Page 8 of Master of Pleasure (Lessons From the Rack 3)

Had it been someone inside the club? He searched his mind, trying to remember if he and Ronnie had captured anyone’s attention. It would have had to have been when he initially approached her or while they’d been talking, because he’d taken her into a private room to play.

There were the submissives she’d been talking with when he first noticed her. He’d like to think that anyone inside the club would have followed the confidentiality agreement everyone had to sign before being allowed entrance. Of course he’d also have thought anyone there would be over twenty-one, and that hadn’t turned out to be the case.

But the three submissives had seemed to have taken him at his word that he was just a guy people thought looked like Terrence Knight.

With a sigh, he’d finally told himself he needed to accept that he’d probably never know. As much as he hated to admit it, he agreed with his agent on one thing. Regardless of who it was, the damage had been done.

The fallout from that night had been ugly, but fortunately his agent had been correct. The bad press barely touched him on the island, and by the time Ken told him he could return to LA, the public’s attention had shifted to another scandal. As a result, the studio he’d contracted with for his next project no longer cared who he’d been with months prior or their actions while together.

It wasn’tlong until the boat reached the dock and he was walking up to the office in the main building. He had a list of what he wanted to accomplish over the next two months. There were several scripts Ken had forwarded for his review as well as prep work to be done for the project he had starting in the fall.

He opened the door and made his way to the administrative hall, always his first stop upon arrival. Not only because he needed to check in and pick up the key to the villa that would be his home for the summer but also to catch up with Lisa, the academy’s executive assistant. They had reached an agreement a few summers ago when she’d dropped some not-so-subtle hints concerning her availability for no-strings-involved play if the mood struck him.

He hadn’t had a serious relationship since Andie, and since inadvertently hooking up with the legal-but-still-way-too-young-for-him Ronnie, he’d shied away from casual play. Needless to say, the mood struck him several times a summer.

The door to her office was open, and he stepped in without a sound. She was always fun to surprise. He noticed she was still as unorganized as ever, and at the moment she was away from her desk. Should he wait for her to return or go look for Fulton or Andie?

Before he could decide, a movement caught his eye. He smiled. There she was. On her knees behind her desk with her head under a table. Probably looking for something. A lost cause, if you asked him, due to the piles of papers and files stacked everywhere.

“Didn’t you tell me last summer that you were going to organize this office before I came back? Do I need to put you over my knee for lying?” he asked, unable to stop his grin as he waited for her to gasp and look at him all embarrassed.

Instead, she jerked her head up, obviously forgetting she was under a table because he heard the impact of her skull hitting the wood. He winced at the thud.

“Fuck!” Lisa said, only it wasn’t Lisa’s voice. The more he thought about it, he didn’t think it was Lisa at all. A fact that became clear when whoever it was spoke again.

“I’m afraid you have me confused with someone else.” The woman turned to face him. “And while I know this is a BDSM academy, I will not put up with harassment of any type, so you can knock it off right now.”

His response died before making it to his lips. The woman standing before him might not recognize him, but he’d never forget the color of her hair or the haughty tilt of her chin.

“Holy fuck, Ronnie. What the hell are you doing here?”

Chapter 4

VERONICA

Veronica took a step back and studied the man in the doorway of her office. Why did he look so familiar, and how did he know her name? Or at least the name she used to go by.

He saw her confusion, and she recognized the grin he gave in response at once.

Holy shit!

“Terrence.” Andie’s voice drifted from down the hall.

Veronica staggered backward, hitting her hip on the corner of the table she’d just banged her head on. Damn, she was going to be a mess of bruises.

Andie appeared at her doorway before Veronica could wrap her head around the past few seconds.

“I heard you just arrived,” Andie said. “I wanted to meet you at the docs so I could introduce you to Veronica Fair.”

He titled his head. “Veronica Fair?”

Veronica squared her shoulders as Andie replied, “Yes, she’s going to be Lisa for the summer.”

Terrence chuckled at that, and Veronica felt her face heat. No doubt he was thinking of the way she’d responded to his mention of a spanking. She was willing to bet Lisa would have reacted differently.

“Am I missing something here?” Andie asked, her gaze bouncing between the two of them.

“We’ve met,” Terrence replied to Andie, but kept his gaze on Veronica.

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