Sadie Bloom shifted on her chair, sipped her virgin strawberry daiquiri, and took in the scenery.

The annual Halloween party and BDSM open house was in full, and though it was nearly midnight, showed no signs of slowing down. A round of demos had just ended, sending the crowd wandering back to the vendor booths to look at ball gags and zip ties and everything in between. The mummification booth was getting a lot of traffic, aided no doubt by the pair of very pretty submissives on display. Wrapped head to toe in cling wrap, they looked oddly like wax statues, only the strategic cutouts for breathing and fondling giving them away.

The woman had cutouts around her breasts and vulva, and the booth operator—her Domme—was encouraging curious passersby to touch. The other submissive had similar cutouts around his genitals, probably to give his testicles room. They were hanging lower than usual, thanks to the ball stretcher and weights, and his Dom was using a crop to tap at his engorged cock.

“Poor guy.”

Sadie grinned at her friend. Olivia was perched on the chair next to her, sipping her own virgin cocktail, her eyes glued on the mummification booth. Every time the crop hit cock, she winced.

“If the state of his dick is anything to go by, the ‘poor guy’ looks like he’s having the time of his life,” Sadie pointed out.

Olivia laughed even as she winced again. “He does, doesn’t he?”

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s not my thing either,” Sadie went on, “but far be it from me to yuck anyone else’s consensual, risk-aware yum.”

“I’ll drink to that.” Olivia tapped her glass against Sadie’s and pursed her lips. “What do you think Cade would do if I tried taking a crop to his dick?”

Sadie choked on her daiquiri. “Since when do you have a death wish?”

Olivia grinned. “He loves me too much to kill me.”

“True, but you probably wouldn’t sit down for a month.”

“That is very likely.” Olivia angled her head, her honey-blonde hair swinging around her shoulders. “Might be worth it to see the look on his face, though.”

“I think being blissfully in love has rotted your brain.”

Olivia sniffed. “You’re just jealous.”

Sadie slurped up the last of her drink. “You have a sexy man who loves you and does horrible, wonderful things to you. Of course I’m jealous.”

“He does the dishes, too.”

“You’re such a bitch.”

Olivia snorted out a laugh. “I take it things are not going well with what’s his name?”

“Who? Oh. You mean Paul.” Sadie set her empty glass on the table in front of her. “That’s not really a thing. He doesn’t even live in St. Louis. He just pops in every couple of weeks for work.”

“I thought that’s what you liked about him.”

Sadie leaned back and crossed her legs. “It is.”

“Do you ever get tired of dating guys whose most attractive quality is their absence?” Olivia asked.

“It’s not his most attractive quality,” Sadie protested, feeling for some reason as though she should defend the absent and lackluster Paul. “He’s fun in bed. Eats pussy like a fiend.”

Olivia made a vague sound and continued sipping her piña colada.

“He’s too passive, though,” Sadie went on. “Kinky, and enthusiastic, but too egalitarian. When I say ‘no’ or ‘stop’ during sex, do you know what he does?”

“What?”

“He stops.” Sadie flung her hands up, then let them fall. “Just…stops. I had to remind him that he’s not supposed to do that unless I use my safeword, but he can’t seem to help himself.”

“Ensuring consent is not a bad thing,” Olivia began.

“No, but still. Once I squealed, because he bit my neck while he was doing me from behind? And he stopped fucking me to ask if I was okay.”

Olivia snickered. “Damn, that’s awkward.”

“Right?” Sadie sighed. “He’s a good guy, but I think we’ve had all the fun we’re going to.”

Olivia reached over to pat Sadie’s knee. “I’m sorry if you are.”

“I’m not, really. I’ll miss the beatings, and the regular sex, but that’s why God invented vibrators.”

“What about the beatings?”

“Eh.”

“Eh?” Olivia’s eyebrows shot up. “What does ‘eh’ mean?”

Sadie shrugged. “I haven’t been that interested in playing lately. I’m…bored.”

“Really?”

“After a while all the spankings start to blur together, you know?”

“Um, no.”

“Oh, what do you know? You’re blissfully in love.”

“And my man is inventive,” Olivia said with a smug smile.

Sadie shook her head. “Such a bitch.”

“You know, maybe it’s not the spankings that are boring,” Olivia ventured.

“I know. It’s the men.”

“I don’t think it is, actually.”

“Surely you’re not suggesting I’m boring.”

“Not exactly.”

“Not exactly?” Sadie repeated slowly and narrowed her eyes in mock menace.

Olivia’s lips twitched, but her gaze was steady. “It’s kind of hard to have anything more than a superficial experience if you never let yourself connect with someone.”

“I connect,” Sadie protested.

“But do you let yourself be vulnerable?”

“I’m a single submissive,” Sadie said, trying not to sound defensive. “I have to be careful.”

“No argument,” Olivia said. “But if you want more than pickup scenes and fuck buddies, you’re going to have to trust someone.”

“It’s not that easy,” Sadie protested.

“I know,” Olivia said, a wealth of understanding in her hazel eyes. “I know it isn’t.”

“Shit.” Sadie blew out a breath. “How did we even start talking about this?”

“You said ‘eh’.”

“Well, I won’t do that again.” Sadie grabbed her empty glass, just to give herself something to do with her hands, and spotted movement at the bar. “I think you’re being hailed.”

