When he looked down at me, something inside me sank.Seriously? That's it?I realized I'd been building this whole scenario in my head, like maybe I was different or special or something.God, I'm such an idiot. I'm literally inventory here.
He bent down and untied my hands, being super careful not to touch my skin. Like, heaven forbid he make contact with the help after he's done using them. “You are excused. I require solitude,” he said, not bothering to look at me again.
Who even talks like that?
As he walked into the other room, I just stayed there on my knees for a sec, totally confused about what to do. The dismissal hit me like a sucker punch.Solitude? At a freaking sex resort?
I felt empty inside, my stomach in knots and my half-hard dick going soft with each second of this awkward nightmare.This is the job, I reminded myself as I wiped his cum off my chin.Service and bounce.
I did exactly what I was supposed to do.
So why did I feel like I'd bombed a test I didn't know I was taking?
Walking back through the resort felt… totally surreal. Guests were chilling by the pools, laughing and having a good time while I shuffled along like a loser, like some ghost drifting through the party. Each step felt heavier than the last.
What was I even doing here? This job had been my Hail Mary after Casey's accident. I could almost picture what he'd think seeing me now, shuffling back from being used and tossed aside by some European royal.
But deep down... had I liked it?
Tied up and used like a plaything. I couldn't shake the feeling that I had made a mistake, that by working at The Ranch, I'd given up more than just my body. Ugh.
Maybe I'd traded away some part of what makes me, well, me.
The worker’s quarters looked like a small apartment building, nestled off on the west side of the resort. The lobby was full of staff relaxing off duty, but I didn’t feel like hanging out with anyone. As I got back to my room, my body kept reminding me what had happened. My knees were killing me from the tile floor, all red and sore when I glanced down. My jaw ached like I'd been chewing gum for ten hours straight.
The weird thing? These aches and pains weren't totally turning me off. With each step, the whole embarrassment thing started morphing into something else. Curiosity? Or maybe actual desire? Underneath feeling used was this unexpected need to understand what had just gone down, to figure out why part of me had been into the whole power trip.
I caught my reflection in a mirror as I passed by. Flushed face, slightly puffy lips, hair all messed up where he'd grabbed it. I looked... different. Used, yeah, but also somehow more alive than I'd felt since before Casey's accident.
More awake, maybe. More present.
The duke's cold dismissal stung like hell, but it also lit something up inside me, this determination to get better, to figure this out, to own this role I'd taken on.
I'd be ready next time. Because honestly? I wanted more.
Chapter 5
Ricard
On your knees.
Had I really said that?
The memory of him kneeling before me, those wide, expressive eyes looking up as I commanded him, ignited something primal within me once again.
Decadent, like a potentate of old.
For a moment, I lay perfectly still, savoring the warmth on my face and the silken embrace of the Egyptian cotton sheets against my skin as I palmed my morning erection. This brief, peaceful interlude before consciousness fully claimed me was a luxury seldom afforded back in Avaline.
There, my mornings began with Sebastien's precise knock at exactly 6:30 AM, followed by a meticulously planned day filled with meetings and obligations. Here at The Ranch, time felt more fluid, more mine.
I stretched, feeling truly rested as thoughts of that young man flooded back. I had sent him away too early. There was something in his eyes when I dismissed him that struck a chord of regret within me. Hurt? Disappointment? I hadn't meant to be cruel, but that last news about Remy had put me in a terrible mood, and I had taken my wrath out on him.
Speaking of Remy…
I reached for my phone on the nightstand, then remembered with a wry chuckle that it was still at the bottom of the pool. A rather dramatic gesture, perhaps, but there had been something undeniably satisfying about watching it sink, taking with it all the demands and expectations of my life in Avaline, even if just temporarily.
With no phone, I allowed myself to revel in the silence, free from urgent emails, immediate crises, and reminders of my brother's latest transgressions threatening our family's carefully maintained public image.
