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Reasons why she should and shouldn’t go spiraled in her mind, until she couldn’t even form a coherent thought. Jesus fucking Christ, shewasgoing to have a panic attack over mail.
Grabbing an anxiety pill from her purse, she downed it with a gulp of wine. Closing her eyes, she waited until the thoughts racing through her head at breakneck speed slowed to a gentle stroll, until her heart beat at a normal pace. Only then did she read the letter again.
She’d been chosen.She hadn’t imagined it. And by Aiden-fucking-McLaren—one of the original founders, who the girls on Reddit called the Hunk with a Heart. If anyone could ease her into the lifestyle without setting off the innumerable alarm bells that had always stopped her before, it had to be him.
Was she really going to pass that up because—why? Cause accountants were supposed to be too boring to fuck outside the box?
Fuck. That.
The second it clicked into place she was actually going, she screamed so loudly her neighbor banged on their adjoining wall.
CHAPTER3
Aiden
“Umm, excuse you. Why are you getting mud all over my desk exactly?”
Aiden gave Zach an apologetic little wave, but his gaze stayed completely focused on Zach’s computer monitor. “I’ll leave in a minute,” he said, only half paying attention to what he was saying.
With a disgusted sound deep in his throat, Zach reached over the reception counter to shove Aiden’s feet off the surface of his desk. “I’m going to get some wet paper towels. I expect you to be gone when I get back.”
Aiden gave another distracted wave, though he hadn’t actually heard a word Zach said. He was completely focused on the image on the screen, which showed the security footage from the front gates.
A dark blue Ford SUV was parked about ten feet away from the camera. The woman inside was hunched over her steering wheel, shoulders rising and falling rapidly. He hadn’t yet seen her face.
“Were you even listening to me?” Zach demanded.
Glancing up only long enough to see the mound of dripping paper towels in Zach’s hand and the annoyed tilt of his eyebrows, Aiden gave an honest, “Not really, no.”
Zach snorted. “I appreciate your honesty. I think.”
In answer, Aiden pointed at the screen. “Look.”
Curiosity quickened Zach’s steps as he came around the counter, and he leaned over Aiden’s shoulder for a closer look. “Huh.” Plopping the wad of paper towels down onto the desk, he shuffled through a stack of files before pulling one out.
Aiden recognized the folder immediately, as it was much more worn than the others in the pile. Olivia’s application was in there, including her list of hard and soft limits, fantasies and fears, test results proving she was clean, and everything else her new Dom would want to know. He’d taken to reading through it whenever he had a little downtime, until he’d all but memorized her file.
Zach dug through the folder for a few seconds, pulling out a parking pass with the Bronco’s license plate number written on it. “That seems to be the car of your next guest.”
As if Aiden needed the confirmation. He’d recognized her hair’s loose black curls the moment he’d seen her. He’d been imagining running his fingers through that hair ever since he saw the picture in her application. “Indeed.”
“I hate to say it,” Zach said, “but your next guestappearsto be having a panic attack.”
“So it would seem.” And he had no idea what to do about it. If a sub got overwhelmed during a scene, he knew exactly how to handle it. That was literally his job, and he was damn good at it. But Olivia hadn’t even driven onto Manor property, let alone checked in. He wasn’t in charge yet. And he didn’t much care for the feeling.
Zach straightened the pile with Olivia’s file, then fiddled with his bow tie, as if it wasn’t already perfectly straight. The man always looked even more put together than Jonathan or Mason, and that was saying something. Finally, he took a deep breath and said, “I know we have a no refund policy, but given the circumstances, I think we should make an exception.”
Aiden’s gaze snapped up to Zach’s so fast he tweaked a muscle in his neck. “She willnotbe asking for a refund.”
People usually got nervous when Aiden stared them down like that. They’d fidget and look away, or even take a step back. But Zach had known Aiden too long for that. He stared right back into his eyes and arched a single eyebrow. “Not sure that’s up to you, man. Look at the poor girl.”
With a huff of annoyance, Aiden stood and walked away. There was no point trying to explain it to the younger man. He wouldn’t understand. Olivianeededhim.
It had been more than six months since he’d first read her application—and had the acceptance letter sent out that very same morning. Aiden had no idea why she’d booked so far out; it wasn’t as if he hadn’t had earlier vacancies. But Olivia Adams had been on his mind for half a year, and he wasn’t going to let her give up when she was so close to getting what her body so desperately longed for.
“Don’t get us sued and make good choices!” Zach called after him in a singsong voice.
Aiden ignored him completely, hurrying outside to the sweltering June heat before the warning even died away. He only hesitated for a second at the edge of the covered farmer’s porch, enjoying a last moment in the shade while he ensured there were no blue SUVs heading for the parking lot.
