Chapter 2
Two
Luna
I am a twenty-six-year-old virgin holding an invitation to a sex club and I’m looking to score.
The former is a dirty little secret I could easily end up taking to my grave. The latter is how I’m going to go from broke ass bartender to the big leagues. I’m done penny pinching my way through one massive hospital bill only to be hit with another. Tonight is my chance to change the whole trajectory of my life and that of my sister’s. She’s counting on me, and that is all the motivation I need.
I can take care of my pesky V-card after I juice up my shriveled-up bank account.
Straightening my shoulders, I infuse my steps with all the sultry energy I can conjure as I step off of one elevator to the thirty-sixth floor only to face another bank of metal boxes. This one has a small podium in front of it with a man in an impeccable tuxedo and kind eyes.
Behind me the doors snick closed and a cool silence wraps around me. To get to the Gilded Key Society everyone has to stop on this floor to have their membership checked. From the little amount of research I’ve done on the place, it’s either an old school paper invitation or an inked key on a member’s arm. No one is pulling out a cell phone and flashing some ugly photo identification here.
I fix a few wayward strands of hair and tuck the knot of my coat into place. What I have on underneath the white leather is not meant to be seen in ugly fluorescent light of the Society’s opulent foyer.
“Good evening. Welcome to the Gilded Key Society, Ms. Moone. May I see your key or your invitation?”
I’m impressed the older gentleman knows my name, but the security camera in the elevator most likely helped with identifying me. I take a mental note of that detail. “Good evening. Am I too early? The elevator ride up was a bit lonely.”
The gentleman checks a large analog clock on the wall tucked between two large standing vases overflowing with white roses to my right. “It appears you are on time, Ms. Moone. The shows are just about to start. If you sign here, you can join the other key bearers.”
The elegantly dressed host offers me a fountain pen after I produce my invitation courtesy of my future boss. Rich black ink glides over thick, eggshell colored paper as I sign my name in the Society’s ledger with gold leaf edges.
“Lovely.”
“Thank you, ma’am. Step this way, please.”
He reaches for the elevator button with a gloved hand and offers a bow as I step inside.
“You’ll be taken up one floor where you can explore the Society’s offerings at your leisure, ma’am. Enjoy your stay with us.”
“Thank you.” The second the doors close my lips are moving. “Okay, I’m in.” I pretend to pat the corners of my lips with a tissue in hand so it doesn’t look like I'm talking to myself in case the doorman is watching me through the security feed.
There’s a crackle in my ear before a familiar voice with the dial set to a permanent sultry feeds through. “Good. Now get a feel for the layout. Know the exits and how many security men they have working the floor. Then we can have a little fun.”
Ivy Hills, the leader of a gang of rising thieves, isn’t best friend material by any stretch of the imagination. The self-proclaimed femme fatale has ambitions of putting aside her killer reputation for a more gentle lifestyle. According to her, the blonde beauty is done with putting bodies in the ground and rather fill her hidden Swiss bank accounts with millions from pilfered treasures.
From assassin for hire to high stakes thief. Admirable. If she can morph her life into something different, then so can I.
But she can’t do it alone and neither can I. She’s out to fill the ranks of her new crew and make a name for the Belladonnas among the people of Seattle and beyond. Like I said, she has ambitions that rival the size of mine. And I plan on using her influence to ride to the top.
Black market buyers, corrupt museum curators and fences. It takes an entire army of shady individuals to keep a guild of thieves in business. And it all starts with the marks. The elite of Seattle’s wealthy society will feel the light touch of Ivy’s motley crew of seductive and dangerous beauties. But only after we’re long gone with our lifted loot.
And that is where I come in. Me and six other women have made it to the final interview and tonight it is my turn to audition for my place among the hopeful Belladonnas.
The elevator glides to a stop and the doors open, but I stay in place.
Ivy scored the blueprints for the six floors that make up the Gilded Key Society in Seattle’s Centennial skyscraper, but what I see before me now is nothing like what was on those papers.
I’m sure the base layout is the same. Exits can’t move nor can the elevator shafts, but shifting glass walls make the inner layout of the place look nothing like what I studied. There are walls where I thought there would be none and open space where I was sure offices would be turned into rooms.
I bend to fix the ankle strap on my stiletto. “Four security men by my count so far. The first floor is one large open space on one side and the other is an enclosed ballroom. It’s nothing like the plans you dug up.”
