"Keep this on."
Sophie didn't argue. She'd felt sexy in her beautiful dress, but she felt sinful in this one. She wanted to keep it on only because she anticipated how Lucien would take it off her later.
"Can we go back to the apartment?" Sophie's fingers toyed with the top button of Lucien's black shirt.
He lowered his head to her shoulder and hooked his finger under the dress strap, moving it aside to make way for his mouth. "Not yet. We need to check out the competition."
"Competition?"
Lucien repositioned her strap and took her chin in his fingers.
"We're going next door."
Sophie frowned, trying to make sense of his words as the assistant appeared in the doorway. Lucien instructed her in rapid French, then placed his hand on Sophie's elbow to guide her towards a different door at the back of the changing area. Sophie glanced worriedly back at her favourite dress.
"Don't worry. Everything will be tissue wrapped, boxed and back at the apartment before we are."
Lucien pressed a buzzer beside the door.
"Stay close."
"Lucien, what is this?" Sophie had a feeling that whatever his answer was going to be, it wouldn't be comforting.
"I've told you. My competition. This is one of the best adult clubs in Paris, and I want the Gateway to be better."
Sophie glanced down at her barely-there lace dress with mounting panic. "Couldn't you have just looked it up on the internet?"
He smiled, wolfish. "It's the kind of place you need to experience personally."
"I can't go in there in this," Sophie said, unsuccessfully tugging at the short lace skirt to try and find an extra inch or two.
"Trust me. You'll be wearing more than most of the women in there."
The notion didn't make Sophie feel any calmer.
"I don't want to go in there, honestly I don't. Please, let's just go back."
Lucien turned to her then, his fingers curled lightly around her upper arms.
"Sophie, you're with me. Nothing will happen in there that you don't want to."
"I don't go to sex clubs." She re-assessed. "Not… like this. Not as a… a customer."
"You can still think of it as work if it makes you feel better. Make mental notes."
Sophie was trembling inwardly. Was she doing it outwardly too?
Lucien drew his thumb across her lips. "You look like a goddess."
Any further negotiation was stolen from Sophie's throat by panic, because at that moment the door swung open from the other side.
Chapter Fifteen
Sophie glanced cautiously around and held onto Lucien's hand as he conversed easily with the suited doorman. They appeared to be in some kind of boudoir; wall to wall cerise velvet and gold brocade decor lent the place an old-school air of theatrical glamour. It was smaller than she'd anticipated, but then her only direct experience of an adult club was The Gateway back in London, an edifice of black glass and urban glitz. This place was much more intimate.
The reception area appeared to be an extension of the lingerie boutique on the other side of the door. Sophie scanned the glass cabinets and shelves. They were lined with jewel-coloured objects that on closer inspection turned out to be an alluring assortment of beautifully displayed sex toys. She identified some of them: gobstopper-sized jiggle balls, tubs of freshly churned chocolate spread available in white, milk or dark, elegantly sculptural phalluses... it was an adults-only treasure trove that delighted Sophie's senses and calmed her tightly wound nerves. She paused to look more closely at an exquisite display of candy-coloured eggs piled high in filigree baskets. Lucien lifted a pale pink egg from the display and eyed it critically.
"Pretty," Sophie said, uncertain exactly what it was for.
Lucien caught the assistant's eye and handed over a couple of notes in return for the egg, then turned back to Sophie and presented it to her with a smile.
"Happy Easter."
"It isn't Easter." Sophie turned it over in her hands. "I'm guessing I shouldn't eat it?"
Lucien flicked his eyes to the ceiling and pocketed the egg, then pulled her by the hand towards a curtained archway.
A beautiful girl dressed in a minuscule red velvet dress stepped forward to draw the drape aside, all scarlet-painted lips and glossy black hair set in vintage waves.
"Have a good evening," she murmured in heavily accented English as she inclined her head for them to pass. Sophie couldn't miss the fact that the girl's eyes lingered on Lucien for a second longer than she judged professional, but then who knew what professional even meant in circumstances like these? Besides, who could blame her? Sophie was growing accustomed to the fact that Lucien drew female eyes wherever he went. It wasn't just his height, or his Viking beauty, or his broad shoulders. The man exuded lust from his very bones: he emitted sexual charisma on a frequency that no woman could be expected to ignore. The attendant's gaze settled on the hand Lucien placed casually on Sophie's backside, and then flicked up to give Sophie an unmistakable look of pure envy as they passed her.
Sophie appreciated Lucien's proprietary arm around her waist as they stepped down into the club. If the lingerie and toy store had seemed alluring, their effect was nothing compared with the thoroughly kitsch glamour of the club itself. Crystal chandeliers dripped from the midnight ceilings and the deep cerise studded velvet walls ensured that even wallflowers could lounge in comfort. And there were a few wallflowers, but these girls looked totally at ease in their silk and satin lingerie, champagne flutes adorning their manicured hands.
The whole place had the air of a lavish vintage theatre with its sweeping gilt staircases and intimate seating areas, the curved, padded love seats scattered with jewel bright silk cushions surrounding the dance floor. Fat, creamy candles flickered in wall sconces, casting sensual shadows around the room. It was a beautiful place inhabited by beautiful people. There were couples having late-night dinners in secluded booths, Sophie observed, with surprise. She absorbed it all, fascinated. It was impossible not to feel seduced, at ease, even: Lucien had ensured that she'd blend in perfectly with his choice of her attire.
"Well?" he asked as he led her towards the bar.
"I never knew places like this existed," Sophie breathed with a tiny shake of her head. "It's fabulous."
Lucien handed her a glass of champagne and lounged against a high stool.
"I'd call it stiff competition."
Sophie raised her eyebrows, unsure how to express that she felt more comfortable here than in the Knight Inc. club she’d visited in London. Was she being disloyal? "It's very different from the Gateway," she ventured.