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silly thing to say?
    As he bent to wrap a towel around himself, he said, “Check the pocket, Solange.”
    I reached inside and pulled out a small purple box. Inside was my first charm, a golden raindrop in the center of a puffy cloud.
Surrender
was spelled out in cursive on one side, a Roman numeral one on the other. It was just like the ones on Matilda’s bracelet, and on all the bracelets the women at the Mansion had worn that day.
    “Would you mind?” I said, handing him the charm. My heart was pounding.
    “Of course,” he said, his talented fingers easily securing the charm to the chain.
    I walked over to the vanity to get a look at it in the mirror.
    “It’s lovely,” I said, dangling it in front of my eyes.
    “As are you.”
    I turned to face him. “Thank you, Dominic, for … tackling all these odd jobs. And for that …” I said, pointing to the tub. “Now what?”
    “Well, now I suggest you rest a bit. And let me take care of that dishwasher and anything else you might want me to fix before I go.”
    “I can think of a few things on my to-do list,” I said, throwing a shy smile at him from the mirror.
    He plucked his clothes from the floor and left me standing very still in the bathroom, my legs quaking, the windows all steamed up.
I did it. I did something I’ve never done before: I just got laid by a beautiful young man I will probably never see again. And I’m … I’m proud of myself
.
    I made my way over to my bed, peeled back the duvet, dropped my robe to the floor and slid naked between my cool sheets. Closing my eyes, I let my hand travel down to where I was just starting to feel a little sore.
Ow
. Wow. I heard him downstairs as he started and stopped the dishwasher. Then I heard the
plink plink
of tinkering and repairing.
Nice
.
    Drifting off, I was thinking of at least one more thing he might be able to tackle before he left. Just one more thing …

CASSIE
    I t had all happened so fast. Something had told me not to bring Will to that S.E.C.R.E.T. charity event. But I didn’t listen. Something had also told me to pull him away from Pierre Castille the second he opened his mouth to reveal the truth of my involvement in S.E.C.R.E.T.—the sex, the fantasies, the men—using the vilest of terms,
slut, bitch, whore
.
    But I froze in the dark corner of Latrobe’s that fateful night. I said nothing when Pierre told Will that S.E.C.R.E.T.’s mandate was to “use and discard men.” When Pierre spat out that I’d do that to Will, too, if he let me, it looked like Will believed him.
    How many men, Cassie? How many? And since when?
    Secrets and lies now surrounded me the way they’d surrounded his ex, Tracina, a woman who had convinced Will for the better part of a year that the baby she was carrying was his. It had been only a month since he heartbreakingly discovered that that wasn’t true, that the baby was the product ofher affair with Carruthers Johnstone, the once-married-now-separated DA she really loved. Not that Will had loved Tracina. He hadn’t, but he had so loved the idea of the baby. I had hoped our blissful reunion would help heal his wounds over that, but they were gaping once more, and I was the one who had ripped out his stitches.
    “I–I’m sorry I never told you everything before, Will, but I was worried you’d react like this,” I stammered.
    My hands on his chest, I tried to explain to him what S.E.C.R.E.T was about, what it had done for me. But he wasn’t listening. He was glaring at Jesse Turnbull, my ex-lover and now friend, who had come to find me, to see if I was okay.
    “Was he from this year’s roster or was he last year’s model, Cassie?” Will hissed. “Maybe you’re into having
him
spank you too.”
    Jesse took a step forward. He had already decked Pierre and I had no doubt that if necessary he’d do the same to Will.
    “I’ve had enough bedroom drama to last me a fucking lifetime,” Will said before storming out of Latrobe’s, leaving