Chapter One

EMMA

Why does it take one asshole to bring you back to high school and the most embarrassing moment of your life?

Emma fixed a pleasant expression on her face and unfocused her eyes just in case tears started. Kiki Pretty—no shit, that was really her name—was doing her best mean girl impersonation. Emma was trying to remember that she was twenty-four and not fourteen.

“Do you know who I am?”

Yes, an entitled bitch.

“Yes, I loved your Vogue cover last summer,” Emma said instead. She hoped that a little flattery would go a long way.

“Then you know that I don’t need an appointment to see Colleen.”

So much for that idea.

Emma hated confrontations. She hated to fight. Right now, she just wanted to crawl under her desk and hide. She was such a fucking coward, but this isn’t what she signed up for when she took the nanny job at Couture.

Being able to help Tee with Ezina fulfilled the part of her that had wanted to be a kindergarten teacher. Emma had started college for early childhood development, but decided to work a little bit before getting her master’s degree.

That had been a big mistake.

With all the gun violence in the schools, she didn’t have the courage to experience that firsthand. While she knew she didn’t want to live in fear, it had grown more and more apparent to her that she couldn’t handle an emergency situation like that. It broke her heart every time a school shooting was splashed across the front pages. And while it was painful to give up her dream of working with children in an educational setting, Emma knew it was the right thing to do for her sanity and wellbeing.

But that still didn’t change the pangs of disappointment she felt when she realized she had wasted four years of her life pursuing a course of study that she didn’t have the guts to see through. Maybe someday she would find the inner strength to try again, but for right now, it left her in limbo.

“I’m going to march right in there,” Kiki said, and stomped over to Colleen’s closed door.

“She’s in a meeting,” Emma said desperately, but didn’t get up from her desk.

Flashback to high school: The queen bee of the school—Amber was her name—was also a pushy bitch. Emma hadn’t been a gatekeeper or a secretary back then. But she had been a lowly freshman in front of Amber in line. Amber had shoulder checked her out of the way. Emma had stumbled into one of the lacrosse players...and accidentally farted.

Emma’s nickname had been Toots after that.

“You’ll laugh about it someday,” her mother had said.

No. It had been ten years, and Emma still wished the ground would swallow her up sometimes because of it. There were other incidents in high school, too many to remember for her sanity. Suffice it to say, she learned to stay hidden and quiet. And while things got better in the few years she had attended college, the damage had been done. And now that she was technically a real adult in the real world, Emma still felt like it was safest to hide where no one could hurt you.

Kiki jiggled the handle, but the door was locked. “Colleen!” Kiki banged on the door.

“Please, don’t,” Emma said. But her voice was whispery soft.

Luckily, she didn’t have to wonder what she was going to do next because Istvahn strode in. He was Colleen’s head of security and Tee’s husband. He was this big Russian dude who could move like the wind and looked like Dolph Lundgren’s evil twin from the Rocky movies.

“Get out,” he snapped.

Emma flinched, even if he hadn’t been talking to her. Kiki jumped a foot. Then she rallied and rounded on Istvahn. She started shaking her fist at him. “I’m warning you, you big goon. If you put a hand—”

Istvahn put a hand.

He grabbed her fist, whirled it around her back, and shoved her out of the office.

“Help!” Kiki called out over her shoulder at Emma. “I’m being assaulted!”

Emma gave her the finger.

It wasn’t much. But it was something. Working here was doing a lot for Emma in helping to find the confidence to stop being such a timid little mouse. It helped that Dante was close by. He was her safe place. She knew she could always count on him to be her white knight. If Istvahn hadn’t shown up, Emma might have called Dante.

Even though she had been here for a few months, she and Dante hadn’t had much chance to talk. Mostly Dante worked the night shift in Club Inferno, while Emma worked days at Couture. While he did have office hours for his day job as a therapist at Couture, Colleen had said that was mostly for show. She checked the schedule. He was probably in by now. Emma wondered if he would have come thundering in to her rescue like he used to do when she was a kid.

About a half hour later, Tee and Colleen came out of her office. Tee smiled at Emma and put Ezina in her Pack n’ Play. Tee was Colleen’s right hand, both in and out of the office, and her pregnancy with her second child wasn’t slowing her down one bit, even if everyone thought Tee should be taking it easy.

