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Prologue

I vy Scott watched Slade going in and out of the BDSM club that he ran, Pandora’s Box, not able to take her eyes off him. He was the most beautiful man she had ever met and the way that he looked at her, watched her around the bar, made her hot. Tonight, he had on a pair of ripped jeans, and his black leather jacket that she knew smelled like his cologne. He wore his shoulder-length hair pulled back, which always made his blue eyes stand out and look fierce. shivered at the thought of those same eyes looking at her, finally seeing into her heart and soul and finding her worthy. That was all she could think about for the past year, but she wasn’t quite sure how to go about making that happen.

Slade spent most of his evenings after he finished at the club sitting at the bar, watching her wait on her customers. He would stay until close most nights to help her lock up, telling her to have a good night before getting on his motorcycle and riding away. She knew that she was making it more than it was in her mind, but her nightly fantasies involved Slade asking her to get on the back of his bike and him taking her back to his place. Hell, if she was being completely honest, her fantasy was to have Slade take her into the club to show her exactly what he liked to do to the women that went in there.

Last year her boss, Cash Harrington, decided to do something with the building that he owned next door to his bar. She never dreamed that he would open a BDSM club, but she was na?ve. Especially given the fact that the bar that she worked in, Manholes, was primarily a gay bar and that Cash was in a committed threesome with his friend Callan and their woman, Mercy. This world was a new one for her, especially since had never been with a man or woman for that matter. At twenty-five, that wasn’t something that she easily shared with people. She had become close to Mercy, but she still hadn’t told her friend that she was a virgin. It was embarrassing to admit but had other boxes to check off on her “to-do” list. Finding someone to take her virginity didn’t seem like a priority to her but now it was all she could think about.

She ducked down in her car when Slade glanced her way, not wanting to give up the fact that she was sitting there thinking about all the ways she would like for him to touch her. She would die if Slade found out that she fantasized about him being the one that she would give her virginity to. He’d probably laugh in her face and tell her to get lost once she admitted that she was a virgin. Slade didn’t look like the type of man who fooled around with women who had no clue as to what they wanted sexually. But God, she wanted him.

Every night that she watched him ride away on his motorcycle she’d head up to her apartment above the bar and take a cold shower, trying to forget how good his ass looked straddling that seat or how his broad shoulders flexed when he turned on the bike. Most nights, the cold shower didn’t work, and she would touch herself, fingering her throbbing clit until she cried out his name wishing that he was the one touching her, licking her, and fucking her senseless.

Instead, every evening just before the club opened, he would show up at the bar and order dinner and a beer. After, she would watch him walk next door and into Pandora’s Box, usually with some hot, thin brunette or curvy blond on his arm. Women lined up to have their turn with the new dungeon master in town and the thought of him touching them nearly did her in. A few times, when he’d show up to the bar after he was done playing at the club, she wanted to tell him to leave her the fuck alone. She had even told Cash that she was going to quit a few times, not wanting to stick around to watch Slade walk back into that club with another woman. Cash would always talk her down, telling her that she should just talk to Slade and tell him how she felt. usually ended up telling Cash to forget the whole thing and ended up back at work the next night to repeat the torture of watching the man that she wanted, walk arm and arm into that damn club with another woman.

knew that she couldn’t stack up to those women. She was friendly but shy and the thought of coming right out and asking for what she wanted sexually scared the shit out of her. Most guys treated her like their little sister, telling her that she was cute or even adorable. She hated being called those two things. Really, couldn’t the male population come up with better adjectives to describe her? She was sick of not being found hot or sexy. Just once, she wanted to see the desire in a man’s eyes when he looked at her.

sighed, knowing that if she wanted to be taken seriously, she was going to need to kick up her game and take control of her destiny. Tonight was going to be that night—maybe. She knew that she had to stop being a chicken and take Cash’s advice to tell Slade just how she felt. But the thought of him avoiding her once the truth came out made her sad. She had come to enjoy their talks late at night when the bar was slow. She liked the way he laughed when she told a corny joke or made fun of herself for being a klutz. counted Slade as her friend and losing him because she had the hots for him didn’t feel like a viable option. No, she couldn’t just blurt out that she was a virgin and that she wanted Slade to deflower her. Did anyone even say that anymore? God, she felt pathetic.

Mercy lent her an outfit to wear to the club and Emily helped her to figure out how to wear contact lenses, so she could leave her nerdy glasses behind for the night. Regan even came over to her little apartment to help her apply her makeup and do her hair. It truly took a village to get ready for her night at the club, so backing out now would not bode well with her friends. smoothed her hands over the leather corset that Mercy had picked out to go with the naughty schoolgirl skirt that barely covered her ample ass. Mercy assured her that she looked curvy and sexy, but felt more like a frumpy nun rather than a sexy Catholic schoolgirl.

closed her eyes and took a deep breath—it was now or never. Members were starting to enter the club, and she knew that she needed to get in there and claim her spot. She wanted to be spanked tonight, and she knew just whom she wanted wielding that paddle—Slade. Cash warned her that Slade wouldn’t go easy on her, but she was sure she could take it. She wanted whatever he was willing to give her, she just hoped that Slade was willing. The thought of him turning her away or giving her to someone else for the first time scared her to death. But if she admitted that she had zero experience, he would turn her out, and then she would never lose her virginity. One way or another, she needed for that to happen tonight and hopefully at the hands of Slade and not a stranger.