Page 14 of Releasing Reenie

“Thank you, Mistress. It hurt, but…” I heard the grin in her voice when she continued, “It felt good. I think I needed that.”

“Good.” I walked around and knelt down in front of her to uncuff her hands. Before I did though, I wiped the sheen of sweat from her brow, and tucked her hair behind her ears. “Thank you, sweet girl. I needed that too.” I pressed a soft friendly kiss to her forehead then went to work on the restraints.

“If it’s not too forward, Mistress…” Luna’s voice was a soft whisper, and her gaze sought mine, looking for permission, which I granted with a nod.

“Go ahead.”

“I could tell, you were in a rare form tonight. Are you okay? Do you feel better? Did you get what you needed? Because if not, I could probably go again, after a bathroom break and some water.”

I shook my head with a soft chuckle. “You can have both of those things, as well as some arnica for your bottom. You may not be feeling it right now, you’re probably numb, but trust me, you will be soon.”

Her eyes clouded with evident relief, Luna nodded. “Yes, Mistress.”

“And to answer your questions, yes I do feel better. And yes, I think I’ll be okay. Today was just…” I pursed my lips, not quite ready to talk about Trent or our history yet. “It’s a long story.” The kind that needed to be told over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, with a shared meal or a decadent dessert, not the kind of story you told while one was strapped to a spanking bench. Unloading my problems was not a form of aftercare.

I went around to both sides, undoing her ankle restraints, then came back around and helped her to stand on shaky legs. “One I might share another time.”

I walked her over to the aftercare station and handed her a bottle of cold water and a small bar of chocolate, then grabbed a tube of arnica. Lowering to my haunches behind her, I massaged it into her torn up skin.

When I was finished, I helped her back into her outfit, if it could even be called that, and gave her a hug. I was feeling so much better already, and almost ready to face Trent.

“Thank you,” I whispered, pressing my face close to hers.

“Anytime. You sure you’re good?”

Pulling away, I nodded. “Let’s get coffee in a couple days. I’ll tell you all about it.”

She nodded, gave me one more squeeze and skipped away, giving an extra sway of her ass when she passed Drake on her way out of the Dungeon. I finished cleaning up the station, then left, shooting Drake a knowing grin when I walked out. Someday those two needed to get together, and I hoped I’d be around to see it. The fireworks would be epic.

For now, I had to go deal with some fireworks of my own.

CHAPTER 9

Maureen

“You’re slippery,” Trent said when I finally made my way back to the cafe where he’d likely been waiting for close to an hour. “Of course, I already knew that.”

Blush rose up my cheeks unbidden at the reference to the absolute worst thing I’d ever done to someone. I’d honestly always regretted my actions that night, and over the past few years, I’d worked on not being anti-confrontational to such an extreme level. I’d learned to stick up for myself, and express my feelings, regardless of who they might unintentionally hurt, accepting they were my feelings, and I was entitled to them.

So yeah, I felt bad, but I also had no patience for letting him hang it over my head and bring it up with sharp little digs every chance he got.

I shot him the most decimating death glare I could and turned down the hall. “Ready for the tour? I don’t have all night, so keep up.”

“Oh, the bossy side comes out.” I wasn’t looking at him, so I couldn’t see him grinning, but I could hear it in his voice. “Ilike it. Not my kink though. I prefer my woman a little more… compliant.” He caught up to me. “A little more submissive. Funny, I would have sworn you fit into that category way back when. Guess you set me straight on that, huh?”

Another little dig. I gritted my teeth. The stupid thing was, he wasn’t mean about it, and though I was annoyed, I wasn’t angry. There was something about Trent that made him really hard to hate, and as much as I might really, really want to, I didn’t hate him, not even a little bit, not even at all.

I scowled as the line from one of my favorite old movies,Ten Things I Hate About You, popped into my head.

Turning to Trent, I tried to change the subject. “How long have you been here?” I hadn’t heard of a new professor on campus before yesterday, and often things like sexy new staff members made it around campus and the Ranch itself pretty quickly. All the Littles and subs would have surely noticed how hot he was. How could they not?

“I’ve been here… about two weeks. I was supposed to be here earlier, but my youngest niece had a fall from the treehouse and her broken arm required surgery. She wanted Uncle Trent to stay with her after, so I did.”

I nodded. The new semester had only started two weeks ago, so that made sense. “What… erm… what brought you to Rawhide? Why did you leave Columbia?”

“Why didyou?” he countered.

The jerk. He knew he was the reason. Still if he wanted to play games, we could play games. I shrugged. “Rawhide is kind of irresistible, and Derek made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

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