Chapter 13

brADY

When I grabbed Grace’s arm, I half expected her to disappear like a ghost. But no, she was as real as I was.

And wearing basically nothing.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I demanded.

Grace had the gall to scowl at me. “I have just as much a right to be here as you do.”

She did, and I fucking hated it. Had she been looking for some guy to sleep with? To give her virginity to?

Christ, the thought of another man—or woman—touching her sent me into a jealous, raging tailspin.

It didn’t help that I’d never seen her dressed like this. Her lingerie left very little to the imagination. The lace barely covered her nipples, for God’s sake.

Underneath her usually conservative clothes was a banging body: curvy and lithe. Her breasts were small but pert. I wondered how they’d feel in my hands.

Worst of all was the pair of panties that were almost a thong on her. Her tight little ass was just right there for everyone to admire.

I wanted to throw a blanket over her and run out the door. Nobody should be able to see Grace like this.

Nobody but you? my traitorous brain asked.

“What are you doing here?” I asked again, my jaw clenched.

“I could ask you the same question.”

I knew that we were drawing a nice little audience, but I didn’t give a fuck. Most of all, I wanted to understand why Grace was here at all.

I grabbed her arm again, but she pushed me away. A guy in a blue mask stepped up.

“Is there a problem here?” he asked Grace.

I gritted my teeth, forcing myself not to deck the guy for interfering.

Grace raised her chin. “Everything’s fine. My friend here was just going to buy me a drink.” Her gaze slid to mine. “Weren’t you?”

I scowled but finally nodded. The last thing I needed was to get thrown out of the club for fighting.

Grace shot the blue-mask guy a smile that only pissed me off more. I needed to calm down.

Grace was an adult. If she wanted to enjoy herself at the Scarlet Rope, what right did I have to stop her?

When we reached the bar and had ordered drinks, I led Grace to a semiprivate booth in the corner. We sat down and stared at each other, waiting for the other to say something.

Then Grace burst out laughing. “You look like you’re about to have a stroke. Or that you’re just super constipated.”

I wasn’t going to laugh. This was a serious matter. But hearing Grace’s laughter melted away my anger, damn her.

“I think I’d prefer a stroke,” I said wryly. “At least then you’d feel sorry for me.”

She grinned. “I’d never feel sorry for a big, strong man like you. You don’t need my pity.”

“No, but I do need you to explain why you’re here.”

When she just pouted, I sighed. Christ, I was putty in her hands, wasn’t I?

“Mac invited me,” I said. “He told me this was a good way to distract myself.”

“And did it work?”

“Kind of.”

“You seemed very ... interested in what you were doing back there.”

Although it was dim, I could see a blush creeping up Grace’s cheeks. How much had she seen? Had she watched me whip Shayla?

And if she had, had she enjoyed watching it?

“I mean, you can sleep with whoever you want,” Grace was saying.

“I haven’t slept with anyone from here.”

Grace blinked. “Seriously?”

I felt embarrassed for some reason. So much for my playboy reputation. “I just came here to ...” Whip a woman who looked like you to make myself feel better?

Yeah, like I could say that to Grace.

“I want to experiment some with BDSM. Mac loves it. I wondered if I would,” I said.

“Did you? Like it?”

“Some of it, but I don’t think super-kinky shit will ever be my bag.”

“Huh. There’s a limit to Brady’s interest in sex. I’m shocked.”

I glowered at Grace. “What, did you think I had a basement full of whips and chains?”

“Well, seeing your apartment, you clearly don’t have a basement.”

I laughed. Then I forced myself to be serious again. “Why did you come here? Because we both know you aren’t kinky either.”

“I mean, how would I know since I’ve never had sex?” At my look, Grace sighed. “Okay, fine. I was looking for you. Somebody told me that you’d been seen here, and I wanted to see it for myself.”

She’d come here for me? “Why would you want to confirm that for yourself?”

“I guess I wanted to understand you better. Besides, ‘curiosity killed the cat’ and all that.”

I groaned. “Grace, you can’t take risks like this—”

“What, and you can?”

I didn’t have an answer to that. But in my mind, yes, Grace shouldn’t take risks like I would.

She was different. She was innocent. What if someone had taken advantage of her? Just because this place had rules didn’t mean bad shit never happened.

“What do you want with a sex club ?” I waved a hand. “You’re a virgin.”

Grace made a face. “And whose fault is that? You’re the one who keeps saying no. Maybe I wanted to find somebody who’d take me up on that offer.”

I gaped at her. Was she serious? I couldn’t tell. Or was she just doing this to get under my skin?

