Naughty (23 page)

“This room serves as the portal to the land of decadence. See those red drapes,” Trey whispered, and nodded his head toward the rear of the room. They both nodded. “Behind those drapes is a staircase that leads up to where the various theme rooms are located.”

“Theme rooms?” Naomi asked.

“Yes, there’s the Voyeurism Room, for those who like to be watched. The Game Room, but the games played are not for kids. The Leopard Lounge, if you want to kick back and have a cocktail while having your clit licked,” he said with a straight face, and then continued. “If you’re into toys, we have the Tantalizing Toy Room, and . . .”

“I’d love to see what toys you guys have,” Kennedy said, wondering if they had the “Rabbit,” her favorite vibrator.

“Well, ladies, I’m sorry to say that this is where the tour ends. If you want to see more, you’ll need to go through our screening process,” Trey told them point-blank.

Naomi and Kennedy looked at each other in sheer disbelief.
Just when they were warming up to the idea of the club, the tour was over. Trey was an astute businessman; he had whetted their appetites just enough, leaving them yearning for more.

“Oh, I see.” Naomi nodded her head. She had seen enough to make a decision, and the decision was that without a doubt, she would join the club, but first she had a question.

Trey walked them out of the parlor, into the foyer. “Thank you, ladies, for coming by. I hope you’ll call and schedule an appointment for your interview.”

“Of course we will, and thanks for your time,” Naomi said, and turned toward the door, but then turned back to him. “Trey, how do you know Tyler?” she asked, trying to sound casual.

“She’s doing some work for me,” he told her without elaborating.

“Oh.” Naomi wanted to ask what type of work, but based on his dry tone, she decided against prying further. Besides, now her question was partially answered. At least Tyler wasn’t a member. “Good night, Trey. Talk to you soon,” Naomi said. She and Kennedy walked out of the foyer into the doorman area.

“I’ll need those masks,” the beefy doorman said, and reached out his large, meaty hand.

“Sure, no problem.” They each removed their masks, handed them over, then removed their wigs and stuffed them into their purses. Since they were leaving the club there was no need to continue with the charade.

“Wow, that was amazing!” Kennedy exclaimed, opening the door and walking out.

“So, have you changed your mind about joining?” Naomi asked, walking down the steps.

“After looking at all those fine men, I’m reconsidering.” Kennedy smiled.

“Naomi and Kennedy! What are you guys doing here?”

“Tyler!” Naomi couldn’t believe that her sister-in-law was standing right in front of her.

“What are you doing here?” Tyler asked again, this time posing the question directly to Naomi.

“Uh, we, uh . . .” She didn’t know what to say. “Come on, Kennedy, let’s go.”

They rushed past Tyler and down the street without answering her question. Naomi needed time to think of a proper answer, and fleeing seemed to be a better option than saying something stupid. So they left Tyler standing on the steps with her mouth hanging open.

“
HEY THERE
, Kennedy, it’s been a long time,” said Valerie, the co-owner of Kaminsky’s.

“Too long,” Kennedy replied, kissing her on the cheek. She had known Valerie for years. They had met on a flight to Paris. Kennedy was going to do a little light shopping and Valerie was traveling there to work the spring fashion shows. At the time, Valerie was one of the select black models who graced the European circuit, strutting the catwalk like a long-legged gazelle.

“Kaminsky was just asking about you the other day.” Val was married to renowned chef Kaminsky Thomas. Their restaurant was on the radar of discerning food critics across the country, with impressive write-ups in
Gourmet
and
Bon Appétit
.

“How is that handsome husband of yours?”

“He’s fine. He’s in the kitchen now whipping up one of his specialties.”

Kennedy inhaled the aroma wafting throughout the restaurant. “Whatever he’s cooking sure smells good. What’s on the lunch menu today?”

“Lobster BLT, with Nueske’s bacon, heirloom tomatoes, sunflower greens, and chive mayonnaise on brioche with sweet potato chips, and that’s just for starters.” Val chuckled.

“Hmmm”—Kennedy licked her bottom lip—“that sounds delicious. I can’t wait to chow down.”

“You want to be seated now or are you waiting for someone?”

