Noble Expectations: Fetwrk, #6

By Sadie Haller

She's a kinky princess. He's a hot single dad. Together, they're a recipe for scandal.

After surviving my twin brother's royal wedding, I reward myself by swiping right for an anonymous, kinky hookup. Only my match is someone I know: the hot single dad I met at the engagement party. Falling for Freddy is a complication I don't need—and a potential scandal neither of us can afford. But there's something dark and dangerous about him... and the way he says my name makes me want to obey his every command.

• Language: English
• Publisher: QTP
• Release date: Jun 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9781393581284

Book preview

PROLOGUE

Alex

I discover just how close I came to disaster when I see myself on the front page of the morning paper.

My good friend Rachel Clifford has been my ally ever since university, her ‘book club’ a cover, so I could ditch my security detail.

Damn, I wish Jane hadn’t been reassigned. She’d been the one bodyguard who didn’t judge. Who made sure I could be me. She was the only person I could trust, my only confidante within the royal organisation.

Last night, Karen, my new bodyguard took me to Rachel’s, thinking I was there for a book club meeting. Until she proves herself, and it’s not looking good— I won’t be letting her in on my secret.

As soon as Karen was settled in the car, I changed my clothes, grabbed my mask, and snuck out the kitchen door to the car I keep in Rachel’s old carriage house just off the back laneway.

I had an uneasy feeling before I’d even started the car, but I’d shoved it away. It was the first time in too long that I could let loose.

I return my attention to the paper. Fortunately, the photo was taken while I was still masked and mostly turned away from the camera. The focus of the image is on Michael Howard—better known as Uncle Tad from the long-running soap opera Bernwell Gardens—in all his leather-harnessed naked glory.

Cameras and phones are banned inside The Underground, but there’s no way to guarantee a camera-free zone.

Some kinksters choose to live dangerously and forego a mask entirely. Others remove their masks when playing privately.

I have never felt so freed by my paranoia as I do this morning.

I have also never felt the need to contact Winston Frobisher, fixer to the rich and aristocratic.

But I heard through the grapevine that he has access to a special app that matches up public figures with a kinky disposition.

Because no matter how much more rigorously they screen for cameras, I can’t risk going to The Underground again, even if I do stay fully masked. Just like my bad feeling last night—which I clearly should have paid attention to—I have a bad feeling they were looking to catch me out, specifically.

PROLOGUE

Alfred

Hello, stranger, I call from the window to my cousin Charlotte as she climbs out of her Land Rover. I don’t often see you twice in one week.

I wanted to talk to you while Pippa isn’t around.

Okay. Come on in. I’ve just made a pot of tea.

By the time Charlotte enters the kitchen, I’ve got a plate of biscuits laid out and two piping hot mugs of tea on the table.

She snags a biscuit as she sits down. My favourite, she says before taking a big bite.

I know. I keep them just for her. What did you want to talk about?

She finishes her mouthful and has a swig of tea. Are you absolutely sure a pony is the right thing for Pippa right now?

Ah.

I’ve thought about it long and hard. Especially with every disappointment that comes along. But a pony for Pippa was a decision Laura and I made just before she died. If it was the right thing then, I think it’s even more the right thing now.

In that case, we carry on. Now, given there is no risk of wee ears hearing what they shouldn’t… She takes another sip of her tea. Have you dipped your toe back into the dating pool yet? I try to glare at her, but that twinkle in her eye makes it impossible. She shrugs. Okay, I get it. You’re not ready for a relationship, but it’s been over a year. It’s time to get yourself out there and at least let off some steam, Charlotte admonishes.

She’s not wrong as far as letting off steam goes.

Things hadn’t been going well with Laura for quite some time, and truth be told, we’d be in the process of a divorce by now if she hadn’t died.

"Hel-lo! I gesture to myself. Single dad who’s been out of circulation for the better part of a decade here. I have no idea how I’m supposed to get myself a spur-of-the-moment kinky hookup these days."

Charlotte just laughs.

What’s so funny?

Give me your mobile.

Why?

Just trust me.

I shrug and place my unlocked phone in her outstretched hand.

Time for you to get with the times, she says as her fingers swipe and tap at the screen. A few moments later, she passes the mobile back to me.

I look at the new app icon on my screen and quirk an eyebrow. Fetwrk?

Low-risk, no strings attached, spur-of-the-moment kinky hookups at your fingertips. My one big piece of advice is to be brutally honest when setting up your profile for the best user experience.

Thank you. I think.

Trust in the tech and get back in the game. She looks up at the clock, downs the last of her tea, and grabs another biscuit. Time for me to be on my way. Give Pippa a big hug from me.

As soon as Charlotte leaves, I move the app she’s installed to the back page to languish with all the other apps I don’t use but can’t be arsed to delete.

1

Alex

Twenty minutes in, and my brother’s engagement party is exactly the snore-fest I expected it to be.

Instead of a pleasant gathering of close friends and relatives, it’s a veritable who’s who of those with valuable and far-reaching connections.

Our parents are going all out to ensure Duncan’s reputation-rehab is complete. And in exchange for having control over his own wedding, Duncan agreed to this social disaster.

I agreed to come only as a favour to my twin. But I’d also made it clear that I would be making a hasty retreat at my earliest convenience.

Through the crowd, I catch sight of a gorgeous man I don’t recognise but would very much like to drag behind the nearest lockable door, whether he’s kinky or not. I work my way across the room to introduce myself when my gaze happens upon the little girl holding his hand.

Damn.

Vanilla sex, I can do. Dads?

Not so much.

I mean, I love kids, but they add a layer of complication that doesn’t fit with my needs. And I add a layer of complication that doesn’t fit with keeping them out of the tabloids.

And what parent wants to get physically or romantically involved with someone who is always just one unfortunate photo away from social destruction?

It’s too late to alter my course, now. As I approach, I stoop