Pink Lilies (Beautiful People Book 1)

by Lacee Hightower

  “How did you get us in here this quick? It’s private, isn’t it?”

  “Well, being that I work in an office full of cocky, single, abundantly wealthy attorneys, there’s one named Jackson Shipman. For some reason, I thought he might know something. Just a girl’s intuition. When I asked, damned if he didn’t offer to make a call to somebody. But Alex, don’t get your hopes too high. This is one of many, and we’re not even in Tarrant County. But, it’s a place to start asking questions.”

  “Wow. Is this Jackson a member? Is he hot?” I cringed at the stupidity of what I just asked. I really needed to get out more.

  “I think he may be, but he didn’t fess up. He just said to give his name when we check in. And, yes, he’s David Beckham kind of hot. He actually resembles him a lot. He’s also rich as crap.”

  “David Beckham? And rich? Jesus, Maci. I thought you were my friend! Why haven’t you introduced him to me?” I gestured at my body, smiling.

  “Duh. Number one—you hate attorneys, Alex. Plus, he’s a presumptuous dickhead.”

  “Who the hell cares? David Beckham … and rich… Besides, aren’t all attorneys dicks?” We both cracked up laughing.

  “Pretty much.”

  * * * *

  Jackson Shipman obviously had some clout in this place. Maci gave the doorman his name and the guard nodded, making a quick call on his pocket radio. We were quickly escorted in by a beautiful brunette dressed in only a nude colored G-string and corset.

  “Good evening, ladies. Welcome to Venture. Looks like you’re both going to be getting the VIP treatment.” Not speaking another word to either of us, she quietly escorted us down the long dimly lit hallway. Fresh flowers lined both sides of the walls in lovely hand-blown glass vases, the smell of the beautiful fragrant pink lilies making me smile. My mother a huge lover of flowers, I knew that the lily had once been considered a sign of fertility and pure life. It was thought they had, at one time, been used as offerings to appease the gods.

  The end of the walkway opened up to what looked like any other dance club, though the large empty stage with dance poles and all the closed doors along the wall proved it was anything but. A man stood at the opening looking toward us. Not just any man, but a drop dead, gorgeous hunk of pure, unadulterated burning love.

  “A” to the “men!” David Beckham has nothing on this guy!

  “Well then,” Maci whispered.

  The hunky god took long strides toward us, the strong look of controlling male plain and clear in his expression. “Good evening. Justin Wisely. Nice to meet you ladies.”

  He shook both our hands and we introduced ourselves.

  “Jackson asked me to show the two of you around. Are you ladies interested in joining?” One brow raising just slightly, he suspiciously eyed us both, wariness about our intentions transparent in his actions. I had a distinct hunch that Justin already knew we weren’t set on becoming members.

  Dressed in low-cut ripped jeans with a black button-down shirt and black dress shoes, Justin’s cologne was woodsy and expensive-smelling. He wore his medium-length dark brown hair messy with the sides and top longer than the back and styled toward his forehead with just a few pieces spiked. Small streaks of blonde highlighted his hair that looked natural. Somehow, I’d expected some Mafioso-looking guy with slicked back, jet black hair that reeked of cigars and booze. Not the freaking god that was speaking to us.

  “We’re both interested. Jackson said we could take a tour before we make any real decisions.” Justin flashed another smile, showing off a set of perfectly straight, white teeth. His eyebrows raised just slightly, along with his eyes. He wasn’t buying our whole story about joining. My face heated. Did we look that out of place?

  “Okay then, let’s get started. First, let me show you ladies what our club has to offer, and then we can take it from there and go over the rules and regulations. Would either of you like a drink first?”

  “A gin and tonic would be great,” I answered. “Thank you.” My words came out meek and docile, my gaze doing a quick brush over of all the closed doors going to who knows where. I didn’t want to look obvious, but there was just so much to see. Where were all the people being chained up and flogged? Would Justin show us some of that? Did he participate? Jesus, of course he did. He owned the place. Thoughts of someone so beautiful acting out a scene seemed intriguing. God, he was hot. He had to have plenty of willing participants.

