Release Me

Part 3

The smell of food wafted through the room, and my stomach growled. Kade and I stepped into the small breakfast nook, and Samantha wiggled her eyebrows at me as she turned to set a platter of roast beef in the center of the table.

"Feeling better?"

I rolled my eyes at her while Kade pulled out my chair and waited.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" he offered. She smiled over at him, then glanced down at his crotch, which still sported an obvious hard-on.

"You can tell me how that's possible when you just fucked the living daylights out of my friend." Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline, and she licked her lips. "If you need help with it, you know where to find me."

Kade smiled and shook his head. It was a known fact she struggled to understand our relationship. After much discussion, we'd taken her out to our favorite kink club in hopes she'd figure it out, or find a distraction.

Samantha set two more bowls on the table and scowled at Kade, who was still standing behind me. When she looked to be settled, he stepped around and pulled out her chair, then took a seat in the open one between us.

"They don't make men like you anymore," she said, her eyes following him as he shifted in his seat.

"Most women seem to dislike chivalry. Something about being equal to me and such."

"Then why aren't you like that?" She plopped a spoonful of mashed potatoes on her plate, then passed them to me.

"Because Mis... Atlas prefers I act like a gentleman towards the women in her life." He glanced over at me and I gave him a nod of reassurance.

"Boy, do you have this one trained. When I find my next one, I might ask for some pointers."

I laughed, and we continued to banter back and forth over dinner. It was nice to embrace the informal scenario after being used to a much more formal environment for so long.

Kade stood and collected the empty dishes, pressing on Samantha's shoulder when she tried to rise from her seat to help.

"I've got the dishes. Think of it as my of it as my contribution to dinner."

Samantha looked like she was going to object, but picked up her glass instead and Kade flashed her a smile.

"Well, since he's got all that, can we talk about your not so day job?"

"No," I said, mirroring her move with my wineglass, then crossing my arms over my chest.

"Come on. You've got a graduate degree. For heaven's sakes, you've got a file on all your clients, like you were a general contractor or something."

"The more you know, the better the service, which means they'll pay well and keep coming back." I shot back, tired of this conversation. "Besides, you don't actually know what I do."

"You dress up like a living sex doll, and fuck them for money."

I cringed at her words. Across the room, a plate clattered on the counter and I shot a warning look toward Kade.

"No, I don't. I'm a professional dominant. People need different things in their lives. My clients need a place to give up control for a while, and I have those skills."

She pushed her chair back and stood, then poured more wine into her glass before walking over to the couch across the open great room. I raised an eyebrow at Kade and he nodded. With a sigh, I followed her to the other side of the large great room.

"Why can't you have a normal job?"

"I'm a writer. How much more normal do I need to get?"

She sighed and stared out the window.

"I'm just worried about you. I keep hoping you'll tell me what happened in Boston, but you act like it was no big deal. Then you started turning tricks for money, and I wonder what I'm missing."

"I don't turn tricks. They are clients."

"Sex work is sex work," she said with a sigh and took a hard gulp of wine.

"How about this? You come out with Kade and me to the club next Friday night. I'll show you what I do with my clients."

"What kind of club?" She quirks an eyebrow, pulling her knees to her chest.

"BDSM." The letters hang between us and I brace for the rejection.

"You mean like whips and chains?" Then her head swivels between me and Kade several times. "He? And... you?"

I lowered my eyes and laughed, letting out the tense breath in a long push.

"Does he do it to you?" Her forehead wrinkled, and she shifted in her seat.

"Are you asking if he's in control of the situations?"

"I don't know what I'm asking. Sure, I've experimented with getting tied to the headboard during sex, but you're talking about actual whips and stuff."

"Yes." I settled against the back of the couch, glad she's not completely freaking out.

Her head shakes, but her tongue darts across her lower lip and she sucks it into her mouth. It took everything in me to remain neutral. Dominick required everyone in his household to take classes in body language and I suppressed a smile at her reaction, while mentally forcing his name from my mind.

"We'll keep you safe."

Kade walked in and a silent signal sent him to the sit on the floor in front of my spot on the couch. Across the room, Samantha's lips formed a silent 'o' as she watched us.

"I've got nothing to wear," she said without taking her eyes off Kade.

"Good thing I've got an entire wardrobe, and we're similar sizes." I swirled the wine against the glass as a distraction from the way she was processing everything, as if the pieces were finally falling into place.

"I don't know."

"Come on, Samantha. It'll be fun," Kade said as he lifted his head. There was no doubt about the smirk on his face, even if I couldn't see it.

Her head nodded as she stared at him.

"Now that that is settled, who's up for a board game?" He shifted onto his hands and knees to reach forward and pick a game from the lower level of the coffee table.

Samantha bit her lip harder and I mused at how my life was settling into a new comfortable normal, or at least a version of one I understood.