Mystery snickered. “But a mannequin is kind of funny.”
The conversation dropped away again. The silence grew thicker with each passing moment. Heath stared at Axel with thinly disguised distaste. Axel glared back.
Desperate to end this tension, she pushed her half-eaten meal away. “How about that tour?”
Axel glanced at his plate, then at her face. He rose and held out his hand. “Let’s do it.”
She laced her fingers with his, allowing him to lead her down a long hall. Heath followed, silent and seething. She wished he would go back to his room if he didn’t want to peek into the part of the club where people played, but he kept on behind them, seemingly determined not to let her out of his sight for longer than he must.
With a swipe of a key card, Axel opened a heavy door and gestured her into a darkened room. He flipped on a few switches, and the space illuminated in sections. A bar to the right, a few tables beyond, then a front door and foyer about fifty feet in front of her. So far, she didn’t see much out of the ordinary, just an industrial-looking hangout.
He hesitated, then flipped the last switch. Then the view got really interesting. She knew what most of the items were called from pictures and descriptions, but she’d never seen a spanking bench or a St. Andrew’s Cross in person. She could just imagine Axel cuffing her to a piece of equipment and touching her, giving her both pain and pleasure. Of course anytime he touched her she melted, but imagining him sending her into the intriguing void of subspace made her shiver.
“Wow,” she breathed, squirming as her imagination went wild. “I’m a little . . .”
“Speechless,” he teased.
She laughed. “Obviously.”
“Intrigued?” he asked—and seemed to hold his breath.
Because her opinion on the subject mattered?
“Yeah,” she admitted with a flush. “After you said you were into BDSM when we were in the desert, I looked into it. So intrigued is a good way to put it.”
He squeezed her hand. “I like that answer.” He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I’d love to give you a more personal tour.”
Behind them, Heath cleared his throat. “Escape routes?”
Axel gritted his teeth and turned. “Front and back entrance. There’s a side door from the kitchen you probably noticed.”
“I did,” Heath assured.
“A few interior doors in the building are steel and lock from both inside and out. Thorpe’s office, for one. The bedroom you’re in, Mystery. If something happens or you feel threatened, and no one you trust can get to you, throw the dead bolt from the inside and call the police.”
She nodded. “Got it.”
“But we’ll see someone coming long before then. I’ve got cams all over the parking lot, covering the street out front, and the alley beside us. No one can even reach the door without appearing on film.”
“Thank you for the explanation,” Heath said stiffly.
“You’re welcome. Now if you don’t mind, Mystery and I have some unfinished business.”
Heath squared his shoulders. “Actually, I do mind. I’m her bodyguard, and I stay with her until she’s ready to retire for the night.”
Mystery really didn’t know why Heath was being somewhere between a stick-in-the-mud and an ass. She’d always found him polite and accepting and easy to talk to—until today.
Was he . . . jealous?
When he took her by the arm and led her down the hall, just out of Axel’s earshot, she gaped at him. “What is up with you?”
“Have you gone mad?” Heath hissed, then glanced back over his shoulder at Axel. With legs planted wide and fists on his hips, he looked utterly unyielding. “Do you know the terrible things he wants to do to you? Tie you up.”
Imagining herself strapped to Axel’s bed, helpless as he spread her legs and did anything and everything he wanted to her . . . Her breath caught. Would he make her beg? Spank her until the rest of the world melted away? Force orgasms on her? Demand she kneel before him and suck his cock?
Desire, thick and hot, rolled through her.
Heath looked down at her breasts. Mystery followed suit and found her insistent nipples stabbing the front of her shirt.
Flustered, she crossed her arms over her chest and concealed them. “I’m an adult. I know what I want from a lover. Not that it’s any of your business.”
“Your father made it my business. Do you really want a man who will paddle your butt like you’re a child? Who will discipline you? What if he’s the sort who likes needles or knives or to control your breath?”
Mystery recoiled. “Ohmigod, what are you . . . No. That’s not—”
“I’ve seen the seedy side of the underworld. Normally, I’m a gentleman and I don’t speak of such things, but I’m concerned for you. Have you fallen for him so hard that you’d allow him to whip you until you bleed? Give you to a stranger?”
She shook her head. “He would never hurt me or put me at risk. I’d insist on a safe word, but I’m sure he’d ask me for one first. I know you don’t know him. But I do. He rescued me. We survived together. I’ve had a thing for him ever since. Please don’t get in the middle of this.”
Heath sidled closer, his expression a cross between incredulity and anger. “A thing for him? You’ve known him a total of three days, and you trust him enough to give him complete control of your body?”
When he put it like that, the concept sounded ridiculous. But her gut told her Axel wasn’t the sort of Dom Heath described. She couldn’t picture him as a sadist. Besides, she’d heard that people in a D/s relationship should discuss their limits with each other and negotiate what happened in a scene before they got too busy. Axel was responsible. That’s what he would do.
“Actually, I do.”
Heath gripped her arm and loomed over her, shaking his head. “You don’t understand what you’re inviting. I did a turn undercover in a club in London, and the things I saw . . .”
“Problem, Mystery?” Axel sauntered down the hall with a practiced nonchalance. But every muscle in his body looked tense.
Heath turned and stepped forward, putting himself between her and Axel. “I object.”
“I don’t give a shit,” Axel shot back.
“Her father would not approve.” Heath crossed his arms over his chest.
Mortification rolled through Mystery. “My father still wishes I wore ribbons in my pigtails, too. He doesn’t always get his way where I’m concerned. I don’t think we have anything left to say on this subject. Good night.” She stepped around Heath and approached Axel.
He took her hand in his. “Let’s go.”
Axel led her back to her bedroom, and she tried to ignore Heath sputtering behind her. She didn’t like to upset or hurt him. He’d been nothing but protective and supportive for years. But tonight, he’d crossed a line.
Once inside the bedroom, Axel shut the door and dead-bolted it for good measure. “Are you all right?”
“Sure.” But Heath’s words rang in her ears. “He’s just protective. It’s his job.”
“And he thinks I’m going to hurt you.”
She shrugged. “He doesn’t know you.”
Axel sat on the edge of the bed. “Well, you and I have some catching up to do as well. We need to get a few things straight.”
He’d dropped just enough disapproval into his tone to make her tummy tighten. Mystery tried not to notice that her palms suddenly turned damp. “I know. I explained and said I was sorry, but . . .”
“You did.” He nodded. “I understood and appreciated that. But that doesn’t make everything all right.”
Axel looked calm. He almost always wore an impenetrable veneer of calm, like nothing really got to him. Now, she saw a chink in that—and got the feeling he’d been holding this rebuke in for hours, just waiting for the chance to make his point.
She thought about backing up a step. “I didn’t think so, I just . . .”
He motioned her closer.