Page 10 of Releasing Reenie

And I had no desire to keep torturing her, at least not in public, so I pasted a full smile on my face and said, “We’ll have tocatch up. You look well, Maureen. Clearly Rawhide agrees with you.”

If she were being polite, she’d have said that I looked well too, and returned the compliment in some form or another. Instead, she said, “It took me a minute to recognize you, Trent. It’s been years.”

“Yes, I’ve changed a bit,” I replied, rubbing my close-cut beard. “You haven’t changed at all, Maureen. You look as young as ever, like you could still scale a wall and climb out a window without breaking a sweat.”

She blushed at the clear reference to our last fateful meeting. And I took satisfaction from it. Derek looked perplexed.

“A training exercise,” Maureen clarified. Or rather clarilied.The nervous laugh that followed her statement aggravated me but somehow also charmed me. I liked her nervousness. And knowing she was a Domme here, but seemed off-kilter with me, well, that was like applying gas to an already hot fire.

“Huh, very well. Perhaps we should do some of them,” Derek said, suddenly distracted. “Trent, since you and Maureen already know each other and she’s been a regular in the Dungeon, she’d be the perfect person to show you around.”

Maureen’s eyes crashed into mine, and her mouth dropped open slightly. I itched to reach forward and close it with a finger to her chin. This was getting better and better by the minute.

“That sounds good to me. It’ll give us a chance to catch up, Reenie.”

Her throat worked with my words, and her eyes widened when the name hit. Such a cute subbie name for her. It wasn’t until she straightened that I saw just how much I’d gotten to her.

“I go by Maureen now, Trent.”

Oh, the firm tone and expression she attempted fucking delighted me. “Of course, I’ll try to remember that. Old habitscan be hard to break though, so please excuse me for the occasional faux pas.”

Her jaw shifted sideways. “Do your best,” she ground out, making Derek’s brow furrow.

“Everything okay here?” He looked between us.

I shrugged. “Yes, fine as far as I know.”

“Is there something I need to know, Professor Stahlbaum?” Master Derek asked, his voice taking on a tone he might use with a student who was withholding information.

“Not at all,” she replied, this time sounding relaxed.

“Okay. Good. If that changes, I need to know.” Again his gaze bounced between us before he cleared his throat and said, “Now if you’ll excuse us, Trent, Maureen requested a private word with me.”

“Certainly,” I replied with a wide smile. “You’ll come get me for that tour when you’re done, Maureen?” I really should have taught drama with how well I played innocent.

She nodded, and it was clear that she was going to try to find some way out of it. “Fine.”

Knowing by sheer instinct, she’d bail on me, saying she didn’t know where to find me, I added, “I’ll wait in the cafe for you.”

As Derek walked into the classroom, Maureen shot me the stink-eye before following him. And I had to fight the urge to both laugh and clap myself on the back.

This was going to be fun.

CHAPTER 7

Maureen

I wanted to kill him. Just like the night we’d gone on our date, when my whole body thrummed with need for him, and he’d dropped that Dom bomb on me. His confession shook me so deeply to my core that I’d had to crawl through the fucking bathroom window to escape it and how my body reacted to it.

And I was still affected by him, even three years later. The man had a hold on the deepest part of me, the part that could still relinquish control. A place of submission where his wants and needs would become my own and I’d no longer recognize myself. I shivered just thinking about it.

But just like the night I’d snuck out the window, I knew I couldn’t give in to that, no matter how temptinghewas. I wasn’t stupid, or too damaged to realize he was nothing like my mother. That what we’d have wouldn’t be the same. But the risk of losing myself was too great. Too much of a sacrifice.

It was why I’d panicked and run then, and why I was so angry now. How dare he invade my safe space—the place I’d reinvented myself to become a better, stronger version of me.

I sighed. Why wouldn’t he be here, though? He was a Dom after all, and a professor. Rawhide University was the perfect place for him, no matter how badly I wanted him to leave and never come back.

I’d hoped to never see him again, and now here he was. But this time I wouldn’t be chased off. I wouldn’t run. He was here, and I’d just have to deal with it. I could be aloof, cordial, professional. Nobody ever had to know about the history between us.

---