Kristoffer cleared his throat. “Gunnar, before we break, you and I should go over my recommendations on the academy I toured last night.”
Pamela’s face grew warmer, but she refused to make eye contact with either man. Did Gunnar know what Kristoffer had seen last night? Well, if not, he certainly wouldn’t hear any details from her. What the two cousins chose to talk about now she didn’t care to hear.
She closed her laptop and stood. “I guess I’ll head back to the city if there’s nothing else.” As an afterthought, she asked to borrow Kristoffer’s pad of paper. “Let me jot down my cell phone so that you can reach me to arrange for future meetings.” She might not want to see him again anytime soon, but she wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize what might be the best thing that had ever happened to the facility she’d spent so many months serving in. The patients there deserved a chance.
* * *
Kristoffer glanced up from his legal pad before sliding it across the table. No doubt, their first meeting would be an awkward one, but both of them had shown they could be professional and not let what had transpired last night get in the way of business.
“If you two aren’t in any hurry, why don’t you stay for lunch? Kris, you can fill me in on the tour last night.”
So much for postponing the inevitable. Was the doctor blushing? Again? Her freckles faded into the redness of her cheeks. He didn’t know if it was from embarrassment or a byproduct of that strawberry-blonde hair. He remembered the strawberry-blonde standing proudly naked in front of the class—and his tour group—and wondered how she’d respond to Gunnar’s invitation.
“No, I really should be going. I’d like to do a little research before Kristoffer and I meet.”
Thankfully, she wasn’t any more interested in hanging out with them than he was, although it sounded as though he’d be spending more time with her in the weeks to come.
But Gunnar dashed his hopes for a brief reprieve. “Nonsense. I insist. We have a fully stocked kitchen down the hall. It won’t take us but a minute to whip something together—faster than the drive-through in town.” His cousin didn’t sound as though he’d take no for an answer, but the equally willful Pamela probably wouldn’t kowtow to him.
She busied herself with writing down her phone number. “If you insist.”
Submissive
. He should have known after last night, although he’d hoped she was merely modeling for the school and not a student.
“Great. Kris, show her to the kitchen. I’ll be right there.”
After they’d packed away their things, he motioned her to precede him out the door. “Take a right.” Walking down the hall, he decided he needed to clear the air before any talk of the academy came up. “Is Gunnar aware that you’re a student at the school?”
She laughed from deep in her throat. “He got me into the academy.”
So his cousin had known she would be there last night. Did he also know she’d be standing naked in front of her class? Had this been some kind of set-up? A test? Gunnar had been vocal over the past year that Kristoffer needed to move on with his life and find someone to at least engage in BDSM with. Over lunch, he’d feel him out to see if he ever intended to purchase the damned school in the first place.
“If it would help in making the decision, I’d be happy to share some of my thoughts about the academy from a student’s perspective.”
“Yes, that might be useful. Thanks.” He opened the door to the kitchen. “Here we are.”
He showed her the fridge and cupboards and helped her prepare a tray of assorted cold cuts, cheese, fruit, and glasses of ice-cold sparkling water. He pulled a loaf of whole-grain bread from the counter just as Gunnar entered the room.
Kristoffer forced himself to engage in social pleasantries, something he’d become quite rusty at, when all he really wanted to do was drive back to Denver and distance himself from everyone. But he’d better become accustomed to spending time with Pamela in the next couple of months. Besides, he owed Gunnar too much, and they hadn’t finished their business yet.
Gunnar was the closest relative and friend he had left in the world, including his own mother. Kristoffer would take a bullet for him, but more likely than not, Gunnar would be the one sacrificing himself in that way. Kristoffer spent his days in safe, nonviolent activities, although he did practice aikido, a form of martial arts. However, that discipline was intended more to seek harmony than to take down an attacker.
Seated so close to Pamela after having inappropriate thoughts about her half the night wreaked havoc with his self-control. Her scent wasn’t flowery like Tori’s. It was subtle, something more…spicy. Exotic. Passionate.
Hold on a minute
.
She was now a colleague, at least temporarily. However, after they’d collided at that inopportune moment last night, he found it difficult to banish thoughts of her naked body from his mind.
