Page 15 of The Dom with a Safeword

“You’re not scared to be in a dark, abandoned tunnel with me?” she asked with a raised brow. “Especially after the dressing room?”

With a gulp, she pushed on the shelf and it slammed shut.

Q laughed. “I guess that answers that.”

They continued on their tour while Jude was gone, staying in the same wing so they didn’t get lost. Then, at last, her equipment came to life.

“This is it,” Sabrina said with the seriousness of a funeral attendant. She stared at the blue door ominously.

“It is?” Q squinted as she stepped closer.

“Yes. Get your camera ready. I’m going to open it and you snap as many pictures as you can.”

“But what if we catch some ghost in the middle of getting changed?” Q asked. “That would be awkward.”

Sabrina glared at her friend. “Very funny. Just do your part, please.”

“Yes, ma’am,” she said with an exaggerated salute.

With a deep breath, Sabrina slowly pushed open the door. It creaked on the hinges as the dark interior lit up from the hallway light.

Q’s shutter clicked several times in succession while Sabrina pushed the door open all the way.

“A closet, Sabrina?” Q sighed and perched a hand on her hip. “A haunted closet?”

Sabrina’s heart sank. She frowned at Q and mumbled, “Sorry.” This time she meant it.

Q’s expression softened as she wrapped her arms around Sabrina and pulled her close. “Don’t be sad.” She kissed the top of her head. “We can always try again.”

Q was kind to humor her, despite failure after failure. Maybe she should let her off the hook and start going alone. Or maybe she should just hang up her badge and give up for good. In a fit of discouragement, she tugged away from Q’s embrace and pulled off all her gadgets, tossing them on the floor. Then she shucked her vest, lowering it more gently – she had spent time decorating it, after all.

When she looked up, Q was standing in the closet, holding Sabrina’s flashlight. “Fuck.”

She rushed to her side. “What?”

Q looked at her with a wicked grin. “Someone’s got a kinky side.” She fingered a long stick hanging on the back of the door.

Next to that stick was another, this one with tendrils of leather hanging down. Like an old-fashioned whip. No. She’d seen that on one of Q’s websites. A flogger, she thought it was called.

On a shelf inside the closet sat neatly displayed items, all in pristine condition. Toys, looked like. Adult toys. She recognized the vibrators, she wasn’t a complete idiot. Every girl had one. Hers was purple.

The rest of the toys were foreign. A few downright scary. She looked at Q then did a double take. Her eyes gleamed as she toyed with the flogger tendrils, her lips parted in a small smile. Holy shit. Q was turned on by this?

“You know what this stuff is?” she asked her. Q didn’t move her gaze from the flogger. “Of course you do. Creepy as you are.”

She snapped her head to Sabrina and raised a brow. “You’re not so innocent. I’ve seen you browse that fetish site.”

Her face heated. “To buy clothes!”

“Mm-hm.”

Changing the subject, Sabrina grabbed a chain with two clips off the shelf and analyzed it. “What’s this?”

“Nipple clamps.”

She gulped. Her eyes must’ve looked like saucers because Q chuckled beside her. She tried to imagine the ends attached to each nipple, pinching it tight. A rush of warmth slid through her, tingling her most intimate parts. She threw the thing back on the shelf. She picked up a long, flexible stick with a leather tip instead. “And this?”

Q’s gaze flicked from her face to the toy in her hand then she smiled. “Turn around and I’ll show you.”