The sex was mostly boring. Unsatisfying. While he was happy to have her ride him, the effort he put in the rest of the time felt minimal and he always took it as a personal insult when she tried to bluntly tell him what she liked or didn’t like. Then he’d brought up anal sex and, while she hadn’t been excited about it, she’d agreed as long as he let her finger his ass first. It seemed like a fair trade to her.

Olivia sighed. “Travis... I don’t think this is working out.”

His blue eyes bulged almost comically. “Are you breaking up with me?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Can you honestly say you’re happy with how our relationship has been going recently?”

“I can’t believe this,” he said, sounding totally flummoxed as he started pacing back and forth, completely ignoring her question. Which was also very annoying. “You put your finger in my ass, and now you’re breaking up with me.”

Hands on her hips, Olivia did her best to rein in her growing impatience with his immaturity. Yeah, she was a little sad to be ending things, but not as sad as she probably should be considering how long they’d been together. Another sign that it was definitely time to end the relationship, as far as she was concerned.

“Would you prefer to break up with me instead?” she asked, sarcastically.

“Yes!”

Ugh. Whatever.

“Fine, you broke up with me,” she said, sighing and closing her eyes so she didn’t have to look at him. She didn’t mean to be cold, but really? He was acting like a child. Sometimes she found his immaturity and willingness to be led endearing, but other times it was just a trial. Like right now. “I think you should probably go now.”

Travis stared at her like she was a circus act. “You know what your problem is, Olivia? You’re a control freak! You can’t be happy unless you’re controlling everything and everyone around you! You’re like a dominatrix, except not as much fun!”

Then he flounced out.

Okay, he didn’t actually flounce, but he might as well have.

Olivia glanced at her clock. Well, looked like her day was totally free now.

She found herself wandering over to her computer. Less than a minute later she was typing “Dominatrix” into the search engine.

If they were having more fun than she’d been having with Travis (and pretty much all her other ex-boyfriends), she might as well check out what it really meant to be one. Couldn’t hurt, right?

5 Years Ago

Luke recoiled in astonishment.

“She said what?”

Mercy cringed, her expression sympathetic. “Look, I wouldn’t have told you, but you insisted you wanted to know the real reason. Obviously I don’t know, it’s just what she said.”