“Does that bother you?”

Nora rolled her eyes.

“No. It doesn’t bother me. It just doesn’t make sense.”

“What doesn’t make sense?” Søren asked, a slight smile at the edge of his lips. “That he called you a lady, or that you liked it?”

Nora narrowed her eyes at him.

“I’d jump you more often if you didn’t make me talk to you afterwards,” she said, hating him for how well he knew her, how easily he could cut through her defenses with simply a question or two.

“Physical pain is only one of myriad forms of sadism,” he said, dragging her into his arms. “You take pain much better than you take interrogation.”

“I’m going to safe out if you don’t stop fucking with my psyche.”

“Is that so?” He pushed her onto her back and covered her with his body.

“Yes, especially since I can think of much more enjoyable parts of me you should be fucking with instead. For example, my c—”

He kissed her before she could finish her suggestions. The kiss was passionate but not desperate, not like before. He kissed her easily, leisurely, as if tonight would be the first of an infinite number of nights together, so why hurry?

“Why aren’t you mad that I have feelings for this other man?” she asked as he moved from her lips to her neck.

“Because you’re here,” he said, holding himself over her. “And I’m here.” He bent and kissed her chest over her heart.

“Why do I feel like Lance and I were supposed to meet? Like it was destiny?”

“Destiny doesn’t always play matchmaker,” Søren said, caressing her lips, her chin and nose. “Sometimes destiny plays other games with us.”

Nora tried not to think about Lance for the rest of the night. The things Søren did to her until about two in the morning helped keep anyone but her priest off her mind. Still when she snuck out before dawn, it was with Søren’s words ringing in her ears.

There’s nothing you can do for him...

True. She couldn’t help Lance, but knowing that didn’t take any of the sting out of that feeling of impotence. Being a Dominatrix meant men bent to her will. Why couldn’t the rest of the world follow suit?

Back at home, Nora crawled into her own bed and slept for a few precious hours. Her body ached from the beatings Søren had given her but it was the ache in her heart that hurt the most. She’d known Lance all of two days and already felt that every child in the world would be blessed to have a man like him as a father. That his ex-wife and the courts judged him for what he did in private was an insult to their entire world. Kinky or not, Søren was the best priest on the planet. Why the church and the state couldn’t stay out of their goddamn bedrooms was beyond her. After all, the church and the state often visited her bedroom and her dungeon. She’d lost her virginity to a priest, but Søren certainly wasn’t the only member of the clergy in the Underground. She even had elected officials as her clients—congressmen, one senator, lots of lawyers and even Judge B.