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  As he was putting his phone to his ear to let Carrie know he was there, she came rushing out of the building.

  Throwing open the passenger door she said, “Thank God you’re here. I was about to go nuts in there. I’ve worked there for six years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much of that place as I have in the last week.”

  Peter tried not to laugh at her, but she was hilarious when she was hopped up on caffeine and likely not enough sleep. He needed to take better care of her. Where had that thought come from? She wasn’t his to take care of.

  “So, what happened today?” he asked, as he pulled into traffic.

  “I got threatened by someone claiming to be from the attorney general’s office, but I don’t think that’s actually where they’re from. They also called my editor who tried to bench me, but I talked him down.”

  Peter had so many questions. But what he really wanted to talk about was running into her at the party last night.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked. Even though he’d just had a full meal, he was pretty sure offering her food was the right thing.

  “I’m starving, but it’s kind of late for you isn’t it?”

  “We can grab something to take home. Listen,” he began. “I know you probably have more to talk about from your day, but I want to talk to you about something else.”

  “Uh Oh. That doesn’t sound good.”

  Peter flipped on his turn signal at a stop sign and looked over at her. “I don’t think it’s bad. Just potentially awkward.”

  Carrie nodded. “I’m listening.”

  As he made his turn, he said, “I want to talk about kink. I figured food would make that easier. We can hang out in the living room and talk if you’re willing.”

  Carrie grew quiet and he thought she was going to turn him down. As he switched lanes she said, “OK. But I don’t want to have this conversation at your house.”

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “That’s your turf. We need to be on neutral ground. There’s this little bar I know that’s near your place. They have great appetizers and cheap drinks. Not to mention, the bartender is hot.”

  Peter raised one eyebrow at her. “You’re seriously telling me about a hot bartender when I’m trying to have a conversation about kink?”

  Carrie giggled. “I can’t help it if she’s got great tits and a pretty smile. I’m a sucker for a pretty smile.”

  Peter shook his head. Would she ever not surprise him? “OK, tell me where I’m going. You’re crazy you know that?”

  “People keep telling me that, but I’m just not seeing it,” she said with a grin.

  They reached the bar a few minutes later and Carrie wasn’t wrong. The bartender was quite attractive and seemed to know Carrie very well.

  Great, now he was going to spend the entire conversation wondering if she was bisexual. He’d always had fantasies of topping two women at the same time.

  12

  ♥♥♥

  Carrie leaned over the bar and gave her friend a long hug. As she did, she whispered in her ear. “I met him at Gary’s house, and he wants to talk about kink. Want to help me fuck with him?”

  Olivia grinned when she released her and gave a nod of approval.

  Peter had settled on the barstool next to her, and Carrie felt him watching them.

  “What’s your poison?” Olivia asked Peter

  “I’ll have a Jameson on the rocks,” he answered.

  “That sounds amazing. I’ll have the same. And can we get some onion rings, cheese sticks, and fried pickles?” she asked before turning to Peter. “What do you want?”

  “Did you just say fried pickles?” he asked.

  “What’s wrong with that? It’s a vegetable. I thought you would be happy,” Carrie said, batting her lashes.

  Peter shook his head. “I hardly think that counts. Fine. I’ll eat your fried food but only if you have a glass of water before your alcohol.”

  “Party foul,” Olivia said shaking her head in disapproval before winking at Carrie.

  “Nonsense,” Peter scoffed. “It’s smart drinking.”

  “To see you eat fried food? I’ll have one glass of water please, Olivia,” Carrie said.

  The perky bartender filled a pint glass looking amused. Carrie picked it up and chugged while Olivia cheered her on as if she were chugging beer at a college party.

  When she slammed it on the table and put her hands in the air, Peter finally cracked a smile and gave her an applause. “Well done, Miss Davenport.”

  Carrie took a bow and settled back on the barstool in time for Olivia to place a glass of whiskey in front of each of them.