  He handed us our drinks in tall glasses with two limes. I drained half of the unusually strong drink in one long swallow, definitely aware this was the good stuff. It burned, but slid down my throat way too easily to be the cheap brand we usually drank.

  “Where do all these lead to?” I pointed toward a line of closed doors, hoping my question wasn’t completely stupid or inappropriate.

  Against an empty bar stool, Justin shifted and quickly looked down at an incoming text message on his phone. “Forgive me for the interruption, ladies.” He quickly returned the cell to his shirt pocket.

  “The doors lead to the private rooms. They’re normally used by our exclusive members and stay booked weeks in advance.”

  “Oh, of course.” Maci shrugged, as Justin noticed my mostly empty glass. With a simple nod to the bartender, seconds later, he handed me a second drink. Listening to small talk about the rules of the club and some of the monthly functions, we walked around, both Maci and I gawking at Justin’s muscular ass filling out his glued-on jeans. As much as I wanted to see some of the kinkiness I’d read so much about, so far, we’d seen very little that was out of the ordinary. Only wealthy-looking men and scantily clad women, which could be seen at any club in Dallas. Still early, maybe nothing started up until later. Or maybe all the hardcore stuff happened in the private rooms Justin spoke of. Either way, I was here for one reason.

  To find Becca’s mystery lover.

  The alcohol going straight to my head wasn’t a good sign. Especially considering the fact that Justin said drunkenness wasn’t allowed in the club. The small container of black cherry yogurt I’d eaten earlier in the day wasn’t going to keep these strong drinks from giving me a huge buzz.

  Beside one of the private doors, Justin surprisingly pulled a keycard from his pocket and slid the small piece of plastic into the magnetic strip. My breath hitched. Unable to look away from the scene in front of us, two women in the sixty-nine position had their heads deep between each other’s legs. One was spread eagle with both her arms and legs tightly chained.

  “Oh, my God.” Before I realized I’d even spoken, Maci glanced at me wide-eyed and took a long drink of her gin and tonic, while I felt my cheeks heat. Dear lord, we were so completely out of our element here. Yet, I was completely intrigued by the whole atmosphere so far in ways I didn’t understand. An instant visual of Justin in one of these rooms made me clench my thighs together. The unchained lady looked up and smiled, her eyes completely zooming in on Justin as she winked at him. Holy shit!

  Justin eased the door shut, completely unaffected. My skin warmed as he led us down a second smaller corridor, his expression an unreadable mask.

  “Members don’t mind being watched?” I whispered shyly, looking at Maci and then Justin as he turned back to answer me. My cheeks clearly red, I hated feeling so skittish. I was giving Justin yet another obvious clue that we weren’t Venture material.

  “Some do, but others actually get turned on by being watched. It’s quite normal, actually,” he responded, his facial expression hard to make out, almost as if this was all completely normal. I guess in his world, it was. I’d sure like to watch him in action.

  “I have one more room to show you ladies. Our most popular set-up at Venture, we call this The Mystery Room.” Personally curious what was upstairs, The Mystery Room sounded interesting, too, but Justin hadn’t mentioned that part of the club at all.

  “Justin!” The deep voice interrupting us just as Justin started to fill us in on The Mystery Room, we turned toward the unexpected gruff-soun
ding tone, the man stopping dead in his tracks when he saw me. Only inches away, ripping the wind straight from my lungs, I was staring into beautiful green eyes. The orgasm on legs was glaring down at me, his razor-edged gaze slicing through me like warm butter.

  Tyler Yates was at Venture.

  I froze, my pulse speeding up while my cheeks tinged. My head already buzzing from alcohol and no food, I wished for a refill. A strong one. The instant weight of this man’s focus on me complicated and unexpected, seeing him again gave me an eerie feeling of indecision and powerlessness.

  “Tyler!” Justin extended an arm and the two men shook. “Good to see you.” Expecting Tyler to speak to this man he obviously knew, instead he ignored Justin. His gaze directly on me, his eyes widened as he stared blankly, his grip on Justin’s hand seemingly hard.

