Page 42 of Lukas

Damn it, he was right.

He brought her in for a kiss. “You like it when I tell you what to do because it allows you to turn that part of your brain off for a while. There’s nothing wrong with that. You like the bite of pain to bring out your pleasure. Nothing wrong with that either.” Another kiss. “Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good. Because the next time we have to go through this and you start considering yourself a freak, I’m going to blister your ass with a paddle and send you home the next morning with a huge plug and some particularly vicious clamps to remind you not to judge people just because they like purple lingerie.”

She couldn’t stop the smile that broke out. “Yes, sir.”

“Good. Now I want you naked in my bed in the next two minutes. I’m going to introduce you to the joy of a spreader bar tonight.”

And with that talk—and maybe a healthy dose of fear because Lukas always kept his word when he promised some sort of punishment—she’d started to accept the kinky aspects about herself. Wanted to explore more with Lukas.

But now more than anything else, she needed to get back to the club again, to the server room in Deeper Threat to collect and analyze the data her software patch had gathered. She just wanted that behind her, didn’t want it to even be a factor any longer in her relationship with Lukas.

Relationship? Was that even the right word? Even though they’d spent time together almost every day, they’d never once mentioned relationship.

Regardless, she didn’t want the evidence she was gathering to be a factor between them. Once she had the information she needed to clear her father’s name, she would replace the money her software had siphoned from the business accounts, and Lukas would never know she’d been inside his computer system.

She wanted it done.

Right now, she was getting dressed for dinner with her mother and Uncle Peter. It wasn’t the first invitation since she’d come back to New Orleans, but all the others she’d declined. She had no desire to pretend to enjoy herself over a meal with the man who was running her father’s business into the ground.

But her mother had insisted, and despite the fact that her head was in a bottle so often these days that Reina hardly recognized her, she couldn’t say no again.

Ten minutes into the meal, Reina realized her mother’s insistence that she have dinner had not been out of desire to see her daughter. As a matter of fact, Mother was almost too drunk to even recognize her, much less converse. She excused herself, leaving Reina alone with Peter.

He cut off another bite of his steak and chewed it, smugly studying her. He took a sip of wine.

“It’s good that Natalie is gone so you and I can talk business. I need you to get me a full face to face meeting with the Rinaldi brothers. We need them to buy the extended version of the software I’ve developed. Once they do, everyone else will follow.”

He really thought she would help him? “Peter, I know what you’re doing with the new software, and there’s no way I’m going to encourage them to give you further access.”

“Come now, Reina. I’m not trying to do anything but grow the company your father started.”

She took her napkin from her lap and wiped her mouth before standing. “Since Mother isn’t feeling well, I’m just going to call it a night. Goodbye, Peter.”

He stood with her, she thought in a rare show of politeness until he grabbed her arm as she walked by. “You will help me get that meeting.”

“You know what, Peter? I can’t help you, but I wouldn’t even if I could. Let go of me.”

He just squeezed harder, throwing her against the table. “Why should I let go of you? I’ve heard you’re Lukas Rinaldi’s new lay. That must mean you like to get slapped around and man-handled.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Actually, I have a pretty good idea of what everyone is talking about.” His fingers dug into her flesh. “That Lukas has some little slut on the side he never takes out in public. That he’s just using her for the sick fetishes he’s known for but doesn’t want to be seen with her.”

She knew Peter would say anything he could to get under her skin and manipulate her. She knew it. And yet… she couldn’t deny his words.

It was true she and Lukas never went out. They always just played at his place or hers. Hell, they hadn’t even gone back to Deeper Threat. She wasn’t a member, and he’d told her there was a process in order to become one.

That was the reason, right?

And they hadn’t gone out because they were both busy and had limited time together. They’d rather order take-out or cook themselves and spend hours feasting on each other than go out on the town.

Right?

They talked. Spent time together watching TV or reading the newspaper. But she had to admit, Lukas had never offered to take her anywhere on a date. Which hadn’t bothered her until now.

She hadn’t even seen him for the last three days. Business, he’d told her on the phone. She could understand—knew what it was like to have to push personal time aside to get a job done.

But was that what really had been happening, or had she been blind to the truth?

“That’s right,” Peter said, letting her go. “If you decide you don’t want to be the slut he’s ashamed to take anywhere, that you actually have some pride, let me know. We can cut the Rinaldi brothers down together.”

Reina turned and walked out the door.

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