Friends with Benefits (Club Risqué Book 5)

Chapter 2

Trinity made her way down the hall to her private office. She needed to check on the video feeds for the downstairs platforms and the individual playrooms. Those rooms were all themed.

There was a chic French boudoir. The staid headmaster”s study with a row of canes displayed behind a huge desk. A meticulous medical room featuring a recliner complete with stirrups. A jail cell, mediaeval turret room, a wet room, a throne room, a boardroom, and the high-tech suspension chamber.

Every conceivable kind of fantasy could be played out within these walls, but absolutely no one was above surveillance.

The rooms all encompassed viewing areas, both within the room itself and through the huge floor to ceiling picture windows. However, they could all be made private through the closing of doors and pulling of drapes for those who didn”t display exhibitionist tendencies.

But, no matter what, every inch of the entire club was rigged for video monitoring. From the public areas to the car park, and every nook and cranny in between.

The only places that were exempt were the private offices and the toilet stalls. Even the locker rooms were covered. Discreetly, of course.

Just as she was done, there was a light tap on her door and Trinity”s boss walked in.

Micah Flynn was panty melting hot, seriously ripped, and exceptionally skilled in every area of his expertise, from business, to psychology, to dominance. He also looked like your quintessential surfer dude, beach bum.

If there was ever a stereotype for the saying ”looks can be deceiving,” then Micah Flynn was it. His naturally streaky blond hair was long and curling, and his muscular frame could probably put a few bodybuilders to shame. He looked like he had muscles on some of his muscles, and he was in equal amounts as cheery and easygoing as he could be serious and contemplative. The man was a chameleon, and even Trinity wasn”t entirely sure which incarnation most closely reflected his true character.

”Everything okay, sprite?” he asked, using the nickname only he could get away with.

”Yep, everything is smooth sailing right now, boss.”

”Then why are you looking so tired?”

Trinity swung her office chair from side to side and shrugged. ”I don”t know, to be honest, Micah. I am feeling a bit wrung out, but it”s not really anything I can put my finger on. Perhaps it”s just because things have slackened off a little, at last, after getting this place up and running. I finally have the chance to stop and think about being tired,” she suggested with a jaded laugh.

”Or maybe it”s because you haven”t had a session for a couple of months,” Micah countered. ”I”ve been unusually tied up since I became Cha-cha”s training Dom, but Jake Blackwood has taken over that responsibility now, so perhaps we should schedule a get-together.”

Trinity stretched her back in an attempt to ease her shoulders. Yeah, maybe Micah was right and that was just what she needed. He circled behind her and placed his big hands on her shoulders, kneading the tight, knotted muscles in her slight frame.

As a couple—not that they were one—they looked incongruous.

Trinity was as slight as Micah was built. While he did a good impression of a modern-day He-man, Trinity was more like a contemporary version of Tinkerbell—only without the curves, which was kind of sad.

She was used to being referred to as a fairy due to her tiny, dainty stature. She barely topped five feet tall and, if she felt like it, she could buy clothes from the children”s sections marked for ten-year-olds. She had long since accepted the fact that she was never going to grow up to be tall and curvy, and instead made the best of what she”d gotten.

Just as she”d embraced the realisation, five years ago, that she identified as a service submissive. She gained her satisfaction by providing for a Dom”s needs or advancing their goals.

In the club environment, rather than a personal one, that generally meant being available in a more supportive capacity, like volunteering to be the guinea pig for a Dom who was honing his skills and needed to practise. Making herself available to out-of-town guest members, who didn”t have time to trawl the submissive pool. And occasionally providing personal services such as massages was also in her description.

In that respect, working at Club Risqué was her dream job.

True, things had been a bit dicey in those early years, since she”d been a big hit with the Daddy Doms, but, as much as she lived to serve, being a little was not in Trinity”s make up.

To that end, she had cut off her long, fair hair, dyed it poppy red, and styled it in a pixie cut which suited her delicate elfin features and huge silvery eyes.

The decision had also served to sever one of the final strands from her past.

It was ironic though, that she had come to find herself and embrace her individuality in the very lifestyle that had caused her so much emotional anguish in those days before she had discovered submission as a means to sate her servitude, rather than have it taken advantage of.

Fate could be a downright bitch sometimes.

Trinity sighed as Micah”s clever fingers unknotted the tension she hadn”t realised she was carrying. She didn”t answer him straight away, though, instead doing a little digging of her own.

”So, what”s the deal with Jake taking over Charlotte”s contract then? I honestly thought you might decide to take things a step further with Cha-cha,” she queried, reverting back to Charlotte Chapman”s club name.

Micah”s fingers stilled for a moment and Trinity turned her head and looked back at him, but he didn”t look at all upset, just contemplative.

”I did consider it, believe it or not, but I knew there was a high probability that she”d end up making an emotional attachment to any Dom she was paired with for a significant amount of time, and I wouldn”t be able to give her what she needed. It wouldn”t have been fair to either of us.”

