Page 21 of Healing the Heart

“What did I do?”

“What did you do?” he echoed, the audacity of her question making his voice rise at least an octave. “Let’s see if I can recap accurately. You glared at your master, raised your voice, and slugged him. You also scowled, glowered, and got lippy. Did I leave anything out?”

When the ballsy little sub bit her lower lip, Noah could practically see the wheels turning in her head as she tried tocome up with a way to get out of the corner she’d misbehaved herself into.

“Well?” Eric prompted.

“No, your list seemed quite comprehensive. Forgive me, master,” Val said, in a much softer tone. “But I feel bad for Fiona and think as a whole, the club let her down.”

Not looking the slightest bit appeased, he grunted with annoyance. “I can’t have 1000 club members involved in matchmaking schemes. Things are chaotic enough now.”

“It wouldn’t be all of them,” Val reasoned. “At least half are in relationships already. And what if they weren’t schemes? What if it was voluntary?”

“Yes. They could sign up to take part like with everything else,” Esme suggested.

“And who would run this kinky matchmaking service?” the master dom inquired, still sounding very much put out. “I have three full-time jobs already.”

Esme raised her hand. “I have some spare time and computer skills.”

“You work for me,” Keiran reminded her. “And you were telling me just the other day how swamped you are and that you need an assistant.”

“I said that, didn’t I?” she asked him, turning her big green eyes on Val when he nodded. “You should do it. You have the intuition.”

“And a private practice to run,” Eric replied with a shake of his head. “It keeps her busy enough.”

“Maybe we should do a survey, assess the interest, and go from there,” Val suggested.

“That’s a great idea,” Esme said enthusiastically, fully backing her friend and fellow sub’s suggestion.

Val’s voice brimmed with excitement as she further suggested, “We could put it in the newsletter. Since we sendit out by email, anyone interested could click on a link and complete the questionnaire. Easy peasy!”

“And maybe we compile them together in half the time,” Esme proposed.

Keiran caught her chin and turned her face up to his. “Why is this so important to you,mo chuisle?”

“Because I remember how lonely it was after Andrew died, and how hard it was to put myself out there. I almost didn’t. If not for Master Eric, I might still be stuck.”

“Me too,” Val whispered, her misty-eyed gaze on her husband. A widow, like Esme, she had suppressed her desires in a vanilla marriage for years, only blossoming when she found the club and met Eric. “Please, master. Can’t we at least see if there’s an interest? In this small group alone, two of the three subs were adrift. All we needed was a nudge in the right direction and a guiding hand.”

“I needed a kick in the pants. If you recall, it took being unmasked at the annual masquerade party for me to admit to Flynn I was submissive and in love with him.” Cassie, who he thought was asleep, added this compelling tidbit to their exchange.

“That’s three out of three, sir,” Esme pressed. “And submissives aren’t the only ones struggling to find the yin to their yang.”

“Yeah. Doms need love, too, master.”

Despite his irritable mood, when Val played that outrageous card without batting an eyelash, Noah almost lost it. The snickers from others in the group made it clear they didn’t possess the same level of discipline.

Eric arched an imperious brow at her. “You’re playing me, aren’t you, sprite?”

“No!” she exclaimed. “Look at Master Keiran, Commander Flynn, and you. All married in the last few years to theirperfect match. Don’t you think it’s possible some rank-and-file members see how happy the club masters are and want the same for themselves?”

“All right,” Eric sighed. “We’ll put something in the newsletter and see what kind of response we get.”

Noah somehow kept a straight face as the master dom capitulated, his resistance collapsing like a house of cards faced with his woman’s logic and heart-tugging plea.

“Oh, thank you, master,” Val gushed, her face lighting up as she hugged his arm to her ample chest.

“That doesn’t mean you’re off the hook for your naughty, scowling, sassy behavior,” he declared, his stern, master dom persona tempered momentarily but far from gone. “Get my bag from Samson at the bar and meet me in room 6. You have ten minutes.”

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