Page 131 of Masters of Secrets

“Thank you, Connor,” Amy echoed. Despite the bickering, she was now snuggled up against Zach’s chest, looking perfectly comfortable. More than comfortable, she looked like she had fully relaxed now that she was on his lap, which she hadn’t done while she was on Connor’s.

Probably just because they were closer than her and Connor. After all the scening together. And Connor was probably just reading into things that Zach seemed as if he was holding her in a possessive manner.

“Have a good rest of the night,” he said, making himself turn around and walk away. They didn’t need his help. They hadn’t asked for his help. He’d done what he was supposed to do. Just because something felt unfinished didn’t mean he needed to finish it.

If Mistress Julie hadn’t been waiting for him, it would have been much more difficult, but thankfully, she was. As he walked toward her, a smile lit up her face that nearly made him forget about the not-couple behind him.

“Hello, handsome,” she purred as he stepped up in front of her, tilting her head back. Her hands came up to rest against his chest, one of them immediately sliding up to reach for the back of his neck, pulling his head down to meet her lips. Connor went eagerly, his hands fluttering for a moment by his sides before he moved them to her hips.

She hadn’t told him to, but then, they hadn’t discussed protocol.

And she didn’t seem to mind as she gave him a very thorough kiss in greeting.

That or he was going to be punished for putting his hands on her without permission.

Her tongue slid against his, making his cock stand at immediate attention. A sharp scream cut through the air, reminding him of where they were and what he was supposed to be doing. Immediately, he jerked his head up, turning in the direction of the cry.

Chapter Seventeen

Julie

Watching Connor cuddle Amy had been interesting.

It hadn’t been good. But it hadn’t been necessarily bad, either. Just… interesting. She’d enjoyed watching how caring he was, and at the same time, she’d definitely felt a little jealous. It was an interesting dichotomy.

If she was Kincaid, she’d be jealous of the way Zach was holding Amy. She happened to know that Kincaid was out of town this weekend. Did he know Zach was here? Probably, she answered her own question. It would be extremely foolish to be here out in the open if Kincaid didn’t know.

The gossip train ran Stronghold. And Marquis.

Especially with Connor needing to intercede at the end of the scene—everyone was going to be talking about that for a bit.

She wondered if Kincaid had seen Zach and Amy together recently.

Though, with Amy getting married…

Not my circus, not my monkeys.

Besides, Connor was almost to her. She tilted her head back, smiling up at him, reaching up to his chest. The leather Dungeon Monitor vest was cool under her palms, and she slid one hand up to his neck, encouraging him to bend down for a kiss.

When his hands came to rest on her waist, she shifted closer to him, feeling the growing bulge in the front of his pants as it rubbed against her stomach. She’d deliberately arrived when his shift was almost over, so she wouldn’t have to wait long. Since she was surprising him, she wasn’t sure if he’d be interested in a scene, but either way, they’d get some time together.

Even if he wasn’t interested in a scene, she wanted to spend more time with him. If showing up at Stronghold because he’d taken on an extra DM shift was how she had to do it, so be it.

The kiss deepened, lingered—and abruptly cut off when a shrill scream echoed through the Dungeon. Connor jerked upward, fully at attention, and Julie was already going up on her tiptoes, trying to see where the noise had come from. The woman screamed again, a word this time, but Julie couldn’t make out what it was.

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know… I can’t…” Connor’s head was turning, his gaze scanning over all the equipment, looking for whose scene it was coming from. If he couldn’t see them, she sure as hell wasn’t going to be able to, no matter how much taller she tried to make herself.

Several more shrieks from different voices, then a moment of silence followed by chatter that had an oddly relieved sound to it.

“What the hell is going on?” Julie snapped, not liking that she was completely out of the loop. Especially since whatever it was had interrupted a very nice kiss. There was a stir among the crowd between them and whoever had been screaming, and suddenly, Master Michael came shouldering his way through, holding out his hands out in front of him, one atop the other, like there was something between them. Like Connor, he was dressed in leather pants and a Dungeon Monitor vest, indicating that he was currently on duty this evening. His eye-length brown hair swished as he walked, and he shook his head to move it back out of his eyes—since his hands were full.

Julie automatically stepped back as he moved, getting out of his way.

“What happened?” Connor asked as Master Michael approached.

Julie wondered if it would be too obvious to hide behind Connor. Master Michael was in the classic ‘I’m holding something gross in my hands’ position, and it was likely the something gross had too many legs and was moving.