“Interesting. It shouldn’t be a problem. You are a quick study. You have five other floors to move through and we don’t have all night.” Her playful tone is misleading. She’s waiting for me to fuck up and would take great pleasure in ripping me a new one in front of the other ladies before she cuts me loose. My last name comes with a lot of tacked on expectations because of who my father was to many people in the business. He lined the coffers of a lot of powerful people with the items he moved on the black market. He was a fence for some of the most dangerous criminals. They lifted items they wanted from all over the world and he turned them into cash. It didn’t matter how hot an item was, he always found a buyer and the law never could nail him down. It’s why everyone trusted his work.
He also moonlighted as a jewel thief and died for his greed.
But to me he was a man I admired and loved. He loathed the idea of me getting in on the business and did everything in his power to make sure I never had the skill set to take over the family business.
I guess all his efforts were for nothing because here I am doing exactly what he feared.
“Wanna give me a name or am I supposed to guess who my mark is?”
I’ve noticed Ivy likes to keep things interesting and never tell you who the mark is until the last minute. I don’t mind the games, but there’s an undercurrent of unease that won’t release its hold on my insides.
“Don’t be in too much of a hurry. That is when you make mistakes. Be patient or you’ll kill your chances of winning our little game. Or are you wanting to tap out early?”
Her sultry laugh infuses me with self doubt but my competitive streak smothers the fear of failing.
“You want to be a Belladonna, Moone, prove you belong among my elite crew. Show me you are worth my investment.”
I lick my parched lips and force myself to focus. I press a hand over my quivering insides and hope my shaky voice doesn’t give away my nervousness. “Just make sure you have my fifty thousand dollars and my place on the crew secured.”
“Oh, baby. All that confidence. Tonight should be fun.”
With that kind of money, my sister will receive the treatment she needs and I can finally stop driving myself into an early grave with double twelve-hour shifts and the mounds of worry I’ve lived trapped under for nearly two years.
This is for you, Stella. I send up a silent prayer and hope I’m doing the right thing. Our parents are rolling over in their early graves right now, but when you have no options and your sister needs help, the lines of right and wrong fade. At least, they do for me. Frankly, I never had them to begin with.
You do what is necessary for the family. No questions.
My father’s words wrap around my heart. They provide little comfort at the moment, but I don’t need a warm hug right now, anyway. I need a mark and money. Lots of it. I know there is no miracle cure, but my sister has a fighting chance at beating her cancer diagnosis. The lack of funds will not be what ends her.
“Let’s see if the legendary Mason Moone’s daughter can live up to her father’s notorious reputation of being the best jewel thief of the twenty-first century.”
My inner voice of reason wants to speak up and tell me this is a big mistake and that there are more legit ways of getting money for my sister, but I know the truth. No one is going to just hand me fifty grand a month for her bills for nothing and I can’t just let her die. Not when I could help her.
“He was a better fence than a thief,” I correct her. “But I guess we’re both about to find out either way, huh?”
I cross over the Society’s threshold and a world unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before greets me. As silly as it sounds, the virgin in me wants off her chain to play, but I douse those rampant feelings with the bitter truth—one mistake and I’m out, so there is no room for error.
A palpable energy washes over me. Green and yellow neon lights run along the edges of the ceiling and offer a sensual glow to the cool atmosphere.
One second I’m biting my lip worried about life and the next, my hormones take a heavy dose of dopamine.
I can only compare it to day turning to night with a snap of my fingers inside me. Nerve endings tingle in ways I’m not used to and lust’s heated touch laces through my veins warming me from the inside out. And when you’re a virgin like me, the slow throb of energy is distracting.
Calm down, Luna. Focus.
Necessity carries me deeper into the small alcove just outside the main ballroom. I would usually spend my night getting ready for the weekend crowd at one of Seattle's seediest bars. Instead, I’m surrounded by wealth and a heady scent of sex that teases my senses alive. Artificial palm fronds hang over the arched entrance. I step closer and they gently lift to reveal where Seattle’s richest residents spend their Friday evenings.
My step falters.
My eyes widen and I take a minute to tamper down the heat wanting to flood my cheeks at the view in front of me.
Oh, my. Okay then.
I swallow past the sudden shock forming a ball in my throat.
