Page 4 of At Her Service (Club Velvet #2)

CHAPTER 4

V alerie glanced out the tinted car window from her place in the back passenger seat. It was late, but the streets of West Hollywood were packed with traffic. At this rate, it would be faster to get out and walk, but she was wearing stilettos, and she’d been on her feet the whole day. No, the whole week.

But the week was finally over. It was Friday night. And for the first time in an eternity, she had a night to herself. She’d called in a favor and found a sitter for Hazel, all so she could have a chance to unwind somewhere there weren’t toys scattered all over the floor and a mountain of scripts for her to review on the coffee table. For just one night, she needed to not be Valerie Kane.

And her destination was the perfect place for that.

But tonight was only a temporary reprieve. What she really needed was someone to help her with Hazel long-term.

As the traffic started moving again, she opened up the Nanny Finder app on her phone and began scrolling through the listings. Finding and screening potential nannies was her assistant’s job, but none of the candidates he’d chosen had been suitable. Valerie had high standards, and she didn’t compromise them. Not at work, not in her personal life, and especially not when it came to her daughter.

Even those who met her standards hadn’t worked out, all because Hazel hadn’t clicked with them. But there was one nanny Hazel liked. One nanny she’d instantly felt comfortable with. One nanny Hazel still remembered, even though they’d only spent minutes together.

And that was the nanny they’d met at the park a week ago.

Valerie typed her name into the search bar. Abigail Peters . Valerie had glimpsed her full name when she’d shown her credentials on the very same app.

Sure enough, Abby’s profile appeared. Valerie skimmed the page. While it indicated that Abby wasn’t looking for work, just like she’d said, she met all of Valerie’s requirements except one. She was only 23, which wasn’t old enough for her to have the level of experience Valerie wanted. Still, she’d been nannying for five years.

She scrolled back up to Abby’s photo at the top of the page. Her copper hair flowed down her shoulders, and a sprinkling of freckles, the same shade of reddish brown as her hair, dotted her pale face. Her eyes were a vibrant green, and her lush pink lips seemed to tease Valerie through the screen. Even in the photo, she could feel the same eager warmth that had radiated from Abby that day at the park. She was everything Valerie desired in a nanny.

She was everything Valerie desired in a woman.

But no matter how perfect Abby was, she’d already turned down the job. And that was for the best. Having a woman she was undeniably attracted to working for her, living with her , in her own home? That was a recipe for disaster.

As Valerie swiped the profile away, an image flashed across her mind. Of Abby at the park that day, on her knees, her long, floaty sundress fanned out beneath her, the thin straps and low-cut neckline framing her breasts. It was almost seductive, the way Abby knelt before her, peering up at her from under long dark eyelashes, a look in her eyes that stirred something deep within Valerie’s body.

Valerie wanted her. And the way Abby had blushed at her every word made one thing clear—Abby wanted her too.

She pushed the thought from her mind. Obviously, the only reason she felt so intensely toward Abby was because it had been too long since she’d had any kind of intimacy. The last woman she’d been with had been her ex-wife, who she’d divorced years ago, but their relationship had been over long before it ended on paper. And while Valerie had moved on, she wasn’t interested in entering into another relationship.

Her phone began to buzz. Speak of the devil. Because if anyone could be called that, it was Francesca.

She silenced the call. She was in no mood for her ex-wife. Not tonight. As she slipped her phone back into her purse, the car came to a stop. She’d arrived.

Her driver got out and opened her door, holding it for her as she stepped out of the car. She gave him a nod of thanks, informing him she’d be a few hours, and stepped onto the sidewalk.

Breezing past the queue of women lined up to enter the club, she nodded to the bouncer at the front, who unclipped the red velvet rope across the doorway and gestured her inside. She entered the lobby and checked her coat and purse, but she kept her phone with her.

Then, she stepped into the club.

She gazed around, taking it all in. The music, the lights, the buzz of the crowd. Despite appearances, Club Velvet wasn’t a nightclub. No, she and the other owners had brought Club Velvet into being for a very different purpose.

It was a sanctuary. A temple of pleasure and self-discovery, of sensuality and sin. A place for women to explore their wildest, darkest desires. This was Valerie’s world.

This was her empire.

