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“I have to go to London in a few days, but I didn’t want to go without asking you on a date.”
The crimson of her cheeks spread down her neck and up to the tips of her ears, peeking out of the normally sleek, black bob that was plastered to her head.
“A-a date?”
“Would that be okay?” Sutter asked, gently, giving her the opportunity to say no.
Say yes. Take a chance.
She hesitantly reached for her shirt. Hoping she’d touch his fingers, Sutter held on to it until she tugged, then he let her ease it away.
Clutching the shirt to her chest, she turned and ran through the doors into the women’s changing room.
Well, damn.
Chapter 2
Saoirse sat on a bench in the changing room, soaked to the skin and mortified.
She lifted her hands to check for tremors, the first sign of a coming seizure. When her hands held steady, she dropped them into her lap and berated herself again.
How could I have fallen in the pool?
She’d lived in and around pools since she was a baby. She swam before she could walk. Both of her parents were competitive swimmers. Her father was still the swim coach for a Division 1 College. Sure, she’d fallen into pools from time to time, but never as an adult.
He makes me so nervous.
She’d spent nearly a year around Dominants since discovering the lifestyle. First as a “nymph” at the infamous M Street club in D.C., then as a temporary swimming instructor and lifeguard at Blunts, an exclusive lifestyle club in New York, before coming to the Ranch to cover for the regular swimming instructor’s maternity leave.
She’d always been an employee; she’d always been responsible for the safety of players. That gave her a level of authority when dealing with the club Dominants. She didn’t feel submissive when doing her job; she rarely agreed to scenes.
Her mantle of authority flew out the window when she interacted with Sutter.
She got the same vibe from Sutter she got from Master Derek. Although Master Derek was always kind, he was strictly professional when dealing with Ranch staff. None of Master Derek’s “Daddyness” was evident when he dealt with Saoirse.
Sutter poured Daddyness all over her every time they spoke. He tucked her hair behind her ear. He asked how she’d slept, what she’d been eating, whether she’d taken time for herself away from work. Hecared.
Saoirse had friends. She had family. None of them blinked an eye when she moved across the country for the summer. They’d talked about Montana’s natural beauty and made vague plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas, when she expected to be back on the East Coast. But Saoirse knew that if she stayed in Montana or decided to travel, no one would really miss her.
“Saoirse, are you in here?”
She froze for a moment, but it wasn’thisvoice. She wiped her face quickly, brushed her wet hair back from her face, and went to find the speaker.
It was petite, perky Carrie from the reception desk. Her eyes rounded as she took in Saoirse. “What happened to you?”
Saoirse waved her hand. “I slipped and got a dousing. What’s up?”
Carrie held out a slip of paper. “The hot pool guy said there was something he wanted to talk to you about. He left you his number and asked if you’d call him.”
Saoirse took the paper with her fingertips to keep it dry, thanked Carrie with a smile, and went back to her bench.
Trying to ignore how her fingers trembled, she unfolded the paper.
Be brave, it said, with a local number.
A small, sad laugh escaped her. There had been a time when she’d been fearless, full of hope and determination. Then a niggle in her shoulder that had occasionally bothered her during college meets developed into searing pain as she’d started training for the Olympics. The operation that should have repaired her torn rotator cuff had gone disastrously wrong when she’d seized on the table in a severe reaction to the anesthesia. Eleven years on and she’d recovered most of the range-of-motion in her shoulder through intensive physical therapy, but she’d lost her window as a competitive athlete and seizures continued to haunt her when she was under severe stress, despite her religiously taking her medication.
She folded the paper and left it on the bench as she went to her locker to pull on dry clothes. Other than readying the pools for cleaning, her duties were finished for the day. Tomorrow, after breakfast, she’d supervise the morning’s inflatable-play session before swimming lessons. For nearly three months, she’d watched the Littles play, hiding her greedy eyes behind the concealing, green shades she wore. She’d first seen Littles at M Street and had been immediately drawn to them. But it had been too soon after she discovered the dazzling world of kinky play. She’d been overwhelmed by the variety, sampling everything from primal play to shibari during her time at M Street.
