Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 86510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
I chuckle to myself. Ghosts.
One day he may reveal his secrets to me. But do I really want him to? I could figure it out. It’s not that difficult.
But then I lose the fantasy.
The fantasy of a ghost haunting a New Orleans hotel and fucking me along with Ronan.
I love the image in my mind.
And I don’t want to lose it.
Besides, I have something else in mind for today.
I’m going to visit the State University of New York. I’ve decided to finish my degree in business. I might like to own my own business someday. Maybe my own lingerie and toy store, or better yet, an online business. Or perhaps I’d like to change my major. Maybe psychology, so I can counsel people in alternative sexual lifestyles.
Ronan makes me want more.
There’s a scholarship program called the Excelsior Scholarship that allows eligible students to earn a free college degree at City University of New York or State University of New York.
I don’t know if I’ll be eligible, but it doesn’t hurt to check it out. I fire up my laptop.
But then I’m interrupted by my phone. It’s Brenda.
“Hey, Bren,” I say into the phone.
“Hey yourself. What were you thinking, coming back early?”
I’m not sure how to answer. Part of me wishes I were still in New Orleans with Ronan. I only got one day of sightseeing, and there was so much more I wanted to do there. But my choice was to come home after one day, and I still think it was the right one.
“I don’t know. It just seemed weird, going on a trip with someone I barely know.”
I know him now. In the biblical sense, and in another sense as well. He shared a lot of himself with me on our short trip. Plus I met his grandmother, a remarkable woman.
I smile to myself. I still have her love spell in my purse.
Sure, I don’t believe in any of that, but she does. And for some reason she thinks I’m the one for her grandson.
I suppose we’ll see about that.
“Did the two of you hit it off?” Brenda asks.
“Oh, we hit it off.”
“Oh my God… I bet New Orleans has some spectacular BDSM clubs.”
“We didn’t get that far,” I say.
“Oh…”
I say nothing.
“You didn’t…”
“I did, Brenda. I don’t know what I was thinking. Well, I know what I was thinking the first night. I was afraid my room was haunted.”
Brenda lets out a laugh. “Come on, Mare. Seriously?”
“Well, yeah. We were staying at this hotel that’s supposedly haunted. The chandelier above my bed flickered on and off during the night after I’d already turned the light switch off.”
“And you didn’t think—”
I interrupt her. “Yes, I know. Old building. Old wiring. Yada, yada, yada.”
“Are you sure you didn’t just want to join him in his room?”
I have no answer because part of what she says is the truth. Had I not had Ronan to run to, I would’ve dealt with the faulty wiring or the poltergeist or whatever the hell it was myself.
“I’m not going to sit here and psychoanalyze myself on the phone with you.”
Brenda laughs. “You don’t have to. I’m happy to do it for you. I think you like this guy, Mary. I think you like him, and I think it’s scaring the hell out of you.”
“Why would that scare me? I’ve always liked my Dominants.”
“Yes, you have, but at the risk of sounding like a middle schooler, I think you like him like him.”
She’s not wrong, and it does scare the hell out of me. I haven’t let myself have feelings like this in a long time. Not since Lucas.
So why not change the subject?
“I’m thinking about going back to school. Finishing my degree.”
“That’s great,” she says. “I always felt bad that you didn’t finish with me and graduate.”
“I hated leaving school,” I admit, “but it turned out to be the best thing for me at the time. It got me away from Lucas. That was such a toxic relationship.”
“Yeah, it was. I’m not one to say I told you so…”
“No, you never did, and I appreciate that.”
“I am going to say something now, though.”
I roll my eyes, knowing well she can’t see me.
“I saw that,” she says.
“What are you talking about?”
“You rolled your eyes.”
“I did not.”
“Oh, spare me, Mary. I know you better than you know yourself. And that’s why I need to say the following. Don’t screw this up with Ronan.”
“What is there to screw up? I don’t date.”
“No. And it’s served you well for the last five years. But you’ve had scenes go bad before, and they never affected you like the one with Jack did.”
“So?”
“So…I think maybe your subconscious is telling you that you want something more now.”
Brenda’s not a psychologist. She’s a paralegal. So she doesn’t know crap.
But we have been friends since we were eighteen, and she is right about one thing. I have been a little envious of what she and Dalton have found together.