Tiny Dancer [Divine Creek Ranch 13] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Heather Rainier

much to scene. The woman who became his Mistress was with some friends of ours. She had this…aura about her, and I noticed that Brandon couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She smiled at him, and I saw it in her eyes too.”
    Camilla put her hand to her throat, and Ben could see that she’d broken out in a red rash from there down to her chest above the neckline of the T-shirt. He knew from working with her that she broke out in hives when she got overheated, excited, or upset.
    “I knew he needed a Mistress. Knew he wasn’t complete, but I still loved him. As submissives, we were both still happy with each other, but what she had to offer took him to a whole new level.”
    “Did he break up with you?”
    Camilla wiped at her wet cheeks with the heels of her hands and sniffled. “No. He’d sooner cut off his right arm than hurt me. I had to break up with him.” Surprise came into her eyes. “It’s been more than two years since that happened, and this is the first time I’ve cried about it since then. I told him I loved him and that I wanted him to be happy. I packed my things, and I came home on the next flight. I walked through the front door of The Dancing Pony the next day.”
    Ben recalled the way she’d thrown herself into learning the club and taking on her duties with a singular devotion that he’d appreciated and admired. It had been a broken heart that had fueled her drive back then.
    “So what had been your rule to keep your work relationships professional became an obsession to keep you from being hurt anymore.” His intuition prodded him to push her just a little further. “Who else left you?”
    She looked up at him, sniffled, and wiped at her eyes. “What?”
    “You heard me. Who else left you?” In the corner of his eye, Ben saw Quinten frown at him. Ben knew it would be hard for Quinten to purposely take her someplace that would be emotionally painful for her. Demonstrating his trust in Ben, Quinten said nothing and waited for Camilla’s response.
    She licked her lips and looked down at her hands. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
    “Too scared?” Whatever this issue was, it was the real reason she’d built those high walls. Brandon had just been the icing on the cake.
    Camilla shrugged. “I was in love with Tyler. I talk about him like he was a rat, but he was handsome and charismatic.” She nodded as she wrapped her arms around herself and looked down, evading his eyes. Her cheeks flooded with more color as she blinked back tears. “Yeah, he had me, heart and soul. I was pretty naïve. Stupid.” She breathed slowly through her mouth, and he heard the tremble.
    She could reassure him all she wanted, but her body language told a different story. “You never talk about your parents.” She froze, confirming his suspicion. “You never talk about going home for the holidays or spending your time off with them.”
    “They’re gone.”
    Ben stroked her cheek until she made eye contact with him. “Please tell us, sugar.”
    “Mom is dead. My dad is gone too. He might as well be dead, as far as I’m concerned.” She looked him full in the face, stark pain in the turbulent green depths of her eyes, and he knew he’d reached the heart of the matter.
    He hated opening this wound. He knew from past experience it was necessary. Of the three of them, Quinten was the only one who had parents who were still around. “What happened?”
    “I was never close to my father. He worked a lot and never really showed much interest in me…or my mom. He cheated on my mother and eventually left her—and me—for the other woman. He walked out one day with a packed suitcase and we never saw him again. I was a preteen at the time. Mom tried to hold it together, but she fell apart. Committed suicide when I was sixteen. My mom had no family left to take care of me, and when the state contacted my father…”
    “Go on.” His heart was breaking for her, but he did his best to hide the emotion