Club Prive Book 3 (3 page)

“Research?” She started shaking her head, like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Are you telling me that you...?” Her voice trailed off.

I nodded. “You know me. When I don’t know about something, I research it.”

“So, what did you think?” She pulled one leg up so that her foot was on the chair and her knee was against her chest.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly.

“What – what if Gavin’s into the whole S&M stuff?”

I met her eyes. That was one of the things that had been hovering in the back of my thoughts since finding those toys.

“You did say he held your hands above your head,” Krissy pointed out. “What if he wants to tie you up? Or something even kinkier?” She munched on the last piece of bacon. “I mean, are you going to go all leather and whips on me?”

I laughed, brushing aside the question as I reached for my coffee. I was going to drink my hot beverage and hope to avoid the question. It wasn’t that I had a problem sharing with Krissy, but rather than I didn’t know the answer. If someone had asked me a few weeks ago if I’d ever considered anything remotely kinky, I would’ve laughed at them, but now, I wasn’t so sure. Gavin had already made me move beyond anything I’d thought I’d ever do. With the way I felt about him, the way my body responded to him, I wasn’t sure how far he could coax me to go.

I spent all of Sunday working on my paper for school. I hadn’t been lying to Howard when I’d said that I needed to get it done. Normally, I could just put on headphones and apply laser focus, wading through case law and applying it to my thesis, but I’d been distracted lately. Well, okay, distracted since noon when I started thinking about when Gavin would call. Now it was evening and he still hadn’t called.

I told myself to focus on my schoolwork, and, for a good deal of the time, I managed to do just that. Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite stop the thoughts from popping into my head every now and then, wondering what Gavin was doing, why he hadn’t called. I stopped them as soon as they came. I’d never been one of those women who craved attention twenty-four/seven. It had everything to do with me just wanting to be with him, and nothing to do with me thinking that my boyfriend
had
to be in constant contact.

That gave me pause.
Boyfriend?
Where had that come from? Granted, Gavin had referred to us as being together, but he hadn’t said anything about any type of commitment. And though he’d mentioned me meeting his daughter, there was always a chance that he’d just said that because he’d been caught up in the emotion of the moment. For all I knew, his definition of “together” could mean a fling for a couple of weeks or maybe even a couple of months. It didn’t necessarily mean the same thing to him that it meant to me. Not that I really even knew what it meant to me.

I glanced at my phone for what seemed like the hundredth time. Even though I’d barely been away from it and had checked every time I’d returned, I still tapped the button to take off the energy saver. No calls. No texts.

I frowned. Should I call?

Absolutely no way in hell.
I could hear Krissy’s voice in my head.

I sighed. Of course not. I stood and picked up my empty glass. I needed more iced tea. I headed into the kitchen, moving through the darkness with ease. When Krissy wasn’t here, I rarely turned on lights as I moved around the apartment. As long as I’d cleaned and knew there wasn’t anything on the floor to trip me, I could make my way through the entire space without a problem. The refrigerator light was more than enough for me to refill my cup by.

The silence was almost deafening. The people next door had left early that morning and Krissy had gone to the movies with Leslie, so the only sounds I could hear were the noises of traffic below and the muffled voices of those who were above and below. The walls might have been thin, but the ceiling and floor had good insulation. All of this was in the background, the kind of white noise that people get so used to that they barely even think about it.

Then, a sound cut through the air. A clip of music. A ring tone.

Shit.

My phone was ringing. I almost dropped my glass in my haste to get back to my room. As it was, I splashed ice tea all down my front and across my arm, soaking my t-shirt. When I saw his name on the screen, I forgot about being wet.

“Hi.” I sounded out of breath and hoped he wouldn’t realize that I’d been racing to get to the phone.

“Hello, there.” He sounded amused. “I’m truly sorry I didn’t call you earlier. I’ve been swamped with work.”

I sat down and eyed my laptop screen. “That’s okay. I really did have to work on my paper.” I didn’t mention that I hadn’t gotten as much done as I’d planned.

“I have to go out of town for a couple of days on business,” he said.

A stab of disappointment went through me. If I said I hadn’t been hoping he was going to ask me to come over tonight, I’d be lying.

“I was hoping I could see you Wednesday.”

I smiled. “That would be great.” My voice came out a lot more nonchalant than I felt.

“Can you come by the club after work, say around five? I’d like to give you the official tour of the club.”

