She's All In: Club 3, Book 1

by Cathryn Cade

  Her eye makeup was waterproof, thank God, because she really didn’t think she could fix it without poking her eye out. Her hands were shaking.

  Dack and his friends not only owned this gym, they were also involved in another club…and it sounded like an entirely different kind of workout went on there. Spanking? Leather? The mysterious “upstairs”? Holy freaking sex fantasies.

  Oh God, if she had to look any of the three men in the eye right now, she’d probably trip over her own feet—or her tongue. She dug her sunglasses out of the side pocket of her duffel and thrust them onto her face. There, her expression was less of a giveaway. Worked for Dack, could work for her too. All she had to do was keep her mouth closed, and she was ally-ally-all’s in free. Or out.

  The locker rooms were near the rear of the gym. As she walked the length of the big room, Daisy passed an attractive couple coming in. The guy had his hand on the woman’s ass, and they were leaning on each other, smiling. Definitely lovers. She repressed the urge to stare after them. Were they members of the other club too?

  And, oh holy crap, Dack stood inside the open ellipse of the gym’s front desk, along with the perky blonde day receptionist, Brittany. He turned as Daisy neared the desk, and her hand tightened on the strap of her duffel.

  He leaned his hands on the counter nearest her and smiled slowly, his teeth flashing white against his neatly trimmed facial hair. “Looks like you’re ready for the sunshine,” he said. His deep voice curled down inside her.

  “Yup.” Her mind was a fizzing blank. Leather, on that big, brawny body? She could picture that all too well.

  His heavy brows arched quizzically over his sunglasses and Daisy’s cheeks burned.

  “How about you?” she managed. “Hot day planned? I mean…big day planned?” Oh, she sounded like a total idiot.

  He chuckled, a deep huh-huh in his chest. “Nah, just working.”

  “Dack, can you look at Joe’s key card here?” Brittany chirped from the other side of the enclosure. “I can’t get it to scan.”

  “Sure.” He straightened. “You stay cool now,” he said to Daisy.

  “Okay. You too.” As he turned away, she scurried past the man waiting to sign in and escaped into the parking lot.

  Chapter Two

  If it weren’t so hot, Daisy would have walked to the restaurant, but as she emerged from the gym, the sun slapped down on her head and shoulders like a heated blanket. She loved summer but preferred to be by a pool or a lake when it was this hot.

  The air-conditioning barely had time to cool her car off before she rolled to a stop in the busy Zellaby’s parking lot. She grabbed her small turquoise purse and slung the long strap over her head and one shoulder before locking the car.

  As always, she gave her new baby a pat before she walked away. The cocoa-hued Nissan Altima was a gift from her parents. She knew the purchase had sprung from the guilt and helplessness they felt at being unable to help her through her ordeal, but she hadn’t even tried to talk them out of it. She loved the sporty coupe too much.

  The restaurant was busy. The small foyer was crowded with people waiting for a table. Air-conditioning, voices and pop music poured over Daisy. She sidled past a pair of small boys tussling while their seated mother ignored them in favor of her cell phone.

  Next she had to duck around one of the luxuriant ferns hanging from the restaurant’s low ceiling. The decor was cheerful and old-fashioned with everything from antique toys to vintage movie posters hanging on walls and support beams. Daisy wasn’t sure where the ferns fit in the theme, but she liked them.

  Her friends were waiting at a table by the street-side windows. Sara wore another Lycra tank and shorts like the one she’d worked out in, these brown, her long auburn hair bundled up on her head. Carlie had taken the time to apply fresh makeup. She wore a sleeveless cotton blouse in her signature coral pink. Daisy couldn’t see the rest of her under the table, but she knew her friend, who considered herself fat, was probably wearing conservative capris despite the heat.

  As Daisy slid in beside Sara, Carlie took one look at her and pushed a tall glass of iced tea toward her. “What’s wrong, Daise?”

  “Yeah, you’re all…agitated.” Sara eyed her keenly.

  Daisy took a sip of the cold tea. Should she tell them what she’d overheard? It was really just gossip at this point. But as she looked into their curious faces, she gave in to temptation.

