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Shit. Poor Vern. I’m informed that he’ll be keeping a closer eye on what I do around the office. Why do I have to embarrass myself like this? I have nothing against Vern, and I could have gotten him fired if I had signed his name instead of mine on that email. Vern’s married and trying to start a family with his wife. What kind of monster would I be if I let him lose his job?

The women meeting with her today are both too gorgeous and rich for me to deal with. Honestly, when I Googled Ms.Moreau, I was not expecting a thirty-something bombshell with the most manicured nails I have seen in my life. Seriously, she puts Julianna to shame in the modelesque department. And those eyes! Holy shit! Julianna, if you’re reading this, you can seriously learn a thing or two about loaded gazes. We’ll start by implanting your steely blue eyes with those gleaming ambers Ms. Moreau has. I could feel her boring a hole right in my gut when she looked at me!

Ms. Coleman and her wife are ridiculously good-looking, too. Etta has a youthful energy to her that is at complete odds with her deadpan humor, and her wife is so bubbly with curly black hair and a chic sense of style that I felt like a total mouse next to them. I thought she was Etta’s business partner at first – then I remembered that Ms. Moreau is the one who is business partners with her wife.

I’m so overwhelmed, both by these people and what I accidentally did, that I can barely function during the meeting. It doesn’t help that Julianna is my girlfriend, and every time I look at her, my breath is stolen as I reflect on what we’ve been doing these past two weeks.

She’s awakened something within me. It’s not only discovering sex for the first time. When we’re together, I am naturally inclined to give over to her, to give myself to her, and to beg for whatever she deems fit for me that day. She calls all the shots. She tells me what to do, what to wear in the bedroom, and how I should do everything. I’m completely submissive to her as soon as we’re behind closed doors. Julianna could take me into the adjacent room right now and tell me to get on my knees, and I wouldn’t be able to get down quickly enough.

I think… we’re in some sort of Dom/sub relationship, and I have no idea what to think!

I tell myself to simply enjoy the ride. Julianna is the experienced one here. There’s so much that I can learn from her.

Assuming our relationship outlives my gaffes. Julianna doesn’t say anything outside of our short meeting afterward, but I know she’s pissed. I don’t blame her. Ms. Coleman and Ms. Moreau were not supposed to have run into each other today. I’ve read up enough on both to understand why. I’m so stupid. How could I have let this happen? Even though I was angry at Julianna, my professionalism should have stepped in!

At five, Julianna calls me into her office for nothing but work. “No plans tonight, right?”

“No, madam.” We’re in private, but if there’s anything I’ve learned about myself these past few days, it’s that I like having her treat me like this even when we’re in private. “Do you want me to come by your place again tonight?” Don’t know why I wouldn’t. I’m ready to keep having sex and exploring whatever she has to teach me!

“Good. You’re coming with me to the after-party with Coleman and Moreau. I promised them food and drink on my dime to help smooth this over. What do you think of LaGuardia’s?”

That’s one of the most upscale, exclusive lounges in Portland. The kind of place that’s always packed but never advertised. Even so, Julianna could easily get a private room for everyone at the last minute.

“I think it sounds wonderful.”

“Excellent.” She gets up, shuts off her computer monitor, and grabs her jacket. “Then let’s go. My driver is waiting to take us all there.”

Six people pile into Julianna’s stretch limo, waiting curbside. It always cracks me up to see her ridiculous limo in the middle of Downtown, where the blocks are short and everyone points and stares at the smallest whiff of wealth. I’m not even sure Phil Knight drives around in a limo here. But Julianna Marcon? She even dropped me off at school this morning with the damn limo. Gave me so many kisses that people were staring.

LaGuardia’s is exactly what I expected. A small, intimate lounge stocked with the greatest spirits from around the world and enough finger food to fill us up for dinner. Nice finger food, of course. We’re not getting chicken wings and nachos. We’re supping on seasoned prawns, oysters, sushi, you name it. Julianna has arranged for us to have a large table in the back. The place is as packed as I expected – packed with tech giants in both suits and casual wear, and packed with local celebrities who can’t wait to get their photo ops and leave. The staff are more polite than anyone working at Bradford & Marcon, and that’s saying a lot. Even the waitress who takes my drink order is all smiles once she addresses me.

Everyone at the table checks out her ass when she walks away.

“Horndog,” Jamie Coleman mutters to her wife. They laugh.

“Can’t stop a red-blooded woman from doing what we do best,” Ms. Bradford says from the other side of my girlfriend. She’s the only one here without a guest, but she made sure that Ms. Moreau’s beautiful assistant is sitting next to her. I won’t comment on the fact that Ms. Coleman and Ms. Moreau are sitting next to one another for the course of our light dinners. For a couple of hardcore rivals, they seem to get along well enough in a social setting. Neither the assistant nor the wife seems bothered by it, either.

Even so, Julianna keeps a careful eye on everyone’s attitudes. When someone gets grumbly, she orders another round of drinks. When someone looks bored, it’s time for more food. We’re done doing business. This is pure entertainment at this point.

“So, Marcon,” Ms. Moreau says at the other end of the circular table. Another whiskey has been placed in front of her, but nobody aside from perhaps Mrs. Coleman is tipsy. “What’s this about you and this lovely young woman here? Two weeks ago,you were minding your business. Next thing I see in the society pages are photo ops of you and your new girlfriend.”

Julianna genially smiles. “You’re one to talk, Moreau.” She turns to me. “Danica here had a rush wedding last fall. With a woman she only met a few weeks earlier.”

“More like several weeks, thank you. We all can’t wait around a year and a half to marry the women we love.” Ms. Moreau spared that line for Ms. Cole beside her. “Honorable, though.”

“I promised my wife the wedding of the year. Didn’t know you were going to try to upstage me, Moreau.”

Jamie rolls her eyes in my direction as if to say, “Rich people, am I right?”

“Anyway, yes,” Julianna continues. “Alessa and I are together.” She drapes her arm across the back of my chair and rubs my shoulder. I can’t help it – I’m a blushing virgin all over again. “Only a couple of weeks, though.”

“That’s how it starts,” Ms. Moreau says. “Next thing you know, you’re getting hitched at City Hall and having a baby.”

“Congratulations, by the way,” I say, remembering that Ms. Moreau’s wife is about to have their first child. Timeline’s a bit suss. She was pregnant when they had their wedding in Czechia. Is it from a previous relationship? I have no idea. It’s not my business, but Iam so nosy.

“Thank you.” She raises her glass. “A toast to happiness. Both in business and pleasure.”

Nobody can turn that down, so we clink our glasses together and down our scotches, martinis, cosmoses, and whiskeys. The scent of Jamie’s gin and tonic is stronger than my martini. She’s also the first at the table to go full-blown tipsy.