Page 97 of Illicit Education

Reed licked his lips and the Smirker was back. His gaze flicked back and forth between mine, then he reached up and knocked again. “This is your last chance. Olly olly oxen free.”

I snorted, covering my mouth quickly.

“Open it.”

His voice had that firmness in it again, that power that struck me right between the legs.

I reached over and twisted the knob. The door opened. In my peripheral vision, I could see what I already knew. The stall was empty.

I raised my eyebrows.

“Empty.” Reed tilted his head. “Now, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you want me to grab you by the neck, drag you inside that room…”

I swallowed hard.

“And fuck your brains out.

I gasped, then nodded emphatically.Yes, please.My body hummed with excitement.

“But I told you I was going to work on my self-control.”

My shoulders fell.

His smirk pulled into one of his very rare smiles. “Don’t be so disappointed, Ms. Blake. My self-control is one of my best qualities.” He nodded behind him toward the register. “Go close up. We’re going to get acquainted tonight.”

Talk about empty promises.

To Cabot Reed,getting acquaintedmeantmegetting acquainted with the Rabbit Hole andhimplaying the role ofteacher, not Sir Whips A Lot.

You can imagine my disappointment.

We began by going through the paperwork together. Again. When that laborious experience was over and I had signed on the dotted line–just kidding, there was no dotted line–then he took me down to one of the rooms and explained all of the equipment to me.

In

Tedious

Fucking

Detail

When he had explained to me how the St. Andrew’s Cross was originally created–that was the big X he’d had his executive assistant strapped to last week, but we don’t talk about her–I had the sheer audacity to ask, quite sarcastically, “Will there be a test?”

To which, he replied with a death stare. His nostrils flared. That muscle in his jaw ticked. And I got just the slightest hint of that angry vein in his forehead.

Which sent a thrill of anticipation down my spine.

Ruh roh.

Somebody’s about to get a spanking.

Oh, don’t worry, it wasn’t me.

Somewhere in the Rabbit Hole, someone was probably getting spanked, the lucky bastard.

But apparently,wehadn’t reached that part in thegetting acquaintedtorture yet.

He’d been painfully slow in every decision, walking me through everything until he was blue in the face and I was blue between the legs.