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I laughed. “Smart man.”
“I’ve been married long enough to know the proper answer to that question.”
“She’s blissfully happy,” I said, thinking back to how she’d changed in the last few months. Being with Luke grounded her. She was more mellow and not as high-strung. She was also no longer my boss, as a result of a promotion she took. Though I hated not reporting to her anymore, I knew she was thrilled with her new job as a morning news anchor.
“I’m happy for her,” Nathaniel said, and I knew he was telling the truth. “Who’s that beside her?”
To her right was a man I’d never met, though I’d heard a lot about him. “That’s her brother.”
Nathaniel lifted an eyebrow. It wasn’t a secret Jake had recently been released from rehab. I’d been wary when Meagan told me he was coming, but she assured me he’d done a one-eighty in therapy.
“He’s applying for a job at Luke’s downtown gallery.” Meagan had told me hours ago when she pointed him out to me shortly af
ter he arrived.
“Not here?” Nathaniel asked.
“I doubt Meagan wants her brother to see her here with Luke, when they aren’t as . . . put together.”
“Put together?” he whispered in my ear. “As opposed to when he has her naked and tied up for being a mouthy brat and is working on her ass with a flogger or two?”
“Yes,” I choked out. “That exactly.”
In fact, we had been at the club the night before and he’d been doing just that.
“I see your point.” He looked around the club. “Have you seen Lynne?”
Lynne had approached us a few weeks ago, asking for a recommendation for joining our BDSM group. We had agreed, with a provision that she attend tonight’s party first to meet Luke and some of the other members. We explained she needed to meet everyone first in an environment that wasn’t a play party.
I stood up on my tiptoes. “She was over at the bar the last time I saw her. I don’t know if she’s still there or not.”
“She is.” Nathaniel had a better view of the bar, being so much taller than me.
“Is she alone?”
“Looks that way.”
I sighed. “I’d really hoped she’d meet some people. I worry about her. Especially since she spends so much time with Henry and Elizabeth. I mean, it’s not like she has a happening social life.”
“I hope we haven’t done her a disservice by hiring her.” Nathaniel spoke the fear I’d been hesitant to voice.
“Me, too.” But she was so good with the kids. I didn’t want to lose her. And she’d already made plans to attend some classes online in order to work toward her teaching degree. “Maybe we should make more of an effort to get her out.”
“As long as we keep in mind she’s a grown woman, capable of taking care of herself and making her own decisions.”
I rolled my eyes at his warning. “I have no intention of being her mom.”
“It’s not your motherly instincts I’m worried about.” He must have seen someone he recognized because he nodded at them.
“It’s not?”
“Hello, Nathaniel. Abby.”
I turned to find myself looking at Simon, Lynne’s ex as well as her one and only attempt at a D/s relationship.
“Hello, Master Simon,” I said, my mind spinning with possibilities.
“No, definitely not your motherly instincts.” Beside me, Nathaniel sighed. “It’s your matchmaking ones that have me worried.”
Turn the page for a first look at
Master Professor,
the first book in Lessons from the Rack,
a new series by New York Times
bestselling author Tara Sue Me
coming out in April 2017 from Berkley.
In the history of dumb and stupid ideas, Andie Lincoln couldn’t shake the feeling that her current endeavor was the dumbest and stupidest idea of them all. She stood beside the large glass window in her Oregon hotel and wondered when exactly it was that she’d lost her mind.
She shouldn’t even be in Oregon. She should be spending her summer working as an intern chef in a Seattle restaurant like she’d told her parents she was. It still bothered her that she’d lied to them. But seriously, what was the alternative? Tell them she was entering an exclusive BDSM school because she’d begged Terrance to find a way to get her in?
Hell, half the time, she didn’t believe it herself.
And they would never believe that it was her idea. Oh no, they’d think he had somehow brainwashed her into going. They would never understand that she wanted this. Wanted to be trained in the BDSM world as a submissive.
Her phone rang, pulling her away from the window and thoughts of her parents. She smiled when she saw the display.
“Hey, Terrance,” she said.
“How’s my girl?” he asked.
The noise in the background confirmed he was still on the movie set. He must have had a break and used it to call her.
“I can’t believe I’m here on the West Coast—finally, I might add—and you’re on location in Pittsburgh.”
He laughed. The softly seductive sound that never failed to make moviegoers swoon. She pictured him raking his fingers through his blond hair, and her heart sped up.
“I swear, if it wouldn’t upset the production schedule and put the entire thing behind, I’d be with you right now.” His voice was deep and determined, and she had no doubt he was speaking the truth.
“I understand,” she said, because she did. “Besides, it’s not like I’m going to be here long anyway. Tomorrow morning I head over to the academy.”
“And how awful is it I’m not there for you?” He sighed. “Damn it, Andie. It’s not right.”
She loved it when the protective side of him came out. The side she knew would always put her first. It was a big part of the reason she asked to be trained for him.
They had been friends forever. Even Terrance leaving and becoming a household name hadn’t dampened their friendship. And as time went on, the friendship had grown into something more. He said he loved how she wanted him for him and not who he was. And she loved him because he was kind and patient and made her laugh.
Then that night had happened. The night they both realized there was more between them than friendship, and he’d sat her down and told her he had things to tell her. Things he must tell her before they went any further.
He’d confessed he was a Dominant and wasn’t going to give that part of himself up. She’d heard of the term, but really had no idea what it meant, so later, when she was alone, she did her own research and . . . Holy hell. Her vibrator had had one hell of a workout.
“You can’t help it,” she assured him. “I know you’d be here if you could, and I completely understand why you aren’t.”
“It still doesn’t sit well with me.”
“In that case,” she teased. “I’ll allow you to make it up to me the next time you see me.”
“That I’ll do.” He laughed. “Call me tomorrow when you get settled.”
“I will.”
“How are you feeling? Are you nervous?”
That was another thing—ever since he’d brought up being a Dom, he was always asking about how she felt and what she was thinking. It took some getting used to. At first she thought he was asking just to be nice or because that was what he was supposed to do. Eventually, though, she realized he really cared.
She let out a deep breath. “I’ve moved beyond nervous, but I’m not quite at the scared-shitless stage. It’s just hard to wrap my head around the next few months. I mean, I’m not a prude, but I am
