by L. DuBois
He was really here.
“No,” she said slowly. “It’s not taken.”
He sat, looking a little uncomfortable. He wore a crisp white button down shirt, gray slacks, and a black belt. He had a badge clipped to his shirt. She leaned forward to read it. “Intern?”
He was an intern at the hospital?
“Um, yea. In the psychiatry department.” He shrugged, looking uncomfortable and perhaps embarrassed. “About a year ago this really smart woman I know told me I might be a good therapist. I started researching, and applied for some programs. I actually got into one. I’m in my first semester of my masters program. We have to intern, and I decided to try interning at a hospital. I think that’s where I want to work.”
Sejal was so shocked she couldn’t speak for a few seconds. “Is that what you’ve been hiding? Why you’ve been so tired the past few months?” More than once after a mind-blowing Friday night scene he’d collapsed in bed beside her, using her breasts or stomach as a pillow, and slept for hours, waking only to slide between her legs and fuck her slowly and softly before cuddling her and going back to sleep.
He nodded sheepishly. “It’s a lot of reading. There are people in my program with families and jobs and I’m barely managing it and I don’t do anything but go to school and see you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because if I fuck up and fail, or get bored and quit, I didn’t want you to know.”
Sejal looked at him, still struggling with the disconnect caused by seeing the man whom she knelt for and allowed to do dark delicious things to her body every other weekend in a place where she was powerful.
“Would you like to go out to dinner tonight?” she asked.
He stopped fidgeting, looking at her with the sharp focus he used during a scene. “Like on a date? A vanilla date, I mean.”
“Yes.” Sejal raised her chin. “I’m asking you out on a date.”
He leaned forward. “Why now?”
“You were already annoyingly perceptive before. Are you going to get worse as your program progresses?”
He grinned. “Probably.”
“Very well. I’m not sure why. Maybe I just feel more confident asking you out when I’m here.”
“Because you’re one of their star surgeons, or because you’re not feeling…”
He didn’t finish the sentence, but she knew what he was getting at.
“The latter more than the former. There are many excellent surgeons here.”
“There’s a twenty foot tall banner with your picture on it in the lobby.”
“Yes, that is a bit off-putting.”
“No. It means you’re amazing.”
Something in the way he said it made her heart sink. “Then you won’t go on a date with me.”
“I would love nothing more than to go on a date with you. At...” He looked around, lowered his voice. “At Las Palmas, we’re perfect together. The past year has been the best ever. I’ve thought about asking you out a million times, but you’re forgetting that we don’t match. Not out here in the real world.”
“Why do you always say that?”
“Because we don’t. We don’t make sense. You deserve—”
“—Better. You’ve said that before. Maybe once or twice.” Sejal raised her chin and tried to stare him down, but even sitting he was taller than her. “I don’t agree with that. And even if I did, even if it was objectively true, which you can’t prove, I want you.”
He smiled. “And I want you. Always. I’ve been wondering since I started here if I’d ever see you. It’s a big place, so I knew it wasn’t likely, but I kept hoping.”
That was sweet, but she wouldn’t be distracted. “Cortland Heskins-Dowell, I’m in love with you.”
He sat back and stared at her.
“I understand that you don’t have those same feelings for me, but nonetheless I’m asking you out on a date.”
“You…love me.”
“Yes.”
“But I’m—”
“If you say useless or not good enough, I will commit an act of violence, drag you to the OR, repair you, and then commit a second act of violence.”
“Holy crap, doctor you is kind of scary. It’s hot.”
Sejal sputtered out a laugh.
“Yes,” he said. “Yes, I’ll go out on a date with you.”
“Good.” She checked her watch. “I have to go. I will see you this evening.”
He let her get ten feet away before he called out, “Doctor Barsar?”
She stopped and turned. He was standing by their table, his phone in his hand.
“I’m wildly, desperately in love with you too.”
Her phone, in her coat pocket, beeped. She pulled it out and read the message.
Loving you won’t stop me whipping you this weekend. Or taking a wooden paddle to your ass. Ah, I do like the letter W. ~Master.
Sejal’s pussy throbbed, her nipples tightened inside her bra, and for the first time in her career she considered doing something inappropriate.
She turned her back on Cort and started towards the stairs, typing as she walked.
There’s a private surgical on-call room on the 8th floor. Room 8019. Meet me there in five minutes.
Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the story. Be sure to check out H is for… You can grab it right now HERE and join my reader list for exclusive offers, free books, and more!
~Lila
H is for…
Liam Blando leaned over the railing of what should have been a hayloft, but felt more like a kinky observation post. Half- to fully-naked women, and a few men, knelt on the floor of the barn below, though the building, which the club had dubbed “the conclave”, resembled a barn only in size and the fact that there were horse stalls and a tack room.
The horse stalls had twin beds and the tack room was filled with bridles, bits, and harnesses meant for people, not animals. The building was clean, the wood accents glossy, the paint fresh, and the chair he sat on expensive and comfortable.
“We’ve become complacent.” Master Leo, one of the three club overseers, projected his voice though the building. He was tall and slim and wore a half mask that would have made Liam feel ridiculous, but on Master Leo it looked right.
