Maybe it was a good thing she was trying out Marquis before things went anywhere with Nick. It had been a long time since she’d dated anyone seriously–the restaurant schedule wasn’t exactly conducive to relationships—and she did miss kink. Was it a necessity to her life? She didn’t know.
She was hoping she’d find out tonight.
She was also really, really, really hoping none of her coworkers saw her.
Thankfully, Domi and Rae didn’t mind hurrying in the back entrance to the club with her.
“Coast is clear,” Domi said after peeking her head through the door. She opened it wider, gesturing with her hand. “Go, go, go!”
The gleeful way she and Rae were having fun sneaking Avery in made it fun for her. She laughed as she hurried up the stairs behind Rae, with Domi bringing up the rear to the BDSM club. The sounds of the restaurant faded as they went up, and every step made her feel a little lighter with relief.
The servers who worked the second floor wouldn’t say anything about her presence there, and the ones who worked in the main restaurant weren’t allowed up to the second floor. The moment she stepped foot into Marquis’ lobby, she let out the breath she’d been holding on a long sigh.
Safe!
“Hello, ladies.” Standing behind the front desk, Freddy grinned when he saw her there with Rae and Domi. “Avery, I’m so excited you’re joining us on the second floor.”
Avery smiled back. She liked Freddy. He ran the front desk at Marquis, though he wasn’t always there himself since he had a full-time job during the day. Not that he talked about that job, just that the club was his escape from all that.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Alright, let’s see it,” he said, gesturing to her jacket. Even though it was warm out, she’d worn a light jacket that went down to midthigh to cover her outfit, just in case anyone saw her on her way in.
Feeling both nervous and a little excited, Avery unzipped the jacket and shrugged it off.
“Doesn’t she look amazing?” Rae enthused beside her, clapping her hands. Avery couldn’t help but laugh. Of course, Rae and Domi thought she looked good. They’d basically dressed her up like a doll for the night, combining some of the few pieces she had left from her previous time as a submissive with offerings from their wardrobes.
Clapping his hands gleefully, Freddy gave her an approving once over.
“Hell, yeah, she does! Do you—”
The door to the manager’s office opened behind him, and the last person she wanted to see in the entire world stepped out. Their eyes met, Avery’s widening with horror, Nick’s with shock.
“Avery?”
Shit! Run! Her brain screamed, but it was too late. It had been fight, flight, or freeze, and her stupid ass froze.
Beside her, she could sense Rae and Domi freezing as well. Even Freddy went still, despite not knowing about her and Nick’s flirtation, clearly realizing something was very amiss. Though he probably thought it was nothing more than not wanting her boss to see her like this.
“What are you doing up here?” Nick asked, staring at her like he couldn’t really grasp what he was seeing.
“What are you doing up here?” she asked in a high, squeaky voice that made her cringe. Seriously, what the hell was he doing up here? He should be down in the kitchen, running the kitchen. Dinner had already started in the dining room. She’d been worried one of the servers or busboys would see her, not Nick. It shouldn’t have been possible.
Nick
In her chef coat and pants or wearing a tank top or t-shirt once she took off her coat, long brown hair in a ponytail or bun, sweaty from the kitchen, Avery always still managed to turn him on. She had a serious girl-next-door vibe going on that had always been his ‘type.’ She was sassy, confident, and not afraid to go toe-to-toe with him, even when he was at his most bad-tempered. All things great in a sous chef, but add in their chemistry, and it took things to a totally different level.
Now she was standing in the middle of the lobby of a sex club, dressed like she belonged there.
The tank tops she wore under her chef coat had revealed she was curvy, but the corset pushed her breasts up into a deep cleavage that wasn’t possible with mere fabric. It also pulled in her waist to improbable proportions that made him want to rip the damn thing off her, so she could breathe again.
Uh-huh. Sure. That’s why you want to rip it off her.
The black leather skirt hugged her legs tightly and was so short, he was pretty sure if she bent over, it would roll straight up to her waist. His dick pulsing at the idea, Nick shifted his stance uncomfortably, hoping his erection wasn’t obvious. Fortunately, his drawstring pants were pretty loose in the crotch. Three cheers for chef pants. Not the first time he’d been grateful for that since he started working with Avery.
“I had to ask Olivia a question,” he answered. He was about to ask what the hell she was doing there, except he already knew. From the way she was dressed, it was pretty obvious. “Do you… do you do this?”
He gestured at the door to Marquis’ exhibition room. Nick hadn’t been in it while there was a show going on, but he knew what happened up here. Tried not to think about it too much, partly because he didn’t want to think about what his brother got up to with Olivia up here and partly because the whole thing disturbed him on a deeper level.
Nick and Luke had been raised to respect women. Not that the women up here seemed to feel they were
