But now? And with him?
‘They won’t let us in. Or they might let you in, but probably not me. You’re the one old Trixietots there was interested in.’
‘Stop make excuses. What are you afraid of?’
‘I’m not afraid.’
‘Yes you are. I know why you’re afraid. You may have to be honest about your, what was it, your kinks. You’re scared of your kinks, right?’
‘Wrong.’
He shakes his head, giving me a look of disapproval that makes me see exactly how good he’d be as a stern teacher type. Very good. Blinding.
My legs buckle. Suddenly I just want him so badly I could …
‘You want this,’ he says, bending down to speak the words into my ear. ‘Here is your chance to get what you want. Take it.’
‘Don’t leave me in there,’ I whisper. ‘Stay with me.’
‘I’ll stay with you, I promise.’
He takes my hand and walks with me back across the estate and into the street where I work. The office lights are all out now, but it’s too late to panic about the air-freshener campaign. I have a new campaign on my mind.
I hold on tight as he knocks on that oft-regarded door.
It opens a fraction.
‘Password,’ demands a disembodied voice.
‘Lacoste,’ says Dimitri.
The door opens.
‘Sign the members’ book,’ says a black-suited man, but as he looks at us he frowns. ‘Are you new?’
‘Trixietots recommended us,’ I tell him.
‘Both of you?’
I nod, hoping upon hope that this will be accepted.
‘Which of you is the dom and which the sub?’
I blink, understanding neither of these terms.
‘Or are you switches?’
Switches?
‘She likes for me to whip her,’ says Dimitri helpfully, and I kick him rather violently in the ankle, though he seems not to register. ‘Don’t you, Rosie?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Tell them,’ he insists. ‘Say the words.’
Oh God, you bastard!
The doorman laughs. ‘I get the picture.’ He hands a blue badge to Dimitri. ‘You’re the dom.’ My badge is red. ‘You’re the sub. Now hold on there a minute and I’ll call up Mal and O. They’re the owners – they’ll want to vet you.’