by Lexi Blake
“Yes, I recommended you for the program. I promise I’ll get you out of here early so you can be on time.” Sean gave him a pointed look. “You should be on time. Ian does mean shit to Doms who show up late. His sister-in-law calls him Satan and she’s not that far off. Unless you’re Macon, and I swear Macon could punch my brother in the face and as long as he gave him a pie afterward, all would be forgiven. Huh. I wonder if I could get away with throwing one of Macon’s pies in his face. He’d be so distracted by the taste, I would have a serious head start.”
“I’ll be on time,” Eric promised. “But I understand that partners are assigned on the first night of training.”
Sean’s eyes narrowed. “You want me to make sure you get assigned to Deena.”
He was fairly certain his skin was a nice shade of red. What that woman could make him do. “Yes. I was hoping you could convince him to do that for me.”
“Is that such a great idea? You two work together.”
“We work in the same space. She’s not in the kitchen and not under my direction. Besides, Ally and Macon are married.”
“Yes, but he’s the pie maker,” Sean pointed out. “Even if I wanted to fire one of them, I would have to go through Ian. He still owns half this place until I make enough to buy him out.”
Was he serious? For the first time Eric got a bit unsettled. He hadn’t thought that Sean would have a problem with him dating Deena.
“Eric, have you thought this through?” Sean asked quietly. “From what I understand she’s not exactly chasing after you or anyone for that matter. Don’t get me wrong. She’s a lovely woman, but she shuts down when it comes to intimacy.”
“That’s not true. She’s quite comfortable with intimacy.” It was one of the reasons he thought she was ready. “Not physically, but emotionally. She’s the one everyone goes to with their problems. She’s the one who listens.”
Sean shook his head. “That’s not true intimacy. She listens but she never talks. I wouldn’t know she was divorced if I hadn’t run a check on her.” His eyes narrowed. “How did you find out? Or did she tell you?”
Eric shrugged. “I might have run my own check. And she does get chatty when she has a couple of glasses of wine. I stay fairly close to the women when we all go out.”
He was sure he looked ridiculous, like a large predatory bulldog watching over the pretty butterflies, but some of the clubs they went to could be dangerous. He’d caught an asshole slipping something into Deena’s drink once.
The man likely wouldn’t do it again. Luckily, she hadn’t been watching and his friend Javier had changed the drink and kept her occupied while Eric dealt with the situation.
“For which I’m eternally grateful. Are you doing the same thing here? Are you trying to watch over her?”
Again, he couldn’t lie to Sean. “I’m trying to keep every other man in the world off her so I can have her for myself.”
Sean sighed. “I wish I could help you, but the training partners have already been selected. Ian is very strict about the pairing process. He and Kai Ferguson spent hours selecting the proper partner for each trainee and I don’t think he’s going to be swayed.”
So he’d hit a wall here. When he couldn’t go through a wall, he went around it. “Thank you, sir. I’ll contact Ian on my own.”
Sean rolled his eyes. “God save me from freaking upstanding SEALs. You’ve already got Deena. I would have made sure of it, but Kai put you two together, which means he thinks you’re a good match. Actually, so do I. I think she needs someone like you in her life. She needs someone who can be patient with her. I was worried when I found out she’d taken the Sanctum offer.”
“She’s curious. I think she believes she’s going to go out there and sow some wild oats, but she’ll end up getting hurt.”
“She’s not the kind of woman who can have a string of one-night stands and come out of it whole,” Sean agreed. “She’s a one-man woman who happened to get the wrong man and now she’s determined to change. It could go seriously wrong.”
“I don’t intend to allow that to happen.” He had plans and being Deena’s Dom was the perfect way to set them in motion. Patience. In his SEAL team, he’d been the best sniper because he could sit motionless for hours at a time. One assignment he’d stayed in his perch for a week before taking out his target. He’d smelled like hell at the end and sometimes he was sure his spine had been permanently messed up, but he’d gotten the job done.
He would get this one done too. After all, this was the most important mission of his life. This was the rest of his life. He’d served his country and now he wanted his prize. Her.
Sean stood and held out his hand. “I’m glad to hear it. But whatever you do don’t tell my brother you intend to steal that girl. This whole program is about bringing in singles because everyone is pairing off and he’s got Doms who need subs to play with. So don’t mention the whole ‘you’re in love with her’ thing.”
Eric felt a grin slide across his face as he shook his boss’s hand. He wouldn’t admit it, but getting Sean’s approval was important to him. He would still have gone after Deena, but he was damn happy to know he had Sean’s blessing. “Not only will I not tell Big Tag, I think I’ll keep it from Deena for a while.”
“You know, I would have thought you would fight the whole love thing.”
Not at all. He hadn’t even thought about fighting it. When he’d seen her, gotten close to her, he’d known she was the one. “I’m not a stupid man. I’ve seen some bad shit. I know a good thing when it comes along and I’ve learned that good things are worth fighting for.”
And tonight, he started the real fight of his life.