Olivia turned to look. “Whoops. Guess my break is over.”

Sadie waved at Cade across the room as Olivia drained the rest of her drink. “It’s not a very imaginative costume, but he carries it well.”

“Doesn’t he?” Olivia plucked the glass from Sadie’s hand and rose. “We’re going to play pirate and wench later.”

Sadie considered Cade’s eye patch, billowing white shirt, and very tight leather pants. “Pictures or it didn’t happen.”

“Not a chance.”

“Party pooper.” Sadie stood to give her friend a brief hug. “I’m going to go find Nikki. I promised to be a friendly face in the crowd for her demo.”

“What’s she doing again?”

“Pervertables.”

“Oh, yeah. Cade’s bummed to miss that one. He was looking forward to getting some new ideas.”

“From what you’ve told me, I don’t think he needs any help in the creative Dom department.”

Olivia’s grin was both delighted and satisfied. “He really doesn’t.”

“All right, now you’re just bragging. Get out of here before I start to hate you.”

Olivia just laughed. “Give Nikki a good luck kiss from me.”

“Will do,” Sadie promised, and Olivia hurried away.

Sadie watched Cade greet his lover with an enthusiastic kiss and a smack on the ass. Ignoring the all too familiar twist of envy the sight invoked, she turned away from the happy couple to survey the room.

She didn’t see Nikki—no small wonder with so many people around—so she began to wander, enjoying the wide variety of costumes on display. She spotted a pair of slutty fairies wearing nothing but wings and pasties, a vampire in six-inch platform heels, an old-fashioned English bobby leading a serving wench in handcuffs, and at least three sexy nurses, one whose costume was completely see-through.

“I love Halloween,” she murmured, then turned when someone called her name.

She grinned with genuine pleasure at the man in black leather shorts and a harness making his way toward her. “Hey, Sam.”

“Love the costume,” he said, bending to kiss her cheek. “Wicked Witch of the East?”

“Slutty Witch of the Midwest,” she corrected.

“It’s great,” Sam enthused and flicked the wide brim of her pointed hat. “But I almost didn’t recognize you with so many clothes on.”

“I know, right?” Sadie looked down at her costume. Her dress was black, long sleeved and fitted, and opened in a deep vee from neck to navel. It fasted over her belly button with three tiny hooks before flaring open to flutter around her thighs. By vanilla standards, it was downright risqué—especially since the fabric was sheer, and the only thing keeping her from being totally on display were the pasties over her nipples and the skimpy G-string that had barely enough fabric to qualify as underwear. But since she usually attended play parties naked—or close to it—it was definitely a change.

“I feel like I’m wearing an overcoat or something,” she confessed. “And my hair feels funny.”

Sam gave one of her loose strawberry-blonde curls a tug. “Because it’s not in pigtails?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Exactly.”

“Well, you look great.”

“So do you,” she replied, looking him over. His summer tan was long gone, the black leather of the harness he wore providing a sharp contrast to the white of his skin. It showed off his lean build, and the thighs he’d built by riding his bike to work every day strained the leather shorts to their limit. He had close-cropped dark hair with streaks of silver at the temples, a clean-shaven jaw, and a hint of devil in his smile. “Love the harness.”

He ran his hands over it with obvious delight. “Me, too. Where are you off to?”

“I’m trying to find Nikki. I promised to be a friendly face for her demo.”

“Right, pervertables.” Sam nodded. “Colette was going to volunteer us for that, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get the night off.”

Sam’s job as an emergency room nurse kept him away from a lot of club events, especially since he’d switched to the night shift.

“How’s work going?”

“Bloody, stressful, and exhausting.”

“You love it.”

“Every minute,” he said with a smile. “I better go. I’m supposed to be fetching Colette a drink.”

She flicked a gaze over his shoulder at the bar, and the line that now wound halfway through the room. “If you can get Olivia’s attention, she’ll shuffle you to the front of the line.”

“I just might do that. When are we doing WWW again?”

WWW was short for Whine & Wine Wednesday, the semi-regular gathering of submissives she hosted in her apartment. “This Wednesday is Halloween, so next week?”

“I’m off that night, so it’s a date.” He kissed her cheek. “Don’t get into trouble at the demo.”

Sadie laid a hand on her chest and forced her eyes wide. “Who, me?”

“Yeah, you.” He flicked a finger down her nose. “And don’t bother with the Little Miss Innocent look, because I’m not buying it.”

Sadie wasn’t sure if she should laugh or be offended. “I do know how to behave in public, you know.”

“Except when you have a chance to annoy Jack.”

“I’m just being me,” she countered. “It’s not my fault he’s so easily annoyed.”

“Right.”

She narrowed her eyes at his grin. “Stop provoking me and go get your lady her drink.”

“Yes ma’am,” he drawled, and snorted when she crossed her eyes at him. “Be good.”

“Said the pot to the kettle,” she called after him, and took a minute to admire the flex of his ass in the leather shorts as he walked away.

“Sadie, there you are.”

Sadie turned with a smile for the very grown-up, very sexy Wednesday Addams hurrying toward her. “Hi, Rebecca. Great costume.”

“I need your help,” Rebecca said, ignoring the compliment, and grabbed Sadie’s hand. “Come with me.”