After she finished a project and emailed the client the finalized files, she stood and stretched and headed to the fridge, hoping to find a snack.
No surprise, the fridge was fully stocked with everything one might need for cooking meals. Did he cook for himself? Did he have a chef come in and cook for him? He had a lot of money, but she never really understood where it came from or what his lifestyle was like. If you met him on the street, you would never guess that he was rich, and even people who knew him didn’t really understand how much money he had because he was humble.
She snagged an apple and a bottle of water and sat back at the table.
The house was quiet with no one else there, and she wondered if she should have taken Gage up on his offer of sending one of his friends to hang out with her. Sometimes she didn’t mind being alone, but other times the quiet was too much for her to handle.
Unable to focus on her work again, she mindlessly flipped through her messages, looking for someone to text, so she didn’t end up on TikTok watching pointless videos until Gage got home. A name popped up that had her stopping and scrolling backwards because it sparked a memory.
She did have a friend in the city.
With a grin, she called the number and waited for an answer. Normally, she would have sent a text, but Q preferred phone calls.
“Kenzie? Is that really you?” A woman asked.
“Q!” Kenzie squealed, so happy that the number was still good. “It’s so good to hear your voice. Are you still in D.C.?”
Q laughed. “I am. What’s up?”
“I’m here visiting my… boyfriend?” Kenzie hesitantly replied.
Another peal of laughter from Q. “That sounded more like a question than a statement.”
“It’s new. I haven’t quite figured out what to call him. He’s kinky. We’re kind of exploring something in that realm.”
“So, he’s your Dom?”
Kenzie’s face warmed, and she looked around the kitchen as if someone else might witness her embarrassment. “Yeah. Something like that.”
“Hot damn. Good for you, girl,” Q praised before asking, “Do you want to get together while you’re here?”
“That would be awesome. Would you mind?”
“I would love that. When are you free?”
“Any time. I’m staying for a couple of weeks, I think.”
“Oh, that’s so wonderful. I’m at the bar right now, but if you want to have lunch tomorrow, I’m free.”
Lunch tomorrow was fine, but it didn’t exactly address the issue of being alone right now, so she worked up the courage to ask, “Would it be OK if I came and saw your place right now?”
“Totally! Go for it. I’ll text you the address. I’m here getting things ready for tonight, but I can whip us up something and we can chat.”
Kenzie grinned. “I’ll be there as soon as I can get a ride.”
With a few quick taps, she messaged Gage that she was leaving, and then hastily packed up her laptop before calling a ride share. When her driver was close, she grabbed the sticky note with the door code that Gage had insisted on giving her during the tour and locked the house using the keypad.
Gage had yet to respond to her message, so she hoped that meant he wouldn’t be upset about it. He’d never explicitly told her to stay at his house, though his offer to send a friend over to see her probably implied that’s what he wanted her to do.
Excitement over seeing an old friend won out over any worry that Gage would be mad at her, though, and she climbed into her Uber with a smile on her face. Her friend’s name was Quinn, but she went by Q most of the time, and they met at a music conference in New York. Q was her first inkling that she might enjoy kink, but after their conversation, she hadn’t given it a lot of thought because she was too busy working on building her business. And then Gage came along. Did Q know Gage? She would have to ask.
When Kenzie arrived at The Studio, the door to the nondescript building was locked, so she tapped on it a few times. After a minute of silence, the door flew open, and Q appeared with a huge grin on her face. “It’s so fucking good to see you,” she said, pulling her into a hug.
“Same for you, lady. Let’s not go so long without seeing each other again. This place looks incredible. I’m so glad you got to open it.”
“It’s amazing. We got to have Skylar Cameron here last week. Completely secret show, no publicity at all. Just whoever showedup that night got to be a part of the magic. It was just the kind of show I loved seeing in New York.”
Kenzie had to bite her tongue to keep from letting out the fact that she was providing the music for Skylar’s wedding and reception. It was super top secret and the NDA she’d signed was scary enough that she hadn’t even told Gage who the celebrity was.
