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He pulled open the door, an anticipatory smile wide on his face.
Except it wasn’t Lia standing there.
It was Renee.
Chapter 25
Beau had forgotten just how beautiful Renee was. Her honey-blond hair fell in a rich cascade over her shoulders. Her large blue eyes met his as they stared at one another. She was dressed in a low-cut black dress that draped her voluptuous figure.
It was jarring to see she was wearing the slave collar he’d made for her during their first year together. It was like showing up wearing a wedding ring years after an acrimonious divorce. What game was she playing?
“Hello, Beau,” she said, her lips lifting with that hint of Lauren Bacall-like sensuality that had been one of the first things that had drawn him to her. “It’s been too long.”
“What are you doing here?” he said stupidly. “How did you know where I live?”
She lifted a perfectly sculpted brow. “You weren’t that hard to find, Professor. I’m still Facebook friends with your sister. You know how determined I can be once I put my mind to something.” She smiled coquettishly. “Aren’t you glad to see me, baby? I’ve missed you so, so much.”
Beau didn’t answer. He was still trying to get his head around the fact that she wasn’t Lia.
Renee moved closer, leading with her plump, perfect breasts. “I made a terrible mistake, Beau Bear.” Her use of that pet name, which he’d never particularly liked in the first place, was jarring.
She leaned so close he could smell her perfume, floral and cloying. “I left the only man who ever really understood me,” she continued with a pretty pout. “The only Master who knows what Ineed.”
She sank gracefully to her knees before him, her golden hair falling in a shimmering curtain around her face. She lifted her head to stare up at him with a beseeching gaze as she fingered the slave collar she no longer had a right to wear. Beau couldn’t help but think she was going through the motions of a carefully choreographed performance.
“This humble submissive begs your forgiveness. Punish me as you will, but please take me back, my darling.” She extended her hand to him, though she remained on her knees. An actual tear slipped prettily down one smooth cheek.
It was an Oscar-worthy performance, but Beau found himself curiously disinterested, even annoyed. “There’s nothing to forgive. It’s over between us. It has been for a very long time.”
The veracity of his words resonated within him. To forgive was to release feelings of resentment or anger toward someone who had harmed you. He no longer harbored those emotions toward Renee. They were gone, along with the passion and the love.
Instead, he felt…nothing. Nothing at all.
He took her offered hand, but only to pull her to her feet.
“What’s this really about, Renee? We haven’t been in touch for years and now you just show up out of the blue? Did your sugar daddy dump you?”
He regretted the snarky remark the instant it was out of his mouth. But apparently it hit the mark, because her beautiful face twisted into an ugly scowl. Just as quickly, the expression slid away.
“Don’t be silly,” she purred. “And don’t say it’s over between us, baby. We just took a… a little break is all.”
“A little break?” Beau blurted, not bothering to keep the incredulity from his tone. “It’s been over three years. That’s longer than we were even together in the first place. There is no ‘us,’ Renee. There hasn’t been for a very long time.”
“No,” Renee said, her voice rising in whine. “You’re just hurt, and I get that. I was a foolish, foolish girl. You were the best thing that ever happened to me, and I threw it away to chase my own silly dreams. But now I’ve come back to you, my darling.”
Before he could react, she took his face in both hands and pulled him down for a kiss, parting her lips as she pressed them against his. He was so shocked by the action that for several seconds he just stood there, letting her lap at his mouth with her tongue.
Finally finding the wherewithal to move, Beau took a step back in an effort to extricate himself from Renee’s unwelcome embrace. Not only did he feel absolutely nothing for her, he found her crude attempts at seduction insulting to them both. But she only clung harder, wrapping her arms around his waist as she kept her mouth locked on his.
At that moment, Beau heard someone clomping determinedly along the cement walk that fronted the complex. Over Renee’s head, a small, pink-haired girl came into view. She was dressed in leather and torn jeans, a look of sweet, nervous determination on her lovely face.
As their eyes met, her mouth fell open, her expression one of pure horror.
Feeling as if he were caught in the grip of a hideous nightmare, Beau grabbed Renee’s arms and yanked them from his waist. Pushing her aside, he took a step toward Lia.
Lia, meanwhile, took a step back, and then another. Her face was etched with shock and hurt. Before he could speak, she turned on her heel and ran.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
