Page 104 of Masters of Control

“Thank you.” She beamed at him. “So… enough about me. How was your New Year’s Eve?”

She hadn’t been at the Marquis party, none of her group of friends had other than Sam, who had come with Q. Caroline threw a New Year’s Eve party every year with her husband, and Morgan had gone to that instead.

“It was great. I actually met someone.” He grinned as Morgan perked up. Despite everything she’d been through, she still believed in love and happy endings. “She’s a friend of Julie’s, and she’s amazing.”

“Is she a member?”

“No, but I think she’s interested in becoming one. Either way, we exchanged numbers.”

“Oooh, have you called her yet?” Morgan’s interest was partly on his behalf and partly because she was still trying to figure out ‘the rules’ of dating.

“No, it’s too soon. Plus, I tend to try to let the Dominant take the lead for the first call.” He grinned at her.

“So, they get all the control over contact?” she asked thoughtfully.

“No.” Freddy shook his head. “I still get to decide whether I pick up or call them back. If they make me wait too long, I might decide they weren’t worth my time, but I would probably answer to find out why it took them so long to call.”

“How long is too long?”

“As a rule of thumb? I know there are some people who think you’re supposed to wait three days. After three days, I start to feel a little insulted.” He chuckled.

“That’s what I read,” Morgan said, nodding happily. She’d been reading a lot of romance blogs lately, trying to figure out the ‘rules.’ Freddy kept stressing to her not to take them too seriously, but as long as she was enjoying herself, he wasn’t going to tell her not to read them. She was probably getting a better idea of what a healthy relationship could look like from the blogs than she had from her parents or her ex.

“I prefer it when people contact me sooner rather than later. If she calls tonight, I’ll be thrilled.” Mentally, he crossed his fingers. With his anticipated afternoon, he would love something nice to end the day, like a call from Mistress Camille.

Even if all she wanted to do was scene again.

They’d been so well matched, he would happily scene with her, though, truthfully, he was already hoping for more.

Chapter Seven

Camille

Today was going to be terrible.

Her year had ended pretty well, and if she counted those early hours of the morning with Freddy, then it had started out pretty great, but everything had been pretty much downhill from there.

Yesterday’s visit with her mom had been fine too, actually. It was work that had frustrated her. Going through the Alexanders’ prenup with a fine-tooth comb had given her a headache. Whoever had given the Alexanders the advice to sign it had been a total hack. More than one section was unclear.

Granted, things could go either way, but she wasn’t sure it would go Mrs. Alexander’s way, even though she was likely the more deserving party.

You’re not supposed to be thinking that way. Mr. Alexander is your client, not her. You’re supposed to be saving him as much money as possible… so that he can pay it all to Donaldson and some of it will come to you.

Right.

Sometimes, she felt like this job was sucking the soul right out of her body.

At least she had something to look forward to for the end of the day. Her reward to herself for getting through this afternoon was calling Freddy. During her lunch hour, she’d also sent in the application for membership to Stronghold and Marquis. In some small way, she was claiming some of herself back.

“Ugh, this is going to be such a waste of time.” Nicholas Alexander III, all six feet of him, was slouched in one of the conference room chairs. At first glance, he was handsome enough. In his late forties, he still kept himself in shape. He had dark brown eyes and matching dark brown hair sprinkled with just a touch of salt. At second glance, it was impossible to miss the petulant set of his mouth and the arrogant unhappiness emanating from him like a bad smell.

Well, it was impossible for her to miss. She knew Rachel, the receptionist who had escorted him into the conference room, hadn’t noticed his flaws. She had been all smiles and giggles as Mr. Alexander smirked and flirted with her.

Thankfully, he didn’t try that with Camille.

“Do you want me to call the meeting off?” she asked. Mrs. Alexander was due any minute, along with her counsel from Addison, O’Shane, and Smith, and Alfred Johan. AOS, as they were known, had a reputation for representing women like Mrs. Alexander, who had ended up married to rich assholes who didn’t want to pay their alimony.

They made a lot of money making those rich assholes pay out the ass.