Page 135 of Theirs to Desire (Club M: Boxed Set)

KIERA

T he morning comes far too early. I’m in the middle of a very pleasant dream when my alarm goes off.

I roll over, tug the cotton sheet over my face, and bury my head under the pillow. I don’t want to wake up. Nolan, Caleb, and I are driving on a winding mountain road in a red convertible. On one side of us are cliffs that reach for the cloudless sky, and on the other, a sheer drop to the ocean.

The sun shines down on us. Music is playing on the car radio. Nolan’s driving, a daredevil gleam in his eyes. There are no guardrails, and if we fall, we will plunge to our deaths. I’m not the slightest bit afraid.

The alarm shrieks again, rudely intruding into my fantasy. Grr.

Slapping the button, I sit up. Neither Nolan nor Caleb are in bed, but I hear sounds of voices in the kitchen. I pull a long t-shirt over my head and follow the smell of freshly brewed coffee.

Caleb looks up when I walk in. “Rise and shine,” he says cheerfully.

“Oh God, you’re a morning person,” I groan. I can barely keep my eyes open, and he looks like he’s ready to run a marathon. Kill me now. “I’m rethinking our relationship.”

Relationship. Shit. Should I have said that? I mean, we said we loved each other last night, and yes, Caleb asked me to move into his place as long as Luis Martinez was a threat, but we haven’t really discussed things. What if I’m jumping to conclusions?

Fuck. I’ve never been in a real relationship. I don’t know how any of this is supposed to work.

“He’s not,” Nolan says blearily. He looks the way I feel. Half-asleep, and ready to go back to bed and stay there for a few more hours. “He’s good at faking it. He’s had three cups of coffee.”

“You’re giving away all my secrets. Last year, Nala decided she wanted to be a figure skater.

Practice was at six. Then the women’s soccer team won the World Cup, and she now wants to be a forward.

Thank heavens, no more early morning starts.

” Caleb hands me a cup of coffee with a grin.

“I hope you don’t mind me ransacking your cupboards. ”

I take the mug from Caleb and sit down. “Not at all.”

There are so many dating ‘rules.’ Guys are afraid of commitment. Women can’t chase. Yet I said ‘relationship,’ and neither of them even registered it, much less freak out.

Is this what scening with them would be like? Clear communication, no games, no drama? If so, I can’t wait.

“What are you thinking about?” Nolan asks interestedly.

My cheeks heat. “Scening with you in the club,” I admit. “I want to do it.”

A smile blooms on Caleb’s face. “That can be arranged,” he says. “I’m coaching Nala’s team again tonight, and I have a work dinner Friday. How about Saturday night?”

I’m working, but I can trade shifts with Kellie and get off early. “I can be done at nine.”

“Excellent. It’s a date.”

Caleb’s voice is drenched with male satisfaction. Nolan’s gaze heats. Electricity crackles between us. If I didn’t have to be at the diner in forty-five minutes, I’d be tempted to jump them.

Oh, who am I kidding? I’m still tempted. I set my mug down on the table. “I need to shower. Join me?”

No surprise, I’m the last one to arrive at Jenny’s Diner. Fiona, Avery, and Dixie are already there, inhaling cups of coffee. I take my place at the table with a murmur of apology. As soon as I sit down, Dixie turns to me with a wide smile.

“So, Kiera.” She sounds gleeful. “How come you blew us off last Sunday?”

She knows perfectly well why. I’d been at Nolan’s Manhattan condo, having crazy threesome sex with two of the hottest guys I’ve ever seen in my life.

I give her a death glare; it bounces right off her. That’s the way it’s going to be?

I’m saved by Jenny’s son. He fills my cup of coffee. “Are you ready to order?”

Early as it is, we’re not the only ones here. Jenny’s is popular, and even though it’s six-thirty, well over a quarter of the tables are occupied. That explains the harried expression on Matt’s face.

We order. Once Matt walks away, I turn to Avery. “I never did ask you how your weekend was.”

“It was great,” she says. “Until a client called me in the middle of dinner, threatening to kill himself.”

“What?” Avery’s a psychologist. “Seriously? What did you do?”

“I took the call.” She grimaces. “He’s not the least bit suicidal; he’s just manipulative. His wife is trying to leave him; he doesn’t want her to.”

Ouch. “It takes all sorts.”

“I guess.” She sounds tired. “I’m really grumpy; I’m running low on empathy. I need a proper vacation. No phone, no email, no way to get in touch with me.”

Fiona raises her eyebrow. “Do it. Take Kai and Maddox and disappear somewhere for a week.”

“I’m working on it. Maddox has an exhibit coming up in October, and Kai can’t take any time off this month. Maybe November.” She shrugs. “Ah well. First world problems. What’s going on with you? I hear you’re dating Caleb Reeves and some other guy?”