  Holy crap! I was gawking. Floored. Maci’s hand brushed my arm as I took a nervous step back, my reaction solely on instinct. My chest pounded, the tiny hairs on my neck lifting. The air felt like it had been sucked from my lungs. I stared straight back into the most beautiful, but troubled, emerald green eyes of Doctor Tyler Yates, while his biting gaze narrowed and lingered.

  His hotness level was scorching, but I needed to get over it already. He was way out of my league. But he was so … so damn beautiful.

  I gripped the shoulder strap to my purse tightly around my neck as he glared at me with a bitter death stare. I needed air. Away from here. Yet, I could only return the gaze and indulge in his wild beauty. His alert, wide open eyes suddenly seemed less green and more of a gray than I remembered them being before, and the area right between his brows was pretentiously pulled down. Still, his mouth was perfectly full and shaped, owning the most absolute, text-book, faultless set of lips I had ever noticed. And the way he ran his tongue across the top of his teeth filled my brain with thoughts of that same tongue doing very nice things to me.

  His beauty more stunning than I remembered, it was dumbfounding. God, he was beautiful.

  And he clearly knew it.

  I swallowed hard, my hands tugging desperately at my purse. I blinked up at him because I couldn’t take my eyes off him, and he shook his head slightly and dropped his grip on Justin’s hand. He moved closer, the spicy scent of his cologne intensifying the heat in the most intimate parts of my body.

  Suddenly, I was aware of every single thing about this man. His shiny hair flipping out just slightly around his ears. The way his long fingers tapped the sides of his legs. His strong, defined jawline that seemed to be clenching. Taking note of every little thing about him, my hands clenched at my sides, fighting the urge to reach out and simply touch him. Maybe it was just the alcohol, but right now, no words could be spoken to explain the way I was feeling about a man I didn’t even know. I felt drawn to him in a sense.

  His facial muscles were tense, covered in an utterly seductive light stubble that was thicker than before, and his hair was messy, as if he’d been out in the wind, or rubbing his hands through it. Crap, he was easy on the eyes. My body responded to him, regardless of the fact that he was basically a stranger. All I could think of was sex. And if the bulge behind his pants that I’d noticed before, was there now, and what it would feel like pushing inside me, fucking me into a toe-curling orgasm.

  Of course, I didn’t dare look. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. He arched a brow, his gem-like eyes bewitching as he stood and continued studying me, his body rigid and uneasy. The alcohol swimming in my head, I shifted my body trying to shake off the uncomfortable feeling. I felt queasy and fragile wishing like hell I had eaten real food today.

  “This is Tyler Yates,” Justin said. “He’s co-owner of Venture.”

  I know who the hell he is! Say what? Co-owner?

  Everything about this famous doctor rang polished and sexy. A unique talent not captured in most of the wealthy men I saw at the restaurant on a daily basis, for Tyler, it seemed effortless.

  “I believe we’ve met. In fact, I’m still recovering, Alexa.” The tone of his deep unyielding voice nearly stole the air from my lungs. Wishing there was somewhere to sit down a minute to stop my knees from knocking, he continued searching my eyes with that same frown covering his face. Simply being in his presence filled me with a violent fire, my body warm all over.

  Amusement appeared to light up the seductive gaze of his green eyes. “As I recall, the last time we spoke, you ruined my scrubs with your breakfast and disfigured me with hot coffee.” My eyes went wide. No longer able to read the reaction on his face, was he being a dick or attempting a joke? Either way, I only shook my head and rolled my eyes.

  “You’re seemingly drunk, Alexa. The look doesn’t really become you.” He frowned again. In what seemed like a second, he was griping my arm tightly.

  “Come. Take a walk with me.” The perfect one is a bossy asshole, too. The temper in me suddenly wanted to say, “Fuck off, asshole.” I didn’t take orders from this stranger. I didn’t take orders from any damn man, and this particular one was clearly possessed with a huge case of genuine assholism that I’d missed when we first met. Yet, the twitching between my legs proved my libido didn’t give two shits to that fact.

  With a quick nod at Justin, it was as if the two men had some kind of mental Morse code allowing them to read one another’s minds. Tyler released his grip from my arm, instead, offering me his hand. Somehow, my brain cells seemed to dissipate as I looked at his spectacular fingers and accepted his offer. He squeezed gently as our hands connected. Damn it all the way to hell! His hand felt even better than it looked. This effect he had over my body was beginning to creep me out.

