Read Online Scarlet Assassin by Isabella - Free Book Online Page B

admit the club and the actions contained inside its dark, secret-filled walls had an attraction she couldn’t explain. She hadn’t grown up in a repressed house, quite the opposite. With three brothers she often found herself the butt of their vulgarity laced humor. She would come home and find jock straps hanging from her bedroom door handle, her brothers daring her to touch the filthy things. Playboys randomly tucked in her clothes drawers. Looking back now it was her first hint that she liked girls. Maybe not the spread-eagle types displayed voyeuristically in the pages, but the kind that walked her high school campus. Her secret crush – a cheerleader that was nice to everyone, had a bubbly personality and a kind word for the geek with braces. Innocently enough, she had set the standard by which Francesca would judge all women by from then on. However, her attraction to the club owner defied explanation. The dark undertones of the woman made Francesca tingle. It was like looking over the edge of a cliff and knowing if you stayed rooted to where stood you were okay, but lean out a bit too far and you risked falling. Selene was edgy, intense and sexy as hell. The complete opposite of Anita, the high school cheerleader. Francesca didn’t have to worry, there was no way someone like Selene fell for girls like her. It just didn’t happen and playing with fire wasn’t her style. A girl could dream, though, and Francesca was sure Selene would fuel her fantasies for weeks to come.
    “Hey, the lights are on but no one’s home.” Daphne’s snapping fingers brought Francesca back into the conversation and focused back where Daphne always wanted it.
    “Sorry, I was just thinking…” Francesca thought about how she would finish the sentence without giving up too much information.
    “About the club owner, huh?”
    “What? No.”
    “So, what does she look like?”
    “Who?” Francesca said, before taking a sip of her diet soda.
    “Oh, that good huh?”
    “No, I mean yes, but—”
    “Spill little sister.” Daphne settled in, pushing her feet under Francesca. Clearly, she wasn’t going to be deterred so there was no use trying to be vague. Francesca knew she would hound her until she whittled every little detail possible out of her. She felt like lying, but she wasn’t good at it and Daphne knew it.
    “Not much to tell really. She’s okay looking, I guess. Average, tall—”
    “Fat, skinny, long hair short hair, what did she wear?”
    “Seriously?”
    “Aren’t you the least bit intrigued about why a woman would own a bondage club? I mean think about it, it’s a dude kind of thing. Don’t you think?”
    Francesca hadn’t dissected it that far. In fact, she hadn’t had time to really give it that kind of in-depth thought. She was good at analyzing a situation, searching for the obvious and expecting the unexpected. It’s what made her good at her job, but she had to admit, a woman owning a bondage club was kind of edgy, raw and completely unpredicted. Maybe that’s why she was so embarrassed by her co-worker’s behavior. If Selene had been a man and Dorothy had treated him like that she wouldn’t have had a problem with it—at least she didn’t think she would. Was she being sexist?
    “Yeah, I guess. I didn’t really think about it like that, Daphne.”
    “Oh, I want to go. You have to take me.”
    “I don’t know…” Francesca felt herself shying away from a repeat of the night’s activities, sort of. Goose bumps prickled her skin. Ah, a visceral reaction is never a good sign , she thought, rubbing her arms. Selene’s touch had been like a spark charging through her body. Her nipples tightened instantly and she body flushed from her toes to the hair’s standing on her head. Francesca had to admit there was an entrancing quality about Selene. She still felt the rush of touching her in the bathroom.
    “Cold, sweetie?”
    “Yeah, a little,” Francesca lied.
    Daphne wrapped her tight in a