Page 20 of Seducing Serena

“Yes, Master Noah. That sounds just fine to me.”

After a quick shower to wash away the touch of the sticky shirt, Serena allowed her men to dress her before they headed to the cafeteria for breakfast.

“You got an owie,” a young woman who was part of a group of Littles just ahead of them in the buffet line said, pointing to Serena’s hand.

“Yes, I did,” Serena said, not sure she wanted to share with her how she’d received her bruises.

“Did your Daddies kiss it and make it better?”

Serena thought about it and frowned. “You know what, they didn’t.”

The Little girl looked past her to Ford and Noah and shook a finger at them. “You should have kissed it and made it better.”

“Yeah,” Serena turned to face her men with a smirk. “Why didn’t you kiss it and make it better?”

The two men blinked at the double scolding and then smiled at her.

“But we’re not…” Ford started before Noah cut him off.

“You’re right, little miss. We should have given her healing kisses.”

Noah, who stood beside her in line, leaned down and brushed a butterfly soft kiss across her knuckles where her hand was lightly holding the edge of her tray. He then stepped back to allow Ford to do the same.

“Does it feel better now?” the Little asked.

Serena turned to her and nodded with a smile. “Yes, it does. Thank you for reminding them about the magic healing power of kisses.”

“Good. Have a smiley face day,” the Little said before taking her tray and hurrying to join her friends at a table across the room.

“Thank you,” Serena called after her.

Spying a lone piece of pie from the previous night’s dinner on the counter, she grabbed it and set it on her tray.

“What’s that?” Ford asked, pointing to the pie.

“I figured it’s close enough to a donut to be considered pastry therapy,” she said with a giggle.

* * *

Noah waited until they were seated in a quiet corner of the cafeteria and Serena had eaten her pie before looking at the eggs and bacon.

“All right, sugar, time to spill. What the hell happened this morning?” He kept his voice soft and tried to sound gentle, but from the elbow Ford shoved into his ribs, he’d failed at being nonconfrontational.

Serena set her fork down and dropped her hands to her lap. Looking from him to Ford and back again, she said, “Do we really need to talk about it now? Les and Master Derek already told you what happened, why do we need to rehash it?”

Though tempted to let her off the hook, he could not. As her master, he needed to know what had happened when she was out of his sight. “Sorry, subbie, but we do. Before we go any further, we need to know what happened, and I have a feeling you need to tell us to get it out of your brain. So spill.”

Serena took a deep breath and dropped her gaze down to her tray. “It was like Master Derek said. I was sitting in the lobby reading and guess I fell asleep. The next thing I knew this man was pulling the afghan off of me. I didn’t recognize him or what his intentions were so I fought back. By the time he picked himself up off the ground, Luna and some security guy was there and escorted me to Master Derek’s office and called him at home. He arrived and called you and well, here we are.”

Noah had been working with her on self-defense since shortly after she started working with the department. After two years of training, she was trained to defend herself against just about any threat that came her way.

Ford must have been thinking the same thing. “Well, I’m sorry Les startled you, but I have to admit, I’m glad to know even half asleep you are aware enough to fight back.”

“But I feel bad because Noah always said that with our training we should not initiate a fight, only respond to one. Les had no intention of hurting me. He didn’t even know I was under the afghan.” Serena looked at him, her eyes glossy with unshed tears.

Noah looked at his partner and sighed. “She’s right. I have said that.”

He then looked at Serena sitting across the table from him. “I understand, but again, I’m saying better safe than sorry. From now on, if someone so much as makes an attempt to grab you, you have full permission to put them on the ground first and ask questions later. I believe Les and Master Derek would agree with us. Understand, sugar?”

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