"Whew, will you look at that fine piece of man meat?" the young woman who was helping me put the final touches on each table whispered.

Looking up, my eyes collided with a pair of familiar blue ones. Instantly my face burned and I dropped my eyes back to the table. "Oh yeah, that guy. He's okay." I shrugged, trying to hide my embarrassment.

"You are crazy. That suit hugs his body like a glove that is just begging to be removed. Mmm, I bet he's hung too. See that bulge? God," she mused to herself before grunting under her breath.

The sound made me laugh and shake my head. Some women were certainly a lot more assertive and forward than I was.

"I'm gonna go talk to him." She strutted off, flipping her hair over her shoulders.

So much for help. Rolling my eyes, I continued putting the party favors down in front of each plate at the table we were working on. I grabbed the stack of place cards she'd left behind and finished her job as well before pulling the small cart with all my supplies to the next table and continuing. I didn't really care what she did. I was no longer going to drool uncontrollably at the poor man. I'd give the girl a few minutes to distract John before I called her back to finish her job. It'd give me a few moments to gather myself.

The man was constantly popping up in unexpected places. It seemed the more I tried to avoid him, the more he was around. Never said a word to me, but always watching with that damn little half-smile tilting those luscious lips... no, not luscious. They were just lips.

Rolling my head on my shoulders, trying to release the tension that was collecting there, I glanced over my shoulder to find the girl and John in a conversation. His lips were moving as if he were talking to her, but his eyes were on me. Instead of looking away, having been caught, that smile tugged at his lips.

"Hey, you need to finish over here," I called out to the girl. I couldn’t remember her name. John patted her shoulder before turning her toward me.

Throwing a wink in my direction, he spun and walked out of sight.

"Oh. My. God. You should hear his voice. It's so fucking hot." The girl sighed dreamily as she took the cards from my hand. "Too bad he shot me down. Oh well, I had to try."

"Hmm," was all I could come up with. I didn't care either way. I doubt he even knew my name, but that wink scattered my thoughts and made me second-guess everything. Maybe he hadn't seen what I'd been doing in my office. Or maybe he'd liked that I was touching myself while looking at him. I didn't know and there wasn't a chance in hell I was going to find out. I was already embarrassed enough as it was. Plus, how do you bring that up to a man you don’t even know? Awkward.

After everything had finally been set up on the inside, I returned to my office and dropped into my seat for a quick break. My ass burned as it connected with the chair and made me smile as my hand reached for the pearls around my neck. That reminded me, I needed to check my phone to see if I'd heard from Master. I only had one message from him and it had been sent two hours earlier.

How you hanging in there, Precious?

The use of his nickname made me smile. No one had ever called me Precious or any other pet name at all.

Doing good, master. Just had a busy day.

I put my phone back in the drawer and stretched out my cramped back. Bending over those tables for so long had my back screaming for relief. I needed to find food at some point since it was well past lunch time, but that required me getting back out of my chair and I just didn’t see that happening until it had to.

Jennifer came bouncing into my office with a plate in her hand. She set it front of me before plopping down in a chair on the other side of my desk. "I come bearing gifts."

"What's this?" I leaned forward and eyed the plate filled with grilled chicken and rice.

"Seems you have a little admirer. Our neighborhood weekly renter had the kitchen make that for you." Jennifer grinned, leaning forward with wide eyes. "What are you not telling me? How'd you get him to notice you? I've been trying forever."

"No idea. Really. I didn't ask for him to notice me." I said and pushed the plate towards her. "You can have it. I don't want anything from him." That was a lie, but I didn't need rumors to start or people to start looking for signs of something going on. Plus, nothing I wanted from the man could be served on a plate.

"No, no. Eat it. It doesn't matter that it's from him. Just eat, woman." Leaning back in her chair, her smile fell. "Why would you refuse a man like that anyway?"

"I'm not refusing him. I don't even know him. That's the problem. I've never even spoken to the man. Plus, I don't have the time or energy left at the end of the day for a man and all their complications. They’re all so needy." Truth. I didn't want a relationship. They required too much effort and tiptoeing around each other to be worth it. The single man I’d dated after rehab had wanted to know every detail of my life, share every intimate experience and I couldn’t do it. There was a lot of pain and betrayal in my past, within my family and I wanted to avoid thinking about it. All it did was make want to go out to a club and find someone to make me feel. At that point in my life, I couldn’t do that and when he pushed, I left. That's what I loved about Master. We met, did our thing, left. That's all there was to us.

"You don't have to date him. Just fuck him. I totally would. Have you looked at the man?" Jennifer fanned herself exaggeratedly with her hand.

"Yeah, I don't really do that either. It never works out like that." I didn't do casual sex because that was how my lonely addiction became a whole other addiction that was much scarier and could be incredibly dangerous. At least, that's how it'd been last time. That's what had made it spin out of control to the point that I couldn't handle it. I didn't care to control it, didn't care if I got hurt. That had been what made me go to rehab, because it’d gotten so bad.

No, it was best I stay by myself. I would rather be celibate than drag some man in off the street to fuck again. If Master wanted to fuck me, he could at any point. He was the only man I wanted to take that step because I knew he'd be the one to help me not lose myself again. My control was his. Each time we were together, I gave him more and more of myself. The more I gave, the better our time seemed to get. He knew what I needed and how to give it to me.

Chapter 14

John

Every time she signed into the online chat, I made sure it was automatically sent to me. I didn't want anyone else talking to her about her private thoughts. They were mine to know and a way for me to help her without her knowing. If it gave me the chance to keep her near me at the same time, then so be it. I wasn't lying to her, I was just making sure she was hearing what she needed to in order to keep her coming to the club.

I'd known about the wedding taking place in the hotel because I had been invited to it. Two of my clients were the couple, in fact, so I had every right to be there. Of course I would use the excuse to catch a few extra glimpses of Alix while she worked. Then the stupid little twat that was working with her strutted over and offered to help me get my rocks off instead of working. Only thing more annoying than a slutty woman was one who had no control. I hadn’t given her any indication I was interested, but she still felt bold enough to try to rub her body along mine. Who knew how many other men she’d already done that to or how many she’d slept with? No thanks.