Heidi stepped slowly off the elevator and turned left down the elegantly carpeted hallway, deeply conscious of the phone in her pocket, which seemed to be getting heavier and heavier the longer she ignored the unanswered text from Dom.

You left? Where the hell did you go?

A pang of guilt hit her as she trudged toward her office.

Not exactly your finest hour, Heidi, she rebuked herself. Leaving without an explanation.

And yet what else was she supposed to have done after she'd found herself tossing and turning all night in Dom's bed? After she had, God help her, asked him, begged him, to spank her? After she'd had the best orgasm of her life? After he'd then withdrawn so completely she could practically feel the wall he'd built as if it were a physical thing, and had told her, ordered her, to go to sleep in his bed alone? If there was an etiquette manual for a situation like this, she hadn't received a copy.

He wanted to know where she'd gone this morning, but the better question was where the hell her brain had gone last night.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

She paused outside the door to her office, her stomach twisting as it always did when she caught the gold lettering on the frosted glass that proclaimed Heidi Morrow Consulting. The office wasn't much—just a small reception area and her sparsely decorated office, but it was hers. And at least here she knew what she was doing.

She could hear Paul on the phone as she opened the door, and silently congratulated herself on not having to get the third-degree, at least until she'd had time to pour herself a cup of coffee and cement her poker-face in place.

"I will give her the message just as soon as she gets in," Paul said into the phone as she shut the door behind her. "Oh, yes, I'm sure she'll be in soon, sir, and she can confirm that herself. Uh huh. Yes. Of course. I know she does, sir."

Heidi smiled to herself as she set her briefcase on the chair by Paul's desk and poured herself a cup of coffee from the machine atop the stacked microwave/refrigerator in the corner that served as their office kitchen. Paul was a god-send. Intelligent, insightful, and unfailingly polite, he could charm the hell out of even the crankiest clients.

He hung up the phone and she turned to look at him.

"That was Reynold Divris from Easterbrook," he began, jotting down a final note on the pad in front of him. "He said it's very urgent that…"

His sentence cut off as he raised his eyes to look at her, finally. He scanned her from head to toe, his eyebrows lifting high, and said, "Holy shit. What happened to you?"

Heidi scowled. There was that intelligent insight. She would have to rethink 'unfailingly polite'.

"What did Mr. Divris want?" she returned, bending over to peer at his notepad.

"He needs to reschedule the meeting for tomorrow, Board of Directors is in a tizzy, contracts need to be signed, he can't delay until later in the week," Paul said in a rush, tearing off his notes and handing them to her.

She grabbed the paper and pretended to be consumed with reading it.

"Heidi, I can tell that you've been crying! What…"

"How's Princess? Was she too much trouble this weekend? I'll come pick her up tonight. I can't thank you enough for watching her."

Paul shook his head and said, "It's fine. She's been great. I liked having her. But, Heidi…"

"Tomorrow, huh? I'd better get on this. Thanks, Paul," she said, grabbing her briefcase and her coffee and making a beeline for the relative sanctuary of her office before he could question her further. What she needed was coffee and work, in that order. What she did not need was to discuss this, now or ever.

But Paul was in her office and closing the door behind him before she could kick it shut.

"I knew this was a bad idea," he scolded her, leaning back against the door, his forehead wrinkled and his pretty blue eyes clouded in worry. "I told you this stuff messes you up!"

Heidi's eyes widened in shock and she momentarily forgot her resolve not to talk.

"You did no such thing! You were the one who was all 'Go for it! It'll be amazing! Doms aren't jerks'!"

She slammed her briefcase down on the desk and whirled to face him, her arms folded across her chest. "Which just goes to show what you know."

Paul's head reared back in surprise and a speculative light came into his eyes, one that Heidi didn't like for a second.

"Wait… you were crying about Dom?" he asked, straightening. "I thought this was something to do with your mother. You know, the woman you were supposed to visit this weekend?"

