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Wasit possible to experience sub drop five years after a scene? No, she told herself. She’d been out of the kink scene too long to remember what anything felt like. The punch to the gut it felt like she’d just taken was a result of breathing the same air as Terrence—and the knowledge she’d be doing so all summer.
Chapter 6
TERRENCE
Terrence walked halfway to his summer villa before remembering he never got the key. With a sigh, he turned back to the main building, but instead of going back to the office, he headed toward the dining room. Fulton and Andie would more than likely be there or in the kitchen.
He found them in the dining room, sitting at a table with their heads close together and chatting. At his entrance, they jumped apart. Andie glanced at him before dropping her eyes to the table. Ah, so they’d been talking about him. It wasn’t surprising, he supposed, all things considered.
“Terrence.” Fulton stood up and gave him a one-arm hug. “It’s good to see you. We were just talking about you.”
“At least you’re being honest,” Terrence said with a smile.
“I can tell you’ve been in the land of make-believe too long.” Fulton sat back down beside his wife. “Pull up a chair and sit down.”
Terrence hadn’t expected to like Fulton that first summer. When Lennox had suggested the island, Fulton was his main objection to the offer. He’d told Lennox he doubted Fulton wanted to spend three months around his girlfriend’s ex anymore than Terrence wanted to hang out with his ex and her new man.
Lennox had insisted it wouldn’t be that bad, and since Terrence hadn’t had any other viable options, he eventually gave in. As it turned out, Lennox had been right. It had been Fulton who had walked with him to show him where he’d be staying for the summer. Fulton had stood outside the villa as Terrence dropped off his bags.
“Everything looked okay?”Fulton asked, watching as Terrence closed and locked the door. “Do you need anything? I know it’s not exactly an LA penthouse.”
“A fact for which I am eternally grateful,” Terrence replied, and they started walking back toward the main campus. “If given the choice between a group of kink players and a group of Hollywood hotshots, I’ll pick the kink players every time. If nothing else than for the fact they’re usually honest about themselves and what they want out of you as opposed to making shit up and convincing themselves it’s the truth.”
His answer obviously wasn’t the one Fulton expected as proven by the hearty snort of laughter that escaped the other man.
“You just might fit in with us here after all,” Fulton said. “In fact, it might not be the strangest thing in the world if you and I turned out to be friends.”
“Maybe not,” Terrence answered. “But I’m fairly certain it’d make the top ten.”
Top ten or not,five years later, Terrence could whole heartedly agree Fulton and Andie were a much better match than he and Andie had ever been. And while he wouldn’t go so far as to callthe man one of his best friends, a friendship had grown between them.
One of the things Terrence respected about Fulton was his straightforward manner. It was a relief never having to wonder if Fulton was telling the truth or not. So unlike many of the people he spent most of the year with.
“I understand you and Veronica know each other,” Fulton said as soon as Terrence sat down, proving his tell-it-like-it-is personality hadn’t changed. “Is it going to be a problem with her working here this summer?”
“No,” Terrence said, hoping he was right. “We met once, years ago. It was nothing.”
Fulton’s lips pressed together, and Terrence wondered how loud he and Ronnie had been earlier. Not that it should matter. He’d been praising Fulton in his mind for being honest, and here he was doing the exact opposite.
“I didn’t know her as Veronica Fair,” Terrence said. “When I met her, she went by Ronnie. I later learned her last name was Lewis.”
Andie made the connection first. Her eyes grew wide with realization. “She’s the girl you were with that night at the club. She’s Senator Lewis’s daughter.”
“Fair is her mother’s maiden name,” Terrence said, repeating what Ronnie had told him. “She dropped Lewis right after everything went down.”
He still hadn’t had time to think through her comments on being alone and how he’d never followed back up with her. It wasn’t something he was looking forward to, but it had to be done. Later though.
“Shit,” Fulton said. “Veronica Fair is Ronnie Lewis? I wonder how Lennox managed that one?”
Terrence’s bottom jaw dropped as Andie wrinkled her eyebrows. “What do you mean how did Lennox manage it?” sheasked. “He didn’t manage it at all. I called the agency we always use and asked them to send someone out.”
Fulton nodded. “And that someone just happened to be a person with the administrative skills we needed as well as being familiar with kink and a guest who would be staying on the island all summer?”
“When you put like that, does make it seem a bit far-fetched, but how could he have possibly known Lisa would ask for a leave during the summer?” she asked.
“That I don’t know.” Fulton shrugged. “But the one thing I do know is that there are no coincidences on this island, and that Lennox has a funny way of knowing everything that goes on whether we tell him or not.”
“Are you saying Lennox knew who she was and somehow worked it out so she’d be working the same time I was here?” It was the most ridiculous thing Terrence had ever heard.
