Page 30 of Doctoring Dolly

Opening it, he frowned. Her bed was made. The room was neat as a pin. None of her clothes were laying out or piled on the floor. Stepping further into the room, he spied her bags sitting near the hall door. She was nowhere in sight.

Moving to the bathroom, he flipped on the light and saw that all her toiletries were gone. Except for the towels piled on the floor next to the shower door, it appeared as if she had never been here.

“So where is she?”

Stepping back into the room, he saw the glass door leading to the private patio was open. He marched across the room, stopping when he reached the wide opening.

Dolly was sitting at the small table on the patio, totally consumed by the notebook she was writing in. Her hand flew across the page, writing line after line, and flipping pages to a fresh one before continuing on.

Quincy retrieved the coffee cups from his room and returned. He moved silently as he crossed the patio and set the coffee on the table in front of her. Then he sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the table.

She did not look up, did not acknowledge him or the brew of the gods that he had set in front of her. She was thoroughly caught up in whatever it was she was writing. Should he leave her to it? Or should he interrupt and get the answers to the questions Derek had brought up during their hot chocolate and cookie talk the night before?

He decided to start by dragging her attention out of her book. “Good morning, pet.”

The pen continued on for several more words before she dropped a period at the end of a sentence then looked up at him. Her eyes were glassy and her expression vague. She appeared out of it, like she was not fully in this world. It almost seemed as if she was drifting in subspace, only without the sex to drive her to it.

“Oh. Hello. Good morning.”

Her words were fuzzy and she sounded as disoriented as she looked.

“Are you all right?”

Dolly blinked and her vision seemed to come into focus. “I’m fine. Sometimes it just takes me a minute or two to make reentry into the real world.”

Quincy found himself frowning as he sipped at his coffee. “I’m sure that makes sense to someone, but I’ll need a full explanation, and possibly more coffee.”

Dolly giggled and then saw the cup sitting in front of her. “Coffee? You brought me coffee? Oh, thank you!”

“It might be cold, but it took a few minutes to bring you back from wherever your brain took you.”

He watched as Dolly sipped at the cup, closing her eyes and making sounds that had his cock jumping to attention.

“It’s perfect,” she sighed before taking another, longer sip. “You could make someone a wonderful major domo if you’re interested in changing careers.”

Quincy chuckled at the suggestion though he was already leaning heavily toward his next career move. If he could talk her into making the change with him. Which brought to mind the conversation he’d had with Derek the night before.

Taking a deep breath, he said, “We need to talk.”

CHAPTER 17

The four words no one wanted to hear. Dolly took another sip, only this time her chocolate-laced coffee tasted like liquid ash and landed in her stomach like a ball of acidic lead.

“Talk about what?” she whispered as she dropped her gaze to stare at her notebook.

The cover was bright red and the words “You Can Do Anything” in gold on the front always made her smile and feel a little stronger. She’d found it at her local dollar store and after searching through a tall pile of them, ended up buying half a dozen. Not only did the cover make her feel like someone believed in her, the blank pages allowed her to scribble and diagram at will without worrying about staying between the lines.

“What do you do?”

Though she expected the question, the directness of it still caught her off guard. “Do?”

Quincy blinked and then took a breath. He looked frustrated, and a more than a little angry, though she did not understand why he would be.

“The residents, employees, and guests of Rawhide Ranch come here because Derek offers an unmatched level of privacy and security.”

“Uh-huh,” Dolly responded, not quite sure where Quincy was going.

“Why were you making notes about the Ranch and the people here? Are you planning to blackmail Derek? Me?”

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