Page 29 of Past and Present

Marissa frowned. “Sorry.”

Lance motioned for the door to the lobby. “Come on.”

Marissa gave the group of women a little wave and followed Lance.

“I wasn’t trying to get her in trouble.”

Lance chuckled when they were in the lobby away from the others. “You didn’t. But you should respect their dynamic and not help another sub deliberately disobey their Dom. That’s not why I brought you out here, though. I need to talk to you about something.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

Lance laughed. “It’s the weather. We need to make a choice.”

“Is it going to get bad? It doesn’t seem that bad right now.”

Lance leaned against the reception desk, and Marissa thought he looked exceptionally handsome. He may be in charge of the world in Chicago, but here he was relaxed and seemed at home.

“So what’s the choice?”

“We either fly to Phoenix tonight and skip the party or we take a risk and hope we can still fly out Sunday like we planned.”

“Well, fuck. I don’t like that choice.”

Lance laughed. “Me either, Riss. But that’s where we’re at. So what’s it gonna be?”

“Oh, geeze. You’re leaving it up to me?”

He nodded.

“Damn it. I want to be at the party with our friends.”

He picked up her hand. “So we’ll ride it out and see what happens. Let’s go back in and try not to stress about it.”

She sighed and leaned into him for a kiss.

“Sure, we can’t just go upstairs?”

He grinned. “Soon, little Kitten. Soon.”

“Oh before we go back in, was there anything I can help you with for Tamara?”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Someone fill you in?”

Marissa shook her head. “Not exactly. Just hinted that maybe I could help you.”

Lance dragged a hand through his hair. “She’s in a bit of a delicate situation with a client blackmailing her. I’m working on a risk profile on him so David can have more to work with when he confronts him.”

“I want to help.”

Lance nodded and kissed her again. “We’ll work on it together tonight, then.”

Back in the bar, Marissa rejoined the others in decorating and Lance went back to the men. A few minutes later, they all filed out, looking serious.

“See, it’s never good for us when they start scheming together,” Austin said as she watched them walk out.

Marissa laughed. “I don’t know. Sometimes it turns out pretty good.”

Austin grinned. “OK, yeah. You’re right.”

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