Her life was fine as it was. She had a nice one-bedroom apartment with a big bathroom and charming little kitchenette, complete with lots of bookshelves and plants. The space was hers and she loved it. She didn’t need to share that space with anyone to feel complete. And she didn’t mind when her occasional lovers hit the road with an, “I’ll call” that never amounted to anything.
That was what she wanted.
Casual sex had always been enough for her before. She’d been discriminating about her lovers and made sure she liked them well enough in and out of bed. Her plan had worked perfectly for years.
But it had been months since she’d slept with anyone. She was sick of waiting and just as sick of wanting Spencer and knowing it could never happen. Not if she wanted to advance at her job without dealing with all sorts of gossip and innuendoes. Though Tony worked under Marcia and no one made an issue out of it. Of course, guys always seemed to operate under their own set of rules.
And that was even assuming Spencer was the least bit interested in her. Other than those blink-and-it’s-over glances at her breasts in his office, she’d never gotten a single vibe that he’d even noticed she was female.
Then again, her list had disappeared. Could this be a sign the time had come to step outside her comfort zone?
“I thought Kink had been closed down,” she said as Alana stared at her, clearly waiting for an answer.
“Yeah, they have been. Several times. They wait a few months, try out a new location and shift things around.”
“How do they manage that? Wouldn’t that cost a lot of money?”
“The owners are loaded. Supposedly they’re ultra-kinky and the hubby came up with the club idea to please his wife. She gets off on watching people do each other, I guess.” Alana shrugged. “Who knows. That could be some urban legend. No one’s ever really investigated it, far as I know.”
Kelly gripped the cat’s-eye amulet dangling between her breasts, unable to come up with a response. Was she being silly? Should she just go with Alana and see where the night led?
“It’s not nearly as blatant as I made it sound,” Alana added. “The people who go there are normal. Really. They’re just like you and me, with a few more quirks.”
Kelly let out a laugh. “Not sure I’m that kind of normal.”
“You’re just repressed is all.”
Kelly fingered her necklace. “I don’t know, Lan. Maybe I’m getting too old for this stuff. According to you, I should be excited about going to Kink. And I’m not.”
The only prospect that excited her anymore was wrapping herself in the comforting familiarity of The Book Nook. And seeing Spencer, even though most of the time he was so uptight she wondered what she possibly saw in him.
Alana plopped down next to her on the bed. “How about this? We’ll pour you into this dress and go play for an hour. If you’re not feeling it, we’ll leave.”
“The last time you said that I had to catch a ride home with Freddy Fingers, the guy with the hairy knuckles that kept finding their way into my bra.”
“That won’t happen tonight. Promise. I won’t abandon you for sex—group or otherwise.” Alana’s eyes sparkled. “Heck, you might even like it and want to stay.”
“Don’t think so. Besides, I have to be up at—”
“Five a.m. for work. Yeah, yeah, I know your spiel. C’mon then. Let’s get you out of those granny clothes.” Alana bounced to her feet, still clutching the dress. She turned back, lips pursed. “Oh, and seriously, Kel? Skip the underwear. Easier access.”
* * *
Two games of racquetball, a long cold shower and a quick dinner of Chinese takeout later, Spencer headed to Kink. He kept a change of clothes in his locker at the gym, though he rarely skipped a trip home to get dressed. A pair of wrinkled khakis and a gray T-shirt wasn’t exactly his outfit of choice but he didn’t have the patience to make the twenty-minute drive to his apartment.
His needs hadn’t been entirely sated by the hard bout of exercise, but it had taken the edge off. Time to move to phase two.
It was already pushing 9 p.m. and he had to be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow. Not only was there all of today’s work he hadn’t finished, namely the stacks of P&Ls he had to evaluate and the dozen phone calls and emails he needed to return, but the first order of business would be talking to his staff.
Allof his staff.
Everyone needed a reminder that The Book Nook was a business. He had no intention of tolerating anything that diluted anyone’s focus on the job at hand.
Including his own.
He hadn’t yet figured out how he would handle Kelly, since she technically hadn’t done anything wrong other than exercising her sharp tongue. Even that hadn’t been much of an infraction. She was certainly allowed to pursue recreational activities outside work. He hadn’t gotten a single report that she wasn’t doing her job. Even Marcia had admitted grudgingly that she’d never seen anyone more committed to The Book Nook, other than him.
It wasn’t as if he could write her up for having the gall to rank him dead last on her stupid list. He almost wished he could.