“Oh.” I suddenly didn’t know what to say. I wanted to see him very much. My entire body was thrumming at just the idea. But, I wasn’t sure how I felt about going back to the club. Images flashed rapid-fire through my mind.

Gavin showing up pretending to be my boyfriend.

The way he looked at me when I was dancing with Krissy.

Kissing him for the first time.

Walking into that room and knowing we would be having sex.

One mind-blowing orgasm after another.

“Carrie?” His voice cut through the memories. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” I answered automatically. Before I could talk myself out of it, I spoke again. “And, yes, I’ll come by after work.”

“Great!”

I could almost hear him smiling and I knew how his eyes would be lighting up. Heat unfurled in my stomach.

“Go to the side door and press the buzzer so I can let you in. And I’ll have something for you.”

I frowned. “No more gifts, please.” He hadn’t asked for the necklace back yet, and I was still trying to figure out a way to ask about it tactfully. There was no way he could’ve meant for me to keep it. Was there?

“It’s not a gift. Not exactly,” he assured me. “But it will please you.”

Heat turned into flames and I shifted in my seat. The way he said the word “please” made me think that he wasn’t talking about some little gesture. His tone rather hinted at something deeper and perhaps darker, something that spoke to a primal nature I hadn’t realized I’d had until I’d met him. Then again, that could’ve just been wishful thinking on my part.

“I have to go, but I’ll be thinking about you and our next meeting.”

He hung up before I could answer.

“Oh, fuck.” I put my head down on my desk. “What did I just get myself into?”

I tried working on my paper after that, but I couldn’t think about anything other than what Gavin could possibly have in store for me. Finally, at ten o’clock, I gave up. I took a shower and headed for bed, intending to read until I fell asleep. Instead, I stared at the same page for half an hour, my imagination running wild.

Gavin slowly stripping off my clothes, then his own, before jumping into the pool.

Laying me back on the bar and burying his head between my legs until I screamed.

Another trip to the upstairs room where he tied me to the bed and teased me mercilessly.

Exploring the various chests and toys as he taught me the uses for each one.

I was still fantasizing about all of the things he could do to me when I fell asleep, and my desires followed me into my dreams.

Was it sad that the most exciting part of my week prior to Wednesday was when I was able to get an appointment with my OB on my Monday lunch hour? Not that the appointment itself was exciting, just what it promised. I was able to get my prescription filled that day and start taking the pill right away. Even though the timing meant I was probably covered right away, I was going to wait a week just in case. Still, knowing that I’d be able to tell Gavin that he didn’t have to use anything was heady. I thought about calling him, but that seemed a bit too forward. Then I thought I’d tell him on Wednesday, but decided against it. First, I’d hint around about getting tested so I’d know that there wasn’t a reason other than pregnancy that meant we needed to keep using condoms. Then, I’d schedule a night next week for us to meet and tell him that I wanted him to come inside me, bare. I could just imagine the look on his face. In fact, I did imagine it through the entire examination and then on the way home from work that night. The only reason I didn’t keep thinking about it between those times was that I’d had work to do.

It took a while, but I finally learned how to concentrate when amorous thoughts wanted to take over. Every hour, I’d allow myself five minutes for my fantasies. I’d think about Gavin and how his body felt against mine. Sometimes they’d be memories; other times, I’d think of something new. Once those five minutes were up, I got back to the task at hand.

That task, for the past two days, had been doing more research on Howard. Mimi had instructed me to find out as much as I could about the women Howard had been seen with the most during the last year before his separation. If any of them were able to testify that they’d had sex with Howard while he’d still been living with his wife, his case would be seriously damaged.

I’d been able to tell when she’d called me into her office first thing Monday morning that things weren’t going the way she’d wanted. As soon as she’d told me what she’d discovered, I understood why. She’d gotten the prenuptial agreement finally and had spent the weekend reading it. It looked very bad for Howard.

Just before the couple married, Howard had been near bankruptcy. His business had been failing and no one would give him a loan to bail him out. Then, a big investor had come along and given him what he needed to get through that rough patch. The investor had been Howard’s wife’s family. The day after the wedding, Howard’s company had been saved, but to protect the family’s investment, the lawyer had written into the prenup that fifty percent of the company would belong to the family. The other fifty percent would be split between Howard and his wife – except in the case of infidelity. If Howard had been unfaithful, his wife would get everything and Howard would lose his company. My mission was to find out if Howard had actually had an affair. That meant I would be spending who knew how long finding out as much as I could about the women who had been seen with Howard prior to six months ago.