“I’m having lunch with my new beau.” She blushed.

“New beau?” Val put her hand on her slender hip. “Do tell.”

“There isn’t much to tell. His name is Nigel Charles. We met in-flight and have been dating ever since,” she said, giving Val the abbreviated version.

Known for asking pointed questions, Val pinned her with an inquiring-minds-want-to-know look. “What does he do for a living?”

“He’s the Vice President of Research and Development for FACEZ.”

“Okay,” she said, nodding her head up and down in an approving gesture. “He has a good job, but more importantly, does he have good looks?” Valerie teased.

Nigel’s face flashed through Kennedy’s mind and a broad smile immediately erupted before she could respond.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Val chuckled. “Guess I’ll see for myself when he gets here. Lunch with a handsome man needs a nice bottle of Riesling, and I have the perfect one. It’s an Albert Mann Cuvee, and it’s light and crisp.” Being a certified sommelier, Val could rattle off at least a dozen vintages before you could say Chardonnay.

She escorted Kennedy to a choice booth and sent over a bottle of wine. As Kennedy sipped her wine, she couldn’t help but think about being busted by Tyler. She and Naomi were in such shock that they hardly spoke when they fled the club. She took out her cell and called Naomi.

“Hey, girl,” Kennedy said as soon as Naomi picked up the phone. “Have you talked to Tyler?”

“Not yet. She hasn’t been in the house all day.”

“I knew we shouldn’t have gone to the Black Door. I had such a bad feeling, and we should have followed my intuition.”

“Well, that’s a moot point now,” Naomi said, shrugging her shoulders even though Kennedy couldn’t see her.

“Well, I know I’m not joining the club now.”

“That makes two of us,” Naomi said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

“What are you going to tell her about us being at the Black Door?”

“I’ve been thinking about that, and I’ve decided to play the dumb role, and pretend like we were looking for a friend’s house, and just so happened to wind up on the steps of the club, by accident of course. I’m so glad we took off the wigs, otherwise we would have really looked suspicious. And then I’m going to turn the tables and ask what she was doing there.”

“That’s sounds like a good plan. Make her think that
she
was doing something wrong.”

“Exactly! Fortunately, Jacob is in London again. As much as I didn’t want him to go, I’m actually glad. At least now I don’t have to worry about Tyler telling him half-truths.”

“Wasn’t Jacob just in London?” Kennedy asked.

“Yeah, less than two weeks ago. He said an impromptu meeting came up, and he had no other choice but to attend. By the time he gets back I will have convinced Tyler that we were at the wrong address, and nothing more.”

“Let me know what happens. I’ve got to run. I’m having lunch with Nigel, and he should be here any minute.”

“Wish me luck.”

“Good luck, girl.”

“Okay, talk to you later,” Naomi said, and hung up.

The waitress came over and refilled her glass. Kennedy glanced down at her watch. He was twenty minutes late. She dialed his number, but got a ring followed immediately by a short
beep indicating that he was on another call. She hung up before his voice mail answered.
That’s odd. He usually clicks over when he sees my number
. Before she had a chance to give it a second thought, Nigel was rushing toward the booth with the phone glued to his ear.

“Did you get the report? I had it messengered over to your place this morning.” He looked at Kennedy, put up his index finger, and mouthed, “One second.”

She mouthed back, “Okay.”

“Great. I’ll have the final stats to you next week,” he said, clicking off the phone. “Hey there, beautiful.” He leaned in and lightly kissed her lips. “Sorry I’m late. My plan was to have a laidback Saturday morning, but I had to go into the office at the last minute and copy some files. There’s some work I want to do at home this weekend, and I didn’t have the information I need on my personal computer. Sometimes I feel like Kunta Kinte working from sunup to sundown,” he mused, sliding into the booth.

“Funny, she doesn’t look like a slave driver.”

“Who?” he asked with a puzzled expression.

“Mira Rhone,” Kennedy said casually, taking another sip of wine. “She’s your boss, isn’t she?” she added, catching him by surprise.

“Yeah. How did you know that? When did you see her? Do you know Mira?” he asked, quickly running all three questions together.

Taking the mystery a step further, she decided to toy with him. “There’s very little that I don’t know, my dear.” She grinned, arching an eyebrow.

