“I don’t do drugs.” She heard a note of pride in his voice.

“I’ll get you a medal. Now...welcome to my Wonderland.” Throwing open the door, she took a step back and let Dante in first. Newbies to the dungeon were usually a little surprised at the sight that greeted them. Dante was no different.

“This doesn’t look like a dungeon. It looks like a bedroom. A nice bedroom.” He nodded his approval at the king-size, four-poster bed, layered in red-and-gold brocade sheets and pillows, the oil lamps, the erotic art on the walls. “No whips and chains?”

“Plenty of whips and chains. That’s behind door number two.” She led him past the bed and into the second room of her suite.

“Oh, fuck.” His eyes went wide as dinner plates as he took in the view.

“I don’t fuck on the clock,” she said, giving him a sly wink. “That’s a St. Andrew’s Cross. I put people on there to flog and whip them. Among other things. I’ve got the hospital bed over there for my medical fetishists. That’s a rack. The throne is a lot of fun for bondage.”

“That’s a coffin, right?” Dante pointed to the far wall.

“Yeah, I have some clients into sensory deprivation. I don’t even think it’s sexual for those guys. I think they just want to be left alone. Anyway, they come in, I put them in the coffin, I sit and read a book. They get out an hour or two later, happy as clams. Easiest grand you could ever make.”

“Nice. I don’t get the pain thing. I mean, I’m covered in tattoos but they hurt like hell and no part of me was turned on during the process.”

“Well, you’re not a masochist. People like pain for a lot of reasons. I have clients who suffer from chronic pain and getting a good full-body flogging helps their body produce more adrenaline and other pain-fighting hormones. I have some clients who can’t get aroused unless you hurt them first. One’s a cop. One’s a doctor. Takes all kinds.”

“I guess so. I mean, it makes sense. I know some musicians who really can’t perform unless they’re on drugs. They need the rush.”

“I’m a lot easier on the body than coke. Not all my clients are into pain, though.” She turned off the lights in the dungeon and returned to the bedroom. “I have some male subs who are nothing but subs. They just want to take orders from a woman. They come here and worship my feet and fetch things for me and masturbate for me.”

“So you can be kinky and not like pain?”

“Oh, yeah, I know a lot of female subs especially who love submitting but don’t hurt. Their Masters or Mistresses will tell them go suck some stranger’s cock and you’ll think they just won the lottery. You get a flogger near them and they curl up in the fetal position and cry.”

“Weird. I thought all kink was, you know, the whips and chains.”