Pleasure Bay (4 page)

Embarrassed, Gray leaned back in his seat and grumbled as he rubbed his face. “Fuckin’ fantastic.”

“If it helps,” said a soft voice from the far end of the long table, “I hear you look fantastic in black leather.” Unheard from until now, Gracie Snow spoke to Dr. Jensen. “I won’t tell you which one of the men told me, but let’s just say he plays for my team and has a great flair for fashion. So you can take that as a compliment, sir.”

Everyone looked at Gracie in surprise. As a submissive, she was soft-spoken and reserved. She worked for Mariah in guest relations, sending out registration packets, making guest travel arrangements, and assisting with special events planning for the resort. She usually didn’t say anything unless spoken to first, but it appeared Mariah’s sass was rubbing off on her. It could also be that her soft heart and obvious attraction for the doctor wouldn’t allow her to see him suffer.

As the roomful of men and women chuckled at the sub’s comment, the door flew open and a blond whirlwind whipped through the room juggling an armful of items for the meeting. A waft of light perfume trailed in her wake as she quickly crossed to her seat at Dimitri’s side. Setting down her binder, iPad, pen and iPhone, she looked up at him with a becoming flush to her cheeks.

“You’re late, little one.” Dimitri stated the obvious, his voice gentle with her, as always.

“Sorry, sir. I was waylaid by an irate Byron. He should be along in a minute.”

Dimitri looked down at the petite blonde, his right hand when it came to the reason why they were all there—the guests. Twenty-eight-year-old Mariah Charmant had an uncanny ability to match guests with the perfect partner. Since Pleasure Bay opened for business two years ago, she had successfully paired 90% of those looking for a permanent relationship and even some who weren’t. The rest of the team teasingly referred to her as kinkymatch.com. It amazed them all, and everyone, even Dimitri deferred to her when it came to assigning partners for their guests. Maybe it was her degree in psychology and her understanding of how the mind worked. No, there was more to it than that. She had a keen sense of perception and a talent for reading emotions in others. Too bad she lacked introspection and missed what was in front of her very eyes.

Dimitri wanted her and had made that clear to her early on, but some bastard in her past had hurt her badly. Submissive to the core, Mariah needed the scene, as much as she needed food to eat and water to drink. It was a necessity for her and one that she fulfilled somehow in her role as guest relations manager at Pleasure Bay. Although afraid to play in the scene anymore, she got her fix through what she saw and made happen for others at Pleasure Bay. Therefore, he’d tamped down his desires for sexy, curvy, petite Mariah, which after two years was getting old and progressively harder to do. He understood how the barrier of her past was holding her back. She’d sworn off relationships despite the yearning he often saw in her eyes. Although he had repressed his desires, he hadn’t given up on her. They would be dynamic together; he knew it intuitively. His own keen sense of perception told him she was his one, and if he could break thorough her shields, eliminate her fear and doubts, he could show her that he was her one as well.

Mentally shaking himself, he snapped out of his musings and started the meeting. “Mariah, give us the rundown.”

* * *

Nodding to Jaxon, who activated the smart board at the front of the room, Mariah started the weekly presentation.

“We have twelve guests this week, a good mix of six club members, and six first-time guests. One of the club members is Mr. Harkleroad, so he will be no problem. I’ve partnered him with Andre, as usual.”

Dimitri and the others nodded. Johnathan Harkleroad came for a weekend each month to play in the dungeon with one of the doms. A powerful man in the international business community, he was still in the closet about his homosexuality, fearing coming out would ruin his business credibility. He came to the bay once a month to meet his need for a strong dominant man to take him in hand, with the reassurance that his secrets were safely guarde
d. Andre Portella was also a member and a strict dominant. As a bisexual, he could accommodate Mr. Harkleroad’s M/m fantasy easily and to their mutual satisfaction.

“Run through our new guests,
piccola
.”

Little one
—a warmth rushed through her at his use of the familiar endearment. Dimitri was very affectionate, often touching her, mostly speaking softly and gently with her. If she were ever going to give it another try, it would be with him. She just couldn’t risk it, not again.

