Highest Bidder (Salacious Players’ Club)

Daisy

“Paris?” Geo asks, his eyes wide and his jaw hanging open. “As in Paris, France?”

“Oui,” I reply with a smile. My elbows are resting on the bar, and I can barely stand still. I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt so happy.

“Most girls get an hour upstairs in the VIP room,” he replies.

My grin grows wider, so much that my cheeks are starting to burn.

“Look at you,” he says, setting down the bottle in his hand and shooting me a soft expression. “You’re in love.”

I can feel the blush rising as I bite my lip and try to hide my silly, lovestruck face. Which only makes Geo double down.

“Holy shit. You are really in love.”

“Oh stop,” I reply, glancing around me to make sure no one overheard that. “I’m not really in love.”

He laughs as he picks up the bottle and gets back to work making the drink. “Yes, you are.”

I shrug with a smile. “Okay, maybe a little.”

“Take these to table two and then you can tell me all about it,” Geo says, sending me on my way with a tray full of drinks. I’m practically bouncing with the six champagne flutes balanced on the tray, and the entire time I’m walking, I’m thinking about what details I’m going to share with my friend and which ones are too personal.

Should I tell him about L’Amour? Or getting fingered in front of the Eiffel Tower? Should I tell him that I was spanked like a bad, little girl and liked it? A lot.

Okay, maybe I’ll just gloss over these topics, skipping the details.

After dropping off the drinks at table two, I turn around to see Ronan walking through the heavy black curtain at the front of the club. Immediately, my heart skips at the sight of him. Never mind the fact that I’ve been with him for a week straight. I’ve been at work for an hour and I’m already missing him.

Tugging my bottom lip between my teeth, I fight back the ear-to-ear grin that threatens to stretch across my face. Suddenly remembering what we did last night before the bath, and then after the bath, and this morning…and just before I left for my shift at the club.

Seeing Ronan from across the room in that fitted suit, I freeze in my spot, admiring him. His right hand is in his pocket and his left is skating over his beard as he stops and scans the room. He never does that. So I freeze, waiting for his eyes to find me, and after a moment, our gazes meet.

As he slowly walks toward me, I glance sideways at Geo, who is grinning and shaking his head. Ronan and I agreed that we wouldn’t hide our relationship, but we weren’t eager to flaunt it either. Secrets are more fun anyway—well, these kinds at least. I told him I would have to tell Geo, but other than that, we’re not going to make it public, yet.

I’m ready to break that promise right now, though. I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep my hands off of him. He looks so good in that suit.

“The apartment was so quiet and boring,” he says quietly as we meet in the middle of the floor.

“I’ve only been gone an hour,” I reply, grinning like a fool.

“It was a long hour.”

“So…what are you going to do?” I ask. I know he’s not here to partake in any activities with anyone, but I can’t help but ask.

“Have a drink. Watch you. Admire how cute your ass looks in that skirt.” He leans in a little closer. “Then…when your shift is done, I’ll take you upstairs and tie you to my bed.”

My cheeks burn with his words and the image he’s promising.

“Then, I hope it’s a very slow night.”

“I’ll pay Emerson to close the club right now,” he replies with a smile, and I laugh.

“You can wait, Mr. Kade. I still have a job to do.”

“Fine,” he mutters before passing by me to take a seat at his regular table near the back. The same table he sat in the night he won a date with me.

I feel his burning gaze on my ass as I walk to the bar, and Geo is there, laughing to himself when I approach to get the bourbon neat he has ready for Ronan.

“What’s so funny?” I ask.

“I love the sight of you eating your words.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Only a week ago you said you weren’t into older guys,” he teases me.

“I found one who changed my mind.” Even I can hear the dreamy pitch in my voice.

“Obviously.”

“Ronan made a compelling argument,” I reply with a smile.

“Yeah, with his dick.”

My jaw drops. “Geo!” I squeal before glancing back at Ronan to make sure he didn’t hear that. Although I guess if he did, he wouldn’t be too offended. Geo’s right, although it wasn’t really the sex that changed my mind, was it? It was changed before then.

The night he tried to carry me over his shoulder to his apartment.

The day he wrote a line of poetry in my journal.

The way I felt in his arms last night in the tub, when we both held each other with our eyes closed.

All very compelling arguments for why I no longer care about Ronan Kade’s age.

Setting his bourbon on my tray, I carry it over to his table. I love the way he’s watching me as I walk. Like I’m the only person in the room. Like he literally came to a sex club just watch me serve drinks all night.

I pass the drink to him with a wicked smirk.

“What’s that look for?” he asks.

“Nothing,” I tease, thinking about Geo’s remark about his dick.

“How are you feeling? Did you get enough to eat before your shift?”

This is how he’s going to be now, isn’t it? Always checking that I’ve eaten enough and not skipping meals anymore.

I lean over him, my hands on either side of his chair as I hold my lips near his ear and whisper, “Yes, Daddy.”

He responds with a groan.

Before I can back away, he hooks a hand around my leg and tugs me closer, putting me between his knees, bringing our faces just inches apart. So much for being discreet.

“I don’t have to wait until the end of your shift,” he says in a cool, sexy warning.

“I would lose my job.”

“Think I care? You keep calling me that and I’ll fuck you right here.”

I smile at him before dropping a couple inches and pressing my lips to his for a quick kiss.

