Page 28 of Releasing Reenie

“Ever since Porter’s Perk opened I’ve been dying to try it. The bakery in town is good, but I’ve been dying for a proper mochachino for ages.” As if to punctuate her statement, she waved at the barista, took another sip and showed him how her eyes rolled back.

“So how’s Drake?” Holding my cup with two hands to warm them, I watched my friend’s eyes narrow.

“We’re here to talk about you, girl, not Drake. Besides, how would I even know, it’s not like we hang out.”

The way she said his name was telling but I also knew I’d never get anything out of her about him when I’m being secretive about my own shit.

“Fine, fine. But you better believe your ass is mine if we don’t have a date in a few weeks with your heart the one under the magnifying glass.”

“Oooh, heart talk.” Her brows wiggled. “Spill, bitch, spill.”

“I’m…” I roll the words around in my head, wondering how to say them without causing Luna to do a gymnastics routine around the room. “I like someone. And it’s a different kind oflikethan I’ve experienced before.”

Luna leaned in, licking her lips. “Hm, I’m listening.”

I gathered a breath while I mustered the courage to go on. Fiddling with the lid of the cup, I blurted, “I’m having fantasies.”

“Fantasies are good. What’s so different about that?”

I looked around the room. It wasn’t empty but wasn’t full either. The line for takeout was long, but it was on the other side of the room, so we were in a relatively private spot.

“They’re submissive in nature.”

Luna slapped the table so hard one of the cookies jumped from the cardboard plate and cracked in half. I scooped it up and shoved a chunk of it into my mouth so she couldn’t force more out of me before I had a minute to consider how to continue.

The cookie was distractingly good, or would be in any other circumstances, but nothing could deter my mind from the trajectory it was on.

“I’ve never fantasized about being submissive to someone before, but this guy… he’s… I don’t know.” I shrugged. “He’s not like anyone else. And we have a past.”

Luna, practically salivating, wiggled impossibly closer. “Is he perhaps the guy you’ve replaced me with as your running partner?”

A wave of guilt flashed through me, until I remembered she’s the one who’s been busy lately.

“It’s that new professor, isn’t it?” She pointed at me. “I heard you’d worked together before.”

I chewed my lip, wondering if I should even say. It’s not that I couldn’t trust Luna to keep things between us, but if she knew outright who it was, she might start playing matchmaker, and I couldn’t handle that.

“It doesn’t matter who it is. The problem is, I’m not submissive. It’s the reason our attraction didn’t work the first time.” I looked away because she latched onto my words like a hungry dog to a bone.

“The first time?” Her voice rose in pitch.

I groaned. “Yes, three years ago. We worked together.” I gave her a warning look so she knew not to proceed with questions pertaining to that.

“We’d flirted for months and he finally asked me out and—” I blew out a hard breath, focusing my attention on the other halfof the cookie on the plate. Grabbing it, I broke off another piece and popped it into my mouth. It tasted like sawdust this time.

“And?” she prompted, sounding impatient.

“And it didn’t go well.”

“How?” Luna picked up the other cookie and took a bite, settling in as if the story was going to be epic.

“He told me he liked me, felt a real connection with me, but before things progressed, he wanted me to know he was a Dominant, a Daddy Dom actually. And he was looking for a submissive woman, even if only in the bedroom.” I shifted in the chair, embarrassed about my next confession. “I liked him and it was disappointing and I kind of freaked out…” My words trailed off.

“Freaked. Out.” Her eyes narrowed. “Freaked out… how?”

I grimaced. “I went to the bathroom, climbed out the window and never saw him again.”

She leaned back in the chair and held her hands up. “Wait, wait, what do you mean you never saw him again? Didn’t you work together?”

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