Caroline skirted past a man leaning against the bar in full latex attire. Then she saw Jonah. Sitting directly underneath a stainless-steel light fixture, his features were perfectly illuminated. The untouched drink in front of him occupied his attention, but the expression on his handsome face brought her to a halt. For just that split second, right before he looked up and caught sight of her, she glimpsed…pain. Loneliness. Her determination to keep herself emotionally removed tonight felt terribly selfish and wrong upon seeing it. Knowing the alternative was to open herself up, she almost turned and ran out of Serve like the worst kind of coward. But when Jonah looked up and smiled, pleasure chasing the sadness from his face, she walked forward as if compelled.
He said something to the bartender, then stood to pull back a stool for her. When she reached him, he slid an arm around her waist and brought her close. “Caroline,” he breathed in her ear. “I knew you’d come, but I didn’t think you’d show up dressed to make me beg.”
Heart hammering, she swallowed the knot in her throat. “I like to keep you on your toes.”
“Let’s see if I can return the favor.” Before she could decipher his intention, he tightened the arm around her waist and lifted her onto the seat. Everything south of her waist clenched at the unexpected action, his show of strength enticing her in a method as old as time. Part of her resented him turning her into a cliché, but the rest of her wondered how else he could employ that power. If she’d get a chance to experience it tonight.
The bartender set down a familiar-looking drink, garnished with a lollipop, on the bar. Almost recovered from Jonah’s unexpected maneuver, she narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t even think about it.”
He smiled devilishly. “A man can hope.”
Caroline sipped her drink, thinking of the research she’d done on him. “Is it true you won this place in a high-stakes poker game?”
“Doing research for your article?” Jonah’s mouth twitched as he leaned on the bar, his posture casual yet somehow authoritative. “Partly true. I won enough money to make an offer alongside an investor. I’ve since bought him out, making me the sole owner.”
“What hand did you win with?”
He looked amused by her question. “A straight.”
Caroline absorbed that with a reluctant smile. “I bet you find something funny about financing a BDSM club with a straight.”
Jonah laughed softly. “No one else has ever picked up on that.”
She sipped her drink with a flourish. “Impressed?”
“By you? Continually.” He rubbed a hand over his mouth. “Do you always perform research when presented with something new?”
“Always.” Caroline gave him a long, meaningful look. “About everything.”
For a heated moment, Jonah scrutinized her. “And it appears you’ve come here tonight for some hands-on experience. Good to know, sweetheart.”
Before she could lose her nerve, her voice dropped to a whisper. “What do you want to do to me, Jonah?”
He set down his drink a little too hard. “You don’t waste any time, do you.” It was a statement, not a question, so she didn’t answer. Ever so slightly, she regretted steering them to this point so quickly, but she didn’t want to know more about him. Already, she’d let herself become fascinated, and it had to stop now. She didn’t want to see this night as anything other than a purely sexual encounter. If his expression served as any indication, he’d guessed her intention. “Are you asking me what I’d like to do or what I plan to do?”
She wet her lips. “What you plan to do.”
“A lot of that depends on you.” His tone turned serious. “I need to know your limits so I can respect them.”
“How would I know what they are if I’ve never come close to them?”
His breath escaped in a rush that sounded almost like a laugh. “I don’t think you have any idea what saying things like that does to a man like me. Finding limits and testing them is what I do, Caroline. What I want to do with you, specifically.”
Those words caused a long, slow twist in her belly. “Tell me what you want. I’ll tell you if I can give it to you.”
“Very well.” Jonah placed firm hands on her legs, uncrossing them slowly, before wedging his big body between them. As he must have known it would, her breath grew immediately choppy. The flesh between her legs felt the cool rush of air conditioning, triggering an answering pulse in the base of her belly. Suddenly the leather seat cushioning her bottom felt like a caress. My legs are wide open in a public place. Knowing anyone who looked in their direction would see her thighs on either side of his hips felt wrong, yet somehow unbelievably hot. A shot of heat pooled at her center, dampening her in seconds.