“You heard me,” he says. His face is stern, but Ryder’s eyes are twinkling. He’s enjoying this, I realize. He likes this banter, this dialogue between us. “When I finally get you into my bed, June Gables, I’m going to give you the spanking you just earned.” He leans in a little bit and adds, “and more.”
Then Ryder slides off his barstool and tips an invisible hat, turns, and walks away.
And now I’m alone in the bar wondering what the hell I’m supposed to do now.
***
My week passes slowly.
Every day, I look at Ryder’s number in my phone and think about calling him.
And every day, I set my phone down and roll my eyes because I am a huge idiot. I shouldn’t even have his number, but I pulled it from his membership record and added him as a contact in my phone. You know, just in case.
Just in case what?
Just in case I have a pussy emergency only he can help me with?
No matter how much I masturbate this week, I can’t get Ryder out of my head. Nothing offers me relief from the warm sensation that’s been growing inside of me. There’s just nothing that can erase the feeling of his tongue on mine, and I hate this. I hate how vulnerable I feel when I’m thinking about him. I hate how eager, how needy I am.
Ryder Hawke is one hell of a man, but me?
I’m no match for him.
Not in any way.
So I do my best to push Ryder out of my head and instead of fantasizing about him, I think about work, I think about my family, and I think about the direction I want to take the club. We already have beginner and intermediate classes in place, but I’d like to add some advanced bondage classes, as well. I think it’ll be a great way to help my members learn and explore this part of themselves.
I think they’ll love being able to safely learn new techniques when it comes to BDSM and playing with their partners. One of the most important things to me is that I provide a safe, educational place for my members. BDSM clubs seem to have this reputation of being sketchy and dirty. I want to change that.
I want to change the whole damn world.
If I do nothing else with my life, I want to know that I did something to help my friends. Piper, Christina, Thorn, Lily…these people have become my dear, dear friends. While many of Anchored’s original members came to the club as strangers, we’ve gotten close, and I don’t know what I’d do without them. Odessa has been incredible. Mistress D? She’s been fantastic.
And then there’s Ryder.
There’s beautiful, perfect, no-good-for-me-at-all Ryder.
I sit back in my chair and sigh.
I would do anything for that man, and that’s a dangerous thing.
Chapter 6
Ryder
Another week passes.
Once again, June and I spend both Friday and Saturday evenings in the corner at the bar. In between drink orders, we talk. In between making martinis and pouring beers, June tells me about her life, about her childhood, about her Grandmother. She tells me about her life and little by little, I find myself falling in love with June.
This frightens me.
I can’t tell anyone how I feel about June. There is literally no one I can talk to about this. If my superiors had even the slightest inkling that I was interested in a civilian, they would pull me from this case and stick me on instant desk duty. I don’t want that. I can’t have that.
No, what I need is June.
All I need is June.
I sit with her while she closes up the bar on Saturday night. At three in the morning, she hits a button to turn off the music and on the lights. There are a few groans from the last remaining patrons, but June shrugs and everyone quietly files out of the club.