Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Iris
Talk about dragging. Iris’ eyes felt like sandpaper as she forced herself through her morning routine, glaring balefully at Noelle’s closed door. Noelle worked as a receptionist at a hair salon, which meant she didn’t have to be up for another hour or two to make it to work on time.
Not like Iris, who needed to be at the Hill’s house by eight to walk their dog.
Working as a House Manager sounded like a cool job, but it wasn’t the easy work Noelle sometimes teased her about.
No, she didn’t have to be on her feet all day like Noelle, but Noelle didn’t have to be up at six in the morning, either.
Iris had allowed Noelle to go on for far too long last night and hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep. Now, she was cranky as hell.
Thank God it was Friday, or she might have been even crankier.
She was also resolved to start coming home from Stronghold earlier, so Noelle wouldn’t keep her up so late. Hopefully. It was worth a shot.
Coffee. Coffee was necessary.
Dressed, showered, and caffeinated, she managed to feel almost normal by the time she was out the door.
Maybe she should see if Patrick would let her off this evening.
As much as she wanted to go to Stronghold, Noelle had still been mad at Tyler when she went to bed last night and hadn’t been happy to hear that Iris was headed back to Stronghold both tonight and tomorrow.
It had made Iris realize how absent she’d been on the weekends, and even though Noelle spent a lot of time with Tyler, they hadn’t hung out together in so long, which was pretty unusual.
No wonder Noelle was feeling jealous of her new friends.
To add to her guilt, she didn’t really want to bring Noelle to hang out with them.
Noelle wasn’t judgmental about the kinky stuff, exactly, but she didn’t understand it, and some of the stuff she said could come off as judgmental. Iris didn’t want to lose her new friends because Noelle said something that sounded bad. Plus… sometimes, she needed a break from Noelle.
Damn, I’m a shitty friend.
Pulling out her phone, she quickly tapped out a message to Patrick, asking him for the night off to help her roommate, who was having some personal issues.
That done, she started a second pot of coffee and left it ready-to-go, so all Noelle would have to do was push the ‘start’ button when she woke up.
Feeling better, if still tired, Iris headed to her car.
“Today is going to be a good day,” she murmured to herself. A little positive thinking never hurt anything, right?
Law
Lunch out with clients was never one of Law’s favorite things but was occasionally a necessity.
Part of being a contract lawyer was schmoozing and keeping the clients happy.
He wasn’t great at schmoozing but did his best. Thankfully, most of them were happy to be taken out to lunch and talk while he listened.
Sitting, eating, and listening were things he could manage.
Except today.
Halfway through lunch, Iris Baez had walked into Murphy’s Meals and was shown to a corner booth for two. She’d ordered, then sat, reading something on an e-reader while she waited for her food. The table where he was sitting gave him a good view, but he wasn’t sure she had noticed him.
It was incredibly distracting.
“Okay, we should get back to the office,” Bryan Daniels said, getting to his feet. Law nodded, standing and holding out his hand. Daniels was one of the good ones. Ethical, generous, and easy to talk to, even if Law didn’t do much talking. “I’ll email you later with the contract.”
“Sounds good. I’ll keep an eye out for it.” Law gave the other man a firm handshake before turning to his two associates and doing the same.
He should have then followed them out the door.
Normally, he would have followed them out the door, after pausing to take a last drink of water in order to give them time to go ahead of him.
But not today.
Instead, he took a sip of water, watching them walk out… then turned around and walked to the corner booth.
It had nothing to do with his fantasies from last night. He was just curious what Iris was doing eating lunch by herself. Not knowing anything about her outside of the club, he didn’t know what she did for a living and was having a little trouble guessing based on the clues provided.
She was out at lunch on a Friday, but she looked like she had already been at work.
Somehow, he didn’t see Iris as the type to wear a white button-down shirt as her own choice, even if she was wearing jeans with it.
With her hair pulled back in a bun, she came off as a tad more casual than business casual but far dressier than he guessed she would be if she wasn’t working.
As he approached, she looked up, and her eyes widened almost comically. She snapped the e-reader case shut, putting it on the booth beside her, which, of course, made him wonder what she was reading. He knew a lot of submissives at Stronghold liked reading racy romances. Was she one of them?