  “To staying well hydrated,” Peter said, lifting his glass.

  Carrie rolled her eyes but clinked her glass with his.

  “So, Mr. Mercer. What would you like to talk about?”

  “A host of things, but first, let’s get work out of the way. Tell me more about this threatening phone call you got.”

  Carrie had almost forgotten about that. Peter was proving to be quite the distraction. A distraction she hadn’t planned on.

  “Right, it was an odd phone call. He gave me a name. Jared Turner, but there doesn’t seem to be a record of anyone by that name in the AG’s office. I tried the CIA, but of course, that’s a little harder to get access to. I got the number he was calling from, but it doesn’t match the other numbers at the AG or CIA offices,” Carrie told him.

  Peter’s brow furrowed and his lips turned down in a scowl. “I don’t like it. You need to be careful. Let me put a private security team on you. It would eliminate the need for you to stay at work the entire time I do.”

  Carrie was shaking her head as he spoke. “No. Absolutely not. It would interfere with my job even more than you already are,” she said. “This won’t last much longer. I can handle it.”

  Just then, Olivia returned and leaned over the bar showing off her impressive cleavage. Carrie had a hard time tearing her eyes away and was honestly impressed that Peter wasn’t gawking. Seriously, the woman had amazing breasts and Carrie was sometimes jealous.

  “So, what are your intentions young man?” Olivia asked Peter with a stern expression.

  “Excuse me?”

  “What are your intentions with Carrie? I have to look out for my girl.” Olivia said, blowing her a kiss. Carrie pretended to catch it and pressed her palm against her cheek.

  “I can assure you, I have nothing but honorable intentions,” Peter said solemnly.

  Olivia stuck her bottom lip out and straightened. “Well that’s boring.”

  Peter’s eyebrows rose. “You would rather I have dishonorable intentions?”

  “I would rather you have plans to fuck her brains out. Maybe let me watch.” Olivia kept a straight face until Peter’s mouth fell open at which point, Carrie cheered, and Olivia fell into a fit of laughter.

  “I was wondering how far she would have to go to get a reaction out of you,” Carrie said between her own giggles.

  Peter scowled. “You’re lucky we haven’t come to any agreement or I would find a dark corner to blister your ass in. Would Olivia like to watch that you think?”

  “Ooh, now that sounds fun, I approve,” Olivia said before sauntering off to help another customer.

  Now Carrie felt herself blushing.

  “Ahh. Now that I have your attention, perhaps we can have a serious conversation?” Peter asked.

  Carrie waved her hands, “I promise you have my full attention. We were just fucking with you.”

  Peter gave her a full-blown grin and she was suddenly floored by how handsome he was.

  “Damn. You should smile like that more often. It’s a real panty melter.”

  “So bold, Miss Davenport.”

  “I have my moments. So, what would you like to discuss?” she asked, hoping he wouldn’t bring up security again. She nearly shuddered at the thought of guards following her around all day.

  “How long have you been in
the lifestyle? What’s your poison? I have a million questions,” Peter said.

  “By my count you have two.” Carrie watched him over her glass as she took a drink to see how he reacted to her smart retort.

  “Such sass. You must get your ass beat a lot.”

  Carrie grinned as she set the glass down. “Only because I want to. To answer your question, I’ve been in the lifestyle since I was eighteen. And my poison is pain.”

  Peter sat back and laid one arm on the bar. “Just pain?”

  “I mean, I obviously have specific types of pain I like but yes, I am a masochist, not a submissive.”

  “Are you just not interested in submission or have you just not found the right person?” he asked. “And no, I’m not assuming I’m the right person, it’s a genuine question.”

  “It’s not a bad question. I’ve had one experience with submission, and we can just say it didn’t go well and leave it at that. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m a control freak. The idea of giving that control to another control freak terrifies me.”

  Peter scooted his barstool a little closer to hers. “Why do you assume all Doms are control freaks?” he asked.

