Subordination:Chronicles of a Domme(25)
“I will.”
Susie leaned back against the counter. “So what about the new principal?”
Jesus, she would have to keep on with that one. “He seems nice.”
“I heard he looks like that Superman guy.”
“Henry Cavill.”
She snapped her fingers. “That’s the one.”
“Maybe a little.” Well, it obviously wasn’t just me who saw that. He was that gorgeous
“Shoot. If there had been some good-looking guy like that when I was in school, I would have been in the principal’s office every day.” She winked. “They could paddle back then.”
I choked on my beer. “Susie, you kinky thing,” I teased.
“I do like a good spanking.”
For a moment, I tried envisioning Susie down at 1740, but it was too traumatizing. “Thanks for that tidbit.”
Ansel came into the kitchen. “What are you guys talking about?”
Holding up my hands, I replied, “Trust me. You don’t want to know.”
Susie giggled. “I was asking about the new principal.”
A grin spread across Ansel’s face. “You mean Dr. Hottie? That’s what the cheerleaders are calling him. That’s all they can talk about while they’re practice on the track close to our practice field.”
I rolled my eyes as I thought of some of the underage slutbags wanting a piece of William. “Oh please,” I muttered.
Ansel threw an arm over my shoulder. “I think they’re all going to be heartbroken when he and Soph start dating.”
“You are so full of shit.”
Susie glanced from Ansel to me. “What’s he talking about?”
“Ignore him. He’s being delusional.”
Ansel snorted. “I know what I saw.”
“And what was that?” Susie inquired.
“An interlude.”
Sweeping my hands to my hips, I demanded, “Since when do you use the word ‘interlude’?”
“Since I started using that lame ass SAT word of the day program you gave me.”
“I would say I’m proud of you, but not when you’re using your word knowledge against me.”
Susie laughed. “What’s wrong with having an interlude with an attractive man?”
I growled with frustration. “What is wrong with everyone? He’s my boss. Having an interlude or relationship or whatever isn’t professional. After enduring six years in college, I’d kinda like to keep my job.”
“I seriously doubt they’d fire you over dating the boss.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t want to find out what they would do.”
“Well, I better head out,” Susie said. Her gaze flickered between Ansel and me. “You two try not to kill each other while I’m gone, okay?”
“I’ll try hard,” I replied, with a smile. “By the way, what’s for dinner later?”
“I had fixed some chicken and rice, but Ansel insisted it was pizza night and called the delivery place.”
I glared at Ansel. “Delivery? They’ll charge us twice as much to come all the way out here.”
He held up his hand. “Easy, cheap-shit. I have it taken care of.”
“Do you now?”
“Mindy Davis is their delivery girl, and since she has the hots for me, I’m taking her out after the game Friday night.”
“So you’re pimping yourself out for pizza?” I asked with a grin.
“Yes and no. I drew the line at going down on her for cinnamon bread.”
I snorted. “I’m glad you managed to keep some of your integrity.”
He pinched his forefinger and thumb together. “Just a little.”
“You’re a mess.” I ruffled Ansel’s hair, which earned me a playful smack from him.
“See you both tomorrow,” Susie said, as she headed out the garage door.
“Bye,” Ansel and I called after her.
“Let me know when the pizza gets here. I’m going to go see Daddy.”
“He was asleep in the den when I got home,” Ansel replied.
I nodded and headed out of the kitchen. I knew Daddy would want to hear all about my day. Of course, just like Susie, he would be getting the edited version. Before I reached the den, the doorbell rang. “Pizza’s here, Ansel,” I called.
I opened the front door and gasped. William stood before me. “What the hell are you doing here?” I demanded.
“We need to talk.”
Narrowing my eyes at him, I asked, “Did you follow me home?”
“You’re my employee. I have access to all your information.”
“That’s not stalkerish at all,” I snapped.
“It was necessary.”
I shook my head. “Look, now isn’t a good time.”
