23. A Job Offer
A Job Offer
Sam
Holy crap, a job offer.
Sam stared in shock at her phone. That was not what she’d been expecting the email to say.
Ignoring the conversation Morgan and Noelle were having, she scanned the email, her heart pounding so loudly in her ears, she wasn’t sure she would have been able to hear them, anyway.
Okay, it wasn’t exactly a job offer, she still needed to interview, but it sounded like they wanted her. Badly. Badly enough to be offering an equal salary, but… oh. Interesting. It was a multi-location practice, and they didn’t want her for Maryland. She’d need to move.
To Ohio?
Her brain froze.
Move?
Leave everything and everyone she’d ever known? She’d just started making friends. She had a boyfriend. Her dad was here, and he had a new woman in his life Sam wanted to meet.
But the cost of living would be so much less, as the recruiter pointed out in her email, and she’d be making the same amount.
“Sam? Are you even listening to me?” Noelle’s irritated question finally broke through her whirling thoughts.
Guiltily, Sam jumped in her seat, dropping her phone onto her lap. Talk about rude. She had Noelle and Morgan over for dinner, then got distracted by her phone. She hadn’t meant to. She’d figured she’d see the rejection, then get right back to dinner.
“Sorry, sorry. I got an email I needed to see. What were you saying?”
“I was saying that I think there should be some kind of hotline at the club. A phone number people could call if they have questions or concerns they don’t feel confident enough to approach someone.
” Noelle tossed her hair over her shoulder, still looking put out that Sam hadn’t been listening to her.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Sam said honestly. She didn’t need to lie to make up for not listening. “I would have loved that, especially if there was also an option to text.”
A phone call could be as nerve-wracking as in-person. Going to the classes had helped, but she would have loved a hotline for some of the questions she’d had. Much less intimidating.
Noelle preened.
“See? You should talk to Patrick about it.” Morgan grinned, twirling the spaghetti noodles around her fork.
They’d been on sale, as had the ground turkey and sauce, which had allowed Sam to make a pretty good spaghetti Bolognese without adding anything to her grocery budget.
And she’d be able to eat the leftovers for a while.
She’d splurged a little, getting fresh veggies for the salad, but everything but the lettuce had been on sale.
Noelle and Morgan seemed happy with the meal, which was a relief.
She’d also realized dating Q had started helping her out too—when they had dinner at his house, he cooked enough for an army and always sent her home with leftovers.
He claimed after having roommates, he’d never learned to cook for one or two people.
Which made her feel a little guilty, but at the same time, the food was good, and she knew how boring it could be to eat the same leftovers all week.
That was the life she lived right now, but if she had the choice, she would love to be in Q’s position, where she could give food away, or Noelle and Morgan’s position, where they could pay for a friend’s meal without thinking twice about it.
One day.
Maybe sooner if I get a new job. In Ohio.
But I won’t have any friends there.
Were there any kink clubs in Ohio?
Getting a little ahead of myself here.
She pushed the job thing to the back of her brain.
“Anyway… what are you both up to this week?” Noelle asked, leaning her hand on her chin. “Any fun plans?”
“Same old, same old for me,” Sam said.
“I’ve been talking to Amy about going to some kind of dance class,” Morgan said.
“She wants to lose some weight before the wedding.” That was hardly a new concept, but Sam was surprised when Morgan frowned and stabbed her lettuce with a bit more force than necessary.
“I think her fiancé said something to her.”
“About her weight?” Noelle’s eyes flared. “That’s ridiculous. Amy’s not overweight.”
“No, but she wants to look a certain way in her wedding dress.” Morgan shrugged.
Sam took it as a good sign that Morgan realized there was something very wrong with Amy’s fiancé saying something to her about her weight, but she also knew on a deeper level, Morgan didn’t see it as anything unusual.
“We’re thinking about doing a pole dancing class.
I think it’ll be fun if either of you wants to join us. ”
Sam had always wanted to do pole dancing, but she already knew what her answer had to be.
“I can’t,” she replied wistfully. “I’m too busy with work and Q. Plus, I asked Patrick for more work at Marquis and Stronghold.”
“Oh, that’s so cool that you’re getting more involved in the clubs,” Noelle said, lighting up. “Maybe I should do that.”
