Dirty Dining Read online

  Readers love

  EM LYNLEY

  Bound for Trouble

  “There is nothing, more enlightening and enjoyable, than to read a story where all of your attention is consumed by the words on a page. EM Lynley has done that with this story…”

  —MM Good Book Reviews

  “With this intriguing cast of characters, Lynley has developed a great plot that keeps readers on the edge of their seats.”

  —Smoocher’s Voice

  “Bound For Trouble is the complete package, with ingredients for everyone: mystery/thriller/romance/BDSM/action lovers alike will all enjoy this book.”

  —The Novel Approach

  Out of the Gate

  “Once again, EM Lynley’s written a winner… I love this author’s way with creating a fully formed setting that’s nearly a character in itself, and making it absolutely real.”

  —Cryselle’s Bookshelf

  Spaghetti Western

  “…for me this book is the best in the series so far, I found it very interesting, funny in places, I even needed a couple of tissues for my tears.”

  —Rainbow Gold Reviews

  “It was a great, funny romance with some hot sex thrown in for good measure—enough to keep this reader up too late for her own good!”

  —It’s About The Book

  By EM LYNLEY

  Bound for Trouble

  Dirty Dining

  Disguises

  Hostile Takeover

  Out of the Gate

  THE DELECTABLE SERIES

  Brand New Flavor

  Gingerbread Palace

  An Intoxicating Crush

  With Shira Anthony: Lighting the Way Home

  Spaghetti Western

  PRECIOUS GEMS SERIES

  Rarer Than Rubies

  Italian Ice

  Jaded

  Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  Copyright

  Published by

  DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA

  http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Dirty Dining

  © 2015 EM Lynley.

  Cover Art

  © 2015 Ronaldo Gutierrez, Photographer

  Cover Design

  © 22015 Paul Richmond

  www.paulrichmondstudio.com

  Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

  All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/.

  ISBN: 978-1-63216-625-8

  Digital ISBN: 978-1-63216-626-5

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2014951648

  First Edition January 2015

  Printed in the United States of America

  This paper meets the requirements of

  ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

  To the memory of Bill Gay. You never knew how much you brightened many of my days, and I thank you for sharing your light. I know you’d love this story.

  With thanks to the researchers working in the field of HIV/AIDS. Someday we will have a vaccine and a cure. We’re closer every day.

  Acknowledgments

  As always, there are plenty of people who contribute to a book, some of whom may not even realize it. This time around special mentions go to Jennifer Walter, a reader and biology PhD who helped me understand the concepts and fixed things when I didn’t; to my editor Andi Byassee, whose expertise with university technology research helped make this story more accurate; and to first reader KT Hicks, who isn’t afraid to cut out the boring stuff. Additional thanks to betas T.H., E.R., and P.T.

  Chapter ONE

  “YOU EVER do any modeling?” The guy came up to Jeremy Linden in the gym locker room while Jeremy was drying off after his shower. Jeremy had noticed him checking out a few other men in the weight room and even at the pool while Jeremy was taking a breather from laps.

  “I’m not interested in whatever it is you’re offering.” Jeremy had heard these kinds of offers before. Friends had taken the bait, and it never ended well. No way he’d fall for the scam. It was never just “modeling.”

  “You could make some easy dough.”

  “I don’t need easy dough.” Jeremy opened his locker, but he didn’t want to take the towel off in front of this guy.

  “Sure you do. I’ve seen your car. Someone smashed into the side of it and you haven’t fixed it yet.”

  “Too busy,” Jeremy lied. Truth was he used the insurance money for bills, but he’d never admit as much to this guy.

  “Don’t you want to know what the job is?”

  “No.” Jeremy didn’t have time to waste. He grabbed his boxers from the locker, turned away from the guy, and bent down to step into them.

  “That’s all you’d have to do. Just take off your clothes and let people look at you.”

  “I don’t strip. No thanks. Emphasis on the ‘no.’”

  “Three hundred bucks for about two hours’ work, just to take off your clothes. Not stripping. You just remove one piece at a time. Five hundred if you let someone else take your clothes off for you. No other touching or funny business, unless you want. And that would pay extra.”

  “Get out of here before I call the front desk.”

  The guy held up his hands and backed out of Jeremy’s personal space. “Sure thing. Sorry.” He slid a hand into his jacket, and Jeremy braced for him to pull out some kind of weapon. All he had was a business card. “I’ll leave this, and if you change your mind, call me. The job’s on Friday night.” He put the card on the bench and left.

  Jeremy finished dressing quickly before the guy came back or followed someone else in from the gym. He was slinging his backpack over his shoulder when he glanced down at the card. More out of curiosity than anything else, he picked it up.

