...It was four o’clock in the morning and the club was now silent, everyone gone. Aurora walked down the back staircase and entered the main room, stepping onto the dance floor.

She liked the silence. The echoes of the crowd and the music still seemed to thunder in her head, but soon the silence would take over and the peace would wash over her, settling her so that she might be able to sleep.

She lifted her hand and unfurled her fingers, revealing the crumpled card pressed into her palm. She smoothed it out. Constantine Jardine. She could sense his vibrations, tingling up her arm and they hadn’t even touched. Most assuredly he wasn’t looking for someone to top him. That was something she was very sure of. She heard a rustling of sound from the doorway.

“Come in, Tad,” she said without turning to look at him.

He walked up behind her and gently pushed her long hair over her shoulders. He began to loosen the laces of her tight corset. “I want him, Aurora.”

She exhaled as the corset landed at her feet. Tad then dropped to his knees and began to unzip her boots, one at a time and removed them. The garters holding her stockings in place came next. Before removing the stockings, he looked up at her.

His expression asked for an answer. She sighed. “I know, Tad.” She touched his hair. Then she looked off into the distance. “I’m not sure you realize what you’re asking.”

“He’s a dom, is that what you mean? Do you really think I couldn’t sense it as well as you could? I think he’s made his position very clear. There can be no doubt. He’s the one, Aurora.”

She hesitated a long time before answering him. Looking down at him, she saw the determination on his face. “How can you be so sure? Would you leave me for him?” she asked softly.

His fingers gripped her thighs tightly. “I don’t want to leave you. You’re very important to me. And I think, if you’re honest with yourself, you want him, too. Badly. Do you think I haven’t watched you over the last two months? Do you think I don’t know, that I haven’t seen the yearning in your eyes?”

He slowly rolled her stockings down her legs and removed them. He pushed her thighs apart and began licking at her inner thighs.

She sucked in air at the pleasant touch. Her juices gathered. “Martine wanted me to assume her position. I can’t let her down.”

He looked up at her. “It’s not letting her down. She wanted us both to be happy, you know that. She would never have faulted you for taking what you need.”

His tongue flicked at her clitoris, then sank between her folds. “Oh, Tad,” she whispered, “I don’t know what to do. I’m tired and I’m afraid of failing both her and you.”

“Accept him,” his voice vibrated against her opening and she shivered at the sensation. “You want what he offers. And he’s ready to accept us. Or he wouldn’t have given you the card.” His mouth ate at her, driving her higher, making her dizzy and her mind clouded. He sucked at her stiffened clit and it pushed her over the edge and she convulsed, her memories of the stranger pushing her faster.

When it was over, he lapped at her juices.

“Is that the best you can do?” a deep voice broke the measure of contentment, coming to them from the shadows like a roll of thunder across a starlit night.

Aurora whirled around and peered into the darkness, suddenly very aware of her nakedness.

“Who’s there?” But she already knew. How he’d managed to get in when the club was closed, she had no idea. But here he was.

He stepped from the shadows. “You know who I am. And what I want.”