Free For His Taking (For His Pleasure, Book 2) (The Submission of Miss Masters, Domination, BDSM) by Kelly Favor Page B

scenery, the cars and clothes and money. She wouldn’t be treated so shabbily at Red’s bizarre whims.
    Outside, the air had grown very cold and she shivered uncontrollably. Nicole didn’t care about the chill night air, though. She only wanted to get in that town car and go back to her old apartment where it was reasonably safe. The most dangerous person there was a bitchy roommate who would just be happy to say, “I told you so.”
    The black car slid up to the doorway not ten minutes later. Nicole got inside and told the driver her address, to which he merely nodded and then the car glided away.
    She looked back at the house as they left, and her heart truly sank. Red was in there somewhere, alone, looking out at her as she went away.
    For the first time since deciding to leave, she realized she was abandoning her fiancé, running away from someone she had meant to spend her life protecting and honoring. She’d known Red had problems, but she hadn’t realized it would be like this.
    It was too much.
    Nicole arrived home about an hour later, thankful when she entered the apartment that Danielle appeared to be in her room, asleep. Danielle was a night owl who could just as easily have been up watching some late night infomercial, scarfing down ice cream.
    But the apartment was dark and quiet and Nicole was happy to tiptoe into her old room and close the door behind her softly. Then she took off her dress and slid into bed, naked. She was happy to be back, in a way, although exhausted.
    As she lay there, drifting, she thought of Red. The way he’d looked when she told him she didn’t want him to drive her home. His expression had been one of total devastation.
    She didn’t want him to hurt, ever.
    Nicole drifted off to an uneasy sleep, where she dreamed she was wandering down dark hallways in a maze that moved and changed. She needed to wait for certain passages to connect with one another before she could walk forward. Eventually she became confused and lost, wandering in circles.
    She wandered and wandered until the night finally ended and she awoke.
    When Nicole’s eyes fluttered open, light was streaming in through her bedroom window. And she could hear Danielle out in the common area making noise, which meant the hour was rather late. Danielle never got up before seven.
    Springing out of bed, Nicole grabbed her clothes for the day and started for the shower, hoping against hope she could keep the questions and explanations to a minimum.
    When Nicole left her room, Danielle was humming to herself and making a sandwich for her brown bag lunch. She looked up, saw Nicole, and went back to making her sandwich. Then she seemed to have a delayed reaction of pure shock. Danielle looked up again and shrieked. “What are you doing here?”
    “I’m back,” Nicole sighed, trying to smile bravely.
    Danielle stepped back from the counter. “You’re back, back?”
    “Yes.”
    “Not just for a day or two.”
    Nicole shook her head. “No. I’m back. And I’d rather not talk about it right now. I’m late for work.”
    “So you still have a job.”
    For the first time, Nicole wondered. She might not have a job, actually. After all, she’d sort of dumped the CEO last night, and what were the chances he would let her keep working at his company after that?
    “I think I have a job,” Nicole replied slowly.
    “You think so?”
    “We’ll see.” She started for the bathroom. “I better get in the shower before they have even more reasons to fire me.”
    Danielle watched her go, still looking completely dumbstruck.

    ***
    It seemed as though life was always unbalanced, Nicole thought. On the one hand, her relationship with Red seemed to have imploded—again. On the other, things at work had somehow improved overnight.
    Remi swung by her desk that morning and said hello, asked how Nicole liked working for Edward.
    Nicole was honest and admitted that she’d rather have kept working for Remi.
    Remi said, “Maybe I