  “Aren’t they though? Isn’t that kind of the whole point?”

  Peter chuckled. “I suppose I could see why you might think that, but I don’t consider myself a control freak at all.”

  Carrie found that hard to believe but didn’t argue with him.

  “I’ll be blunt Carrie; I can’t get you out of my mind. It’s pretty obvious I‘m a dominant, and I prefer to play with submissives, but you’re in my head and I can’t get you out. It felt like something worth talking about.

  Carrie sat back and observed him. His expression was serious, and he seemed genuine. Now she almost felt bad for screwing with him with Olivia.

  “So, what do we talk about? Are you at all a sadist?” she asked.

  “I enjoy certain types of pain to bring about pleasure.”

  Carrie nodded. “I like orgasms, so it’s not like I’m all pain all the time.”

  Peter’s long fingers wrapped around his glass and Carrie tried not to imagine those fingers giving her an orgasm. It wasn’t working.

  “That’s good to know about you,” Peter said. “So, when you play with other tops how does it work if you’re not submissive?”

  Carrie looked at him puzzled. “I’m afraid I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “I mean, who’s controlling the scene?”

  Carrie shrugged. “I don’t suppose I’ve ever put that much thought into it. I think both parties have equal control. It’s about sensation. I’m on the receiving end, and my partner is on the giving end of that sensation. There don’t have to be any complicated dynamics.”

  It amused Carrie that this seemed to be a foreign concept to Peter, but she refrained from laughing out loud.

  “So how do you negotiate limits?”

  “With a new partner, I don’t do anything sexual. So, no touching my lady bits, no kissing. Just hurt me, give me some kind of adrenaline or endorphin rush and maybe we’ll cuddle when we’re done.”

  “So, what exactly does the pain do for you if it’s not a sexual pleasure thing?” Peter asked.

  “Two things,” Carrie said. “First, orgasms aren’t the only kind of sexual pleasure. Second, it releases pent up energy and gives me an adrenaline rush. I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie.” She ticked off the list on her fingers as she spoke.

  “You fascinate me Carrie. I really want to know more about what makes you tick. I just fear that my dominant ways would scare you off.”

  “So, you’re saying you have to be in control of everything when you play with a submissive?”

  Peter shook his head. “I negotiate everything. So, it’s not like I’m pushing my desires on somebody who doesn’t want them. But I do expect submissives who play with me to behave in certain ways as that’s part of what makes me tick.”

  As Carrie pondered how to respond, Olivia approached with three baskets of fried food.

  Peter looked at it with disdain and Olivia leaned in as if she were waiting for a show.

  “Deals a deal Mercer,” Carrie said with a raised eyebrow as she waved her hand at the food.

  “Fried pickles? Really?” he asked again before popping it in his mouth.

  Olivia leaned closer to him. “So? How is it?”

  Peter chuckled. “It’s not like I’ve never had fried food before ladies.”

  “I know. You’re just so healthy all the time. It’s fun to watch you be bad. I think it might be turning me on a little,” Carrie said, fanning herself.

  Peter’s eyes turned dark and he leaned in close. “I will gladly take you home and help you take care of that.”

  Carrie grew quiet and his expression turned solemn again. “I’m sorry. Was that too forward? I feel all kinds of sexual tension between us when we’re together. Am I reading that wrong?”

  Carrie quickly shook her head and picked up a cheese stick. “No, not at all. Sorry. It’s definitely there. I’m just not sure what to do about it.” She bit into the hot fried cheese and made a show of pulling the string cheese into her mouth. It had been a very long time since her one experience with submission and that had ended badly. Now Carrie wasn’t sure how to respond to Peter’s advances. Sex with him seemed fun but did she really want to bring kink into it? Since kink was the reason he wanted to talk, it seemed unlikely that he would be open to sex without it.

  As if he could read her thoughts, Peter asked, “So, can we just have sex? Or do you need kink and pain with your sex?”

