Page 28 of A Little Harmless Pleasure

“Nope. I was meeting with Daniel Akita. He’s redoing the shop.” Evan sat at one of the chairs at a neighboring table, watching as Chris moved to fill another salt dispenser. “You seem out of sorts.”

“The flu has hitDupree’swith a vengeance. I’ll be pulling some longer-than-normal days this week.”

“No. You’ve been distracted since you returned from the mainland.”

He wanted to deny it. He hadn’t talked to anyone about Cynthia. Keeping her a secret hadn’t been his goal, but his feelings for her were too new, too…raw. Talking about her would’ve revealed things he hadn’t been ready to face. Still wasn’t. Looking at Evan, he realized he wouldn’t get out of it. Having close friends was a bitch.

“I met a woman.”

Evan chuckled. “So, what’s new? Fuck her, get her out of your system.”

Chris sighed, wishing Evan weren’t so cynical, but knowing his tragic background, Chris understood. “I did. Several times.” He paused as he topped off a saltshaker. “I think I foundtheone.”

Evan didn’t react at first. Both of them had lived the lifestyle at one time—Evan was still involved. In fact, he was a not-so-silent partner in Rough ‘n Ready, the most well-known BDSM club on the island. He understood Chris’s problems, of his status and why he had left.

Evan frowned. “Theone? As in a woman who can handle a switch?”

As he finished up with the salt, Chris nodded toward his office door. “Let’s take this back there. Don’t want gossip.”

When they were in the privacy of his office, Chris settled into his chair behind the desk, and Evan sat in one of the chairs situated in front. “Now, tell me about this woman.”

“She’s not my type at all. Buttoned down, at least until you get her in the bedroom.” He closed his eyes as the memories rolled over him. As if she were there, he could taste her skin, smell her arousal, remember the way it felt as her pussy clenched around his cock.

“She’s a switch? The one you’ve been looking for?”

Chris didn’t miss the disbelief in Evan’s voice. He opened his eyes and found his friend studying him.

“She doesn’t realize it. But I let her lead, and I could see it. You know what I mean. Jesus, Evan, every time she took control, she got off on it.”

Evan rubbed his chin. “Does she know about you?”

“That I’m a switch? She doesn’t even know what one is, let alone that I am one, or that she is.”

“Chris, I’ll just say be careful. I thought you’d never… Well, after what happened, I thought you’d never have anything to do with the lifestyle again.”

Chris’s mind drifted back three years earlier, to Jasmine. Gorgeous, tall, dark hair, beautiful blue eyes. He didn’t look past the beauty to see the problems beneath the surface. She’d convinced him she wanted to be a switch, but in the end, she couldn’t even handle being a sub, let alone taking the dominant role. She wanted total submission—to be a slave. It wasn’t in Chris to give it to her. In the end, she left him, and three months later she’d committed suicide. After her death, Chris had found out she’d been unstable for years, but he still blamed himself for not realizing earlier that she had problems.

“I know, but it has nothing to do with the lifestyle. It has more to do with what she needs. At the moment, she needs to be in control, to be the one calling the shots. If you met her, you’d understand.”

“If I met her, I could get her into bed in a heartbeat, fuck her until she couldn’t walk, and she would forget all about you.”

Chris smiled, shaking his head. “No. Not her. Of course, if it goes as I plan, I might need your help.”

Evan nodded, and Chris knew he understood. They talked for a few more minutes, then Evan left Chris alone. Chris glanced up at the clock and realized he had just enough time to call Cynthia. With the time difference, he had to call her in the middle of the afternoon, or it would be too late when he got home.

He locked his office door and dialed her cell phone number. As he waited for her to answer, the same familiar energy surged through him, his body pulsing with it. It had been killing him to keep the conversations light. And to make it worse, for the last three weeks or so, she’d seemed preoccupied. Something was going on, but he was trying his best not to pry.

“Hello.” Soft, southern, sexy.

“Hello,chéri. How are you doing?”

She paused for just a second, as if deciding whether she should tell him something. Then she continued. “I’m doing fine. I’ve been super busy today.”

“Same here. Have a few people out with the flu, so I’m working late tonight.”

“That’s too bad.” Another pause. “Chris?”

“Yes,chéri?”

---