“Can I get you something?” the bartender asked.
“How about the name of the strawberry blonde down there?” Terrence asked.
The bartender looked him up and down, but didn’t seem to recognize him. As one of the most sought after actors in Hollywood, Terrence had gone through great pains to disguise his appearance for tonight. His agent told him he didn’t care if he went to a BDSM club, as long as he wasn’t recognized. Terrence’s insistence that confidentiality reigned supreme fell on deaf ears.
Which was why he was sitting at a bar at a BDSM club wearing a wig and two days’ worth of scruff along his jaw. He doubted anyone would look twice at him and he didn’t think they would recognize him if they did. Probably they would think he looked vaguely like somebody, but would be unable to pinpoint exactly who.
“You look awfully familiar,” the bartender said.
Terrence flashed him a grin. “I get that a lot, must have one of those faces, you know?”
The bartender made some sort of noncommittal, grunting noise in his throat. “Yeah.”
Terrence waited. Had the bartender forgotten that he had asked about the girl?
The man behind the bar picked up a wet rag and began to clean the wooden bar. “Not sure who she is.” He wasn’t looking at Terrence as he spoke, but rather focused his entire attention on the wooden bar he was cleaning. “This is only her second time coming here.”
“She looks awfully young.” Terrence glanced at her again. His breath caught in his throat when he saw her look up and meet his gaze. Her eyes were the palest blue color and looked stunning in combination with her hair.
“You know the owner’s very strict about who gets in.”
“Yes, I know that.” Terrence didn’t mean to insult anybody by his statement. “If she’s in here, then she’s at least twenty-one.”
The bartender nodded but didn’t look up.
“You know what she’s drinking?” Terrence asked.
“Tonic water. With lime.”
Terrence kept a smile to himself. The fact that she wasn’t drinking alcohol might mean that she was looking to play. He had a very strict rule: he would never play with anybody who had been drinking. In his opinion, even one drink was one drink too many.
“Is she here with anybody?” he asked the bartender.
The bartender tilted his head and glanced over his shoulder quickly. Terrence couldn’t shake the feeling that the man knew more than he was letting on.
“No,” he said. “She comes alone. Both times she’s been here. Last time she didn’t play with anybody.”
Terrence wasn’t sure if he was passing along a warning or just handing out helpful information. He nodded. He wasn’t sure he wanted to play tonight anyway.
Well, he wanted to play, but he hadn’t decided yet if he was going to do anything with that desire.
Tonight, he told himself, it would be enough to talk to her. That was all. Though he really didn’t believe it.
Terrence left the tip on the bar and saluted the man still cleaning the bar top. With his gaze firmly on the strawberry-blond woman in the corner, he slowly made his way to her. She was talking to a group of three women he recognized as submissives from his previous visits, but she looked up as he drew closer.
The conversation stopped completely when he stood before her.
“Hey,” one of the submissive said. “Has anyone ever told you, you kinda look like Terrence Knight?”
He kept his eyes on the strawberry blonde as he answered. “Once or twice.”
Up close, she was even more gorgeous. She dropped her gaze to the floor.
“Look at me,” he whispered in a low command. He knew there were Doms who wanted a submissive to always look down. He wasn’t one of them. He thought a person’s eyes gave away too much information to not be aware of them.
She lifted her head and he was taken aback by her coloring. The paleness of her eyes when paired with the slightly red hues in her hair made her look like a naughty angel. He quickly shut down that line of thought, telling himself no good would come from fantasizing about her. At least not right now.
Her skin had a delicate complexion, and either she never went out in the sun or she covered herself with sunscreen.
“My name is John,” he said.
John was actually his middle name. Whenever he wanted to go somewhere and fly under the radar, he used the name John.
He frowned, realizing she hadn’t said anything in response.
“Your name?” he asked.
She looked at him with wide eyes. He cursed inwardly. Surely to goodness she wasn’t innocent.
“If that simple question is too much for you, you may want to rethink being here.” He didn’t say it to be cruel. The truth was, if she was that mousey, there were Doms at the club who would eat her alive. He told himself he was trying to spare her some heartache.
“Ronnie,” she said, with a slight lift of her chin. “My name is Ronnie. And I apologize for not answering you more quickly. You reminded me of somebody.”
“Terrence Knight.” He nodded. “I get that a lot.”
She smiled. It wasn’t a normal smile. The smile she gave him said that she knew what he was doing, she was well aware of his game, and that she wanted to play. “No,” she said. “Not him. Someone else entirely.”
He had a feeling she could be fun to play with. “Ronnie? Is it short for something?”
“Yes.”
He laughed when she didn’t explain further. “Can I get you a drink, Ronnie?”
“You may, but I’m only drinking tonic water with lime.” She’d twisted her barstool away from the group of submissives and she only faced him now. Her gaze was sharp and unrelenting. She uncrossed her legs and left her knees slightly parted. “I never drink alcohol when there’s a potential for play.”
“Neither do I.” His opinion of her was changing rapidly. Yes, he’d originally been drawn to her looks, but standing in front of her with her legs parted just enough to be a subtle sign she would be willing to play, he was starting to see there was so much more to her.
She sucked a sip of tonic water through her straw and the sight of those full, red lips around the piece of plastic did crazy things to his cock. She blinked innocently while taking another sip.
Oh yes, this one would be trouble.
He stepped almost in between her legs, invading her space on purpose. “Are you going to play tonight?”
“Maybe, if the right Dom happens to pass my way.”
He nodded to a group of nearby couches. “Would you like to go have a seat and talk with me about what you’re looking for?”
She tilted her head and gave him another once-over. “Okay.”
With a smile that looked more natural this time, she hopped off the stool and headed for a couch.
Watching her, Terrence had the craziest feeling he knew her from somewhere. It hadn’t hit him until she flashed that smile. The real one. But he felt it rather improbable that he could have met her and not remembered. Maybe she’d been an extra in one of his movies. That was more likely, but for some reason, she didn’t give off the actress vibe.
Either way, she had made it to a couch and was waiting for him. He had more important things to attend to at the moment.
He walked over to the couch where she sat. She scooted over as he took a seat beside her. He opened his mouth to talk, but before he could get a word out, she started.
“I’m not new to the scene,” she said. “But I’m new to this club. That’s why you’ve never seen me before, in case you’re wondering.”
“I wasn’t.” He kept his answer short. From just the few minutes he’d been around her, he had the feeling Ronnie would always try to top from the bottom. She needed a firm Dom.
He had never been as firm with Andie as he needed to be. Hell, he never got a chance to scene with Andie. He’d enrolled her at RACK Academy, and she had fallen for that Fulton guy.