* * * *
“What is up with Eric? He’s in a weird mood tonight.” Deena locked her purse up and turned to Tiffany, hoping and praying that her friend couldn’t tell that she felt all flushed and anxious because merely being in the same room with that man was enough to get her hormones flowing. Yes, being near the man did that to her and then he’d gone and called her sweetheart in that deep as night voice of his. She’d damn near had an orgasm right there.
Could the sound of a man’s voice cause her womb to spasm? It seemed to.
Tiffany looked in the mirror of the employee lounge and smoothed down her hair. Her hands had small flecks of paint still on them, as though she’d gotten up from her easel to come to work, which she very likely had done. She was an artist and she painted every chance she got. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but Eric is a tiny bit protective.”
She leaned against the locker and tried not to think about how hot he’d looked. Or how he’d made her feel when he’d called her sweetheart. “I suppose, though he should stick to the kitchen. He doesn’t understand what goes on in the front of house. He should keep his nose out of it.”
His gorgeous, masculine nose that went so well with his face and his ridiculously large body.
She had to remind herself of all the reasons she wasn’t getting involved with him. A—She wasn’t getting involved with anyone. She was so over involvement. B—He was too much. Too gorgeous. Too masculine. Too sexy. She couldn’t keep Eddie around. There was no way she would be able to satisfy a man like Eric Vail. C—She didn’t play where she worked.
She pretty much didn’t play at all, but now that she was going to, it wouldn’t be with a man she had to work with. Especially not the sous chef. If it came down to a choice, there was zero question who would win. Servers were easy to find. Eric’s brisket was not.
Tiffany’s eyes widened. “I wouldn’t say that around the man if I were you. You know you’re going to have to watch that if you’re going to survive the training program.”
A little thrill went through her. It all started tonight. “Watch what? And I think I can handle the training program. I’m looking forward to it.”
She’d been counting the days since she’d been accepted. When Grace Taggart had explained that Sanctum was taking new trainees and they wou
ld allow Top employees to train in exchange for later work at the club, she’d jumped at the chance. Sanctum was the single most exclusive club in Texas. It wasn’t something she could ever afford and now all she had to do was wait tables once a week and she got a membership? Count her in.
Maybe, just maybe, she could find an outlet, have some fun. Maybe she could find a lover. Oh, not a lover as in she would love him. She was totally done with that. But someone she could try sex with. Put her toe back in that deep, scary pond she’d nearly drowned in.
“The first time you turn that mouth on your training Dom, you’re going to get a real not erotic spanking,” Tiffany said with a shake of her head.
Tiffany was going in with her. She was so happy to not do this alone. She gave her friend a saucy grin. “You are absolutely as untrained as me so you don’t know.”
Tiffany chuckled. “Yes, well I’ve read way more romance novels than you have. In Amber Rose’s books the Doms always get spanky when the subs talk smack. And from what I’ve heard, those Doms are based on the Sanctum Doms, so you should watch out.” She sobered a bit. “And you can’t talk that way around any of them. Not when it comes to work. It won’t matter that Chef has nothing to do with the training program. It will get back to him that you’re the brat of the class, and how is that going to make you feel?”
She hadn’t even thought about that, but it didn’t matter. “I’m going to behave perfectly. I’m not going into this on a whim. I want to explore and find myself, and this is a safe way to do it. I’m only being mouthy because Eric is going to cost me money.”
“Who’s being mouthy about what?” Ally strode through the door, ready for work. She had a smile on her lips and damn it, but the girl glowed a bit. There was no question what put the sunny expression on that girl’s face.
Sex. Sex with a superhot ex-soldier who adored her. Ally was married to Macon Miles, the pastry chef who apparently could do way more for a girl than ice a cupcake.
Tiffany pointed Deena’s way. “That one about you know who.”
Ally opened her locker and slid her bag inside. “What did Eric do? Did he finally ask her out for real?”
“He’s never asked me out and that’s a good thing because I would be forced to turn him down.” For all of her alphabetical reasons.
But mostly because he scared the holy hell out of her.
“He’s totally asked you out,” Tiffany replied. “He’s just sneaky about it.”
She shook her head because she wasn’t sure what she would do with an Eric who was actively pursuing her. And she couldn’t remember a single time he’d asked out. “No. He’s never wanted to date me.”
Ally shook her head. “That’s so sad. I thought I was unaware. You take the cake, D.”
What were they talking about? “I’m rarely alone with the man and honestly he doesn’t pay that much attention to me.”
The one time she’d been alone with him, she’d nearly fallen all over herself trying to get ready because he’d shown up twenty minutes early to pick her up for work. She’d been expecting Tiffany, but she’d opened the door and her tongue had nearly rolled out of her mouth because he’d stood there looking so lickable it hurt.
She’d rushed to get ready because the last thing she wanted was for Eric to truly understand how pitifully she lived. He would see her threadbare furniture and how crappy her décor was. He would likely wonder what the hell she did with her money, and she wasn’t about to admit she was still paying off debt from her first marriage.
Luckily, Eric Vail was practically Captain America. He was all moral and upstanding and would never stoop to spy on a fellow employee so she’d been safe. When she’d rushed out of her bedroom, he’d been standing by the door. He probably hadn’t moved the whole time.
