Page 85 of Secret Submission

Groaning, Julie tried to tug her hand away from his so she could bury her face in her palms, but he wasn’t letting go. So, she buried her face in one palm, searing it with the heat from her cheeks.

“I can’t believe she told you that story.” Her mom had waited until she was engaged to John to tell him that story.

Did it mean she trusted Connor more? Or had that been an attempt to scare him off somehow? Julie wasn’t sure how to parse her mother’s behavior sometimes.

“I thought it was cute.” He grinned at her.

Before she could make a retort, a shadow fell over their table, and they both looked up to see Olivia. She smiled at them, but it was more of a grimace than a smile.

“Hey, I’m so sorry to interrupt, but we’ve got an issue for this weekend. Sherry’s mom fell today, and she wasn’t too badly injured, but she can’t be alone for at least a week, and Sherry and Mark were supposed to perform on Friday.” Olivia shot Julie an apologetic look. “It’s your week.”

Olivia, Julie, and Law did a rotation of who was ‘back-up’ each weekend in case of emergency, and this just happened to be Julie’s weekend. Before Connor, she would have drafted one of the submissive employees who had a night off and done a platonic scene with them. Maybe used a toy or something to add a sexual element.

But now she did have Connor.

He’d appeared slightly confused at first, but when Olivia said it was Julie’s week, light dawned in his eyes. She had told him about it before.

“Can you give us a minute to talk about it?” she asked Olivia.

“Of course, just text me sometime tonight if you can.” Olivia shot her another apologetic look. “Sorry again for interrupting, but since I just got the call, and I was walking through the dining room, and you were here…”

“No, I get it. This gives us an opportunity to talk about it.” Julie smiled, giving Olivia a little wave as she walked away. Her smile faltered as she returned her focus to Connor.

John would never… and he would have been thoroughly insulted that she would think he would.

But Connor wasn’t John.

Taking a deep breath, Julie tried to quell the nerves that were churning her stomach. Connor wasn’t John. This wasn’t going to be a fight just because she was going to ask him if he would perform with her at Marquis.

“Got any plans for Friday?” she asked, trying to make a joke of it.

“I don’t, no,” he said slowly. He was thinking.

He wasn’t saying yes immediately.

He also wasn’t blowing up at her for thinking it was even a possibility.

Some of her nerves settled a little. Connor wasn’t John—Connor was, in fact, the opposite of John in a lot of ways. He’d described himself as a people pleaser. There was every chance Connor would say yes even though he didn’t want to, just because he felt like he should or because he felt like she needed him.

“You don’t have to do this,” she said quickly. “I think Olivia just wanted to give us the chance if we wanted to. We could see if she and Luke could do it if you’re not ready. Or Law and Iris. Or I can call around and see if someone else can be back-up?—”

Connor squeezed her hand before she could ramble on, throwing out any more ideas.

“We should do it.”

Her verbal vomit grinding to a halt, Julie took a deep breath.

“Are you sure? We really don’t have to. There’s time to find someone else.”

“I want to.” He smiled at her. “It’ll be fun. I’ve never performed at Marquis before.” He paused thoughtfully before adding on. “But… if we could wait for you to peg me until after the show is over. I don’t think I want my first time for that to be in front of everyone.”

Julie laughed, surprised and maybe even a little shocked, but also gratified to hear that he was open to being pegged afterward. If that was what he wanted, she was happy to reward him with it.

“Of course.”

Connor

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Julie asked, frowning as she helped Connor into a leather harness with straps that wrapped around his chest and shoulders. It wasn’t the same as Shibari but hugged him in a similar manner, helping him to relax. It was like being held by her, even though she wasn’t touching him. The back was left mostly exposed, with one long horizontal strap across the center. There were also two vertical straps, set at an angle, coming down from around his neck. In addition to the harness, she’d already plugged him with a rather large, long plug to prepare him for later.

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