“Make time.”
“I thought I was the one who was supposed to be giving the orders?”
“Sophie, I’m serious.”
“Is that Mindy, Soph?” Ansel asked from the hallway.
Closing my eyes, I silently willed the floor to open up and devour me. This day just kept getting worse and worse. This was like pouring kerosene on Ansel’s fire about there being something between William and me.
Ansel joined me in the doorway. At the sight of William, he snickered. “Dr. F, good to see you again.”
“Same to you, Ansel.”
Nudging my shoulder, Ansel said, “Are you already in trouble, sis?”
“No, smart-ass, I’m not.”
“Then what’s your boss doing here?”
I opened my mouth but drew a blank on what I could possibly say.
“Actually, I’m here to see your horses,” William said.
“You are?” Ansel and I said at the same time.
William nodded. “After hearing about the farm, your sister offered to show me around. You see, I’m a city guy, and I’ve never been on a real farm before.”
“Trust me, you haven’t missed anything,” Ansel replied.
William laughed. “I’ll have to see everything first to be the judge of that.”
“Yeah, well, you two have fun,” Ansel said, a teasing lilt in his voice.
After he disappeared down the hall, William and I stood awkwardly in the doorway. “So are you going to show me the barn?”
“You’re serious?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I thought that was just your cover for Ansel.”
“I told you when we were back in Atlanta that I wanted to see your farm.”
Damn, that three-hour-long breakfast at Café Lumiere. “Oh. That’s right.”
He backed up as I stepped out onto the porch. After we walked down the stairs, I started leading him down the hill to the barn. We walked in silence; the sound of our shoes crunching on the gravel filled the air. I don’t know why we weren’t talking. It wasn’t like we didn’t have a hell of a lot to talk about. I didn’t know if William was waiting for me to take the lead.
When he did speak, it wasn’t what I was expecting. “You have a truly beautiful place here.”
“Thank you.”
“Back in Atlanta, it was hard to imagine you living somewhere like this. But now that I’m here, I see how much you’re a part of it.”
I turned to stare at him. “Are you done with the bullshit small talk?”
A smile played at the corner of his lips. “You’re always so direct.”
“I’m serious, William. Or should I say ‘Dr. Foster’?”
“William is fine.”
“You came here because you said we needed to talk. So talk.”
He exhaled a ragged breath. “Now that I’m here, I don’t know what to say.”
“Wonderful.”
We arrived at the barn then. Grabbing the handle, I slid open the door. There were ten horse paddocks, five on each side. At the back was the area where my dad had once had his office, which now the overseer used. “This is the barn,” I said sarcastically.
William chose to ignore my remark. Instead, he walked inside and started looking around. “Where are the horses?”
“They’re down in the pasture with the cattle. We don’t put them up until nightfall.”
“Who does all the work here now that your father can’t?”
“We have an overseer who comes out for a few hours a day. He feeds the cattle and takes care of what needs to be done on the machinery. Most of what is done for the horses is Ansel’s and my job.”
A blinding light from the back of the barn caught William’s eye. He walked past the empty horse paddocks to investigate. With the afternoon sun streaming in through the loft windows, the wall was illuminated with shimmering gold from the hanging buckles.
“What are all those from?”
“Those are the buckles my dad won in roping championships.”
“He was really good,” William remarked.
“Yeah, he was. He started competing when he was just a kid. He keeps the nicest ones in a shadow box in his bedroom.”
Nodding, William continued looking at the wall. His gaze dropped from the buckles to the family pictures above my father’s desk.
William pointed to a picture of a young woman barrel racing. “Is that you?”
“No. It’s my mom.”
Leaning closer to the picture, William shook his head. “Wow, you look just like her.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d heard someone say that sentiment. Considering how beautiful my mother was, it was compliment. “Thank you. She was a champion barrel racer. That’s how she and my dad met. They were both in the rodeo circuit.”