“You can wait, Mr. Kade. Drink your bourbon and behave.”

His jaw clenches as his fingers trail up and down the back of my leg. I hate to walk away now. I’m too addicted to his touch. But I have to. The floor is getting busy with thirsty patrons.

But as I stand up and turn away from Ronan, I catch the eye of someone across the room. Clay, the man who tried to win a date with me, is standing alone near a high-top table, staring at me with curiosity in his gaze. His eyes track downward toward Ronan then back up to me.

I suddenly feel exposed and uncomfortable as I force myself to look away and head back to the bar. All the while I serve drinks and take orders, I feel them both watching me, but I try to focus solely on Ronan. Every few minutes, I sneak a glance and a smile in his direction, and for the most part, I don’t think he notices Clay’s pointed attention on me.

I can’t avoid him forever, so after serving the table next to his, I stop at Clay’s.

“Hey there,” I say with my customer service voice and smile. “Can I get you something to drink?”

He doesn’t answer right away. Instead, he narrows his eyes and bites his bottom lip.

“Hey, Daisy. Haven’t seen you around in a few days,” he says, stepping closer to me.

“I was out of town,” I reply cheerfully.

“Oh nice. Where’d you go?” My smile starts to fade. He must notice because he lets out an anxious laugh. “I’m sorry. That was inappropriate to ask. Don’t answer that.”

I laugh in response, trying to keep it as casual as possible. “It’s okay. I, uh…went to Paris, actually.”

His eyes widen. “Oh, wow. Paris? That sounds amazing. Good for you.”

“Thanks,” I reply with a tight-lipped smile. “Can I get you a drink?”

“Sure…” he says, and I sense by the way he’s hesitating and chewing on his lip that he’s working up the nerve to ask me something. “Maybe you’ll have a chance tonight to have one with me?”

When I spot the anxious hope in his eyes, a feeling of sympathy washes over me. I take a moment to appreciate Clay’s sweet nature and handsome face.

Is this the type of man people think I should be with? If I were dating a man like Clay, there would be no anxiety. No fear of judgment. I wouldn’t hesitate to take him home to my dad and no one would question if I was with him for the right reasons.

But nothing about him sets my soul on fire. He’s handsome, objectively sweet, and he’s in a sex club, so I’m willing to bet he has a kinky side.

“That’s really sweet,” I reply, glancing down at my feet before scanning my eyes upward. “But I can’t.”

After a moment, he nods knowingly. “It’s that rich guy, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” I say under my breath.

As his eyes glide slowly from Ronan to me, I can only imagine what he’s thinking. That it’s unfair for the ‘rich’ guys to get the girls or that I’m only with him for his money.

“Be honest,” he says, resting his elbow on the table. “If I had won that night…” Before finishing the sentence, he clenches his teeth. “You know what, never mind. I don’t want to know.”

I remember the day after the auction when I saw Clay and considered how my night might have ended differently if he had won. It makes me sad to even think about it. To have missed out on the greatest, most romantic week of my life. That auction changed my life forever. I can feel it.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, but I’m not sure why.

When he leans in as if to say something intimate, my skin grows hot, and I start to panic. All I can think is that Ronan is watching, and I don’t want him getting jealous or angry, seeing someone talk to me for so long.

Abruptly, there’s a hand against Clay’s chest and someone pressing themselves between us. I half expect it to be Ronan, but then my eyes focus on the long black nails and delicate fingers of the woman touching Clay’s chest.

“Down, boy,” she says in a soft, sexy command.

I turn my head and gaze into the eyes of Eden St. Claire, as she levels her dominant expression on Clay, who’s currently surrendering with his hands up and a smirk on his face.

“Yes, Madame.”

My face gets ridiculously hot as I stare at them both. What on earth is going on here?

“Give Daisy your drink order and let her get back to work.”

When Clay’s eyes slowly cast upward to my face, he looks apologetic and much smaller than he did a moment ago. “Gin and tonic, please.”

I nod before glancing toward Eden. “Nothing for me. Thank you, Daisy.”

My mouth opens but nothing comes out. Instead, I scurry wordlessly toward the bar to get his drink. To be honest, Madame Kink intimidates me. That much confidence and prowess scares me because I can’t help but feel that’s how much confidence I’m supposed to have, but I don’t.

She’s an icon at Salacious—beautiful, kind, dominant, sexy, fearless. She’s everything I wish I was.

On my way to the bar, I catch Ronan’s eye and he gives me a questioning expression with a wrinkle in his brow. My response is nothing but a shrug and a smile.

When I return to the table where Clay and Eden are still talking, I deliver his drink, and she quickly catches me by the arm before I leave. We walk together for a few steps until we’re out of earshot of Clay.

“Come to room nineteen when you get off.”

My eyes are as wide as saucers and my heart feels as if it’s now pumping ice instead of blood. Suddenly, Eden lets out a laugh.

“Oh my God, your face,” she howls. “You look terrified. I just meant to hang out with me. Have a glass of wine with me. I want to talk to you.”

“You do?” I reply, still in a daze of confusion.

“Well, you are dating my best friend. I just thought we could get to know each other.”

“Oh…”

Is this real life?

With her hand on my arm, she leans in toward my ear and whispers, “You might tell Geo everything. Well, Ronan tells me everything.”

With that, she just walks away. And I glance toward Ronan, still wide-eyed and in shock, to see him smirking shamelessly in his chair.