Was that why it might be able to work with Deke this time?
Jane smiled. The mask was in the shape of a butterfly on her face, the wings spreading over her cheeks but not covering her mouth. Her lips were generous and perfectly sculpted. “I’m glad to hear that. I’m trying to take back that part of my life.” She glanced around. “Where did the other girl go? The one with the cutest name?”
“MaeBe?” Maddie asked.
Jane nodded. “Yes, that was it. She was adorable.” She touched the deep purple hair that caressed her cheeks. “Obviously I love her hair, but she just seems like a really fun chick. I don’t have many girlfriends. I’m afraid all the women I work with are highly competitive.”
“Yes, I saw you specialize in corporate restructuring,” Maddie said. “That’s got to be stressful. Are there a lot of women in that business?”
“Oh, I’ve found women are absolutely the best at walking into a situation and realizing who needs to go,” Jane murmured. “There she is. I was asking about you. I was just telling them how much I love your hair.”
MaeBe lit up as she approached the group. “Oh, thanks. I just had it done. My roots grow so fast I sometimes think I should give it up. It’s been so long since I saw my natural color, I wouldn’t recognize it. I like yours, too.”
Jane reached out, brushing her fingers over MaeBe’s pink locks. “I think this looks oddly natural on you. And mine’s a wig. I like to be versatile when it comes to how I look.”
“Well, this is the place to do it.” MaeBe wore a tiny miniskirt and a PVC longline bra along with fishnet socks that came up to her knees and a pair of Mary Janes. Her hair was in pigtails like a naughty schoolgirl. “This is a place to be whoever you want to be.”
“I like that,” Jane replied. “Though I can’t imagine the wife of Joshua Hunt wanting to be anyone else.”
Kayla snorted, a sound she managed to make elegant. “Oh, I love that man, but he’s human like the rest of us. I wouldn’t be anyone but me, however, I do like to play out some fantasies. Let me show you around. We’ve got some rooms that are specifically for fantasy play. You indicated you enjoy role-playing.”
Kayla started to move down the stairs that led into the largest of the dungeons at The Reef. Maddie glanced around, looking for any glimpse of Deke. She hadn’t seen him since they’d gone into separate locker rooms and wouldn’t until this “girl” time was over.
Kayla started to give Jane some information about the club and Maddie wondered if Nolan was needling Deke again.
The fact that her boss had tried to make her boyfriend feel small pissed her off.
Deke said he was working through his insecurities, but what if he couldn’t?
“Hey, are you okay?” MaeBe moved in beside her, her voice going low. “I can handle this if you need to head back to the locker room. Is it something Deke did?”
Kayla had stopped, showing Jane the hallway that led to the offices.
Maddie hung back. “He finally talked about what happened to him during his military days. It was awful, but he seems okay with it. He was calm the whole time he told me the story.”
“Well, he’s had a lot of therapy,” MaeBe replied. “And he took it seriously. He’s worked on himself for years. I’m glad he talked to you. He was a little confused about why it was important to share that part of his life with you.”
“He told you he was confused?”
“He brought it up to the group,” MaeBe acknowledged. “I think the fact that the only person who agreed with him was Kyle made him rethink. My guy isn’t the right person to give anyone advice about being open and honest in a relationship, though he’s working on it.”
She should have known that Deke would ask for advice. He seemed to talk a lot more these days.
He had changed. He was more open, more willing to consider things he would have blown off before. He was ready for a real relationship.
Was she?
“Your guy?” Jane had drifted back to them. “Is he a Dom? I noticed you didn’t have a collar. I thought you might be a single sub, which I was totally going to ask you about. I’ve never played without a Dom. I was going to ask you if it’s awesome.”
Oh, that didn’t sound good for Nolan.
Up ahead, Kayla seemed to have been cornered by another member of the club. She was talking to a man, which had freed Jane up to join them.
MaeBe didn’t miss a beat. “Yeah, my Dom and I are having a wee battle about the collar, and I’ll probably get a spanking tonight. It’s nothing we can’t deal with. Master Kyle is thoughtful in many ways, but every now and then we disagree on how to handle things. I want a piece of jewelry as a collar. Something like yours. I love that necklace. It’s beautiful.”