Page 19 of At Her Will

Skye stuck out an elbow, as if offering Vera an escort. Vera gave the arm a playful squeeze. Though not overweight, Skye was far softer than Cyn, since she preferred spending time with her screens instead of working out. But just like with the rest of the women, Cyn had harassed Skye into learning basic defensive skills to give herself an edge in sticky situations.

Vera smiled, remembering Cyn’s caustic response to Skye’s attempt to avoid their sessions. “Yes, I know being the ‘old lady’ of a former member of the Fallen Angels MC keeps you off the strike list of most petty criminals. But there’s always the chance someone hasn’t gotten the memo. Or is too stupid to realize that if he touches a spiky hair on your adorable head, Tiger will remove his internal organs and eat them in front of him.”

Each woman was protective of the others in her own unique way. Skye had installed top-end security systems on their personal and work devices. Abby did their taxes and guided their investment decisions. Ros looked after everyone however they needed it. With a listening ear, with financial help and a wide network of seemingly never-ending contacts and resources.

The women watched after their employees in much the same way. TRA was a family company. You didn’t get kicked out of it unless you didn’t respect or value it the way you should. Ros didn’t tolerate fools.

Once they reached the second floor, Skye stayed there. She understood the importance of a Mistress’s entrance. The staircase continued along the curved wall, down into the spacious foyer, where Bastion manned the reception desk. Still out of sight, Vera paused, listening to Rev respond to Bastion’s question about where he worked.

“I’m a janitor at the middle school,” he said. “When I not doing that, I help out at God’s Light and Voice Church.”

“You work around teenagers?” Bastion tossed his next teasing comment toward Cyn. “I thought Mick held the top masochist award.”

“Maso…masochist?” Rev felt his way around the word. “What does that mean?”

He asked without self-consciousness. As Vera continued down the steps, Bastion and Cyn were exchanging a look. Probably awhat is Vera doing with a male this inexperienced?expression.

“In that context, it’s a person who enjoys suffering,” Vera said. “Who derives sexual pleasure from it.”

She kept her volume at the level where it wouldn’t be overheard through the open French doors on either side of the foyer. On one side was the bullpen for a dozen junior and senior account executives, the overflow from Cyn’s department, who took up the second floor. Abby’s accounting staff and Vera’s HR and legal team were in the opposite wing.

Rev’s gaze was on her, which meant he’d been watching the stairs for her while he spoke to them. As she came into view, one stair at a time, she saw his appreciation grow. She didn’t wear jeans often, but she could make them work for her. His expression said they were performing above expectations.

She could say the same for his. He wore belted dark blue jeans and a forest green, short-sleeved shirt with brown buttons. Casual wear, but nice enough to say he’d taken care with his appearance for her.

When he recalled himself enough to absorb what she’d said, he looked startled. “Oh.” His gaze moved to Cyn. “Mick…your man,” he said cautiously. “You mean…he likes you to hurt him.”

“Prodigiously.”

“Which means a lot.” Bastion shot Cyn adon’t-be-a-bitchglance.

It wasn’t like Cyn to be cruel, not like that. But pushing past the kneejerk surge of anger, Vera realized her friend was testing how Rev handled the needling. If he didn’t have the confidence to hold his own on that, he wouldn’t do so on other things that would serve Vera the way she needed. From Cyn’s viewpoint.

As she’d said, they were all protective of one another, but she needed to remind Cyn about the things that were her call, not anyone else’s.

“That one I know.” Rev offered Cyn and Bastion an unabashed smile. “Teena Joy, the aunt who raised me, told me a ‘prodigious amount of worry does nothing but make us miss the good the day brings us.’ She liked to say that, whenever I got too caught up in my head.”

He nodded to them politely, and when Vera reached the bottom stair, resting her hand on the polished wooden finial, as round as the moon, he was there. He held a small box tied with a black ribbon. A purple paper flower dusted with glitter was attached to it. It was like the one on the shoes she’d been wearing.

“Did you do that, or did you resort to child labor?”

“The girls in Miss Sweeney’s art class dressed this up for me.” His eyes twinkled. “I expect you don’t usually wear sneakers. I thought you’d like to make them more you.”

Aware of Cyn and Bastion’s fascinated stares, she took the box and untied the ribbon. Rev relieved her of it and the paper flower, so she had a free hand to pluck off the top of the box. Inside were two sneaker charms, purple rhinestones with silver edging, to thread onto her laces.

“May I?” With her standing on the bottom step, they were face-to-face, and his gaze roved over every feature. “I thought a lot about you this week,” he told her.

“Same,” she answered. “And yes. But let’s do that in the parking lot. I think we’re disrupting the workflow here.”

“Oh no, not at all,” Bastion said, tucking the handset to the office phone under his ear and riffling through a folder. “We’re not paying any attention to the bunny-level cuteness that is the two of you.”

Vera rolled her eyes, though the teasing filed down the edges of her baffling anxiety. Glancing up, she saw Skye leaning against the second-floor railing. Ros was beside her, her boss’s gaze speculative but reassuring. Abby was on her other side, her red hair falling forward over her shoulder. She was smiling at Bastion’s comment.

“I’ll see you all tomorrow,” Vera said, giving Rev the cue to follow her to the front door.

“Call us if you need us,” Cyn said. Not casually, her pointed glance at Rev a direct warning.Goddess. They were acting as if Vera hadn’t ever had a relationship outside the safe boundaries of the club.

Okay, maybe she hadn’t. At least nothing like this, and these women were smart enough to know the difference.

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