  THOMAS JERROLD

  THE DINNER CLUB

  415-555-1087

  He flipped it over, but the back was blank. Just a simple white card with raised black printing. For some reason the simplicity intrigued Jeremy more than anything the guy had said to him, so instead of tossing it, he jammed it into his pocket and headed out. He tossed the pack into the passenger side of his car, then walked around to look at the damage: the whole right side of the car was scraped and dented from someone opening their door as he drove by. He sure would like to get the damage repaired. He could already see a tiny telltale spot of oxidation, and even though the brutal Northern California rainy season was at least a month or so away, the exposed metal under the scraped paint would certainly begin to rust before he could afford to fix it.

  Maybe he could get more hours at the tutoring center. He’d ask about it tonight when he went to work.

  BUT THE center didn’t have any more students for him. They had plenty of kids who needed ma
th or writing tutors, but he only did biology and chemistry. He met with his one scheduled pupil, then went home to the apartment he shared with Doug, another grad student at Cal.

  Jeremy was starting the fifth year of a PhD in molecular biology, with a specialization in immunology. While other students in his department had a free ride thanks to government and NIH grants, Jeremy’s cutting edge research had won him a coveted fellowship from PharmaTek, a Silicon Valley biotech start-up working on an HIV vaccine. Jeremy’s work on VLP—virus-like particles—was potentially revolutionary and would help to bring their product to the testing phase and then to market more quickly than other approaches.

  He was proud to be part of such an important project. While the funding covered his fees and a generous research budget, his personal stipend barely covered the basics in the expensive Bay Area. There wasn’t a spare dollar for the unexpected, like a car accident.

  Well, he could just ignore the car. As he stared at it before going inside his apartment building, he thought he could see the rust spot growing before his eyes. Maybe he should just sell the damn thing and use his bike to get around. He’d long passed the point where he could ask his family for money. At twenty-seven he was supposed to be self-sufficient. He could try to get a loan from the university, or… he dug his hand into the front pocket of his jeans and pulled out the little white business card.

  Three hundred bucks just to take his clothes off? A couple of hours of being naked didn’t really seem so bad. He was in good shape. He cycled and swam. He’d even done a triathlon before his research ate into his training time. Nothing wrong in just checking out this Dinner Club. He was staring at the card when Doug, his roommate, came through the front door with a pizza.

  “Leftovers, want some?”

  Doug worked at one of the best pizza places in town, and even their leftovers were better than fresh pizza from almost anywhere else.

  “Sure.” For the next thirty minutes, Jeremy forgot about Thomas from the Dinner Club and concentrated on double-crust pizza with chicken, tangy tomato sauce, and marinated artichoke hearts. And they shared a few beers. By then Jeremy had already started working on his reading for class the following day and didn’t have time to google the Dinner Club. He’d research it tomorrow.

  Chapter TWO

  “EVERYONE, THIS is Jeremy.” Thomas introduced him to the other guys who would be working as serving boys at the Dinner Club that night, including one Jeremy recognized from the gym.

  “Hi, Jeremy,” they said in chorus.

  One slim blond guy with long bangs came up and gave him a not-very-subtle once-over and, before Jeremy could stop him, pulled his shirt out of his jeans far enough to get a good look at Jeremy’s abs. “Very nice.”

  “Just chill, Kit.” Another guy shook his head and tugged Kit away. “You’ll scare him off before dinner even starts.”

  Jeremy wasn’t thrilled with the grabby hands and hoped his client—whoever it might be—wouldn’t take liberties the way his fellow serving boys did.

  “Let me give you tonight’s assignments.” Thomas spoke up to get their attention over the ensuing chatter. Jeremy was glad since he noticed some of it was speculation about him.

  “Please let me have Mr. Gray.” Kit sashayed up to Thomas and tried to pull the clipboard out of his hand. The same law-abiding guy pulled him back.

  “Sorry, Kit. You’ve got Mr. Yellow.”

  “Oh, not so bad. I didn’t know he was coming tonight.” Kit grinned. “Or at least he will be,” he added in a singsong that had the others laughing.

  “We’ve one new client, Mr. Green.”

  “Let me have him!” It was another guy.

  “Sorry, Rand, I think you’re a bit too much for him. I can’t have any of you scaring him off either. I think Jeremy will serve Mr. Green.” Thomas nodded at Jeremy. “He seems a little shy, so maybe you two will be a good match.”

  “Okay.” Jeremy wasn’t sure if he’d been insulted or given an easy task. So far no one here seemed shy. But he needed to learn the ropes and figure out precisely what was expected of him as a serving boy.

  Thomas gave out the rest of the assignments. Each client had a color-coded name, reminding Jeremy of the Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs. He hoped like hell tonight wouldn’t end up the same way, with everyone dead or wishing they were.

  Once Thomas left, one of the guys came up to Jeremy. “I’m Rand. Been here the longest, so I’ll walk you through your duties. And if you’re not sure what to do, just ask me.”

  “Okay.”

  “First here’s your costume.” Rand handed Jeremy a box. “Open it up.”