Oh shit. She'd walked into this one.

"I did visit her. It was… the usual." Heidi shrugged and took the Easterbrook file from her briefcase. "She was busy, so I came home last night instead of waiting until this morning. The drive down was shorter without the Monday morning traffic on 93, you know?" The drive had been shorter because she'd sped the whole way home. Like an idiot.

"Anyway," she went on, not giving him a chance to respond. "I'm going to have to get started on this right away if we have to meet so soon. Have we received the employee information we requested, finally?"

Paul shook his head impatiently.

"Not yet. Apparently the board doesn't keep those files, and there's been some hold up getting approval for administration to release the information, with the headmaster being out of the office or something. I'll call Reynold back and see if he can speed things up, but I'm guessing we won't be able to get them until tomorrow at the meeting."

Heidi frowned as she examined the top sheet of the file. Something about this whole situation had been niggling at her.

"You know, I've been thinking about this," she told Paul. "These guys have been epically uncooperative, way beyond the norm for people who need our help to close a budget shortfall. I've thought from the beginning that it seemed shady, but I assumed they were just closing ranks when an outsider came poking around."

Paul nodded. "A reminder that you're just the hired help."

"Exactly." Heidi tapped her finger on the page thoughtfully. "But… now I'm starting to wonder if there's more going on."

Paul raised an eyebrow and leaned his elbows against the table. "Like what?"

"Okay," Heidi said, starting to pace back and forth in the tiny space. "Like… how could a pair of board members make sure that under-qualified students were accepted to the school?"

"I don't know," he said, frowning. "The board has a lot of pull."

"They do, but if getting your kid accepted was as easy as bribing a member of the board, why resort to making fraudulent 'donations' to the school in the first place?"

"Good point. Or an alumnus could just run for a position on the board themselves, and save themselves a ton of money."

Heidi nodded.

"So the process has to be more involved than that. And I'm guessing it involves review and approval from an administrator at the school, right? And, gosh, this would all be so much easier if we could get a damn question answered!" she finished hotly, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I'm sure I can get that information from Reynold Divris," Paul said. "He might not have the files we need, but he can give us basic information about the acceptance process."

"Okay," Heidi said. "All right. That's a decent first step."

It wouldn't resolve the budget shortfall, but it would clear the way for a better investigation, and it would help keep the school's integrity intact.

"And hound them again about those freaking personnel files, would you? I really want to get them today. If the school administration won't cooperate with you, maybe they'll cooperate with Mr. Divris if he calls them. Speaking to the person indirectly responsible for your paycheck tends to make people much more agreeable."

Paul snorted.

"But if that doesn't work… I'm just going to have to wing it tomorrow," she told him.

She felt a little thrill of anticipation. Thirty-six full time staff at Easterbrook and she wouldn't know the first thing about any of them before she met them the next day? Yeah, that would pose a challenge, but she'd handled worse before. This was her strength.

It was stupid relationship stuff she couldn't handle.

Her phone dinged with a new text and her stomach clenched.

Shit. Ignore it.

She plastered on a smile and held the file out to Paul.

"Can you scan this for me? I'm going to want to review it at home tonight."

He accepted the file with narrowed eyes and a razor blade smile.

"You are so cute, thinking I'm going to drop it," he said. "I want to know what happened with Dom. Why were you crying?"

"You know what?" she snapped, throwing her hands in the air as she rounded her desk. "I have had enough with bossy men telling me what to do!"

"Ah," Paul said with a knowing smirk. "Dom's been getting bossy with you? It's tough to get used to at first, honey, but if you like him, you'll learn to go along with it. You might even learn to love it."

"Well, newsflash: I don't like him," Heidi said, yanking out her chair.

"Have you really tried? Because if you do, what you'll get from him will more than make up for…"

Paul cut off as Heidi plopped herself down in the seat and winced at the ache that caused.

"I thought your back was better," he said.

