Page 28 of At the Heart of It (The Can’t Have Hearts Club #4)

K ate took a sip of her vodka soda and tried not to make eye contact with anyone.

Not the woman strutting past in a purple corset and fishnet leggings.

Not the guy in latex pants and a red denim vest dotted with metal studs.

Not the leather-clad octogenarians Kate felt fairly certain used to play in her grandmother’s bridge club.

“Ma’am? Are you looking for someone?”

Kate’s pulse kicked up, and she turned to watch Jonah slide onto the barstool beside her. She’d never been so glad to see anyone in her life.

“Jonah! Thank God you’re here.” She hated how needy she sounded, but she really was glad to see him. “I was hoping they wouldn’t give you any trouble at the door.”

“That was a first for me.” He grinned. “Having my name on a guest list at a members-only sex club.”

Something about that grin dissolved the tension in her shoulders, and Kate felt herself start to relax. “Thanks so much for coming. I didn’t want to leave without getting a feel for the place, but?—”

“You didn’t want anyone getting to feel you ?”

“Exactly.”

“Quite the crowd they have here.”

She watched as Jonah studied the scene, hands clasped on the bar in front of him. Kate followed his gaze, watching as it skimmed over the dance floor, then up to the second level where a row of people leaned over the balcony with drinks in hand. She wondered what he thought of all this.

Lights throbbed in time to the music, bathing the room in a glow of pink light and perfume. A disco ball swirled overhead, casting glittery rainbow spots on a dance floor packed with writhing bodies. Some were dancing and some were ... um, that definitely wasn’t dancing.

“I had no idea this was even legal,” Kate admitted.

Jonah glanced at her, then followed the direction of her gaze to a couple undressing each other in the corner.

“Huh,” Jonah said. “They’re really going for it, aren’t they?”

She nodded. “I guess I thought the sex part would be more discreet. When the owner gave me a tour, she showed me all the playrooms. Some have doors that lock and curtains you can close.”

“Or leave open, I assume?” Jonah shrugged. “I’m guessing a place like this is the perfect spot for exhibitionists and voyeurs to get together and turn each other on.”

“I hadn’t thought of it like that.”

Jonah laughed. “I’m guessing neither of us had given much thought to sex clubs before this.” He raised one eyebrow as a woman at the other end of the bar began playfully spanking a woman wearing nothing but a red bra-and-panty set. “Can’t say I even knew this place existed.”

“I find that tremendously comforting,” Kate said. “That you’re not a regular part of the swinger scene.”

“My most memorable swinging experience was on a porch in Ashland with you.” He grinned and leaned closer, making Kate’s heart skitter in her chest. “That’s probably not scandalous enough to be part of an arced storyline, huh?”

“I take it you’ve talked with Viv.” Kate felt her smile start to wobble, but she held it steady.

“Yep.”

He said nothing else as he made an unsuccessful attempt to signal the bartender. The guy was focused on lining up a large tray of beers for a man wearing leather chaps and a dog collar. “Viv seemed pretty focused on wanting one of us to get back out on the dating scene,” he said.

“This might not have been what Viv had in mind for the dating scene.”

“Probably not.”

Kate’s gaze landed on two topless women groping each other in the corner while their male partners watched. Startled, she looked back at Jonah.

“Maybe we should keep our eyes on each other for now,” she said. “Some of this can’t be unseen.”

He laughed. “Good idea.”

“Let me buy you a drink. It’s the least I can do since you came down here to rescue me.”

“I’d definitely feel better if I had something to do with my hands.” He winced. “Besides the obvious.”

Kate gave a nervous laugh and caught the bartender’s eye. He gave her a just-a-minute signal, so she turned back to Jonah. “What can I get you?”

She watched as he leaned across the bar, squinting in the dim light of the club. “Looks like they’ve got Boneyard on draft.”

“Is that the name of a cocktail, or was that slang for a sex act?”

“It’s a beer. Made by Boneyard Brewery. They make the best IPA known to man.” The bartender approached, and Jonah looked up at him. “Pint of RPM, please.”

“Can you put it on my tab?” Kate added.

“Sure thing.”

Kate watched the guy pour the beer and wondered if she should spend some time Googling the brewing industry. She had no idea what RPM or IPA stood for, but she was curious. The beer she’d sampled at Jonah’s had been a pleasant surprise, and she wanted to try more.

She spun her glass of vodka soda on the counter and looked around again.

