Page 16 of Bling

Garrett gave a low chuckle. “We’ll find out, won’t we? Get the fuck out of my building before I have you physically removed.”

A guard stepped into the room then and motioned Darren out the door. When he was gone, Garrett squeezed Isabelle’s shoulder again. “Thank you, Isabelle. We’ll talk about getting you back to work on Monday. For now, I need to finish my meeting.”

The pretty girl gave him a tense nod and turned to leave. Austin gave him a slight wave as she linked arms with Isabelle. He was quiet until the two disappeared.

Turning to his soon to be former management team, he said, “As for all of you, consider yourself on probation for the next twenty-one days. I’ll be reevaluating the company’s need for your services. I would caution you not to make any mistakes and take these next few days to figure out what makes you valuable to this company. If I’m not satisfied with your performance in three weeks’ time, or I find unsatisfactory behavior in your record from the past six months, you can consider yourself fired.

Everyone in the room winced, and Garrett knew he was getting through to them. “I’ll be working out of Darren’s office for the foreseeable future. I’ll expect you to have it clean and organized by the time I arrive at seven on Monday morning. If it isn’t, don’t bother coming to work. I’ll leave you all to take care of that now.”

Without another word, Garrett turned and left the room. He had a feeling there would be several letters of resignation on his desk when he arrived on Monday.

In the parking lot, he slid into his waiting car and asked to be taken back to Solitaire. The party tonight would be awkward, but he would still do his best to respect Isabelle’s wishes. In the meantime, he would begin drafting a job offer for her. Putting her to work for him should make her off limits. He had never let a submissive work for him before. Now that he thought about it, it was probably better that he didn’t know she worked for one of his companies when they first entered the Dom/sub contract with each other or he would have had her assigned to another Dom. The thought of that made his fists involuntarily clench. Isabelle was his.

If she were working for him, it would complicate things, especially if he were working out of the Colorado office. But he had a feeling she would be a valuable asset, and he wanted her on his team.

At Solitaire, he settled into the conference room to work until party time. There was plenty to be done to get ready for Monday at the fulfillment center. When it was nearly seven, he closed his tablet case and stepped into the lobby. Isabelle was coming out of the bar.

They both froze, eyes locked on each other.

A glance at her wrist told him she wasn’t wearing his bracelet. Damn it. He could force the issue; she was still technically a house submissive under his supervision. But she’d asked for space.

As if she knew he was looking, she wrapped a hand around the wrist that usually bore the yellow jeweled bracelet and gave him a sad smile.

“I wasn’t sure if it was OK for me to wear it right now,” she said, her voice thick with emotion.

Garrett did his best to keep his expression relaxed. No need having her think he was mad at her.

“You’re still a house submissive, Doll.”

Her lip quivered and he thought she might cry.

“Christ, Isabelle. How do I fix this?”

Her head shook from side to side. “Not sure. I should have just gone home. This is too hard,” she murmured.

Garrett held up a hand. “Please don’t do that. This is your home as much as it is mine. I’m on dungeon monitor duty tonight. You don’t have to see me unless you want to.”

Isabelle gave a slow nod. “I’m sorry. I feel like I’m being a bitch.”

He wanted to go to her, hold her, and make her feel better, but he was the source of her angst so he knew it wouldn’t be welcome.

“I know you don’t want to hear it right now, but I would like to offer you a new job. A different position than what you had before. I want your uncle back too.”

Her shoulders sagged. “Can we talk about it on Monday please, Sir?”

She’d called him Sir. That was a sign she still respected him as a house Dom even if she wasn’t sure how she felt about him personally.

The door behind him opened as guests arrived, so he gave her smile. “Of course, Doll. Come to the warehouse at eight-thirty Monday morning.”

Isabelle shook her head. “I have a meeting at my niece’s school at eight. Can we make it ten?”

Again, he smiled, hoping to comfort her. “Of course. I’ll be ready for you at ten. Ask your uncle to join me. I’ve asked my assistant to call him, but you might have more pull.”

Isabelle took her spot behind the reception desk, and Garrett stepped into the bar. He needed a drink, but dungeon monitors weren’t allowed to drink before their shift. He didn’t always like working these shifts, he was a damn billionaire. But part of being on the Club Solitaire board was working. Everyone put in time, not just money, to make the club work. It was usually worth it.

Tonight though, he didn’t want to be working his shift because it meant watching a room full of people doing things he wanted to be doing with Isabelle, things he’d had every intention of doing with her this weekend.

He pushed his way into the dungeon and sat on one of the two stools just inside the door where the monitors sat when they weren’t making laps around the large dungeon. DMs were there to make sure the guests had everything they needed and to occasionally ask questions and make sure a scene was being conducted safely. It was rare that they had to interrupt or get involved. Only once in the year and a half the club had been open had they had to step in when a Dom ignored a safeword. Security had escorted him out of the building, and he wasn’t allowed to return.

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