Dex stroked his chin between his thumb and index finger. “You said Club Desire kept coming up in your search results. Are you looking around at other fetish clubs?”
She met his gaze, a trickle of excitement running through her. Talking about this made the possibility feel more real. “It’s been obvious to me for a while now that while I still love the lifestyle, L.A. isn’t working for me anymore, especially with my father living close by. We don’t do anything but fight.”
She frowned, suddenly self-conscious for some reason. “I figured anywhere I move should be a technology hub—someplace easy to make networking contacts and generate more work—and it should have a great dungeon and fetish community. Other than that, no natural disasters would be a huge plus.” She smiled up at him, noticing his gorgeous smile in return.
“If you do decide to move out there, definitely go visit Club Desire. I know the owner, Brent Weston, well and can get you a meeting to talk about membership. There’s usually a waiting list for full membership. Like you said…networking.”
She grinned. “Thank you. I’d like that.” She started to ask him if he played there often, and if so, how many other subs he had there. But she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. As much as it would thrill her to continue to play with Master Dex, if she did make the move to Arizona, she didn’t want it to seem like she had only chosen Club Desire to follow him there.
She had spent her entire life trying to silently prove to the world that she could make it on her own. She didn’t need the blessing of a man—even one as powerful as Richard Fretwell the third—to be successful. She supposed that was why she was so adamant about not needing or following Master Dex.
Her phone pinged and vibrated where it sat just next to her computer keyboard. She glanced down to see an email from her contact at Merestone.
“Sorry.” She gestured to the phone and then picked it up. “It’s from Merestone. I want to make sure they don’t have a problem with any of the changes I made.”
Dex motioned for her to go ahead. “No problem. I understand about staying on top of work emails. Besides, I should be getting home and checking my own.”
Disappointment flooded through her. She had hoped to head back to bed with him. Both for more sleep and more amazing sex. She forced her lips into some semblance of a smile.
“I’ll touch base later. Maybe I can tell you more about Club Desire.”
She turned to rake her gaze over the entire sexy length of the man one more time before he left, eager to hear from him again later. “That would be great.”
Dex leaned down to brush a warm kiss across her cheek before he caressed her shoulder and walked away.
Chapter 17
Dex slid into his car, sparing one last glance up at Kate’s penthouse. Rusty’s silhouette was back in the top window. He could picture the cat perched on the sill next to Kate’s recliner in her bedroom.
He sighed. So much had happened in the past twenty-four hours, and not all of it good for either himself or the case.
A slow sigh escaped and his chest tightened at the thought of leaving Kate. She touched his heart in a way no woman ever had. If it weren’t for his case and his responsibilities he would still be back up there.
But he did have responsibilities he needed to take care of.
After that…He didn’t allow his mind to go there yet.
He made a quick call to Shapiro to tell the man what he had learned about Kate’s client. Analysts did their best work when the agent in the field kept them informed. He remembered how he had always appreciated field agents who kept him in the loop, and he wanted to do the same for his own support team.
“Dex. Quick question before we go back to pleasantries. Has your phone been out of your possession in the past twenty-four hours?”
Dex frowned at the question, but thought back over the time he had been with Kate. Last night the screen had been locked, and it had been in the front pocket of his pants on the floor next to the bed. He was such a light sleeper, he would have woken instantly if Kate had gotten up or anyone else had entered the penthouse. Especially with the alarm beeping if anyone turned it on or off.
He had woken immediately when Kate got out of bed this morning, but had given her some space to see what she would do, so he’d feigned sleep.
There was little to no chance that Kate or anyone else could have gotten into his phone. He changed lanes and returned his attention to Shapiro. “No. My phone has been locked down tight. Why, what’s up?”
“Just making sure everything is secure. What do you have for me?” Dex frowned at the explanation but could see no reason for evasion by a man on his own team, so decided to roll with it until he had good reason not to.