Apt [Running to Love 6] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read Online Free PDF Page B

wrists. She impatiently checked them for chafing and spared a satisfied look when there was none.
    “You’re done, Dave. At least here. You appreciate the use of toys, and you’ve mastered the paddle and the flogger. Keep working with the single tail, and you’ll outstrip Alistair. I just hope you find someone else who’ll reap all your skills.”
    “I’m done?” Somehow Dave thought he had weeks to go. He ignored her last statement. This wasn’t the time or the place.
    “Yes. Although not with office sessions. I’ll expect you the day after tomorrow. Same time.”
    Dave belatedly realized she was angry with him, anger that was in reaction to disappointment, and she’d disengaged the scene as she wouldn’t be able to do her best work. He was too overwhelmed to try to figure it out. He nodded and found a robe to wrap around him so that he could go back to his quarters and shut everyone out. And take the damn plug out. Too bad Meredith hadn’t stopped the scene before she shoved it in.
    He locked his door because otherwise ’Stair would be along to have some kind of discussion with him that would probably involve feelings and doing the right thing and all that shit. It fucking well hurt, and he wasn’t going to talk about it with his buddy. It was bad enough he had to do it with Dr. Massey in a couple of days. He didn’t have to, but he would. He had to deal with this somehow and then find a way to apologize to Fiona. He would go to her when he could do it the right way. He was going to tell her how sorry he was to have reacted the way he did and ask her forgiveness for his rudeness. No, beg her forgiveness and then explain to her that what she felt for him wasn’t love but a crush born of her natural caregiving nature, and he just wasn’t the guy for her. That nice little explanation sounded just fine to him even if his heart felt heavy and his cock sullenly chastised him for being a goddamn liar.
    An authoritative knock on the door jerked him from an uneasy doze, and he cursed and tried to ignore it, but it sounded again. Freaking Alistair. Dave got up from the couch and stomped to the door, yanking it open. Max. What the hell? The younger man looked at him with what could only be annoyance and a touch of dislike. Dave’s defenses came up, and he stepped back warily. “What?”
    “I’d like to talk to you.”
    “Then come in before I end up in some kind of group-therapy shit. People have been pausing outside of my quarters all night. You’re the only one who actually had the balls to knock.” Come to think of it, why hadn’t ’Stair done so?
    “What’s your story, Dave? You upset Meredith, and I don’t like it. I told her she shouldn’t mix personal and business, that it wasn’t ethical and all. And it cost me.”
    Dave felt sick. He once again had caused those around him grief. Would he ever learn? And just when he thought he’d come back to himself, Fiona had turned up and reminded him of whom he’d been. It was her fault. He wasn’t ready. Damn impulsive woman. Then his innate honesty kicked him in the ass, and he placed the blame where it belonged. That was on him. He had it right the first time around.
    “So what’s your story?” Max sounded pissed.
    “Meredith didn’t tell you?”
    “You know better than that, Dave. She may have fucked up by both topping and shrinking you, but she’d never talk about you, not even to me. Quit hedging, or fuck off.”
    Dave’s Dom rose, and his hands fisted. Max was a sub, and there he stood, challenging a Dom. He glared at the man, but Max didn’t back down an inch, and the revelation hit him like the proverbial ton of bricks. Max was indeed submissive but fiercely protective of his Domme. Fiona, too, was submissive, that part of her calling to him so strongly before he even knew what he was, and she had been protective of him when he needed it, as well as far more courageous. She had known what she needed and asked when he hadn’t provided