Page 93 of By Invitation Only

I watched this Tammy women sashay away from us.

“Sorry about that,” Booker apologized.

“One of your many conquests?”

“Something like that.” He took a long sip of his drink.Yeah, we were both feeling the awkward interaction.

Then it hit me. Booker had been coming to Sensation since he was in college—for at leasttenyears. If he’d had a different woman each time, then that meant he’d been with over one-hundred and twenty women or more depending on how many masquerade parties he went to. That was—crazy.

“Have you…” I stammered because the question was on the tip of my tongue yet I was nervous as hell to ask it.

“Have I what?” He kissed my forehead as he leaned down to meet my eyes.

I decided to change the way I was going to ask him. “Do you ever have sex with the women again, or is it a one-time thing?”

His forehead creased. “What?”

I knew the rule: you never asked your partner how many people they’d been with. No one ever liked the number. But this was different, right? We weren’t talking about five, ten or even fifteen people. We were talking about one-hundred and twentypluswomen. I didn’t even know that many womenormen.

So I asked the question in a different way again. “I mean, will we keep getting women coming up to us asking for you to fuck them again?”

Booker dropped his arm from around my shoulders and then turned me so I was facing him head on. “There’s nothing you need to worry about.”

“I know,” I agreed. The last month had been perfect, and I never wanted it to end, but he was used to sleeping with different women and not the same one every night. “I just…” Crap, I couldn’t get the words out. The thought of all those women was turning my stomach.

“Gorgeous, just spit it out.”

I downed the rest of my drink, took a deep breath and just went for it. “I’m good at math, and having that Tammy chick come up to us made me realize that you’ve been coming here a long time. A decade or more, Booker. That’s a long time, and even if you only went to the one night a month party and not the exclusive one, that’s still a lot. I—”

“Baby, calm down.”

“How can I calm down? We’re talking a hundred plus.Plus!”

His sky blue eyes held mine. “The answer is no. Inevergo back for seconds.”

Heart, it was nice knowing you.I felt it crush inside my chest as I processed his words. He never went back, so that meant a new girl each time.

“But,” he continued, “I don’t come every month, and sometimes when I come, I don’t find anyone to be with.”

“What?” I whispered. How was that possible? The clientele at this joint was beautiful.I’dsleep with a few of the women I’ve seen around—if I were bi.

“I might come off as a womanizer, but don’t forget I told you that I have a lot of clients here. And the ones that aren’t my clients, I try to get them to be. Work comes before my needs.”

I stared up at him, not knowing what to say.

“I don’t know how many women I’ve been with, but it’s not hundreds. And like I said, I’ve never gone back for seconds—until you.”

Until me. Me!

“Don’t let your self-doubt get in the way, baby. You’re special to me. Remember that.”

I went to tell him that I was sorry, but before I could, the lights went out, and we were left in total darkness. I felt Booker wrap his arm around me again. He leaned down and whispered, “It’s starting.”

A few moments later, the yellow lights came back on. This time, a man and a woman were standing on a stage in the middle of the room with some sort of hoop hanging above them. Before I let my attention become fully on the couple, I wrapped my arms around Booker’s waist and hugged him. I hugged him because I wanted to tell him that we were okay. I trusted him fully, and I wasn’t going to think about his past any longer.

The actors were both dressed in silk robes. The man started to walk around the woman as though he was admiring ever angle of her body. Once he was at the woman’s front again, he started to untie her robe. It fell to the floor, leaving her naked with everything on display. The man reached into the pocket of his silk robe and pulled out a rope.

Booker leaned his head down again and whispered into my ear, “Do you like Shibari?”