  Justin uttered something into Maci’s ear and she smiled as they walked away together, leaving me alone with the intimidating man who I suddenly wished would just kiss me already with those amazingly thick lips. I jerked my hand from his. I still wasn’t sure I even liked him. Why was he holding my hand in the first place? Why was I letting him?

  I didn’t even try to play bashful. “I’m not drunk, Doctor. I’m just fine.” What difference did it make to him what I was?

  He closed off the space between us, his breath a polished, warm whisper against my neck. “You look like you’ve had too much to drink, Alexa. Members aren’t allowed to get intoxicated at Venture, which is something I suppose I should discuss with Justin. I was also under the impression my partner didn’t allow people coming to the club that were merely curious. You, Alexa, are not Venture material,” he added, the heat in his eyes blazing.

  A chill ran down my spine, shaking me back to realization. What the hell was wrong with me? Suddenly, I was giggling like a school girl. Two large strong drinks, and I couldn’t even process what was happening, other than the fact that I may never wash my hand again.

  “Why do you have to act so, um … doctorly?” I smirked, as my inner subconscious told me to walk away from this orgasm on legs.

  His eyes were teasing me. He gripped me with a strong arm, pivoting me back around, and clutching me around my waist. A small grin bent the corner of his mouth, evolving into a wake-me-I-have-to-be-dreaming kind of smile. Way too warm all over, he walked us down the small hallway, lightly stroking my overheated skin with the tips of his fingers. His smile was beautiful, even though it literally aggravated the hell out of me for some strange reason. Along with just about everything else.

  He pulled a card key from his pocket and slid it through a door reading “Private,” the click of the latch startlingly loud. Why was this place suddenly so quiet? Where was the music? The whips and chains? The door closed with another piercing snap, leaving me alone with the doctor’s scent of spice and musk, waking up my sense of smell. His gaze blistered with heat.

  “Of course I’m doctorly, Alexa. As you know, that’s what I do.” His lips curled into a smile, my stomach exploding into butterflies. “That’s also why I’m going to get you some water. You need to hydrate your body. You’ll thank me for this in the morning. Or at least you very well should.”

&
nbsp; In what seemed to be an office, Tyler motioned to a dark brown leather sofa. “Please. Sit down, Alexa. That’s if you’re able to actually do so in that dress.” He glanced at my thighs, a bitter sarcasm in his monotone words. Reluctantly, I looked at him without giving him the satisfaction of replying to the rude comment about my attire, sitting down on the couch as he gave me an upfront, close, and very obvious personal look at his phenomenal butt as he removed two bottles of water from the small refrigerator. He was even more fit than I remembered.

  DO NOT look at the man’s ass, Alex.

  How could I not look? This guy, although a huge, over-confident, presumptuous asshole, was the epitome of pure hot, sweaty sex on two amazingly long, toned legs. The kind of guy that would undeniably screw your brains into a raw, mental unconsciousness and then get up and walk away, never giving you a second look. Or thought. Possibly an insufferable prick, no wonder he owned a sex club.

  The well-known cosmetic surgeon I’d let my mind run amuck with thoughts of romantic dinners by candlelight, was co-owner to a sex club. The surgeon who I’d googled just as quickly as I’d been able to get to a computer the first day I met him, was famous for being one of the best in the country. And he’d probably done things I didn’t even want to know about, almost certainly preferring handcuffs and cold steel spanking benches over my imaginary fantasies of intriguing passionate love affairs.

  “Drink, Alexa.” His demand frustrated me and I felt my Bohmann temper slipping out, which I’d unfortunately acquired from my dad. My first angry thought was to look in his amazing eyes and answer with a very sarcastic, “No, thanks,” or maybe just give him the finger, but I somehow did exactly as he said and took a long drink of the cool water. Okay, so he had been right about the damn water. It tasted good.

  “Thank you, Dr. Yates. May I please go now?” I stood up, trying to avoid eye contact and get my bearings. Downright uneasy and jittery, why was I letting him intimidate me? He was just a man. He wasn’t the heavenly father.