Page 58 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

He stared at me for another moment, then turned and left, shutting the door behind me. I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of his heavy footsteps down the hall.

Chapter 14

Idressed up for Reubenthe next evening, spending extra time on my eyeliner and my hair, making sure my lipstick was perfect. I wore my fishnets and my black leather ankle boots, and a black lace pencil-cut dress that made my curves look edible.

I had absolutely no idea what to expect tonight. But after I’d finished my work that day at the clubhouse, I’d hopped on Discord and put a message out.

AndromedaPrincess - Anyone know Reuben Weston personally?

JazzMean - Nope. I stopped following him after that interview with Ludlow.

Mille <3 <3 <3 - same. I’ve read his books but I don’t know him.

EzraMastermind - @bellababy and I met him once at a book signing. But no, we aren’t friends or anything. He seemed nice. Posts really good articles on his blog.

BrattyBee - I want to brat him just to see if I can piss him off. I think it would be funny.

AndromedaPrincess - Well, I’m having dinner with him tonight, I’ll let you guys know how it goes. P.s. @BrattyBee I did brat him yesterday and he gave me the best spanking of my life. 10/10 will brat again.

I knew I’d probably get a ton of messages after that, so I closed the app, excited to check it again tomorrow after my date and provide an update.

I also checked his social media page but didn’t see anything very interesting. No photos or memes or anything, just occasional quotes or announcements about events, lectures, or demos he was doing. His most recent post simply said:My phone got destroyed this week. If you have my number, please text me with your name so I can restore my contact list.

He did have an Instagram where he posted photos of his meals, though. And damn, he looked like a good cook. It also appeared he really enjoyed eating out at fancy restaurants. There seemed to be quite a few posts talking about the interesting new restaurants he visited on his travels.

That evening, I asked Sophie for his address since he hadn’t given it to me. I wasn’t sure how something so obvious could have slipped his mind, but we were both a little distracted last time we spoke. Thinking about him spanking me made me blush and Sophie giggled.

“It’s really easy,” she said. “Just get on Sunset Lake Road and go all the way up the mountain. It’s about fifteen minutes, and his house is the only one for miles. It’s basically where the road ends.”

I drove up Sunset Lake Road and arrived two minutes to six, telling myself the whole time that this was just a conversation, and we were just going to talk. Negotiate. Like good lifestylers. No spankings, no hooking up, and probably no bratting. Because I wasn’t dumb enough to brat him while we were talking through our needs and limits. I did havesomerespect for protocol.

I finally arrived at the top of the hill, and the road turned into a gravel path that led to the front of his house. It looked like an older home, a two-story, probably with a basement in the back because it was built into the side of the mountain. The outside was dark red brick, and there was a nice screened-in porch on the front with two chairs and a small glass table. I could totally envision us sitting on that porch in the summer evenings together.

Okay, dork, don’t get ahead of yourself.

I knocked loudly, but he didn’t answer right away, so after a minute, I knocked again. He finally appeared at the door, cocking his head at me. He looked confused as hell, and he finally opened the door.

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