“My Wicked Queen is so demanding. I think I’ll need to remind her who’s in charge…”

I was still laughing when he pinned me to the bed and started to kiss me.

Epilogue

Elena

Two Years Later

We were sitting in the audience of the Dolby Theatre for the Oscars, decked out in finery I was mostly excited to peel off when we got home. When I’d attended the ceremony as Alex’s date last year, I’d been overwhelmed to actually be in the audience with all the beautiful famous people, even though many of them were now friends.

This year, I wasn’t fazed by the Hollywood glamor, but Alex was nominated for his role as Darcy and I was nervous because he badly wanted to win. He deserved it, not only because I thought he deserved everything he wanted, but because his performance had been outstanding.

He’d brought gravity and depth to a part that had already been beautifully written. I’d like to say it was his phenomenal acting that had fans going to see it over and over again at the theatres, causing it to smash all kinds of box office records, but it had a lot to do with how mind-blowingly sexy he was in the role.

We’d put in lots of “hard work” rehearsing for those sexy scenes, so I’d been sad when filming was over. That is until he started his next role as a Viking, which opened up a whole new set of delicious role-play for us. Being Alex Chase’s girlfriend wasn’t such a bad gig after all.

He leaned closer and asked, “Thinking about school?”

I’d gone back to school to finish my certification and found a mentor who was eager to support me and was open-minded about my research into human sexuality. I wanted to examine how kink was treated by psychologists and we’d applied for a grant that would let us fund a groundbreaking study. I was hoping to eventually turn my expertise to couples therapy. I could work on my PhD and get the delicious satisfaction of making Alex call me Doctor.

I sometimes had a hard time not bringing my work home with me, which was admittedly less fun than Alex bringing his Viking persona home, but he was wonderful about letting me decompress when I needed to. I couldn’t have found a more supportive partner. He encouraged me to still participate in the scene, so I still got to mentor and teach what I’d worked so hard to learn.

I shook my head. “I’m wondering what kind of shenanigans you’re going to pull when you win. You with a mic in front of a live audience this big. I don’t trust it for a second.”

His rumbling laugh made me smile without meaning to, but he didn’t refute my statement. “So suspicious, my Temptress. I guess we see in others what we’re capable of ourselves…”