Two women and a man linked hands and disappeared through a doorway Kate knew led to one of the playrooms. Her mind filled with images of what might happen next.

Touching, and kissing and undressing. Writhing bodies, skin slick with sweat as breath came faster. The sound of gasps and moans and?—

“How would you even film in a place like this?”

She looked back at Jonah to see he had his beer already. He was watching her over the rim as he took a long sip.

She swallowed and hoped like hell he couldn’t read minds. “We’d have to do some tricky things with lights, but?—”

“No, I meant legally. Surely they’re not going to let you run around with a camera crew in a swingers lounge.”

“Oh, that. I’ve already talked with the owner. If we go ahead with it, she’d open the club during off-hours and invite members to show up if they want to be on camera. They’d all sign waivers, of course.”

“You think enough people would do it?”

“It’s like you said about the voyeur thing,” Kate said. “If enough people like being watched, we’d have no trouble.”

“Anything for five minutes of fame.” Jonah took another sip of his beer, then set it down on the bar. “Damn, that’s good. Seriously the best IPA on the planet.”

She bit her lip. “May I try a sip?”

“Be my guest.”

He nudged the glass in front of her, and Kate picked it up. She sniffed it first, trying to remember what Jonah had told her about olfactory senses and beer tasting. “It smells like pine sap,” she said. “And citrus. Lemons, maybe. Or tangerines.”

“I know they use Citra hops in there, so that makes sense.”

She took a cautious sip. “Wow.” She tried a bigger swallow. “That’s really good. It’s—I can’t think of the right word.”

“Hoppy,” he said. “IPAs are known for having a high hop content, and this is one of the hoppiest. I’m actually a little surprised you like it. IPA isn’t usually a good starter beer for people who aren’t used to it.”

“I love it. Actually, I might like to have my own.” She caught the server’s eye and signaled her for another, nudging her vodka soda aside.

She took the frosty pint from the bartender and folded her hands around it. “Thank you,” she said. “This is good enough to actually drink.”

“As opposed to what?”

“Holding it like a prop, which is mostly what I was doing before,” she said. “I might have to grab some food from the buffet so this doesn’t go straight to my head.”

“There’s a buffet?”

Kate nodded toward the hallway that led toward an area the owner had described as the Group Playroom. “It’s down there,” she said. “Apparently the buffet is the only place in the club where you’re not allowed to have sex.”

“There go my plans for the night.”

Kate grinned, though something about the gravel in his voice made her skin tingle pleasantly. She couldn’t keep her brain from picturing what Jonah might look like pushing aside the fruit platter, then reaching for his belt buckle and?—

“I hear the food’s pretty good!” she said with a little too much enthusiasm. “They switch to breakfast at midnight.”

Jonah looked at her oddly and took a sip of his beer. “I guess people work up an appetite fucking each other senseless.”

“I guess so.” Kate took a deep breath and tried to focus on the job she was here to do. “The film editors will have their work cut out for them if we end up shooting here.”

“How do you mean?”

“All this nudity means a lot of editing. A lot of black boxes to add.”

“You really think they’d want to shoot here?”

“It’s perfect for the sort of salacious footage viewers love. Something a little taboo, a little forbidden?—”

She stopped talking and took a sip of beer, hoping Jonah didn’t read too much into her words. Surely that’s what was happening here, right? She wanted him so badly because he was off-limits. It was as simple as that.

Glancing over, she saw his mossy amber eyes fixed on two couples headed up the spiral staircase in the corner. They reached the first landing and kept going, headed for the third level.

“The orgy bed is on the third floor,” Kate said. “In case you were wondering.”

“I wasn’t, but thanks.” Jonah sipped his beer and shook his head. “Holy shit. I feel like I’m getting an education here.”

“You and me both.”

He grinned and set his glass down, studying her with an intensity that made her skin hum. “You know the five-things exercise you had me do with Viv on set?”

Kate swallowed hard, wishing it didn’t bother her that he’d brought up his ex. “It’s a great exercise.”

“Right. Well, this is one of the five things I really admire about you ,” he said.

Kate laughed, surprised by the turn in conversation. “That I drag you out to swingers clubs to spend time creepily staring at strangers?”

Jonah smiled and spun his glass on the bar. “I meant that you’re so open-minded. That you go out of your way to experience new things.”

“If you’re talking about orgies, I don’t think that’s on my bucket list.”

“I meant the beer, but good to know.”

“Right.” Kate grinned and sipped her beer. “Trying new things usually pays off for me. At least half the time, I end up discovering something I love.”