  Carrie chuckled. “Get out of my head man. I was just wondering the same thing about you. No, I don’t have to have kink with my sex and I usually prefer to keep them separate.”

  “OK. So why don’t we start there? I mean, I’m not asking you to go home and let me bang you right now, I’m just saying that’s a place to start if we want to explore the sexual chemistry that seems to be here.”

  Carrie thought about it for a moment. “I can’t explain why it feels wrong. There is no way I can deny that I want it. Hell, I’ve been fantasizing about kissing you again since the day I followed you home. But now that I know you’re a dominant, I also don’t want to get your hopes up that I’ll suddenly turn submissive.”

  Peter reached over and picked up her hand. “That’s a totally valid feeling. I can respect that. I just want you to know that I’m open to pursuing something with you. And I’ll gladly repeat our kiss with you anytime,” he said bringing her hand to his lips.

  She felt herself blush and she looked down at the bar.

  “OK. I’m going to say let me think about it. But I hear you and I’m glad to know the attraction isn’t just one sided.”

  “Well then, Miss Davenport. Thank you for an enlightening conversation and for the entertaining introduction to Olivia. I feel it would be inappropriate for me to agree with you about her hotness, so I’ll just say you have lovely taste in women.”

  Carrie smacked him on the arm then hollered, “Hey Olivia, Peter thinks you’re hot.”

  Olivia’s back was to them, so she bent over the bar and wiggled her ass.

  Carrie grinned as Peter’s mouth fell open. “I take it back,” he said. “If we have sex, I’m going to have to spank you.”

  With a blush, Carrie giggled and hid her face behind her glass as she finished her drink.

  “Ready to go home?” she asked. “I know you have to be up early.”

  “I appreciate the consideration. Let’s finish our food and flirt with Olivia first,” he said with a wink.

  “Such a romantic,” Carrie said, offering him an onion ring.

  The two spent the next hour talking with Olivia and eating all three baskets of fried food.

  When it was time to leave, the bartender hugged them both. With her arms around Carrie, she whispered, “I like him, hon. Give it a chance. You don’t always have to run away.”

  13

  �
�♥♥

  When they left the bar, Peter watched Carrie closely for signs that he had overwhelmed her or scared her off. So far, he saw none. Now they sat at a red light, and he reached over and picked up her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as he drew it closer to him.

  She smiled up at him as the light turned green and didn’t pull her hand away.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  “For what?”

  “Being willing to have this conversation. I hope you don’t feel like I’m putting any pressure on you.” He glanced in the rear-view mirror and flipped his blinker on as he changed lanes.

  “Not at all Peter. I still don’t know where this is meant to go but I’m eager to find out. I just hope you don’t mind if I take this slow.”

  He shook his head as he changed lanes again. “I don’t mind that at all, sweetheart. In fact, I insist.” A frown formed as he watched headlights in the mirror floating into the same lane as him. Suspicious, he changed lanes one more time and took a last-minute exit.

  “That’s not the way to your house,” Carrie said. When Peter glanced at her, she had wrinkled her forehead and her lips were pulled down.

  “Someone is following us,” he said tightly.

  Carrie whipped around and looked over her shoulder. Instinctively, Peter’s hand tangled in her hair at the nape of her neck and he turned her head so she was facing the windshield again.

  “Eyes on me or the road in front of us, sweetheart,” he murmured.

  Her eyes were wide when he looked at her again. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I just needed you to not look behind us,” he said

  “It’s OK. Just get us home safe.”

  Thank goodness she was being reasonable. “We’re going to find a busy, well-lit area. Do not, under any circumstances get out of this car unless I tell you to.”

  He watched her head bob up and down acknowledging that she’d heard him.

  A twenty-four-hour super store was ahead on the right, so he pulled in. Sure enough, the vehicle two cars back followed them.

  “Feel like shopping?” he asked.