“Makes sense to me,” Luke said, becoming a bit sheepish himself. “I snapped my brother’s head off when he made a joke about it yesterday. He was just teasing since he knows about the lifestyle and I think he’s interested in it too, but as a dominant. Which I guess helped make me feel extra sensitive about being teased.”

“Hopefully now he’ll know better,” Freddy said. “If not, you can always suggest he sign up to be a member at Stronghold, which means going through the Dom class. The Doms have to experience everything they want to do to a submissive.” The gleeful way he said it made Luke grin. He didn’t know if it was Freddy, the conversation, or the alcohol, but he was definitely feeling better.

Luke came in, he’s talking to Freddy.

A strange sense of relief swept through Olivia as she read Lexie’s text message.

Actually, it wasn’t that strange, it was just that she didn’t entirely want to feel relieved about Luke seeking out another submissive to talk to. She’d started to convince herself it might be better if he gave up on the whole being a submissive thing and just contented himself with being a partner in Marquis. Feeling relieved meant she wasn’t as detached from him as she liked to pretend.

It meant she wasn’t as nonchalant about whether or not he’d make it through this week of training as she’d been acting. Yeah, she’d been doing her denial thing again.

She’d gotten a taste of what it could be like to really have Luke submit to her and she wanted more.

The only way to resist temptation is to give in. Oscar Wilde had always turned a phrase nicely. Olivia sighed. She’d definitely given in. Wondered if she’d done the right thing. Wondered if she’d pushed Luke too far, too fast. Wondered if he was going to cut and run.

But if he was talking things out with Freddy, it was unlikely.

She’d felt kind of bad earlier tonight, when he’d wanted to charm her and flirt with her like he normally did, and she’d basically shut him down by reminding him she wanted to claim his ass eventually. But it was better not to pretend she was something she wasn’t. That was a lesson she’d learned a long time ago. If he wanted to date her, she’d want to keep pushing his boundaries, in a way he obviously wasn’t entirely comfortable with.

That’s good. Her text back to Lexie was short and to the point. It was definitely good for Luke if he could talk his problems out with someone.