Being honest with myself, I had to admit, I liked him, and it kind of made me giddy.
It made me want to be around him more so I could figure out what it was that made him different than other men. Maybe if I knew, I could recreate it with someone more available than the almost forty-year-old man who owned a sex club.
Or not a sex club, as Carina would reprimand. A club that had sex happen within its walls.
The same club that Carina was asking if I wanted to go to.
She knew my issues with intimacy. She knew my stunted knowledge of liking someone. She’d been on the receiving end of one of my biggest mistakes, and yet she still became my friend. She still wanted to help me.
So, she’d come up with this crazy plan and apparently had talked to Daniel to make it happen.
Fear pressed in hard on my chest, and my fingers tingled with numbness. Every ounce of me wanted to pull back and hide.
Do it. Stop being a baby and do it, Sofia’s voice reprimanded.
This is the last thing I needed to conquer. Everything else could be locked tight in a box, but Voyeur could help me get over this one fear.
Before I could back out for me, I answered, living for the both of us when she couldn’t.
Me: I’m in.
2
Daniel
“A little dressed up to meet Carina,” Kent commented from where he lounged back on my couch in my office, his feet propped on the table. His comment came off innocuous and innocent, but the smirk I’d known since college let me know he had an ulterior motive for asking.
“I’m not dressed up,” I denied from the chair beside him.
“Says the man wearing his favorite shirt with two buttons undone. And is that gel in your hair?”
Kent leaned forward to touch my hair, but I slapped his hand before he could. “Fuck off.”
“Hmmm.” His lips pursed, and his eyes narrowed, studying me. I tried not to squirm under his scrutiny. “Or is it because Carina is bringing Hanna with her?”
“I’m not dressed up,” I growled.
It had nothing to do with Hanna. A man could look nice for a meeting with a new client. That was all this was. Who cared if I picked the blue shirt she’d commented made my eyes brighter the last time we were together.
Kent nodded and winked, holding up his hand in an okay sign. “Of course not.”
Glaring at him out of the corner of my eye, I tried to force myself to focus on the spreadsheet in front of me. Kent had been my best friend for almost twenty years, and my business partner for only a few less than that. He knew me better than I knew myself, which made him calling me out hard to deny.
“Besides, she’s too young for me.”
“Age is just a number. Look at me,” he said, gesturing to himself.
“I try not to.” I never wanted to look too closely at my almost forty-year-old best friend dating my twenty-three-year-old niece.
“Come on, man. I’m your best friend. I know when you see something you like. Mind you, I’ve never seen you stumble all over yourself—”
“I don’t stumble.”
“—and follow a girl with your eyes every time she’s in the room, but still,” he continued like I hadn’t spoken.
“She’s hot,” I muttered as an excuse.
“She’s cute and sweet. Almost demure. Not your usual type.” He put his feet on the floor and rested his elbows on his knees, keeping his dark eyes glued to my face for a reaction. “But maybe you’re getting to a point where you don’t want your usual type.”
A knock on the door interrupted any response I could have formed. Not that I had one. I didn’t know what to say to that. Kent and I were loners. Or we were until he settled down, with my niece, no less. Being alone didn’t bother me.
I’d accepted long ago that I wouldn’t find that kind of love with anyone. I wouldn’t let myself find it. Not again.
“Really, Daniel?” Carina said, pushing through the door. “An escort through the hallway? We could have come in through the front.”
She strolled in like she owned the place—with her lacy top, wide-leg pants, and red-soled shoes. Carina was the embodiment of lady boss, and she walked in everywhere like she belonged.
Hanna strolled in behind her, almost as confident as Carina, but the air around her didn’t take up as much space. The nervous glances around the room dimmed her own powerhouse, but not any of her elegance and poise.
Just like Kent accused, I followed Hanna all the way until she stood in front of the seating area. God, she was stunning. She had on black high-waisted jeans that accentuated her tiny waist and a silky green blouse that perfectly matched her eyes.
We almost matched with the way she had the top two buttons undone on her shirt too, her full breasts peeking through the deep vee. She tucked her long dark hair behind her ear, and the gold bangles she always wore sparkled under the dome lights. I’d never seen her without them, no matter where she was.
I shook myself out of her entrancement and leaned back, gesturing for them both to sit. “You know I protect my clients first, and Hanna hasn’t signed anything yet.”
“Sorry,” she said softly, gently perching on the edge of the chair.
“Don’t apologize,” Carina reprimanded, falling back in the chair, crossing her long legs, and looking like a queen on a throne.
“Hey, Hanna,” Kent greeted.
A relaxed smile tilted her pouty lips. “Hey, Kent. How’s Olivia?”
“A pain in my ass.”
“Hey,” I chided.
Kent held his hands up in surrender. “I’m sorry. A pain in the ass, I love.” I wanted to be mad at him, but hearing Hanna’s
