Page 160 of Masters of Control

Watching her eat was as good as listening to her.

“So, how was your day?” he asked as she ate. “Are they still trying to convince you to stay?”

“Yes, but I think I finally got through to them that I’m done.” She shrugged, her expression serene. “They’re grumping about it, but they aren’t trying to shove more money at me anymore. I think they’ve figured out they can’t pay me enough for me to put up with them any longer. Junior has been avoiding me completely, which has been a blessing. I don’t care whether he actually had a crush on me. I could kiss Steve for saying it in front of everyone because even if it’s not true, he doesn’t want to come anywhere near me anymore. It’s made my workday so much better. How about you?”

“Good. Nothing crazy going on at work. I did finally talk to Noelle.”

Camille’s eyebrows went up. “Oh? How did that go?”

“Surprisingly well. She seemed relieved to hear what she’s experiencing is completely normal, and she understood a Dom not wanting to scene with her doesn’t necessarily mean someone warned them off. I think she just needed to hear it from an outside party.” He shrugged. “I think she was a little paranoid, but not necessarily for no reason. I don’t think any of Law’s friends will ever scene with her.”

“That’s a good point. I’m glad it all worked out.”

“Me, too. Some of the drama around Stronghold and Marquis can be kind of fun sometimes, but I don’t think Noelle and Iris drama would be.”

“What’s the fun drama?” she asked, laughing. “I’m having trouble picturing fun drama.”

“Oh, you know, the drama around people getting together.” He grinned and told her the story of Domi and Mitch going from being fuck buddies to engaged, which also led to Andrew and Kate’s story by comparison. Of course, that meant he had to include Kate’s best friend’s ‘magic vagina’ theory, which Camille got a huge kick out of.

There was something to be said that the Doms who bedhopped the most had been ending up in committed relationships, sometimes without meaning to. Freddy knew Andrew and Kate hadn’t been looking for that when they’d hooked up again, even though they’d been in love years before. The whole second chance thing had made all the submissives around the club go swoony, even the ones who had been hung up on Andrew before Kate returned to Maryland.

With Domi and Mitch, pretty much everyone who wasn’t them had seen that one coming, even though it had been in slow motion for a while. They’d started off scening with other people when only one of them was at the club, but eventually, they’d only been scening with each other, regardless. That Domi had broken up with Mitch when she’d realized she’d developed feelings for him had only made the story juicier.

That’s what he was talking about when he meant fun drama. Not so much fun for the participants as they were going through it, but fun for everyone else who could see where it was going and got to watch.

“I feel a little bad, like we’ve deprived everyone of gossip.” Camille laughed, leaning back in her chair. She’d scraped her plate clean, making Freddy feel particularly pleased. It had been a good dinner, if he did say so himself.

“Oh, trust me, they’ve been gossiping plenty, especially since we had a night together, then had to pull back because of work.” He rolled his eyes. “There was plenty of ‘will they, won’t they’ discussion going on.”

She burst out laughing in surprise.

“If you say so. I guess it was a little dramatic, having you walk into the room with Mrs. Alexander.”

“Trust me, it felt dramatic when I realized who was on the other side of the table.” He laughed along with her. “That was not how I was hoping things were going to go… but it worked out.”

“Yes, it did.” She extended her hand to him, and he curled his fingers around hers. Their eyes met, and he grinned, unable to keep the goofy smile off of his face when she smiled back.

The moment stretched, the inside of his chest filling with warm happiness. There was nothing awkward about the silence. He was here in the moment with her, and it was perfect.

Camille

As if she needed more proof that Freddy was the perfect man, he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.

“Are you ready for dessert?”

See? Perfect man.

“What’s for dessert?” she asked, even though it didn’t really matter. She was going to eat whatever it was, regardless. Thankfully, Freddy was a fantastic cook. Clearly, it made him so happy to feed her, she would have faked it even if he wasn’t.

“Chocolate mousse.”

“You made chocolate mousse?” Her voice squeaked, and his smile widened, blue eyes bright with happy pleasure.

“Sure. It’s not that difficult. I made it last night, and it’s been setting in the fridge since then. Whipped cream on top?” He started to get to his feet, but Camille didn’t let go of his hand. Raising his eyebrows questioningly, he looked down at her when he realized he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Any objection to having dessert in bed?”

His eyes widened.