“What can I get you?” The dim lights of the bar cast a gentle glow up into a friendly face framed by blonde hair chopped into a funky cut. She had the sort of face that instantly put one at ease with its softness.

“Whisky and ginger. A double.”

“Coming up.”

As the drink was poured, Max resisted the urge to wipe her damp palms on her jeans. She stepped up onto a stool and perched on it, safe in the no-touch zone. She was grateful that the club had such a simple method of communicating her intentions to others. She took a good pull on her drink as soon as it was handed to her, and the warmth of the whisky eased its way down her throat to her belly. After a couple of sips, she felt brave enough to look back to the room.

Near her, a dark-haired woman was on her knees in front of a blonde, her head bobbing up and down between the other one’s legs. With her head thrown back against the wall, the blonde’s gasps were audible above the music if Max listened hard enough.

Desire thrummed between Max’s legs, and she couldn’t help smiling to herself. At least one part of her had no confusion about why she was here. When she finished her whisky, she ordered another and continued to watch as a few more women arrived. Some walked straight through to the Blue Room—clearly identifiable by the small blue light above the door—and two others stayed in Green. Both immediately leaned up against the wall. The dark-haired woman who had minutes ago been tonguing the blonde got up and without so much as a backward glance, walked across to a new arrival wearing a short tartan skirt. The dark-haired woman shoved the skirt up, yanked the underwear down, and dropped to her knees. As she pressed her face into the newcomer’s pussy, Max’s mouth went dry again.

Was that what Max wanted? Quick, no foreplay, instant gratification? She wasn’t sure. That would be almost too clinical, too much like masturbating, really. All of her torment about the physical aspects of her relationship with Sue had been about the lack of connection, so surely that should be what she was looking for here, not just a quick-fire orgasm that she could have given herself back in her hotel room.