Page 21 of Secret Submission

He laughed, which made her smile widen.

“That’s kind of how it was with me and Asad and Law. Then Q started hanging out with us, too.”

“You know, Law was laying down the law with me before this evening,” she said teasingly, making light of it, but she wanted him to know that Law had been concerned about him.

“Laying down the law?” He blinked, looking up in confusion.

“About you. He wanted to make sure that I treat you right.”

Unfortunately, her joke didn’t quite land the way she intended it to. Instead of laughing or being reassured about his friend, Connor frowned.

“He thought you would treat me badly? You’d never do that. He shouldn’t have said that.” The defensiveness in his voice surprised her. On one level, she was pleased because she was happy that Connor would defend her; on another level, she really had been joking and didn’t want to cause trouble between him and Law.

“He didn’t really think that. He’s just protective.” She raised her eyebrow at him, smiling, trying to keep it light so he knew she wasn’t bothered. “I believe you experienced a bit of that when I was getting notes from a secret admirer. And I certainly didn’t need his protectiveness then, either.”

That seemed to be a good comparison because Connor’s shoulders immediately came down as he relaxed.

“Oh. Yeah, he does get a little overprotective.”

“Of people he cares about? Absolutely.” She wasn’t sure if it was a direct hit, but she hoped it was. “He also seemed a little concerned because I reserved the shoe room for us tonight. It was the one that was open, but… just in case, do you have anything against shoes?”

Connor considered the question, chewing on his mouthful of steak as he did so. She took a bite of her own dinner while she waited for his answer.

“I don’t think so,” he said finally. “I’ve never really done much with shoes. Or feet. I don’t have anything against them.”

“Good.” Speaking of feet, she slid one of hers over to rub against the inside of his calf. Connor blinked and tensed again, but this time, it was the good kind of tension. “Then we’ll see where the night goes.”

They could experiment with her feet and his fingers.

9

Connor

Dinner with Mistress Julie was good, and it made getting alone in a room with her even better. They’d been texting regularly for the past week, but it wasn’t the same as sitting down and having a conversation over a meal.

He really did like her. Liked hearing her talk and, even more importantly, liked talking to her. Which wasn’t something he always did a lot of. But she was easy to talk to, and somehow, she kept drawing the conversation out of him. The only part he hadn’t liked was hearing how Law had given her a hard time.

Why Law would think that she wouldn’t take care of him was beyond Connor. More than that, he felt uncomfortable knowing Law had tried to tell her what to do. He didn’t really know what to do with that. Especially because he knew they were close friends as well, and he didn’t want to cause trouble between them.

Even with Julie’s reassurances, he still felt like he should say something to Law.

However, he had more important things to focus on right now.

He’d been in the shoe room before, but he hadn’t ever used any of the equipment. Tonight, there was also a large square frame taking up space in the center of it. The walls were lined with shoes, and on one end of the room was a throne that was actually a queening chair. Connor felt a little shiver go down his spine as he looked at it.

He'd always wondered what it would be like to be under that chair.

Was that what Mistress Julie was planning tonight?

Did he hope so?

“I was thinking tonight we’d maybe play with some foot worship, just to see how you feel about it, and then move on to flogging and… see where the night goes,” Mistress Julie said, her voice lilting up suggestively as she walked around in front of him, sauntering toward the throne.

The word ‘flogging’ made his skin tingle. Foot worship he wasn’t so sure about, but he was willing to try. He had a feeling he’d like just about anything, as long as he was doing it with her.

She sighed as she sat down on the throne. For the first time, Connor noticed there was a basin full of water at the base of it, just off to the side.

“I love these heels, but they do not always love me back,” she said as she lifted one dainty foot, examining the high heel almost mournfully. She looked up at him. “What do you think?”

---