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"So, you don't regret your choice?"
"No, I suppose I don't."
"Then lean into it. This is your chance to be your one hundred percent authentic self. Own who you are and figure out who you want to be going forward. People don't move to kink resorts to live in the shadows."
"So, you think I should do the tour? What about possible backlash on the Ranch? Aren't you worried about that?"
"I think you should do whatever feels right to you and stop worrying about everyone else. As for the Ranch and myself, if anyone asks, I will happily tell them that we could not be more proud to have added such a prolific and decorated author to our staff as a creative writing professor, and that we feel that it’s just one more thing that will make Rawhide University a great choice for higher education."
"Oh. Well, thank you. You've certainly given me a lot to think about. For now though, can we keep all this between us? I know it'sin the news and people will see it, but I'd just like a few days to think about things before I have to worry about my name being whispered in the halls."
Derek nodded. "Understood. And I will do my best. At this point though, there is only so much I can do."
"I know. Thank you. For listening and for the advice, and, well, for everything. I should really get back to the library now. I think I spooked Carrie a bit. I was kind of in a state of shock for a minute there."
"I can imagine. How is Carrie working out?"
"She's fine. I was wondering though, when will Emily be back? We were working very well together. Had a system going and all that."
"I'm not sure, really. Maybe a few more days." Derek shrugged. "I'll talk to her and let you know. If you want to take the rest of the week off to deal with any of the stuff you have going on, that would be fine also. Then you can both get back to it next week."
Dalton sighed. He was trying not to think about needing to deal with this because he had no idea how to deal with it. "Thank you. I'll think about it and let you know," he said before stepping out of the office and closing the door behind him.
Derek's advice, and the uncertainty of his future, swirled in his brain as he made the trek back to the library. Lean into it, Derek had said. Be your authentic self. Figure out who you are and what you want going forward. His boss's advice pounded through his head with every step he took. Who was he? What did he want? At this point, he figured he had nothing to lose. But what did he have to gain? What did he want to gain?
Over and over he asked these questions. Over and over he came up with the same answer. By the time he reached the library, the answer was an insistent scream that would not be ignored. Turning on his heel, he marched back the way he had come. Ignoring Erika, he stormed past her and flung open the door to Derek's office.
"I know what I want," he announced.
His boss looked justifiably flustered by the interruption, but he took it in stride, folding his hands on the desk in front of him. "Okay. What do you want and how can I help?"
"I want Emily."
Derek blinked slowly. It was obvious that the answer wasn't what he had been expecting. "I'm sorry?"
Deflating as the adrenaline that had been coursing through him seemed to leave his body all at once. He sank into the same chair he had occupied earlier. "Hell, I don't know how this works. Let me start over. You said when you hired me to let you know if I ever required your matchmaking services, and to let you know should a submissive young lady ever catch my eye. Well, Emily has, and I am doing that." He shrugged. "If things were different, if my life hadn't just exploded around me, maybe I would still be content to take it slow and hide in plain sight. But everything you said resonated with me, and when I asked myself what I want now, she was the only answer. I want Emily. I want her as mine. My sub, my pet, my brat, my little girl, whatever she wants to be. But I know that she is the one I want. I don't need to think about it. I don't need to play with anyone else. I only needed to be honest with myself. When we met, we talked about serendipity. Meeting Emily, having her and I both change our requirements for Visitors’ Weekend at the last second, having to work with someone who wasn't Emily, and being outed, it was all serendipity. A bunch of odd random things working together for a common end. And that end is me and Emily. I know it. What I don't know is how this works. I tell you, and then what?"
"Well," Derek frowned. "That depends. It depends on the couple and how well I know them, and what they both want. Matches come about in all sorts of different ways so there is no set course of action. In a situation like this one, where a Dom approaches me with a submissive in mind, my next step is generally to inform the submissive and get their thoughts on it. I will tell them why I think it's a good match or not and offer any support they need to take that next step. Sometimes it's none and sometimes it is substantial. But it depends on them, what they want and how comfortable they are with the Dom in question. I don't force my Littles or submissives into a relationship with someone they aren't comfortable with."
"I wouldn't expect that you did," Dalton answered brusquely. "But Emily is comfortable with me. I know she is."
"And that's probably true. But there are obstacles to this match. Extenuating circumstances, if you will. One of them is temporary, and the other, not so much."
"What are they?" Dalton pressed. "Whatever they are, I'm willing to work through and around them. Emily is worth it."
"She certainly is," Derek agreed. "But it may not be that simple. The biggest and most pressing challenge being that Emily and I have an agreement. She's not here to be matched. She's not interested in finding her Forever Dom. And I'm not saying that that couldn't change. Just that to my knowledge, it hasn't."
"Oh." Dalton didn't have a response for that. It wasn't an answer he had been expecting. "What's the other, more temporary obstacle?
Derek frowned. "I'm not sure I should be saying anything, but since you care for her so deeply, and since you are technically responsible, I guess I can tell you that Emily is in a pretty bad way at the moment. She's experiencing a very intense sub drop that she can't seem to shake."
Dalton's heart sank as he thought about his sweet Emily in, as Derek put it, "a bad way," and then he remembered the promise she had made, and he saw red. "Take me to her," he demanded, adding "please" when Derek's eyebrows raised to his hairline.
"She's being taken care of. Her suitemate, another service sub, is tending to her."
"And I'm sure whoever she is is doing a fine job. But Emily promised me. I saw it coming and I told her that if she should drop, or need anything at all, that she was to contact me."
"Oh." Derek's brows dropped and furrowed. "You did? While you were together under contract?"
"Yes. Sunday morning, we had a very intense session, and afterward, while I was tending to her, I made her promise. You may remember, I reminded her of it when you came to take her."
"Is this because of the bathroom incident?" Derek seemed to be holding back a chuckle.
"Yes." If Dalton weren't so irritated at the moment, he would laugh too. It didn't surprise him that the Ranch owner had heard about that. He’d known when he had to call down to housekeeping that the story was going to get around.
"Well, that does change things." Derek was quiet for a moment, seeming to ponder, then he sighed. "Follow me," he said as he stood and stalked out of his office like a man on a mission.