“Mas— I mean… um… Law, hi?”
Law grinned inwardly. It wasn’t often he got to see her flounder. At the club, even as a submissive, she was usually completely in control of herself.
“Iris, hello. I hope I’m not interrupting.
I saw you and…” His voice trailed off. And what?
He’d seen her and wanted to say hi? Great, tell her what a creeper you are.
Trying to hide his sudden discomfort, he shrugged a shoulder.
“I figured I’d say hi.” Yup, it sounded just as weird when he said it out loud as he’d thought it would.
“Oh, well, hi. Um… do you want to sit down?” She blinked, seeming as surprised she’d asked as he was.
“Sure.” That definitely had not been what he’d meant to say. This was a terrible idea.
What are you doing?!
Iris
Oh my God, what was she doing?
Master Law had probably come over to be polite, and now he felt like he had to sit with her because she’d asked him to. If she could have banged her head on the table, she would have.
Adjusting his jacket, he slid into the booth. Being a corner booth, meant to fit two people side by side, the arrangement was a lot more intimate than she’d realized.
“So, uh, what are you doing here?” she asked. They could chat a few minutes, then he’d probably leave once her food got there.
“Lunch with clients. What about you?” He actually sounded interested, which she wouldn’t have expected.
“Lunch break. I’m a house manager, and they didn’t have much for me to do today, so I figured I would give myself a treat.
” Hands in her lap, she fiddled with the edge of the napkin, folding it over itself and pressing down.
It sprang right back as soon as she let it go, which allowed her to do it all over again… and again… and again…
“House manager?”
Iris took a deep breath. Explaining her job usually netted one of two reactions—the people who thought it wasn’t a real job, like her father and brother, and the people who thought it sounded cool.
Domi, Rae, and Avery had thought it sounded interesting.
She’d been pretty nervous when she told them but not as nervous as she was to tell Master Law.
“Um, well, I was a nanny through an agency, then they got a posting for a house manager, and I thought I’d give it a try.
Basically, the couple I work for isn’t home often and needs someone to manage all their household stuff.
Making appointments for repairs or anything around the house, walking their dog, running errands, getting groceries, decorating for the holidays, and cooking for them a couple times a week.
Basically, any odd job they need done, I’m their go-to girl.
” About the only thing she didn’t do was clean since they had a maid.
She loved her job—she really did—she just didn’t love how some people reacted to her job. The Hills were nice, albeit a little crazy at times, but when you had as much money as they did, you could get away with being a little crazy—except it was called ‘eccentric.’
“Oh, really? I could use someone to handle all that for me.” To her surprise, Master Law looked more thoughtful than anything else.
“Really?”
“Yes. Well, not the dog walker since I don’t have one.” The little lift at the corner of his mouth was an almost smile, and Iris giggled. “But having someone at the house to make the appointment with the plumber, then meet them, or to get my groceries or whatever… who couldn’t use that?”
Well, when he put it that way. Granted, Iris had to do all of those things for herself, but she didn’t work eighty-hour weeks like the Hills did. They were both lawyers, like Law, although she didn’t know what type of law he practiced.
“The family works pretty crazy hours. She’s a defense attorney, and he’s an attorney for a firm downtown.
You’re a lawyer too, right?” She knew he was—that was how he’d gotten his nickname at the club.
She was pretty sure he knew that she knew, but he played along and told her about his work.
They were still talking about what contract lawyers did when her food arrived… and he didn’t leave.
Part of her wanted to ask him if he needed to get back to work. The other part of her was perfectly happy sitting there and talking. No one got to talk to Master Law like this at the club. She didn’t know why he’d decided to come over and talk to her, but she liked it.
Law
What the hell was he still doing sitting here talking to Iris?
Yet he had no desire to get up and leave.
The impulse to say hi had turned into a surprisingly interesting conversation. Something he couldn’t say about most people. Although he knew she was a hell of a brat as a sub, here at the restaurant, talking to her was easy. Enjoyable even.
“I should probably leave you to your lunch,” he said, even though he didn’t feel like getting up. He hadn’t meant to sit here this long. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“Oh, no, actually.” Iris made a face. “My roommate is having some, ah, personal issues, so I emailed Patrick and asked for the night off, so I can spend it with her. He said that would be fine, and he’d let you know.”
