Just One Taste (Topped #2)(42)

Didn’t she know it. Her last class was being watched over by an * professor who seemed to enjoy making life tough for undergrads. Their entire grade was the final. No graded homework. No participation. No way to even know if they were getting the material. One test would decide if she graduated on time or had to refuse her dream job because she would no longer be qualified. Everything was riding on that stupid test and she couldn’t get anyone to cover her shift.

She could call in sick, but that would put the burden on everyone else. Or she could suck it up and study after shift when her brain no longer functioned.

“If you won’t talk to Chef, tell Eric.” Tiffany opened the door. “He can make things happen.”

That seemed too intimate. They played together. They didn’t do serious things like figuring out problems. She needed to keep it light and casual so when the time came she could walk away.

God, she already didn’t want to walk away. She was in too deep. She was bargaining and their contract wasn’t up yet. Maybe they could keep up the D/s relationship. At the time she’d thought he would live in Dallas and she would only see him on club nights. That would be cool.

But now he was going to be living near her. He would want more. He would end up wanting everything she had.

“I’ll think about it,” she murmured.

“Don’t think about it too long,” Tiffany replied as she waved to Gage. “It’s coming up fast. Hey, maybe we could put Bas in a server uniform and make him wait tables. I would pay to see that show.”

“Bas?” Surely she wasn’t talking about the very proper Sebastian.

Tiffany shrugged. “He needed a nickname to work against that two by four someone shoved up his muscular backside.”

She could see Eric on the other side of the dungeon. He was already set up with a chair. One for both of them. Maybe tonight wouldn’t be so different. She sat in his lap every night. It was kind of nice. Wait. What had she said? “How do you know Sebastian has a muscular backside?”

“Is that the way puppies move?” Gage called out across the room.

Tiffany wrinkled her nose and dropped to her knees. “I swear I would chew his shoe all up but he wears them in the ER, so I could get some horrible disease. And I know about Sebastian’s backside because it was pretty much on display at my house the night you sent me home with the bastard. He wears tighty-whities by the way. Super muscular buns. He must do a ton of squats. Are you going to make me do this alone? I’ll stop talking and bark all the way across the dungeon.”

Deena groaned, facing a tough decision. Dignity or gossip. Damn it. She dropped down. The floors at Sanctum were kept very clean and there were anti-bac stations all over the place. She would survive. She started crawling, matching Tiffany’s pace. “You slept with the sommelier?”

“No, but he apparently thought I was too drunk to be left alone, so he was asleep on my couch and he’d pushed off the blanket and I got a look at that butt. Gorgeous butt. Too bad it’s attached to him. Pretentious ass.” Tiffany sighed. “He got all huffy because I saw him without his legs on.”

“Legs? I thought he only lost one.”

“Nope, it’s both, and what he has left is all hot, too, but the man himself is twelve kinds of prissy. I got a big old lecture on how I shouldn’t drink to excess because it will ruin my palate and how it’s impolite to stare at a man’s legs. Or rather his non-legs. I tried to explain that I was looking at his ass, but that only pissed him off more. Did you know he’s already got Master’s rights here?”

“Wow, how did he get them but not Eric?” She scooted along, praying her boobs didn’t fall out.

“Rumor has it, he spent a lot of time at some club in London and the owner vouched for him. It’s Sanctum’s sister club. I am not looking forward to being in the same dungeon with that man. Well, I am, but I’m not because he makes me feel all crappy about stuff I shouldn’t have to feel crappy about. I told him he could look at my butt if it would make him feel better and he said something very uptight and left.”

“Look at that,” a deep voice said. “Our puppies are playing and not doing what they were commanded to do. Sit up, Tiffany.”

Her friend immediately sat up, her hands coming in front of her chest like little paws, and she made a yipping sound, but not before she’d winked Deena’s way.

Gage stood in front of her, picking up her leash in one hand while he tapped a crop against his leg with the other. “Bad puppy. Bad puppies get spanked.”

Gage brought the crop down on Tiffany’s ass and she yelped, playing her part to the hilt. She and Gage started to play. Eric simply leaned over and picked her up. She was lifted into his strong arms.

“My puppy is a lap dog. She doesn’t like to get her paws dirty.” Eric smiled down at her as he started to walk back toward the stage. “I was surprised to see you crawling. Have you changed your mind?”

Why were his big arms so comfy? He was the only man who’d ever carried her around and she liked it more than she cared to admit. “I had to crawl next to Tiffany to find out how she’d seen the sommelier in his undies.”

Eric’s eyes went wide and he stopped briefly. “She slept with Sebastian? I knew she wasn’t sleeping with Gage, but I’m shocked she’s into Sebastian. They seem so different.”