Eventually the tears subsided and she pulled herself together. She poured herself another glass of wine and then gave her best friend a call to invite her over. She really didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts until she was tired enough to fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
~
Chapter Eleven
~
Isobel had a quick shower while she waited for her friend Carol to arrive, and then opened a second bottle of wine. When she arrived, Carol looked at her with raised eyebrows. She knew that Isobel hardly ever drank, and when she did it was never to excess.
Catching her friends look, Isobel shrugged her shoulders. “Well hell, Carol, it’s not like I have to go to work tomorrow.” And with that, the tears started to flow again, much to Carol’s concern.
“What on earth has gotten into you, Izzy?” she asked with a worried voice. “I’ve never seen you this cut up over a job before. Is it because of the money you’ll be losing? You told me that it was a great salary with lots of unexpected perks.”
Isobel couldn’t help but sniffle a laugh. “I didn’t even think to ask for a check for what he owes me for the past few days of work, to be honest. And I wouldn’t have accepted it anyway.” She would have felt really underhand if she’d insisted on payment considering that the work she’d done was minimal and she’d ended up leaving him high and dry when she’d walked out.
“As for the perks, well I suppose the medical insurance was great, and he did take me out for a couple of really nice lunches.” She couldn’t help the grin that crossed her face, or the blush that crossed her cheeks.
Carol heard the unspoken ‘but’ at the end of Isobel’s sentence. “What else happened, Izzy? I know you and I know that look. What are you not telling me? And do I even want to know?”
“Before I say anything else, I need to ask you a question.” Isobel had never kept anything back from her friend, and she wasn’t about to start now. But she wasn’t completely sure if Carol would look down on her for what had happened, and for what Isobel had let happen.
“You can ask me anything, you know that, Izzy.”
Isobel cleared her throat and looked anywhere but at her friend. “Have you ever been, um, tied up?”
“Tied up? As in kinky sex shit?” She giggled. “I’ve had a pair of pink furry handcuffs used on me a few times. Does that count?”
Laughing properly for what felt like the first time all week, Isobel shook her head. “Not exactly, Carol. I mean tied up as in ropes and stuff.” She took a breath. “And have you ever been flogged and spanked?”
“Oh my God, Isobel! Did he…did you…at the office?” She had such a surprised look on her face that Isobel laughed even harder. “How the hell did you do it with people around? And why did you even let him do that? Is he some kind of freak or something?”
Isobel shook her head firmly. “He’s far from being a freak, Carol. In fact, he’s the sexiest man I’ve ever met, and the sex was more intense than anything I’ve ever experienced with anyone else. Ever.”
Reaching for the bottle of wine on the coffee table, Carol refilled both their glasses, and then settled back into the cushions. “Okay, girlfriend. I want to hear all about it. And don’t you dare leave out any of the juicy stuff.”
The next couple of hours were spent with Isobel recounting what had occurred between her and Tyler, and as her friend had demanded, she left out nothing. By the time Carol left it was well past midnight, and Isobel had to admit to feeling much better about things. She was still upset at having to stop working for Tyler, and even more upset at the prospect of never seeing him again. But she knew in her heart that she’d done the right thing.
Tomorrow she would go and visit her old boss and see if she could get her job back at the bar. Then she would work on putting the past week behind her. With a game plan in mind, she took herself to bed and closed her eyes, feeling relieved at how easy it all sounded.