Page 13 of Temptation

“He hurt you. But he’s here tonight, and after what he said yesterday… don’t you want to know?”

He had shown up. Yesterday for Thanksgiving and today for Black Light. It would have been just as easy for him not to. At the same time, she didn’t want to trust him because that meant opening herself up to being hurt by him. Again. At a certain point, shouldn’t she have learned her lesson?

Then he was standing in front of her, looking down at her, and there was no more time to question Brooke, though that conversation was far from over. Brooke was right though. She had unfinished business with Orlando and if she’d scened with anyone else tonight she probably would have been thinking about him the whole time.

“Juliet.”

She tilted her chin up.

“Orlando.”

A smile flashed across his face, the kind that made her want to go weak in the knees, but she steeled herself against the reaction.

“Can we talk?” he asked, studying her expression. His focus was entirely on her and she felt Brooke slip away as if to give them some privacy.

Pressing her lips together, Juliet nodded.

CHAPTER FIVE

ORLANDO

Getting another drink from Susie at the bar, Orlando escorted Juliet over to the booth seats. They were slightly more private than actually sitting at the bar and trying to have a discussion. Brooke had already disappeared into the crowds. From the way Juliet had been looking at her, she was not happy with her friend… but she also hadn’t kicked up a fuss and she had agreed to talk to him, so he was taking that as a win.

“So. What did you want to talk about?” Juliet asked, taking the drink that he slid across the table.

They could still scene as long as they didn’t have more than two drinks, if Juliet agreed to despite everything.

“What happened with you and London?”

“What, Brooke didn’t give you all the dirty details?” There was an odd expression on her face, and he realized she might be a little more upset with her friend than she was currently showing. Well, the least he could do was ease her mind and also take some of the heat from Brooke after the favor she’d done him.

“No, all she said was that I should be at Black Light tonight because you were going to be here and that you didn’t have a boyfriend anymore. We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Sighing, Juliet’s breasts lifted in her corset and lowered again. She took a sip of her beer.

“I asked London to tie me up and spank me last night. He… didn’t take it well.” She made a face and fury welled up inside of Orlando on her behalf. London had seemed like a mostly decent guy, but if he’d made her feel bad about being submissive, Orlando would cheerfully pound the dickhead into the ground. “He mentioned something about me needing therapy, which I didn’t take well. I was willing to talk to him about it more this morning, but he wasn’t willing to consider that maybe he had an uptight, judgmental mindset based more on preconceived notions than reality, so I broke up with him.”

She shrugged, but Orlando could still see the hurt and anger she was feeling. The desire to punch London in the face was growing, but he shoved it aside because anger wasn’t what Juliet needed from him right now.

“I’m sorry.”

“Are you?” She snorted as she said the words.

“I’m sorry that he hurt you. I’m not sorry you dumped his ass.” Orlando reached out to take one of her hands, squeezing her fingers. “If he was going to be that close-minded, he was never going to be right for you.”

“Oh, and you know what’s right for me?” She was going for sarcastic, but she didn’t quite make it snarky enough. Maybe it was because they were in Black Light or because she was feeling more vulnerable after the breakup, but she sounded almost hopeful.

“I know you need to be spanked. Whipped. Dominated. I know you loved it when I made you crawl, when I made you bleed and scream. I know that vanilla was never going to be enough for you.” Orlando squeezed her fingers as her breathing hitched, pupils dilating in response to his words.

“And then you left me.” She tried to jerk her hand away, but Orlando held on tight. This time he wasn’t letting her get away.

“I did. Now I’m back and I learned my lesson. I stayed away because I thought it was what was best. But I was wrong.” As he spoke, she stopped trying to pull away, holding still and watching him cautiously, like she was waiting for the surprise. But there was no big reveal, he was being completely upfront and honest about what he wanted. What he’d realized.

“And what’s different now? Our parents are still married. If things fuck up between us, it could still fuck them up. And I’m on the rebound now. I’m pretty sure everything could be a lot worse.” She said the words like they were a challenge, and really they were.

He’d definitely messed up not talking to her last time. But he wasn’t sure he would have been ready to really try last time. Not when he’d been filled with doubts about everything. A lot of those doubts had gone away since then, even though he still thought there were some possible pitfalls.

“Then we’ll go slow. If you want to keep things to the club for now, that’s fine. We can move at your pace. I just want another chance.”