Epilogue
Darcy
One Month Later. . . .
Somewhere nearby a skunkhad sprayed something, and I hoped it wasn’t Lemonade. My nose wrinkled and I gagged on the overwhelming stench. Swearing under my breath, I ran full speed along the front path, then vaulted up the steps to the door with my keys out. I glanced at the black windows. There were no lamps lit inside, but of course that didn’t necessarily mean anything. Brooks could be awake. He didn’t always remember to turn on the lights at night, though the front porch blazed in a warm glow from the bulbs burning on either side of the door, so he must have been thinking about me… especially since I should have been homehoursago. I glanced at my watch: 11:57 p.m.
How the hell had time gotten away from me? I moaned under my breath. Brooks had told me only two days ago, when I’d gotten home not even half as late, that he would punish me for staying past my shift, and he’d sounded serious. My stomach fluttered and went hot. Fighting off a grin, I bit my lip until it hurt.
His punishments usually had me coming harder than should be legal.
My key was scraping the lock when the door opened. I dragged myself to a halt and almost fell forward. The scowl on Brooks’ face had me flinching.
“You’re awake.” Damned if I didn’t sound guilty as hell. I hung my head and scrambled mentally. “I love you?” I tried that out and peeked up at him.
Brooks’ lips twisted down with real hurt, and I hated knowing I’d put that expression there. “You love me, huh? That’s the best you can do to try to weasel out of being late?” He reached for my hand and snagged it, dragging me into the dark house with him. “You were supposed to be home six hours ago, sweet prince. What at the Courtesan could be more important than coming home to spend time together?” He slammed the door shut behind me with enough force to let me know I’d actually managed to upset him, and I sucked in a deep breath when he held me in place with his hands on my arms. “Why are you late? I called your mother. She said there was nothing out of the ordinary going on.” He waited, and I could tell he was trying to be patient with me, which only ratcheted my panic and guilt higher.
“Ugh, that woman!” I sighed, and my guts squirmed unhappily. “I wanted to get home on time. I really did.” Brooks shook me around a little, as if telling me to get to the point. “But there’s a wedding reception in the ballroom tomorrow.” Yeah, I sounded like I was whining, but then again, no one—other than me—took our bookings seriously enough. “Mother hadn’t started getting ready. You really can’t get everything done the day of an event. So, I switched out the oak chairs for the gold ones… and next thing I knew….” I sounded lame. “It’s my job, Brooks,” I hissed out, and as much as I tried to stand still, my foot stomped. My cheeks blazed hot. His fingers tightened on my arms. “I’m sorry.” He didn’t say anything, and my heart dropped. “I really am. I don’t know why I can’t trust anyone else.”
“Isn’t the new manager doing a decent job?” His tone was too even and controlled. Fuck, he was furious.
I had trouble drawing in a deep breath. “For someone who doesn’t have half a clue what the Courtesan should run like, sure,” I snarked.
He sighed, and then his low chuckle filled the room, lifting the hairs on my arms. I took a chance and stepped closer to Brooks’ warmth, nestling in against the hard muscles of his chest. His fingers still bit into my biceps, nearly hurting. I pressed a kiss below his ear.
“You’re not getting out of it that easily,” he said with some amusement.
“I forgot the time,” I whispered into his ear, then nuzzled my nose against it. Simply being close to him had my cock twitching awake, and I kissed lower on his neck, feeling stupid. I could have been home in his arms and I’d stayed to what? Work longer? I sighed and leaned more of my weight against him as he brought a hand up to rest on the back of my neck.
“Well, then, I’ll have to give you an incentive to keep track of it.”
He took my hand and drew me along downstairs through the dark rooms and back a hallway. Not being able to see where I was going had my heart racing. I was becoming familiar with the house, but I still stumbled sometimes when he did this to me. I’d thought maybe he would take me upstairs to bed. “Uh, what are we doing?”
“I told you last time you’d be punished if this happened again.” His fingers bit roughly against mine.
Nervously I chuckled. “But it was only… uh… six hours past the end of my shift….”
He harrumphed, and I almost choked on a nervous laugh as he slowed and opened the door to his office. It was darker in there than it was out in the hallway. The lights were off and he didn’t reach for them. When I went to do it, he shoved me toward the center of the room, away from the switch. I stumbled but kept to my feet.
“Go bend over the front of the couch. Put your hands on the cushions,” he said. He went to his desk, and I thought he lifted something off it, maybe his cane.
My cock went on high alert. I couldn’t help it. Anything that had to do with Brooks and his office instantly made me think of sex. My hard-on had me nervously shifting from foot to foot as I tried to track his movements, but he didn’t do anything else, or get anything else out of a drawer. Rather than piss him off more, I went to the couch and carefully rested my hands on the butter-soft leather cushions. He’d replaced the couch I’d destroyed, and the sweet scent of leather drifted up to meet my nose.
“Six hours,” he said, and I heard his steps pad closer to me. His outline in the darkness had me shivering because it was both familiar and frightening at the same time.
“Can I turn the lights on?” I asked quietly.
“No. I want you as you are. I guess, then, I’ll only give you six strikes.”
“Strikes?” I asked, feeling slow with tiredness and the late hour. “Strikes of what?”
He laughed, and I flinched at the pure evil in the sound, even while my skin tingled and my belly coiled with expectation. My cock throbbed and I struggled to hold in a moan.
“Brooks, please? Can we turn the lights on?” I squinted in his direction.
“No. I’m fine. Why, are you uncomfortable? Are you worried?” His voice slipped low, and this was the thing that killed me with Brooks. When he was angry, really fucking furious, he didn’t yell. He didn’t have to do anything so pedestrian. Each word bit at me and let me know I was in trouble. “Are you afraid you’ll be hurt in the dark? Afraid some monster will come out and nip you?” There was a sound I couldn’t quite place, a whistling in the air. I shivered. “Until I talked to your mother, I was concerned you might be dead along the goddamned highway.”
My heart fell. “No.”
