Emma was here, in this building, right now. The thought made me twitchy as if I couldn't sit still.

I'd seen her on the security cameras as soon as she showed up. Truth be told, I had waited in my office staring at the computer for her to arrive. Was that creepy? Maybe. But hell, I had to. What if she had changed her mind? I wanted to see it with my own eyes that she did come.

That night when I showed up at Gideon's nightclub, I shouldn't have talked to her; I shouldn't even have shown myself to her. I should have used the backdoor as I always did when I visited and kept me out of her way. I was planning on it too, but the thought of seeing her up close... I couldn't pass that up.

Like I'd suspected, she was even more beautiful up close. Something about her was so sensual; the way she talked, the way she moved... man, I had a hard time walking away after getting my drink. Her porcelain white skin teased the dominant in me, like a blank paper begging to be used and marked.

I could see right away that she was the perfect submissive, just by observing her. She was timid and gentle, making my protective side fight to get to the surface.

Her mouth was made for sucking cock; hopefully, my cock and my friends'. It was full and too tempting to look at; I wanted to bite it, and kiss it, and fuck it.

Though, it was her eyes that intrigued me the most. I could tell there were suppressed desires swirling inside her blue eyes; because of that, I wanted her to experience every single one of them.

After I learned where she worked and which college she attended, I didn't know what to do, so I decided to wait until I did. I still hadn't told Gideon that she worked at his nightclub or Mateo that she was a student at his college. Maybe I hadn't said anything because I was a selfish bastard. I didn't want the door of opportunity to slam shut and locked before we could even see if she was a good match for us.

It didn't feel great to hide something like this from my best mates, but what else could I do? They wanted her as much as I did, often asking for updates on getting Emma as a member– well, Mateo asked frequently, Gideon just grunted. But, if I told them what good would that do? They both would probably back off, being her boss and a professor at her college. Fuck that. For once, I let a yearning after something more cloud my judgment, and for now, I was okay with that.

"Has she arrived yet?" Mateo closed the door and walked over to where I sat, peering at the security tapes. I had been too distracted to even notice him coming in.

"Yeah, she's talking with Marcus now. Is Gideon coming?" My eyes were stuck on the top left video on the screen, which gave a live recording from outside Marcus's hall.

"He's outside taking a smoke," he answered before going to the bar and poured himself a drink. I shook my head as he indicated if I wanted one. "So, she works two jobs and studies? Damn, that's admirable." Mateo sat down on the couch, swirling his drink in the glass.

"And fucking unhealthy. If she was ours, she would never have to work again." I was strangely protective over her, having just met her. I only knew superficial things about her at this point; She had loving parents and no siblings. Grew up in Greenport, NY, and went to a community college forty-five minutes from her childhood home. She now lived in a small, unsafe apartment in Queens. Emma also shied away from social media; the last picture she'd uploaded on her Instagram was five years ago. And that was just some of the information I'd gotten from Thomas, my PI.

Mateo made a sound of agreement as he took a sip. "Sure, we would take care of her if she was ours, but she's not, at least not yet. So, how did you manage to get her here in the first place?" he asked as he relaxed even more into the couch, getting ready for the wait until Emma was done with her meeting. When that happened, we would make our move. Nothing too elaborate though, we didn't want to scare her off.

I hadn't given them many details except telling them she would be in today. "I called her."

His brows shot up in surprise. "You did? Don't you normally get Marcus to do the dirty work for you?"

"Normally, yes, but this isn't a normal situation. Marcus is great at his job, but he wouldn't take this as seriously as I do. In the end, I got her here. That's all that matters, right?"

"Yeah, that's true. So... what's the plan? How can we find out she's a good fit for us without scaring her away?"

"We'll just take it easy. I figured you'd talk to her tonight. She'll probably be nervous as hell and could use a friendly face." I hated it– I wanted to be the one to talk to her. Still, it was Mateo who could calm frightened people with his easy presence, and she would surely be somewhat skittish having just joined her first BDSM club.

Mateo looked happy at the idea of being the one to talk to her, and I could understand why.

Just as I was about to say something more, I saw Marcus's door opened from the security footage, and out walked a blonde-haired beauty.

"Looks like you're up," I commented, nodding towards the computer, so he knew what I meant. "And Mateo? Don't fuck this up."