“Sorry.” Julie stepped into the house. “I only came by because Daniel needs your help down at the west gate.”

Cole slipped his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “That would be why the phone was invented.”

“I told him I’d come over. I saw Sasha’s car had been here all night.” She looked around the room and her face paled when she saw the cane. “I, uh . . .”

“Worry,” he finished for her and waved her inside. “I know. Come see that she’s very much okay. This is Kate. She stopped by to drop off some of my things.”

Sasha thought Julie didn’t seem to be impacted by the knowledge that Cole’s ex was sitting in his living room. She appeared to stop listening as soon as she saw Sasha wearing Cole’s shirt. Julie’s lips pressed together tightly.

And Cole looked pissed, but he calmly asked, “Is Daniel already at the gate?”

“Yes.”

He nodded. “Kate, you’re welcome to stay until I get back. Sasha, we’ll take up our discussion later.”

Some of the tension left with him, but even though Sasha had wanted to talk to Julie, she wasn’t going to do so with Kate in the room.

Julie walked over and shook Kate’s hand. “Hey, Kate, I’m Julie.”

“Nice to meet you. You must be Daniel’s sub.”

Julie instinctively ran a finger along her collar and a satisfied smile covered her face. “I am.”

“And you’re Cole’s trainee,” Kate said to Sasha.

As perfectly clear by the lack of collar, wearing his shirt, and the cane in the next room? Sasha wanted to say, but refrained. This was Kate and though they were no longer together, she imagined the dark-haired woman was still important to Cole. Yet the fact remained, it was the morning after the best sex of her life and instead of basking in it with Cole, she was spending time with his ex and her own best friend. “Is it that obvious?”

“No. He told me.”

Sasha gave her a small smile. “Sorry I’m out of sorts. It’s just, this isn’t what I pictured my morning would be like.”

Julie watched them both. “I probably should have called, but with your car here all night and knowing what was going to happen yesterday, I just had to see you. Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. We’ll talk about it later.”

“Don’t mind me,” Kate said. “I’ve been on the receiving end of his cane numerous times.” Her words were certain, but there was a question of sorts in her expression.

“Canes are still a hard limit for me,” Julie said.

Kate nodded in agreement. “Smart woman, keep it that way.”

“I don’t know,” Sasha said. “There’s something cathartic about the whole thing.”

Though she never would have thought it possible, the crying session she had after the cane had felt cleansing. It was like a burden she didn’t even know she’d been carrying had been lifted.

“True,” Kate said. “I certainly see that. But when you add in the rules he puts in place, it counteracts the cathartic part.”

Sasha assumed Kate meant the protocol he’d sent earlier in the week, but she didn’t have a clue as to what she meant by the rules. It didn’t seem polite to ask, though. After all, she’d just met the woman and from the look on Kate’s face, she regretted saying that much.

“What kind of rules?” Julie asked, obviously having no such qualms about asking. “Is that different from the protocol he sent you, Sasha?”

Kate shook her head. “I can’t . . . rather, I shouldn’t—”

“It’s private, Jules,” Sasha said.

Kate threw her a look of thanks, and Sasha gave her a small smile. She didn’t blame the woman for not wanting to talk about the details of her relationship with Cole. Not to mention, it wasn’t any of Julie’s business.

“She’s the one who brought it up,” Julie argued. “I was just trying to see if he was different with you.”

“It’s a totally inappropriate thing to ask,” Sasha said. “And it’s nothing that concerns you.”

“I think if he’s got certain rules he expects you to follow, he should tell you.”

“He does. Always.”

“So these are in addition to those. Aren’t you the least bit interested?” Julie asked.

She was. She was undeniably curious about the rules Cole had given Kate. But she told herself they’d had a much different relationship.

“If Cole wants me to follow a rule, he’ll tell me. Bottom line. Drop it.”

“Yes, but—”

“Julie.”

All three women turned at the sound of Cole’s voice. He stood in the doorway, arms crossed, with fury in his eyes and a look of pure displeasure on his face.

“I have known Daniel for years and am well acquainted with how he expects his submissive to behave,” Cole said in a cold voice. “I find it difficult to imagine your Master would be pleased with your current conversation, regardless of how concerned you profess to be.”

Julie’s face paled as Cole walked toward her.

“You will apologize to Kate and Sasha,” he said. Sasha was glad those icy eyes weren’t focused on her. “And later today you will inform Daniel of this conversation. Trust me when I tell you it’ll go better for you if he hears it from you first instead of me.”

“Yes, Sir,” Julie mumbled.

Cole turned and made his way to Sasha and slipped behind her. She shivered as he ran his hands down her side and rested his palms along her hipbones. She knew what he was doing—he was staking his claim on her. Letting the two other women know in no uncertain terms who was in charge. And who belonged to him.

“Now,” he said. “If there aren’t any more inappropriate questions, Daniel’s invited everyone to the main house.”

•   •   •

It was slow at the shop the next day, and since they were caught up on orders, at two o’clock Sasha told Julie to take the rest of the afternoon off. Julie hadn’t mentioned Sasha’s overnight stay with Cole—most likely Daniel had told her not to—but that hadn’t stopped Julie from watching her just a tad bit too closely all day. Of course, it was very possible the discussion she had with her Dom about Kate also had something to do with it. Sasha couldn’t imagine that going over well.