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She leaned down and kissed him. “Duty calls. It’s been a fun night, though.”

Standing, he crossed the room to his front door.

“Wait,” she said, jumping up. He looked at her quizzically. “Is it OK if I give myself an orgasm while you’re gone?”

His hand froze on the doorknob. Not what he was expecting. Moving to her again, he took his face in her hands. “Carrie, baby, I really have to leave, but I need you to tell me why you asked.”

Red creeped up her neck and onto her cheeks and she tried to look away from him, but he kept his hold on her. “I don’t know,” she whispered.

“Not good enough. Tell me, little one.”

She shrugged. “With everything going on between us, I thought it might disappoint you if I didn’t wait for you to come back. And after seeing you with Darci tonight…” She paused and took a deep breath. “I’m still not comfortable with the whole submissive thing, but I’m also not OK with ruining whatever this is between us.”

A slow grin formed. “Little one, you’re making me so happy. But since we don’t have that dynamic, you don’t have to ask. Maybe someday I’ll get you all worked up before I leave and make you wait until I’m home again. But tonight, nothing would make me happier than leaving here knowing you’ll be thinking of me as you play with that gorgeous pussy. In fact, I think you should play with yourself until I come back, or until you fall asleep.”

She nodded with big eyes as she twisted the hem of his t-shirt and he was confident she would obey his directive. With a final kiss, he strode out the door and didn’t look back, because if he did, he wouldn’t leave.

***

Carrie sat back on the couch as the door closed and toyed with Peter’s shirt. Despite the half dozen orgasms she’d gotten at Exposure, Peter had managed to get her all worked up again before he’d been called away.

She had every intention of getting comfortable in Peter’s bed when her phone rang.

It was Gina.

“Carrie, are you free?” She sounded frantic, and Carrie had a feeling she was being called into work.

“I am. What’s going on?”

“No one can find Jack, so Tom said to call you in. Can you get to the studio and run things from there? I’m on my way to the Doll House Cabaret where there’s a credible bomb threat.”

Carrie was already pulling on clothes before Gina mentioned the Doll House, but now she was moving even faster. There was no way she could tell Gina who she was with and that she could confirm the bomb, but she also wouldn’t walk away from the chance to work on this story.

“I guess I’m starting as your new EP tonight, then. I’ll have to hail a cab or call an Uber, but I can be at the studio in twenty if I’m lucky.”

“Thank you. Some staff are there, and they know what they’re doing, but I could relax a little if you were on site in case things blow up… literally.”

By the time Gina disconnected, Carrie was halfway to the elevator with Peter’s contact pulled up on her screen. He’d acknowledged that she might be called in, so he had to expect her to leave, right?

She fired off a quick text.Heading to the UNN building. Got called in. Update you later.

His read receipts were turned on, and he’d seen her message by the time the elevator opened, but he didn’t reply. When she got downstairs, the doorman approached her. “You’re Carrie Davenport, correct?”

She nodded, and he handed her a key. “Mr. Mercer says to take yourself directly to work. We’ll arrange getting this back to me in the morning.”

Carrie frowned. “You’re loaning me your car?”

“Yes, ma’am. Mr. Mercer is a good friend.”

Carrie took the key and when she stepped outside, the car was waiting for her.

“I’ll be careful with it, I promise.”

She wasn’t about to tell him it had been almost a year since she’d been behind the wheel of a car. She didn’t even own one, and only rented them occasionally. Public transit had always been her preference.

As she pulled out of the parking lot, she flipped radio stations, looking for a news broadcast. A story this big had to warrant breaking into local stations, right? Unless they were trying to keep it under wraps to keep the public from panicking or from going to the Doll House just to check things out.

At the UNN Building, she pulled into the parking garage, a place she’d never really been before, and sprinted for the elevator to take her to the studio floor of the UNN building.

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