My nerves had crept in and limited me to simple one- and two-word answers.
“I have paperwork calling my name,” Daniel said. “I’ll leave you two to it. Oaklyn, come to me if you have any issues or questions.”
And then it was just Jackson and me in the room.
“Nice outfit, Derringer,” Jackson broke the silence.
Outfit was an understatement. More like barely-there lingerie that resembled Mrs. Clause. “Thanks,” I responded dryly.
Jackson shined his perfect smile at me, and I couldn’t fight the smile back. Somehow, he’d already begun putting me at ease around him.
“You nervous for your first night?”
“A little. But a little excited too.”
“That’s good. It’s better to just think of it like acting in a play—to remove yourself from the porny feel of it.” He closed his locker and leaned against it, staring at me. “You going to select any partner work tonight?”5
“Umm.” I looked down and fiddled with the white fur lining the bottom of my dress. “I don’t think so.”
“Maybe next time.”6He stood to his full height and looked me over before walking toward me. Each step he took, my eyes grew wider and wider until he stood right in front of me. I watched, frozen, as his hand came up to cradle my cheek, and he leaned down to press his lips to mine. They were soft and lush and not at all demanding. When his tongue flicked out at the seam of my mouth, I opened and met him halfway, tasting the fresh mint.
I had expected the kiss to go further, to shoot to my core and set off sparks along the way. Instead, it was comfortable. Friendly. He knew exactly how confused I was when he pulled back and took in my face.7
“It’s a good feeling to have, Oaklyn. We’ll be better partners if our feelings for each other are mild.”
I nodded and muttered an okay. He gave me a quick peck and a slap on the ass before heading out.
“See you out there, Derringer.”
I walked to the entrance of the employee lounge and grabbed an iPad to enter what I was willing to do that night. A giggle burst up as I started checking things off. The situation of sitting there in a slutty Santa costume, picking out what sexual acts I was willing to do in front of strangers was too funny for that moment.
Bypassing all the partner work, I selected almost every solo performance possible. Except anything that required anal masturbation. Pretty sure I wasn’t ready for that just yet.
I placed the iPad back on the charger and snagged a bracelet that looked like a Fitbit. It would buzz to let me know if anyone had selected me for the night.
Walking into the lounge, you’d never know the things that went on behind closed doors. A black modern bar with glass shelving was off to one side. Booths lined the opposite wall. A sprinkling of bar-top tables ringed the dance floor. Dim lighting lent a secretive air to the place. The piped-in music fluctuated between a variety of genres, but all with an upbeat tempo, filling any silence and absorbing any conversations going on nearby.
The only thing different between this and any other upscale club, was that the employees walked around in lingerie or other seductive outfits. I made my way to the bar and asked Charlotte, who was wearing a slutty elf costume, what she needed help with.
“Keep a pad on hand to take orders as you walk around. Eventually, you want to get better about remembering without writing them down. But for now, if you could run these to table twenty, that would be great.”
The next few hours passed in a blur of taking orders and passing out drinks. Jackson helped the time fly by playing twenty questions each time we passed each other. I found out that he was twenty-two and had worked at Voyeur for two years. He was bisexual8and not into being dominated but dabbled in dominating himself. His favorite color was green, and he liked Tic-Tacs, but only the orange ones.
Surprisingly, I hadn’t gotten any lewd comments, and no one tried to touch me. Sure, men—and women—looked and flirted, but no one had crossed the line or made me feel uncomfortable.
“These people pay a lot of money to be here. If they wanted to flirt and get handsy, they could go to a strip club for free two blocks down. People tend to be more respectful of the rules when they’re dropping over a grand a month to satisfy a specific kink of theirs,” Charlotte had explained when I’d mentioned it.
She laughed when my eyes bugged out. “Jesus. I hadn’t realized how much the membership fee was.”
My bracelet began to vibrate. The feeling traveled up my arm, sending an electric shock to my heart and jolting it into action. Lifting my arm, I looked at it like it was a bomb about to explode. I went blank, unsure of what the next step should be. Even though I knew. We’d gone over it. Go to the iPad and check the specifications of the request. Accept or reject.9
Charlotte patted my shoulder. “Hey, hey, girl. You got one.”
“Yeah,” I said softly.
“Don’t be scared. It’s like your virginity. The first time is the worst, but still fun, and it only goes up from there. And you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
I nodded, and she turned my shoulders to head where I needed to go. “Now go get ‘em, tiger.”
