“Yeah.”

“A switch.” Master Dan grinned. “Surprised?”

“A little. So you must know I’ll ask you why.”

“Because you couldn’t do this”—he gestured to the wall with the instruments of pain—“if you weren’t somewhat Dominant. No offense, but no one would trust a submissive to get the job done. And you have earned the trust of the most experienced Masters here.”

“But?”

“But being a pain expert isn’t sexual for you. You don’t get off on it like sadists do. And you have a hard line against using your skills on a woman. Which to me says you hold women in a higher regard than men. You’re in security, and that proves you have a protective nature. So when it comes to sex, I’d say you were submissive. But not to just any Domme. And yes, it has to be a real Domme you’ll submit to, not just a bossy bitch in the real world.”

“How the fuck did you know all that?” But what Knox wanted to ask was how long Master Dan had suspected that about him.

“Being a Master or a Mistress—a good one at least—involves more than agreeing to a temporary power exchange for a mutually beneficial sexual encounter. I’ve learned to read people. Am I always right? Nine times out of ten. But that’s only because I’ve had years of practice.”

“So I’ve been in self-denial? Because until I met her, it never even crossed my radar that I’m submissive.”

Master Dan shook his head. “No. I suspect you didn’t know because you’d never met a Domme who made you curious enough to explore those tendencies. And since you’re a big, macho guy, I can only guess how much that freaked you out.”

“It did.”

“Past tense?”

“I’ve accepted it—more or less.”

“That isn’t convincing me, Knox.”

“It’s complicated. My Mistress . . . She and I work together. For lack of a better way to explain it, I’m her boss. So we do have real-world power exchanges and adjustments. I thought I was the one having a harder time making the transition, but then she completely fucking blindsided me in a work situation.”

“That does make it more difficult. This happened recently?”

“Two days ago. I’ve been avoiding her ever since because I don’t know what comes next.” He sent Master Dan a sheepish look. “I figured putting my skill set to use on someone here would help me forget. Not good to be here and be unfocused. So I’m sorry I won’t be able to help you tonight.”

“You’ve helped me more than you realize. More than whipping the shit out of me would have.”

“Really? Why?”

“As you could tell when you walked in this room tonight, I came here for the wrong reasons. So talking to you has brought me out of the dark place I sometimes drift into.”

“Are you involved with a sub right now?”

He smiled sadly and pulled on his clothes. “No. Hence the dark place.”

“Are you looking for a distraction?”

“Maybe. Why? You playing matchmaker now?”

“That comment might’ve earned you extra-hard lashes next time.” He grinned. “Do you know Vanessa the sub? She’s somewhere between my age and yours?”

Master Dan’s interest perked up. “Very curvy redhead?”

“That’s her. I was talking to her earlier at the bar. She’s having some of those same thoughts you are, so maybe you two could commiserate together.”

“I’ll see if she’s still around. Thanks for the tip.”

Knox remained in the room for ten minutes, waiting for Vic, who only showed up about half of the time, until he gave up and returned to the main bar area.

The place had filled up.

Just as he headed to the bar to tell Greg he was done for the night, he heard a familiar voice saying his name. It was like music coming from her lips. He turned around slowly, wondering if he’d just imagined her voice because he needed to hear it so badly.

It was Shiori, acting every inch the Domme in tight black leather pants, a crop top emblazoned with watercolor images of peacock feathers, and a vivid blue eye mask.

Dammit. She looked good enough to eat. One tiny bite at a time.

He bowed to her. “Mistress B.” Then he started to retreat.

She grabbed on to his forearm. “Knox, wait. I came tonight to talk to you.”

“How’d you know I’d be here?”

“I didn’t. I just hoped you would be after trying to get in touch with you since Friday morning.”