“Oh.” Emily’s silent for a second. Then she asks, “What about you, sir? Why do you think condoms should be mandatory?”
“Mmm, I understand they break, and that they don’t prevent all infections, but they do prevent some, and testing, particularly for diseases like hepatitis, isn’t mandatory, either. Some protection is better than none. I also think that not being mandatory disadvantages the most vulnerable people in the industry. The really young girls and boys, just starting out, are not going to have the power to negotiate for a condom. So I think it shouldn’t be negotiable.”
“Wow,” she says softly, then presses more kisses into my throat after I give her permission.
“Wow?”
“That’s really thoughtful, Sir.”
She sounds impressed. I’ve impressed her by telling her my views on condom use in porn. I like that. “I only look like a big ape, baby doll. I try not to think like one.”
She giggles and worms her arm between my waist and the seat so she can hug me.
* * *
Rick knows Manny’s car, so I shouldn’t have to collect him and his guest from his concrete block of a post-modern apartment building in Murray Hill. But I know Rick; he likes to feel important. I unwind myself from Emily reluctantly, get out of the car, and open the atrium door for them.
Daisy Blue shimmies past me in skin-tight white vinyl, projecting sex out of every pore as she struts along on six-inch, blue velvet platforms, which puts the top of her head, adorned with her signature blonde-and-blue ringlets, above my eye level. Rick knows damn well that we dress conservatively at the club. Either he couldn’t control Daisy, or he didn’t bother to tell her.
I didn’t vote on Rick’s membership application. Given our long working relationship, the committee asked me to abstain. But my brothers’ decision not to admit him makes plenty of sense to me at moments like this.
Rick himself is wearing an electric blue, slim-fit suit with an open-necked, white silk shirt underneath. I’m not sure if they planned their outfits, but it’s a little too matchy-matchy for me. I’m glad I kept my coordination with Emily subtle.
I hold the car door for them to slither into, which Daisy does somehow without flashing me. As I close the door, I see Daisy take the seat next to Emily. I scowl at Rick, who gives me a thumbs-up through the window.
I’m not having that.
I walk around the back of the car, open the other door, and slide in on Emily’s far side. The seat is wide enough for three of us, but Emily’s buckled in where I need to sit. I unsnap her seat belt, shift her over and buckle her back in. Then I put my arm around her and draw her firmly against my side. I’m not sure what kind of game Daisy’s playing, but she should know better than to invade my bottom’s physical space without asking me.
Emily shifts a fraction into me. Glad she agrees.
“Aren’t you going to buckle me in, too?” Rick asks from his lone seat across from us.
I grimace at him. “Rick, Daisy, this is Emily. Emily, Rick Errol and Daisy Blue.”
Daisy offers Emily a hand tipped with white talons that must be three inches long. Emily bravely takes it and shakes. “I’ve watched some of your movies,” she says. “I really liked the Scarlet Sin series.”
“A fan,” Daisy crows, winking at Rick with false eyelashes so long they look like feathers. “What’d you like about them, doll face?”
Emily flushes beet red, and I wrap my arm tighter around her in silent support.
“I felt like they were for women,” she says. “I mean, the camera was on the guy a lot of the time, his back or whatever, not just the, um, moving parts.”
“The female gaze,” Daisy says throatily. “You got it in one. Wasn’t it hot watching Zack and Andy’s asses work? Doesn’t Andy have the tightest butt?”
Emily looks up at me over her shoulder with that sly little grin. What’s she thinking?
“They’re nice-looking,” Emily responds, looking back at Daisy. “But it was more that I could see what they were doing, and what they were doing looked fun. They weren’t in some weird pretzel position. They looked like they were enjoying themselves. That’s what made it hot.”
Daisy smiles, and it’s a little more natural than the man-eating grin she was wearing when she climbed into the car. “It is hot when people are enjoying themselves. That can get a little lost on set, I’ll admit. When you’ve been going at it for hours and everyone’s getting sore and tired, it’s hard to keep up the enthusiasm. But we all had a great time making the Scarlet Sin movies. And Zack and Andy are great. Really giving.”
Rick clears his throat. Daisy gives him a playful kick. She rolls her black-rimmed eyes as she says to Emily, “Of course, Rick’s the best.”
Emily grins. “Of course.”
“I’ll show you both later,” Rick says. “Who’s on tonight, Logan?”
“Lucy, Fleur, Zuki, Shannie and Hunter in the nightclub,” I tell him, ticking off the names of the house submissives who are staffing the club tonight.
“Is Rachel working upstairs?” he asks, with a little curl of his mouth, like he’s being clever.
“Sunday nights, she usually is,” I say neutrally. I expect to see my former sub; she’s part of the club staff and works full-time on weekends. I also expect it not to be awkward, since what I had
