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“Come on. It can’t be that bad, Gracie.”
She bites her lip. “Matteo actually threatened me with his belt. You know he doesn’t usually punish High Card subs anymore since Skylar came into his life.”
I wince. Grace is right. If Matteo is frustrated enough with her to threaten physical punishment, I’ve got my work cut out for me. I sit at the desk and wake up the computer. All my beautiful spreadsheets are open, and they are a mess. My heart almost breaks. But I give Grace a bright smile. “Go back to the shop. I’ll fix this and we’ll go over it all again when I’m done.”
Grace shakes her head. “I don’t want this job. Find someone else. Or… here’s a bright idea. Don’t freaking leave us again.”
I laugh and shoo her out of the room. When she’s gone, I pull out my headphones and turn on some music. Within ten minutes, I’m in the zone. Spreadsheets make sense to me when a lot of life doesn’t. And spreadsheets never lie. Even when they’re broken and appear to be lying, the truth is always in the numbers.
My office darkens, and I glance up to find Luke standing there.
I take my headphones off and smile. “Hey, Master Luke.”
He comes into the office and perches on the corner of my desk. “Hey, little one. How much have you told Tobias about this place?”
I drop my head to escape his intense gaze. “Only what we talked about earlier today.”
He tucks a hand under my chin and forces me to meet his gaze. “Why not fill him in?”
I shake my head. “It’s not that simple. My relationship with Owen was secret. How do I tell my fiancé that I was in a twenty-four/seven power exchange relationship while I was supposed to be engaged to him?”
Luke pulls out his phone and taps the screen. “Perhaps the same way your fiancé tells you about his penchant for submissive women at an exclusive club in London.”
I narrow my eyes at him when he flips the screen around to show me a photo of Tobias escorting a woman into a nondescript building. But I recognize it as a BDSM club in London. Owen and Matteo toured it years ago to get ideas for our own space.
“Does Owen know Tobias is a member there?” I ask, shoving the phone away.
“Not sure. Wouldn’t surprise me. I did a little digging on Matteo’s orders.”
Normally, Matteo would ask Owen to do the digging. It’s his specialty. The fact that he didn’t ask him makes sense on a certain level. But it still makes me tense. I don’t want anything to ruin what Owen has here. “Why does this have to be so complicated?”
Luke lets out a full-throated laugh. “Relationships are hard even when everyone involved is honest, little one. You start keeping secrets and it’s going to complicate things further. And speaking of relationships, my wife wants to say hi. You up for another visitor?”
My smile is my answer. I love Zara. It will be nice to talk to her again.
Luke leans down and kisses my cheek. “This place isn’t the same without you.”
I stick my tongue out at him just to keep myself from crying, and he shakes his head. “Barely gone a month and already you’ve forgotten how things work around here.”
I giggle at his serious tone, and he tousles my hair before he leaves.
A few seconds later, Zara rushes in.
“I miss you so much.”
I stand and hug her tight. “It sucks being gone. How are you?”
She grins. “Happy. Really fucking happy.”
I motion for her to sit. Zara is the type that won’t mind if I keep working while we talk. Grace wasn’t wrong about the mess, but I’ve been having fun cleaning it all up.
I express that to Zara, and she laughs. “It really does require a spreadsheet fetish to do your job well. And I don’t think that’s something Grace has.”
I quirk an eyebrow upward. “Spreadsheet fetish?”
Zara laughs. “Admit it. You’re getting off on working on those things.”
“Well, it’s more excitement than I’ve had in the last few weeks. Let’s put it that way.”
