“There won’t be.”
“Yeah,” Andie said, a huge smile on her face. “That’s what Terrence said as well.”
Chapter 8
VERONICA
Veronica finished jotting down the note from the phone call she’d just answered right as the phone rang again. Muttering under her breath, she pasted a fake smile on and picked up on the second ring. “RACK Academy. This is Veronica. How may I help you?”
“I need to speak with Terrence,” a man said.
It was the Monday following the Saturday when Terrence had first asked about routing calls through the main office. So far, she’d taken more calls for Terrence than she had for the academy. Maybe she’d missed something, but for some reason, she’d been under the impression Terrence had only needed to send calls to the main line on Saturday.
“I’m sorry,” she replied. “Mr. Knight isn’t available at the moment. May I take a message?”
“No. I’ll call back later.”
“But, sir—” The sound of the dial tone cut her off. “Ugh!” She slammed the headset into the receiver. Damn, that was satisfying and something she’d missed with cell phones. “If you’d have let me finish, you’d have learned you’re never going to catch him by calling this number,” she said to the empty room.
There was only one thing to do. Taking the notepad with her, she stomped out of her office and into the dining room.
Empty.
She walked into the kitchen next. No Terrence, but Andie was at a counter kneading dough. “Hey, Veronica!” she said. “Would you like pizza for dinner? I’m trying a new dough recipe.”
The question caught her off guard. “What? Sure. Sounds good.” Looking around, she remembered why she’d stopped by the kitchen. “Have you seen Terrence?”
“No, not today.” Andie continued working the dough. “But I think I remember him telling Fulton last night that he was spending the day doing something for Lennox and would be spending most of the day downstairs.”
Andie said something else, but Veronica didn’t pay attention or hear what she’d said. Downstairs. Downstairs was where Fulton said the private and classroom dungeons were. She couldn’t imagine what Terrence would be doing for Lennox in a dungeon, but whatever it was, he could stop for a minute and listen to her while she explained she wasn’t his damn secretary.
She realized her mistake as soon as the door closed silently behind her and she stepped out of the stairwell and out onto the hallway lined by classroom dungeons. The first thing she heard was the sound of leather slapping flesh. The second was the unmistakable groan of a woman in pleasure. The third being none other than Terrence himself.
“Liked that one, did you?” he asked. “What if I did this?”
Holy fuck.
She knew she should turn and go back up the stairs. Wait for him to finish his scene or whatever it was. But she found herself frozen in place and couldn’t convince her feet to move. Besides, she was horribly curious. Was this what he was doing for Lennox? And if so, what the hell? Not only that, but who was with him? Was it an academy employee? She found that hardto believe, because there weren’t very many of them on campus. Maybe it was someone who came to the island for the sole purpose of playing with Terrence?
She hadn’t noticed the boat being out from the dock, but it was possible it could have left and returned without her knowing. Especially since most of her day had been answering phones for him.
She took a step forward rather than back. Just to see who it was he had in the dungeon with him. She took another step forward, even as she told herself it wasn’t any of her business who he was with.
There was a mirror outside the dungeon, hanging from the wall and positioned in such a way that if you stood in the right spot, you could see everything that happened inside the room. It would be wrong of her to watch. She knew it was. And yet she still moved her feet forward to both the dungeon’s entrance and the mirror.
She looked at the mirror. Unfortunately, the woman had her back toward her so Veronica couldn’t tell if she recognized her. She could tell, however, that she was naked and bound with her arms over her head. Terrence stood behind her, also with his back toward her. He was shirtless but had his pants on.
Veronica watched the scene before her. Five years ago, she’d seen a shirtless Terrence when he played with her. She’d thought he was magnificent then, but now…
Now the sight of him bare from the waist up had her acknowledging how long it’d been since she had sex. How long it’d been since she’d had anything other than a vibrator give her an orgasm. Judging from how Terrence’s pants were tented, he was enjoying the scene just as much as his bound partner. How would it feel to have all that male energy and power directed at her?
Not that it mattered because it never would be. She wasn’t even in the lifestyle anymore. Nor did she want to be. She was perfectly content with her life just the way it was. Thank you very much.
Sure you are. Keep telling yourself that, and maybe one day you’ll believe it.
She didn’t try to argue with the voice in her head because she knew it was right. She was many things, but perfectly content wasn’t one of them.
Terrence’s voice brought her back to the scene in the mirror. “This is interesting.”