My Addiction (Club Desire #2)(4)
She loved the lifestyle—or at least what it was supposed to be. If Kate could find one Dom who interested her enough both inside and outside of The Dungeon, she might consider dating her Dom and thinking about a more fluid relationship. Finding a man like that seemed like discovering the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and yet she couldn’t help but hope that one day she would.
A large, warm hand settled over hers, jarring her out of her thoughts as she realized she’d fallen silent again. Her cheeks burned for a second as she cast Master Dex in that possible role in her mind.
It was too soon to know if he even qualified, but right now he was sexy as hell, and hers for the evening.
“What would you like, Kate?” His deep voice resonated inside her and scattered her thoughts even further.
She glanced at the waitress, and her mind spun with possibilities. She normally didn’t order anything alcoholic here because she thought it was a bad combination with play. Although she needed a drink after the episode with Balkins, she instead stayed with her regular preference and ordered a vanilla latte.
She thanked the waitress. She had seen the woman many times but didn’t know her name. She had heard her go by several different names, depending on who had asked. So Kate was never sure which, if any, was the true one. Kate shrugged it off. People in Los Angeles sometimes used different personas for various reasons. It was none of her business why the woman felt she needed the extra identities.
Master Dex’s hand still covered Kate’s. He lightly squeezed as he looked at the waitress. “I’ll have black coffee, please. What’s your name?” He smiled, and the waitress wobbled a little, like her knees had weakened.
Kate knew exactly how the woman felt. Dex’s smiles were potent. Hell, the same could be said for everything about him. He was unlike any Dom she had ever met, at least so far. She hoped he continued to surprise her.
“I’m Opal,” the woman said as if in a trance, before taking a deep breath as though she hoped it would steady her.
Opal.
That was one Kate hadn’t heard her use before. Interesting.
“I’ll be right back with your drinks. If you need anything, just yell for me. I’m Opal…” she trailed off as she walked away, looking back over her shoulder at Dex every few steps.
Kate laughed softly. “If every woman in the place reacts to you like that, the other Doms are going to be pissed when they have no subs left to play scenes with.”
Dex’s eyes darkened, and his smile turned sinful, making her realize she had more or less just admitted to being as unsteady around him as Opal was.
“Hopefully the other Doms here aren’t anything like Balkins.” He fell silent, but Kate noticed his clenched jaw and sensed he had much more he wanted to say on the subject.
She leaned back in her seat, careful to keep her hand under Dex’s since she enjoyed his warm, exciting touch. “Unfortunately, a lot of them here are like Balkins, or even worse. There are some good ones, but they don’t tend to stay here, or stay available for long. And there are several who are only here when they are in town, in between production or movie schedules, or even on political junkets.” She let out a long sigh before she remembered it was a breach of sub protocol to speak badly of any Dom—especially to another Dom.
Master Dex squeezed her hand again. “You look like I’m about to make you go stand in the corner, or send you to a time-out.”
The laugh in his voice warmed her, and she shrugged. “I apologize. It’s not my place to gossip about Doms.”
His heavy gaze made her look up to find him almost drinking her in, memorizing her. It was disconcerting, but somehow she was flattered rather than annoyed.
He traced his thumb over the back of her fingers, sending shivers through her body. She glanced down to where his large hand covered hers, the innocent brush somehow more erotic when she watched his hand glide over her pale flesh, exacerbated by too many hours spent indoors working.
Dex cleared his throat. “In a lot of situations I would agree. But from what I saw, Balkins wasn’t deserving of much respect.” He raised one brow. “Unless you had a previous agreement with him, and I misunderstood?”
The smile curving his lips showed he knew better, and was teasing her. But she wanted to clarify the situation anyway. “No. Definitely not.”
Kate tried to remember what she’d said that started this exchange. When she recalled it was her admission that she wasn’t supposed to speak badly of other Doms, she nodded, oddly disappointed. She wouldn’t have minded receiving a punishment from Master Dex. In fact, it might have led to the several orgasms she’d been praying for, to work through her stress after the last irritating conversation with her father. She’d been ignoring his calls for a week, needing time to detox from his lectures, but she couldn’t escape forever.
Opal returned with the drinks, bringing Kate back to the present, and making her realize Dex still softly stroked the back of her fingers.
Opal smiled at Dex and slid his coffee in front of him along with a small pot of cream and a bowl of sugar, even though he had asked for black. Almost as an afterthought, Opal set Kate’s latte in front of her.
Dex thanked the woman and then took his hand away from Kate’s to push the cream and sugar aside and pick up his cup to take a sip.
Kate missed the sizzling sensation his touch had caused, but dropped her hand in her lap rather than leave it lying on the table like she was waitingd for him to cover it again.