“No. Maybe. I don’t know.” Olivia leaned back in the chair, just using one toe to keep up her swinging motion. She tapped her finger against her thigh, pressing her lips together as she tried to sort through her concerns. “I don’t know him well enough to be sure. He doesn’t seem like the type… but he’s new to the scene, a male submissive, and when we’re not in the bedroom he’s definitely not submissive at all. Which I would love, if he wasn’t my boss. He’s having issues coming to terms with some of the things he likes as a submissive man, especially the things society doesn’t generally deem ‘masculine.’ It’s entirely possible, at some point, he may feel the need to exert dominance over me in response, and the most likely place for that to occur would be at Marquis.”

Not just possible, it wouldn’t be unusual. People took different paths on the road to sexual submission, but men tended to struggle the most with the perception they had of themselves outside the bedroom and what they enjoyed inside of it. At least, from her observations. Then again, she mostly played with men, so maybe women had it just as bad in the long run…

And now she was rambling inside her own head to keep from thinking about Luke.

“I could see that,” Jared said thoughtfully. “I don’t think he seems like the type either, but coming into the lifestyle can bring up all sorts of things we don’t expect.”

“I’m having Lisa top him for the classes for now,” she said, moving her hand to the arm of her chair because tapping her own thigh was starting to annoy her but she couldn’t seem to make herself stop.

“I heard.” The teasing note was back in his voice again.

Oliva suppressed a smile, even though he couldn’t see her expression. “I think I’m going to be really disappointed if he cuts and runs from the class.”

“From you.” His tone had gentled, but he’d hit on the main point, the main concern bothering her right now.

She stared up at the ceiling. “Yes.”

“We can’t control the future. Or really even control our submissives, as much as we might like to try,” Jared said, almost ruefully. “Although, with their consent we can sometimes alter some of their behaviors. All you can do is wait and see what happens. Unless you think you want to cut and run.”

She’d already tried that, but Luke had proved pretty persistent. All this time, he’d waited her out. At the very least, he deserved for her to be patient and give him some time too.

“No,” she said slowly. “I don’t think I want to do that.”

“Oh good. I’ve been hoping for some entertainment at the club,” he teased.

“Dick.”