Thoroughly Whipped

He pressed a kiss to my cheek, over my veil. “I will miss you. But I do understand. It is all we want in life, non? To find someone we can be ourselves with. Who loves us for us. No matter what our desires, or what secrets we may keep.” I thought that was an odd way to end things, but then again, he was French.

“You will no doubt find another willing siren to keep your bed warm.” I frowned. “Actually, not keep the bed warm. That PVC sheet chafes, and it’s always freezing cold. Maybe think of something that’s not so hard on the ass.”

“Your feedback is appreciated, ma chérie.” He turned to go back to his private room. “Au revoir, mon petit chaton. Bonne chance.” He disappeared into his room and left me alone in his chambre.

I thought about his words, about what he’d said about secrets, and hoped that someday he found someone he didn’t have to hide himself from. What girl wouldn’t want to know the love of her life owned a friggin’ sex dungeon and could fuck like a god? She’d be one lucky lady.

As I descended in the elevator and passed through the changing room for the last time, I felt sad at not seeing Bunny anymore, or Alfred and his assless pants.

I let myself out at the underground parking lot, guessing I had quite a walk ahead of me before I got above ground and could hail a cab. Then my heart squeezed seeing my personal car already waiting for me. I turned to the camera above me and, having no idea if Maître was watching or not, I blew him a kiss of thanks and got into the car.

I was done at NOX.

Maître had lost a submissive, but I had gained Harry. And that, I knew, was irreplaceable.

Chapter Sixteen

One month later…

“Dad, no. Don’t you dare!” My eyes fluttered open, seeing the morning sun creeping in through the curtains. I stretched out my hands and found the bedsheets cold beside me. I groaned into my pillow when I heard Harry’s voice in the front room. I thought I’d been dreaming of hearing him speaking, but as he spat out, “Dad. Dad? For Christ’s sake!” at a high volume, I knew it was him.

Moving from the bed, I tiptoed to the living room, grabbing my robe off the door. That’s right. My robe. In a month, Harry and I had gone from close to inseparable. And it had been bliss. Not “Ask Miss Bliss,” but actual, real fairies-and-unicorn bliss.

Last night I’d handed in my feature piece to Sally. She was taking the weekend to read it. I felt sick at the thought of her rejecting it. I also dreaded finally having to tell Harry about it all. I had decided to wait until Sally had approved it to come clean. It was an odd thing to have to explain to a lover, but I was hoping he was open-minded enough to understand. Hell, he knew Pierre Dubois; he probably knew exactly what went down there. In my defense, I’d ended it when we got together. And I hadn’t regretted a single day since. There may have been no sex toys in our bed, but Harry didn’t need them.

As I stepped into the living room, I was rewarded with a fantastic view of Harry’s naked back and his pert ass in silk pajama bottoms. His hands were in his pockets and he appeared tense. I approached him, and when I wrapped my arms around him from behind, I felt how rigid he was. I pressed a kiss on his spine, and he eventually breathed out a long sigh and laid his hand over mine. He brought it to his lips, and I laid my cheek against his shoulder blade.

“Everything okay?”

Harry opened and closed his mouth a few times before he finally said, “My dad has flown into New York.”

“Okay?” King Sinclair had been back in the UK since the disaster that was the charity ball. I knew Harry hadn’t been expecting to see him until the midsummer ball at their estate in a couple of weeks. “Why is he back?”

Harry lowered his head and I felt the tension pulsing off him like sonar. “He wants to meet with me today.”

Moving around Harry, I squeezed between him and the window. I stuck out my bottom lip. “But I thought we were going to spend the day together.” I looked up at him through my lowered lashes. “I had some really nice things planned for us.” I covered my mouth with my hands. “Oops! Did I say nice?”

I dropped to my knees and pulled Harry’s length out of his pajamas. I burst out laughing when it began to rise, like a flag being pulled up a flagpole, before my eyes.