Free Longing: Club Inferno by Jamie K. Schmidt Page A

role-play night, so there will be costumes and fantasy fulfillment.”
    Anya thought back. “Like a crazy billionaire BDSM-ing a flighty ingénue?”
    “If that’s your thing,” Colleen said. “It’s been very popular.”
    “Clint plays the billionaire?”
    “Sometimes he plays the ingénue.” Colleen laughed. “Whatever kink the customer wants to follow.”
    “Does he sleep with the women or just play a game with them?” Anya was suddenly wondering if she should be so excited about tonight. Maybe she was one in a crowd, the new thing he hadn’t slept with yet. The disappointment hit her. Maybe he really wasn’t interested in her.
    “Every submissive is different. You’ll have to ask him.”
    Anya heard her crack open a soda.
    “He’s clean, though. All my Doms are. No one plays without a clean bill of health.”
    “I know that,” Anya said. “You made me get a bunch of tests.”
    “So that’s one less thing to worry about.”
    “It all sounds so unromantic.”
    “Are you in it for the romance, or are you in it for the sex?” Colleen asked.
    “Sex,” Anya said. “I don’t have time for that love bullshit.” Anya’s heart ached with a different tune, but she ignored it. It was too fragile of an organ for her to risk again. “Oh, speaking of which, thanks a bunch for letting Rita Lewis try out for a membership.”
    “Who the crap is Rita Lewis?”
    “The devil.” Anya made horns with her fingers and stabbed them in the air.
    “I must have missed the memo.”
    “Seriously, she’s evil.”
    “Are we talking the kicking-puppies type of evil or robbing banks?”
    “She’s sleeping with Cesare.”
    Colleen barked out a laugh. “Oh, honey, that’s its own punishment.”
    Anya couldn’t stop a grin. “Well, she’s also lost a ton of weight.”
    “I’ll have Istvahn assemble a firing squad. Does dawn work for you?”
    “She’s after my part in the play.”
    “She won’t get it,” Colleen assured her. “You’re much more talented.”
    “Cesare is bankrolling the play.”
    “You’re screwed then.”
    “Thanks for the sympathy.”
    “Anya, let it go. She has no power over you. Forget about her. Have a good time with Clint tonight. Just go in with your eyes open. Unless, of course, you want to be blindfolded.”
    “Blindfolded? Have you seen Clint’s abs?”
    “You see one six-pack, you’ve seen them all.”
    “Oh, to be as jaded as you. I’m going to take a nap.”
    “Good idea. Nothing says sexy like falling asleep in your restraints.”
    “There will be none of that.”
    “Whatever you say. I don’t need the details.”
    “Yes, you do.”
    “You’re right, I do. We can talk tomorrow.”
    Anya hung up the phone feeling a little scattered. Her stomach growled again. After drinking two glasses of water, she stepped on the scale again.
    The red numbers were two pounds higher than before.
    “That’s impossible.” Logic told her that there was no way she’d consumed seven thousand calories in the past fifteen minutes, but the numbers still hurt.
    She cast off her clothes and pulled the covers over her head before more doubts and unhappiness were able to touch her.
    Anya didn’t remember falling asleep, but she must have been tired, because the next thing she knew her phone was blowing up.
    “Yeah,” she croaked, aware that the room was now pitch-dark.
    “Are you standing me up?” It was Clint. His voice was as dark as the room and sexy as hell.
    “What time is it?”
    “Eleven.”
    “Shit,” she said, throwing the covers off and springing to her feet. “I fell asleep.”
    He chuckled. “It’s okay. The party is just getting started. I’ll meet you at the dungeon entrance.”
    “I’ll be there in a half hour.”
    “Make it fifteen minutes.” His voice was a commanding growl that sent shivers over her.
    “You can’t hurry perfection,” she said, her voice light even though part of her wanted to rush to him.
    “Make me wait at your own peril,”