Page 84 of Mastered By Desire

“I would, but I promised Danica a movie night.”

“What will you be watching?” He trails a finger over my shirt, between my breasts.

“I’m not sure,” I lie, because no way am I admitting to this polished, professional Dom that I’m going to watch something as juvenile asAcademy of Ghosts. He would never look at me the same.

“Very well.” He presses a kiss to my temple and straightens up. “I’ll text you the key code to enter the apartment. I’m eager to see where this arrangement takes us.”

Eager? I’m eager, sure, but also nervous and anxious and excited and terrified. Gage is different from anyone I’ve everdated, and something tells me he’s hiding some big fucking secrets.

23

Gage

Because Leah won’t be returning to my apartment, I remain in my office at the club. I enjoy the thought that she’ll be in the spare room tonight. Or if I’m lucky, she may visit my bed again.

Either way, my apartment won’t be empty.

A cowardly part of me knows that this is too risky. I shouldn’t have invited her to stay. I’m not ready and I never will be. I want to pursue a relationship? It’s as if my mouth was speaking those words before the rest of me had fully green-lighted the script.

If my life wereAcademy of Ghosts, I would be searching for a truth serum or some other magical reasoning behind my behavior.

I lean back at my desk. The photograph that reminds me of Leah is directly in front of me, mocking.

Perhaps I should pay for a hotel for the girl and set her free. She’s fifteen years my junior. It would be wrong to saddle her with my particularities and issues.

No. This is getting out of hand. I’m turning into Dmitri. In the end, he is too much of a coward to go after Leah. I can see it when he looks at her. The dynamic was present at the auction and beyond. He masks his reluctance beneath “loyalty” and tries to tell himself he’s protecting her. From what is he trying to protect her, though? He must have seen how readily she adapted to the submissive role she took on.

Disgusted with myself, I stand up and leave my office. I’ll find Betty and chat about business, the weather, her nephews, anything.

When I find her, she’s wiping down the counter and keeping an eye on a group of men surrounding a single woman.

“Trouble?” I lean against the bar, facing the club instead of Betty.

“I don’t think so.” Her voice is cautious. “I’m not entirely sure, though. Dmitri would have their dynamic figured out in a flash.”

“He’s off tonight?”

“Yeah.”

“Did that woman arrive with those men?” I ask.

“No, but she approached them, not the other way around.”

“Ah.” It looked like they had her cornered, but perhaps the situation is very different from what it appears. I study their body language until I’m satisfied nobody is in danger or trapped in an uncomfortable situation.

“You figured it out, didn’t you?” Betty asks.

“I believe she’s an eager, new submissive. She went over there looking for one Dominant partner tonight, but all four of them are interested.”

“Juicy.” Betty chuckles.

From there, the two of us make light small talk. I think she realizes that I’m seeking distraction. Or she’s simply eager for someone to listen, uninterrupted, to the latest hijinks her twinteenaged nephews have gotten into. The current story involves a homemade catapult and a hundred dollars’ worth of cherry slushies.

“All right, Gage, how about you tell me what’s bothering you?” She drops her towel on the counter and levers herself up with her arms, projecting height.

“Nothing’s bothering me.”

“Something is. You never willingly listen to a story about my nephews, not for that long. And here you are grasping at every detail. So what is it?”

---