Page 27 of James

“Beautiful, I knew you couldn’t wait to get your hands on me.” He winked at her, but as Kate rolled her eyes, Chris turned serious. “Banter aside, I need your help.”

Kate shrugged and waved him inside the massage booth, pulling the curtain so they could talk in private.

“Remember the new sub from the munch?” he asked her.

“Laura? Yes, sure. What about her?” Placing her hands on her hips, she gave him her patented Domme-look. “You don’t expect me to set you up on a date, do you?”

Against Chris’s will, his cock stiffened. He ignored his unruly body and focused on the matter at hand. “No, or yes actually, but not with me. Hell, I’m not making sense.” He raked a hand though his hair. “Has James told you about the night of the tornado?”

Kate shook her head.

Chris explained, “He got trapped in a laundromat with a woman – a submissive woman.”

“Stuck in a laundromat, but Laura…” Her sentence died away as realization hit home and she whispered, “had one night stand with a Dom.” Her intelligent green eyes met his. “You think that was him? And she’s her? You think James and Laura spent the night together!”

“Exactly! James is desperate to find her again, but when I said his name, she took off running,” Chris answered. “Is she into him at all?”

Kate narrowed her eyes. “I have her number. But I won’t give it to him–” She held up her hand. “— nor to you! Sure, when she talked about her encounter, she seemed like she had a good time. I don’t think she regrets it, but she didn’t sound like she wanted to see him again, so I am not going to force her into that situation. Besides if she’s avoiding him, she’d probably hang up on him.”

As much as it irritated him, that made sense. “You’re right. But how about if we get them both together at the munch next Wednesday? I’ll get James to come if I have to knock him unconscious and drag him in. You make sure that sub shows up.”

“Yes, Sir!” Kate said with a mock salute. “I’ll see what I can do. You know I can’t guarantee anything.”

Chris stepped closer to her and whispered. “See, I knew you were a closet submissive.” He quickly dodgedher slap to the head and walked away grinning. When he tossed a gaze over his shoulder, Kate stood at the entrance of her tent, shaking her head, but with a cheerful smile on her face. It took all his willpower to walk away from her.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The following Wednesday, Laura considered whether she should go to the munch again. She had told Kate she would be there, but having Chris identify her as “Laundromat Lady,” had scared her more than she wanted to admit. She wasn’t sure why she was afraid. It wasn’t a bad thing Chris knew about James and her, was it? Did Kate know, too? There was only one way to find out the answers to all her questions. She’d never been one to run away from a challenge. Surely this couldn’t be any harder than walking into the munch alone in the first place. She debated it off and on all day at work.

When she got home, she changed into more casual clothes, remembering how laid back everyone had been the last time, but she still wasn’t sure if she was going. In the end, she decided to go outside and if she had to wait more than ten minutes for the bus, she wouldn’t go.

She set off walking briskly down the street, only to see the bus pull up ahead of her. So that was it, she thought, uncertain whether she was relieved or disappointed. Butthe bus waited, which buses never do, so if she was leaving it up to Fate, Fate had spoken. Reluctantly, she got in and was on her way to her second munch.

Laura arrived at the Smokehouse about five minutes after seven and found several people there already. Kate came over to greet her, but before they could do more than exchange greetings, another couple she hadn’t seen before arrived and Laura was able to escape without any questions. Julie hailed her from across the room and Laura headed in her direction, hoping to keep as many people between herself and Kate as possible.

“Hey, glad you made it,” Julie said with a genuinely pleased expression on her cute face.

“Thanks, I wasn’t sure I was going to until I left the house.” And then, despite ducking Kate just to avoid questions about James, she went ahead and blurted, “What’s the deal with this guy, James? Chris started talking about him when I ran into him at the Festival last weekend.”

“You’re asking me?” Julie cocked her head, studying Laura like she was an unexplainable compiler error. “Wasn’t he your one-night stand?”

Before Laura could answer or ask Julie how she knew, Chris and James came into the room. Laura's heart sank as a chilling sensation coursed through her veins.

His gaze fixed on her, James didn’t hesitate or stop to greet anyone else. He came straight to her.

Laura tried to back away from him, but ended up against the wall.

James walked right up into her space and put his hands on either side of her head, effectively caging her. “Hi, honey. Nice to see you again,” he said with that quiet confidence, that narrow stare, and oh God, thatsmile.

Laura stammered hello back at him and tried to duck under his arm to get away. She still wasn’t sure what she was scared of, but she didn’t like feeling trapped. James blocked her again, and this time, she knew what to do.

“Red!”

James immediately dropped his arms and stepped back. His shoulders slumped and he couldn’t have looked more defeated if she had slapped his face. “Laura, what’s wrong? Why are you scared of me?”

Laura stumbled away on shaking legs. James reached out to help, but she waved him away.

Julie stood up, concern etched in her delicate features. “What’s going on here? Laura?” She swiveled her head from side to side as if watching a tennis match. “James? I could have sworn I heard Laura say ‘red.’”

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