My Wicked Valentine (Club Wicked 1) Read Online Free Page A

her debts. She did not want to gain a reputation
as a planner who didn’t pay on time. The job with Mr. O’Keefe paid an advance
of one hundred thousand dollars cash for party supplies; that amounted to nine
times as much as she’d ever made on an event. It was a staggering amount of
money to her, a life-changing amount of money. If she took this job, she could
write all her vendors checks tonight, but at what personal cost?
    It wasn’t like she wasn’t trying to raise enough money on
her own. She labored all night at her parents’ restaurant as a waitress. Then
early in the morning, she’d wake up, head to her warehouse and begin working
the phones and Internet, trying to get word out there about her company. Then
there was the bill on her office in a seedy warehouse across town for the
quarterly payment for rent and utilities. The only way she could cover it would
be to sell the solid gold cross her parents had given her for her fifteenth
birthday, something that would break her dad’s heart.
    When she went to take another drink of the beer, she sighed
as nothing more than a few drops hit her tongue.
    Out of beer, out of money, and out of luck.
    The faint sound of her phone ringing came through the glass,
and she quickly ran back inside, hoping it was a new client. When she saw Mrs.
Florentine’s cell phone number, she snatched it up, eager to find out what the
hell her mentor had been thinking. “Hello, Mrs. Florentine.”
    “Lucia, I’m glad I caught you. How did your meeting go?”
    “It went great. Other than the part where Mr. O’Keefe said
that he wanted me to be his party planning sex slave.”
    Mrs. Florentine laughed, and Lucia gritted her teeth. “Did
he really say that? Those exact words?”
    “Did you really send me on a job interview to throw a
Valentine’s Day party for a BDSM club?”
    “Yes, I did. And I thought you would handle it better than
this.”
    “He wants me to be his slave!”
    “Did he say slave?”
    She leaned her hip against her kitchen counter. “No, not
those exact words. He wants me to be his subservient.”
    “Submissive?”
    “Yeah, that.”
    “Darling, he is hardly asking you to be a sex slave. He is
extending his protection to you within the club.”
    Her spine stiffened. “I don’t need anyone to protect me. I
know how to handle myself.”
    “I’m explaining this badly. Lucia, Isaac called me after you
left. He is very upset that you went away with the wrong impression and would
like to clarify a few things with you. Would you be so kind as to give him a
chance to explain?”
    Part of her wanted to give this a go, to see how far she
could take it. The other part said if she went around these people, she’d be
labeled a slut and someone who would have sex for a contract. Then again, when
she really thought about it, she didn’t give a fuck what other people thought.
They didn’t pay her bills, they didn’t live her life, and they didn’t have the
right to judge her.
    “Lucia?”
    “Yes, I’m here. Did Mr. O’Keefe clarify things to you?”
    “Yes, he did, but this is not high school. If you want to
know what a man has to say, you need to talk to him yourself.”
    Chagrined, Lucia sat in the faded mauve chair next to the
bricked-over fireplace and curled her feet beneath her. “Oh God, no, don’t put
him on the line!”
    “Lucia, just talk to the man.” Just the way Mrs. Florentine
said her name made her feel silly, like she was a flighty girl.
    “Okay, fine. I’ll talk to him.”
    “Good, here he is.”
    “Wait. What?” No, no, Mrs. Florentine couldn’t have called
her from his office.
    Oh God.
    “Hello, Ms. Roa. Sara, Mrs. Florentine, has left the room,
so our conversation is strictly between us. Please feel free to speak your
mind.”
    Isaacs’s smooth voice made her whole body tighten with a
delicious wave of desire even as embarrassment burned her face. “Hello, Mr.
O’Keefe, and thank you, I will.”
    “I’m so sorry about the