Rebecca sat in the booth in the back of the diner with her cappuccino. Her laptop was up and running and, while she sipped her coffee, she was looking for jobs online.

I really don’t want another office job, or worse, serving in some restaurant, dammit!

Her mind drifted and she looked out of the window, not really seeing anything, lost in thought. She absentmindedly picked up her cup and took another sip. Her gaze zeroed in on a man that walked by the window.

Wow, nice ass!

Rebecca looked him over. Tall, golden blond hair, muscular, suntanned arms, wide shoulders, corded neck. Really well-built. Damn, he’s hot! She almost started to drool.

Let it slide, Becca. Not for you. Rebecca sighed. She’d given up on dating. For now. First, she needed to get her life sorted again. She stared at nothing in particular and thought about the last couple of months.

She had handed in her resignation a few months earlier to start her own coaching practice. That had been quite the decision to make, considering she’d had a really good job as an office manager. Her income had been enough to make a nice living. But after ten years, she had gotten fed up with it. She’d seen it all, done it all. Her heart was no longer in her work. She wanted to do something else, something completely new. The safety of her job had turned into a confinement and the need to break free had grown and grown, until she couldn’t ignore it anymore.

Thank goodness she had saved through the years, so she could tide herself over for at least six months. If she was frugal.

Being as smart as she was, she had started working on her practice while she was still employed. She had set up a website and found a nice place where she could rent space to work from for a very reasonable price. When she had done all the prep work, she had handed in her resignation.

Her practice was picking up all right, but she didn’t have enough clients yet to make a living off it. The best thing to do was to find temp office job before she depleted her savings account.

“Mind if I join you?” A deep, low voice asked, clearly addressing her.

Rebecca looked up into the bluest eyes she had ever seen. Mr. Nice Ass. Oh, my goodness!

Her cheeks heated.

Get a grip, Becca! You’re forty-two, for God’s sake!

She opened her mouth to answer him, but no sound came out. She cleared her throat, his piercing eyes on her. She almost cringed. They seemed to bore right through her, and made her feel as if she’d bared her very soul to him.

“Sure, go ahead,” Rebecca replied and quickly turned her gaze to her laptop, pretending to read something.

Why the heck does Mr. Gorgeous have to sit here? There were plenty of empty tables—the diner wasn’t all that busy. And why did he make her feel so goddamned awkward?

She tried to focus her attention on the job site, but somehow it didn’t work.

“So, what is a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?” His deep voice cut through her jumbled thoughts.

“Wow, that’s not very original!” Rebecca blurted, and looked up to meet his gaze. His lips curled as he gave her a sexy smile, and she blushed again.

Mr. Gorgeous leaned forward, holding her with his eyes.

“Oh, trust me.” He had lowered his voice as if he was telling her a secret. “I can be very original.”

She so wanted to avert her gaze, to break free from his hypnotizing blue eyes, but found she couldn’t. A slow heat crept up from her neck, all the way to her hairline. She had to be a crimson red now.

So much for being a mature woman, coaching people and giving them dating and relationship advice. Some coach I am! This guy had swept her off her feet with just one look and a few words. How the hell did he do that?

“Can I tell you a secret, Miss…?” he asked.

“Rebecca,” she answered automatically.

Dammit. Now he knows my name. How stupid am I, exactly? Manipulated by someone’s good looks and strong eyes. He was probably some perv. But she sensed he wasn’t. He didn’t look like a freak. His clothes, haircut and the cologne she smelled screamed money. Of course, rich bastards could be pervs just the same, but her gut told her he was a good man. And so far, her intuition had rarely let her down. He did, however, intimidate her tremendously, so she had to try to get rid of him. Fast!

“I’m sorry, but I’ve got to get back to work now. Nice meeting you,” she said, fully aware she was being rather rude, and without waiting for him to reply, she dropped her gaze to her laptop again.

His soft laughter irritated her and she looked up at him and glared. Amusement flickered in his eyes and she couldn’t help but smile.

“Tell me why you can’t take a break from that laptop for five minutes?” he asked softly.

And before she knew it, she was telling him her story, about quitting her job and starting her practice. How the heck he managed to wangle all that information out of her, she did not understand. She knew coaching techniques and how to get people to talk—she used them herself in her work. This man had gotten completely under her radar.

But it was good to talk to him. Really good. She hadn’t even realized she had needed someone to talk to, someone who’d listen and understand. And he did both.

While she was talking, he took her in. He had seen her a couple of times before in the diner, and somehow, she had caught his attention. He wasn’t quite sure why, but he never ignored instincts, and his instinct had drawn him to this woman. Being sensitive and intuitive, he was prone to picking up people’s vibes wherever he went. As the owner of a posh BDSM club, his intuition often came in handy to assess situations and people. And as a Master himself, he could easily listen to what someone was telling him and pay attention to body language at the same time, without missing what was being said. Which came in handy now.

As he listened to her story, he looked at the chocolate-brown, wavy hair, the thick, long eyelashes and stunning hazel eyes in a heart-shaped face. A beautiful small nose that turned up a tiny bit at the tip and full lips that begged to be kissed. Or put to work elsewhere on a man’s body.

