Page 2 of Going Deep (Odyssey #3)

L ola answered Ginger’s knock on her door with a smile. “ Hey , where’ve you been?”

“Uh, across the hall? Where I live?”

Lola stepped back to let Ginger in. “ Yeah , but I haven’t seen you since we got back from the wedding, and that was almost a week ago.”

Ginger stepped into the apartment. “ Probably because you’ve been too busy having makeup sex.”

Lola shut the door with a laugh. “ It was only makeup sex the first day. After that it was ‘hey I get to bang my man whenever I want so why don’t I do it now’ sex.”

“I hate you,” Ginger decided.

Lola laughed again. “ Come on in. Simon’s still at work, so I’m currently between bangs.”

Ginger followed Lola into the open space.

The apartment had the same basic layout as the one she inhabited across the hall, but that was where the similarities ended.

Where Ginger’s cousin had gone with an ultra-modern look for his place, with polished concrete floors, white walls, and sleek leather furniture, Lola had gone for warmth.

The floors were covered in rich hardwoods and colorful rugs, and while her furniture would never be considered traditional, the bold colors and bright accents gave the rooms a sense of style without compromising comfort.

Even with all the open space, it was cozy.

Lola settled in a corner of the red sofa, tucking her bare feet under her.

Dressed in leggings and an oversized t-shirt, her face was scrubbed clean and her platinum blonde hair was tied back in a short, stubby tail.

Diamonds flashed at her ears, and her fingernails were still painted the bold pink she’d worn for the wedding. .

Ginger sat on the other end of the sofa. “ I take it things are good?”

Lola’s smile was bright, satisfied, and just a little smug. “ Things are very good.”

“Then I can stop feeling guilty about letting Michael waylay me at the wedding so Simon could drag you off?”

“You are absolved, my child,” Lola intoned soberly, then raised a finger. “ But absolution requires penance.”

Amused, Ginger pulled her feet up to mimic Lola’s pose. “ Can I recite The Miller’s Tale instead of the rosary?”

Lola’s whiskey-brown eyes went wide. “ You can recite The Miller’s Tale ?”

“Most of it. Sometimes I fumble the middle bits,” Ginger confessed. “ But since most people don’t understand Middle English , I just make something up and keep it rolling.”

“How about you just give me the dish on what happened between you and Michael at the wedding and we’ll call it even?”

“Oh, that’s easy.” Ginger picked an invisible speck of lint off the knee of her jeans. “ Nothing happened.”

“Uh-huh. That’s why you were making coy, flirty, sex eyes at him the whole time we were there.”

“How would you know?” Ginger demanded. “ You were too busy making up with Simon to notice anything that wasn’t his tongue in your mouth.”

“It’s called multi-tasking,” Lola said archly.

“It’s called being a busybody,” Ginger muttered, and winced. “ Was I that obvious?”

“No,” Lola conceded. “ But if I noticed it , you can bet your fine ass he did.”

Ginger tried to feign nonchalance. “ Oh ?”

“Like that idea, do you?”

Ginger thought about playing it coy, then figured, what the hell. “ You’ve seen him, right?”

“Oh, yeah, he’s hot. And kinky,” Lola reminded her with a raised eyebrow. “ Which you have claimed not to be.”

“I have,” Ginger agreed, then cleared her throat. “ However , upon further reflection…”

Lola snickered.

Ginger scowled. “ You know, I can just wait for Anna to come back from her honeymoon and talk to her if you’re going to be smug.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Lola schooled her expression into neutral lines. “ You were saying?”

Ginger just sighed. “ I think I’m submissive, okay?”

Lola’s eyes went round with feigned shock. “ What ? That is brand new information !”

“Oh, shut up,” Ginger muttered and refused—absolutely refused—to smile. “ I don’t want anyone sticking needles in me—no offense.”

Lola just laughed, well used to the fact that her specific kink tended to freak people out. “ None taken.”

“But the other stuff…” Ginger cleared her throat. “ Um , I might be up for some of that.”

“Okay, question.”

Ginger braced herself. “ What ?”

“Are you just saying that because you have the hots for Michael ?”

“No. I’ve actually been thinking about this for a while.”

“How long is a while?”

“Ever since I walked in on you and Simon ,” Ginger confessed with a wince, remembering the day she’d accidentally discovered Lola giving Simon a blowjob while tied up. She’d misinterpreted the situation—badly—and Simon had paid the price.

Lola’s laughter rang out. “ Simon’s going to love that.”

“I bet.”

“No, he will. And it might make him feel better about you tasering him. Like he sacrificed his body for a greater cause.”

Ginger shifted uncomfortably on the sofa. “ It wasn’t a taser, it was a stun gun. And can we not talk about that, please?”

Lola’s eyes were dancing with laughter, but she nodded. “ So , what do you plan to do with this revelation?”