  Jeremy opened up the flaps and pulled out the flimsy pieces. Some thin filmy fabric, gold cord and not much else. “This is a costume?”

  “Yeah. Every dinner has a theme. We’re Greek slave boys tonight. Tonight’s dinner has six courses, and there are six items in each costume. You take one off after you serve each course.”

  Jeremy swallowed. Well, Thomas had told him he’d be taking his clothes off. He hadn’t realized quite how this would work, but it seemed easy enough. “That’s it?”

  “You let your gentleman choose which piece you remove.”

  “Then I take it off, right?”

  “Yeah. Or if you let the gentleman do it, you get paid more.”

  “Just taking clothes off? No one’s going to put their hands on me or request a lap dance or expect me to suck them off?”

  Kit giggled in the background. “Only if you want to, pecan pie. And you may want to.”

  Rand shook his head. “You only do what you want. If your guy asks for something, you can say no. You aren’t allowed to offer anything, or we can get in trouble for soliciting sex. There’s a menu—coded of course—and the gentlemen can ‘order’ something extra. You just let yours know which menu items are available.”

  “What if I don’t want to do any ‘menu items’?”

  “No worries. That’s why Thomas put you with a new guy. The new guys don’t often feel comfortable enough for anything besides the basic dinner service: just serving, sitting with them, cutting their steak, whatever. Some want you to sit on their lap. It’s up to you. Thomas can usually tell what guys are going to want. They all have interviews to join, and he can figure out a lot based on what kind of questions they ask. Mr. Green is a guest of a member, but he’s been advised of the rules.”

  “Okay.” Jeremy wondered what Kit and Rand did on a normal night. He didn’t think he’d want to do anything to his “gentleman.” He could get through this one night and then see if he could stomach another dinner.

  “Don’t forget to tell him about nightcaps.”

  “Right,” Rand continued. “That’s spending the night with the guy. There’s a basic fee for the hotel room upstairs. You get half. And then whatever you decide to do in the room is entirely up to you. Even if you just hold hands. You negotiate activities directly with the gentleman.”

  “It’s optional?”

  “Yes. My God, you are a nervous Nelly, aren’t you? What do you think is going to happen? The guy’s going to tie you down and rape you in the dining room, then carry you upstairs for round two?”

  “Ooh, I hope so!” Kit trilled.

  “Knock it off,” another of them said and shrugged. “Don’t worry. It’s really easy, and it can be fun if you’re in the right mood. I’m Barry.” The guy held his hand out to Jeremy and they shook.

  “Thanks, Barry.”

  “Better get dressed.” Rand tapped the box and then headed over to a chair at a mirror across the room.

  Jeremy put the box down on the spot in front of his assigned mirror and pulled out the costume. It wasn’t much. He’d probably catch cold in it. But he could use three hundred bucks. It wouldn’t cover the car repairs, but if he did this four or five times, he’d have enough.

  He took his street clothes off, acutely aware of the stares of the other guys in the room, and reminded himself the job was letting other guys look
at him. He slipped on the sleeveless tunic, a sheer piece of fabric that left his arms completely free. Then he put on the bottom garment, which was nothing more than two thin pieces of white fabric attached to a gold mesh belt. The back panel barely covered his ass while the front left his dick and balls swinging free.

  He glanced in the mirror and moved around, realizing with every step or slight brush of air, just about everything was visible. The front barely reached past the end of his cock. He glanced around and realized the other guys were wearing equally revealing costumes, all of a similar theme. They were in slightly different cuts and colors, but all had gold or silver braid and mesh.

  The rest of his costume consisted of gladiator sandals, thin leather soles with thick gold braids that wound their way up his ankles and calves, and gold wristbands. He hardly considered wristbands and shoes as items of clothing and realized the goal was to get the serving boys naked as quickly as possible.

  “Forgot your headpiece.” Rand came by and settle a ring of gold leaves on his hair. “Do you want some shine or color?”

  “Makeup?” Jeremy glanced around to see the other boys with makeup brushes and eyeliner pencils. One guy was painting another guy’s nipples with something glittery.

  “It’s optional, but you can decorate yourself a little. It’s mostly food-grade stuff they use for cake decorating. Edible.” He grinned.

  “Makes your nipples nice and sweet.” Barry laughed and handed a brush and pot of pink glittery powder to Jeremy.

  “Just in case you let someone lick them.” Rand grinned, and Jeremy moved the edge of his tunic so Rand could paint pink sugar on his nipples. The brush tickled and he squirmed at the strange sensation. He watched the others getting ready and realized a couple of them had tubes of lube and butt plugs or dildos.

  Kit bent over, and another guy moved close, lubed up a few fingers, and slid one inside of Kit. What the hell? Jeremy stared. Several of the guys were lubing themselves or others up, sliding fingers and toys inside, stretching each other out.