There’s easing a girl into kinky sex games. And then there’s dropping her at the edge of a full-on orgy in all its sensual glory.
Well, at least now I understand where all the moans and heavy sighs are coming from. Ten feet past a discreetly hidden reception desk, Society members, also known as key bearers and key masters according to what i was able to dig up for reasons I’ve yet to discover, offer themselves up as succulent treats from their places on the floor while others plunder the jungle below them for all the tantalizingly forbidden fruit they can eat.
Fully aroused men, bejeweled nipples and lickable body paint in every known shade writhe over the top of one overly large pillow that extends the entire ballroom floor. Whoever is in charge of tonight’s event went all out to bring a tropical fantasy to life thirty-seven floors up Seattle’s skyline. Tonight’s theme is Jungle Fever, and the heat is so thick I can feel the weight of it drape over my body as I slide out of my overcoat and pass it to a hostess silently waiting in the shadows.
“Thank you,” I offer in a low voice.
Blue eyes take in the flowers delicately covering my breasts among other artistically placed flowers and leaves covering my body.
Her head dips, eyes fall to the floor in front of my feet. She’s a natural submissive and would pleasure almost any man in here with her all-too-sweet innocence.
“Ma’am. Welcome to the jungle,” she offers in a soft husk and then she disappears through a hidden door, leaving me to join the party.
I’ve dressed the part down to the glittery pink paint on my toenails and all the way to the painted-on pink hibiscus flowers covering my otherwise bare breasts.
Glass walls encase the ballroom offering the passionate sight to anyone who would rather watch than join the party. I walk the perimeter, taking in the visual delights.
With every step I take, electricity skates over my senses. It is like a lover’s teasing caress overheated skin—there with just enough pressure to let you know this is just the beginning of the assault to your senses.
Low thumping music feeds the rhythm of the tropical night and everywhere I look someone reaches their peak. Low moans and heavy sighs twine with the swinging vines above. The lush greenery creates an unbroken canopy around the dimmed chandelier which appears like the pregnant moon in the night sky.
I physically feel my heart contract.
Instead of pushing blood through my veins, the uncooperating muscle freezes for a beat. The sensual sight mixed with the sounds of passion is simply breathtaking.
A raven-haired beauty in particular catches my eye. The way she commands the attention of four men twice her size tending to her every desire is some women’s dream come true. If they belong to the Society that is. One day I might put my name on the list as a key bearer or master, but I have a lot of climbing to do before I arrive at such a carefree level in my life.
I pay little attention to the men. It’s her expression of bliss that intrigues me most. It is the way she indulges in the feel of their hands and tongues teasing and caressing over every inch of her exposed body without the fear of judgment that captivates me. I’ve never witnessed anyone who could let go and trust so openly.
One of her men lifts her from the makeshift jungle floor and settles her over the top of him while he slowly slips his engorged length past her full lips. Why can’t I have a guy like him in my life? The pleasure on his face and the way he holds her close to him makes my body ache to be in the arms of a lover. Or three. Most definitely three.
Watching them almost seems intrusive, but I also can’t pull myself away. I can’t tell if there is love between them, but the way they cradle her close makes me hungry for someone to hold me that way, too.
A ripple of envy moves through me, but no matter how jealous I am they are impossibly intoxicating and I can't look away.
Warmth washes over my tingling nerves. At first it feels good, but it’s not long before a pulsing heat settles between my thighs. It makes me feel alive. Something I haven’t felt in a long time, to be honest. But it’s also a curse. I’m not here for pleasure so I’ll be going home tonight, horny with no outlet for all this pent-up frustration.
“Hello beautiful.”
A deep voice reaches for me and strokes my inner vixen into paying more attention to my surroundings.
My heart rate spikes. I draw in a sudden breath of surprise.
“What is it?” Ivy sounds off in my ear, causing me to jump for a second time. Shit. I got so caught up in my surroundings I almost forgot why I'm here.
“Nothing.”
I ignore whatever she says next as a stranger with startling blue eyes steps into my personal space. I’m not a wilting flower at the sight of miles of unclothed muscle, but my knees suddenly start shaking at the gorgeous view greeting me. Please, God. Let this man be my mark. I’m not sure what he has that I can take, but I admit right here and now he can take my virginity.
“What is your sexual pleasure for this evening, jungle goddess?”