The Prince

“I’m really submissive. Like with—”

“Yeah, I know.” Wesley lightly touched the tips of her ni**les. “So what’s so different about it? Just the positions?”

He pushed in a little harder and deeper and Nora’s vagina clenched around him. After a few seconds she’d caught her breath enough to speak again.

“Um…no. It’s hard to explain. When I’m being the Domme or the sub, I fall into this role... This other part of me takes over and I become the Nora Sutherlin if I’m on top. Or if I’m with Søren, I turn into his Little One.”

“Little One?”

Nora nodded. “That’s what he always calls me. It’s his pet name for me. He’s huge, you know.”

“We’ve met.”

Nora grinned at the disgust mixed with envy in Wesley’s voice.

“He’s six foot four. And I’m…not.”

“I can’t believe he calls you Little One. It’s so…”

“What?”

“Fatherly.”

Fatherly…Nora couldn’t really argue with that assessment. He was Father Stearns, after all. To the world, anyway. Within five minutes of meeting him, he’d told her his real name—Søren—and said she could and should call him that when no one else was around. Calling him Father Stearns had always seemed like an inside joke to her. Even after twenty years, she could hardly say it with a straight face.

And yet…he’d practically raised her. As soon as they’d met, her reliance on her parents, minimal to start with, had become nonexistent. She’d answered to him and him only. Even now…being here with Wesley had been Søren’s idea, Søren’s gift to her. But for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why.

“Why…” she whispered across the sheets as Wesley stirred and opened his eyes.

“Why what?” he mumbled, pulling her close to him. For a minute he and Nora wrestled with arm placement. With Søren in the mornings, she’d simply drape herself across his broad chest—no arm wrestling necessary. She wasn’t used to this side-by-side, face-to-face, can’t-figure-out-where-everyone’s-arm-goes thing.

“What are you doing?” Wesley asked as Nora wriggled against him, trying to find a comfortable position.

“I think I’ll need to cut my arm off if we’re going to lie like this. Or you’ll have to cut yours off.”

“Nora, have you never cuddled before?”

“Not like this. Here. You lay on your back. I’ll lay on you.”

“Fine. Fine…” Wesley rolled onto his back and Nora collapsed onto his chest. He let out a puff of air as she scrambled into position. “Are you made of lead?”

“I’m solid muscle and evil. Stop bitching and cuddle me.”

Laughing, he wrapped his arms around her. “Yes, ma’am.”

Closing her eyes, Nora nestled against Wesley’s chest—not quite as broad as Søren’s, but warmer, closer. And Wesley’s young heart beat faster than Søren’s. Was that his natural rate or just a side effect of having a naked woman on his body?

“How are you this morning?” Nora asked, turning her eyes up to his.

“Good.” Wesley nodded after he’d paused to think about his answer. “Really good. I feel like I could do anything I wanted today.”

“Welcome to afterglow. It’s nice, right?”

“Very. They should sell this stuff on the black market.”

“They do. It’s called pot.”

“Kentucky’s unofficial number-one cash crop.”

Nora’s eyes widened. “I like this state more and more every day.”

Groaning, Wesley sat up and sent Nora sliding onto her back. He slapped her lightly on the bottom and she yelped much louder than necessary. Wesley stared at her with shock.

“Sorry,” she said. “Force of habit. What?”

“Let’s go. Clothes on.”

“Both of those are horrible ideas. Why and where?”

“We’ve gotta figure out what happened to Spanks for Nothing.”

“Really? We are?” Nora crawled off the bed and started throwing clothes on.

“Yeah. You said Talel’s a good guy and wouldn’t kill his own horse. If you believe in him, so do I. After all, no horse owner in his right mind would kill their own moneymaker. Not unless they were completely desperate for quick money.”

“And Talel has money, so that can’t be it. Any theories?” Nora pulled on her jeans and T-shirt. She probably should have taken a shower, but she didn’t want to waste the time and she sort of enjoyed smelling like sex with Wesley. Maybe more than sort of.

“Nope. Let’s just go over there and talk.”

“Good plan. You talk. I’ll…not talk.”

“Deal.”

In ten minutes time they were in Nora’s Aston Martin, heading down the parkway.

“Where are we going?” Nora asked as they took an exit. She’d let Wesley drive, since he knew the way and she planned to imbibe extraordinary amounts of coffee.

“Paris.”

Nora choked on her coffee.

“Paris? That’s a little more than a day trip, Wes.”

“Paris, Kentucky. That’s where Talel’s farm is. Well, one of them.”

“How many damn farms does he have?”