The passion between them hadn’t faded. When he’d picked her up at her condominium before their date, the desire had sparked in her gaze. Christ, he’d experienced it, too, becoming rock hard as he drew in her lilac scent.
She was dressed in a short, black dress with buttons down the chest, and he’d never seen anyone look so beautiful. Her light hair was down, and in soft waves with a thick braid pulling her bangs off to one side. And her expressive eyes, reflecting green tonight, drew his need to possess her.
Squeezing her fingers, he enjoyed how the trembling eased under his touch. She held his stare, her pupils dilating. Yeah, we’ve got something special here. “I’ll be back in a minute, all right?”
She gave a genuine smile. “I’ll be waiting.”
Of course you will.
He rose and then pushed his chair under the table, never breaking eye contact. While he knew there was pain inside her, she also recovered well, and he respected that. Ella was a strong woman. She’d been through a lot, and though he may not know to what extent, he was definitely going to find out.
Responsive. Submissive. Emotional. Strong.
She was the right combination of everything he’d looked for in a woman. He couldn’t pretend any longer to hide how happy he was that she’d come into his life. Sawyer was right; he had no patience. Perhaps he should give Ella more time to get to know him and to discuss all this with Aidan, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to protect her, cherish her, and find out all her secrets.
Tearing his gaze off Ella, he strode through the busy restaurant, hearing laughter and soft conversations around him. With tension riding his shoulders, he headed toward the hallway where the men’s room was located. There, he reached into his pocket, grabbing out his personal cell phone, and dialed Dmitri.
Dmitri answered on the second ring.
“It’s Kyler. How are things?”
“I’m in the dungeon,” Dmitri replied with an amused voice, “and watching Myles flog the hell out of Kenzie. Why are you not here? And why are you calling me?”
Kyler wasn’t surprised Dmitri wondered over his absence and his odd telephone call. Since Club Sin opened four years ago, Kyler hadn’t missed a night. While they were close, it wasn’t often they called each other on the telephone, not when they saw each other once during the week for a guys’ night and in the dungeon on the weekends. “I have no clue if I can pull this off, but I wondered if you’d bend the rules slightly for me tonight.”
“Bend the rules?” Dmitri’s voice tightened.
Dmitri never changed Club Sin rules. That’s what made the dungeon exclusive. Privacy was of the utmost importance to Dmitri and to the other members. Yet the situation with Ella was different than most. Kyler couldn’t go the typical route—asking her to have a physical to confirm a clean bill of health and sign Club Sin’s membership agreement—without scaring her. She needed to be brought gently into his lifestyle.
She had to see what the dungeon meant and understand exactly what she’d do there. Kyler stayed quiet as a man walked by him. Then, resuming his conversation, “I’d like to bring someone to the club tonight. At this point, I have no clue if she’ll want to stay.”
“The vanilla girl?” Laughter lightened Dmitri’s voice. “Aidan’s assistant.”
“That’d be her.”
Dmitri paused, and the music from the club sounded through the speakers, as did Kenzie’s screams of pure, unadulterated pleasure. “You’d like to bring Ella by to test her?”
“I want to slowly introduce the idea to her and allow her the time to understand it all,” Kyler replied.
“She won’t have the medical tests required to join, so no sex in the dungeon—that rule cannot be broken.”
“Ah, so I can have sex in your living room, since that’s not exactly the dungeon?” Kyler mused.
Dmitri chuckled. “I doubt Presley would appreciate you having sex in our living room. However, what she doesn’t see won’t hurt her.”
Keep it private, the message came through clearly.
Dmitri continued. “Aidan talked to me about Ella before, back when she first started working for him. He said she has no family or friends in Vegas, so I doubt she’d talk about the club. But stress the importance of privacy.” He hesitated. “Perhaps we should have her sign that privacy clause of the agreement. She works for a lawyer, she’ll take it seriously.”
Kyler wondered what Aidan had said to Dmitri. He also knew Dmitri wouldn’t tell him. It wasn’t a Dom’s way to speak for others. Aidan was due home next Friday, and Kyler would make it a point to find out a little more about Ella. “Fair enough.”
Dmitri said, “I’ll let the others know about her and the deal we’ve arr
anged.”
“Perfect. I owe you one.” Kyler ended the call, placing his phone in his pocket. A warm sensation swept through him. He had good friends, and appreciated them. Dmitri didn’t have to agree to this arrangement, but Kyler was all too pleased he had.
Now to get Ella to agree.