good idea to tell her mother about this moment.
Molly remained silent and still, waiting.
Jonathan got to his feet. He ran the riding crop back and forth a couple of times across the top of her breasts, not pushing it below the leather, just brushing the flesh that remained visible to the world.
“Yes, too bad. I think I would have enjoyed making a thorough inspection.”
He reached behind to the back of his belt, and Molly heard another clinking sound. When he brought his hand forward, she saw he held a simple collar and leash, items she didn’t notice until now.
Once he fastened them in place, he nodded. “Show time. A master is about to claim you. I’ll envy him the rest of his evening. Now, eyes down. Watch your feet and don’t trip.” Jonathan turned and led her out of the room. The blare of the music hit her, a wall of sound that seemed to breathe all around her.
She felt the heat of the bodies, the fullness of the main lounge.
Dozens of feet, mostly male, moved through her line of sight as she followed Jonathan on a path that took her through the heart of the crowd.
Murmurs of appreciation followed her, and Molly swallowed hard. She did her best to try and look up sneakily, raising her eyes but not her head, and wondered if she’d taken a wrong turn into a Halloween party. Collars and leashes, certainly, and leather and lace abounded. The ubiquitous French maid vied with the pig-tailed school girl for most worn disguise. One man dressed as a Pilgrim, one as a cowboy. Sudden movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention.
He stood tall, but that could have been the illusion of his mask, all orange leather, long and narrow, pointed chin and what appeared to be Brazen Seduction
15
flames shooting off his head. Yes, the mask looked like a demon made of flames . Robes of deep chocolate velvet covered his body and he stared at her with singular attention. The sight of him made her forget to keep her head down. Drawn to his eyes, the only feature of his face visible, Molly felt a shiver course down her spine. She could have sworn his eyes burned black with tiny red dots for pupils. Satan’s eyes . She looked away to her right and spotted the long mahogany bar that ran the length of one wall and a man leaning against it. As she turned her gaze to him he came to rigid attention. Black hair gleaming in the club lighting, tension radiating from every pore, he stared at her with an expression she couldn’t read.
Molly averted her eyes and followed Jonathan. Her heart pounded heavily as they skirted the stage and entered a side door.
She didn’t have to wonder any longer if Richard had come to his club tonight or not. He had, he’d seen her, and now there could be no going back.
Molly’s nerves came alive as if hit with an electric current as she wondered what would happen next.
16
Morgan Ashbury
Chapter 2
There’s something in the air tonight .
Richard Grant leaned against the bar, his back to the bartender, his attention on the room and the sea of bodies that flowed and ebbed more or less to the music. Richard thought the sound, heavy on beat, light on lyrics, could have been connected to human history, that sense of ages past that lived within every psyche. A primal, feral sound.
Scrape off enough layers and one came down to the basic animal.
His thirty-six years of life had proven this to Richard beyond any doubt. He didn’t consider himself, however, a cynical man.
He found the animal inside him cause for celebration, not shame or, worse, penitence.
He allowed himself the pleasure of a smile as he contemplated his own personal nature. He considered himself a hedonist of the first order. He performed the necessary minutiae of life, fulfilling the obligations of a responsible member of society and a business owner.
But once those chores had been completed, he turned all his attention to the pursuit of pleasure. Unabashedly, enthusiastically, and with no holds barred.
“Good