Red Handed by Shelly Bell

animatedly bounced on her toes. “There are more ways to practice BDSM than I can count. You can be a masochist and not a submissive. You can be into bondage and nothing else. There are tops and bottoms and switches and baby girls and sluts. There are twenty-four/seven relationships and bedroom-only relationships. You can be married to your Master or married to a vanilla man and have a Master outside of the marriage—”
    â€œWhat if a man is a Dominant, and his partner isn’t submissive?” Danielle asked, thinking of Cole.
    Kate tilted her head, her lips pressed together. “Well, that depends on whether the Dominant would be satisfied without having a submissive partner. If they’re both okay with him satisfying that part of him outside their relationship, it may work. But to me, and I preface this by saying it’s only my opinion, oftentimes Dominance and submission is like a sexual orientation. If you’re straight, you’re not going to be attracted to a member of the same sex, and even if you were, you wouldn’t choose that person for a sexual relationship. I think in simple terms, if you’re a submissive, you’ll naturally be attracted to a Dominant, and vice versa.”
    She crossed her arms over her chest. “What’s it like to be naked in front of so many people?”
    â€œHonestly, I don’t think about it,” Kate said, snagging a cup of water from the high-top table behind her. “Even in a crowd, I only see Jaxon. No one else matters.”
    â€œBut you’re thin.”
    Kate gestured to the room. “Look around. Is everyone thin? No. We’re normal people with normal jobs and normal problems. We’ve got cellulite and saggy breasts and gray hair. There’s no judgment here.” Her face lit up at the sight of Jaxon walking toward them. “I’ve got to go, but a couple of my friends and I go out every Thursday night for drinks. I’d love for you both to join us.”
    â€œI don’t know how long I’ll be in town, but if I get the chance, I’d like that.”
    A longing filled her chest as she watched Jaxon slip his arm around Kate and hold her to his side as if they were one. Only hours before, his whip had marked her skin and brought Kate to tears. Now his tender touch caused Kate to radiate with joy. Their connection was deep and powerful, and it shocked Danielle how much she envied Kate.
    Yawning, she decided to go upstairs to get a couple hours of shut-eye.
    Later tonight, she had work to do.

Chapter Nine
    S HE JOLTED FROM the annoying beep of the alarm clock and quickly slammed her hand on the buzzer to stop it from waking anyone else on her floor. Three o’clock in the morning. The club was closed, and everyone should be asleep by now. A perfect time to explore Cole’s office and check out that secret room.
    Naked, she slipped on a silk robe and wondered how the kidnapper knew about the room behind Cole’s bookcase and that Cole never brought anyone upstairs to his residence. It meant the kidnapper had to be someone at Benediction or had gotten the information from someone close to Cole—possibly even Cole himself.
    In the dark, Danielle made her way to the door. She heard nothing but silence as she unlocked it, quietly turned the knob, and pulled the door open before sneaking into the hallway. She left it open a crack, so as to not make noise, padded down the hallway, and descended the stairs into the empty kitchen.
    As quietly as she could, she tiptoed in the dark toward Cole’s office, her heart thumping against her chest like a battering ram. When she got to the door, she pressed her ear to the wood; hearing nothing, she tried opening it.
    Locked.
    Frustrated, she sighed and rested her forehead against the door. How the hell was she going to get upstairs if she couldn’t even get into his office?
    Suddenly, the hallway lights came on.
    Her heart in her throat, she