  “You’re not going to believe what I heard in the locker room,” she said, leaning forward to speak in hushed tones. There was a large, noisy family on the other side of them, and the booth behind her was still empty, so she felt sure she wouldn’t be overheard.

  By the time she finished repeating the locker-room conversation, Sara’s and Carlie’s eyes were wide and their mouths open in identical O’s of astonishment.

  Daisy stirred sweetener in her tea and took a long drink, enjoying their reactions. She was still shocked and, yeah, fascinated herself. It was a relief to share her turmoil with her friends.

  “They own a…a sex club?” Carlie whispered. “Oh…my…God.”

  “Picturing Jake in leather?” Daisy asked wickedly.

  Carlie’s rounded cheeks flushed a dusky pink. She pressed manicured fingers to her full lips. Then she nodded, a nervous giggle bursting through her fingers. “With one of those floggers.” She mimed cracking a small whip.

  Daisy looked at Sara, who was staring at her frosty glass of soda as if trying to remember what it was. Daisy nudged her with her elbow, and Sara flinched.

  “So that’s why Trace is so scary,” the redhead blurted. “He’s into that kind of stuff.”

  Daisy grinned. “They all are, evidently.”

  “And why does that make you so happy, Ms. Don’t Touch Me?” Carlie’s words were teasing, but she appeared genuinely curious.

  Daisy took a deep breath. “You want the truth? I’m so freaked out about my body image now and who I am sexually that it would just be nice…” She broke off, stirring her tea, not sure she could even vocalize her fantasies. Not without at least two margaritas inside her, anyway.

  “Not to have to worry about what the guy wants, or whether you’re doing it right?” Sara finished for her. She took a long drink of her soda, looking like she too wished it were an alcoholic drink. “Not to be so busy figuring out how to please him that you miss out on all the fun yourself?”

  “To let him teach you what feels good?” Carlie added, her blue eyes shadowed. “And have him make you feel special, maybe even treasured?”

  Daisy found herself nodding, and Sara echoed the movement. Carlie picked up her own glass of iced tea. She looked at them over the rim, like a naughty little girl. “Maybe we should join their mysterious club.”

  “Are you ladies ready to order?” asked a voice at Daisy’s elbow. She started violently, a tiny shriek escaping.

  Sara and Carlie snickered. Daisy clapped a hand over her heart.

  “Sorry I startled you,” said the young waiter, his eyes twinkling. He didn’t look sorry. His golden-skinned face was taut as if he were trying not to laugh out loud.

  “’S okay,” Daisy said.

  They ordered, and he strode away. She groaned. “That sneak. I thought I was going to have heart failure.”

  “Do you think he heard anything?” Sara hissed.

  “No, I saw him walk up,” Carlie assured her, snickering again. “He might have heard me about the club, but he couldn’t know what kind of club.”

  “That’s good, ’cause I don’t think he’s out of high school,” said Sara.

  “Okay, Teacher,” Daisy teased.

  The family behind Carlie began preparations to leave, two of the kids peeping curiously through the ferns between the booths, so the three friends chatted about other things. Then their lunch arrived, and Daisy dug into her sandwich, too hungry to think of anything else.

  She finished before the others, so she waved the waiter down for a refill on her iced tea and stirred in
a fresh packet of sweetener. “So…I think Carlie’s idea is great.”

  Sara stared at her, aghast, a forkful of pasta salad nearly to her mouth. “Her idea about going to their ‘club’?” She sketched a set of quotations in the air with her free hand. “Are you nuts? Daisy, in the first place, we don’t know what they do there.”

  “Well, yeah, we do. They have sex. And sometimes they tie people up to have it.”

  Carlie grinned at her, pushing her own empty salad plate away. “You’re crazy, you know that? I wasn’t serious.”

  “Maybe not,” Daisy said. “But I’m serious. I’m desperate. I haven’t had sex in months.”

  Carlie shook her head slightly, her eyes going wide.

  “Months,” Daisy repeated for emphasis, cutting her off. “That’s wa-aay too long, my friend.” She gestured at her breasts. “I’ve got these, but what good are they doing me? Zip, zero, that’s how much.”

