Page 173 of Masters of Secrets

“Dammit, I should have known she was up to something. So, it’s okay?” He looked at her plaintively. “Your mom had a good session today. I’d like to keep helping her.”

Because he wanted to help anyone who needed it or because he wanted to make sure Julie’s mom kept liking him? And did it really matter as long as he held firm on the lines he’d drawn in the sand today?

Not really.

Her mom could use the help, and she felt reassured knowing that she was in Connor’s hands. Much better than John’s. If Connor couldn’t help, he would say so. He wouldn’t push his own agenda to salve his pride.

“It’s okay with me as long as you keep handling her like you did today.” It was a huge measure of trust that she was putting in him. It wasn’t like Sandra was going to be able to spy every time her mom came in. “I don’t want her going to you behind my back with things about me or us.”

“I will definitely not talk to your mom about you at all while she’s seeing me.” A sudden grin lit up his face, and he squeezed her hand. “Though I hope you can make an exception for her telling me childhood stories about you.”

Julie groaned, leaning back in her seat. “Oh God, which ones did she tell you?”

“I rather liked the one about how you ran through the house as a toddler yelling ‘naked baby, naked baby’ when your dad’s boss was over for dinner.”

Groaning, Julie tried to tug her hand away from his so she could bury her face in her palms, but he wasn’t letting go. So, she buried her face in one palm, searing it with the heat from her cheeks.

“I can’t believe she told you that story.” Her mom had waited until she was engaged to John to tell him that story.

Did it mean she trusted Connor more? Or had that been an attempt to scare him off somehow? Julie wasn’t sure how to parse her mother’s behavior sometimes.

“I thought it was cute.” He grinned at her.

Before she could make a retort, a shadow fell over their table, and they both looked up to see Olivia. She smiled at them, but it was more of a grimace than a smile.

“Hey, I’m so sorry to interrupt, but we’ve got an issue for this weekend. Sherry’s mom fell today, and she wasn’t too badly injured, but she can’t be alone for at least a week, and Sherry and Mark were supposed to perform on Friday.” Olivia shot Julie an apologetic look. “It’s your week.”

Olivia, Julie, and Law did a rotation of who was ‘back-up’ each weekend in case of emergency, and this just happened to be Julie’s weekend. Before Connor, she would have drafted one of the submissive employees who had a night off and done a platonic scene with them. Maybe used a toy or something to add a sexual element.

But now she did have Connor.

He’d appeared slightly confused at first, but when Olivia said it was Julie’s week, light dawned in his eyes. She had told him about it before.

“Can you give us a minute to talk about it?” she asked Olivia.

“Of course, just text me sometime tonight if you can.” Olivia shot her another apologetic look. “Sorry again for interrupting, but since I just got the call, and I was walking through the dining room, and you were here…”

“No, I get it. This gives us an opportunity to talk about it.” Julie smiled, giving Olivia a little wave as she walked away. Her smile faltered as she returned her focus to Connor.

John would never… and he would have been thoroughly insulted that she would think he would.

But Connor wasn’t John.

Taking a deep breath, Julie tried to quell the nerves that were churning her stomach. Connor wasn’t John. This wasn’t going to be a fight just because she was going to ask him if he would perform with her at Marquis.

“Got any plans for Friday?” she asked, trying to make a joke of it.

“I don’t, no,” he said slowly. He was thinking.

He wasn’t saying yes immediately.

He also wasn’t blowing up at her for thinking it was even a possibility.

Some of her nerves settled a little. Connor wasn’t John—Connor was, in fact, the opposite of John in a lot of ways. He’d described himself as a people pleaser. There was every chance Connor would say yes even though he didn’t want to, just because he felt like he should or because he felt like she needed him.

“You don’t have to do this,” she said quickly. “I think Olivia just wanted to give us the chance if we wanted to. We could see if she and Luke could do it if you’re not ready. Or Law and Iris. Or I can call around and see if someone else can be back-up⁠—”

Connor squeezed her hand before she could ramble on, throwing out any more ideas.