Page 9 of At Her Will

“Yes, he did.” Ros’s smile flashed again. “Speaking of which, is Janis all squared away?”

“Yes. I saw him. He’s in rough shape, but he’s strong. Serena and the counselors will be able to help him, whatever the outcome for his mother.”

“Good.”

Vera returned to her desk, sitting down and placing her fingers in a fan shape on either side of her laptop. As she considered them, she remembered gripping Rev’s arms, the rough coveralls and firm shape of the man beneath.

With a sigh, she pushed back from the desk and crossed her legs. “Have you ever met the custodial staff at Mavis’s school?”

Ros and Abby exchanged a look. Abby sat down in her guest chair while Ros leaned a shapely hip against the desk. Ros was all sharp, sophisticated edges, her Upper East Side New York background never completely absent. She had a sleek shoulder length bob. Her stylish skirt and blouse ensemble were paired with today’s unforgettable shoes. Bold red, blue and green colors were checkered on the uppers of the stilettos. Her makeup enhanced the thickness of her lashes, the precise brows and curve of her jaw.

“I haven’t met any of the custodians,” she said. “What’s his name? Whoever he is, he’s unsettled you, and very little does.”

“He goes by Rev. He’s younger than me. Not much younger, and he’s handsome, which is beside the point.”

“But worth mentioning,” Abby put in.

“Yes.” Vera traced the colorful mandala sticker on the top of her laptop. “He has a submissive orientation, I suspect unexplored.”

Ros raised a brow. “You told me you weren’t interested in breaking in any more BDSM virgins.”

“Yes.”

The path submissives followed at the beginning, those initial steps, had a sameness to them. Though it was still a pleasure to watch other Dommes handle it, she’d taken that journey enough. Vera preferred to get them later, when they better understood what they wanted. Exploration at that level could go deeper, and wider.

“I believe his spiritual and emotional development is already there. The rest…that’s just mechanics. You know what Mick, Neil and Lawrence say about being a cop or SEAL? How despite all the training involved, there has to be an aptitude for the job already built into their makeup? That’s what I mean. I know I’m not making a lot of sense.”

“But you know what you feel,” Abby said.

“Yes. But I also feel nervous,” she admitted. “Like there’s a lot there, and what I find…it might alter important things I believe about myself. And what I want from a man.”

“Is that bad?”

“I’ve been in a relationship with a man who changed the core of who I was, who I thought I was. It wasn’t a good thing.”

“All of the men we are with now transformed us,” Ros noted. “But because they were the right men, it was an augmentation to what we already are, the things we liked. Whatever they altered,wasn’t altered in a bad way. Because it was love that changed us. Not fear, ego or insecurity.”

“I said that to you, didn’t I? When you met Lawrence.” At Ros’s amused look, Vera drummed her fingers on her desk. “Skye’s not the only wiseass around here.”

“Boss Wiseass, if you don’t mind.”

Vera sighed. “I’m going to think it over before I do anything with it.”

“Okay.” Ros rose with Abby. “But what’s the plan after you do?”

“Mavis said when he’s not in school, he’s usually at his family’s church. I may go there Sunday, see him in that environment, to learn more about him. Maybe invite him to Progeny with me next week, as my guest.”

“Well, far be it from me to give advice,” Ros ignored Abby’s exaggerated shock, “But I assume you’ll use a more nuanced approach than sidling up to him at church and saying, ‘Hey, come with me to a kink club and have your mind blown.’”

“In addition to other parts.”

Vera saw Bastion leaning in the doorway, his arms crossed over his wide chest. He’d obviously picked up the conversation on his approach to her office.

“How a man your size moves like a field mouse is beyond me,” Ros informed him.

“I beg your pardon, oh Queen of All. I move like a ninja.”

Vera rolled her eyes. “I’m surprised Cyn and Skye aren’t in here.” They all had a knack for knowing when a conversation of import was happening. This seemed like a casual discussion, but it wasn’t. Something significant had happened between her and Rev.

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