He wasn’t a bad boy and she was going out to find herself one. A bad boy couldn’t break her heart. A bad boy might be able to make her feel like a woman. Even if it was only for an hour or two. That was all she needed from a man, all she would accept.
“You know all those times he’s asked if you have anything to do this weekend and do you want to hang out at his place? Or hey, a bunch of the gang’s going to see a movie. Why don’t you come?”
“He’s only being nice.” He was a sincerely nice man. He cared about his coworkers. He watched out for them. Sometimes he beat the shit out of people. He thought she hadn’t known what he was doing to the dirtbag who’d tried to roofie her drink. He’d even told her that he was only holding the guy until the police came, but she wasn’t an idiot. That dude had not gotten a black eye by himself.
But he would have done that for anyone. Right?
Ally laughed. “He’s not being nice. Don’t get me wrong, I like Eric, but I don’t know that I would call the man nice. It’s his way of getting close to you. You won’t let him in any other way. He actually asked you out once. He asked you if you were free on Monday about two weeks after you hired on.”
She remembered the day. She’d smiled and told him that she had classes on Mondays. “Oh, no. He was asking me because everyone was putting in an extra shift to get the new tables in.”
Ally groaned. “She’s extremely good at rewriting history. No. He asked if you wanted to grab something to eat. He didn’t work that day.”
Had she misinterpreted him so badly? Had Captain America asked her out? She shivered at the thought and about half of it was from fear. “No. I can’t go out with him.”
Tiffany shot her an incredulous look. “Why? He’s a stand-up guy.”
Because she wanted him. Because she dreamed about him at night. Because she no longer trusted her own instincts. “I’m not attracted to him.”
“So you stare at him because you’re not attracted to him?” Ally asked. “Because most of us like to look at the guys we’re attracted to.”
Why wouldn’t they let this be? “I don’t stare at him.” She did it all the time. She would catch a glimpse of the man and not be able to look away. She would walk into the kitchen and he would be stirring something or working over the hot stove and she would stand there for a minute before remembering what she’d come in to do. “Or if I do, it’s me zoning out and he happens to be standing there. I wouldn’t be surprised if he moved into my line of sight just so everyone will think I’m staring at him.”
Tiffany looked over at Ally, her mouth open. “Is she serious?”
“She’s ridiculous and she’s scared out of her mind and I have to wonder how she got past the shrink.” Ally frowned. “You didn’t lie to Kai, did you? Because he’s an avowed sadist and that could go poorly for you.”
She wasn’t sure she was ready for a sadist, but a baby Dom would do. “I was honest with him. I told him what I want. I want to explore my own sexuality and see if this lifestyle can help me find some of the things I need. Like self-confidence.”
Tiffany wrapped her up in a hug. “I think it will, sweetie. I think it might help both of us.”
“Self-confidence?” Ally seemed confused. “You have a ton of confidence.”
Ally hadn’t known her as long as Tiffany. “I am very good at faking it.”
“The divorce took a lot more than cash from Deena,” Tiffany said, squeezing her again before going back to fixing her hair. “It took her confidence in herself and men.”
“I’ve never had confidence in men,” Deena admitted. A faithless father had taken that long before her ex-husband had done his damage.
Ally sat down on the small couch and sighed. “Well, maybe the training program will do more for you than you think because a good Dom can restore your faith in men. Have either one of you heard who you’ve been partnered with? You probably won’t know their names but Macon might.”
“Does Macon know who’s in the program with us?” Deena was certainly curious.
Ally shook her head. “It’s all very confidential. Only the Taggarts know who they invited. You and Tiffany probably aren’t supposed to talk about it.”
“We’re onl
y talking about it with each other and you,” Tiffany argued. “I hope we don’t have to share. I heard there’s an extreme lack of single Doms.”
“It’s kind of both ways,” Ally explained. “The way I hear it, there are some powerful members without subs to play with and the subs who are willing to play want more choices. It all makes Big Tag irritable and then he needs a pie. I swear Macon is like his bartender except with sweets.”
“Where does he put it all?” Tiffany asked. “Because there isn’t an ounce of fat on that man. I’m happy to go to Sanctum to watch that man in a pair of leathers. Not that I would do more than watch because his wife is super scary. I want to be her when I grow up.”
“Everyone wants to be her,” Ally agreed. “And I don’t think you’re going to share baby Doms. I overheard Kai talking to Big Tag about how happy he is with the partnership selection process. I’ve heard a rumor that Kai thinks at least one of the pairs is a perfect match. And don’t tell anyone I said that because my husband will take a spatula to my butt. What happens at Sanctum is supposed to stay at Sanctum.”
She wished that perfect match well because she intended to play. “I’m looking forward to tonight and the coming weeks. I hope my baby Dom is a seriously bad boy. I want him hot and nasty because I intend to have sex with him.”
She was going to figure out why Ally glowed when she walked into a room. Why Grace Taggart lit up when she saw her husband. She wanted to know why a woman truly chased after a man.
She’d kind of fallen in with Eddie. She couldn’t say it was a mad love story. She’d started high school and met Eddie and five years later she’d married him because she’d had nothing better to do. It had seemed like it was time.
She wanted to know what it felt like to lust after a guy. What it felt like to truly want someone.
