Page 123 of Healing the Heart

She felt like she should salute and say, “Sir, yes, sir!” She limited it to one, “Yes, sir,” to which he nodded and left, brushing by Lexie who had arrived in the doorway, unbeknownst to her.

Fiona looked at her with wide eyes.

“He feels responsible for you since you’re under his roof,” she said in explanation. “Jonas isn’t hard-core. He’s into ropes and more zen than anyone I’ve ever known. But, underneath all that, he’s a dominant. Awake the sleeping dragon, and you can get singed.”

“Perhaps you could have told me that before now?”

She shrugged, smiling. “What can I say? I enjoy watching the dragon awake now and then, especially when he’s not breathing his fire on me.” Her smile broadened into a mischievous grin. “Sometimes, when he is.”

So, she’d been ready on time and come to the club as ordered. But she sipped on Diet Coke rather than margaritas, which hadn’t sat well on her stomach and contained entirely too much sugar.

Elena was back onstage. By her husband’s decree, she only did two nights a week, Wednesdays and Fridays. The girls said he started with five, then whittled it down to two because he tired of sharing her. And, it got members back into the dungeon, which was practically abandoned when she was onstage.

Megan arrived late, grabbed a chair across from her, sloshed a frozen green cocktail into Fiona’s unused glass, and took a big swig.

“She knows something,” Regan predicted, her eyes narrowing as she took in her twin’s expression. “I know that look. Spill, Megan.”

She took another fortifying drink then looked straight at Fiona and blurted out, “Oh my god, he’s a wreck.”

“Who?”

“Doc. Or Noah. Whoever we’re calling him today.”

“You’ve seen him?”

“Yeah, he’s been staying downstairs in our mother-in-law suite.”

“How could you, after all he’s done?” Lexie exclaimed, glaring at her like she was a traitor to all womankind.

“Don’t look at me that way. Tony offered. He’s his boss, an old friend, and they’re Green Beret brethren. What was I supposed to do?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Lexie declared huffily. “Recommend a hotel out of state?”

“Yeah, right. Like that would have worked with Jonas if you were in my place.” Megan’s blue eyes were sympathetic when they looked her way. “He had the worst hangover yesterday. I felt bad for him.”

Lexie threw up her hands. “You haven’t seen her crying her heart out for the past month. He broke her heart after she’d been through something truly awful. He doesn’t deserve your sympathy or Fiona’s forgiveness.”

Lexie was Team Fiona all the way.

Megan turned to the matriarch of the group. “What do you think, Joanna?”

“I’m not a fan of him walking out after what you went through, but that letter sounded sincere and he took ownership of his screwup. Some doms just can’t bring themselves to admit when they’re wrong.”

“And he came all the way from LA to get you back.” This came from Mara, Sean’s wife. “I’m a firm believer in second chances. If Lucky hadn’t given me thirds, fourths, and fifths, I wouldn’t be sitting with you now. I’d be crying my lonely heart out in a shitty apartment in Southside.”

It seemed the twins, Joanna and Mara, all leaned Team Noah, leaving Lexie the lone holdout.

“Have all of you hada thing?” Fiona asked.

They nodded.

“We told you about the Rossi curse,” Lexie reminded her.

“And it seems to have spread to LA with Master Noah.”

Every head at the table turned to Megan, who had her gaze fixed on Fiona.

“What do you know?” Regan demanded of her twin.

---