Why was he so obsessed with Pamela Jeffrey, clothed or otherwise? Curiosity, perhaps. What had led the seemingly reserved physician to stand naked in front of a class at a BDSM academy?
Was she as nervous around him as he was her? How could he put her mind at ease? One sure way was to get people to talk about themselves. “Where are you from, Pamela?” He took a sip of his water while awaiting her response.
“Born in Japan, but raised in Colorado Springs.” He raised an eyebrow, and she grinned as though expecting his surprise. “I’m an Air Force brat.”
“Interesting,” Gunnar said.
“My dad was stationed at the Yokota Air Base in western Japan back then, but he met mom while stationed on the base at Beale near San Francisco. They met while she was finishing high school and married during her senior year. When he was transferred to Japan, she had to finish high school by correspondence course. Anyway, I was born there a few months later, and by the time I was three, they’d moved stateside again and settled in Colorado Springs.”
She flushed and looked down at her plate, pausing to take a bite and swallow before she continued with her story. “Dad had a teaching job at the Air Force Academy, and Mom attended the University of Colorado there. But my folks split up when I was twelve. They weren’t well-suited, but had tried to stay together for me until I guess they just couldn’t stand it any longer.”
Despite her flippant explanation, he detected a bit of sadness in her eyes. His parents had split up, too, as had Gunnar’s.
“That’s too bad,” Kristoffer said. Few marriages lasted anymore.
But mine has.
She shrugged, but he could see it mattered more than she let on. “Mom went overseas after she left us. I think in something like the Peace Corps. She never really talked about it much, but I think her humanitarian work made an impact on me.”
She certainly was forthcoming. He wanted to know more about her and prompted her with, “So you take after her in some ways.”
Her smile seemed genuine now. “Both my parents taught me a lot about service and giving back. Anyway, Mom eventually settled in California. Dad remarried and retired in Colorado Springs near the Air Force Academy. But I prefer living in Denver. More opportunities for jobs and extracurricular activ…”
She cut off the word, and as he watched the telltale blush creep up her neck into her cheeks, he fought back a grin. Before he could bring up the subject of the tour, Gunnar interjected. “Speaking of extracurriculars, Kris, what do you have for me about The Denver Academy acquisition? Worth it?”
He’d much rather learn more about Pamela, but duty called. He turned his focus to Gunnar. “Depends on what your plans and goals are for the place, but yes, it would be a sound financial investment from what I’ve seen.”
Kristoffer laid out the high points of the proposal he’d left in his briefcase. His mind might no longer have a place for cherished memories, but when it came to facts and figures relating to his work for Gunnar, he didn’t forget a thing. He rattled off the financials first.
During a brief lull, Pamela chimed in. “Gunnar, Kristoffer is aware that I’m a student there. If you have any questions for me about the student aspects, feel free.”
“Great! I was hoping you’d allow me to pry, but didn’t want to ask in front of Kris.”
This might be his opportunity to put that awkward moment behind them. “About last night, Pamela… Finding me staring at you must have been disconcerting at best.”
She smiled and relaxed her shoulders for the first time since he’d arrived in the boardroom earlier. “It certainly was a shock to see someone I knew.”
“I was impressed by your poise under the circumstances.”
“Thank you. I wasn’t feeling poised on the inside. As you can imagine, if anyone in that group chose to talk to the board of the organization I work for, I could be dismissed.”
“Rest assured everyone in the group was vetted by Brad Anderson. He’d hold our feet to the fire if anyone spoke out of turn. The man is purported to be very protective of his students and the school.”
“Which makes me wonder why he’s selling,” Gunnar said.
Kristoffer had forgotten about his cousin for a moment. “From what I gathered, he’s moving out of the area.”
“Ah. Understandable then.” Gunnar nodded. “Now I suppose I have to decide if it makes sense for me to buy the place.”
Kristoffer wasn’t sure it was a sound decision for him. “My biggest concern is the time element. You’re a busy man with a lot of irons in the fire already. When would you find time to run the school—or do you know of someone you could put into the role of director or headmaster to take care of the day-to-day operations?”
