couches lined the booths, and a small stage and dance area filled one side of the lower ground floor. The bar gleamed with backlit mirrors and optics awaiting their upturned bottles, and a couple of women were unpacking glasses and spirits onto the bar. They glanced over at Lucien and then back at each other, and Sophie recognised the look that passed between them. Hot man in the room. She could hardly blame them. Even in a hard hat, Lucien oozed sex.
Decadence dripped from every sophisticated fixture and fitting; the place screamed high-class sex den. Thanks to her previous visit to a Gateway club with Lucien, Sophie could all too easily imagine naked dancers and intimate couples twined around each other in those booths.
He took a seat in one of them now, and inclined his head for her to join him on the curved seat opposite to go through the ground floor checklist. He nodded as she reeled the list off one by one, then gave her a series of comments to note down for future action. She clicked the pen closed and prepared to stand and move on.
"Anything else?" she added, as an afterthought.
He nodded and steepled his fingers on the table.
"Yes. You look fucking sexy in a hard hat."
Her throat dried up in shock. "And I’m supposed to write this down?"
"Absolutely," he said, conversationally. "Write 'Sophie looks fucking sexy in a hard hat.'" He paused, because she wasn't writing. "Write it down."
She flicked her eyes around the room, unwilling to raise her voice because of the proximity of the electricians working near by. His eyes held hers in direct challenge, and she made a split second decision. She wrote it down.
"Anything else?" she repeated.
"I want to take that hat off and run my hands through your hair."
"Lucien..." Sophie warned.
He stood abruptly. "All done in here, Ms. Black. Let's move on."
Sophie swallowed hard and followed him across the dance floor and down a set of steps.
"The spa." He waved his hand around to indicate the space, and Sophie opened the next checklist accordingly. The entire basement space had been converted into a luxury relaxation area, centred around an as yet unfilled pool and jacuzzi. Several workmen were scattered around the space, and Lucien took her elbow and steered her slowly across to sit on the edge of the raised circular jacuzzi wall.
As before, she worked methodically through the list, and Lucien answered each question in turn after inspecting the room.
She cleared her throat. Here we go again . "Err… any other notes?"
Lucien was sitting alongside her on the curved wall, and as he turned towards her his splayed fingertips brushed against her thigh on the tiles.
"Yes." His lazy, lustful eyes flickered down her throat, and then back up to her mouth.
"I need to remember to bring you back here when the jacuzzi has been filled. I want you to test the jets."
She frowned, making shorthand notes. "Can't the plumber test them?"
"I want you to do it." Lucien leaned in close to guarantee that only she would hear him. "I want you to tell me if the jets are perfectly positioned to massage your clitoris."
Sophie 's mouth dropped in a perfect O, and she instinctively crossed her legs. His words made her tremble.
"Write it down."
He looked at the clipboard, then at her pen, then at her face.
His fingertips still brushed her thigh, rhythmically enough to prove it wasn't accidental.
She wrote it down. Check the jets are positioned for clitoral massage.
Knowing he was watching her write the words made her squirm.
Once again he stood suddenly, leaving her hot and bothered as he led her back through the main room to a staircase leading up to the first floor. Sophie found herself walking on shaky legs along a plushly carpeted hallway, low-lit and sultry with the same air of sexy sophistication as downstairs. The scent of new carpets and fresh paint would no doubt fade once the place was packed with warm, pulsating bodies.
"The playrooms."
Sophie closed her eyes for a second,
Christopher Smith
Rebecca M. Hale
Alex McKechnie
Matt Christopher
Alan Furst
Tamai Kobayashi
Jaye Diane
Clayton Rawson
Maggie Bennett
Brooke Cumberland