Having seen her before, he knew that she had a good waistline, a slight curve to her lower belly, round hips and a seriously nice ass. Gorgeous tits, too. He guesstimated she was around forty years old, but her breasts still looked firm and full. She was a stunner. A nice, soft woman who he was sure he could get to moan under his hard body.

His cock pulsed to life at the thought. He was forty-four and had a preference for women her age. Mature, sexually at their peak, and usually far more confident than their younger counterparts, both in and out of bed.

He reacted to something she said, and asked her, “So, what kind of job are you looking for, Rebecca?”

She nibbled on her full bottom lip and seemed to think about her answer for a second.

“I’m not quite sure. Not the typical boring office job or waiting on tables,” she said, frowning. Then her face brightened. “I want something with a challenge.”

“I might have just the job for you!”

Rebecca looked up, surprise clear in her eyes. He smiled at her.

“I’m looking for someone with people skills, who can be trusted with confidential information, has administrative skills, and can easily shift from one task to the next when the situation calls for it. Someone with a brain.”

He chuckled when interest piqued in her eyes.

“What kind of business do you run?” Rebecca asked.

“A BDSM club.”

She was dumbfounded. BDSM? He’s a Master? No wonder this man is so…overpowering!

One corner of his mouth turned up.

“I take it you’re not familiar with it?” His eyes held something she couldn’t quite grasp.

“Y-yes, but… N-no, but… I mean…” she stammered. “I’m not going to be your slave!”

He threw back his head and laughed, a deep, sexy laugh that made her insides stir.

“Have I said something funny?” she raised her chin, slightly embarrassed. This was definitely turning into the weirdest conversation she’d ever had. Thoughts of a sleazy club came to mind, and her running around in skimpy clothing, a fat bastard Dom chasing after her with a whip. No way! Or this man chasing after her. This strong, fit man would easily take her down and…

An electric current shot through her core at the thought of what would follow.

She looked at him again. If his club was anything like the owner, it would be far from sleazy. The man sure as hell had style, and by the looks of things, plenty of money to go with it.

His gaze was warm and reassuring when their eyes met again.

“I’m not looking for a slave. I need someone who can help out to keep my club running smoothly. So, you’d have to answer phone calls, run new membership applications by me, look after membership payments, that kind of thing. And you’d need to work behind the reception desk during club nights. And with the nature of the club in mind, confidentiality is of the utmost importance,” he explained. “That does mean that if you accept, I will have you checked out before I hire you.”

Rebecca was seriously interested now. She wasn’t up for a boring job and this sounded great. Variety, meeting people, a bit of office work, and the buzz of a BDSM club. Sexy. Maybe this would be the miracle she’d prayed for.

They discussed some more details and he answered all her questions.

“Think about it for a few days. Call me when you’ve made a decision. I’d need it before Friday next, though,” he said and gave her a smile. Then he stood and handed her his business card. It read Club Serenity in gold relief print.

“Okay, thank you.” Rebecca smiled back at him. “Oh, wait. I don’t even know your name.”

“Master Kyle.”

Work at a BDSM club, oh, my God! Talk about synchronicity in life.

She had been in a BDSM relationship for a few years, but when it had started to go sour, the BDSM had ended up on the back burner. She had lost trust in her then partner, and without trust one couldn’t engage in BDSM games. That just didn’t work.

She hadn’t been involved in BDSM for five years now. Every now and then she missed it, although she wasn’t quite sure if she really needed or even wanted it in her life again.

In retrospect, she knew that her ex, who used to be her Dom, hadn’t really known all that much about BDSM. He hadn’t been as experienced as he had made out to be. She had instinctively felt this, even though she had been new to it all herself. Her instinct had kept her from completely submitting to him. Something deep down had made her want to keep her wits about her so she could monitor what he was doing to her—meaning she hadn’t really trusted him. The times he had wanted to use nipple clamps or ropes around her breasts had made her uncomfortable. She had been scared he’d leave them on for too long, afraid her body would get damaged. A couple of times, he had let her down emotionally after a scene, as well. That had hurt, and ruined the bit of trust she’d still had in him.

In hindsight, she’d probably ended up topping from the bottom a lot. Had that been because of her sassy nature or not trusting her Dom? She wasn’t sure.

Regardless of what had happened, she had never completely lost interest in BDSM. Occasionally she checked a BDSM dating site, and sometimes she read love novels on the subject.

Reading about it all, floggings, whipping, butt plugs, Doms and Masters, always turned her on tremendously. Every time, her pussy would dampen and need would smolder in her core. Sometimes she craved being a submissive, having a Dom or Master. She had enjoyed many of the things she had done and received as a sub.

Rebecca had been the bratty kind of sub. Not always—sometimes she had craved to serve her Dom—but the vibe between her and her ex simply hadn’t been right. In a way, she felt that she had never gotten to fully explore her submissive nature. And that side still intrigued her. Her inner sub was still alive, even though it lay dormant most of the time.

But she hadn’t a clue if she could still submit to a Dom or Master. Even though she had come a long way since her last relationship, she had gotten hurt badly. Both the sub and the woman in her had gotten damaged by her ex. And the bastard had broken her heart. Rebecca really didn’t know if she could ever trust another man again, another Dom, with her heart, body and soul.

Now Mr. Nice Ass, Kyle, no, Master Kyle, had come along and offered her a job at his BDSM club. How peculiar is that?