Read Online Domination by Lyra Byrnes - Free Book Online Page A

of them a bright-red Hurricane and didn’t spill a drop when a
couple as large as he was nudged him in passing.
    “This is fucking horrible,” said Bram.
    She took a sip. It wasn’t bad, more like a fruit punch than
a cocktail, but she knew better than to test that theory and gulp it down.
    “It sucks a large amount of ass,” Jet agreed. “The drink,
the street and the whole thing.”
    Only Kraxis was having a good time. He’d somehow gotten hold
of an entire roast chicken and was making quick but messy work of it,
entertaining the tourists. He drained a second huge-ass beer in one chug,
belched like a Tartar and won a round of applause.
    Jet smiled benevolently. “He’ll be looking for a fight next.
I’d rather get in trouble elsewhere.”
    “Bourbon and Saint Ann, doll-face.” A transvestite clicked
past them on the sidewalk, casting Jet a flirtatious look. “You won’t last two
minutes.”
    Bram turned to Josie. “That leaves us. Where to?”
    “Let’s just walk around for a while.”
    “All right, but I warn you. The longer you make me refrain
from tearing that dress off your body with my teeth, the harder I’m going to be
on you later.”
    She took his arm. “That’s what I’m counting on.”
    But inside she was a writhing basket of worry-snakes. She
had fired off the second post for Adventures in Submission ,
triple-checked that only Melanie could read it and started organizing her notes
for the blog. Artie had sent her the digital format specs and half of them didn’t
make sense . I don’t even have a button for that symbol, she’d thought
desolately, glaring at her keyboard as if to will it into being.
    There had been nothing to do but call her editor and pester
him with questions. But it wasn’t Artie who picked up the phone.
    “Warren Conrad’s office.”
    “I need to speak to Artie.”
    “Josie! Generous of you to check in. Artie’s out but you
still have me. Did he ever talk about how comfy this chair is?”
    The penny dropped. Warren Conrad, nasty little rat with
whale-sized ambitions, not afraid of a little undercutting and story-stealing
and, Josie had always thought, originator of the “dick-sucking lips” title. He
used to lick Artie’s boots so transparently most of the office just laughed at
him.
    Well, someone higher up had taken him seriously and now he
was in charge. Just great.
    “I have some questions about this digital format thing.”
    “Don’t worry about that. Send me your notes and I’ll get the
post out.”
    “No,” she answered firmly. “I’m the writer. Just decode this
thing for me and I’ll put it in my words, my voice, with my own spin.”
    She heard him chuckle unpleasantly. “No time for that. The
blog is blowing up and we need content. We’re even getting ad hits. If I’m
going to turn a profit on Rock Star Online you’ll have to do a little
work, sweets.”
    “Warren, look—”
    “Get that file to me ASAP. I’ll send it back for final
approval. Not that you can make any changes. It’s a legal issue.”
    “What the hell?”
    “I gotta jet, babe, no time to chat. You always did run that
pretty mouth of yours.” He hung up.
    She punched keys, her cheeks flaming. My writing, my
voice, my experience, she thought miserably. And even those are out of
my control.
    Bram’s voice shook her back to the present. “You all right,
love?”
    “Um, yeah, peachy keen. I won’t think about work tonight. So
when were you in New Orleans before?”
    “Off and on,” he answered vaguely.
    Frustrating. “What’s fun to do?”
    “You’re fun to do. Oh, you mean in public.”
    “Stop it!” But she couldn’t help giggling. “And yeah, about
that. Do you think, because you won’t be recognized… I mean, no one’s
reputation is on the line here. If we’re a, um, a couple, I guess maybe we
could… Are we a couple? That’s probably a strong word.”
    Silently Bram looped her arm through his. She wondered
whether he’d ever been half of a