Chapter 10

I was in a panic as Reed, the owner of the club, came out and carried her gently through the club into a room in the back. They sent me into a kitchen through the back so I wouldn't stay out in the club with everyone else because you weren't allowed in until you signed the confidentiality agreement. I did not care. I was glad that I wasn't out there with all those people. I wanted to drown in my own self-pity.

I sat at the small table, my head lying on my arms and trying hard to stem the tears rolling out of my eyes. I hated to cry. I had been taught young that crying would never get me anything. The anxiety of not knowing how Mia was and the frustration of my own guilt had the tears rolling at a steady pace.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I spun around quickly thinking it was the owner with news about Mia. The owner of the hand jumped out of the way just in time as my elbow passed within an inch of his stomach.

"Holy shit!" he shouted.

"Oh my God!" I cried as I stood up. “I’m so sorry, I'm just really jumpy tonight."

He was not nearly as tall as the owner was, yet he still had a few inches on me, even while I was wearing my heels. His hair was closely shaved to his head, but I could still tell it was a blonde. His eyes were an interesting gray color that I could get lost in. I was enthralled immediately, unable to keep my eyes off his very muscular physique. He had to have been a full six feet of solid muscles. He was wearing a white T-shirt that stuck to every imaginable surface on his chest. I was certainly imagining it, but it was his biceps that were almost my undoing and sent delicious shivers down my spine. The salacious image of him picking me up and putting me on the counter floated through without much work.

My eyes continued downward taking in every titillating sight like the sweet little eye candy that the man was. Most of the men that I saw here were wearing a pair of skin-tight leather pants. Not this man, this man wore faded jeans with holes in them making him look as if he had just come from a construction site, which for all I knew he could have. I noticed he was barefoot, odd for a man, yet it gave him a more heathenish appearance.

"Are you okay?" he asked, breaking me out of my admiration of him.

My mind was already foggy due to all the alcohol I had shoved into it tonight and I did not need a hot, sexy man clouding my judgment. I shook my head to try and remember why I was here.

"Yes, I'm so sorry. I'm just really anxious to know how my friend is doing," I said with a nervous shake to my tone.

I grabbed a napkin off the table and wiped my face with it praying my makeup wasn't beyond repair. I felt an immense need for this man to find me beautiful even as I chided myself for thinking such a thing.

"She'll be fine, I'm sure. Master Reed is going to check on her and the ambulance is on the way as we speak," he said trying to reassure me.

“Ambulance!" I squeaked, my hand flying to my mouth. "Oh no! What have I done? I just wanted to show her how cute she could look and now she's going to the hospital and -"

"Stop," he said firmly.

My mouth snapped closed so fast I almost bit my tongue off.

"The ambulance is strictly a precaution. She did hit her head when she fell, and Master Reed would feel a lot better if she were checked out. As for you, yes, it was a dumb thing to make your friend wear shoes she couldn't walk in. But you didn't push her down or trip her. It was an accident, and I am sure everything will be fine, so calm down."

I nodded miserably feeling only slightly better. I sat back down and pulled my cup of coffee closer. They wouldn't give me anything stronger, believe me, I asked.

"What's your name?" he asked sitting down across from me.

"Lizzie," I said staring into my cup of coffee miserably.

"What's that short for?"

"It's short for Elizabeth. Elizabeth Moore, and you are?" I replied irritably.

I tried really hard not to glare at him since I hated my full name and never used it if I could help it.

"You can call me Master Jordan or Sir. Whichever you prefer," he said with a shrug.

I raised my eyebrow. "Master Jordan? Now we aren't full of ourselves, are we?"

His eyes darkened to a steel gray as he straightened in his chair and stared at me. As for me, I squirmed in my own, hearing warning bells going off in my head and feeling distinctly uncomfortable. I lowered my gaze to my coffee cup and refusing to look at him, caving under the harsh glare of his gaze. Suddenly he threw his head back and laughed making me jump straight up in the air.

"Yes, I am full of myself, and I have every right to be. You can ask any sub here and they'll tell you I am one of the best. Do you know what that means?" he asked leaning in closer.

There was a whole table between us, and I still felt as if he was crowding me. I leaned back and folded my arms then watched as his eyes followed the movement appreciatively. The shifting had caused my breasts to swell up and almost over the top of my corset, inadvertently I had given him an unhindered view of my cleavage. I dropped my arms down quickly and felt a flush of heat as he smiled at me with a distinctively predatory grin.

"No, I'm sorry, I don't," I lied.

I was desperately trying to distract him from whatever thoughts were running through his head and hoping he would drop the subject.

"Have you ever heard of BDSM?" he asked with a knowing grin.

That bastard was on to me, I realized with dire certainty. If I were honest with myself, his attention was arousing. Still, I couldn't help hear 'he's way out of your league' running through my mind. I shook my head, as much to answer his question as to knock the warning out of it.

"It's a form of erotic play," he explained as if that told me everything.

"Erotic play? What do you mean like... spankings and ropes? Because let me tell you, I know all about those and it's not all that it is cracked up to be," I spouted out haughtily.

He smiled and shook his head. "Baby girl, this goes way beyond some little light rope play. So far beyond, that you may get scared."

The fire in his eyes made me catch my breath as my blood began to heat up. He grasped my hand and began rubbing his thumb gently across my knuckles each pass sending another spike of fiery lust through me.

"But feeling fear is normal. In fact, some subs say it heightens their arousal."

My mouth went dry as he gazed across at me from under his lashes, his gray eyes sparkling with mischief. Annoyed, I realized he knew exactly what he was doing to me, and he was doing it on purpose, the freaking jerk. I snatched my hand back and had to curl it into a ball to keep from slapping him.

"I don't enjoy being played for starters. I can tell you right now, you son of a bitch, yes, I know what a sub is and there's no way in hell I'm ever going to submit to you," I growled at him.

I saw several emotions cross his face anger, disbelief, and another one that made me quake. His eyes became hard as a rock and his mouth clenched in determination and I felt myself stiffen.

"Oh, really?" he said softly.

Yeah, I'm in deep shit. I thought to myself.