Page 30 of At Her Will

“I picked that one out.” She took the sweet and bit into it. “I’ll need to walk a few miles to work this off.”

“You look good. Them clothes are lucky to have a body like yours to show them off.”

She nudged him, and he gave her that boyish smile. “You’ve used that line before.”

“No,” he said, with dignity. “Mrs. Everett Meriweather says that to me at church. She about ninety and likes to flirt.”

“You learn any other moves from her?”

“I best hold them as a surprise.” He grinned and his gaze went down past the hem of the skirt. “You have beautiful legs.”

“That your studied opinion, is it?”

“It’s a school. Right place for lots of studying.”

Somehow, they seemed to be sitting even closer now. She delicately brushed a bit of cream off her bottom lip, and enjoyed watching his attention rest there.

“So this club, it’s a place where people, Mistresses, go to…play.”

“Mistresses and Masters, and those who want to serve them.” She gave him a serious look. “Do you feel ready to go with me, now that we’ve had our date?”

“You feel ready to go with me?”

“Would I be asking if I wasn’t?”

He lifted a shoulder. Vera wiped her fingers on the napkin he’d provided. “Tell me what’s in your head, Rev.”

“Thinking of what’s ahead. What’s changing, what’s about to change. How that’s going to touch the people I care about. My family. Weighing what I should do.”

“Anything I can do to help with that?”

“No. But thank you,” he added with grave courtesy. “Some things a man has to think through. But yes, I would like to go with you. When?”

“Friday night. This time, let me pick you up, if you don’t mind. Do you have other questions?”

“Probably a hundred of them, but I’m guessing the best thing to do is to trust it will make sense once I’m there with you. Learning some of it up front might make me more nervous about it than I am already.”

“You don’t look nervous.”

He closed a hand on hers and squeezed, a little tighter than expected. “It’s that thing I told you about. Feeling a lot of mixed-up things inside, wanting and needing you so much, but also wanting and needing to do what makes you happy.”

He glanced at his watch and grimaced. “I got to get some things done before the end of the workday, because I have to be at the church tonight. I not meaning to cut this short…”

“I have a little time. Can I tag along? I promise not to get in the way.”

The skin alongside his eyes crinkled. “Never known a woman that didn’t get in a man’s way, but it not a bad thing. Sure. You get bored, I can walk you back out to the parking lot.”

“I can find my way.”

“It’s not about that. I like walking with you.” He sent a meaningful glance toward her legs, his gaze sliding over herhips in a far-too-appealing way. “And I like watching you walk, Mistress.”

His tasks were in an empty classroom, one used to teach math. The bulletin board was pinned with equations and amusing math puns. She asked Rev if she could help him. He was appalled by the idea, but when she pressed, he told her she could erase the board, something he did on certain days because Mr. Jones was a single father who had to “high tail” it at the end of his last class to pick up his two kids from the elementary school.

After Rev replaced two rusted window locks, he cleaned the blinds, glass and sills. Erasing the board had given her some interesting ideas, so after she used a handwipe from Mr. Jones’ desk to wipe her fingers and took a seat at a student desk, she percolated on those thoughts. All while watching Rev do the windows, which involved plenty of backside and shoulder flexing.

“There’s a Progeny member, Whistler, who operates a cleaning service,” she said. “If you ever need extra work or decide on a job change, he’d be delighted to have someone with your work ethic.”And your great ass.

Rev glanced over his shoulder. “He like to be the one in charge, or is he on the other side?”

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