“I’m Mirabel,” she says with a small bow. “I hope you enjoyed your room.”
“We didn’t request a room,” Hunter replies through clenched teeth.
As she peeks in, she notices the large man on the sofa, and her eyebrows rise in surprise. “Pity. I was unaware you were bringing a third. I would have been happy to accommodate him in the singles’ lounge.”
“There’s a singles’ lounge?” Drake whines from the couch.
“I’ll have a talk with my front desk host. My apologies,” Maribel says with a sweet smile. She doesn’t strike me as a sex club owner at first glance. She looks so nice and normal.
“Thank you,” Hunter replies, and I notice the way he relaxes a little into my arms.
“In your email, you mentioned the Shibari demonstration. Are you still interested in that?”
“Yes, please.”
“Absolutely. You three can follow me.”
I glance back at Drake again, and we share an expression of surprise as we step in line behind Hunter and Mirabel.
“Our members appreciate discretion,” she says, glancing back at us. “That’s why we keep it very private with the keys and doors. There are social events and spaces in our club for members to mingle, but they like that they can come here, for whatever reason, and not risk seeing anyone they would know outside the club.”
“At Salacious, we promote an open and nonjudgmental approach. They have nothing to hide in seeking their pleasure at our club.”
“How liberated you are to feel that way,” she replies with a coy smile, and Hunter’s brow furrows. Then Mirabel glances back at me. “Have you asked your wife or any woman, for that matter, how comfortable they feel being seen in a sex club? The societal expectations are quite different.”
I avert my eyes when I notice Hunter glance my way.
“We’re working to dismantle those expectations, Ms. Santos. Not cater to them.”
“I admire you for that,” she replies, and I feel Drake’s gaze on me this time. Glancing his way, our eyes widen as we fight back our smiles, again. I guess we both find this incredibly uncomfortable, but I’m glad he’s here to share the humor in it with me.
When we reach the end of the hall, Mirabel pulls out a key from her wristlet and unlocks the door. It opens to a large area that reminds me of a small concert hall. The room is wide and narrow with a stage at the other end. There are people mingled around in small groups as they watch the performance. There are pillars in the way, so I can’t quite see what’s going on yet, but as we make our way into the room, I let out a gasp when I see a young man suspended in the air. He’s hanging upside down, bound in tight black rope. There is an older man behind him, slowly spinning the rope, so the suspended man twirls. When he returns to facing the older man, he pulls him close to show that his mouth is perfectly aligned with the other man’s groin.
I’m sure he did that on purpose.
“This is Maxwell,” Mirabel says with a smile. “He’s an excellent Shibari instructor. Be sure to stick around for his workshop. He’ll pull someone from the audience to demonstrate.”
I step a little closer to Hunter.
“We’ll stick around then,” he replies.
When I glance back at Drake to see his reaction to the idea of being pulled on stage to demonstrate, he’s too busy eyeing a woman giving him a flirtatious stare. I have to bite back my envy at seeing his attention on someone else. I want to be bitter about it, but I guess I can’t expect him to stay by my side all night.
He just took two girls home last night…does he really need to find someone else so soon? Doesn’t he ever tire of it all?
Who am I kidding? Of course he doesn’t. He’s young and gorgeous and women are obsessed with him. If he can have a different one every night, why would he stop?
We watch the demonstration in silence as Maxwell slowly unravels the man suspended in the air, pulling the ropes in a way that allows him to slowly descend to the floor safely, without falling on his head.
Before he’s done, I hear Mirabel speaking to Hunter, her voice just barely carrying over the music.
“Your guests are welcome to stay and watch the next demonstration if you’d like to come to the office with me, so we can talk business.”
Hunter glances sideways at me. “Is that okay?”
“Of course,” I reply with a smile. Glancing toward Drake, he nods, and in return, Drake steps a little closer to me, as if he instantly understood his best friend’s silent request to protect me. Suddenly, his interest in the ice water lady is gone. It’s not the first time Drake has had to watch me in a club. Hunter doesn’t like me walking around alone, even in Salacious. Even if it’s perfectly safe with cameras and bouncers at every turn.