Page 12 of Motivating Mira
Not that I had a personal life lately.
I shot him a hard look, one that would have any one of those ladies I used totutorbuckling at the knees and sinking into the proper submissive position. I shiver suddenly as I remember her… the one who called me Daddy, sinking to her knees. And then I swallow hard because that’s not me anymore. Wesley Lake was going it vanilla these days. Actually calling it vanilla would imply I was dating at all, and I was not, so…
Wesley Lake was going itmonkthese day?
Liza was looking at me in a way that made me uncomfortable, so I lifted my shoulders in a shrug. “Ignore him, seriously.” My eyes cut to Jesse’s, my jaw tight. “He has an overactive imagination.”
Jesse nodded sarcastically, mouthing the words “sure, I do”. He’d been trying to get me some action for a while, worried Iwould leave him alone with Marni if I didn’t get some of those needs met, but resorting to this was absolutely crossing the line, especially when I knew just the place to get those needs met.
“I dunno, Doc, I thought you were a mild-mannered sweetheart, but suddenly my heart’s a flutter. Should I call you Master Lake?”
I closed my eyes, praying for the restraint I needed not to twist my best friend’s neck like a chicken for this.
“Liza, I?—”
She cut me off. “I’ve heard we have one of the best BDSM clubs in all of North America here in Montana.” She leaned closer to me. “A friend mentioned it in passing. I could see if she knows more if you’re interested.”
Shifting my jaw, I give Jesse another hard look.See what you’ve done? Are you satisfied? The charge nurse is giving me BDSM club recommendations!But as Liza goes on talking about a book she’d recently read with a dungeon scene that included the use of a spanking bench, leg spreader bar, and nipple clamps, I forgot all about my best friend’s betrayal and instead concentrated on quelling the heat and swelling that had started in my crotch. Because she was talking about Rawhide Ranch.
And I couldn’t think ofRawhidewithout thinking ofMira.
And across the hall, half hidden by a curtained partition, Mira sat next to her mother, and I was trying my damnedest not to stare at her because, as devastating as it was, she wanted nothing to do with me.
“Really?” Jesse jumped off the counter, grabbed a rolling stool and planted his ass on it, getting way too close to Liza. “Why am I just hearing about this club now?”
“You brought up the topic.”
“No, I hinted at it. You’re the filthy minded one who figured it out.”
She held up her hands, her eyes sparkling. “I don’t know anything other than it exists. I don’t even know the name of it. But men like you probably aren’t welcome there anyway,” she spat, a playful smirk to her mouth.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Men like me?” Jesse’s voice cracked.
Liza rolled her eyes. “You’re a dog. And if there’s a dominant or submissive bone in your body, it’s fake. Although…” She tapped a finger to her chin as she eyed him. “Someone should probably take you in hand and put you to heel.”
“I might be into being tied up and used.” He shrugged, trying not to look too interested. But then his eyes roamed up and down the head nurse’s body way too slowly and she smirked.
“If I were into that stuff, I’d eat you alive, little boy. But I bet the nurses would all put cash into a pool to hire a Dominatrix for you so we could all watch her whip you into shape.”
“Hot damn, Liza! I think you’re more into this than you think.”
She snorted. “Because I want to see you punished?” She reached out to pat him on the head. “Honey, I’m sure everyone you’ve ever met would line up to see that, and trust me, we’re not all into it.”
“Not nice, Liza, not nice.” He shook a finger at her, but his expression remained good-natured.
She shrugged. “Remember when that couple came in who had the piercings…”
I tuned them out, turning my attention across the hall again. Mira Wilcox was sitting vigil at her terminally ill mother’s bedside. Her mother wasn’t actively dying, but it would happen sooner or later. A few weeks, a few months, it was hard to tell when, since the woman had surprised her oncologist by still being alive more than three times longer than he’d told her shewould. Either way, her condition meant she was here often. And that meant Mira was too.
And having Mira here was a reminder that our experience two years prior had been much more monumental and memorable to me than it was to her. I should have known though. We’d texted after I went home, and it was fairly regular considering I was putting in eighty-hour weeks. Then one day she stopped replying to me.
Mira stood and it was the first time she’d moved in hours. For a second I was ready to spring into action, thinking something might be wrong, but then she stretched. It was almost lazy like a cat. She was thinner now, not underweight, just leaner. I looked at Liza, about to ask if she’d seen Mira leave her mother’s side in the last eight hours because I hadn’t, only to find Liza was already talking to me. Or rather about me.
“I see it,” Liza said sizing me up and down. “Hot doctor. Nice, patient, and friendly. Cares a lot, but knows exactly when to get tough… that’s a killer combo for a Dom.”
I blinked at Liza and then narrowed my eyes on Jesse. Fuck. Why didn’t I stop this shit before it got out of hand. This was a small city, I didn’t need my personal like to be gossip in the break room.
“I wouldn’t know,” I answered, a muscle in my jaw ticking in annoyance.
