As soon as I made it to the hall, a massive man with a huge forehead was waiting, like a bouncer. He didn’t say anything. He gave me a friendly smile and gestured to the stairs. Tara set her hand in the small of my back and urged me to go that way.
“Once a client’s gone to the payment room, there’s no more contact. That’s for your safety.”
I think I was numb with shock, on total emotional overload. When I blinked, I was back on that same couch in the lounge. Payton was already dressed.
“It was Logan,” I said, still unable to make sense. How the hell did he know I was here? And how the fuck was I going to go into the office on Monday?
“Your boss?”
“Yeah,” Tara said, “Her hotter than the surface of the sun, boss.”
“You didn’t tell me he was hot.” Payton accused me with a look. “All you said was he was an asshole.”
“I never said that, he’s not—” Was I defending him? “He’s good looking but he’s my manager. And until tonight, I didn’t think he liked me.”
Tara had a wide smile. “Jesus, you should have seen the look on his face when he came in and saw you.”
I couldn’t even imagine. I didn’t know him, but now I wanted to know everything about him.
Payton helped me get dressed. The bars were still open and she wanted to celebrate with a drink. I could barely focus on the simple task of pulling the dress on, how would I function in public? Adding to my confusion, Tara kissed me on the cheek and whispered a “thanks” before leaving, reminding me what I’d done.
Oh, god.
“I have to go home,” I said to Payton as we started for Joseph’s office.
She stopped moving, her face frozen in an expression I didn’t understand. “You didn’t like it?” Her voice sounded like a ghost.
I took a deep breath because it wasn’t easy to admit. “I did, I’m just on sensory overload.”
She collapsed into a chair at the edge of the lounge.
Panic rose inside me. I hadn’t seen her look unsteady before. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m fucking relieved, is all.”
“What? That I . . . liked it?” It wasn’t easier to say the second time either.
“Yeah, because now I know there’s nothing seriously wrong with me. That I’m not all fucked up.”
Now it made sense. She hadn’t told me her real reason so it wouldn’t invalidate her test results. She’d endured a lot of guys calling her whore and slut over the years. Their judgment always seemed to bounce off her. But she had a strict Catholic upbringing, and maybe deep down she worried there was truth there. That she enjoyed sex and that was wrong.
“I did like it,” I said, finding strength. “It was mind-blowing, the greatest sex of my life. I may have done some things I’m not sure I’ll be super comfortable with tomorrow, but I’m not ashamed I enjoyed it.”
Her smile was epic.
Joseph gave me a fat manila envelope in his office. Before he could ask—
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think it’s for me,” I said. “But thank you for everything.”
“You know where we are if you change your mind.”
I followed Payton down the stairs, through the hallway, and into the now-empty holding room, where the black guy with the clipboard sat on the couch.
“You girls ready?” he asked, lumbering to his feet.
“Yeah,” Payton said with a glowing smile. “How is it you’re always the one who escorts me out, Julius?”
The enormous man beamed. “Just dumb luck, I think.”