Professionally Perfect

Chapter 24

Kimberly.

You know, I often wonder what my life would be like if I had never met Robert. My money is on depressing. Would I be with anyone? Would I still be living with my parents? Would I have still wound up murdering someone? Part of me says yes, yes I would have. I'm a firm believer that aggression gets the point across. Some people say violence is never the answer, while it has always worked for me. If you don't want to be hit, then don't do something foolish enough to earn a crack to the face.

A hand touched my shoulder causing me to jump. I spun around on my chair and pulled my headset off. It was Robert standing there with a small smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."

With a shake of my head, I insisted it was okay. "What's up?"

He chewed on his lip and looked down at the ground. His nervousness confused me. He took a seat next to me on the island and took my hand in his.

"Spit it out. You're scaring me." I snapped. He knew just how much I hated suspense. I always immediately thought the worse. Who wouldn't?

"You asked me a couple of months ago what Cole and I were so secretive about." He began, and suddenly I was excited. Was I about to find out? "Well, now I need to get involved and I don't want to upset you-"

"Robert."

"Yes, sorry." He took a deep breath. "Cole and I own a BDSM club." My jaw fell to the floor. Hell, I almost fell to the floor.

"Excuse me?"

"I think I should clarify-"

"Yes. Yes, sweetheart, I think you should."

"Cole owns it. He goes there. He deals with staff and things as such. I only really gave the money to fund Cole's project and helped Cole make decisions on decor. I haven't been there since opening night." Finally, he regained his confidence as an explanation flowed.

"Which was?"

"Exactly a year ago." My jaw tensed.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in through my nose. "And you didn't tell me?"

He shook his head. "I did not. And I should have, I'll admit. I just didn't know how you'd react. Besides, that night nothing happened. I was just there to see what my money had made. After welcoming everyone I left."

I stayed silent for longer than I'd like to admit. How am I even meant to react to that? It wasn't exactly on my top five list of topics I thought he wanted to talk about that afternoon. "What made you decide to tell me now?"

And then suddenly he was nervous again. "Today is its first anniversary... Ramsey requested I be there with him to make a speech."

"Will there be single submissives there?" Say no.

"Yes."

Wrong answer. "Then no. You're not going."

Robert took hold of the stool I was seated on and pulled me closer. "I was wondering if you'd want to come with me." Well, this was different.

"A kink club?"

"Yes. I know it's not your scene, and neither is it mine. But I thought maybe you'd feel more comfortable if you were there with me. Besides that, I thought maybe it would give us a chance to..." I already knew what he was asking of me.

"You want to try being rougher with me?"

He let out a breath. "I do. But-"

"Yes."