“Good evening, ladies.” A perfectly sun tanned god stepped into our booth. “Who’s getting the massage tonight?”
I couldn’t find any words to say. He was utter perfection—even more attractive than the men we’d seen on stage.
Helen eye f**ked him for a few seconds before looking at me again. “As perfect as this man is...I specifically made it clear that A) Your masseuse must be g*y. And B) It must be a steam massage, so once again, he’ll barely touch you. Trust me, he doesn’t want you. At All...And it’s a damn shame.”
I blinked and looked up at Mr. Perfection again.
“I have a boyfriend.” He shrugged and reached for my hand. “I won’t hurt you. Besides, it’s only fifteen minutes.”
I tossed back another shot and reluctantly took his hand.
He introduced himself to me as Sean and led me down two dark hallways, into a room that scared the living shit out of me: There were whips and chains hanging from the ceiling, slow burning red candles that nearly covered the entire floor, and countless metal contraptions that jutted out from the walls.
I looked around for the massage table and spotted it in the corner.
“This is the best room available for a massage?” I asked.
“Is there a problem?”
“No, just...People actually come here to do this stuff?” I tugged on a pair of handcuffs that hung from the wall. “This is a sex club?”
“You’re just now figuring that out?” He led me over to the table. “But to answer your question, yes. My ex used to get a real kick out of this. He loved it.”
“Pain?”
“Don’t be closed minded.” He sounded offended. “It’s the thin line between pleasure and pain that turns people on. Look, come here.” He pulled my arms up over my head and secured a rope around them. “I’ll show you a few things that you can take back home to your fiancée. Does this hurt?”
“No.”
He tightened the rope and the bristles started to rub into my skin. “How about now?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, good.”
“Good?”
He nodded and took a few steps back. “So, right now your arms are suspended in the air and you don’t have full control of yourself. You’re submitting that remaining power to your significant other.”
“I’m sure he would love that...” I mumbled.
“Hmmm...How about adding this too?” He hoisted my body up from the floor by a few inches. Then he spread my legs wide and clamped each of my ankles to heavy weights. “How do you feel now?”
“I drank a whole lot of alcohol tonight...I’m honestly not sure if this is really happening or not...”
He laughed and walked over to a table, unwrapping a black box. “We sell pleasure kits at the gift shop upstairs, but seeing as though you’re almost Mrs. Statham, I’ll make sure you get a bunch of them for free.” He brought the box over to me and showed me a state of the art vibrator with several smaller pleasure toys.
“Do you think you’d be willing to try some of the more daring things at home?” Sean shut the box and gestured to the other things in the room.
“Are my eyes red? Do they look puffy to you?”
He smiled and pinched my cheek. “I think you’ll warm up to it one day. I’ll go get the steamer and some bottled water from next door. I’ll untie you the second I get back. Hopefully ten more seconds like this will convince you to try it, right?”
I laughed at his enthusiasm and shook my head as he walked away.
I looked around the room again, wondering why I’d ever doubted Helen when she promised an “over the top” party. She’d truly outdone herself and the week wasn’t even over.
I tried to move my legs and get down, but it was no use. It’d only been a few seconds, but it felt like they were falling asleep. With the amount of alcohol that was coursing through my veins, I knew I was about to pass out if I didn’t get down soon.
I’m going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow...
My eyes were struggling to stay open and the heat from the candles was making me sweat. I wished he’d at least tied me up closer to the door—or at least let me face it, so I could be closer to the air vents.
“Sean!” I called out.
I heard the door opening and I sighed, relieved. “Look, Sean. You don’t need to give me a massage. Just cut me down from this and I’ll lie and say everything was great. I’m starting to feel a bit—”
“Is this the type of shit that turns you on, Claire?” The sound of Jonathan’s voice made my heart race ten times faster.
“Jonathan?!” I felt him kissing the back of my neck. “What the hell are you doing here?”
He pressed another kiss against my skin, ignoring my question. He ran his hands up and down my sides and I could sense him smiling. “So, there was some truth in what you told our therapist about our intimacy problems? You aren’t satisfied with our regular sex?”