"It is. Much. It's, um… not my back that's sore."

She felt herself blush as Paul's eyes widened in realization.

"Holy shit, Heidi! What happened?"

She wondered if Paul knew that his voice had gotten deeper, was almost a growl now.

With a sigh, Heidi admitted, "Nothing I didn't want to happen at the time, Paul. It's fine."

She sighed as she shifted to a more comfortable position. Then, seeing his thunderous face, she elaborated.

"Okay… It was more than fine… it was… amazing." Mind-blowing, earth-shattering. As though she were a whole different person today than she'd been yesterday… But it was all one-sided, because clearly Dom was looking for another harem member to warm his bed, and she wasn't interested.

Paul's concern faded to confusion as he dropped into his usual folding chair.

"If it was amazing, why were you upset? Did you fuck up badly? Did he punish you hard? If he's got any experience at all, he should know that you're a complete newbie and he needs to use a light hand! Why didn't you safeword?"

Heidi held up a hand against the barrage of questions.

"First of all, no, I didn't 'fuck up'. To fuck up, I'd have to have rules, and I didn't. I don't. I won't," she said defiantly. "And second, he only gave me a brief spanking just to… show me what it would be like."

She couldn't meet Paul's gaze and felt her face heating as she continued, "And, you know… one thing led to another."

She darted a quick glance at Paul to see that his eyebrows had climbed again.

"You had sex with him," Paul confirmed.

Heidi gave a small nod.

"You liked the spanking," Paul stated, but Heidi nodded anyway.

"You liked the sex?" This time it was a question, and Heidi nodded again.

"So, why the tears?" he asked.

Heidi took a deep breath and bit her lip. She didn't know how to talk about this stuff, not with Paul, not with anyone. She wasn't a prude, but it had somehow always just felt strange to discuss sex—like the very act of discussing it made it seem more important than it was.

Her phone dinged for the third time, and she clenched her hands to prevent herself from reaching for it.

The truth of it was, she wasn't sure how to handle this on her own. She blew out a breath and took a leap of faith.

"So… after the sex, which was, oh, Paul… it was amazing," she said, the words erupting in a rush, now that she'd begun.

"That's a good start," he said, settling back in the chair with an encouraging smile. Heidi chuckled weakly.

"I had thought, when I overheard him one time, that he was all cold and detached, you know? Like he was an observer rather than a participant. And I worried that the spanking might feel… humiliating, I guess. But it wasn't like that at all. He was right there with me, the whole time, and I felt… special."

Paul nodded. "Because you are."

Heidi waved this off and continued.

"I made some lame joke, like 'can we do this again?' and he laughed and hugged me tight, and I thought… well, I don't know what I thought. Something very hearts-and-flowers that Hillary would approve of," she confessed, wrapping her hands around her coffee mug.

"But then two seconds later, he practically leaped out of bed like there was a fire! I asked where he was going, and he said he was heading back to work this morning after a week's vacation and he needed his rest, so he was going to sleep." She shook her head, still struggling to understand the abrupt change. "So, okay, I figured we're not ready for sleepovers yet. That's disappointing, but I get it. So, I started to get up, too, and go back to my apartment. But then he gave me this stern look and told me to sleep in his bed while he slept on the couch. No arguments, no explanations, no affection. It's like he was two different people from one moment to the next. Trust me to pick the hot guy with multiple personality disorder," she said, with a weak half-laugh.

"Hmmm," Paul said, his eyes narrowed in thought. "What do you know about this guy, Heids? Beyond the fact that he's a dominant?"

"Not much," she admitted. "I don't know what he does for a living, I don't know what his hobbies are… well, besides… er, you know."

Paul nodded.

"I know he has two brothers. I know he likes dogs and power tools and hamburgers from Roadhouse. I know he goes to a BDSM club, or maybe more than one, and he likes vanilla ice cream and he sends funny texts and he takes safe driving seriously…" she trailed off in a whisper. "Sounds pretty lame, now that I think about it."

