Mardi Gras by Lacey Alexander (reading the story of the TXT) 📕

would seem silly to cover herself for any other reason after the things they’d just done.

As he pulled on his shirt and slid his feet into his shoes, he tilted his head, peering down at her. “Let me see your face.” Then he added a playful grin and a teasing voice.

“Please, Mistress Mina.”

Bizarrely, she was almost tempted. Crazy. “No,” she said.

“Why?”

Good question. “This way I’ll always be your mysterious Mistress Mina.”

“Why do you have to be mysterious?”

“Because…that’s the way I am, the way I like it.”

“Can I see you again?”

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Oh God. He wanted more of her? It was a dream come true. And also a nightmare.

“No.”

He looked undaunted. “Why?”

“Well, maybe,” she amended, fumbling but trying not to let it show, wholly unsure how to proceed.

“Maybe?”

She nodded, thinking, Please leave, Ty. Just go. I can’t take this much longer.

“When?” he asked. “Give me your number.”

“No,” she replied quickly, “I’ll call you.” Looking around, he grabbed up a notepad from Aunt Sophie’s desk, along with a pen, then scribbled down both his home and work numbers before ripping off the top sheet and shoving it into her hand. She looked at them, particularly the one he’d labeled

“wk”, thinking, Little does he know, I’m the person who answers this phone for him.

After that, he turned and walked to the door, so she followed, beginning to feel a little sheepish in her revealing lingerie and high heels now that the hot sex was over.

“Let me see you,” he said once more, sounding a bit more insistent this time.

She simply shook her head.

He gave her a long look, letting his gaze drop all the way to her feet before rising back to her eyes. “Well, honey, even if you won’t let me see your face, I can tell you this—the rest of the package is beautiful.” Then he pulled her to him in a firm embrace to lower a long, thorough kiss to her swollen lips. It traveled all through her, leaving her nearly as weak as her orgasms had.

“Thank you, Mistress Mina. It was a hell of a night.”

“A memorable one, I hope.”

He nodded. “Like no other.”

Then he pushed through the door, leaving her there with nothing but what she’d left him with—memories.

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* * * * *

By the time Mia reached work on Monday morning, she couldn’t believe she was actually considering seeing Ty again. Sexually. Bringing out Mistress Mina for one more spin before retirement.

But sex like that—God, she’d never had sex like that.

Before Saturday night, she’d thought she’d had some good lovers. She’d thought she was an energetic bed partner herself and had never gotten any complaints. But her domination game with Ty had been different. She’d been making it up as she went, knowing little more about true domination than what she’d been able to read on the Internet over the few days prior, yet whatever she’d done had clearly worked—at least for her. Her whole body had been left practically humming from the two spectacular orgasms Ty had delivered to her at Aunt Sophie’s place. Even now, her pussy tingled at the mere thought of them.

“Hey, sweet thing, what’s shakin’?”

She looked up to see Ty walk in with a big smile on his face. At the sight of her unsuspecting lover, her stomach contracted and her breath trembled. Get it under control.

“You’re awfully chipper for a Monday morning,” she managed to say.

“Had a great weekend,” he replied easily. Rather than making a beeline for his office, as usual, he stopped and rested his arms on the counter, looking almost giddy.

“Oh?” she asked, trying to hold her voice steady. “What was so great about it?”

“Jack’s party. Met a woman. She rocked my world.”

It wasn’t unusual for Ty to give her little snippets of his sex life this way, but this was the first time she could remember hearing about it without the news making her insanely jealous.

He tilted his head. “Hey, wait a minute. Speaking of Jack’s party, where were you?” 55

Lacey Alexander

Excellent question. For which she—stupidly—had not prepared an answer. She reached for the simplest reply at hand. “Met a guy,” she said with a smile. “He rocked my world.”

Ty blinked, looking understandably surprised. While he generally knew who she dated and had even met some of the guys on occasion, she didn’t usually allude to her sexual encounters, even in simple terms like this.

He raised his eyebrows. “Please tell me he’s someone I would approve of.” She couldn’t help smiling. “Well,” she began, leaning her head to one side, “I can’t be certain you’d approve, but I think you’d get along with him.” His eyes narrowed. “Any tattoos?”

She shook her head. “Unfortunately not. That’s his one flaw.”

“What is it with you and tattoos anyway?”

She shrugged. “Turns me on, I guess.” Then she squared her gaze on him. “We all have our little turn-ons, don’t we?”

As she’d hoped, she could almost see his thoughts traveling back to Saturday night, to rope and riding crops. Finally, he gave a short, almost-sheepish laugh. “Yeah, I guess we do.” Just as quickly, though, his eyes turned serious and protective again. “But listen, Mia, just be careful. Okay?”

“Of?”

“Guys who…well, just guys you don’t know very well. This is a crazy city with a lot of unusual people. I just…wouldn’t want you to get hurt in any way.”

“You forget, Ty, you’re the transplant. I grew up thirty minutes from here. I’m well aware of where we live.”

He sighed. “I know. And I don’t mean to treat you like a little kid or something. I just…you know.”

“No, I don’t know. What?”

“I care. That’s all.”

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Her heart constricted lightly, and one of her most frequent thoughts came back to her. If you only knew, Ty.

If you only knew how deeply it touches me that you care, but how badly I wish you cared in a different way.

She added a new thought. If you only knew how much of a little girl I’m not . If you only knew I was the woman who tied you