“Maybe you’ll find yourself someone to play with here tonight,” I said.
“Nope, me and Briar will be heading straight up to the roof to watch tonight’s comedian—he’s freaking hilarious. You and Danton could skip your plans and come join us, Cat,” Inaya suggested, but I could see she knew I’d veto that.
“As our plans involve orgasms, I’m not interested in canceling them.”
Izzy snickered. “I said pretty much the same thing when she invited me.”
Inaya shook her head with a mock sigh of disappointment. “Dumping your friends for cock. You should both be ashamed of yourselves.”
I let out a soft snort. “You’re just jealous because you’re not getting laid on a regular basis.”
“Totally,” Inaya easily admitted.
I chuckled. “There’s got to be someone here who’s caught your eye.”
She grimaced. “There are several, but my conversations with them all went the same way. They only see Inaya Rose the rock musician, not little ole me.”
Briar materialized at my side, her lips flat. “I need Tequila.”
I frowned. “Uh-oh. Did your mom do something to piss you off again?”
“No. And I’m not pissed, just frustrated.” Briar gave the bartender her order and then elaborated, “My dads invited me to go for a meal tomorrow night. Although Ansel is a terrific actor—award winning actor, actually—I can always tell when he’s hiding stuff from me. So it didn’t take me long to sense that there was something shifty going on.”
“Did he fess up what it was?” I asked.
“Eventually.” She slapped cash on the bar as a glass of Tequila was placed in front of her. “It was supposed to be a set up. Neither he nor Troy planned to actually show at the restaurant. Their plan was to have some guy there waiting who they think will be perfect for me.”
“So they’re taking the matchmaking to the next level,” said Izzy with a wince.
Briar sniffed. “Pretty much, yeah. Ansel didn’t apologize. He just went on and on about how I can do so much better than Grover. I know you guys agree with that. But it’s easy with him.”
Inaya cocked her head. “In what way?”
Briar knocked back her drink. “I seek out dominant men, but I’m not very submissive. Nor do I have a real fetish. I just like to be helpless. That’s it. That’s what I get off on. Grover’s good at catering to that.” She placed her glass down on the bar. “Although there’s only so many ways someone can bind you before it starts to feel tedious.”
Inaya’s brow furrowed. “Sex shouldneverbe tedious.”
“Grover’s not exactly inventive, but he’s a good match for me.” Briar folded her arms. “Others were all ‘tell me what you want me to do.’ I don’t want to have to run the show.”
“That’s not being helpless,” said Izzy.
“Exactly,” said Briar. “Tops aregreatat giving me what I want. But I can’t give them what they want, I can’t submit in the way they need, so it never works out for more than one night. Although Grover likes control, he isn’t a Top. He doesn’t need absolute submission. So in bed, we work.”
Inaya gave her a soft smile. “Now I get why you haven’t brushed him off despite rarely seeing him. Sorry I pushed you to find someone else.”
“You only did it because you care.” Briar gently squeezed her arm. “Thank you for caring.”
Inaya went to speak again, but then something behind me caught her attention. “Ooh, Iz, your dude is here.”
Seconds later, Cole wrapped his arm around Izzy’s waist, lifted her right off her stool, and pulled her against him. He gave her a soft, hungry kiss. “Sorry I’m late, baby.”
“No worries.” Izzy pressed a hand to his chest. “How did the meeting with your manager go?”
He grunted. “It went.” He nodded at Danton, who right then sidled up to me and took my hand in his.
“Say your goodbyes,” Danton told me. “I want you all to myself now.”
I wished the others a good night and then allowed Danton to lead me to the lounge. We ate, drank, talked, and laughed. Well,Ilaughed. He let out the occasional soft chuckle.