“You get a discount on your membership if you do it regularly,” Morgan told her. “It’s a lot of fun and a good way to get to know people.”
“I could definitely use a discount. It’s really adding up fast.” Noelle grinned.
“And I would love to meet more people. I don’t think I’m really connecting with Master Connor.
” Her smile slipped a little. “He’s friends with Master Law, so I’m sure he’s heard all sorts of things about me from Iris.
I don’t think we’re ever going to be friends again. ”
“I’m sure it’s not that,” Sam said, reaching over to pat Noelle’s hand sympathetically. “Master Connor is really shy. I don’t think he connects much with anyone.”
“Maybe, but I feel like he doesn’t like me. I wouldn’t be surprised if Iris and Master Law made sure of it.”
“I don’t think they’d do that,” Sam said automatically, shaking her head. It didn’t even occur to her that Noelle might react badly until the other woman sat up straight, glaring at her.
“Why? Because you’re dating Q, who’s friends with them? So, now you’re on her side, too?”
“What? No!” Sam stared across the table at the other woman while Morgan’s head whipped back and forth between them, her expression confused and wary.
“There are no sides. You’re my friend. I saw her at Friendsgiving last month, and she was perfectly nice—she knows we’re friends, and she didn’t say one thing about you all night. ”
“Oh.” Some of the anger in Noelle’s expression cleared. “Well, that’s good to know, but that doesn’t mean she’s not saying it when you’re not around. Since she knows you’re my friend, she probably wouldn’t say anything in front of you.”
That hadn’t been the vibe Sam had gotten from Iris at all, but she didn’t think further defense would make Noelle feel any better.
The only person who had said anything at all about Noelle had been Q, and she sure as hell wouldn’t say that.
Not after seeing how Noelle reacted to being told Iris ‘had said nothing about her.’
She didn’t want to put her friend and her boyfriend on the outs with her in the middle. Q hadn’t said anything that bad, really, but this was not the time to ask Noelle if there was any truth that she’d canceled the lease without telling Iris.
“That’s true,” Sam agreed, mostly to keep the peace but also because it was true that Iris could be talking about Noelle when Sam wasn’t within earshot, knowing Noelle and Sam were friends.
She didn’t think Iris would, but she didn’t actually know her that well and couldn’t deny it was a possibility.
She wouldn’t deny it, even if she was one hundred percent certain, not with how upset Noelle had gotten over thinking Sam was siding with Iris against her.
“Sorry, I know I’m being overly defensive, it’s just… literally anything to do with Iris gets under my skin. I know I need to stop.” Noelle reached up to run her fingers through her hair, an aggrieved expression on her face. “I just… I don’t want to lose you two, you know?”
Sam and Morgan jumped to reassure her that they weren’t going anywhere.
Guilt seethed under Sam’s skin. She probably shouldn’t have said anything or defended Iris.
She hadn’t been thinking. If she hadn’t said anything, the moment would have passed, and they’d have had an entirely different conversation.
Next time, she’d know.
“Don’t you two need to get going?” Morgan asked after they had settled Noelle down. Glancing at the clock, Sam looked up and cursed, jumping to her feet.
“Yeah, let me just put these things away.” She looked at Noelle. “You can go on ahead if you want, so you’re not late.”
“Aw, thank you. That’s okay, though, I’ll help clean up. If one of us is late, we’ll both be late.” Noelle beamed at her, all traces of her previous upset totally dissipated.
Sam smiled back.
She was lucky to have such good friends. Why did her personal life have to finally start coming together when her professional life might be best served by moving to Ohio?
Q
“Okay, what’s going on with you?”
“Hmm?” Sam looked up from where she’d been staring into space.
They were on his couch, and he’d been paying attention to the television, but she hadn’t.
Ever since Monday, she’d been a little distant, though they’d had a very nice scene in the dungeon room during class.
Now they had a few weeks off for the upcoming holidays, and he was looking forward to taking her to Marquis for an overnight as a Christmas present.
Shit.
He hoped she wasn’t worrying about presents or anything.
He knew she was still having an issue with money, which was why he’d talked to Patrick about covering her membership.
