Page 184 of Masters of Pleasure
Andrew’s mouth opened.Closed.He frowned.Kate winked at Iris, who desperately wished she could throw her arms around her brother’s fiancé and hug the fuck out of her.Kate had been on her side from day one, and she so appreciated that.Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her dad nodding his head.
“I’m so glad you’re back,” she said fervently.
Sure, she’d said similar things before, but it didn’t make its way through the men’s heads until Kate was the one who said it.It had been the same way when she’d been growing up, so she’d long gotten over resenting it.Now, she was grateful they listened tosomeone, especially if they laid off the third degree afterward.
“Me, too.”Kate grinned at her.Andrew made a grumpy noise, but that was nothing new.Since they’d exhausted the topic of her work, apparently, he moved on to the next thing he wanted to hassle her about.
“I hear you have a date next week.”
“What?”Her dad sat up straighter, appearing interested but also wary.
“How did you hear about that?”she demanded.One of the cardinal rules of being siblings who were both into kink—thou shalt not mention kink in front of the parents.At least, that was the unspoken rule in their household.Andrew had gotten around it by calling it a ‘date,’ but that just made things more complicated.
“You were at Marquis’ bar last night.Shane told Olivia, who told Lexie, who told me.And Lexie told Patrick, who told Andrew.”Kate shrugged, sending Iris an apologetic look.
“Who is Shane?”her dad asked, obviously confused but also amused.He was used to playing catch-up to their conversations.
“The bartender,” Andrew replied.
“Oh my God… do you all not have anything better to do than gossip?It’s worse than high school,” Iris complained, rubbing her hands over her face.She would never get used to how fast gossip spread like wildfire through the clubs.She wouldn’t have pegged Shane as gossipy, but then again, even if he only told Olivia, who was his boss, that was enough to get the whole train started.
“So, does that mean you have a date?What’s his name?What does he do?”Her dad was ready with the third degree.
Before she could answer, Andrew was already jumping in with his version of events—which would have pissed her off, even if it hadn’t included his opinion.
“His name is Lawrence, he’s a lawyer, and he’s too old for her.”
“He’s like maybe ten years older than me.”She glared at Andrew.“And it is none of your business.It’s not even a real date… it’s a hang-out date.You know, we’re hanging out together since I struggle to get anyrealdates thanks to my overprotective big brother.”
Andrew scowled but said nothing, probably because he couldn’t think of anything to say since it was one hundred percent true.
“Ten years isn’t too bad,” her father said slowly.“So, he’s in his early thirties.”
“Yes.”Iris stuck her tongue out at Andrew.
“It’s not a question of years but maturity,” Andrew muttered.
She flipped him off when their dad wasn’t looking.Who cared if Law was too mature for her?Maturity was overrated.
Law
The week was dragging by.Law knew it was because he was looking forward to the end of the week and scening with Iris, but that didn’t help.If anything, it made him more anxious about scening with her.
When was the last time he had actually looked forward to scening with a submissive?A particular submissive?
Easy answer?He hadn’t.
Ever.
That wasn’t how he operated.
He was having trouble focusing, so he’d decided to take some work home.Whiskers stated his objection to Law’s at-home hours by walking across his keyboard as much as possible, which didn’t help, either.Dammit.When he’d called Iris trouble, he hadn’t meant for him personally.
“Get down from there.”He picked up Whiskers, ignoring the cat’s angry hiss, and set her on the floor.She tried to swipe at him, but he’d learned his lesson from the past and easily got his hand out of the way.“Now, stay there.I have work to do.”
Glaring at him, Whiskers sat completely motionless, exactly where he’d set her down.It was a little freaky, but he did his best to ignore her.
Ten minutes later, his phone buzzed, and it was a text message from Iris.The little jump his heart did wasn’t something he wanted to think about too hard.He felt like a teenager, excited about getting a text from a girl.That was bad.