  “Daise,” Carlie managed, staring at a point high over Daisy’s shoulder.

  Foreboding sent a chill down Daisy’s bare back…followed by a deep, familiar chuckle behind her.

  She whirled in her seat, her bare legs sticking painfully to the vinyl, and found herself the object of the fascinated gazes of not one, not two, but all three of the men they had just been discussing.

  Jake merely gave her a penetrating look, square, clean-shaven face unsmiling. Trace winked at her, his handsome face creasing in a grin.

  Dack gazed down at her from his formidable height for a moment, face enigmatic behind his sunglasses.

  He’d showered, she noticed inconsequentially. His tanned skin glowed with health and well-being, and his damp hair was combed back from his square face. He wore a faded blue T-shirt and khaki shorts. And when he shifted closer, planting one big, muscular hand on the table before her to lean in, she caught a heady whiff of aftershave and clean male.

  “You know,” he said in a low, confidential voice. “My day is turning out kinda hot after all, Daisy. Thanks.”

  Daisy didn’t whimper, but she came very close. Holding on to the tattered remains of her dignity by a thread, she sat very still, gazing at his shaded eyes. Heat scalded her face and throat.

  Dack straightened. “Ladies,” he said politely.

  The three men moved into the booth directly behind her. Trace said something in a low voice, and Dack chuckled again.

  Daisy faced forward in her seat, her lunch rolling sickly in her stomach. The most attractive man she’d met in a long time—okay, ever, had just heard her admit that she hadn’t had sex in months and he’d heard her talk about her breasts. Could she just die now and get it over with?

  Dack and his friends might be hidden now behind a row of ferns, but they were still there. And why hadn’t she turned her back on him or said something witty? She’d just sat there, for God’s sake, peeking up at him like a naughty puppy.

  “Check, please.” Carlie waved her hand energetically at the waiter. Her face was bright pink. Daisy was sure her own matched.

  “Restroom.” Sara nudged her. “C’mon, Daise.”

  “I’ll pay at the register so you don’t have to come back this way,” Carlie breathed. “You can owe me.”

  Daisy managed to nod before scooting from the booth and stalking away to the back of the restaurant.

  She owed that big muscle-bound pirate too. And somehow she was going to make him pay.

  “Oh, man, you are gonna pay for that.” Trace craned his neck to peer through the ferns as the three women hurried away like they were escaping from a fire.

  Dack managed a last glimpse of Daisy Charles around the foliage before sitting back in the booth. Man, she had the sweetest ass he’d seen in…hell, maybe forever. Nice and round and full. His hands curled on his thighs as he imagined gripping that ass and using it to pull her in tighter while he fucked her into next Tuesday.

  “Pay for what?” He grinned. “This is a public place, and she was running her mouth.”

  “Like that will matter.” Jake’s deep voice was dry. “She’s a woman, you’re a guy, which means you’re wrong.”

  Dack shook his head, mystified. “I can’t believe a chick that hot can’t get a guy to do her whenever she wants.”

  Her face was real pretty too. He actually liked her super-short hair. The cut emphasized her high cheekbones and big, green eyes. They reminded him of someone—no, something. His mother had a Siamese cat with tilted pale green eyes like that.

  He hated that damn cat, but he’d sure like to make Daisy purr.

  “Maybe she’s not into guys,” Trace jibed.

  “Oh yeah, she is.” Dack’s grin widened as he recalled the way she’d looked at him at the gym only a few hours ago. Those green eyes had been full of feminine admiration.

  “Maybe you should invite her to the club,” Jake said.

  “Hi, guys, can I get you anything to drink?”

  Dack blinked. Damn, their waiter had practically materialized beside their table. He reminded Dack of the genie in a Disney movie, popping up out of nowhere with a big shit-eating grin.

  “Lemme think a minute.” Dack was still reeling from Jake’s suggestion.

  The waiter stood relaxed, holding his order tablet. “New club opening in the area?” he asked chattily.

  Jake scowled. “Why do you ask?”

  The waiter shrugged amiably. “No reason. The ladies who just left were talking about trying to get invitations to a club.”

  The three men looked at each other. A funny feeling flickered down Dack’s spine, like soft fingers.

