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“Hey.” He didn’t sound right. Not really as though he was angry, but there was a hint of something in his voice.
“Something wrong? You sound off.” She prayed silently that he hadn’t found out about The Taskmaster.
“I’m at a bed-and-breakfast someone told me they were going to be at, holding a bottle of wine, cheese, crackers, and a rope. Guess who’s not here?”
“You went to the bed-and-breakfast to see me?” Meagan glanced up and saw that no one was talking; rather, they were all staring at her. “I changed my plans. Abby invited me to a girls’ night thing. I’m at Jeff Parks’s house.”
“Abby West?”
“Yes.”
“She’s a sweetheart. And so much for my surprising you.”
Meagan’s head spun quickly, trying to figure out how she could meet him, but she couldn’t find a way.
“If I had a way to get there, I’d come meet you.” She couldn’t hold back the sigh. “Abby drove me.”
“That’s okay. Maybe we can do it another time.”
Why was he going to the bed-and-breakfast when they’d agreed on one night only? She wanted to tease him about his plan to seduce her, but didn’t feel comfortable doing so with all the ears listening.
“We’re still on for tomorrow?” she asked.
“Yes.”
It would be their first session since they slept together. She’d be lying not to admit how much she still wanted him. But it wasn’t anything she was going to talk about. Especially not with an audience.
“I’m looking forward to it.” Looking forward to having his hands on her body. Looking forward to her knees turning to jelly when he gave her a command. Suddenly the next day couldn’t come soon enough.
* * *
Meagan didn’t make it home the next morning until nearly eleven. She’d planned to get back by eight, but Jeff showed up around seven and cooked breakfast for everyone. He looked so relieved that Dena was fine and insisted everyone stay to eat. She’d looked over at Abby and neither one of them had the heart to turn him down.
Which meant she didn’t have much time to prepare for the session with Luke. Not that, technically, there was much to prepare other than her mental state. She was still floored he’d traveled to the bed-and-breakfast last night.
Before she got ready for Luke, she needed to check her e-mails. She’d forgotten her battery charger the night before and her phone died shortly before midnight.
Once she made it home, she plugged it in and booted up her laptop. There was an e-mail from Guy.
Hey, Meagan,
You left last weekend before we had a chance to talk. What’s your schedule like this coming week? Let’s do lunch!
Ugh. Let’s not. She clicked out of it, but didn’t delete. She’d think of a reason to decline later.
Next up were several work-related issues. She read through them, but didn’t reply. The next e-mail made her physically ill.
Hello, slut,
It seems like I was right and you didn’t need any advice about getting close to Luke. Since you’re doing so well, it’s time for you to once again do something for me. I want you to find where Luke keeps his pictures.
You have a week to find out.
Don’t even think about saying no. I’m bigger and stronger than you, and I know where you live.
The Taskmaster
Her whole body shook when she finished reading the e-mail. This had to stop. She couldn’t do it. Getting information about a new club was one thing. But digging through his personal stuff? She couldn’t think of a legitimate reason to ask him where he stored them. And she wasn’t about to go looking without him knowing. That would be wrong.
But even if she asked Luke about the pictures, if he ever found out she was being blackmailed, he’d hate her. He’d think she only went out with him, only slept with him, in order to get close to him. She couldn’t stand it if he thought that. She’d just have to make sure he never found out.
And why the hell had this person decided to get to Luke through her? She leaned back in her chair. There had to be a connection between the three of them. Was it a given The Taskmaster knew her and Luke personally? That was scary.
She turned it around every way possible until her head hurt, but came up with no answers other than one. For this afternoon, she’d have to ensure Luke had no reason to think anything was up.
* * *
“Okay,” Luke said, hours later. “Tell me what’s going on.”
They’d been working on the first bondage scene shoot for over an hour and so far he had nothing he could use. Nothing. Everything was perfect and working like it should. Everything except Meagan. He knew something was wrong the minute he saw her.
Oh, she tried to hide it, and maybe she would have fooled someone who didn’t spend a good amount of their time watching people. But watch people he did, through his lens as a photographer, in his club as a business owner, and while taking his pleasure as a Dom. Since he’d done all three with Meagan, she was only lying to herself if she thought he didn’t know better.
She looked up from where she was kneeling with her hands clasped behind her back. “What makes you think anything’s up?”
“Don’t make it worse by lying.”
She took a deep breath. “Sorry. I’m just not in the right headspace today. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
Last night when she was at Dena’s with some of the ladies from Wilmington, and Abby.
Abby.
Damn it. That’s what the problem was. She’d been with Abby all night and, with other submissives present, they’d probably started talking about scenes. And it would have been nothing for his name to come up. Especially since he’d played with Nathaniel and Abby on multiple occasions. He hadn’t even thought about the times he’d been invited into the Wests’ playroom until right now.
Meagan probably thought he’d been keeping it from her on purpose. It’d slipped his mind she was Abby’s boss.
With a sigh, he put the camera down and started untying her.
“Wait,” she said. “What are you doing? We aren’t finished, are we?”
“We are for now,” he said. “Let’s talk.”
Her face grew unnaturally pale. Fuck, what had Abby told her? He nodded over to a love seat against the far wall and, without him saying anything, she stood up and walked over to it. She sat with her head down, picking at her nails. He took a seat close, but not touching.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about playing with the Wests first,” he said. “You shouldn’t have had to hear it from Abby.”
Her head shot up and from the “O” of surprise her lips made, whatever had been bothering her didn’t have anything to do with him and Abby.
“Shit,” he said. “That’s not what was on your mind, was it?”
“You played with Abby? And Nathaniel?”
“Er, umm.” Damn it all. Wasn’t this just great? He couldn’t very well deny it now, could he? “Yes, a few times. It wasn’t like a regular scene. Nathaniel’s not one to share. But yes, I’ve dominated Abby. I’ve just never had sex with her.”
Meagan appeared to be thinking this over. “That explains why Abby got so flustered when I mentioned you.”
But Abby never told her anything. Nope. He’d taken care of that all by himself.
“I hope this doesn’t make things awkward between you,” he said.
She tilted her head. “No, I don’t think it will. We’re all grown-ups.”
“Good. I would hate to come between you and an employee.”
“Will it be awkward for you?” she asked.
“No, I don’t think so.” He tapped his finger on his knee. “You know, it was actually Abby who inadvertently opened the door for this book.”
“How is that?”
