“I promise. I swear.”

“You promise you will be a good girl for me all evening?”

“The best girl.”

“Will you let me f**k you right now if I give you the boot back?”

Eleanor opened her mouth and then closed it again. Was Kingsley serious? Serious or not …

“Not for all the combat boots in the world.”

Kingsley held her boot at the window and waited.

“Toss it,” she said. “It’s f**king freezing in here.”

Kingsley rolled up the window and handed her the boot back.

“You’re giving it back?” She stuffed her feet into her boots before Kingsley changed his mind. In the future she would have to be smarter, stay on her toes.

“You passed the test.”

“What test?”

“I like to test new people who come to our world. I get them into my Rolls and try to seduce them. The winners say no. The losers say yes. But since I still f**k them everyone wins.”

“Why is it losing to say yes?”

“Because if you say yes to being f**ked by a stranger without any discussion of limits, wants, protection and safety, you are very likely not yet ready for our world. A submissive too eager to please a dominant can get into trouble quickly in my world.”

“So I passed?”

“One test.”

“There are others?”

“Many others. Wait until he puts a dog collar on you. I can’t wait to see how you respond to that test.”

Eleanor glared at him. “I’m not going to wear a dog collar.”

“He already has one picked out for you.”

“Søren?”

“Who else?”

“A dog collar? Are you shitting me?”

“Would I do that? Collars play an important role in our world. It’s a sign of ownership. So you should take it as a compliment. And then after you’ve taken it as a compliment, you can wag your little tail for him.”

“He said you were the devil.”

“He only says that because he knows how horny I am.”

He raised his hand to his head and held up two fingers as horns. Eleanor burst out laughing.

“I like you, Kingsley. I don’t want to, but I do.”

He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the center of her palm. No finger sniffing this time.

“The feeling, ma petite, is entirely mutual.”

They arrived as Kingsley’s town house, and he escorted her inside.

“Who’s this, King?” A stunning Hispanic-looking woman in a tight white dress came down the stairs. She gave Kingsley a quick kiss on the cheek. “Nice uniform,” she said to Eleanor. It sounded like a genuine compliment, not sarcasm.

“We’re doing an age-play scene tonight. Teacher-student. I’d let you watch but it’s her first role-play.” Kingsley ran his hand over Eleanor’s bottom.

“Next time, maybe?” the woman said, giving her a wink and Kingsley another kiss. “I’ll play her sister, and you can punish us both for acting up in class, Mr. King.”

The woman strolled away, her hips swaying seductively with every step.

“Age-play?” she asked. “That’s a thing?”

“Here everything is a thing,” he said. Kingsley gave her another ass pat.

She thought about finding a knife and slicing that roaming, ass-grabbing hand of his off, but the word sister reminded her of a question she wanted to ask.

“Can I ask you a weird question?”

“I might not answer it, but you may ask me anything.”

“Was it Elizabeth?” she asked as he took her arm and led her up the stairs.

“Elizabeth? What about her?”

“Søren said when he was married to your sister he cheated on her with someone. Your sister caught him and whoever kissing and ran off and that’s when …” Eleanor felt weird about bringing this up but she had to know. “Søren didn’t tell me who he cheated with, only that he loved her.”

“He said he loved her?”

“Something like that. I keep thinking about why he wouldn’t tell me who she was. And then he told me about him and Elizabeth when they were kids … and your sister, she came to visit you all at school. It was an all-boys school, but they let her visit. Why?”

“Because she was a relative.”

“Right,” Eleanor said and waited. Kingsley said nothing more. “I’m asking, was it Elizabeth who Søren cheated on your sister with? They had a f**ked-up childhood. They were lonely. Incest or not, I don’t care. It’s the only answer I can come up with. I mean, what else could have shocked your sister so much she … you know.”

“Killed herself?”

“That. I mean, seeing her husband kissing his own sister? That could shock anyone to death.”

“It could, oui.”

“I want to know who he loved enough to cheat on his wife with. I need to know, and I know you know.”

“I know,” he said.

“But you won’t tell me?”

“Not yet,” he said with a smile. “Perhaps in time. But I will tell you this, you’re on the right track. Now come with me.”

Kingsley escorted her to a room at the end of the hall on the second floor.

“Tonight is my friend Blaise’s birthday and we’re having a little party for her. I thought you should come and see how our sort plays together.”