Page 118 of Blush

“Can you tell me your name?”

“Just call me Zorro, and I’ll call you my beautiful Elena.”

I shiver. He arouses me. Not in the way Jack does, but still… I have to learn to take what I can get.

I’m never going to have Jack, so I’ll look for love elsewhere. In the meantime? I’m not laboring under any delusion that Zorro is offering me love. But he can at least offer me some instruction and guidance.

Which I’d better make clear.

“Zorro?”

“Yes?”

“I want to learn. I want someone to teach me submission. How to please a Dominant.”

“I’ve taught many submissives,” he says. “I’m happy to offer my services.”

“I’m not sure I want to…get intimate right away.”

“Absolutely. Your comfort is the most important thing.” He pulls me up from my barstool, his hands warm on mine. “Come.”

The path is familiar to me, even though I can’t see.

I’ve walked this way with Jackson twice.

Will he be here tonight? I don’t know. MaybeIshould have worn a mask.

Still, Jack would know me. Wouldn’t he? I knew him as soon as I heard his voice. He tried to disguise his eyes, most of his face, and his hair by darkening it and wearing it in a completely different style.

But as soon as I heard his voice, I knew it was him.

Would he know me by my eyes? After all, a mask does not hide the eyes. Jack wore colored contacts so I wouldn’t recognize his distinctive golden-green eyes.

Except…

He doesn’t feel the same way I do. He doesn’t smell my breath in his bathwater. He doesn’t see my face in his dreams.

“Okay?” Zorro asks.

“I am.”

“Are you sure? You got kind of tense for a moment.”

Of course I did. I was thinking about Jack and how he doesn’t share my feelings.

“I’m fine.”

“All right. We’re going in now.”

“I’ve already signed all of the forms.”

“I know that. I checked before I agreed to come here when Alfred asked.”

“Am I being completely naive? Ridiculously innocent? Going into a club with a strange man?”

“It would be irresponsible of me to tell you that you’re not, because you are. But I can promise that you have nothing to fear from me. This club makes everyone’s safety the first priority. You’ve been here before. You’ve probably seen the emergency buttons lining the walls.”

“No, I haven’t.” Funny that Jack didn’t show me those. Then again, he knew I was never in danger with him.