Clearing her throat, she murmured, “Yes, sir,” and flipped open her notebook. Looking over at Jaxon, she nodded and the picture of a beautiful redhead popped up on screen: long, stick-straight, strawberry blond hair, sky blue eyes, creamy complexion. Her statistics were listed alongside her picture:

Heterosexual.

Submissive.

5′6″. 130#.

Fantasy: M/f, domination, spanking.

“This is Sydney Greene,” Mariah began. “New York City fashion entrepreneur, she owns her own Madison Avenue boutique, which is quite exclusive and extremely profitable from what we’ve learned.”

“Background check?” Dimitri asked of Jaxon.

“She’s pure as the driven snow. Not even a speeding ticket or detention in middle school.”

Mariah looked at him with a frown. “You checked her middle school records?”

“He was joking, I’m sure,” Dimitri answered for him. Jax gave her a teasing wink, which earned him a frown from Dimitri. Shifting his attention back to her, Dimitri continued, “So… a basic spanking fantasy. Who do you have in mind for her?”

“Lannie,” she said with a definitive nod.

One of the house players, Lannie Purcell was a Pleasure Bay club member, which was a handpicked group of doms/dommes and submissives who were experienced in the lifestyle. These players enjoyed the scene and the exclusivity of the island so much that they paid an annual membership fee for unlimited year-round access to the facilities. This was at Dimitri’s special invitation, of course, and it didn’t come cheap. Even Mariah didn’t know how much the annual fee was, but rumor had it as very costly. Nor did it come with anonymity, at least to the owner and his top team. Each club member was carefully vetted by the security team, even more so than the guests were. No stone was left unturned, no skeletons left un-rattled in any potential member’s closet—another price of membership. But to most, the rewards were well worth it.

Because membership was coveted, but limited, Dimitri had begun a waiting list of eager applicants. A good thing too, considering Mariah’s talent for matchmaking. In two years’ time, despite the numerous committed arrangements, engagements, and marriages that had resulted from her abilities, they never lacked for partners for their guests with so many single potential members waiting in the wings.

While Dimitri managed the club membership, Mariah took care of the guest pairings. Some were matched with house doms, like Lannie, others were partnered with other guests. It was a carefully constructed house of cards, which Mariah had to build each week.
Quite successfully too,
she thought, with a congratulatory mental pat on the back.

“Lannie’s a no-go, honey,” Vance said, shaking his head.

“What? Why?”

“Death in the family. I took the call before the meeting.”

Saddened, her heart hurt for Lannie. She knew his grandmother had been ill for a while; still, he must be hurting terribly. She’d raised him and had been more like a mother to him than anything. “I’m so sorry to hear that. He’s been expecting it, but still, it’s gotta be hard.”

“I’ll have flowers sent right away, Mariah,” Gracie offered.

Dimitri’s hand came to rest on her knee beneath the table. He squeezed reassuringly. She was close to all the staff and many of the club regulars. It was her job to know them, but she had a hard time keeping it only professional.

She nodded to indicate to Dimitri that she was okay, before he asked, “Who else do we have on staff?”

Vance spoke again. “Gunnar is in this weekend, I can spare him.”

“No!” All eyes flew to Mariah who had stood up with a very vocal protest. “She’s a newbie who’s never played in the scene before. This needs to be handled delicately. Gunnar is not right for her, not at all.”

“He’s strict, but he’s a good guy, Riah.” Vance said, coming to his man’s defense.

“I’m not saying that’s he’s not, Vance. He’s just too strict of a dom for Sydney. One look at that bullwhip on his belt will have her swimming back to Kingston.”

That comment had the team snickering and nodding in agreement. Gunnar enjoyed a single tail and used it skillfully and often. Which was more than a new spanko could handle, for sure.

“I don’t have anyone else,” Vance said, shifting his gaze to Dimitri. “I’m going to be tied up with our special request this weekend. There’s always Byron or Doc, they’re both unattached.”

“I’ll take her on.” Silence settled around the room as Jaxon spoke up.

Mariah looked at the assistant chief with concern. He hadn’t worked with a guest since his last relationship ended almost a year ago. That was when Bianca the bitch had broken his heart. She’d been a guest, looking for a relationship, or so she’d said. It turned out she was a manipulative gold-digger looking for a sugar daddy.

