Black Listed(3)
Feeling a bit voyeuristic, Lisa glanced at her bare wrist as if looking at her watch. She didn’t need a clock to tell her it was time to start the dancing. “If you’re ready, I’ll have the band leader announce you.”
Danielle raised a brow suggestively at Cole. “Right now, I’d rather skip the dancing and go straight to the honeymoon.”
“Later,” Cole said, taking Danielle into his arms. “First, I want to dance with my wife and my daughter. And you need to eat. It’s been a long day, and I promise you, we’re going to have a long night.” They kissed, oblivious to Lisa and the rest of the guests. Or maybe they didn’t care. They were exhibitionists, after all.
Lisa coughed, but Cole and Danielle remained in their own little world. “I’ll just . . . yeah.” She backed away, giving them a moment to enjoy each other. “I’m giving you a five-minute warning.” She turned with the intention of speaking to the caterer, but her friend Gracie stopped her before she could take more than a few steps.
On five-inch heels, Gracie wore a sparkly red sheer dress that looked more like a baby-doll nighty than a cocktail dress, the fabric barely covering her upper thighs. Previously one of Cole’s slaves, she was now without a Master but had been given a job overseeing the education of sex slaves at Benediction.
“Squee! You look amazing.” Not having many boundaries, Gracie ran her hands down Lisa’s sides. “Wow, why haven’t you ever shown off that figure of yours? You’re always wearing those business jackets. I never even knew you had boobs.”
Lisa shook her head, used to Gracie’s exuberant behavior. “Having fun?”
“Best. Time. Ever. But I can’t wait until the dungeon opens.” She sighed wistfully, her gaze landing on Roman, Danielle’s stepbrother, who was talking with Cole’s parents over by the hors d’oeuvres. “There’s something that’s so sexy about being beaten by a man wearing a tuxedo.”
“Are you and Roman finally . . . ?” Lisa asked.
The two had stuck up a strange friendship when Danielle had moved back to Arizona after having temporarily broken up with Cole. Gracie had taken it upon herself to call Roman daily, saying it was to check up on Danielle, but Lisa had a feeling that wasn’t the only reason for the calls.
Gracie pulled her gaze away from Roman. “No. We’re still just friends.”
Even if Lisa couldn’t find love, she wanted it for her friends, especially Gracie, who went above and beyond for everyone.
Apparently her thoughts must have registered on her face. Gracie shook her finger. “Don’t give me that sad expression. I do not have feelings for Danielle’s stepbrother. He’s not my type.”
Lisa couldn’t help herself. “You have a type?”
“Until I find the right person or persons looking for a full-time slave, I’m only looking for sex. If I scene with Roman, we’ll lose our friendship, and these days, he needs all the friends he can get.” Gracie smiled. “Besides, he could never handle me.”
“No one could handle you.”
“Ed and Serge handle me just fine. They’re meeting me tonight in the Jungle Room. Two Tarzans ready to swing me from the ceiling and go primal. What more do I need?”
“What about love?”
“I’m not holding my breath that I’ll find someone who wants a full-time slave and also will fall in love with me.” Her friend squared her shoulders. “But enough about me. Now that you’ve been inside of Benediction, aren’t you a bit curious about what it’s like during business hours?”
Kate, one of Lisa’s best friends, sidled up beside them with a glass of red wine that she held out to Lisa in offering, knowing from their weekly girls’ night she preferred wine over liquor. “Gracie, stop trying to recruit Lisa.” Kate looked positively radiant in her black dress and her blonde hair in a messy bun with tendrils framing her face. “Do you need any help tonight?”
Lisa gave her a smile of gratitude for both her offer and her rescue from Gracie. “Between the hired help and Cole’s slave trainees, I think I’ve got it covered.”
“Of course you do. You’re the most capable person I’ve ever met. Nothing flusters you,” Kate remarked.
A couple of years ago, the two of them had met at a law firm, where Lisa had worked and Kate had interned. But they hadn’t become close until they’d lost a mutual friend. During the crisis that had followed his death, Kate hadn’t understood how Lisa had kept her composure, surprised that a legal secretary could organize a funeral, field phone calls from the press, and coordinate the entire law firm’s public relations without shedding a tear or breaking down from sheer exhaustion. That’s when the idea of Lisa opening her own public relations firm was born.