Page 27 of Dare to Love Again

“Excellent idea, boss,” David said with a nod, while Thomas grinned. The doctor’s ire blew hot and quick then usually dissipated when the wrong was made right.

“In the meantime, we need to shut down the wheel, the chain station and any equipment with metal pulleys, chains, latches, or cuffs,” Keiran advised. “We can’t risk an injury.”

They all nodded and disbursed except for him and Eric.

“Friday at seven p.m.,” he repeated. “And I’m still gonna kick your ass. If I wasn’t so busy, I’d tell her myself, then do it now.”

Eric didn’t appear concerned; they had sparred often and were well matched. “Thank you,” he murmured, “for helping tonight and with Esme. Also, I’m approving those other eight positions you sent over this morning. Part of the issue here is we’re all overextended. I’m also hiring a permanent maintenance man and some staff doms. But that doesn’t mean I’ll stop harassing you to be here. I miss having your observation skills and quick reactions on the main floor.”

“You won’t hear me arguing about more staff. We’re operating well in the black, no sense killing ourselves trying to manage things alone.”

“Agreed.”

“I’m on until midnight. I’ll monitor things here. You can tell Esme there’ll be no more propositioning doms before our interview. In fact, send her home, not to return until our appointment and we’ve talked.”

“I’m on it,” Eric said, his lips twitching as though suppressing a grin, as he walked away.

Chapter 8

FOLLOWING HER GET-WITH-the-program-or-get-out meeting with Master Eric, she’d gone home and done a lot of soul-searching. She returned the next night with a renewed determination to find a dom. When no one approached her, she took the initiative. Except they either remembered her rebuffing their earlier offers and returned the favor, or were involved with a sub, or several subs—Decadence LA had an inordinately high percentage of ménage and polyamorous members—or they were class A jerks, like Carlos, that she wanted no part of, no matter how desperate.

With only a few days remaining before she got booted out for good, she’d approached Master Eric when she arrived, and out of desperation, asked for his recommendations. The list contained six names, but it came with a caveat.

“These men won’t be easy to please, Esme. You’ve earned a reputation and it will take a lot of ass-kissing and unwavering obedience to overcome it.”

“What kind of reputation?”

“Of being cold and unapproachable.”

She frowned. It wasn’t unearned and pretty much how she wanted it, but now she’d have to overcome it.

For the next four hours, she sought every man on his list. Two weren’t in attendance, two others she found but quickly took out of contention on two critical points, namely an evil-looking, short-tailed whip called a Dragon’s Tongue and a flogger made of black leather with knots on the ends of each of the nine tails appropriately called a Black Cat.

According to the sub who pointed the two Doms out to her, they teetered on the edge of sadism but could dial it back for a sub who wasn’t a full-fledged masochist. As Esme watched them wield their weapons of choice during the impact play demonstration they were holding, she flinched at every moan from their respective sub and winced as each welt appeared on their flesh. Both the volunteers, a man and a woman, were weak-kneed and dreamy-eyed from pleasure when the doms helped them down from the side-by-side picture frames. Too intense for her, she nixed them before even talking to them.

The next one reminded her of a slick-tongued snake-oil salesman. She knew because when she approached, he was negotiating a scene with a wide-eyed submissive who must have been new to the scene or would have known better.

---