”God forbid that any sub might fall in love with her Dom,” Trinity said cynically, but Micah didn”t deserve that criticism. He was no more detached than she was, herself. And he”d done the right thing by Charlotte, by not giving her false hope where none existed.

Every woman should be so lucky!

And that thought was beneath her. Whatever blame she might lay at the feet of her ex, being upfront about his intentions certainly wasn”t one of them… but that was a road she certainly didn”t want to go down.

She gave herself a mental shake, and hurried on. If Micah had picked up on her barb, then he didn”t call her on it.

”So, you think Jake is the right match?” Trinity asked dubiously. She had known both the Blackwood cousins since the day she’d walked into the original, south coast Club Risqué to book herself onto one of their submissive training courses.

She got on well with Jake, and had even scened with him on the odd occasion. But, while it was no secret that Jake was ready to settle down, his relationships always seemed to crash and burn because of the giant chip he carried on his shoulder, despite his gregarious character.

”They have history,” Micah revealed. ”And Charlotte is already in love with him.”

Trinity raised her eyebrows in surprise and tipped her head back to look at Micah where he towered above her. ”Really?” she squeaked in surprise. ”Well, I never saw that coming!”

Micah gave a boyish grin and leaned down to lay a quick peck on the end of her nose.

”Take my word for it, sprite. If Jake”s jealousy, when he discovered I was Charlotte”s training Dom, is anything to go by, then theirs will be the next wedding bells we”ll hear.”

Trinity shook her head in disbelief and climbed out of her chair. Micah”s arms immediately came around her and he nuzzled his lips into her neck. ”So, how about arranging to meet up sometime soon?” he queried again.

Trinity turned in his arms and pushed against his broad chest, so she could see his face. ”Do I detect a hint of desperation there, Sir?” she asked, raising a single eyebrow. ”I assumed you and Cha-cha had been tearing up the sheets.”

She and Micah shared a unique, and very private, understanding where they each agreed to scratch an itch every once in a while. But never anything fixed or consistent.

Trinity couldn”t cope with anything too specific, and that wasn”t what Micah wanted, either. They didn”t even play together within the confines of the club. Theirs was just a mutual pressure release arrangement that absolutely nobody was aware of, and they were both happy to keep it that way.

He spun her back around and bit into the fleshy part of her neck where it met her shoulder. ”No intercourse clause.” Micah”s laughter rumbled against Trinity”s back. ”Remind you of anyone?”

Trinity tipped her head to one side, closed her eyes and smiled, enjoying Micah”s carefree humour.

She enjoyed his company and appreciated his good looks. In him, she found a kindred spirit. It was as if both of their subconsciouses had recognised each other from the first time they”d met. As such, they enjoyed a healthy, but intermittent - and definitely no strings - sexual relationship, which suited both of their needs completely. Because, as Micah was so quick to tease her about, her own limit list also included intercourse as a soft limit, and by negotiation only.

That wasn”t to say they couldn”t please each other, because that was far from true.

Micah was a skilled and attentive lover, and he could reach just far enough inside her psyche to hone into the things that made her feel not only needed, but also appreciated.

There was simply no spark between them at all. Their time together was really quite clinical and unemotional.

They brought each other pleasure, and then they walked away.

It was an odd arrangement, and maybe not one a lot of people would understand, but it worked perfectly for them. There was no drama or jealousy when either of them took on a client or a trainee, which happened from time to time as part of their job description. There was simply a mutual appreciation when they were together, and acceptance when they were not. It gave each of them exactly what they needed without the danger of attachment and that was a significant attraction. Sadly, maybe the biggest one they shared.

The truth was, for both of them, sometimes there was just a straightforward physical need for a little human contact and connection. That they could find those things with each other, safely and satisfactorily, without the necessity of trawling for hook-ups or dodging bullets if things went wrong, was a real bonus.

Trinity peeled Micah”s roving fingers away from where they spread across her upper midriff and lower abdomen. There was a time and a place, after all. And in her office with the door unlocked was not it.

”Fine,” she agreed, patting his forearm. ”When are you free next?”

Since they both worked on each other”s day off, there was never an evening when they were both off together, unless it was one of the nights the club was closed, and that was less and less often now training classes were in full swing.

”Sunday,” Micah growled, nibbling on her ear regardless of her attempts to pull away. ”And stop trying to avoid me or I”ll put you over my knee right now.”

Trinity just laughed outright. ”That no intercourse clause in your trainee sub”s contract really must be putting a strain on you,” she teased.

”Too right!” Micah grumbled. ”Do you have any idea how difficult my job is sometimes?”

”My heart bleeds for you, Sir.” Trinity stressed the honorific with good-natured mockery.

”Brat!” Micah growled.

Trinity laughed all the harder. If there was one thing she most certainly was not, it was a brat.