She strode to the bar and ordered a martini. It was quicker than waiting for a server to come to her, and after the week she’d had, she needed a strong drink, fast. As the bartender mixed her martini, she drew a few glances. At Club Velvet, she was famous.

But not because she was Valerie Kane.

“I see Madame V has graced us with her presence,” a voice said dryly.

Valerie turned as her friend Elle appeared beside her, gesturing to the bartender for another drink. She too drew stares, but that was because of her outfit. It was the definition of “little black dress,” low-cut and devilishly short and tight on her curvy figure. She’d have women lining up to go home with her tonight, which, knowing Elle, was exactly what she wanted.

“Hello to you too,” Valerie said, as the bartender returned with their drinks. “I finally had a night off, so I decided to drop in. Are the others here tonight?”

“Just me,” Elle replied. “As usual, it falls to yours truly to hold down the fort.”

Like Valerie, she was one of the owners of Club Velvet, alongside Simone and Olivia. While all four partners played a role in managing the club, Elle’s experience running nightclubs as CEO of her own entertainment company meant that much of the day-to-day management fell to her. But she made just as much time for play as she did for work.

She flicked her strawberry blonde hair over one shoulder. “It’s good to see you here tonight. And it’s good to see you letting Madame V out to play.”

“It’s been a long week,” Valerie said. “I felt the need for an escape.”

Her phone buzzed. Someone was calling her. The sitter?

So much for an escape. She glanced at the screen. It wasn’t the sitter. It was her ex-wife. Again.

As she silenced the call, a message from Francesca that she’d missed earlier appeared on her screen. I just want to talk. Can you call me back?

Valerie took a long sip of her martini.

“Let me guess,” Elle said. “Francesca?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“She’s the only person in the world who can make that steely mask of yours crack. Not that I blame you. That woman is a real piece of work.”

“You’re telling me,” Valerie murmured. “She’s started contacting me again out of nowhere. I don’t know why, but she’s being very persistent about it.”

Elle swirled her drink around in her glass. “So why even entertain her? Just let your lawyers handle it.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Why not? I just don’t understand it. It’s like she has this hold on you.”

If only you knew. But the truth about Francesca and what she was capable of was something neither Elle nor anyone else would understand.

“Look, I get it,” Elle said. “You were together for what, six years? She got her claws into you good. But it’s time to move on.”

Valerie’s jaw tensed. “I have moved on.”

“Then why haven’t you taken a sub since Francesca?”

“Quite simply, I don’t have the time to devote to a submissive. I have too much else going on. There’s my job, to start with. On top of my historical drama series, I have a new film in development that has the potential to be my biggest yet. There’s Club Velvet, which is still in its infancy, so we need to make sure it succeeds. And there’s Hazel. She’s my number one priority.” At least she was supposed to be. But that day in the park had proven that Valerie was spread too thin to juggle taking care of her daughter with everything else. “I don’t have room in my life for anyone new.”

Elle set her glass down on the bar. “Just look around you. Look at all these women. Do you have any idea how many of them would give anything to kneel before Madame V?”

Valerie looked out over the club. All around them, women mingled and touched and kissed. And many were doing far more. Some were in pairs. Some were in groups. And some were alone, watching, waiting, wanting .

Elle was right. With just a look, Valerie could have an eager woman at her command. That was why she’d come here tonight.

But that wasn’t what she truly desired.

“You need to find someone new. Someone who will worship at your feet. Someone to spoil and lavish with all kinds of wicked pleasures in exchange for her undying devotion.” Elle’s ruby-red lips curled into a smile. “That’s the kind of thing you like, isn’t it?”

For the second time that night, an image arose in Valerie’s mind. Of Abby, kneeling before her like she had that day at the park, eyes down, pink lips and dark freckles tempting her, inviting her.

But this time, she wasn’t at the park in that ethereal sundress. No, she was kneeling at Valerie’s feet on the marble floors in that hidden room in her house, dressed in pure white lingerie, her red hair spilling down bare shoulders…

Valerie pushed the thought aside. She needed to put Abby out of her mind, along with any thoughts of finding a submissive, both tonight and any other night.

Because everything she’d told Elle was the truth. She didn’t have room in her life for someone new.

Or in her heart.