Page 2 of Fixing Olivia (Fairford Affairs)

Planning and prepping for scenes had always given him so much pleasure, ever since he’d stumbled into the lifestyle in college. Bringing those plans to fruition with a sub who made his cock ache with need? Nothing in the world could compare. But now it was just...well,work.

He rolled his eyes at his own train of thought. You turn something you love into a job, and it feels like work. Wow. Go figure. With brilliant insights like that, he should’ve gotten his degree in philosophy instead of business.

Leo would understand.

The errant thought had him pulling out his phone as he entered the suite Stacey had vacated minutes before. After typing and deleting three different messages, though, he gave up and slid the phone back into his pocket.

Leo definitelywouldunderstand. Hell, the man had run off and married his childhood sweetheart soon after they’d bought the mansion, before the Manor even opened to guests. If anyone could give him advice about how exhausting it had all become—about this new, creeping desire to do somethingrealwith his life—it would be Leo.

But he’d probably also tell Jonathan. The two of them had been roommates and best friends in college, leaving Aiden and the others always just outside their innermost circle. And the last thing he needed right now was Fairford Manor’s senior partner breathing down his neck, making everything even more stressful.

Aiden tossed his things into a small duffel bag with a little more force than was entirely necessary. Closing his eyes, he made himself take several deep breaths. What was he even so upset about? So he had a shitty client. Big deal. It happened to all of them now and again. At least it wasn’t like those first two years, while they were trying to get the business on its feet. He cringed as he remembered some of their worst kink mismatches.

But now Fairford Manor was well-known, its name spoken everywhere from clubs and hardcore dungeons to the most casual of BDSM munches. There was even a subreddit where subs who’d visited the Manor gave all the dirty details to the women who dreamed of one day being selected. (Which Zach had started, of course, though no one knew that.)

That very moment, there were dozens of applications up in an office on the third floor, just waiting for him. He was living his fucking dream.

So why did a tiny part of him miss life before the Manor, when he’d been flipping houses for a living? At leastthathad felt real. And his scenes back then...

With a sigh, he trekked back down the long hallway that ran the length of the second floor. When they’d bought the mansion six years earlier, there had been twelve bedrooms and half as many bathrooms crammed onto the top two levels. But they’d spent a year (and a hell of a lot of Jonathan, Leo, and Mason’s money, plus every meager penny Aiden had) gutting the dilapidated building and turning it into their perfect little sex haven.

Now the second floor held five stunning suites, each with its own cavernous bathroom. Along with the application room, there were several bedrooms on the third floor—for the Doms to sleep in when their guests needed space—plus a break room that boasted the only TV in the house.

He ran his fingertips along the chair rail as he headed toward the stairs. With all the massive changes they’d made, it had been a pain in the ass to keep the original, hand-carved woodwork throughout the house. But Aiden had been the general contractor on the remodel, and he’d made it his top priority to preserve or restore as much of the mansion’s old-world charm as possible. No matter how sick and tired he got of bad guests, at least seeing what he’d transformed this building into made him proud every damn day.

Maybe that was the problem. There was nothing for him to fix anymore.

As Aiden passed one of the other suites, a low, keening moan drifted through the door, followed by, “Sir,pleaselet me come. I’ll be a good girl, I swear!”

Something stirred deep in Aiden’s core. There were few things he loved more than a submissive begging in a husky, sex-saturated voice. God, he hoped his next guest had a voice like that. Repressing a groan, he forced himself to leave Camden—one of the other Doms now in residence—to his fun, and hurried down the wide, curving staircase.

It was time for three full days of peace and quiet, and then maybe he’d get his own turn to play with a woman who heated his blood with passion instead of annoyance. A woman who would submit to him for the sole reason that doing so made her feel whole—not so she could force him to spank her when she decided disobedience was way more fun.

“Hey, grab your mail on your way by,” Zach called out as Aiden reached the lobby. “I just tried to put a few more letters in your box, but it was full.”

Not holding his groan back this time, he redirected his steps toward the little office behind the reception desk. Some of the other guys absolutely loved getting what Aiden referred to as their fan mail. Especially Camden. The man couldn’t get enough of it, the fucking horndog. But Aiden found it awkward as hell, especially when the letters were downright pornographic, complete with nude photos.

If only Jonathan would let him throw the mail away without opening it. But alas, repeat customers were a huge part of their business. Anything to keep the guests happy and dying to return, right?

Grabbing a stack of envelopes, magazines, and junk from his mailbox, he hurried outside before anything else could delay him, giving Zach a quick wave on his way by. He strode down the flagstone path to the parking lot as quickly as his long legs could carry him without legit running. He only hoped it looked like he wanted to get out of the cold, and not like he was running away.

When at last he settled behind the driver’s seat of his Land Rover, he sighed, his breath fogging the frigid winter air. No one would try to stop him now. And the gray clouds filling the sky looked like they had snow in them. Maybe he’d get snowed in up at his cabin, or his next guest’s flight would be cancelled.

Or maybe it was time for a longer break than a few days. He hadn’t had a proper vacation in over six years, for Christ’s sake. No wonder he was completely burned out.

Tossing the stack of mail onto the passenger seat, Aiden started the car and put it into reverse. But before he could take his foot off the brake, he noticed a manila envelope that had been hidden between two magazines, the front completely blank. He plucked it from the pile and checked the back, which was also free of the usually necessary things like addresses or postage. The top flap wasn’t even sealed.

“What the hell?” he muttered, throwing the car into park and opening the envelope. What he pulled out made his eyebrows shoot up toward his hairline. It was an application.

By company policy, all applications were put into their respective stacks up in the application room, for each Dom to peruse at his leisure. Zach read through them first, sorting them into categories ranging from Curious Newbie to Pain Slut, M/s Fantasy to Pet Play. Never had one been given directly to him.

“Fucking Zach,” Aiden said, turning the car off. The man must’ve sorted it into his mail by mistake, and now he had to walk all the way back across the yard and inside to return it. If Jonathan pulled him into a meeting, or Rafe wanted to discuss dungeon upgrades again, he was going to scream.

But as he reached for the door handle, a phrase on the bottom of the first page caught his eye:I think it’s theonly way to fix me.

Aiden’s hand clenched involuntarily, wrinkling the thick packet of paper. “Shit.” He smoothed it out against his thigh, his hands shaking slightly with a sudden adrenaline rush.

Not even taking the time to turn the car’s heater back on, Aiden started reading the application from the beginning.

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