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Chapter 3
Being a cybersecurity expert could involve putting out a lot of fires, and apparently all the black-hat hackers and dark-web villains wanted to get their trouble in before the start of the new year which was frankly inconsiderate. Novalie had still been unsettled by Lincoln Donall of all people showing up in her office when she turned in last night, and she’d had a restless night before being awakened by a client emergency at four. Honestly, couldn’t the criminals and evil-doers give her a break?
Maybe she’d sic Master Derek on them—at least then he might understand what she was dealing with. But that was why he had Ryder. And while Ryder was very good at his job, he wasn’t as good with sudden, acute attacks as she was. His strengths lay in prevention.
After pounding a couple of coffees, Nova had managed to put a stop to this particular band of internet brigands’ evil plot and reported them to the proper authorities—as if that would do any good. Now she was in need of some stress relief. And maybe a nap with her pink cat stuffie, Custard.
She hadn’t realized until Sadie and Master Derek had taken her to task yesterday quite how hard she’d been working, but she really did need a respite. For now, a good cathartic spanking and a solid cleansing cry would do. And when she could find more time for an actual break—Hmm. That was a good question. Where did a kinky-as-hell woman go on vacation when she already lived at one of the world’s best BDSM resorts?
That was a riddle she could solve later. It was great to be able to head to the Littles’ Wing to get her need for release met right now though. Nova always felt as though she could breathe easier once she crossed the threshold where the hardwood flooring of the main resort changed to the pristine white marble tiles of the Littles’ Wing.
She headed straight for the Nursery since that was where Nanny J was most likely to be at this time of day. It sounded unusually busy and when she opened the door, she found Nanny J standing right there. Nanny J was usually so prim and put together in her long black skirts and starched white shirts, and it was weird to see that a strand of gray had come loose from her always impeccable bun.
“Good morning, Nova. Are you joining us today?”
“I was hoping…”
Suddenly, there was a crash behind Nanny J, startling the both of them. With a glance over her shoulder, Nanny J said, “I’ve got to go attend to that. I’m so sorry, Nova, give me just a moment.”
Nova felt like a fist had closed around her throat. She wanted to go into the Nursery but it sounded like pure chaos in there—that wouldn’t do anything to calm her down. She might be so distracted by the pandemonium that she wouldn’t be able to let go enough to get what she needed from being over Nanny J’s lap.
Swallowing hard, not wanting to start sobbing because she’d really been looking forward to the release, she said, “No, that’s fine, Nanny J. I… I’ll come back later.”
Nanny J reached out to pat Nova’s arm. “Thank you, sweetie. I’ll look forward to that.”
A loud screech from the interior of the room saved Nova from having to say anything else. As the matron of the Nursery hurried to control the chaos, Nova stepped back and let the door close.
Linc tooka detour on the way to his Rope 101 class. How he’d managed to not learn jack-shit about how to tie submissives when he used so much rope in the rest of his life was beyond him, but here he was. No better place to fix that shortcoming than Rawhide Ranch. And maybe he’d meet a pretty Little rope bunny who wouldn’t mind being a snowshoe hare out on Enclave.
But first to pay a visit to Nova who had featured heavily in his dreams last night. Yeah, Nova’s office was pretty far out of his way, but it’s not like he was on the clock really. He’d left himself a ridiculous amount of time before class.
Actually, he’d set up his life so he was never on the clock. Not that there weren’t things he needed to get done quickly, and there were always emergencies, but that was up to him, not some stuffed-shirt CEO in a corner office. A broken window in subzero weather or a chimney fire were worthy of busting your ass and putting in some blood, sweat, and tears. A few numbers on a spreadsheet were not.
Speaking of tears though, as he approached Nova’s office, he thought he heard someone crying. Man, crying women broke his heart. Unless he’d made them cry with a nice, hard paddling or some other sadistic delight in which case his heart was intact and his dick was hard. This didn’t sound like someone had gotten or was getting their backside tanned though. There were no satisfying thwacking sounds or murmurs of aftercare. Just sniffles punctuated by gasping sobs.
He turned the corner into Nova’s office and didn’t see her at first. She wasn’t perched on her chair with that perfect posture staring at her monitor or hunched over a print out on her desk. It took him a second to locate her and when he did, it sure did tug on his heartstrings.
She was sitting in the corner on the floor with her knees pulled into her chest. And the poor thing’s face was all flushed and puffy from crying. What on earth had happened?
He’d been hoping to see Nova again, but not like this. He supposed he could call the front desk but he wasn’t one to see a tree blocking a trail and not clear the way—why would he have any less consideration for a woman who was obviously in pain and needed help?
He knocked on the open door so he wouldn’t scare the living crap out of her, but by the way her head snapped up, he’d miscalculated. Poor girl was startled like a red panda and wedged herself even farther into the corner. Wanting to comfort her, he took a few long strides to close the gap between them and then squatted down so he could be on her level.
“Nova, shortcake, what’s wrong?”
Nova shook her head and her chin trembled.
“You can’t honestly expect me to believe that everything is fine when you’re sitting on the floor in a corner, sobbing. I thought nobody put Baby in a corner?”
TheDirty Dancingjoke didn’t even get him a weak smile. So much for that.
“Can you tell me what’s going on? Maybe I can help.”
She scoffed. “I don’t think so. It’s work stuff.”
“Yeah, you’re right. That I can’t help with. I can barely use my cellphone.”
Was that a look of pity or disgust on her beautiful face? It was hard to tell when she was still sniffling and looked like she could start wailing like a banshee at any second.
