Blurb
After the triad that nearly broke her, Emilia wants something smaller. One woman. One bed. No charts.
She finds Mira at a queer community centre in Toronto — calm, structured, older, and exactly the kind of woman who can drop her voice half an octave and make Emilia hand over her keys without arguing. When Mira offers her a collar, Emilia says yes with her eyes open.
For a while, it works. Soft rules. Quiet evenings. A notebook with four words — body, work, sex, emotion — and the relief of being held inside someone else's order.
But Emilia's wiring doesn't simplify just because she wants it to. When Noor walks into the centre with opinions about systems and a smile that won't stay in its lane, Emilia discovers that choosing one person doesn't stop her from feeling drawn to another. And Mira, who loves her honestly and fiercely, cannot bend far enough to hold what Emilia is becoming.
Soft Collar is a novel about desire, structure, and the courage it takes to stop pretending you fit a shape that was never yours — even when that shape is held by the safest hands you've ever known.
Book 2 in the Every Second Friday series. Can be read as a standalone.
Story
(Excerpt )
“Sorry I’m late,” Noor said. “Bus did a bus thing.”
“I told you, we don’t dock pay for public transport,” Mira said. “You’re here. That’s enough. Noor, this is Emilia. Emilia, Noor. She helps on Sundays when she’s not dying under uni deadlines.”
“Hi,” Noor said. She was shorter than Emilia had imagined, dark curls pushed under a beanie, eyes quick. “I’ve seen you around. You did the feedback forms last time, right?”
“Yes,” Emilia said. “And spilled tea on my own shoe.”
“That happens to the best of us,” Noor said. “Do you want me on dishes or people today?”
“Start with people,” Mira said. “We’ll swap you to dishes when Jamal starts unplugging things he shouldn’t.”
“Rude,” Jamal said from across the room.
“True,” Mira said.
“What do you want me to do?” Emilia asked Mira.
“Games table,” Mira said. “Make sure people have something to do with their hands. Some of them struggle with small talk.”
“That I can do,” Emilia said.
She watched Noor slide immediately into conversation with a pair of shy teens, pulling a card game from a box and explaining rules in an easy, warm voice. Noor’s eyes flicked around the room regularly, checking for anyone standing alone.
Mira noticed Emilia noticing and said, quietly, “She’s good at that. Seeing edges. It’s one of the reasons I wanted her here today.”
“I can see that,” Emilia said. “She’s… kind.”
“Yes,” Mira said. “And she’s been here long enough that Amaya may assume familiarity. Which is another reason I want clear lines. But that’s not a conversation for this hour.” The name dropped like a small stone between them and then settled.
Format: eBook/Paperback
Length: Full-length novel, approx. 150,000 words · 572 pages
Genre: Lesbian academic romance
Facts
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