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wrong. I don’t like to mess up.” Her clear hazel eyes went liquid and her jaw tensed.
    “Not many here do.” If he kept her much longer, she’d begin to cry, and he couldn’t handle that. “Go find Adei. Mend your fences. Tomorrow’s another day.”
    She nodded and flew out of his office. He waited for the door to close before he turned to Jason and released a sigh. How unsatisfying, to only flay her with words.
    Jason grimaced at him in sympathy. “Well done, Michel. I thought you showed admirable restraint.”
    “She exhausts me. I don’t know how you cope with her day in and day out.” He stood to get a bottle of vodka from a small refrigerator.
    “Would this be the time to ask for a raise?”
    Michel poured two shots of the ice-cold liquid and handed one to Jason. “If you hadn’t just received one last month, then yes. As it is, be kind to me. I’ve apparently thrown in my lot with the devil’s daughter.”
    Jason studied his face. “You know, I never realized how much her eyes look like yours. Not the color this time, but the shape. Are you sure Valentina isn’t your daughter too?”
    Michel spit out half a mouthful of vodka. “You’re not funny.”
    “I thought it was funny.”
    “God forbid I would ever create such a contrary creature.” He stared down into his glass. “Audacious little bitch.”
    Jason blinked at him once. Twice. “You want her, don’t you?”
    Michel took another drink, letting the liquor sit on his tongue while he weighed his friend’s question. “Perhaps.” He shook his head with a resigned air. “But I won’t have her. My life is complicated enough. Do you think she’d want the kind of control I like to exert?”
    “No. Although I think she needs it.”
    Michel bit his tongue, not trusting himself to speak.
    “She’s been asking about the private rooms at the Citadel,” Jason persisted. “Are you going to let her back there?”
    “God forbid,” he said, crossing to put his glass on the desk.
    “You won’t be able to keep her out forever. Are you prepared for what happens then?”
    Michel sank down in his chair, staring at the polished desktop. “You ask too many questions. You always have. She goes to the Citadel now, eh?”
    “Almost every day. And Jesus, she’s something. She would be something to play with. Just saying.”
    “Fire,” Michel replied shortly. “She would be like playing with fire.”
    Unfortunately, he already felt singed.
    “Speaking of the Citadel,” said Jason, “Sara and I are planning to go next Saturday. If you want to...you know...not go that night. And the week after that, we’re meeting friends there Wednesday and Friday, and we’ll probably go Saturday since Theo and Kelsey will be in town.”
    Despite his desire to know nothing about his daughter’s sex life, Michel had come to realize that Theo, Kelsey, Jason, and Sara were very likely a swinging quad. His lips tightened. “You and Sara stay very busy these days.”
    “She enjoys it,” said Jason. “Do you want me to keep her away?”
    “It’s either that, or I’m barred from my own club.” He said it with humor, but he felt prickly. What had become of his control? Since Sara, and now Valentina, he found his life taking twists and turns he hadn’t foreseen.
    “This is what happens when you bring your secret daughter to Paris after twenty-two years,” said Jason. “She probably got her kinky genes from you.”
    “I’d prefer not to think about that.” He rubbed his eyes, then drained the last of his drink. “But I suppose I owe the two of you some space. I’m happy that she’s happy. That you’re happy.”
    “And you’re happy,” Jason pointed out.
    Yes, Michel was happy to have gained a daughter, but with her as part of the community, he didn’t feel as much at ease in his carnal pursuits. He was famous for his dreaded back room, his carefully selected slaves, his depravity. All of it was legend. All of it was widely discussed, and until