“Seriously, Kennedy”—he looked directly into her eyes—“how do you know Mira?”

“We’re in the same club,” she answered, giving up very little information.

“Club? What type of club? You mean sorority?” he asked, trying to extract the facts.

“Not a sorority, a private club, for members only.” She winked, thinking about the Black Door.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if Mira was a member?
Kennedy didn’t know what made her think about Mira being a member, since she had only met the woman once. But the thought was interesting nonetheless.

“Come on, Kennedy, stop playing around and tell me how you two know each other.”

From the stern look registered on his face and the urgency in his voice, Kennedy could tell he found no humor in her little game of cat and mouse. “We’re in the same book club,” she finally admitted, ending the charade.

“Book club? I didn’t know you were in a book club.”

“My friend Naomi started it awhile ago, and we’ve been trying to replace members that have dropped out. Naomi’s husband Jacob . . .”

“Jacob Reed?” he interrupted.

“You know him?” Now Kennedy was the one with the puzzled expression.

“Yeah, I know him. He’s the accountant for FACEZ.”

“What a small world.”

“And getting smaller all the time,” he muttered.

“Taking on our drive for fresh blood, Jacob invited Mira to one of our meetings. I’ve only met her once, but she seems cool.”

Nigel looked away for a split second. “Yeah, she’s cool all right, among other things,” he said with disdain.

Kennedy assumed that Mira, being a young executive, would be a liberal boss, but judging from the contempt in Nigel’s voice, it was probably the opposite. “Why’d you say that? Is she a taskmaster?”

He didn’t answer immediately, and then said cryptically, “You could say that.”

“Is it tough working for a wo—”

“Let’s change the subject. I don’t feel like talking about Mira or work,” he said abruptly. Nigel purposely didn’t tell Kennedy
that it was Mira who dumped him. He started to but didn’t want to deal with a million and two questions. He and Mira were history, so there was really nothing to tell. Besides, Kennedy already knew that he had been engaged before, so it wasn’t like he was harboring a huge secret.

The way Nigel cut Kennedy off, she couldn’t help but think there was something he was holding back. Not wanting to be pushy, she stopped the inquisition short. She knew how guarded some men could be about their work, and didn’t want to overstep her bounds. But on the other hand, women were much more forthcoming with information, so she would just bide her time, wait until the next book club meeting, and get the 411 straight from the horse’s mouth.

“So, sexy, what have you been up to?” Nigel asked, changing his tone.

Once again the Black Door entered her mind. Kennedy wanted to say,
Checking out an erotica club to possibly get my freak on
. But of course she didn’t. “Nothing too exciting. What about you?”

“I’ve been thinking about your self-imposed rule.” He scooted a little closer to her.

“Exactly what have you been thinking?” She smiled.

“That we’ve been dating for nearly two months, and I’d like to take our relationship to the next level.”

“And what level is that?” Kennedy asked, even though she knew what he was alluding to.

He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer until she was wedged into his side. “The other night at the movies I think we both really enjoyed hugging and kissing in the dark, so much so that we need to take our relationship to another level,” he said, tightening his grip around her shoulder.

Kennedy could feel her juices heating up. Being that close to Nigel was making her horny, and she wanted to fuck him right there at the table. She looked around the restaurant, making
sure no one was eyeing them. Luckily, they were seated in the back in a booth, outside of clear view. Kennedy put her hand on his thigh. “I truly enjoyed our night at the movies, even though we really didn’t see much of the film, since we were busy sucking face.”

Nigel didn’t object to her hand resting on his leg. “And what a lovely face you have.” He lightly kissed the tip of her nose.

His tenderness was really turning her on. Some men were totally barbaric in their approach to kissing, slobbering all over a woman’s face, but Nigel’s moves were sweet and gentle, like he truly cared for her. Kennedy eased her fingers up his leg, and didn’t stop until she landed at his crotch. She began caressing his balls. They were thick and warm. Imagining how they would feel
and
taste in her mouth, Kennedy licked her lips. Transferring her hand from his scrotum to the outline of his penis, she asked, “What are you going to do with this once we’re horizontal?”