Patrick had been happy to do so and even promised not to tell Sam that Q was covering the part of her fees her work shifts didn’t.
Patrick also warned Q that he would throw Q under the bus in a heartbeat if she found out and was upset that Q was paying part of her membership fees. But he understood Q wanting to and why he didn’t want to tell Sam.
Leaning over where her feet were resting on his lap, he grabbed the remote and hit pause.
“I know something’s wrong because you’re not commenting out loud on which Property Brother is hotter or asking my thoughts on ‘twin sandwiches,’ so out with it.
What’s going on?” Resting his hand on her ankle where it was peeking out from under the soft, stretchy pants she was wearing, Q kneaded with his fingers, giving her a little reassuring massage while he waited for her answer.
Sam sighed and dropped her head back against the arm of the couch.
“I don’t know. I’m just all in my head right now.”
“Anything you want to talk through?” he offered, not sure if she would take him up on it. Sam was a thinker, whereas Q tended to talk things out. He was dying to know what she was thinking about and hoped she’d share, but he wouldn’t push her if she wasn’t ready.
“Mostly just thinking about the job situation. So far, I only got one bite, and I would still need to do an interview… I don’t even know if I want it. What I really want is for my job to give me a cost-of-living raise so that nothing has to change.”
She pouted adorably at him, and Q gave her a sympathetic smile, increasing the massaging strokes of his fingers and moving them down toward her feet. With a sigh, she settled back against the couch, losing the pout. “
You can stop doing that never.”
He laughed. If a foot massage made her feel better, he was happy to be her masseuse.
“Have you told them you’re looking at other places?” he asked. “It’s amazing how the budget can suddenly be found when they realize they might lose you.”
“I haven’t,” she admitted quietly after a moment, opening her eyes to lock gazes with him. Her lips tipped up in a half smile. “I’m not always good at advocating for myself. It’s what made me think I’m a sub, actually.”
Q considered that for a moment because he understood what she was saying. She wasn’t very assertive outside the bedroom, though he thoroughly enjoyed every glimpse he got of Mistress Samantha inside it.
“I know some subs who are very good at advocating for themselves outside the bedroom,” he said finally. “Angel being the first one to spring to mind. She’s bossy as hell, even with Adam, but the second she gets in the bedroom and he takes charge, she melts.”
That had been disconcerting to realize. At one point in his life, he’d had a major crush on Angel, though he’d known nothing would ever come of it.
So, he’d put his feelings to the side and concentrated on being the best friend he could be.
Whether she ever saw him as anything more hadn’t mattered.
When Adam had come along, he’d fully accepted that was the end of any hopes he might have had in that direction.
It hadn’t affected their friendship at all…
because he hadn’t let it. When some of his guy friends had joked about him being ‘friend zoned,’ he’d informed them that no, he was her friend.
She hadn’t promised anything more, ever, and he valued her friendship, regardless.
He wasn’t her friend just to try to turn it into something more or to have sex with her.
That had shut them up pretty quick and given them something to chew on.
Eventually he’d realized that Angel’s bossiness was part of what had attracted him, but she was so much better matched to Adam.
He and Angel would have ultimately been a disaster, and a breakup would have definitely ended their friendship.
Over time, his feelings had faded, and after he’d found Sam, they’d disappeared entirely.
He hadn’t even realized how Sam’s reappearance in his life had completely obliterated the last shreds of his attraction to Angel, even when he and Sam had been at odds at first.
Thinking about it, he had a feeling part of his attraction to Angel had been how much she reminded him of his high school memories of Sam.
“I want to be Angel when I grow up.” Sam sighed again.
Laughing, Q dug his thumbs into the pads of her foot, making her moan.
“I’m very glad you’re not, thank you very much,” he teased. “I would have to be the boss in the bedroom all the time. I like it when you take charge, and I get to let go.”
When their gazes caught, Sam’s eyes glowed with happiness. Warmth filled the air between them and sudden emotion caught in Q’s throat. It was so much more than attraction, so much more than desire, it caught him off guard.
The TV suddenly blared back to life as it defaulted from the paused recording back to the regular channel, and both of them jumped, then burst out laughing.
But even the laughter couldn’t break the tension fully because Q had just realized… he’d fallen in love for the first time in his life.