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Stopping in the pathway, she held out her hand for him to shake. “You’ve got a deal. Some amount of time as your submissive in exchange for an adventure of my choosing.”

His hand gripped hers, and he shook his head. “I’m pretty sure I’m the insane one in this equation, but I suspect it will be worth it.” As he spoke, he pulled his sunglasses off again and captured her gaze with a heated look.

Trying not to squirm, she looked away, but he cupped her face and turned it back to his then bent and kissed her tenderly.

“Are you going back to the apartment or are you going back to work?”

She shrugged. “I guess back to the apartment. Darci asked me to come out to Exposure with her to help Gage get the place ready for the grand opening this weekend. Do you want to meet me there after you get off?”

He pulled out his phone and pressed it to his ear.

“Gage, are you at Exposure?” He paused and listened. “Great. I’m sending Carrie to you now. Pick her up at the parking lot. She’ll text you when she’s close.”

Carrie narrowed her eyes but didn’t argue. It would be better than going back to the office.

He flagged down a cab for her and kissed her once more before motioning her inside. “I’ll see you in a few hours, little one.”

It would be a long cab-ride out to the warehouse, so she pulled out her phone to scroll through her favorite news sites. But her mind kept drifting to what it would be like to be Peter’s submissive. His size and intimidating stare alone made her think he could bring even the most defiant sub to heel if he wanted to. Defiant wasn’t a word she would use to describe herself as a bottom, but she certainly wasn’t compliant and obedient without question. It was part of why she didn’t identify as a submissive.

Eighteen years of living in Admiral Kevin Davenport’s house had sucked all the compliance and obedience out of her and driven her to little things like piercing her nose, dying her hair, and becoming a journalist. Lucky for her, her father was one of those old-fashioned men better known as a misogynist who didn’t think women belonged in the military, so there was never any pressure on her to follow in his footsteps. But he pushed her to go to law school, business school, or nursing school, something respectable. That’s how she ended up an art major. It wasn’t until she took a job on the school newspaper that she’d pursued journalism much to her father’s dismay.

For years, she wasn’t on speaking terms with the good Admiral, but now they spoke at holidays and exchanged monthly phone calls. He still wasn’t over the disappointment in her career choices or the fact that she remained unmarried, but the awards she’d won had softened the hard ass up a bit, and he was still hoping that she would find a husband.

Carrie shook her head, trying to clear away the thoughts of her childhood and troubled relationship with her father. She navigated to her notes app to jot down some ideas for Gina’s show, but her thoughts kept drifting back to Peter. If she thought about it, he’d been subtly dominating her since the beginning of their relationship, and it hadn’t turned her off yet. So far, everything they’d done had only made her insanely wet and horny. Even thinking of his commanding voice now was making her squirm in the backseat of a cab.

The way he’d spoken to Darci demanding that she eat Carrie’s cunt like a good little slut had driven her wild, making the orgasm even stronger.

Gage was waiting, leaned against his shiny truck when they pulled in to the parking lot and she remembered she hadn’t messaged him.

“I forgot to text. How did you know I was here?”

Gage laughed. “Your man messaged me. I assume you know he’s spying on you through your phone?”

Carrie rolled her eyes but gave an affirmative nod. “It was the price of admission for getting to go places on my own again.”

“It’s good seeing you happy with someone, hot stuff. You ready to go get some work done?”

Carrie gave him a thumbs up and went around to the passenger side of his truck. She wasn’t ready to discuss Peter with Gage.

“Olivia is already there helping set up the bar, and Edith will be in later with one of her partners.”

Carrie jumped at the opportunity to talk about someone other than herself. “Which partner? I know she has three, but I think I’ve only met one.”

Gage shook his head. “His name is Simon is all I know. He’s not local. His wife is some sort of big shot in the fashion industry and is here for an event, so he’s using the trip as a chance to see Edith. He’ll even be here for our grand opening.”

Carrie hadn’t heard Edith talk about a Simon before, but it would be fun to meet him. Edith was polyamorous and dated multiple people—almost all of them male submissives.

When they got to the club a few minutes later, she made a beeline for the main dungeon and bar area. Olivia came running from around the bar and gave her a tight hug.

“Hey gorgeous. No sexy secret agent man today?” she teased.

Carrie gave her a shy smile when she pulled away. “He’s meeting me here after work, actually.”

Olivia’s mouth dropped open. “I was totally kidding, babe. I’ve never known you to date a guy before. This is exciting.” She gave a little jump and clapped her hands.

Carrie blushed, and she tried to brush Olivia’s comment off as silly. Truth be told, she was right. Dating wasn’t exactly something Carrie had done a lot of.

“Put me to work. I’ve got nothing but time on my hands.”

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