Madame (Salacious Players' Club, #6)

by Sara Cate

The woman that stares back is one I don’t recognize.

She’s bold. Beautiful. Fearless. Smart.

Just as I’m about to apologize for being difficult, I close my mouth. The woman in the mirror doesn’t say sorry for making her preferences known. She has nothing to be sorry for.

Then I feel something cool and wet against the back of my neck. As the heaving stops, warm, soft hands wipe my hair from my face, gathering it in a ponytail at the back of my head.

Wonderful—I just tried to con the nicest billionaire in California.

“I can’t let you leave like this, Eden. Will you let me at least feed you first?” I pull away with a sniffle. “Really?” “Come on, have a seat, and I’ll order.”

“My first wife craved pineapple during her pregnancy,”

“I figured it out after you turned down the wine and lost your lunch over the smell of fish. I remember this phase well.”

“I think I wanted it to tell me I’m submissive because that’s the role I’ve been playing my entire life. I belonged to my father. I belonged to my small town and all the expectations put on me there. Then I belonged to my husband. I thought that’s what I wanted because that’s how it’s supposed to be.”

“As much as I wish we were compatible, I’m afraid we’re not. But I’d love to teach you if you’d like to learn. I imagine you have one hell of a journey ahead of you, Eden—and I’m not just referring to the baby.”

Pick up cupcakes Order movie tickets Write the sponsored sex toy review post Make waxing appointment

All I can do is reminisce on that night when I opened my door at the club to find Clay waiting for me. The night everything ended between us. When he uttered those earth-shattering words—I just want you.

Living in the guest room of Ronan’s apartment in the city, I thought I had another couple of weeks before I’d have to make room for a baby. Ronan was out on business, and my water broke without warning as I was reading an internet article about the right and wrong ways to use a spanking bench. To this day, I can’t even see one without remembering the pain that followed that moment.

I made a promise to myself that I would always put Jack first. It was just us, and it would always be just us. I would die before bringing home another man who could do to Jack what his father had done to me.

Love is nothing more than a form of control. And from here on out, I will be the only one in control.

“I’ll avenge you,” she replies.

She’s young, sweet, and funny as hell. She might as well be the polar opposite of the last woman I dated.

But the weird thing is, as different as she and Eden are, my feelings for them are strangely similar.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jade kiss her father on his cheek. Remembering where those lips were five minutes ago makes me want to die of shame.

There was only one person who ever fully understood what I needed. One person who made me feel like I could improve. One person who made me feel good enough.

Don’t let your kids talk to strangers.

“Mama, do you know what today is?” he whispers. “Saturday,” I reply, feigning sleep.

“Mamaaaa,” he whines. His tiny fingers try to pry my eyes open, and I laugh, quickly pinning them to his side.

“Well, if you’re seven now, then you can make your own breakfast.” He giggles. “No, I can’t.” “Sure, you can. I’ll take an omelet, too, while you’re at it. Oh, and some pancakes.”

I’ve been doing a lot lately. I imagine someone else standing in this kitchen with me. Or maybe sitting on the couch next to Jack.

I have no reason to believe Clay would ever pose a threat to me or Jack, but I used to think the same thing about my ex. And nothing is worth putting my son in danger.

Jack is zooming down the road in front of our house on an electric scooter, and I’m staring daggers at Ronan Kade, who’s watching Jack with a proud smile.

“Have you thought about having another?”

“I’m thirty-five,” I reply as if that’s reason enough.

“So? Ronan is fifty-seven,” she argues.

“Yeah, well, he didn’t carry and birth anything. Besides, being pregnant would really cr...

We’ve come a long way. Or rather, I’ve come a long way from terrified, penniless, and pregnant to this. Jack is happy and safe, which means I’m pulling off the one thing I was afraid I couldn’t do.

I can’t make eye contact with Ronan, but he pulls me in for a hug anyway. Then I kiss Julian’s head again, inhaling that sweet newborn baby smell before hugging Daisy and watching them climb into Ronan’s car.

“I’m beating you!” he shrieks with excitement. “You wish,” a man’s voice replies.

When he leans forward to put another bill into the machine, I nearly drop the popcorn as I recognize him. The blood drains from my face as I pop back up and turn my body away from the machine, praying he didn’t see me.

Why is Clay sitting in a video game machine with my son? It’s a coincidence. Relax, Eden.

But still…these two worlds colliding make me want to run. He’s a client, and he’s with my son.

“I’ll see you in there, Jack. I have to wait for my girlfriend anyway.”

But as my gaze lifts and finds him standing there, and our eyes meet, everything happens at once.

I realize, with disappointment, that it is him, with his slicked-back brown hair and chiseled cheekbones. I’d know his face anywhere.

Then I feel the pain of knowing he has t...

I swallow down the suffocating disappointment and jealousy as I glance down at Jack. “We’re going to be late.”

I glance up to see Clay as he enters, our eyes meeting for a split second.

Why him? I’ve never once run into anyone from the club in public. Of course, out of everyone, it had to be him.

I’m not an idiot. I can spot an awkward ex-girlfriend encounter from a mile away.

But when I get the feeling the person I’ve poured my heart out to isn’t pouring their heart out to me…it makes me feel vulnerable. And a little silly.

Is loving a person truly enough when existing together requires so much more?

“She was my Domme.”

“She’s a Dominatrix. I paid her to be my Domme,” he says, looking at the ground as he speaks.

“We had sex, but that’s not what I paid her for.”