Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 140604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
“I do. I have for a long time. I came to the lifestyle honestly. My parents are in it.” She sighed. “I don’t seem to be good with my own rules.”
Because it wasn’t natural to avoid all real connections. He needed to figure out how to make it more comfortable for her.
“Do you always drink red?” Garrett asked with his usual charm.
She smiled, though it was a tight thing. “Not at all. I like most wines, though I tend to gravitate toward dry and not too sweet. I’m from Texas, though, so I love margaritas.” She flushed. “Again, I wasn’t supposed to say that.”
“Oh, the accent gives you away,” Garrett replied. “It’s a pretty accent, don’t you think, Ke….?”
And there it was. It was hard to not use names at all, and it was super weird to call each other Sir since they would not be topping each other.
“Let’s go with Master K and Master G when referring to each other,” Keane offered.
“I don’t know that this is going to work,” she said suddenly. “This is not something I normally do. I’m not the crazy sex girl. I was feeling down tonight, and I should go to bed and hope I do better in the morning.”
“You don’t have to do that.” Garrett’s tone was still smooth, but Keane had been with him long enough to hear the panic underneath. “You sent your friend over for a reason.”
“I didn’t send him over at all. Bobby did that on his own. I swear if I didn’t know better, I would think he got rid of me so he could find his own hot guy.” She frowned and sighed. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair. That makes it sound like I wasn’t involved. I absolutely think you’re hot and I wondered if a fun night might make me feel better, but this isn’t going how I thought it would. Somehow I thought it would be easier.”
The problem was they weren’t giving her what she truly wanted.
The fantasy.
Garrett didn’t know what it meant to want to be someone else, anyone else. But Keane did, and for whatever reason so did Red tonight.
“Well, we should give it more of a chance.” Garrett was always the optimist. He thought if he argued long enough, he would win.
Keane thought they needed a different approach. It was time to take control.
He sat up straighter, letting his jaw go straight and eyes focus on her.
“You said you didn’t want names, but you need something to call us. You may call us Sir.” He used his hardest tone, the one that usually sent all the subs to their knees. “We will call you Red.”
She stared at him for a moment. “I don’t know…”
He had one shot at this. He ignored her and started to take on a role. Dom. “Now I do have some questions, Red. I would like to know why you decided to enter the program.”
That seemed to stop her. “The program?”
He was excellent at role play. It was one of the things he loved most about the lifestyle. For a few hours he could sink into a different role, one where he was in control, one where he was enough. He had spent the last hour studying her. Garrett wasn’t the only one who was good at reading a person, though it took Keane more time. He would bet she worked in a professional field, maybe even in a male-dominated one where she had to fight for her place. She was smart and quick-witted, and likely felt the need to be in control most of the time.
And she was a well-trained submissive, which meant she also wanted time where she wasn’t in control. She likely craved it, but she needed…a little intimacy before her intimacy. Even if it was fake.
“Yes, the program,” he restated, sinking into his role. He liked this role. Asshole at first. Indulgent asshole later. Garrett would do what he did best and smooth out all Keane’s rough edges. “The one in which we purchase a submissive for the night. Your paperwork looks fine, but it seems you might have changed your mind.”
“Hey, dude,” Garrett whispered. “What are you doing?”
But Red sat back, and her lips curled up. She took a sip of her wine and then bit her bottom lip. “I didn’t have much of a choice, Sir. My grandmother needs surgery. I can’t find a job. It’s been hard lately. I thought… I thought I could make some money this way, but I’m nervous.”
“I…your grandma is sick?” Garrett asked. “I’m so sorry. And there is no money involved. He’s being a weirdo.”
For a dude who passed his LSATs in the top five percent, he could be slow in some cases.
She was not. Her gorgeous green eyes went wide, and he would have sworn she managed a sheen of tears. “But then how will I pay for the surgery? And food. I have four brothers and sisters who depend on me. Momma died a while back, and Daddy, well, Daddy never took much to family life. When Momma died he left us all with grandma, and now that she’s sick…”