encountering Rider last night.”

  Rider rolled his eyes. “You’re all crazy. Who cares if she shows or not?” You do, big guy, but you might want to keep that to yourself.

  The guys turned toward Mason, who stared at the ceiling contemplating his wager. Finally, he stepped forward. He pulled out forty dollars. “I’ll raise you all. I say she not only shows up, but lets Rider get between her legs.”

  All five of them roared with laughter.

  “Are you assholes finished?” Rider asked when the noise level died down to a lower decibel.

  Gage wiped the tears from his eyes, shaking his head. “No. Someone needs to define ‘between her legs.’ Fingers? Eyes? His cock? What are we talking about here, Mason?”

  Mason shrugged. “Any of the above. That woman is wound tight. She’s never submitted in her life. If he gets a visual or cops a feel, I’d say that’s progress. If he gets more, I’ll give him my forty bucks.”

  “Done.” Since Conner had put the hat out, he gathered the money. No one worried about trusting any of the others. They’d been friends for years.

  Rider walked past them without looking back, his head shaking in disbelief. He wasn’t sure whether to be pissed or laugh along with them.

  What he did know was if Emily showed up on Friday night to take him up on his offer, he was in for the ribbing of a lifetime.

  And he wasn’t completely certain she wouldn’t be worth it.

  •●•

  On Thursday afternoon, Emily pulled up to the fetish shop she’d found online about forty-five minutes away from her condo. It was absurd, but the last thing she wanted to do was run into somebody she might know anywhere near her home. This entire thing was crazy. She had no idea what she was doing there. In fact, she sat for long moments in the car, gripping the steering wheel and staring at the entrance.

  She’d gone back and forth with this decision all week. Sometimes she’d come to the conclusion there was no way she was going back to Extreme. And then just as quickly, her mind would wander to their booth, to those shared minutes with Rider, to the intensity in his gaze and the way he made her sex quiver with arousal.

  She’d finally decided it wouldn’t kill her to at least visit the sex shop and purchase something. It didn’t mean anything. It didn’t mean she was committed to returning to Extreme tomorrow night. And this far away from home, no one would ever know.

  Taking a deep breath, she exited her car and made her way to the entrance. A bell rang over the door as she opened it, seeming much louder than it probably was and making her flinch. The only person inside was a tall skinny woman perched on a stool behind the counter, flipping through a magazine. She glanced up and smiled at Emily, the pink tips of her hair falling across her forehead and landing almost in her eyes. “Hi. Let me know if there’s anything you need help with.”

  Emily nodded. “Thanks. I’m just going to look around.” Her hands shook so badly she gripped them into fists at her sides. Keeping her gaze straight ahead, she wandered immediately toward the clothing section. She figured she’d probably hyperventilate if she spent much time letting her gaze land on all the many sex toys up and down the aisles. The one vibrator she owned she’d purchased online. She’d never actually been inside a fetish shop.

  She wasn’t totally innocent of the particulars, though. After going through Claire’s apartment and cleaning out her belongings, she’d learned more than a sister should ever know. The clo
thing in Claire’s closet, combined with the items in her bedside table, are what first propelled Emily to look into what places Claire frequented. Rummaging through her desk and then finding her calendar had empowered Emily with more than enough information to trace her sister’s favorite spots. Extreme had been on Claire’s calendar at least once a week.

  Remembering Claire’s closet, Emily thumbed through several racks of clothing, her tension increasing as she did so. How the hell was she going to wear anything she saw here?

  Exasperated, her gaze finally landed on something she thought she could live with. A simple black leather skirt, faux leather no doubt, and too short for her normally, but more than appropriate for Extreme.

  She grabbed the skirt from the rack and then searched for a top. This was difficult since nearly everything was some sort of overly revealing corset or bra. Finally, she spotted a tight purple shirt that might work, also faux leather.

  When she lifted her gaze, she found the lady behind the desk glancing her way. “You want to try those on?”

  “Yeah. Thank you.”

  The woman jumped down from her stool, tucking her hair behind her ears. She showed Emily to a dressing room. “Yell if you need me.”

  Emily exhaled slowly as she shut the curtain to the room and put the hangers on the hook on one wall. She quickly changed from her jean shorts and tank top to the black skirt and purple top. When she spun to the mirror behind her, she was surprised to see she didn’t look half bad. The purple leather was almost like a corset, but it had straps, which would give her the benefit of feeling like it wasn’t going to fall off her.

  Her waist looked smaller and her boobs pushed up enough to give the impression she had some. She smiled. It would work.

  If she returned to Extreme.

  If she had the courage to face Rider again.

  If she didn’t manage to find her brain cells before tomorrow night.

  Chapter Six

  Rider leaned against the bar Friday night on one elbow. He had his body turned toward the entrance to the club, trying to nonchalantly keep an eye on everyone who entered without being obvious. He lifted his bottle of water and took another drink. It was hot in the club tonight. Or maybe it was just him. His nerves.