Mariah felt guilty for not being there when they’d been matched. She’d had a personal crisis to deal with that weekend, the only one she’d missed in two years. If she’d have been there, she could have nixed it, and would have. PWC was how Mariah had flagged Bianca’s file—it was her own made-up system—and meant proceed with caution. It ranked right up there with WPF and NIAMY: when pigs fly and not in a million years, respectively. The minute she’d read her application, Mariah knew that something wasn’t quite right. All Bianca’s answers were too perfect, what someone expected to hear from a submissive, like reading from a script. She should have rejected her based on gut instinct alone. If she had, she wouldn’t have gotten her claws into Jaxon.

But as luck would have it, the same weekend Mariah was gone, they had a late cancellation. Since Bianca’s file was complete, she’d been a last-minute addition. By the time Mariah returned, Jax was smitten and Bianca’s claws were firmly imbedded in his skin. Despite her warnings to go slowly, Jax hadn’t listened. He’d invited her back several times and started to talk about a long-term relationship. In the end, Mariah’s concern had been spot-on and Jax had suffered.

On one of those return trips, Bianca had shown her true colors. She’d been playing Jax in order to find what she’d been looking for all along, a real sugar daddy with a ten-figure portfolio. That weekend had been a disaster. While Bianca the bitch and Daddy Warbucks had snuck off to enact their own island fantasy—without a word to anyone—their assigned partners had feared the worst. An island-wide search had ensued. In the end, they’d been found in one of the vacant bungalows engaged in a full-out age-play scene, with daddy in diapers and the bitch smacking his pampered ass.

Dimitri had summarily blacklisted them both. He’d also had to compensate the billionaire’s partner for her blown weekend, offering her a full refund and an all-expenses paid do-over.

It had not been Pleasure Bay’s finest hour, or Mariah’s, for that matter. She could still hear Dimitri’s blazing set-down when he’d learned of her made-up system for rating applicants. Steam had practically hissed from his ears as he’d warned her, “Either clue us in, or shut it down. You will not like the consequences if something like this happens again, little one.”

As her memory flashed on that moment, the burning intensity of his dark eyes, the power in his deep voice, the force of his passion—even while angry—directed straight at her, caused a tingle of apprehension to sweep through her. Or was it excitement? Of course, it was the latter; the man overpowered her senses with his sensuality, his sheer dominance. Damn!

With a firm mental shake, she put her personal fantasies aside and focused on the problem at hand.

Glancing toward Jax with concern, she asked quietly, “Are you sure?”

“You’ve been bugging me for months to get back in the game, Riah. Look at her. She’s the perfect way to start, don’t you think?”

Her eyes flicked back to Sydney Greene. She
was
perfect, it seemed, in her conservative taupe dress with the choker of pearls around her neck. Her fair skin was luminescent, even on screen, and the thick fall of her strawberry blond hair fell in a shiny swath over one shoulder. Yes, Jax would enjoy such purity and innocence, after Bianca the bitch. Her sweetness and light would be the perfect foil for Bianca’s ruthless darkness. Instinctively, Mariah knew that Sydney would respond to his charm and easygoing nature. For Jaxon, she was perfection personified.

“If I’m going to stick my toe in the water again, this is the way to start.” Jax pinned her with his deep brown eyes. She saw desire warring with wariness in their depths. “What’s your impression, Riah?”

She looked back at Sydney on the large screen, a small smile ticking up the corner of her lips. Shifting her gaze back to Jaxon, a good man and an even better friend, her smile widened and she nodded. “You’re right, Jax. She’s the perfect way to start.”

Jax exhaled, smiling back at her. “Okay, since that’s settled,” he cued the screen to the next slide, “let’s move on.”

Attention back on the screen, Mariah gave the rundown on three more guests, pausing when the screen froze on Shane Moore. With female appreciation, she took in his picture. His cocky, yet endearing smile and the look in his mischievous hazel eyes would have any girl melting into a puddle at his feet. Add the tight black muscle shirt—complete with some rather impressive bulk—and Mariah felt certain he’d make women’s panties spontaneously combust as they begged for his attention.

Heterosexual.