Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88350 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88350 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Once inside, she tore off her dress and tossed it aside. With trembling fingers, she released the knots at her waist and between her breasts. The ropes dropped to the ground, and she left them where they fell.
She’d lain awake half the night, alternating between confusion, self-doubt, longing and rage. She’d texted Beau a dozen times and deleted every one without sending it. Now, tears streaming down her cheeks, she poured out her tale of woe. Lucia listened quietly, clucking sympathetically in all the right places. She never once said, “I told you so.”
When Lia eventually spluttered to a stop, Lucia said gently, “I’m so sorry he’s hurt you, Lia. You want to come up to the compound and hang out? You know you’re always welcome.”
Lia considered. The idea was tempting. But she dismissed it. “Thanks, Lucia. You’re the best. But I’m afraid if I head back to The Enclave right now, I’ll just sit around licking my wounds. I think I need some time to myself.”
“Okay, querida. If you change your mind, you know where we are.”
“Thanks. And please thank Master Anthony and everyone for giving me another chance. I really appreciate that.”
They talked a while longer and then said their goodbyes. Lia promised not to be a stranger. After they hung up, she stayed on the floor, the phone cradled in her hand, staring at nothing.
Maybe she should take a ride up the mountain and hang out at The Enclave for a while. At least it would keep her from heading straight to Beau’s place. But, no. She didn’t have the heart or the energy to return to The Enclave right now. Beau’s ghost would be in every room, the memories too recent and too sharp to bear.
Plus, what if Beau had a change of heart? What if even now he was on his way to her, a bouquet of flowers in his hand, his gear bag over his shoulder?
“Ha,” she said aloud. “Hope is the thing with feathers that poops on your head the minute you step outside.”
After a long, hot shower, Lia dressed in a long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans and threw on her leather jacket. As she walked through the parking lot to her motorcycle she kept looking around, as if Beau’s Audi might appear at any moment.
It didn’t.
“Hope is the thing with feathers that laughs when you fall out of the nest,” she muttered.
Pulling on her helmet, she hopped on her cycle and rode over to Duck Donuts. She bought a baker’s dozen and a large cup of coffee to go. Back in her complex, she held her breath as she approached her apartment. He might be there right now waiting at the door, his face creased in apology.
“Hope is the thing with feathers that crashes into a plate glass window,” she snarled.
Balancing her coffee and donut box, she let herself back into her empty apartment. Setting down the box and cup near a beanbag chair, she retrieved her laptop from the kitchen counter where it had lain untouched since her week at The Enclave.
Flopping into the oversized bean bag, she grabbed a caramel nut crunch donut and turned on her computer. There were several work emails already in her box, including one from her new boss regarding the staff meeting that would be held at eight o’clock sharp Monday morning.
The timing was good. She would throw herself into her new job. She would go in early and stay late. She’d be so busy learning her new job that she’d barely think about Beau. At night, she’d head over to The Garden and find someone to scene with. After all, Beau certainly wasn’t the only Dom out there. Hell, maybe she’d even sign up for the auction they were holding at The Enclave next month. Lucia would have the inside scoop on the participants. Maybe the Dom of her dreams was already waiting for her. All she had to do was find him.
She hadn’t been looking for a Master or even a lover when she’d agreed to this past week of training. But being with Beau had reopened something inside her. And, despite the fact he’d been such a dick last night, she really had learned a lot from him.
Maybe it wouldn’t last, but she felt like a different person now. She had genuine flashes of calmness and serenity. Admittedly, she still had a way to go to approach anything like Lucia’s contented self-actualization. But the old Lia—the Lia before Master Beau—wouldn’t have hesitated to shoot off a series of scathing texts after Beau pulled his vanishing stunt. She would have stormed around her apartment, hurling things to the ground and screaming in her fury.
While she remained hurt and confused by his abrupt break with her, that kernel of inner calm he had helped her to uncover remained. She would focus on nurturing her fledgling feelings of submissive serenity, with or without him.