  “Nope, no new clubs.” Dack slapped his menu in the waiter’s hand. “I’ll have an iced tea and a Lifter Special cheeseburger. Salad with ranch.”

  Jake and Trace ordered, and the waiter slipped away.

  “The ladies were talking about trying to get invited to a club,” Trace repeated. He ran a hand through his perfectly cut blond hair, his eyes twinkling. “What do you think the odds are?”

  “Could be Club 3,” Jake allowed. “Wonder how they’d have heard about it?”

  Dack was sure he knew. “Vicki came over to me this morning and asked me if we could have another theme night soon at the club. I said sure, and she gave me a big hug. I’ll bet you anything she was running her mouth in the Big Iron locker room.”

  Jake nodded. “She was with her friend Bambi.”

  “Bambi?” Trace stared at him. “Seriously?”

  Jake raised his brows. “I guess it’s her real name. It’s what she put on her gym registration.”

  Dack thumped the table with his fingertips. “Can we focus here? We may have a problem.”

  “You don’t have a problem,” Jake said, his eyes cutting back to Dack, amusement gleaming in their icy blue depths. “You’re so hot for that little blonde you can hardly keep it in your pants, Hummer. Invite her to Club 3. If she doesn’t like it, she doesn’t like it. At least you’ll know.”

  “He said they were all talking about getting invitations,” Trace said. “I wouldn’t mind playing with that little redhead.”

  “Guess that leaves you with the tall blonde, Carlie,” Dack told Jake. “Lucky for you she’s an armful. You’d squash a smaller gal.”

  “I didn’t hear Vicki complaining last weekend,” Trace argued. “Wait—she was complaining, but that was because you were using a—”

  “Keep it down,” Jake rumbled, his eyes narrowed in warning. “There are little kids here.”

  “And a nosy waiter,” Dack agreed.

  “Yeah, sorry,” Trace muttered as a pair of elderly women walked slowly past, bound for the empty booth the three beauties had vacated. “Anyway, I agree with Jake. Invite her. See what happens.”

  “Thanks, fellas,” Dack said. “I feel all warm and fuzzy inside at your concern. In case you haven’t noticed, I get plenty of offers at the club.”

  Jake looked at him. “We all do. That’s why we opened the place. But we’re not in this just for ourselves, Hummer.”

  �
��Yeah,” Trace shoved Dack’s shoulder with the heel of his hand. For a guy in fancy golf clothes, he packed a mean punch. “We have a duty to the ladies, Hum, to make sure their needs are being taken care of.”

  “The kinky needs anyway,” Dack said under his breath, and Jake winked solemnly. “All right. But if she slaps my face, I’m coming after you two.”

  Jake bared his teeth. “You can try.”

  “Jake first,” Trace reminded Dack. “It was his idea.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Dack assured him.

  “What are you worried about?” Jake asked Trace. “He could never catch you.”

  Trace, who was lean without any of their bulk, gave him a dark look. “Yeah, you’d probably hold me down for him to beat on.”

  “Nah, I don’t second.”

  Dack chuckled, and his friends joined in. As the club owners and acknowledged senior doms, none of them seconded or assisted with a scene. That was for baby doms, those new to the lifestyle. They’d shared women occasionally, but it was more to do a scene and to please the woman than anything else.

  In Dack’s case, it filled another need, one he was very curious to see if Daisy would share. He loved to be watched, loved to have an audience when he pleased a woman and allowed one to please him. He wanted Daisy any way he could get her, but more than that, he wanted others to watch him dominate her, watch her submit to him and find her sexual pleasure when and how he allowed her.

  The waiter set a platter before him with a sizzling cheeseburger and a mound of crisp green salad topped with creamy dressing. Dack’s more immediate hunger took precedence. Man, he was starving. He picked up the burger and took a big bite, chewing with relish. Zellaby’s had great burgers, and the Weight-lifter Specials were big enough to fill him up after a workout.

  The restaurant had started making the new, larger size of burger and a few other meals after the gym opened. He and the guys showed their appreciation by giving away discount coupons to Zellaby’s in their new-member packets, and pretty much anytime the restaurant asked.