“This is my club now. If I have to rebuild it from the ground up, so be it. But I’m not going to let the fear of what might happen stop me from doing what needs to be done.”
“Very noble,” Edward said dryly. “I hope those principles of yours are going to pay the bills when this place is empty in a few months.”
“Somehow,” I said. “I think I’ll manage. Put your coins on the bar and leave, or I’ll call security, and have you dragged out. Actually, I’d prefer the second option much more if you wouldn’t mind.”
The clink of their coins hitting the bar was the kind of satisfaction money couldn’t buy. They both left, and for all I knew, they were right. Cutting them out from the club might very well ruin me. It could cause a chain reaction of influential members leaving until I was left with nothing but my name on a piece of paper and an empty building. But just like trying to sign the club and hotel to Andi, it felt right.
For now, that was good enough.29AndiLandon met me at the secret entrance just after midnight.
He stopped, as if noticing my shirt for the first time. “Oh,” he said quietly.
I grinned. I was wearing a black sweater with a little plush version of the alien from the movie Alien bursting out of my stomach.
“I’m not walking you through the lobby of my club with that thing on,” he said. He was trying to sound serious, but I could tell he was trying not to laugh. “Take it off.”
In what I could only describe as a wild combination of stubbornness, willfulness, and a dedication to be just downright being irritating, I pulled the sweater off and let it fall to the ground.
Of course, I also wasn’t wearing a bra.
I wasn’t exactly sure what I expected, but Landon practically lifted me off my feet in his hurry to kiss me. My legs instinctively wrapped around his waist.
It was everything I remembered.
Fire.
Energy.
His lips found mine in a hungry flurry of kisses. His palm found my breast and cupped. He ran his thumb across my nipple, drawing a gasp from me that he swallowed up with a kiss.
I broke off from the kiss, biting my lip. “As much as I don’t want this to stop, I don’t think… this in the hallway is going to help me finish the list.”
Landon’s eyes smoldered. “If you want me to take my hands off you, put those away.”
“Is that a command, Mr. Dom?”
Landon looked like he was searching for the right words. Finally, he just laughed, shaking his head. “Teaching you to be a submissive is going to be more difficult than I imagined.”
“What?” I asked. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No,” Landon said after a short pause. “I actually prefer you exactly the way you are.”
“Topless?” I asked.
He grinned. “Yes. But that’s not exactly what I was talking about.”
Once I had put my sweater back on, I followed behind Landon after a brief refresher course on the rules of submission. Eyes down. No looking at other men. No talking unless spoken to. Yada yada.
I more or less played by the rules as we made our way through the lobby. I did peek around, just taking in the sights as we headed for the tangle of hallways that led away from the room. As usual, music thumped loudly, handsome men led scantily dressed women from place to place, and others lounged at the bar. I still felt far from comfortable inside The Golden Pecker, but more and more, I was coming to appreciate it.
I’d always enjoyed books as a kid where the characters found some secret passageway in a closet or a basement that led them to another word. In its own, leather-clad way, the club was like one of those doorways. Nothing down here felt quite real—like the world was being held at bay by a thin barrier.
It helped me to see what Landon meant when I’d said I felt dirty in the sensory deprivation tub. He’d told me society couldn’t reach me down here, and that I didn’t need to feel guilty for enjoying myself.
I could see that’s what this place was for the members. They were all probably businessmen and women, influential figures, and they probably all lived very normal, professional lives. But down here, they could let go. They could indulge without fear of being judged.
I’d been so hung up on the idea that I should be mad at Landon after he told me who he really was. Being here reminded me how easy it was to stop worrying about what I should do or what others might think. I could just do what I wanted.
And right now? Right now, I wanted to enjoy tonight. I wanted to give this whole crazy, wild, submissive thing a shot. And I wanted to hand the reins to Landon Collins.