Liam flinched at the words. Complacent. That sounded a lot like boring. Bland. Words that made Liam’s stomach hurt.
Rosalicia was down there, kneeling with the other subs. Her honey-gold hair was easy to spot. Her skin was a beautiful sun-kissed bronze, and she wore a smooth black corset and a matching black G-string.
She was the most beautiful woman in the club. His heart beat faster every time he looked at her. He wanted her, needed her.
It was too bad she made him miserable.
And despite his best efforts, he made her miserable too.
They’d been members of this overindulgent sex club for nearly six months, and nothing seemed to be getting better. He’d thought the club would fix what was wrong with their relationship. It hadn’t. And now they had to play some ridiculous game?
Liam had been so focused on Rosalicia he’d lost a bit of what was being said. Master Mikel, who was the only one of the three overseers not wearing a mask, was speaking.
“We do not push ourselves. Comfort and safety is for the mortals out there. We are gods, gods who are growing lazy and stupid in our complacency.”
Well that was a bit extreme, in Liam’s opinion. He snorted and looked around. A few of the Doms in the loft with him raised brows at the statement, but no one seemed to find it utterly ridiculous. Liam cleared his throat and went back to listening.
“If you want to play the same games, if you want the safety of the known, then we invite you to leave. The contract you signed when you joined will remain in effect. Any discussion of who we are or what we do will be met with swift, harsh retribution.”
Where were they going with this? The same games? Maybe he hadn’t been a member long e
nough to understand.
They rolled out a large board, like one of those moveable whiteboards they had at the co-working space he used for his after-hours consulting work in Pasadena. It was draped in fabric. Master Mikel pulled the cloth off with a flourish, revealing…
The alphabet. Four neat rows of silver letters, A to Z.
* * *
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Read the Rest of the Alphabet
See all the books in the BDSM Checklist series.
* * *
H is for…
BDSM Checklist, Book Eight
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Rosa hoped becoming a submissive would fix her relationship with Liam. It hasn’t.
Liam has loved Rosa nearly half his life, but he knows he doesn’t make her happy. The one thing he wants more than anything is to keep her safe. He would never hurt her--she's been hurt enough.
When Rosa and Liam are assigned to the letter H as part of their BDSM club’s new checklist game, a chance to come together instead becomes a reason to drift further apart. With so many items on the list for H, they aren't the only people assigned to the letter. Thinking it will make her happy, Liam allows Rosa to join another Dom’s harem. Pushed to his breaking point by what he see's his lover doing, Liam will decide if their past will stop him from becoming the Master she needs, or if he'll accept the darkness of his own desires.
* * *
See all the books in the BDSM Checklist series.
About the Author
Lila Dubois is a multi-published, bestselling author of erotic, paranormal and fantasy romance. Her books have been nominated for many awards including RT Book Reviews Erotic Novella for Undone Rebel and the Golden Flogger. Having spent extensive time in France, Egypt, Turkey, Ireland and England Lila speaks five languages, none of them (including English) fluently. Lila lives in California with her own Irish Farm Boy and loves receiving email from readers, though she is slow to respond since she recently created a tiny human. Can books featuring secret baby plots be far behind?
Visit Lila online:
www.liladubois.net
[email protected]
Other books by Lila Dubois
Masters’ Admiralty
Treachery’s Devotion
Loyalty’s Betrayal
* * *
The Trinity Masters
Erotic Ménage Romance written with
New York Times bestselling author Mari Carr
* * *
Elemental Pleasure
Primal Passion
Scorching Desire
After Burn (free short story)
Forbidden Legacy
Hidden Devotion
Elegant Seduction
Secret Scandal
Delicate Ties
Beloved Sacrifice
Masterful Truth
* * *
BDSM Checklist
BDSM Erotic Romance
* * *
A is for…
B is for…
C is for…
D is for…
E is for…
F is for…
G is for…
H is for…
I is for…
* * *
Undone Lovers
BDSM Erotic Romance
* * *
Undone Rebel
Undone Dom
Undone Diva
* * *
Standalone BDSM Erotic Romance
Betrayed by Love
Dangerous Lust
Red Ribbon
* * *
The Glenncailty Ghosts
Modern Gothic Romance
* * *
Redemption
Lovers
Ghosts
Bones
* * *
Monsters in Hollywood
Paranormal Romance
* * *
Dial M for Monster
My Fair Monster
Gone with the Monster
Have Monster, Will Travel
A Monster and a Gentleman
The Last of the Monsters
* * *
The Wraith Accords
Paranormal Romance
* * *
Carnal Magic
* * *
Elemental Covens
Paranormal Romance
* * *
Witches in the Weeds
* * *
Standalone Paranormal Romance
Briar Rose
Calling the Wild
Kitsune
Sealed with a Kiss
* * *
Standalone Shifter Romance
His Wolf Heart
Savage Satisfaction
* * *
Zinahs
Fantasy Romance
Forbidden
Savage
Bound
* * *
City of Angels
Sci-fi/Dark Fantasy Thriller, writing as E.M. Nally
Faith of Beasts
* * *
A Wild Irish Short Story
BDSM Erotic Romance
Based on Wild Irish by C.M. Seabrook
Wildly Inappropriate