Page 224 of Bound By Her

He flinched. Her words hitting harder than she intended.

“Sorry,” she muttered. “This is new for me.”

Kaydon grinned, then in one swift movement, scooped her up and tossed her back onto the bed. She squealed, and the lightness of it cracked through the tension like sunlight parting clouds.

Seth pounced next, sandwiching her between them.

“Tell us about you,” Seth said, “Do you date?”

Adria raised a brow. “I thought you didn’t do jealousy?”

Seth picked up the knife from her night stand, and she was surprised at the ease she felt. He took turns pressing the blade end into his palm. “I change my mind all the time.”

Her breath caught.

“No. I don’t date,” she said. “Work. The Nine. Loretta tried to set me up once or twice, but…nothing stuck.”

Loretta.

Pain clamped around her chest, a fist of grief she couldn’t unclench.

Kaydon’s finger brushed her cheek.

“But you do train submissives,” he said.

“Yes,” she whispered. “One or two a year.”

Seth’s voice was sharp. “Do you sleep with all of them?”

“No,” she said quickly.

Looking between them. “This is a first for me.”

CHAPTER 55

NORTH CAROLINA

Bryson lay in his room for what felt like hours. Eventually, Seth found him. He smelled clean, and his hair was wet.

Sitting on Bryson’s bed after a shared moment of silence, Seth said, “You doing okay?”

“Never better.”

“You’re mad.” Seth laid down next to him.

You’re mad.

It was the same thing he’d said to Adria. They were trying to help her.Hewas trying to help her.

“I’m not mad at you,” Bryson said, because it was all he could come up with.

“At Adria?”

“Yes…no,” he ran his fingers through Seth’s hair, “just mad.”

Seth nuzzled against his hand and leveled him with his bright blue eyes. “She was testing you.”

Bryson laughed. “She was pushing me away.”

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