Candy looked up, obviously alarmed as the smile slipped from her face. She quickly recovered, hiding her shock with a faint laugh. “Knew what about Michael?”
“Don’t do that. Not to me.” Lacey smoothed her fingers over the expensive tablecloth, tearing her gaze away from her friend’s face. “I’m not asking you to divulge personal details about your sex life or give me the inside scoop on a story. I’m asking you to tell me— a friend—how you found out about Michael and his lifestyle.”
“What’s with the sudden interest? What made you decide a relationship with Michael is worth exploring?” Candy continued acting as if she didn’t understand—a helpful device perfected as an investigator.
“He’s weakened my resolve this week with gifts.” Lacey retrieved the box resting in her lap along with the simple card and extended them to Candice. “Michael sent this to me today. I think I know what it means but I could be wrong. I can’t be wrong about this, Candy. I have to be certain.”
Lacey could hear Candice swallow as she read the card, opened the box and glanced inside.
“What makes you think I’d know anything?”
“Because you’re the best at what you do, and if you were investigating or interested in the BDSM community—” Lacey stopped, worried she might go too far if she implied anything further, and searched for the right way to phrase what she needed to say. “You would have done your research. You always do.”
A waitress started to walk past and Candice sat the box and card on the table and flagged her down. “Bring me a cosmo.”
Lacey had never seen Candice drink during the day. Not even during college.
“Candy?”
“Not yet.” She lifted a hand, shaking her head. “Not yet, Lace.”
They sat in silence until her drink arrived. Candy didn’t waste any time, throwing back the alcohol like a seasoned wino. When the glass was empty, she hunched over, pulled her purse from the floor and rummaged around in it until she produced a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.
“When did you start smoking again?” Lacey gawked in disbelief when Candice put the filter between her lips, lit up and puffed through the side of her mouth like a pro. Lacey glanced around in panic and whispered in a rush, “Are you crazy? You can’t smoke in here! Put that out!”
“Do you remember when I was working that case in Nashville involving the bootlegged moonshine?” Candice exhaled a large cloud of smoke.
The question caught Lacey off guard, especially since she was afraid they’d be busted and hauled off to jail at any moment for breaking the smoking laws. Nodding and waving her hand to ward off the fumes, she answered, “Vaguely.”
Candy took another drag of her cigarette before she said, “It turned out to be a bust due to some family grudge that left me deep in the shit. At the time I was desperate for a story. Gerald had just gotten a big break on the drug bust in Rhea County and Archie was close to cracking the name of the gang responsible for the heist at First Franklin. When I went to scrounge for something I was offered a nice check to do an exposé piece on a super-exclusive club in Nashville—a fetish club.”
“Excuse me, ma’am.” A very stern voice interrupted their conversation as the manager of the restaurant walked up to the booth. “You can’t smoke that in here.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Candy muttered, took one final puff and put the cigarette out in her glass of water. “Satisfied?” The warning look she shot the manager was enough to encourage him to leave but it left Lacey uneasy. Candice relied on her quick wit and unshakable control to do her job. Behaving like a rebellious teenager was completely out of character.
“So you met Michael at the fetish club?”
“Not exactly. I needed a cover, and the list of members I was given was slim. Mike was the easiest person to approach.”
“I have a difficult time believing Michael would help you.”
“He didn’t want to.” Reaching across the table, Candy helped herself to Lacey’s untouched glass of water. “It took a little persuasion.”
“What did you do?”
Candy took a large swallow before she answered. “I told him I would keep the identities of every person I came into contact with completely confidential if he got me in and let me mingle undisturbed.”
“And if he didn’t?”
“I’d find another source and reveal all.”
“You blackmailed him?” Lacey was shocked at the fury she felt as she came to Michael’s defense.
“A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.”
“Jesus, Candy.”
“It wasn’t so bad. Everyone came out clean. Mikey Boy wasn’t thrilled but he knew that if he didn’t agree I’d find another way in. Do you have any idea how many politicians like being ordered around and led on leashes? Those are the kinds of names you don’t want spread around.” Candice laughed softly. “That’s why I chose Mike. There was no way the other people on the shortlist would have considered helping me out. It started out totally innocent. I mean, sure, some of it was hot—barely clad men, sex scenes performed right out in the open. You name it and I probably saw it. But it was a job, you know? I’ve investigated worse.”
Lacey continued her questioning carefully, proceeding with caution. “So what happened?”
“On my final night, I met someone.” Candice’s expression screamed conflict and uncertainty.
She shook her head as if shaking off the memory. “That part’s not important.” She met Lacey’s concerned gaze. “Listen, kiddo. If you want to know if Mike’s a good guy, I can only tell you that of all of the Doms I met at Fantasia, he was the one I would have trusted most. He was seeing someone at the time, and even though she didn’t mind sharing if that’s what he wanted, he did mind, which gives him major brownie points in my opinion. There were a few times when he played with her in public but sex was never involved. For the most part he seemed interested in being around his friends in the establishment.”
“And the necklace?” Lacey motioned at the box resting on the table.
“If I were a betting woman, I’d put money down that he wants to take you to the club or maybe a very private play party. Collars vary, but anything around the neck inside Fantasia means you’re spoken for and off limits. The people who host parties of their own are usually members of the club and follow the same protocol. There’s no way he’d allow you to enter either without one. If I learned one thing about Mike, it’s that he’s possessive.”
Lacey retrieved the box and opened it, staring down at the rows of sparkling stones. “I don’t know what to do.”
She didn’t expect Candice to respond. The idiot jock who broke her heart in college had ensured she didn’t have much faith in relationships or men. So she was slightly stunned when she did.
“Do you love him?”
Sighing, she closed the box. There it was. The big question. The one she’d asked herself more than once. Logic and reality told her it was too soon, but she’d never felt this way about anyone before.
“I hardly know him.”
“Allow me to rephrase. Could you love him? If the kink wasn’t an issue, could you see yourself with him in the long term?”
“The kink isn’t the issue.” Lacey was amazed at how easy it was to admit and felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders despite Candice’s questioning look.
“So what’s holding you back?”
“I don’t ever want to feel like that again—facing some woman from his past. It wasn’t like meeting an ex-girlfriend or lover. This…” She tried to construct her thoughts. “It was beyond humiliating.
I get sick just thinking about it.”
“Then you’re going to have to decide if he’s worth taking a chance on.”
“Like you did with your mystery lover?”