In any other group of friends, the idea that I’m sleeping with two guys at the same time would be the topic of intense gossip and scrutiny. Not with these women though.

“Nolan Wolanski,” I say. A grin spreads over my face, and I can’t hold it back.

I’d spill the dirt—these women are my friends, and after so many years of being guarded, it’s such a relief not to hold back—but first, I’ve got to give Dix a hard time.

“Speaking of which, Dix, what’s the deal between you and those two guys you met at the club? Eric and Hunter, right?”

Fiona’s eyes go round. “Hunter Driesse and Eric Kane?”

“You know them?”

“Sure. They’re friends with Adrian and Brody. We’ve had dinner with them plenty of times. You met them at the club? Tell me everything. ”

I bite back my grin. My work here is almost done. “Even better, she was terribly rude to them.”

Dixie is from the South. She had a cotillion. She says please and thank you. She’s unfailingly polite. She looks around every time she swears, as if she’s convinced her mother is going to overhear her and give her a stern talking-to.

“No way,” Avery replies at once.

My friend looks like she wants to strangle me. “Mmm,” I say solemnly. “I heard she told Eric Kane that Club M was a place for men with small cocks to boss around women.”

“You said cock?” Fiona stares at Dix, her expression fascinated. “That actual word?”

Dix sighs. “Thank you, Kiera,” she says. My innocent look doesn’t fool her in the slightest, not that I thought it would. “Yeah. I said that.”

Food arrives, interrupting our conversation. Once Matt sets down the plates and leaves, our heads snap back to Dix. I’m not the only one dying to know what’s going on with my friend.

“Fine,” she says, resigned. “Here’s what happened.

A few months ago, Xavier needed to sign something in a hurry, and I had to go to the castle.

” Her cheeks are red. “It was my first time there. I got lost on my way out and ended up on the club floor. It was a Wednesday, so I thought it was safe to look around.”

I exchange a glance with Fiona and Avery.

Dixie won’t admit it, but she’s at least a little curious about BDSM.

If she’s interested in exploring, Xavier Leforte’s club is the perfect place to test the waters.

Every room has cameras. The floor crawls with monitors, and they’re not at all shy about interfering if they think something is unsafe.

Xavier is fanatical about safe, sane, and consensual play.

“And?” Fiona prompts.

“I walked in the middle of a scene, except I didn’t realize it.

” She winces. “The woman was tied to a chair, and these two big guys were interrogating her.” Her hands make air quotes around the word ‘interrogating.’ The club was deserted.

Dimly lit. There were no monitors to be seen.

I jumped to conclusions, thought she was being assaulted, and intervened.

” She runs a hand over her face. “Hunter and Eric were the doms. I yelled at them, told them they had small cocks for beating up this poor woman.”

Avery looks like she’s trying not to laugh. “I’m assuming it was a planned scene.”

“Of course.” Dix groans at the memory. “The woman was a member of Congress. She needed privacy for obvious reasons. I’d just started chewing Hunter and Eric up about what they were doing, when a monitor arrived to clear things up.”

Poor Dix. That must have been mortifying. “It was a natural reaction,” I tell her.

She shakes her head. “No, I was stupid. Had I stopped for five seconds to think, I would have realized the truth. Why on Earth would intruders wander into a sex club to interrogate their suspect? I ruined a carefully crafted scene.” She winces.

“The worst thing is, Eric Kane is a financial wizard who’s now managing Xavier’s portfolio.

I see him almost every week. Every time I see him, I relive our hellish meeting. ”

Avery tilts her head to a side and surveys Dix. “You don’t tend to care what other people think of you,” she comments. “You like them, don’t you? That’s why it’s so embarrassing.”

“I do not like them,” Dix says flatly. “Kiera, tell us what’s going on with you.”

Dix is usually an open book, but she really doesn’t want to discuss Eric and Hunter. I feel bad for bringing up the topic. “I think Caleb, Nolan, and I are in an actual relationship.”

“Stop sounding surprised,” Fiona chides. “You’re amazing.”

“Yeah, well.” I fill them in on everything that’s been going on.

Bianca being alive, being trapped with Martinez, everything.

Dixie knows most of what’s been going on, but Fiona only knows some of it, and I haven’t seen Avery for weeks.

“Lockhart & Payne are now in charge of whisking my sister to safety.”

“I didn’t know,” Fiona says. “But that’s not surprising. Brody and Adrian are very discreet. I rarely know the details about what they’re up to.” She gives me a confident smile. “I’m biased, of course, but your sister is in very good hands. They’ll get her out.”

“I hope so.” I cross my fingers in my lap as I utter those words. I desperately want everything to work out. My sister has been through hell and back. She deserves a break. More than that, she deserves a lifetime of happiness.