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Perfect. I was hoping he hadn’t remembered that night. “I was drunk as a skunk. We’d had some family drama earlier that day over lunch. One glass of wine turned into three and, well, I was telling the truth. It wasn’t a good evening for me.”

“Hmm,” he said, taking his bourbon from the server. “Family drama is tough sometimes. You don’t have anyone to talk to, omega? Friends? A partner?”

I shook my head. “No partner. I wouldn’t be here if I had one. And friends? I have a few, but they all feel transactional. They talk to me only when there’s something on their minds or they need a favor and, unfortunately, I’ve done the same thing to them recently. I think we’ve grown apart.”

“That happens,” he said. “I’ve lost several friends myself. For different reasons.”

“Tell me about the club. How did you become an owner?”

He sipped his drink. Slowly. Languidly. If he was trying to kill me, he was succeeding.

His lips on the rim of the glass made me think about them caressing my body. Wrapped around my cock. Whispering my name in the dark.

He set the glass down. “I haven’t been an owner long. I joined when it was first open to membership, but I didn’t come often. I’m learning. Everything is new. Sometimes I still get lost finding specific rooms and offices.”

My plans deflated as he spoke. “Not long at all, huh?”

“Yes. I’ll be there more now that I’ve invested, but it’s a lot to take in. How did you hear about Cuffed? Why do you want to become a member?”

“I heard about it online.” Not a total lie. “I tried to come the other night, but I didn’t realize how exclusive it was, so then I applied for a membership online. That’s how I got the guest pass.”

“And what did you think?” he asked, putting a hand on my thigh. My cock grew rock hard. My wolf howled, scratching at me from inside my body, begging me to let him loose, let him preen in front of his alpha.

His alpha? No. Fraser couldn’t be our mate. My wolf had to be wrong. He was just devastatingly hot and sexy and all the things I wanted in an alpha. Patient. Kind. Easy to talk to.

If it wasn’t for my fixation on the family house and my need for revenge, I might believe he was right. That Fraser could be my alpha.

But that wasn’t the case.

“I think one visit isn’t enough. It’s so big on the inside. Almost intimidating.”

We talked for a few hours, but he never got a refill on his drink, and I didn’t on my beer either. I felt like we’d known each other all our lives and were reconnecting somehow. He didn’t fiddle with his phone or look off in the distance, uninterested in what I had to say. He kept eye contact and really listened to me.

“What would you say if I asked you to come to the club tomorrow? As my guest. We could explore some things together. Maybe participate in some play.”

“You’d want to play with me?” I asked, my voice trembling.

“I really would.”

“But I have no experience, Fraser. I’d probably mess things up and make a fool out of you and me at the same time.”

He chuckled. “The great thing about Cuffed is that there are no mistakes and no judgments. Besides, I’ll be there with you and walk you through everything. You’d be in charge.”

“I thought omegas were submissive in the club.”

He shrugged one shoulder. “Sometimes. But what people don’t realize is that even though the word submissive indicates a lack of control, the omega, or any submissive, is in total control. You have the right and the obligation to stop anything you aren’t comfortable with. That’s why we have safe words and any alpha worth his name listens and obeys that safe word.”

“Do you have a safe word?”

He leaned forward and kissed my lips. It was only for a fraction of a second, but it shattered my world and all my intentions on coming here. I shouldn’t want to go back to that club or go out with one of the owners. I certainly wouldn’t likehim to show me all the ways he could make me submit. “I do. I’ll tell you it tomorrow night. That is, if you come.”

Oh, I was gonna come all right. Right here. In this bar. “I’ll be there. Here.” I grabbed his phone, and we exchanged numbers. “Text me if you change your mind.”

“I absolutely won’t change my mind, Everly. And before tomorrow night, make sure you have a safe word ready. You’re going to need it.”

Chapter Nine

Fraser