“You want me to what?” Hunter asked, giving Alexandra a dubious stare from the backseat of the limo they were riding in to the club. Playing her bodyguard on this case was one thing. Playing a docile submissive to her whip-carrying dominatrix character was quite another. Not that Hunter didn’t enjoy a bit of kink in his bed play to spice things up, but he was used to being in the command position.
“You heard me,” Alex said, tapping the handle of her purple leather whip against her palm. “It’s the only way this is going to work.”
The longer he sat there, the more this whole idea of attending this meeting at Club Xcite seemed like an awful idea. “I don’t think so.”
He faced forward and crossed his arms, staring out the tinted window beside him at the passing lights and scenery. Loki would be having conniptions right about now. Yeah, he was always pushing Hunter to move out of his controlling comfort zones and learn to plan strategically on the fly, but seriously. This could not be what he had in mind. Could it?
“Look, these people know me as someone else, not Alexandra Valentine. They expect me to be a strong, powerful woman.” Alex flipped the long dark hair of her wig over her shoulder to reveal a steel studded dog collar that hadn’t been there w
hen they’d left his hotel room. She must’ve pulled it out of her purse and put it on when he wasn’t looking. “If I go in there and act different than I usually do, they’ll suspect something. If we want to stay safe, you need to follow my lead.” She tossed something onto his lap with a grin. “Or leash.”
Oh. Hell. No.
“Forget it.” He shoved the braided black leather leash and collar away like it was toxic sludge. “This is ridiculous. You shouldn’t even be going inside that place. When we get there, you stay in the car and I’ll go inside and meet this guy. End of story.”
She snorted. “I can tell you exactly how that would turn out.”
“Me too. I find out what we need to know about your friend’s disappearance and you stay out of trouble. Sounds perfect to me.”
“No. You won’t even make it past the bouncers at the door. Please listen to me.” Alex leaned toward him, enough to give him a nice view right down the front of the open, unzipped front of her cat suit. Through the shadows he glimpsed creamy skin and scarlet lace and an unwanted flick of fire seared through his veins. He swallowed hard and stared down at his hands clenched tight on the seat on either side of his jeans-clad legs. “Bea and I spent months developing these contacts. These people trust me, as much as they trust anyone. Bea’s life is on the line here. Please don’t make this any harder than it already is, okay?”
The word “harder” made his cock twitch against his consent. Hunter growled and shook his head. “There need to be rules, contingency plans in case something goes wrong. We haven’t had time to establish any of that. We’re attacking this problem blind and that goes against all my training.”
The limo stopped near the curb outside a non-descript looking brick building in what appeared to be a warehouse industrial district. A perfect location for discretion or acts of the nefarious variety. Hunter’s growing unease burst into full-blown paranoia. On the pavement outside loitered what looked like an assortment of drug dealers, pimps, and mob thugs, with the occasional hooker thrown in.
“No way. We’re not doing this tonight. You call your contact back and tell him something came up. We’ll meet with him later. Driver—”
“No.” Alex’s commanding tone cut through the tension in the car like a scalpel.
Shock, more than anything else, shut Hunter up. He glanced back at her over his shoulder. “Excuse me?”
“I said no.” She gave him a hard stare. There went that tap-tap of the whip again and damn if he didn’t feel those soft, muffled hits straight in his groin. His traitorous cock was now at half-staff and Hunter felt more confused than ever. This was not him, not who he was. He was a leader, the guy everyone else looked to in tough situations. Yet this petite blonde, with her tantalizing curves and diamond-bright eyes, had him pounding with want and desperate to do her bidding with just a sharp word. Perhaps there was more to this method acting than he’d given her credit for. “Now open the goddamned door and get out of the car before I make you get out.”
From the determined set of her soft pink lips and the glint of power in her gaze, Hunter had no doubt she’d make good on her promise. His pulse kicked up a notch, whether from adrenaline or desire, he wasn’t sure. But he found himself reaching for the door handle and opening it, climbing out onto the pavement then reaching back inside to help Alex out.
Hell, he even stood still and bent a little to make it easier for her to fasten that damned collar and leash around his neck. What the absolute fuck was happening to him?
“Come,” she said, walking several steps ahead of him toward the club, leading him around like the dog he now felt like. Thank God Loki and Camden weren’t around to see his humiliation. He’d never hear the end of it. Even so, there was something about surrendering his will, about letting her take charge of him, about allowing her—trusting her—to take care of him, that was infinitely seductive. And infinitely exciting. He was hard as a rock now, had been from the minute she’d put the leash on him, and he’d damned near embarrassed himself when she’d said the word come.
They stopped at a black painted door and Alex looked up confidently at the hulking bouncer standing guard at the entrance. “Hello, Tim.”
“Mistress,” the guy said, bowing his head slightly.
Hunter raised a brow, but otherwise didn’t comment.
“We’re here for a meeting with Louis.”
“Yes, mistress. Go on through.” The guard eyed Hunter warily as he passed through the door behind Alex, but he didn’t try to stop him. Huh. Maybe Alex did have a special touch around here. Her “touch” certainly seemed to be working on him anyway.
On the surface, the interior of Club Xcite was pretty much like any other nightclub Hunter had been in back in Virginia where he lived—black walls, black furniture, black floors to hide the dirt. Alternating strobe lights and disco balls hanging from the ceiling lit the space in a kaleidoscope of rainbow colors and alcohol flowed freely. Electronic dance music throbbed through the overhead sound system and the air smelled of warm bodies, piped in air freshener, and certain illicit substances.
“This way,” Alex said, leading him through the melee of people toward a set of red-painted doors set in the back wall of the club. Hunter guessed that one of them led to the secret “party” rooms in the back, where VIPs gathered for fun and festivities. Or, in the case of this place, quickie sex and illegal shenanigans. The other door, though, he wasn’t so sure about. Could be a second entrance to the back, he supposed. But that didn’t make much sense. It was harder to keep track of two doors instead of one and control the flow of people in and out. If this club was a front for a sex trafficking ring, as Alex had said and the evidence suggested, then those in charge would want to keep as much control as possible. Which meant that second door wasn’t an entrance to a brothel. More likely it led to the offices of the manager then.
They stopped outside the door on the right and Alex spoke to another beefy guard stationed there. It took all of Hunter’s willpower to remain docile and silent while she flirted her way into the room. His SEAL-trained instincts demanded he take charge, command this mission, put himself between Alex and whatever danger lay beyond that door. But given the malevolent looks the guard was giving him at that point, unless he also wanted a hard punch to the face, he’d best do as Alex told him to do and bide his time.
Soon, the guard bowed slightly and waved them through the door, his gaze locked on Alex’s swaying hips as she walked into the office with Hunter following obediently behind her. The room was surprisingly well-lit and tidy, compared to the chaos in the club beyond. A portly bald guy with beady black eyes and tattoos clawing up his neck watched them from behind a desk. Still more guards flanked him on each side, dressed in leather and sunglasses, despite the late hour.
“Mistress Alex,” the man said, his gaze running over her lasciviously. “To what do I owe the honor?”