“I was hoping you’d have some ideas,” Ginger admitted. “ I’m out of my depth, here.”

Lola pursed her lips in thought. “ I’ve got ideas. First , tell me what you’re looking for.”

“Orgasms?” Ginger ventured.

“Aren’t we all,” Lola drawled. “ Beyond that?”

“I don’t know,” Ginger confessed. “ I kind of got stuck on orgasms.”

“Hard to blame you,” Lola allowed. “ Okay , first things first. What’s your experience in this area? You mentioned before having boyfriends who liked rough sex, and that you enjoyed that. Anything else?”

Ginger thought back. “ I don’t think so. Well , one guy— Mark —he liked to order me around in bed. Stand here, do this, keep your hands there. That kind of thing.”

Lola nodded. “ And giving him that control, how did that make you feel?”

“I liked it. It was…” Hot . Sexy . I came my brains out. “ I liked it.”

Lola chuckled. “ Okay , then we can say that letting someone else call the shots for sex is a definite yes. What about D /s outside the bedroom?”

“You mean like Anna and Grant ?”

Lola nodded. “ They’re one example.”

Ginger frowned. It seemed to work for her friends, Grant being in charge of certain aspects of their lives, but she’d be lying if she said she was entirely comfortable with the idea. “ I don’t know.”

“A reasonable answer.”

“I was hoping I could go to the club with you sometime,” Ginger said. “ You know, get a feel for what’s out there, what I might like.”

“You could,” Lola allowed, her brow furrowed in thought.

“I started to do some research online,” Ginger went on.

“Uh-oh.”

“That’s an understatement,” Ginger muttered, remembering the number of hits she’d gotten when she’d searched ‘common BDSM practices’. “ I almost had a panic attack.”

“Yeah, there’s a lot to wade through.” She tapped her fingers on her knee for a moment. “ Visiting Odyssey is a good option, if you’re willing to jump through some hoops.”

“Whatever the hoops are, they can’t be worse than a million-plus Google results.”

“Okay, then.” Lola unfolded herself and rose from the sofa. “ Hang on, I’m going to grab a few things from my office.”

“Okay.”

Lola turned to go, then paused. “ You know, Michael takes a strong interest in new submissives at Odyssey . He considers it his duty to make sure they have a good experience.”

Ginger widened her eyes, all innocence. “ Oh , does he?”

Lola snorted out a laugh. “ That’s good, the big eyes, but the grin gives you away. You’ll want to watch that.”

Ginger folded her lips to hide the grin and nodded solemnly. “ Noted .”

Lola just shook her head, muttered something that sounded like ‘sneaky submissive’ and headed down the hall.

Alone, Ginger allowed herself a triumphant giggle, then closed her eyes, settled back into the cushions, and tried to breathe away both the giddy anticipation and the rising anxiety.

“You fall asleep on me?” Lola demanded a few moments later.

Ginger opened her eyes. “ No , I was managing my anticipation and anxiety through meditative breathing.”

Lola’s gaze sharpened. “ You have anxiety?”

“And anticipation.” Not wanting to talk about it, Ginger nodded at the sheaf of papers in Lola’s hands. “ What’re those?”

Lola held them out. “ Hoops . Start jumping.”

Ginger took them. “ Okay , can you be more specific?”

“It’s a BDSM checklist, the one they use at Odyssey for new members.” Lola dropped back down onto the sofa. “ I printed it out so you can take your time with it.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean… I wasn’t planning to join.” She’d been on Odyssey’s website, knew what they charged for membership fees. As much as she wanted to get laid, she couldn’t justify spending six months’ rent to do it.

Lola shook her head. “ You can come as our guest, but you should still fill it out. It’ll give you a good idea of what’s out there, the kinds of things you might be interested in. And if you want to do more than watch at the club, you have to have it on file. House rule.”

“Oh, okay.” Ginger skimmed down the list, her eyes widening. “ Age play? Bestiality ? Chastity belts? ”

“And that’s just the first page,” Lola said. “ Look , there are going to be a lot of these that don’t appeal to you, and that’s fine. There will be even more that you just don’t know enough about to judge yet, and that’s fine too.”

“So, I’m supposed to go through this and find the things that I want to do?”

“And the things you don’t want to do,” Lola said. “ That’s just as important.”

“This is going to take days,” Ginger mused, flipping through the pages. What the hell were vampire gloves?

“It takes as long as it takes. It’s important to be thorough, honest, and to remember that at this stage—at any stage, really—' I don’t know’ is a perfectly acceptable answer.”

“Right.” Ginger set the pages down. “ Why did I think this was going to be simple?”

Lola chuckled. “ I have no idea. Do you want to stay for dinner? Simon’s picking up pizza, and there will be more than enough.”

“Did you get it with anchovies?”