Page 11 of For the Record

“Here, drink this.”

Coy blinked, unaware she’d dozed off again. She gave Frankie a grateful smile as she held a glass of water to her lips. “Thank you, Mistress,” she whispered once she’d swallowed. The water was cold and refreshing against the rawness in her throat.From too much screaming,she silently mused.

“Of course.” Frankie set the glass down on the nightstand, before leaning back against the headboard and opening her arms to McCoy. “Come, my pet.”

Coy nodded. Of course. Of course she’d go to Frankie. She allowed her head to rest in Frankie’s lap, sighing in contentment at the feel of Frankie’s fingers carding through her hair. Sleep claimed her again, and when she woke next, soft classical music and faint light had basked the playroom in a serene ambience. Coy was still snuggled into Frankie, her face nuzzled directly below a plump breast, and her hand curved around Frankie’s hip. The subspace had mostly faded, and for the most part, Coy’s emotions had leveled out. Her favorite part of doing a scene was the act of letting go. Sure, she could be a brat when she wanted to, but it only made the eventual reward after her “punishment” that much sweeter.

Coy lifted her gaze to where Frankie had her head resting against the headboard. Her eyes were closed, but she was slowlystroking Coy’s back. “How do you feel, pet?” she cracked one eye open.

“How come you never let me touch you?” The words were out before Coy could stop them. She grimaced, silently cursing her post-orgasm-addled brain. She knew the response she’d get, but it still stung when Frankie’s hand stilled on her back.

“Pet.” Frankie’s chuckle was low, but there was a slight edge to it, a silent warning. In the years since she became Coy’s part-time Domme, she’d never taken her clothes all the way off. Coy had been so caught up in appreciation of what Frankie represented sexually that she’d not truly cared how one-sided it all was. The truth niggled at her. Why was Frankie’s emotional distance bothering her now, after all the time that had passed?

Alarms went off in Coy’s head as she felt her throat swell with emotion. She studied the older woman’s guarded eyes. Sawyer’s equally distrustful gaze flashed in her mind, and Coy swallowed as another idea occurred, one that cut even deeper.

Is a playgirl all they see of me?Coy mentally scolded herself at the silent question. Please, when had she given anyone a chance to see more?

“Pet,” Frankie crooned again. She slipped out from under Coy, sliding her lithe body over hers. She cupped Coy’s heat in her palm. “I can’t be fucking you well enough if you still have the energy to worry about my needs.”

Coy chewed the inside of her cheek. Staring into those eyes didn’t create butterflies like they used to. Instead, it left her hollowed out and confused. Frankie was as captivating as she’d always been, but something was different. It was hard to describe. Coy just knew that when Frankie closed her mouth around Coy’s nipple, and she squeezed her eyes shut, Sawyer’s eyes stared back at her.

Coy double-checked the scrawled handwriting on the paper her dad had given her at closing the day before. He hadn’t left a name on the note, just an address on Vancouver’s west side, to “see about a car”.

“Not much to go on,” she reflected, staring out at the expansive house beyond Tegan’s mud-covered windshield. Surely this wasn’t the right address? Coy rubbed the sleep from her eyes, fatigue from her night with Frankie bearing down on her as she checked the paper in her hand for the fifth time. Why would someone clearly this wealthy have any interest in a small, family-owned business in Richmond? Okay, so one guy deemed her the best in the business several months ago and started tossing her name around in conversations, but it wasn’t as if the general public knew of her or Miller’s Mechanics. Correction: Miller’s Mechanics & Restoration.

Damn, that had a nice ring to it.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Coy’s head snapped toward the arctic voice outside her window, and her mouth fell open as she came face to face with none other than Sawyer. The woman who, lately, was never far from Coy’s thoughts.

McCoy couldn’t stop her cringe. If Sawyer had a window into her brain, she could just imagine the beautiful woman’s glower.

“Sawyer?” was the only thought she could put into words. Sawyer, goddess Sawyer, Sawyer who came across as someone who could spank McCoy and she would welcome it.ThatSawyer, who was now notably fuming outside.

“Why are you here? How did you get my address, McCoy?”

Unable to stop staring, Coy lifted the paper still in her hands. “M-Miller’s Mechanics?”And Restoration.“You called for a quote.”

“Not from you. I spoke to the owner, Greg.” Tanned hands flew to Sawyer’s hips, and she frowned, her nose scrunching up adorably.

“My father.” Coy nodded, reaching for the door handle to climb out of the Jeep, but Sawyer held up a hand to stop her.

“Well, you can tell your father I’ll be speaking with him tomorrow. You aren’t exactly what I had in mind for this project.”

With that, Sawyer swiveled on her feet and walked away, leaving Coy to stare after her in mounting confusion.

“‘You aren’t what I had in mind,’” Coy reiterated later as she sat slumped down on her best friend’s sofa. She was in a weird mood since being so abruptly dismissed by Sawyer. Ugh! The gall of that woman!

“She really didn’t let you look at the car?” Abi set a steaming mug of coffee down on the table in front of Coy, sounding as perplexed as she was.

Coy shook her head, thanking her for the drink. “The worst of it is Sawyer knows I’m a mechanic! Like, what did I ever do to her, Abs?” Coy whined, promptly pouting her lip in Abi’s direction, a put-out expression on her face. “She’s so cold. Frigid really. A perfect ice queen in my very lackluster life.”

“Lackluster. Uh-huh. I think you’ve been listening to too many audiobooks.” Abi attempted and failed to hide a smile behind her coffee mug, the print on the ceramic screaming,“Kiss me,I’m important!” in bold letters. Her long caramel-brown hair fell over one shoulder as she reached for a cookie. The glacier blue of her eyes sparked with amusement. “Sounds to me like your ego got the brunt of it. Sawyer’s the same one who turned you down at the warehouse and then again when you changed her tire, right? You didn’t somehow meet another Sawyer in the last week?”

“Yes,” Coy groused, finally lifting the mug to her lips for a drink. Dark, robust flavors hit her tongue, and she groaned in appreciation. “Damn, was this made out of your Cairns Corp new employee welcome gift?”

“It is, but who gifts each new employee a top-of-the-line specialty coffee maker and free gas for the year?” Abi shook her head, clearly still amazed at how giving her new boss was.

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