“Deke,” she began, and there were already tears in her eyes.
He brushed them away and kissed her forehead. “The only thing that got me through was the thought that I could see you again. You were in my dreams. I might have been a prideful, foolish boy, but I have always loved you, Madeline. So let me tell you what happened. Share it with me so it doesn’t feel like something I should hide from you.”
She nodded and settled back down, her arms around him.
And Deke told her everything.
Chapter Thirteen
Four hours later, Maddie still couldn’t quite stop thinking about what Deke had been through.
Or what he was offering her. He wanted to stay no matter what happened. Even if they figured the whole case out tomorrow night, he wanted to remain in California with her so they could try to make this relationship work.
I cost us too much time, baby.
He’d whispered the words as they’d lain there in bed. Was it her time to let fear cost them?
“Does it meet your expectations?”
The question brought her out of her thoughts and back into the moment. She stood in The Reef with two women she’d only recently met.
Madeline glanced at Jane Adams and wondered what it was about the woman that felt wrong to her. It wasn’t fair or nice because she’d just met her, but Maddie couldn’t help but feel like she was missing something. Nothing scary. Jane had been lovely since the moment they’d been introduced, but there was something oddly familiar about her.
“It’s everything I thought it would be,” Jane was saying, looking around the main dungeon. She gave Kayla Summers-Hunt a wide smile. “Thank you so much for making this dream come true for me.”
“I’ve got to ask why coming to The Reef was a dream for you.” Kayla looked spectacular in a peacock blue corset and thong. Her legs appeared long and sleek in a pair of Louboutin stilettos. “I mean, we love it here, but not many people know about it. I’ve been trying to make the connection.”
“Oh, more people know about it than you think. The Reef is considered the best club in California by many in the lifestyle.” Jane wore a corset of her own. It was black, and so were the boy shorts and the heels on her feet. Her hair was deep purple and in a bob that brushed her jawline and was almost certainly a wig. By the time Maddie had made it into the locker room, Jane had changed and had an elaborate mask that covered much of her face. “I’ve visited a couple of the clubs in the valley and one downtown, but I’ve never been a regular. The Reef is all anyone talks about. It’s the pinnacle of where the lifestylers I used to hang around with wanted to be.”
“And you?” Kayla asked.
“I wanted to see it. I suppose it’s a little bit of revenge because I’m here and he doesn’t even know it,” Jane replied, touching one of the pillars and running her fingers down it. She seemed completely fascinated with everything around her. Her enthusiasm might have been catching if Maddie wasn’t still thinking about how hard life had been on Deke.
The club was starting to hum, the lights low and music beginning to pulse through the building.
“I would ask who your ex is, but I have to be honest, I haven’t played outside this club in…well, since I came to LA,” Kayla said.
“Malibu, you mean,” Jane corrected, her lips curling up in an impish grin. “You, milady, live in Malibu. It’s very different from the LA I live in.”
“Probably,” Kayla admitted. “But it’s not like I haven’t seen a rougher part of the world. You travel a lot, don’t you?”
Jane nodded. “Quite a bit, but it’s mostly places like Cleveland or the Atlanta suburbs. Most of the companies I work for are located in boring places. I work from home a lot, too. It can be lonely. I had a bad breakup and I needed to do some healing, so I suppose I hid away for a while and licked my wounds. Tonight is special for me because it feels like I’m taking the first steps to get my life back. I thank you for helping with that, Kayla. And you, Madeline. You have no idea how much you’ve helped me.”
She wasn’t sure why Deke was so suspicious of this woman. There was something oddly familiar about her, but she was quite charming. “I’m happy to do it. I know how much D/s has helped me.”
It had. She was surprised that something she’d gone into simply thinking it was nothing but a tool had actually transformed the way she thought about sex and her own body. It gave her confidence and made her take her own needs seriously.