From Sanctum with Love (Masters and Mercenaries #10)(30)

“Thank you. I forget when I’m in a situation like this. A place like this. It can feel safe. I have to remind myself that I’m not here to play. I’m here to work and that means putting the mask on. Shall we?” He nodded at the stairs.

“Of course.” She let him lead her up to the second level of the club. “How did you get involved in the lifestyle?”

“I wanted to feel close to my brother. That sounds pathetic, but it’s true. I’ve spent my whole life following Kai around and trying desperately to get his attention. Thirty something years in and nothing has changed. He’s still the man I want to be proud of me. Anyway, he was into this lifestyle so I looked into it. I enjoyed it on a physical level for a long time. It wasn’t until I hit the big time that I realized what a sanctuary it could be for me. Your turn.”

She hesitated. Talking about how she’d gotten into the lifestyle meant dredging up all those old memories.

“Hey, sorry,” Jared said with a grimace. “It’s got something to do with why you left the business, doesn’t it?”

She nodded.

“Then tell me about Sanctum. Tell me how it’s different.”

He was oddly easy to talk to, but then he reminded her more of Kai now. She could see it in the way they both smiled, in the set of their shoulders. But mostly it was in the way he put her at ease. “I guess if I had to break it down it would be the people. Don’t get me wrong. This is absolutely the swankiest club I’ve ever been in. Most of them are industrial spaces or renovated homes. After the first Sanctum blew up, Big Tag went all out on this one.”

Jared stopped. “It blew up? I hadn’t heard that. Was it a gas leak?”

“Oh, no. It was a brainwashed *. Kai was pissed because he was living over the club at the time. I like our new building. We’ve got a lot more room.”

Jared shook his head. “I thought he was expanding when he bought that building. I didn’t realize it was because his office had blown up. Thank god he wasn’t there at the time.”

“Oh, he was there. He ended up getting nearly buried with Big Tag and this CIA agent, and he was pissy for days about his back being sore. I finally managed to get him to go see a massage therapist because when that man is grumpy he takes it all out on me.” She was warming up to her subject. “I think it’s because of the whole therapist thing. He can’t exactly take it out on his patients. He has to look all calm and stuff and like he knows what he’s doing at all times. It makes him cranky, and who does he turn to? Naturally it’s me.”

Jared had stopped, his expression turning blank.

“He’s all right. It wasn’t that big a deal.” It had been a huge deal, but it was over.

“He didn’t call me. He almost died and he didn’t f*cking call me. Would anyone have called me?”

“I’ve got a package set up with Ian in case I die or am incapacitated,” a familiar voice said. “Your number is there. He would have called you.”

She turned and Kai was standing there. She would never get over how different he looked. By day Kai was the deliciously attractive academic in his slacks and button-down, his golden hair tied back and his glasses on his face. He put in contacts for the dungeon and let his hair down. It flowed around his shoulders. It should have made him more feminine, but somehow all that gorgeous hair turned him into a decadent, dominant creature. The leathers showcased the lean body he hid behind khakis and Oxfords. He turned primal and so male.

Yeah, she’d probably spit out an egg, too. There was a lot of that going around tonight.

“And it wasn’t a big deal. Like Kori said. The place went boom and then Big Tag started complaining about potential dust on his freaking lemon pie. I barely had a scratch on me.” Kai moved over, standing beside her. “I did lose several plants I’d been nurturing and some very good textbooks. I still think if I’d been Ace’s therapist, we could have worked through the issues that turned him into a brainwashed *, as my assistant explained. You’ll have to forgive Kori. She’s very technical when it comes to the work we do.”

Jared relaxed slightly. “I thought you ditched me.”

“You said you were interested in watching an impact play scene or a ropes one. I was busy setting it up. I think I can handle both in one scene,” Kai explained.

He’d been busy finding a sub. She wondered who he’d found. There were some truly gorgeous women running around Sanctum wearing very little clothing. Maybe he’d chosen Lisa Daley. She was lovely and slender and not in the Lena, I-trade-food-for-nicotine way. Lisa was naturally thin, her body lovely and graceful. She would be beautiful wrapped in Kai’s ropes.

“That sounds like fun. I’ve got to start getting comfortable with this kind of stuff if I’m going to play Pierce Craig.” Jared moved to her other side. “I’m sure I’ll have a million questions.”

So he obviously didn’t want his brother to know he’d been in the lifestyle for a while. Why tell her? Was he testing her? She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Kai didn’t seem interested in spending time with Jared except to teach him about the role he was supposed to play. If he didn’t need to teach Jared, he likely wouldn’t talk to him. For all that glorious masculine himbo vibe he gave off, Jared knew how to get to his big brother. Kai was always serious about teaching. “Well, the good news is Kai loves to talk. He’s a fount of knowledge.”