“I’m...I’m sorry about Kiki,” Emma said, feeling miserable.

“It’s fine,” Colleen said. “She’s just pissed because Anya and I went with another model for the fall line.”

Emma nodded, hoping that Colleen wasn’t just being nice.

“We’re going out for lunch,” Tee said, rubbing her belly. “Istvahn put Kiki in time out, so you don’t have to worry about her for the rest of the week.”

“Thanks.”

“If you can, see if you can get Ezina to nap a bit?” Tee asked.

“Of course.” Emma smiled at the toddler and thought that there wasn’t a chance in hell that was going to happen, but she’d give it her best shot.

Two hours later, Ezina was still raring to go when Colleen and Tee came back. Emma pretended to be working on next week’s schedule, but instead she was shamelessly eavesdropping on Tee and Colleen’s conversation. They were planning two masked balls for Halloween at the end of the month, one for Couture and one for Club Inferno.

“I think it needs to be on different weekends,” Tee said, pacing around the office area.

“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Colleen asked. She took Ezina out of her Pack n’ Play and sat down on the floor to build a tower of blocks with her.

It was Ezina’s favorite thing to do. Technically, Emma should volunteer to get on the floor with the two-year-old, but both Colleen and Tee spent as much time as they could with the baby, so Emma was usually just a backup when things got hectic.

“How are you going to keep everyone in their respective areas when they’ll all be wearing masks?” Tee asked.

“That’s Istvahn and his team’s problem.” Colleen waved a hand dismissively.

“We could AirTag the Couture peeps so they set off a silent alarm if they get too close to the hidden entrances of Club Inferno,” Tee suggested.

“Good idea.” Colleen made a note of it in her phone.

“Having the Couture Halloween ball the weekend before Halloween, and the Club Inferno Halloween Hell bash on Halloween, though, would make things much easier on Istvahn’s team. Plus, it would allow our guests who have dual memberships to attend both parties.”

“They won’t want to. Couture would be too lame for them.”

“Fine. We’ll have it on the same night. Emma, you’re in charge of the Couture party. Make it not lame. I’ll handle Club Inferno’s,” Tee said.

Emma’s breath hitched. She loved to plan parties. But she really wanted to attend the Club Inferno one. As soon as she heard that they were planning on a masked event, she knew what she was going to do. She was going to make sure no one recognized her face and then she was going to see if Dante wanted to play. It would be one way that she could stop being such a chicken shit and pretend to be someone braver than she was, someone daring and different. Someone a man like Dante would crave. Emma could pretend to be what she wanted to be most: confident. Fake it until you make it, right? But if she was in charge of the Couture party and they were on the same night, she’d be working and unable to attend.

“That’s a lot of responsibility,” Emma hedged. Normally, she would have jumped at the chance to prove herself, especially if she could remain in the background and not be the center of attention. But this could be her only shot to fulfill her teenage fantasy without embarrassing herself or Dante. But there was no way she’d be able to sneak out of her own party to have a hedonistic session in the dungeons.

“You’re ready,” Colleen said.

And that ended that discussion.

Well, shit.

It was a great opportunity, though. Emma began to brainstorm a few themes on the blotter next to the desk. “What do you think about having a fairy-tale theme?”

“I like it,” Tee said. “They could get really creative with their costumes.”

“Put in an order for crinolines and tulle,” Colleen said. “We’re going to need more.”

Nodding, Emma called up the supplier on her screen.

“I’m going to go as Little Bo Peep,” Tee said. “And Ezina can be a sheep.”

“Cute,” Emma said.

“I bet I could get a cashmere sheep costume,” Colleen said, tapping away on her phone.

Ezina was a doll, but it was going to be very hard to keep her aunt Colleen from spoiling her rotten. Not that Emma could blame her. If Emma had been a billionaire with money to burn, she probably would buy silly little luxury items for the baby too. Like a cashmere Halloween costume that would just get dirty or fussily made toys that were gorgeous to look at but broke after an hour of solid playing.

“I think I’ll do Alice in Wonderland and have Chase as the Mad Hatter,” Colleen said.

“You should be the Queen of Hearts.” Tee smirked.

“I do a very good ‘off with her head,’” Colleen said, considering it.

