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"Okay, Daddy."

Simple words. Devastating in their simplicity.

“So,” Mandy said. “How’s your morning?”

“Not bad. Tyson’s been here, doing security stuff. Got a bee in his bonnet about looking after the place.”

“Oh yeah? And it’s just theplacehe wants to look after?”

Mandy loved to tease me about Tyson. To be honest, everyone I knew teased me about Tyson.

“That’s right. He’s just doing his job.”

“I bet he’d like to do a job on you.” She waggled her eyebrows.

My pencil skidded across the page. "There's no me and Tyson."

"Sure. That's why every time you’re together the sexual tension makes my teeth hurt."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I focused on fixing the ruined sketch line. "He's here for security. Duke's orders. End of story."

"Uh-huh." She leaned forward, studying me with those too-knowing eyes. "When I first came in, he was here, and you know what he said?"

“What?”

“He said, ‘No funny business going on here.’”

“Right. See. That means—”

“Don’t even! No funny business? That means that there was a ton of funny business going on! Admit it!”

"We have nothing in common. He's all rules and protocol, I'm chaos incarnate."

"Uh, you know opposites attract, right?"

My pencil moved faster, adding unnecessary detail to avoid her gaze. "He's like forty—"

"Thirty-five," Mandy corrected immediately. How did she even know that?

"—and probably thinks I'm an idiot child who can't color inside the lines."

"Pretty sure he thinks you're brilliant."

"Well, I think he's an uptight control freak with a stick up his perfect ass."

"Perfect ass, huh?"

Fuck. Walked right into that one.

"Perfect as in . . . uh, it moves his legs just like it should. Like, it works. Plus," I continued, ignoring her triumphant grin, "he's clearly a Daddy Dom and I'm not—I don't—that's not my thing."

The lie tasted bitter. Poisonous. Necessary.

Mandy's eyes softened with understanding that made me want to run. "Lena—"

"It's not," I insisted. "I'm independent. Strong. I don't need someone telling me what to do or treating me like—like—"

Like I matter. Like I'm precious. Like I'm worth protecting.