Page 76 of Never Let You Go

I wince.

“I mean, no offense, Christopher,” she says, her eyes on me, now, “but this is really not my thing. I’m just not cut out for this.” She’s lucid. That’s good.

Except, I have a lot riding on her apprenticeship, so I hope I can get her to pass the damn exam. “Right. And the little thing…”

“Well, you.”

Ouch. “I will have you know, there’s nothing little about me.”

She giggles adorably and kisses the bottom of my neck. “That’s not what I mean.”

“Regardless. I can’t wait to disappoint you.” I lightly stroke her back. Fuck, she’s back in my arms already. “There will be nothing little to focus on.”

A shiver runs through her, and she arches her back under my hand, rubbing her belly against my erection. “Yeah, I got that impression,” she whispers.

She is going to be lots of fun. I need to keep that in mind. Just fun. All good.

We only have half an hour left before my crew starts coming into work, so there’s barely time for us to straighten ourselves and the kitchen.

I lean into her to kiss her one last time, and the fucking bakehouse phone rings. It’s only five-thirty in the morning. I untangle myself from Alexandra and look up the caller ID.

“It’s Red Barn Baking,” I tell her.

The rosy glow she’d built up under my hands vanishes. She’s more than pale. She’s gray.

“Oh, no. He’s been calling my cell. I blocked him.”

A male voice announces himself as Edward Norwood. “Bring Alex Pierce to the phone.”

“Not happening.”

“What? Who the hell is this?” he barks.

I can tell Alexandra is straining to listen. I lock my eyes with her while I talk to the asshole. “This is her master.”

“Wright? Is that you, son?”

“Norwood, listen carefully. You are not to call Alexandra on this phone or on hers. You are not to contact her in any form during her stay here with me.”

“Fuck off.”

“For the duration of this apprenticeship, she’s entirely mine. You know it. I own her. You fuck off.”

I hang up. Alexandra’s colors are back. My hard-on is painful.

“What did he want?” she asks.

I close the space between us. “Don’t know. Don’t care. You heard me.” You’re mine.

She lowers her eyes and clings to the back of my neck.

“Will you tell me what’s going on over there?”

Her body tenses. “Y-yeah. Just not right now, please?”

There’s something that bothers me, and I’ll get to the bottom of it. She up and left a job she clearly loves, for a boss she clearly hates. Why does she put up with his shit? She could do the same job for a different company. A company that wouldn’t require her to go do a full-on baking apprenticeship.

It doesn’t make sense.

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