“I haven’t given any thought to who would run it, but point taken. I’m going to have to think long and hard about it. Perhaps I’d prefer being on the board of directors under whoever else decides to purchase it.” Gunnar turned toward Pamela. “Your thoughts about the school?”
“Well, I haven’t been there a full two weeks yet, but from what I’ve experienced so far, they do a very good job at helping submissives explore the lifestyle to the fullest extent in a safe environment.”
Kristoffer leaned toward her. “One of the hallmarks of their program is the auction nights. What did you think of that aspect? As I understand it, you’ve been through one now, right?”
She smiled and picked up her water glass to take a sip before answering. “It was…interesting.” The blush made the freckles on her cheeks fade. “The Dom who bid on me was excellent at anticipating my needs, but…I just didn’t feel any chemistry with him.”
Gunnar pushed his plate away. “There are just as many ways to be dominant as there are to be submissive.”
Pamela smiled. “Undoubtedly. But figuring out where you fall on the spectrum can help rule out the incompatible ones, although it’s hard to connect with anyone given my travel schedule. I’ve had about a dozen assignments overseas in the past three years.”
Kristoffer couldn’t stop himself. “Meeting the perfect person to spend your life with isn’t easy whether you’re looking for kink or vanilla. Sometimes they show up when you least expect them.”
“How’d you meet your wife?”
A sharp pain pierced his chest as he remembered the first time he laid eyes on Tori. “In college at Penn. We were both nineteen and wound up working late one night on a team project in our introductory finance course.” He reached for his glass of water and drained it, hoping to put an end to the subject of his personal life.
Pamela refilled his glass from the pitcher on the table. “So you’re both interested in finance.”
No such luck. Obviously, she couldn’t know what had happened to Tori. Still, better for her to think him happily married if they would be working together. He trusted her to remain professional, but given his penchant for remembering how she appeared last night, he no longer trusted himself. He hoped Gunnar would keep his mouth shut, though.
“Not really. It was an elective for her, and she soon found she wasn’t all that interested in the flow of money. But she did have an interest in me.” He smiled. “We later decided that fate had used that class to bring us together. We had a lot of other things in common, fortunately.” And that was all he intended to say about that.
Time to steer this conversation back to business. “Don’t say more than you’re comfortable sharing, but you didn’t have a problem with being auctioned off to a stranger?”
She shook her head but looked away. “Not really. No Doms are allowed into the school unless their backgrounds have been fully checked and cross-checked. They’re all made aware of each student’s list of limits, likes, and dislikes before they ever place a bid. It’s much safer than hooking up with someone at a munch, for instance.” She met his gaze, as though making sure she wasn’t speaking over his head.
Clearly, she didn’t think he was well-versed in the lifestyle. “By munch, you mean where Dominants and submissives meet in public, usually over a meal, to get to know each other better?”
She nodded her eyebrows going up. “I think we learn faster through these interactions with those who win us than we might if we had to attend several munches, play parties, or club visits. Observing how the Dominant relates with other subs beforehand helps determine if they’d be a good match. But, again, if the chemistry isn’t there, it can make for a long evening.”
“I imagine.” He banished the thought of her playing with someone else from his mind for the moment. Not material to what they were discussing. “Well, it sounds as though you still have several more opportunities coming up before your training will be complete.”
“Yes. There are six in all.” She fiddled with her napkin. “I can’t say that it’s my favorite part. Trust is a bit of a problem for me. Playing with strangers another.”
Although Gunner reiterated that the academy was a secure facility, Kristoffer understood the trust issues Pamela suffered from and admired her all the more for her tenacious spirit. It seemed, however—with this new project Gunnar wanted to pursue to help the hospital in Afghanistan—that taking on The Denver Academy could prove too time-consuming for his cousin’s schedule.
Kristoffer turned his focus back to the pros and cons of this acquisition. “Gunnar, I hope you will give this a great deal of consideration before making a decision. It’s the time commitment that worries me most. These students will depend on you and your staff to provide training, but also keep them safe from backlash and naysayers if attacked by people ignorant of what BDSM means. There were a number of investors there last night, so I can’t guarantee that the property will remain on the market long, but don’t jump into this without giving it serious thought.”