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“You should have seen them,” Ryan added with a chuckle. “I thought they were going to start making out right up there on the stage. It was cute, actually. I’ve never seen Ella lose control like that—not before or since.”
“It happens, Caelan,” Ella added with a smile. “People often fall in love with the people they work with, especially when the situation is intense and personal. Look at all the actors who hook up with each other, especially when they’re playing each other’s love interest on the screen. When you’re put in close physical contact, and especially in our business, which is sexual by its nature, you’re bound to connect sometimes.”
“That makes sense,” Caelan conceded. “But I’ve only known her for a day and a half.”
“Oh, come on,” Ella countered. “You know better than that. A day and a half of intensive BDSM training is akin to about a month in vanilla time.”
“Okay, maybe,” Caelan conceded, managing a weak grin. “But I have no indication my feelings are reciprocated. I mean, she might be attracted to me, but she might also just be a submissive with built-in erotic buttons that I happen to know how to push.”
“Oh, she’s attracted, all right,” Ryan said.
Caelan looked sharply at him, hope suddenly ballooning inside him, even as he struggled to quash it. “What do you mean? How do you know?”
“Don’t you listen to the staff gossip? Word has it that something’s simmering between Master Caelan and the new trainee.” Ryan waggled his brows and smirked, channeling Groucho Marx. “And from what I’ve gleaned from my sources, the attraction runs both ways.”
Caelan blew out a dismissive breath. “There’s always that kind of gossip when sexual training is involved. Even if—and it’s a big if—she feels the same, the fact remains that I was entirely inappropriate this morning. I took advantage of her and the situation. I wasn’t able to control myself.”
“Oh, no,” Ryan said, putting his hands on his face in mock horror. “Ella, Caelan is human! What are we going to do? He’s not a robot like we thought when we hired him. He’s not Master Perfect. There’s only one course of action.”
“Agreed,” Ella said, her expression deadpan, though her dark eyes were dancing. “I think we’ll need to take him out back and shoot him. We can’t have a man falling in love on our watch.”
Caelan laughed in spite of himself. Then he processed her last sentence. “Wait. I didn’t say I was falling in love. Shit, I don’t even know if my feelings are genuine. I could be engaging in countertransference—projecting my own needs and issues onto her.”
“Stop with the psycho-babble,” Ryan retorted with a good-natured grin. “I don’t think you’re engaging in anything except being a red-blooded male attracted to a woman he’s working intensively with. Call it whatever you want—you have the same goofy expression on your face that Ella gets when she looks at Maya.” A dark expression moved over his features, but it was gone as fast as it had appeared.
Caelan vaguely recalled Ella mentioned some lost love, but now obviously wasn’t the time to ask.
“I hope I get all goofy someday and lose control.” Ryan was smiling again. “I’ve yet to find ‘the one’.” He used his fingers to create air quotes around the words.
“That’s because you’re too busy with ‘the many’,” Ella laughed, adding air quotes of her own. Turning to Caelan, she said gently, “Look. We get it, Caelan. You don’t need to label whatever it is you’re feeling right now, but you do need to acknowledge it. The odds are very good this is not a one-way street. You owe it to both Skylar and yourself to figure out just what it is that might be happening between you.”
“Okay,” Caelan said slowly, trying to think it through. “But I still don’t see how I can continue in my capacity as her trainer. Obviously, I can’t remain objective. I’m afraid I’ll cross the line again.”
“It’s great to remain objective during training in a professional situation,” Ella agreed. “But from the sound of things, I’d say you’re already past that point. We always talk about how important communication is in a BDSM relationship, and that includes the relationship between trainer and trainee. As you know, that needs to go both ways.
“You need to talk to her, Caelan. You need to be honest and tell her what’s going on in your head, and get her feedback on what’s going on in hers. If she agrees that another trainer would be a more appropriate option, we’ll absolutely accommodate that.”
She looked to Ryan. “Tomorrow is Janie’s last day, right?”
“Right,” Ryan agreed. “There’s a new trainee arriving tomorrow afternoon, but if we all agree it’s better, Caelan could take her and I could take over with Skylar.”
Despite the fact it had been his idea in the first place, Caelan experienced a sudden, sharp twinge of possessive fury at the thought of Ryan taking charge of Skylar’s training.