“What about you, Emma?” Tee asked.

“I just came up with the idea,” Emma said, mortification flooding her cheeks red.

“You must have had something in mind when you suggested it,” Colleen said.

Emma had a flash of Dante as the Big Bad Wolf. “Maybe Little Red Riding Hood.”

“You’d look good in red,” Tee said. “And I think I’m going to go with a supernatural theme for Club Inferno. Or paranormal.”

“We’re going to be up to our asses in vampires, then. You know that,” Colleen said.

“A group of vampires is called a kiss,” Emma said, flushing again when they both turned to look at her.

“Perfect,” Tee said. “I’m going to go as a mummy. Get it?” She pointed to her stomach.

“I thought you were going to go as Bo Peep,” Colleen said.

“I want to attend both parties,” Tee said. “You just have to make it on different weekends, Colleen. That’s all there is to it.”

Emma held her breath, hoping that Tee could convince Colleen.

“This way you can go as the Queen of Hearts for Couture’s party, and a succubus for Club Inferno’s,” Tee said.

“Hmmm,” Colleen said. “Let me think about it.”

Emma found the courage to speak up. “I’d like to go to both parties too.”

“You would?” Colleen looked up at her in surprise.

“And I know Anya would as well,” Emma said, mentioning Colleen’s best friend and business partner.

“No doubt. There’s not a party Anya wouldn’t go to,” Tee said.

Emma was excited that Colleen was considering it. This could be just the icebreaker she needed to get close to Dante. Whenever Emma was off work, that was when things got a little more interesting. She was trying to work up the nerve to spend more time in Club Inferno. During the dance parties, it was easy. Everyone was dancing, drinking, and having a fun party time. On the nights when the dance floor wasn’t open, however, the other activities that tantalized and terrified her took place. Maybe terrified was too strong of a word for the complicated emotions that jumbled up inside of her at the thought of submitting to a Dom.

“What would you go as to Club Inferno’s party?” Colleen asked her.

“An angel,” Tee guessed.

Emma shook her head.

“A devil?” Colleen asked.

“A fairy,” Emma said, deciding. “A scantily clad one.”

Colleen raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Anyone in particular that you want to flutter your wings at?” Tee asked.

“It’s still going to be a masked party, right?” Emma asked.

“Of course. It’s Halloween, after all.”

“‘Trick or treat’ is going to mean something different in Club Inferno,” Colleen said. “Are you sure you’re ready for that?”

“More than ready,” Emma said. “But the mask will help.”

“You could always wear a mask,” Colleen said. “You don’t have to wait for Halloween.”

“I feel like I would fit in better if it was on Halloween.”

“So who do you want candy from?” Tee asked. “Dante?”

“Dante?” Colleen asked, her eyes widening.

Emma forced herself to give a half shrug. “Maybe.”

Sometimes, Emma got the impression that Dante was avoiding conversations with her. Although, it seemed every time that she turned around, he was there watching her. Unfortunately, they were never alone. She was either with Colleen, Anya, or Tee. At one point, she thought he was going to say something to her, but then he looked down at Ezina in her arms, visibly blanched, and walked quickly away.

“Um,” Colleen said. “Dante is pretty intense. You need to set firm and clear hard limits if you trick or treat in his dungeon.”

This time, excitement coiled through her. She was going to get to do this. “I know how it works. I’m the one who makes sure the guests’ liability paperwork is filled out completely.”

“Just make sure you read through it and sign off as well,” Colleen said.

“Already done,” Emma said. “It’s been in your in basket waiting for your signature for a few weeks now.”

Colleen grimaced. “You should have told me you were waiting on me.”

Truth was, Emma had been too chicken to pursue it. “I know how much you hate paperwork,” she said.

“All right,” Colleen said. “I’ll make it official.”

“Could you keep it on the down low?” Emma asked. “I don’t want it to be public knowledge yet.”

“Why not?” Colleen asked.

“I want people to wonder who I am on Halloween,” Emma said. Actually, she only wanted one person to not know who she was.

“Maybe you should go as Cinderella then,” Tee said.

“Too many clothes,” Emma said, wondering just who this person was who was speaking with her mouth and saying stuff like this.

Tee gave her a high five.