But when he finished and made his way into his bedroom, she was already curled up under the covers, sleeping. With a soft sigh, he joined her, settling himself behind her. He soon found that sleep didn’t come easy and for several hours he lay awake, thinking. He had just started to drift off to sleep when she started moaning.

   He tightened his grip around her, afraid she was having a nightmare. However, it wasn’t long before he became aware that she did not moan out of distress. Oh no, when she started rubbing against him and grinding her hips, it was obvious she was having a sex dream.

   Suddenly, he wasn’t tired anymore. He was the exact opposite of tired. He was wide-awake and very, very hard.

   “Meagan, sweetheart.”

   “Mmm.”

   “You’re dreaming.”

   “Yes, Sir. About you.”

   He thought he was turned on before, but hearing that she was dreaming about him, especially with the seductive sounds that slipped through her lips, made him even harder. He slid his hand between her legs, delighted to discover how wet she was.

   “Wake up and turn around,” he said. “And I’ll make it worth your time.”

   “Sir?”

   “I do like it when you call me Sir,” he whispered. “It makes me so damn hard.”

   She jerked awake more fully and he could sense her confusion over his statement.

   “How?” she asked. “I thought you said . . .”

   “I said you couldn’t come today. Look at the time.” He knew what she would find when she looked. Fifteen minutes until one. “It’s tomorrow.”

   She turned around, as if to judge by his eyes if he was lying or not. “Does this mean . . . ?”

   She didn’t finish her question, but he answered it for her anyway. “Yes, this means I’m going to do what I wanted to do before.”

   “You’re going to . . . ?”

   He found it just a little humorous that she couldn’t complete her sentences. “Yes. Now spread those thighs so I can taste that sweet pussy.”

   * * *

   The following Monday, Meagan asked for Abby to come in to work. She didn’t come every Monday, because of the drive, probably only once or twice a month. To be honest, Meagan didn’t think she would tell Abby everything, but perhaps talking to her friend would help clear her mind.

   “Knock, knock,” Abby said, standing in the doorway.

   Meagan looked up and couldn’t help but smile at her vivacious friend. Abby always had that air about her: friendly, open, down-to-earth. Just someone you felt like you could talk to. “Hey, girl, come on in, and close the door if you don’t mind.”

   Abby must have picked up on her unease because her normal jovial face showed just a hint of a frown as she closed the door behind her. “What’s up?” she asked as she sat down.

   Meagan dropped her head into her hands and rubbed her scalp with her fingernails. “I don’t know, Abby. I just don’t know.”

   “This sounds serious. Did something happen with you and Luke after you left the shower?”

   Did something happen after she left the shower with Luke? She forced herself to swallow the chuckle that threatened to burst out of her throat. Yes, she wanted to say, something had most definitely happened between her and Luke after they left the shower. But Meagan wasn’t about to tell her that Luke had her bent over his bed while he spanked her. Nor was she going to tell her how he took her twice in the middle of the night.

   “Have you ever kept anything from Nathaniel?” Meagan asked.

   Abby shook her head. “I do not like the way this is going.”

   “I know. I don’t either. I’ve just got myself in a mess.” Meagan drummed her fingers on her desk. “Though perhaps mess is a bit of an understatement.”

   After she made it back to her place from Luke’s, she found she had an e-mail waiting from The Taskmaster.

I don’t know why you think you have any say about when this is over. You don’t have a say in anything. So I’m going to be nice and pretend like I didn’t get your last e-mail.

   Now, that photographer of yours took some risqué shots of an actress not long ago. I want those pictures. And you’re going to get them for me, know why?

   Because I can break every bone in your body one by one and do it in such a way, you’ll be begging for mercy. But I won’t give you any.

   You have two weeks.

   Even now, days removed, she shivered, remembering the e-mail.

   “I don’t even know if I want to ask what’s going on,” Abby said.

   “Let me alleviate some of that worry,” Meagan said. “I won’t give you details.”

   Abby sat back in her chair, crossed her arms, and for several long seconds, she studied Meagan. “Does this have anything to do with the e-mail I got with a picture of you? Because now that I’m thinking about it, things started to get a little strange with you and Luke right after that.”

   Meagan didn’t want to lie to her friend, but she didn’t see how she could tell the whole truth either. “Yes and no.”

   “Did Luke have something to do with the naked picture?”

   Meagan could see the wheels turning in Abby’s head. She knew her friend. If Abby thought Luke had done something to harm her, she wouldn’t stop until he made amends. And she couldn’t have her friend thinking poorly of Luke. “Oh no. It’s not like that. Luke had nothing to do with sending the naked picture.”

   Abby still had one eyebrow raised. Obviously, Meagan had not been sincere enough in her reply. “Believe me, Abby. It is not Luke. He is innocent in all this.”

   “And what exactly is ‘all this’?”