Wicked Billionaire - Sawyer Bennett Page 0,20

and a boss should be doing.”

“I promise I won’t bite,” he says with a wicked grin, then turns his attention to the bartender to order two bourbons. When he angles back toward me, his eyes twinkle as he adds, “Unless you ask me to.”

A blaze of lust and need sweeps through me, causing my spine to tingle and my skin to warm. I can feel the heat in my cheeks. Declan must see it, too, because he’s far too observant not to. Plus, he’s smirking.

The bartender brings our drinks and I don’t respond to his last baited statement. Instead, I pick up my glass as I glance around. “To be honest, I sort of expected to walk into a porn movie.”

“You’ll get there soon enough,” Declan replies as my gaze comes back around. “But there’s a civilized component to this club I enjoy, and that’s an element I wish to carry over into the new resort. The ability to have a few drinks to unwind and relax. Maybe enjoy some conversation.”

One eyebrow arches involuntarily, denoting my skepticism. “Conversation? Really?”

Declan shakes his head, an amused twinkle in his eye. “You must have a conversation before sex, Bailey. Otherwise, how do you truly know if your attraction is well-matched and mutually returned?”

That momentarily sets me back. I have a hard time envisioning Declan Blackwood making a personal connection before sex. It’s the antithesis of what I saw when that woman stormed out of his suite, calling him an asshole, a couple of weeks ago.

I’m not quite sure what he sees on my face, but he explains. “Now, I’m not saying I want to hear about a woman’s dreams and aspirations, nor do I care about her political ties or her fiscal responsibilities.”

He leans in a bit closer to me as we stand at the bar, lowering his voice. “But I most certainly want to know her intimate preferences. Is she only into vanilla or does she like a little kink? Is she a fan of anal or is she too afraid to go there? Does she spit or swallow?”

His words are crude, yet shockingly sexy. Making a split-second decision, I stop looking at him as my boss. Instead, in this wanton environment, I decide to treat him as any other member of an exclusive sex club. I consider this outing to be market research of sorts, which lets me be affected by his words without feeling guilt over fantasizing about my employer.

Taking a sip of my bourbon, I relish the burn as it slithers down my throat and into my belly. In an attempt to act unaffected, I keep my question benign. “Are there people here who like vanilla sex? I mean… this is a sex club. Isn’t it all taboo stuff?”

“On the contrary, there are plenty of members who like plain old missionary, but they love having sex in front of others. That’s their kink—having people watch.”

Makes sense.

And it makes me blush deeper… because that has always been a fantasy of mine. I tried to get Caleb into semi-public sex before—like going at it in the living room at night with the blinds open. Once, I attempted to get him to fuck me on a park bench on an evening stroll. He’d declined. Now, I don’t know if it was because he’s not into public kink or because he was pining for another man.

“One thing to keep in mind tonight,” Declan says, his tone once again clipped and remote. Back in professional mode. “I don’t intend to have themed rooms. It will be one large facility.”

I nod because this is still beyond me, so I don’t have anything smart or helpful to add.

“Would you like to walk around to see how things are set up here?” he asks, but it’s not a request. He’s telling me that he’s ready to show me a whole new world, and it hits me like a wall of cold water… a gasping revelation.

I don’t need to be here.

There is absolutely no reason he needs me involved at this level.

Declan Blackwood has me here for some other purpose than to get up to speed on what happens in a sex club so I can help him plan his new resort. But I don’t know what that purpose is.

It could be that he wants to fuck me. While I have noted moments where I think he’s checking me out in a sexual way, he’s never once acted on it. He hasn’t overtly flirted or made a move.

I’m