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“I think you’d enjoy a bath, Connor. I’ll have someone draw it for you. Now, if you’re finished?”
“Oh yes, I had plenty. It was delicious. Thank you so much.”
A little smile was playing around his lips again, but he only nodded and held out his hand to help me to my feet. I jumped up beside him and he glanced behind me on the sofa. “Don’t forget your Christmas gift.”
“Oh, yeah.”
He took my hand after I retrieved it and he pulled me out of the room, back into the glittering entry hall and up the broad steps. He opened a door near the top of the stairs and ushered me into what he called a guest room, and what I would have called a palatial suite.
He hesitated at the door. “I’m going to bed, if you can manage from here. I’ll tell Mary to have someone draw your bath.”
“It really isn’t necessary.”
“Nevertheless. There’s tooth paste and new brushes in the bathroom drawers, along with everything else you should need. I’ll be just down the hall, if you need anything.”
“Okay. I-I really don’t know how to thank you for everything.”
“No need. I’ll see you in the morning and we’ll talk more then.” He turned and left and I took a few minutes to just take in my surroundings. I was standing at the window just looking out at the snow when someone knocked on the door. It was the maids again from downstairs and they said they’d come to draw my bath. I felt perfectly capable of doing it myself, but whatever. When in Rome…
I went back to my window as they went in the bathroom and stared out at the street some more. There was almost no traffic at all, and I watched a snowplow come trundling down the street, followed by another truck spreading something in its wake. The snow was coming down so hard the streets filled up behind it as it went.
After the maids left, I took off my shoes and clothes and threw them on the floor by my bag of extras. No way I was putting them on that fancy bedspread. Then I went into the steamy bathroom and climbed into the enormous tub. They had filled it with bubbly bath stuff, so I luxuriated in that for a long while. Jared Spen—Jared—had been right. It was so much better than any shower. I shampooed my hair and did the whole nine yards and got out to dry off on fluffy, thick towels, heated on a rack by the tub. By then, I was drooping and felt ready for bed. As I came back in the room, I noticed my clothes and shoes were gone—all of them, even the ones I had in the bag, but I was too tired to worry about it then.
I slipped naked under the covers, and that’s when I noticed the damn teddy bear propped against my pillow. Embarrassed and wondering what whoever took my clothes away must be thinking, I groaned and turned my back on the thing. I snuggled down into the sheets, which probably had like a million thread count.
But all I did was toss and turn and imagine the shadows creeping closer to the bed from the corners of the room.
Chapter Five
Jared
I lay on my back in bed for a long time after leaving Connor in the guest room. What had started out as a favor for a club member had turned into something so different, and I was, frankly, unsure of what to do about it.
Todd Benson had come to me in my office in the club late that afternoon, as I was rushing to finish up and get home before the storm hit. The local news channels were all describing it as “Snowmageddon,” and I remembered the last time a snow had blown through the metro area, catching everyone by surprise. That had been in January of 2014, and the storm only produced about two to three inches of snow, but throughout the late afternoon, the snow turned into slush. Which turned into sheets of ice.
The city of Atlanta didn’t have—at that time at least—enough equipment and supplies to salt or spread chemicals adequately over the icy roads. People in other parts of the country scoffed about how the city came to a standstill that day because of a little snow, but it was the ice that got us. Drivers here didn’t have a need for snow tires or chains, so no one has them. And I don’t care how experienced you are driving in bad conditions—and I had driven in Europe and New England plenty of times during the winter—no one can drive on ice. Drivers on the interstate wound up trapped for hours.
Luckily, I wasn’t one of them, as I was able to leave for home as soon as it started, but some businesses didn’t close early enough to get their people back to where they’d come from, and some tried to go get to their kids at school. Suffice to say, it was a mess of almost biblical proportions, and people were trapped in their cars for hours. Hence the name.
Anyway, I was cutting it a little close with this storm, and I was about to leave when Todd knocked on my door.
“I know you’re on the way out, but can I have a minute?”
“I can give you about that—what’s up?”
“Billy called me today. A few hours ago. He’s flying in tonight and wants to come back home.” He shrugged and fell down in a chair by my desk, raising a desperate looking face to me. “He begged me to take him back, Jared. I had to say yes. I still love him.”
“Ookay. I’m happy for you, Todd. But what do you need from me?”
“I’m on my way now to the airport in case they close the runways. But as I was leaving, one of the littles, Jeb’s boy, wished me luck with my gift and meeting my ‘new boy.’ That’s when it hit me—today was the day we announced on the website that we were delivering the Christmas gifts. I don’t know how I could have forgotten, but there’s been so much drama with Billy lately and so much stress. I did choose the boy over a month ago and bought the gift. Then I put it up on the shelf in my locker and never gave it a second thought. Hell, I’m so sorry, Jared. But what am I going to do? I can’t—I won’t—turn down another chance with Billy. I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t at least try. But if he found out I gave a gift to another boy…you know how insecure he is. On the other hand, I don’t want to let the club down.”
Todd was a friend, but not a close one. I admit I was irritated as I listened to him filling me in. He’d had his head up his ass for weeks over this on again, off again relationship with his long-time sub, and it was frankly boring. He should have handled this situation definitively weeks ago, instead of making excuses for Billy and letting things slide. Littles often needed a firm hand and Billy happened to be a brat, through and through.
I wasn’t that kind of Dom, in any kind of way, but as the owner of the club and general manager, it was my business to know about all facets of play, and that included “Daddy” play. I was still exasperated and a bit out of patience though when I answered him. “What do you expect me to do about this, Todd? This contest was your idea.”
“I don’t actually know. Maybe someone else can give the boy the Christmas present? And then invite him to the munch-slash-Christmas party we were planning? There will be a lot of people there and all the littles, and they’ll make him welcome. It’s not like he even knows me personally. I hate to disappoint him, or anyone, really.” He swiped a hand through his hair, getting flushed. “But I-I just can’t be involved in this any longer.”
I counted to ten in my head and finally nodded. In my opinion, he was already “involved” up to his neck. He had organized this contest or at least he’d been instrumental in putting the whole thing together. I’d had to be talked into it, because I had foreseen various problems and potential pitfalls in the whole affair. I’d never thought the contest to be wise. Littles could be temperamental, and they needed a lot of care and emotional support. The organizers in the club had promised that an influx of littles would attract new Doms though, and they promised that each of the “winners” would be thoroughly vetted, and they’d first be invited only to a “munch” at a local café. A munch was a meet and greet to gauge genuine interest and determine whether or not a potential new member could behave appropriately in a social setting. It also gave the newcomer a chance to see if this community was right for them, and for us to determine if they were right for us. All well and good, so despite my reservations, I had eventually allowed myself to be talked into it. Now Todd had dropped this into my lap at the last minute, when it was his and the other organizers’ business and definitely not mine.
