“I’m inviting you as my friend, nothing more, Violet. You’ll be perfectly safe. The details are there on the invitation. It’s not a heavy play event. For you it would be more like dipping your toes into the water.” Joseph gave her a mischievous smile and added, “You never know.”
“But I can’t afford—”
She halted speaking when he lifted a hand and said, “A sex-positive culture group is sponsoring it, so my duties will be fairly light. I’d like to have you as my guest, to show you what the events are like. Indulge me?”
“Well…” She returned the heavy parchment invitation to its rich purple envelope, a little seed of anticipation to read all the fine print and details springing to life. It was time to live a little, and she’d told herself time and again she deserved better. Maybe Joseph’s timing was perfect. “You remember I told you I’m not into pain—”
“You don’t have to be. The information inside that envelope will explain. I think you’ll have a positive, eye-opening experience. At least think about it?” he asked softly.
She slid her hand across the slightly nubby texture of the envelope and then drew it to her as she looked up at him and nodded. “I’ll think about it. I mean it, Joseph. I’m not just putting you off. I’ll give it serious thought.”
Inordinate happiness filled her when he smiled broadly, obviously pleased. All this Dom had to do was smile and she went loopy.
“I’ve kept you long enough, and I have other invitations to deliver. I look forward to hearing from you.”
She walked him to the door, and he patted her arm in a fatherly gesture before taking his leave.
A noise overhead drew her attention to the man on the ladder, near the center of the Emporium, and a warm thrill rushed up her spine, not because of the invitation in her hand so much as the knowledge she was being watched.
While she’d hoped and prayed Bodie might finally make the choice to move to Divine, she’d kept her eyes from temptation. She’d been loyal—and dumb to hold out hope for a man who had obviously been satisfied with the status quo.
She’d told Joseph she was free, hadn’t she? Finally cutting the last tie between her and Bodie had released a heavy weight from her chest, and she breathed in deep and enjoyed its absence.
She looked up into seductive blue-green eyes. Eyes that were made even brighter by the blue and green plaid of his work shirt.
It’s no longer temptation if I’m free.
Josh Abbott lifted his chin, his brows furrowed slightly, and mouthed, “Are you okay?”
Besides the fact I’m imagining you and your sexy brother dressed in plaid flannel and denim like lumberjacks, tying me up, and fucking me within an inch of my sanity? Remembering how all that masculine heat and muscularity had felt rubbing against her earlier, getting her nipples as hard as diamonds, she cleared her throat and suppressed a giggle as heat creeped up into her cheeks again. She managed a nod and a smile for him, and she mouthed back, “I’m fine.”
He was still frowning but he nodded as he went back to hanging the large crystal chandelier she’d recently purchased for the store—and for herself. During renovation they’d hung several other fancy light fixtures for her but this one was a truly over-the-top indulgence she’d wanted for months to grace the center of the Emporium. Josh glanced at her one more time, as if checking to make sure she truly was okay and then directed his attention back to the job.
For just a few seconds longer, she watched his thick biceps and the sleek muscles in his forearms flex as he worked. She’d totally been ogling his ass when she’d smacked into him earlier. Not watching where she was going—bah! She was watching his tight buns in his Wranglers and hadn’t been paying attention.
The months they’d spent renovating the Emporium had been good ones and she’d looked forward to seeing them every day. They’d shown a genuine interest in her plans for the Emporium, and they’d made her feel pretty. Josh had even asked if she might be interested in going out with them. Both of them. That’d put her on guard, even though she knew they were good men who wouldn’t mistreat her. But she’d remembered Bodie and the hopes she’d held onto, and she’d turned them down, claiming that prior “commitment” and her lack of time because of her business.
She was running out of jobs to keep calling him and Lucas back to handle for her around the place, and pretty soon they might figure out she wasn’t ready to see the tail end of them. Well, not unless they were naked, of course.
Her cell phone chirped with an incoming text message, and she looked down at it. A message from Bodie.