Page 60 of Taboo

“Who is driving whom barmy?” A petite blonde woman stepped up. She barely came to Micah’s shoulders, but when Alek looked at the man, he saw it there. They were definitely together. His love for the woman was so damned blatant. Then she noticed who was standing there. “Oh, Jules!” She slipped out of Micah’s grasp and he growled, but she ignored him. She also hugged Jules.

“This is my wife, Dee,” Micah said.

She turned and smiled at Alek. “Nice to meet you…”

“Alek.”

She nodded. “Alek.” She looked at her husband. “You still suck at introductions.”

He rolled his eyes, but there was a smile curving his lips. Alek had a feeling this was a common argument the couple had.

“I had no idea you were on the island.”

Jules smiled. “Been laying low. Relaxing.”

“I can understand that. Well, we have to get out of here because we have kids at home and a club to take care of. Want to get together for lunch?”

Jules eyes widened as if surprised by the offer, and he wanted to go to England and find every one of her so called friends and read them the riot act. This sweet woman should have a ton of friends, but she always seemed surprised by anyone being nice to her.

“I would love that.”

“Same number?”

Jules made a face. “No. I’ll send you a text so you’ll have it.”

“Oh, good. Nice to meet you, Alek.”

“You should come by the club. No charge,” Micah said.

“Yeah, no. Not my scene,” Jules laughed.

“You never know,” Micah said before giving her another kiss on the cheek, which made Alek want to beat the shit out of him even more. Rationally, he knew that the man was married—happily from the looks of it. It didn’t matter.

Once they were alone and seated, they put in their orders before he could ask her more about this Ross guy.

“So, he owns a club?”

She sipped her mango tea and smiled at him. “Yes. Actually, multiple ones now. They have two on this island, one in Vegas, and I heard they were opening a new one in Tokyo soon.”

“What kind of clubs are these, since they aren’t your scene?”

Her cheeks turned pink and his curiosity grew. “I’ve never been. My brother and his now wife are into the lifestyle, which I wished I didn’t know. I mean, who wants to know something like that about their sibling and his spouse? Not me, that’s for sure. Micah owns the Rough ’n Ready franchise.”

Alek blinked, his mind going completely blank. “Rough ’n Ready?”

He remembered seeing something about them in the news but seeing as how he hadn’t been in a club for probably a decade, it didn’t ring any bells.

“My brother has been a member the last few years, but Micah and Dee are good friends of my brother and Nic’s. I think Nic has known Micah a lot longer than my brother has.”

The words she used buzzed around his head…lifestyle…club. “Is it a BDSM club?”

She averted her eyes, her cheeks growing pinker by the second. “Yes.”

“Are you telling me that the owner of a BDSM club just walked up and hugged you?”

Irritation slapped through him again, and the need to hunt the man down and teach him why he shouldn’t touch Jules—no matter how non-sexual—burned in his gut.Fucker.

He blinked, his thoughts taking him down another dark path. This wasn’t him. Even during his most insane infatuation with Shelley, he’d never been jealous. But all bets were off with Jules apparently. Even the idea of another man thinking about her had him growling.

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