“Promise me you won’t come here again,” I said.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

“I do when I know you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. And if anything happened to you and your dad found out I didn’t stop you, he’d kill me himself.”

That seemed to make her pause. “I’m not a child,” she said.

No, she wasn’t. She was a woman with an amazing body and endless sex appeal. She was a woman who made men turn their heads for a second look.

She was a woman, and if she wanted to have orgies for all to see here, what right did I have to stop her?

“I just want you to be safe,” I said, knowing I was losing this battle.

“That’s fine. But again, if I want to have fun, I’m going to have fun.”

My fists were clenched under the table. I took a long drink of my beer, needing the alcohol to cool my thoughts.

“I don’t want to see you here again,” I growled.

Grace laughed. Laughed! “Sure. You’ll never see me here again.”

“I don’t get why you’re laughing about this. It’s not funny to me.”

Now she looked a little ashamed. She took my hand and squeezed it. “I know you’re just trying to protect me. I get it. But that’s not your job. You’re not my big brother or my dad.”

I stilled. Although I knew she was trying to console me, I couldn’t help but feel hurt by her words.

Not that I wanted her to see me as a brother. But I also hated that she didn’t see me as important a person as Ben had been. Or that my concern didn’t weigh on her like her dad’s would.

“I don’t think coming to a place like this just because you’re curious is a good idea,” I said.

Grace frowned. “Um, isn’t that why you came? Curiosity?”

“I knew I’d probably—do stuff,” I said weakly.

“Mmm, ‘do stuff.’ What kind of stuff? Although I already got a good preview. Whips and all. What else have you tried? Chains? Hanging girls from the ceiling? Butt stuff?”

I barely restrained myself from covering her mouth. “Can you not?” I hissed.

She giggled. “We’re in a sex club. It’s okay to talk about sex.”

“And that’s something you know nothing about.”

“And once again, whose fault is that?”

I growled under my breath. “It’s not my fault, and you know it. You could sleep with whatever guy you want. What about Will? He wanted to fuck you.”

“You want me to sleep with other guys?” Grace looked hurt and confused.

I raked my hands through my hair. “No. But I’m not going to do it either. I’ve already told you this.”

“Yet you and I both know you want me, and I want you. We’re adults. We aren’t in relationships already. What’s the hang-up? Or have you suddenly taken a vow of celibacy, minus the whole whipping thing?”

I didn’t know how to answer that. How did I convince Grace she should stay away from me, the club, and everything that could hurt her?

“Promise me that you won’t keep coming here. You could end up getting hurt,” I said.

“You’re being dramatic.”

“Am I? You don’t know what the guys in here are thinking, seeing you. They see a woman who’s open to kinky shit. What if you get persuaded to do things you don’t want to do? Or you end up seduced and dumped? Or even physically hurt? People don’t fuck around here. This isn’t Disneyland.”

Grace folded her arms, but I could tell my words were having an effect.

“You must think I’m stupid. Or just overly naive,” she said finally.

“You are naive. That’s not a bad thing, either. You’re lucky that you’re innocent about a lot of things.”

Grace was silent for a long moment. Then she sighed.

“I can’t promise you anything other than I know I’ll be careful. So trust me on that, okay?”

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Grace. I just didn’t trust everyone around her. Right then, it took every ounce of self-control not to throw her over my shoulder and take her home, her protests be damned.

Mac nearly dropped the beer he was drinking. “Grace was at the club? Grace Dallas?”

I nodded. “Yeah, she snuck in. She almost gave me a fucking heart attack when I saw her.”

Mac gaped at me. “Holy shit. What did you say?”

It’d been two days since that eventful night at the Scarlet Rope. Grace had bounded away after our little talk, and despite my best efforts, she’d disappeared into the club. I’d texted her after I’d left, but she’d assured me she was fine.

I’d needed to talk to Mac about this situation. He’d invited me over to his place for some barbecue and beers. Mac’s fiancée, Elodie, was at the grocery store picking up a few things.

“Was this my fault?” I asked.

“Your fault? How?”

“I led her down this path. I mean, she went to the club to look for me.”

“Grace is an adult who makes her own choices. If she wanted to go exploring, that’s on her.”

I knew that. Everyone kept saying that, but it didn’t make me feel any better.

It just made me feel powerless. It made the gulf widening between us even bigger. Because when we’d been younger, at least I could tell myself I’d been protecting her by sticking close.

Now, though, she didn’t need me to act like a big brother. It seemed Grace Dallas could handle herself.

“You know if Coach finds out about this, he’ll still blame me,” I said darkly.

