“You two have an odd relationship.”

“Welcome to the Underground,” Nora said. “I’m seriously going to beat the hell out of him for telling me who I can and can’t fuck.”

“Yeah, let’s not do that. Sorry, Mistress, but I need this job. And more importantly, I need you to be safe. If some lunatic out there is stalking Dominatrixes—”

“One Dominatrix. He hurt one of us. Everyone’s overreacting. We have no proof he’s coming after any of the rest of us.”

“We have no proof he isn’t, either.”

“Stop being rational when I’m horny,” she demanded.

“I’m sorry, Mistress,” he said with far more amusement than contrition.

Nora exhaled and shook her head.

“Lance, if we’re working together and not fucking, you have to stop calling me ‘Mistress.’ It’s too much of a turn-on. My name is Nora,” she reminded him.

“Is it?”

“It is and you know it.”

“Then why did that eight feet tall blond guy call you ‘Eleanor’ last night?”

“He’s only six-four. He only seems eight feet tall because his ego is eight feet tall.”

“Who is he?”

“That’s Søren, the priest I told you about.”

“The best sadist in the world? That guy?”

“Him.”

“He’s too pretty. I don’t like pretty boys.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t think he liked you much, either.” Nora tried not to smile but she couldn’t help but enjoy a glimpse of Lance’s possessive streak. Male subs could get very possessive of their Dommes. She knew quite a few male submissive/female Dominant couples that were actually monogamous. Horrifying thought.

“Why did he call you Eleanor?”

“The same reason I call him Blondie and/or Asshole sometimes—because it’s annoying.”

“So Eleanor isn’t your real name?”

“Oh, it is. My friend Griffin told me years ago that he thought ‘Eleanor’ sounded too prissy. He started calling me Nor or Nora. When I became a Dominatrix we used that as my Domme name. Very few of the pros use their real names. Kingsley doesn’t use his real last name. I don’t. None of the subs do, either. Easier to keep a line between the real world and the kink world. Even Søren is not Søren’s legal American name.”

“What is his legal American name?”

Nora ran a finger over her lips as if zipping them and tossed the invisible key out the window.

“I see...” Lance said.

“Sorry. Blondie is eight feet of arrogant and annoying, but he’s also pretty important to—” She almost said “me” before catching herself. “Us. The Underground, I mean. Only about three of us know his legal name, the name he pastors under. Helps keep him safe from scandal.”

“A priest fucking a bunch of girls in a kink club probably should cause a scandal.”

“Yes, because the people he ministers to while they’re dying really care who he fucks in his free time.”

“Did I just hit a sore spot?” Lance asked.

“I’m Catholic,” Nora said. “The entire church is a sore spot with me. But, for the record, he doesn’t fuck a bunch of girls in kink clubs. He’s a sadist who plays with masochists but he never has sex with any of them.”