Page 10 of Bind Me, Sir

Hand shaking, I punched in the date—and the little red button flicked green as the lock mechanism clicked. I swallowed, rubbed my palms down my dress and pushed the door in.

Enough sunlight poured through the frosted windows I could make out the dark-colored interior. A dozen roses sat atop the marble baptismal font beside the door—Lily’s favorite flower and her middle name.

A bed made up with dark satin-like sheets sat against the far wall, but the sight of the altar at the room’s center held my attention. I moved forward, my focus flickering from the rings at its base to the cushion atop.

Tied down. Spanked. Taken and owned…

I swallowed back another whimper as those ideas flitted through my brain once more.

I wanted that.

I wanted the freedom Lily spoke of, the release of worries and cares from life’s path. To be immobile and have the ability to make decisions taken away from me, to have guilt replaced by ecstasy.

Blinking didn’t right my world to the dim, lifeless existence I had lived to that point. My focus had been warped, and I found myself never wanting to return to the life void of color, of anticipation of what could be.

Even though I knew it couldn’t be.

I received a text while hurrying back through the gardens, knowing I had lingered far too long in the church, fantasizing over a lifestyle I hardly knew anything about.

Lily: Luncheon in the sunroom

While she hadn’t commanded me to join her, I knew her enough to know that’s what she wanted, even though she knew I’d already eaten. I rushed inside, my sandals clacking on the tiled floor, my head swiveling, secretly hoping for a glimpse of the man who had inadvertently changed my life.

I wasn’t so sure it was for the better.

My forward motion pulled abruptly to a halt as I breezed into the sunroom. Adam and Lily already sat—but so did Mr. Graystone and another too-handsome for his own good man.

“Natalie!” Lily’s cheery voice drew my focus to her smiling face. She patted the chair beside her—the empty one between her and Mr. Gorgeous Model-Man. “Sit, please.”

Every muscle in my body seized, but I somehow made it to the seat without stumbling or falling face first to the marble floor.

I couldn’t bear to glance at Mr. Graystone as I sat. My new fantasy, the one I could never have, the one who hated me for being a psycho stalker with a cell phone.

My face flamed.

“Since the CEOs of JAG are altogether,” Lily said, “I thought I would draw on their wisdom about our latest project.”

Lily’s words drew my focus off the fork beside the empty plate before me. I wondered at the IT security firm and what types of thoughts they might have on a non-profit luncheon that would be pertinent, but I glanced at Lily’s husband to find him smiling at her—as usual.

So, I did as told, sharing the plans we’d made that morning, never quite ridding myself of the embarrassed, unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach over what I had done while their guest had swam, unaware of the peeping Tom beside the pillar.

While I’d made my apologies and swore I hadn’t done what Mr. Graystone accused me of attempting, I knew he didn’t believe me. I expected there was nothing a mere blue-collar like myself could say to make things right between an aristocrat and a peasant, which I felt sure he thought me.

“Is everything set for tonight?” Lily asked as we finished Mrs. Hummel’s peach pie and coffee.

The men visibly tensed, and I glanced from Adam to Garret, who I’d been introduced to upon arriving. Both turned toward Lily, one of Adam’s brow raised.

She laid her hand on his forearm. “There’s nothing I don’t tell Natalie—she knows about my sore ass.”

A squeak escaped me as my face heated again.

“How could I hide being unable to sit this morning?” Lily continued as though it was perfectly normal to talk about personal things that happened between a man and wife with a table full of friends.

I peeked at Adam and his narrowing gaze. My rushed inhale didn’t go unnoticed, but pulled his focus off her face to mine. Darkness filled his teal-colored eyes, and my backside flinched for his wife.

The side of my face burned as though Mr. Graystone peered at me, and my breath shortened, making me light-headed.

Lily’s smiling eyes flitted from me to the aristocrat and back again.

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