The celebrities were easy. If I didn’t know them, a quick reverse image search gave me their names. Once I’d searched for articles linking Howard with each of those women and found nothing, I was satisfied that I didn’t need to go any deeper with them. If there’d been any dirt there, the gossip magazines would’ve found it. No, the ones I had to worry about were the women who weren’t celebrities.

They were all pretty – I doubted Howard would ever deign to be seen with anyone less than attractive – but they weren’t actresses, models, musicians, or even those celebrities who are famous for nothing but being famous.

By Wednesday morning, I’d exhausted every resource at my disposal. All but two, and I really didn’t want to do the last one. After I’d settled in for the morning, I placed the first – and what I hoped would be the last – call. Howard’s personal assistant, Annie, answered on the second ring.

“Hello, this is Carrie Summers from Webster and Steinberg.” I kept my voice light and professional. It sounded fake to me, but I was working on making it better. “My boss, Ms. Styles, has me working on background information on the women who have attended various events with Mr. Weiss.”

I didn’t know if Annie understood the implication of what I was asking, but I hoped she didn’t. Knowing someone was checking up on your boss’s sex life could make things very awkward.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Summers, but I don’t have access to that information.” Annie sounded almost bored. “Mr. Weiss doesn’t provide me with the names of his dates, only instructs me to RSVP either for just him or with a plus one.”

“Okay.” I was disappointed. “Thank you anyway.”

“Have a good day.”

I frowned as I hung up. It seemed like the only way I was going to get these women’s names would be to ask Howard himself. I didn’t want to have that conversation. Aside from the fact that it would be uncomfortable to ask him about his dates when I knew he’d understand exactly why I was asking, it would probably make all future interactions just as awkward, and since I was with Gavin, I had a feeling I’d be seeing plenty of Howard.

Then there was the whole flirting thing. I wasn’t sure how he’d take me asking about those women. What if he thought I was asking because I wanted to know for personal reasons? I could see him thinking I was trying to find out about any competition. Gavin might believe that Howard was only a charmer who behaved that way towards all women, but that wasn’t the vibe I got off of Howard. I couldn’t put my finger on it or provide any type of proof or evidence, which was why I hadn’t said anything to Gavin, but something about Howard just didn’t sit right with me. I kept getting the feeling that there was something below that veneer surface that was far less attractive.

I decided to put off calling Howard. There were a handful of other places I could look for information. They weren’t exactly reliable, but they did give me an excuse not to make that phone call. Besides, who knew what I could find? If nothing else, maybe they could lead me to another trail.

About two hours later, I was starting to go cross-eyed from all of the tiny print I was reading on my computer, and so I almost missed it: an article that mentioned Howard Weiss. It wasn’t until I pulled it up and began to read that I realized it wasn’t an entertainment piece. Instead, it was a biographical article, one where Howard’s family history had been traced. Even though it didn’t have anything to do with what I was looking for, I kept reading. If I had to call him, at least I would have a bit more background information.

The more I read, the bigger my eyes got. Howard’s New York City roots were deeper than I’d realized. His family had been in the city since before the turn of the century, and I wasn’t referring to the recent one. Things were fairly unremarkable until the nineteen twenties, when Howard’s great-grandfather, Josiah, rose to power in the Jewish mafia. There were links to Josiah Weiss, so I followed them. He had been ruthless, cold, and calculating. A dozen murders were attributed to him directly, but none were ever brought to trial because witnesses kept disappearing. Some places had the body count as high as fifty or sixty for hits he’d ordered. Three were judges and more than a dozen were cops. Then there were all of the shady industries. Of course, it being Prohibition and all, he’d made a fortune running booze, but he hadn’t stopped there. Josiah had his fingers in everything. Police corruption. Blackmail. Shaking down business owners. Prostitution. Gambling. It seemed like the only thing he didn’t do was sell drugs.

When I’d finished, I sat back in my seat, trying to absorb everything I’d just read. It shouldn’t have made a difference, I knew. The Jewish mafia was all but extinct, and just because Josiah Weiss had been a part of it didn’t mean Howard had anything to do with that part of his family history. Then again, a lot of those mafia types had an “it’s a family business and blood is thicker than water” mentality. If the business practices had been passed down from generation to generation, there was no telling what Howard had done to acquire his fortune. Or to what lengths he would be willing to go to keep it.