Page 47 of Pressure

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Lance wandered downstairs in search of Marissa after an hour of not being able to sleep.

When he stepped into the conference room, she wasn’t there. Though her laptop and other tech were strewn across the table.

The lobby bathroom door was open, so she wasn’t in there. He opened the door to the bar and noticed the dungeon door open across the room. Had she gone to look around?

“Marissa?” he called.

When he walked in, he found her sitting on a leather-padded spanking bench looking around the room.

“I used to think I would be where you are now,” she said, not looking at him.

“What do you mean?”

She waved a hand around the room. “This. Being in charge of a kink club. Making it my life. The first few months of staying away were some of the hardest of my life. But then life moved on. I picked up the pieces and I kind of stuck these memories in a corner and let them collect dust.”

He felt his heart constrict as he heard the pain in her voice.

“I’m so sorry, Riss.”

She looked at him then. “Being in here feels like coming home. I just don’t know if it’s a home I belong in anymore.”

He approached her and stood between her knees. “What can I do?”

“Just be patient with me. I know patience isn’t your strong suit.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Insulting me while I have you on a spanking bench, love?”

She giggled. “You wouldn’t dare.”

She was right, he wouldn’t. He’d spanked her exactly once in their relationship and it had not been a sexual thing. It turned out to be something that wasn’t for her, so they’d found other consequences for breaking the rules of their D/s dynamic.

“God, Riss. I feel like we have so much catching up to do. So much to fix. I know we said we don’t have to figure it all out today but are you OK?”

She leaned into him and pressed her forehead to his chest. “Yeah. I’m alright. Just feeling the same. A lot on my mind. I think we should go visit Sebastian Forcythe.”

Lance stepped back and picked up her hands, pulling her off the bench. “Whoa. That was a sudden conversation change. Why?”

“I did a bunch of digging into him. I have a feeling we can get him to talk to us.”

“OK. I’ll make some phone calls and see what needs to be done to get us on the visitor list.”

She bit her lip. “I might have already put us on the approved list.”

He narrowed his gaze at her and fisted a hand into her hair. “God damn it, Marissa. Don’t do shit like that unless you have to. It’s dangerous and you know it.”

She stuck her lip out in a pout. “What? I’ve been resetting e-mail passwords for old dudes for the past four years. I needed to have a little fun.”

He rolled his eyes but dropped a kiss on her nose. “You’re lucky your cute.”

Her pout turned to a glare and he grinned. “Just checking to see if you still hate being called cute,” he said.

“Come on. Let’s get back to work. I’ll order dinner and we can talk about when to go to California.” He tugged her toward the door and through the bar.

Back in the conference room, they settled into a comfortable silence as they worked.

While they were still working, Isabelle poked her head in. “Hey Master Lance, I’m going back to Philadelphia with Garrett for the week. Master Hunter found someone else to help at the Glenview. You going to be here all week or are you going to Chicago?”

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