Page 52 of Taming Scarlet

“What about you?” Mae asked as she pulled out a mirror to swipe on more light pink gloss.

“What about me?” I asked.

“Any business ventures on the horizon?” she asked.

“Oh, well, I have my brand endorsements,” I said.

“But even if you are doing the best of the best, what is that… a million a year?” Leah asked. “Don’t you want more for yourself?”

I honestly hadn’t given it much thought.

Some part of me had been too focused on building my “brand,” even though my brand didn’t actually sell anything. Save for the items that I was paid to hock to my followers.

And, to an extent, I thought that bringing in any income was ‘good enough’ considering I didn’tneedto work.

Was that enough, though?

Should I have been striving for more?

I mean, I’d done what was expected of me all my life. I’d been a straight-A student all through school. I’d gone to college like my father demanded.

After that, though, I’d just wanted to… live a little.

That’s what I’d been doing.

I figured there was still plenty of time to sort out my future.

“Whoa, okay. Didn’t mean to give you an existential crisis. Come on, let’s not talk about life stuff. Let’s talk about fun stuff,” Mae said.

“Yeah, like Mr. Yummypants up there,” Leah agreed, pressing a hand to her heart. “How do you stand having him in your place all the time without jumping him?”

Because, apparently, he doesn’t want to fuck me.

I couldn’t say that, of course.

“He’s… very serious,” I said.

“Yeah, but that’s the best part,” Leah agreed. “Seeing him lose control.”

“I’m not sure if Julian is capable of losing control,” I admitted.

“Well… we will see about that, won’t we?” Mae asked as Eric pulled up to the curb of what looked like a dive bar.

“Really? Here?” I asked, frowning.

“It’s a secret,” Leah said, grabbing my hand, and pulling me with her onto the street, through the dive bar, into the back alley, then toward a really sketchy set of steps that led down below ground level.

I couldn’t help myself, I glanced back, wanting to make sure Julian was still there, that things would be okay if this was as sketchy as it looked.

He was no more than five feet behind, his gaze on me.

At my look, he gave me a nod.

Encouraged, I let Leah and Mae pull me to a big steel door with one of those old speakeasy windows.

Sure enough, when Leah knocked, it slid open.

“Octopus,” Leah said, and the window slid shut for a second before the door slid open.

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