Page 13 of Forfeits

“How interesting.”

I ran a hand over my forehead, glad that the heavy emotions that had come over me seemed to be dissipating.

“Yeah. I mean, we had a moment.”

“What kind of a moment?”

“Well, we looked at each other. And…I mean, there were fireworks…at least on my end. I think…maybe on his, too.”

She sat back in her chair, contemplating.

“I definitely think those events had an impact and probably led to the dream you had.”

“Yeah.”

She didn’t say anything for a long moment. She simply watched me. Finally, she said, “It’s good to remember things.”

I felt the emotion start to rise again, but I pushed it down.

“Yeah,” I said, focusing on the clock on the wall. “It feels…good to talk about it with someone.”

“I understand that certain subjects can be scary. I want you to know that my practice is very kink positive. I should have told you before.”

I nodded. “Thank God.”

She smiled. “Thank whoever you want. I’m glad you trusted me enough to share that.”

The relief of letting her know about my dream and about that part of my life with Daniel, was welcome.

“Okay, so…now what?” I said. “What do I do about it?”

Jinta raised her eyebrows and shrugged. “Well, I guess you’d better find someone to get kinky with. Maybe you already have.”

I blushed and cleared my throat. “Do you think I’m ready for that?”

She shrugged again. “There’s only one way to find out.”

I stared at her, hope lifting for a second, then plummeting. “It’s not that easy.”

“You’ll never know if you don’t try.”

Chapter Three

Flirting

“So that was what I was thinking, honestly. If I go through it a few times and I still can’t figure it out, do you want to have an in-person meeting?” I asked my client, who was on the other end of my connection. I happened to glance at the clock on the kitchen wall and realized I had to pick up Lucy at school. Usually she took the school bus, but she had a project that she wanted to bring home and didn’t want to risk it getting damaged.

“I’m so sorry, but I have to go, Louise. I’ll send you an email with my thoughts on this tomorrow morning,” I said.

“No worries, Fletcher. That’s perfect.”

I hit End and shoved my phone in my pocket, grabbing a ginger cookie from the plate on my way past the kitchen. I ate it in two bites, trying to remember if I’d had lunch. The dogs watched me with tails wagging as I waved to them and headed out, setting the touch-panel lock.

I didn’t like going to the school at pick-up time. There was so much traffic, with students of all ages walking and running around. People brought their dogs. It was a shit show. So by the time I parked the car, I was frazzled but relieved to get out and find Lucy. I couldn’t see her anywhere, so I thought maybe she was still inside.

There was a tug on my sleeve. I turned around, expecting a child and seeing tan pants and adult-sized classic Vans. My gaze drifted up and landed on Aiden’s attractive face.

“Hey, there, Lucy’s Dad,” he said, his beautiful smile lighting up his features.

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