God, she couldn't even remember his last name. Had he ever told her?

When had her life become a Carrie Underwood song?

"Sounds like a good beginning, I would have said," Paul disagreed. "The crucial thing here is that you don't know what he wants from you. He goes to a club and… he doesn't do long-term, you said?"

"I've never seen the same girl more than once," she said in a small voice. "Man, I don't know why I let myself get so starry-eyed in the first place! You know that's not like me! It's just…"

And then in a sudden flash of anger, it burst from her, "He said he didn't put his submissives over his lap!"

Paul raised an eyebrow.

"He said he didn't do that with anyone, that it was really intimate, but he did it with me! He… I guess… somehow… with all the texts and the check-ins and the little lectures about safety… I thought that this was different. That I was different."

But it wasn't. And that was her mistake.

Paul's mouth twisted with sympathy.

"Well, if all he wanted was a quick fuck, it was pretty shitty for him to go down that path, especially with someone as inexperienced as you are, without being clear about his expectations. This is his fuck-up, Heids, not yours. So, how did Dom the dominant leave things this morning?"

Heidi thought she'd used up all her blushes, but somehow she found one more.

"I… left," she confessed. "Without talking to him. I stayed the night, because I just didn't want to fight about it anymore, but I didn't sleep at all. And I couldn't handle any more drama this morning either. So, I waited until he was in the shower and I-I just went home. Then I got all my stuff and showered at the gym."

She saw disapproval in Paul's face, so she quickly explained.

"I just didn't want another argument, Paul! I was feeling really fragile. I have to live next door to this guy, so I know we have to have a conversation eventually, but I wanted it to be later, maybe much later, after I've had a chance to get over my stupid disappointment. You know? He made it pretty clear last night that he's all about the bossy and the sex. I was the idiot who turned it into more."

Paul sighed.

"I get that, honey, wanting to protect yourself. But you also didn't give him a chance to explain. You seem to think he's playing you…"

"And you don't?" she interrupted.

"Well… it does seem that way," Paul agreed. "But it also sounds like he was a little confused."

Paul held up a hand when Heidi tried to interrupt.

"He wasn't bullshitting you when he said that it's more intimate to take a submissive over your lap, Heidi. And it's not just intimate for the submissive. It's not just about sparing a sub's feelings or whatever. It's intimate for the dominant, as well."

Heidi rolled her eyes.

"All I'm saying is, don't be so quick to assume that just because Dom's the… well, the dominant… that he has all the answers and never has a moment where he's overwhelmed or confused. Maybe this is as new to him, in some ways, as it is to you. If he calls you, talk to him."

Heidi's lips pursed.

"He… maybe… already, um… texted me."

Paul's head jerked.

"And what did he say?"

"I think it was… um… 'where the hell did you go'?" she admitted quietly. "Shit."

"Yeah, 'shit' is about right," Paul agreed.

"And I'm pretty sure he's sent me a couple of other texts too," she whispered. "After that one. I… ignored them."

"Well, then, triple-shit, Heidi!" Paul said.

Heidi snickered, despite the anxious feeling that knotted her gut.

"I guess I do owe him a chance to explain, huh? I'll text him back… just as soon as I finish reviewing the Easterbrook file."

Paul laughed out loud.

"Oh, honey! He's texted you three times? After he spanked you last night and you walked out on him this morning? And you're gonna review the file before you reply? That man has his work cut out for him." Then, with a speculative look at her chair, he added, "You might wanna buy a better cushion."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Heidi asked indignantly.

"If you don't know, you'll find out!" he told her with a wink. He grabbed the Easterbrook file from the table and gestured toward the door. "I'll call Reynold Divris to get the information and confirm for tomorrow morning. Leave this to me. And meanwhile, you take care of your other urgent business."

Damn know-it-all. But Heidi sighed and took the phone out of her pocket. Time to figure out how to fix this.