Mistress Katrina stepped through the opening. She grinned at Ali and Bridget. “Good evening. Ladies.” She paused, her smile not quite as bright as she greeted Ryan. “Ryan.”
Rumor had it that something went down between Katrina and Ryan months ago, but no one seemed to know what. They used to play together all the time, but they hadn’t since whatever happened, happened.
They all returned the greeting, then Ryan took a step toward the door Katrina had entered from. “I should get inside.” He looked directly at Katrina, and he lowered his voice. “Excuse me, Mistress Katrina.”
Katrina nodded, keeping her back to him as he left.
“Was there a problem, Mistress Katrina?” Bridget asked.
The club mistress smiled. “Not at all, but I was hoping to have a word with Ali.”
“Oh, of course.” Bridget shot Ali a look, then scampered off into the club.
Once they were alone, Katrina moved behind the desk and took a seat. Ali felt awkward standing when Katrina was sitting, but there was nowhere for her to go except on the floor and that didn’t feel right either. “What can I do for you, Mistress Katrina?”
“I wanted to see how you’re doing?”
Ali knew what she was referring to, but she asked anyway. “You’re talking about me and Daniel?”
Katrina nodded.
“Things are good.” She paused. “I mean, we’re still trying to figure things out, but that’s normal, right?”
“Yes. Very.” Katrina crossed her legs and rested her hands on her knee. The new position pushed her breasts together, amplifying her already generous assets. “I witnessed some of your scene last night.”
Ali lowered her gaze as heat once again crept up her cheeks.
Katrina chuckled. “There’s no need to be embarrassed. No one here will judge you.”
“I know. It’s not that.”
Katrina waited for her to go on.
“Whenever he and I are together it feels so...” She searched for the right word. “Private.”
“I see.”
Ali crossed her arms in front of her. “That sounds silly, doesn’t it?”
Katrina’s response didn’t come as quickly as Ali expected. “No.”
She waited for Katrina to elaborate, but she didn’t. “When I’m in the moment, I don’t think about anything but him. It’s only after when people talk to me about it that I want to bury my head in the sand.”
“This thing between you and Daniel has been brewing for a long time.”
Ali shook her head. That wasn’t true. Was it?
“It has.”
Ali didn’t argue.
“Given the arrangement you two had prior to last night with him negotiating scenes for you, it’s bound to cause people to talk.”
Ali nodded. Her arrangement with Daniel, if one could call it that, was somewhat odd, especially for someone who wasn’t new to the lifestyle. Before Daniel, she’d negotiated her own scenes. But the first time she’d approached him, he’d turned it around on her. He’d made it seem as if she was asking him to find her a Dom to play with rather than asking him to play with her. She hadn’t corrected him, and it had become a pattern.
“Once the newness of it wears off, people will get used to it. You won’t be the topic of club gossip forever.”
Ali groaned.