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Prologue
Emma ~ Six Months Ago
“Emma,you’rewithLuketonight.” As trainer Drew McCord called out my name, the scent of leather and musk filled the air, and I rose from the floor to pair up with my assigned Dominant for the evening. I’d played with him once before. He was super nice. He was just…nice.
And nice was the last thing I needed.
“Hey, Emma,” Luke said. He leaned down, capturing me in a hug. It felt almost brotherly.
“Hi, Sir. Good to see you again.” I looked over my shoulder at Drew, who was still pairing up couples. I leaned in close to Luke’s ear and whispered softly. “Did Drew ask you to pair up with me tonight?”
Luke’s face twisted into a frown as he looked down at me with furrowed eyebrows. “He did, yeah. It didn’t seem like we connected that well the other time we played, so I wondered why. I thought maybe you asked him.”
A sigh escaped as I dropped my hands from Luke’s shoulders. “Luke, Sir, I like you a lot. You’re a great Dom. But what Drew thinks I need and what I really need are very different. I need intense play. Really intense. Hard.”
Luke’s sharp eyes examined my face. “I appreciate your honesty, honey. If you need that level of intensity, I’m certainly not someone who’s able to give you that. My style is more of a Daddy.”
“I guessed that.” It was clear from the way he doted on his subs that he was the nurturing type. “You’ll make a great Daddy. I’m just not a Little. No matter what Drew thinks.”
Luke looked over his shoulder, and my gaze followed his. Drew was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, looking a bit like a drill sergeant. “To be honest, honey, the only Dom in the club who plays hard is Drew. He’s a sadist, though. And he’s really careful about who he plays with, for that reason. I haven’t seen him play with anyone in months. He’d rather go without than chance playing with someone who doesn’t want that.”
That’s exactly what I was hoping for. Hard. Intense. A sadist who would appreciate the masochist in me.
Luke’s voice broke through my daydream, bringing me back to the present. “In the absence of another partner, honey, I’m all you’ve got. I can’t give you pain, but I love rope, if you’re up for it.”
I shifted my gaze back to him. Like most of my nights at Blackstone, I’d take what I could get. “That sounds good, Sir. Let’s go.”
1
Emma
Now
Thesightofplanestaking off and landing drew my attention away from my spreadsheet as I looked out over the Denver airport runways. Budget calculations were the worst part of my job. Or maybe writing up change orders. Both were time consuming and painful.
I took a sip of my coffee, needing the caffeine to kick in before I could get started on this. My assistant made the potent brew just the way I liked it—more milk and sugar than coffee. I took another sip from the mug before carefully placing it back on the coaster by my workstation.
My job as a project manager for the Denver Airport hadn’t really been what I’d imagined when I’d graduated from of the Colorado School of Mines with a degree in civil engineering. I didn’t know what I’d been picturing, to be honest. This job, at least, came with perks. Like an assistant who brought me coffee.
But what I’d learned since college was that in the working world, if you were good at your job, you got promoted to where you barely did it anymore. That had definitely been my experience over the past five years.
As a masochist, I should’ve probably enjoyed this job more. It was definitely painful.
Abruptly, my phone rang, yanking me out of my reverie. I peeked at the caller ID before I answered. It was Justin, the regional manager. I smiled as I swiped to answer the call. “Hi, Justin.”
“Hey, Emma. How are things at the Denver airport?” Justin had been a few years ahead of me at Mines, and we’d both joined Huntley and Ross right after graduation. We’d both risen through the ranks of the consulting firm over the past few years, and most recently, he’d been promoted to my manager. He was a great boss and a good friend.
“Things are good, the usual issues. Have to do a change order. FAA funding changes are making the client want to shift the scope of work and build in the next phase. It’s like an eight million dollar reduction in their budget.”
Justin whistled. “That’s a big change. You know government funding. Send it over whenever you finish it. I’ll sign off.”
“Thanks, J. How’s Sarah?” I pushed my hair back from my face. Justin’s on-again, off-again girlfriend had always seemed to be threatened by Justin’s friendship with me. I’d never bonded with her, but in general, I wasn’t the best at female friendships. Most of my best friends were guys, probably a remnant of going to school at a college that was eighty percent male. It was probably just as well. Justin and I had a brief thing back in college, but he wasn’t my type. If Sarah knew, though, she’d never let us hang out, even for work.
There was nothing between us now. Hadn’t been for years. But Sarah didn’t know that we’d briefly dated, and I was sure that if she and I spent time together, it was bound to come out.
My mother had loved to dole out advice. One of her favorite sayings had been “friends don’t make secrets, and secrets don’t make friends.” My interpretation of this had become, over the years, that the best course of action in any situation was to spill everything I knew to anyone who would listen. I was open about the fact that I had a big mouth. If someone knew that I couldn’t keep secrets and told me something anyway, that was on them. Right?
“Sarah’s good. Things are going well right now. Anyone special in your life?”