“It’s probably in my personal email. I check it first thing in the morning, then not again till the end of the day,” he said automatically, the answer covering up how disappointed he was, knowing she wouldn’t be there tonight.
That wasn’t right, was it? Why would he be so disappointed? He finally had a night off to do what he wanted, which was supposed to be a good thing.
“I should be back tomorrow. I’m not trying to get out of my punishment.” The way she said it was more than a little defensive.
Law blinked in surprise, focusing on her at the moment rather than thinking forward to tonight.
“I didn’t think you were. You’ve been nothing but a model submissive this month.”
“Even when I poured the drink on that Dom?”
Law felt his lips twitch. Hell, they weren’t in the club, so he could smile. As he let his true feelings on the matter show, her reaction was worth it, eyes widening and jaw dropping open.
“He deserved it. That’s why I barely punished you.”
Recovering quickly from her surprise, Iris snorted.
“As if that’s something new.” There was a bitterness in her voice that dug under his skin like a thorn.
“What does that mean?”
“No one there ever punishes me. Not really. Not the way the other submissives get punished.” Her gaze skittered away from his, and she stabbed at the macaroni and cheese on her plate with her fork.
The bitterness hadn’t gone away, and looking at her, Law suddenly wondered if he’d done the right thing by giving her the essay punishment instead of a real spanking.
She didn’t look like a brat right now. She looked like a disappointed and frustrated submissive.
“Were you hoping to be spanked?” If she had been, giving her the essay had been the right move. He hadn’t pegged it as a topping from the bottom, but at that moment, it had seemed like a true reaction.
“Not hoping, exactly. I wasn’t trying to earn a spanking, but… I should have been spanked, right? If I’d been anyone else, I would have been.”
“No.” Law shook his head, throwing the word out there immediately because he could see how frustrated she was. “You weren’t spanked because you had been good the days you worked before that and also because he deserved it.”
“Oh.” She still didn’t quite meet his eyes, but some of the simmering tension he sensed dissipated. “I see. I guess that makes sense.” But he could tell she was still disappointed.
“When was the last time you scened with someone?”
“During class.” She looked even glummer.
“I don’t think I’m going to get a chance to really scene with someone again until the next Dom class…
if I can convince Patrick to let me sub again.
” Her lower lip pouted, making her look even younger and making him feel like a dirty old man for finding it attractive.
“No one wants to scene with Andrew’s little sister. ”
Damn. She looked so sad, pushing her chicken and macaroni and cheese around her plate, it tugged something in his chest.
“I could scene with you.” The words were out of his mouth before he thought them through, and the moment they were, he wanted to take them back…
except she’d immediately perked up. Sat up straighter, met his gaze again, and her lips tipped up in a hopeful smile.
Taking it back would be like kicking a puppy.
“Really?”
Fuck it. One scene wouldn’t hurt anything, and maybe it would help him get his fantasies out of his head.
“Sure. Are you more comfortable at Stronghold or Marquis?”
She pulled her bottom lip with her teeth while she considered the question, and Law’s dick twitched against his jeans. Yeah, it wasn’t easy to look at her mouth without remembering that his fantasy of having his cock between her lips had taken over his masturbating session last night.
“Marquis probably…” she said slowly, though she looked uncertain. “If that’s okay.”
Law got it. A lot of the members treated Marquis as a special treat. He and Julie had access whenever they wanted since they were teaching the classes as a favor to Patrick and Olivia. He got one night a month as a Stronghold member, anyway, which he never used.
Normally, he wouldn’t suggest taking a sub to Marquis, but Iris was different because of her brother and everyone else at Stronghold.
“Marquis is fine. Your last day of service for Patrick is Thursday. Are you free Friday or Saturday?”
“Both.”
“Then let’s do Friday.” Feeling suddenly light, Law grinned. “I’ve got your number from the class, so I’ll text you.”
“Okay, great.” She looked a little dazed, as though she couldn’t believe the conversation was really happening. Truthfully, neither could Law, but now that it was, he couldn’t find the wherewithal to stop it. Didn’t really think he wanted to.
“Great.” Getting to his feet, Law nodded down at her. “I’ll talk to you later.”
As he strode out of the restaurant, he felt like whistling.