Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86883 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86883 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
My eyes dart to his.
“I’m not going to have sex with you,” I say, clearly suffering from a fatal disconnect between my mouth and brain.
He cocks an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize I was offering.”
Heat dusts my cheeks again. Of course he wasn’t.
Embarrassment sets my tongue racing. “One minute you’re telling me about fantasies, and the next you say you’re going to take me to a peep room to watch one…”
“As one of the employees of this club, you should know what the peeps are all about. Of course, if it’s not your thing, that’s your prerogative. No one is expected to do anything they don’t want to. Eve looks after the performers and the running of the Peep Arcade. You won’t be expected to be involved. But if you’re curious—”
“I am,” I blurt out.
I don’t want to be the naïve prude anymore. My virginity and lack of experience are like weights around my neck. I want to change and become someone new if this is my life now.
I want to experience it all.
Starting with a peep show.
“I want to watch a show,” I say eagerly.
Too eagerly.
And Massimo notices.
“I want to understand what this place is about,” I say.
He takes another sip of his Macallan. “Tell me, what do you think it is our clients want?”
“To watch people have sex?”
He shakes his head. “No.”
“No?”
“What they want is prolonged arousal.” His voice is smooth and hot, and my gaze drops to his beautiful lips as he talks. “Because it’s the key to a mind-blowing experience. When they watch their fantasies play out on the other side of the glass their brains become flooded with the neurotransmitter norepinephrine and their bodies get antsy. The tension builds. Their physical need grows. Their entire being lights up with hormonal chemistry. Then the dopamine kicks in and everything gets just a little bit harder and a little bit hotter. That’s what they’re paying for. That build up. That conjuring. Because the higher the mountain, the bigger the fall. And when they finally come and the serotonin and the oxytocin surge through their grey matter, it will literally blow their minds.”
I lick my lips. “So you’re selling them better orgasms?”
A seductive smile tugs at his lips. “Yes.”
His dark orbs study my face, and I buckle under the weight of them.
Suddenly I’m back on the steps of the fountain across the road from the Plaza with his lips taking ownership of mine and my body exploding with a thousand little fires beneath his touch.
I drop my gaze, afraid he’ll see right into my skull with those knowing eyes of his and read my mind.
But it’s too late. The energy between us shifts. I can hear it in his silence. He’s thinking about that night too.
“We haven’t talked about the night out the front of the Plaza…” he says.
Bingo.
“It won’t be a problem,” I say quickly.
“I didn’t say it would be.”
“Lots of people work with people they’ve made out with,” I say with crushing stupidity. Why does this man reduce me to an overtalking weirdo under his searing gaze?
“Is that what we did? Make out?”
“Okay so make out was a bad choice of words.”
How about, the night I begged you to take my virginity?
Inwardly I cringe. But I won’t let it get the better of me. “We kissed, and I wanted you to take my virginity.”
“Yes, so I recall.”
“But you didn’t. So really that night wasn’t a big deal and it shouldn’t be weird between us.”
“If I remember correctly, we did a little more than kiss.”
The image of him pulling me back and forward over his erection until we both come sends an arrow of heat right into my core.
I shift uncomfortably in my seat. “Yes,” I whisper.
“Even if we had gone there, it wouldn’t be weird. We’re different people now, Bianca.” He toys with his glass but his eyes never leave mine. “I’m sure you’ve since found a more suitable person.”
I look away, afraid of what I’ll reveal to him if I keep looking at him. “Well, I’ve been busy.”
I clear my throat, embarrassed. I don’t know why I told him that, but he’s always been able to open me like a book, and clearly, nothing has changed.
He lifts his whiskey to his lips. “I see.”
Embarrassed, I stand up. “Well, if that is all?”
“Be here tomorrow at five p.m.”
“For what?”
“A peep show.”
I swallow thickly. “You want me to watch one with you?”
“No, tomorrow I am vetting a new dancer. It will be a good opportunity for you to see the process.”
“But—”
The air feels tight. And those dark eyes, oh my God, they burn with unfathomable darkness.
“I’m not asking, Bianca. You want to see one, then be here tomorrow at five.”
13
BIANCA
My encounter with Massimo doesn’t leave me all night.
The look on his face. The tone in his voice. The way he slow blinks while throwing me a heated look. It’s all on repeat in my head.