“Because Coach also can’t see that his daughter is grown. But once again, that’s not your fault. It’s also not your job to make sure the Dallas family is happy.”

I was about to tell Mac how wrong he was when Elodie came home. Mac got up to help her with the groceries, and then they were kissing and being disgustingly happy right in front of me.

“Look what I got you.” Elodie pulled out a bag of sour-cream-and-onion chips.

Mac’s eyes lit up. “Baby! My favorite.” He immediately opened the bag and tossed a few chips into his mouth.

I rolled my eyes. “You guys are pure cheese.”

Neither Mac nor Elodie was offended. They just laughed.

“Believe me, man, the day your lady brings home your favorite bag of chips, you’ll be as happy as I am,” Mac quipped.

“We are having a barbecue, after all,” said Elodie. “Chips kinda come with the territory.”

We helped Elodie prepare a few of the sides for the barbecue. I was mixing a bowl of coleslaw when Mac said, “Brady was telling me he saw Grace Dallas at the club a few days ago.”

Elodie’s eyes bugged out. “What? Grace? Are you sure it was her?”

“Unless I was hallucinating, yeah, it was her,” I groused.

“What in the world ...” Then she poked Mac hard in the chest. He protested loudly as she said, “This is your fault!”

“My fault? I didn’t give Grace a password!”

“You told Brady, and everybody knows Grace is obsessed with Bra—” Elodie made a face and immediately stopped talking.

I froze. “Keep going,” I said.

Mac shot me a look. “Elodie just meant that Grace seems to follow you around a lot. That’s all.”

Elodie snorted.

“So? What are your thoughts on this whole thing?” I asked Elodie.

Elodie shrugged. “Grace is exploring her sexuality? Sounds like a great idea to me. Sure, the club is overwhelming at first, but it also has a lot of guardrails to keep things from going crazy.”

“Grace doesn’t know what she’s getting herself into. Besides, she told me she only went to see what I was doing there.” I said the words in triumph.

Elodie glanced over at Mac. “Well, if that’s the case, then maybe not. Maybe she is just obsessed with you,” said Elodie.

“She can’t be obsessed with me because nothing can happen between us,” I said.

“So you want something to happen?” Elodie raised an eyebrow.

Mac just shrugged and kept stirring his bowl of salad. I sighed. “Maybe,” I admitted. “Yes. Okay? I’m attracted to Grace. But that’s as far as it can go.”

“I mean, you’re both adults. You’re both single, as far as I know,” said Elodie. “So why can’t you guys be together? Are you promised to some long-lost betrothed?”

Mac shook his head. “More like Grace is being locked in a tower by her dad.”

Elodie pointed a large serving fork at me. “Well, whatever is happening, you need to figure your shit out. If you have feelings for Grace, don’t be a big baby and keep them to yourself. I know you guys think having no feelings is manly, but it’s dumb.”

I held up my hands. “Geez, Elodie, you’re scary.”

Elodie made shooing motions to get us out of her kitchen. Mac gave her a big smacking kiss and a nice tap on the ass before we returned to the living room.

“She’s right, you know,” said Mac as we sat back down.

I groaned. “God, not you, too.”

“You’ve been hung up on Grace for ages. I know you’re convinced nothing can happen, but what if you could be honest with Grace? Tell her how you feel?”

I glowered at Mac. “Now you’re turning this into some Lifetime movie.”

“So you’re going to kidnap Grace and lock her in your cabin?” Mac laughed. “Sorry, Elodie loves Lifetime movies. At any rate, maybe all you can do is hope that Grace stays home and doesn’t go to the club a second time.”

A man could dream. But knowing Grace, she’d go a second time just to show me that she could do what she wanted, consequences be damned. I should never have tried to order her around.

Maybe I should’ve acted like seeing her there was no big deal. But I’d nearly lost my mind when I’d first spotted her through that glass. And then all those guys, looking at her, trying to get her attention, coming over to possibly touch her ...

“Grace isn’t the type to be into a sex club,” I said.

“Elodie would’ve said the same thing, but she came around to the idea quickly. We’ve had a lot of fun since. Although, to be fair, we haven’t been to the club in a while. We keep ourselves busy at home.” Mac shot me a grin.

“You two are insufferable.”

Mac didn’t disagree. He just smiled, his thoughts far away now.

Even if my friends were right, I couldn’t give in to temptation. There was too much at stake. Because I could live with keeping Grace at arm’s length.

I could live with just being her friend. I couldn’t live with the thought of her despising me, though.

Maybe she’ll come back again. And I’ll be ready for her this time.