Her hand wavedaround again. “You know how they name things these days. Those parents who hidefrom everything they don’t want to see, even if it’s right under their nose.”
Ostrich. It workedand, as much as Carter hated to admit it, made sense. “I bet he’s frustrated.”
It seemed to bethe right answer because she smiled at Carter like he’d said somethingbrilliant. “And it’s making it very difficult to find Mr. Right. All thatstress isn’t good. Not that he’s admitting there’s a problem. You’d think thatsomeone who takes charge in other areas of his life would stand up to hisparents, but evidently not.”
Listening toGrant’s brothers talk about their mother, Carter understood where Ben might becoming from—or was it Xavier? Carter wasn’t sure. Not that it mattered, but hehad a sneaking suspicion it probably would.
“Sometimes that’shard.” Again, she gave him that smile. Was it weird he was enjoying herapproval? Yes.
“Yes. We’ve foundthe perfect young man for him, though, and we had a few questions abouthis…lifestyle preferences.” She looked over to a woman with white hair in ashort bob who could have been anywhere between fifty and seventy.
She was strikingand well-manicured but nothing like what Carter expected as she started tospeak. “Yes, according to the fetish definitions on Wikipedia. Although some ofthose pages really should be updated. We need to make a note about that.”
What the hell?
“You’re right. Weforgot to make a note of that at the last meeting. Charlotte, will you writethat down for us?” Mrs. Jenkins shook her head and gave Carter a smile.“Memories, you know. As you get older you have to write everything down.”
Carter was back tonot knowing what to say again. Commiserate? Agree with her? Just nod like anidiot? Yup, that one.
She smiled andgave him an understanding smile before bringing the conversation back to theoriginal awkward topic. “The other young man is a model in Charlotte’s artclass. He’s a very sweet young man.”
Charlotte brokein. “Bouncy and happy like you’d expect in a submissive who’s drawn to thatlifestyle. He focuses well, though, when he’s modeling for the class, andthrives when given clear instructions. He also seems to respond well topraise.”
He shouldn’t, heknew he shouldn’t. He did. “How did you find out he’s into puppy play? I’msurprised that came up at an art class.”
What kind ofart was she studying?
They all looked athim like he was now failing the class and they were very disappointed in him.Mrs. Jenkins tilted her head and frowned at him. “His current lifestylepreference is not the most important thing. What matters is that we need toknow the best way to introduce them.”
To Carter, itsounded suspiciously like they had no idea what the guy was into. He took a fewmental steps back. “He’s gay, right?”
A few of the womenlooked guilty but Charlotte, Mrs. Jenkins, and the redhead all shrugged.Charlotte spoke up. “That seems to be the case.”
He was an idiotbut he couldn’t stop himself. “But you don’t know?
“He stood naked ina room full of mostly women, several well-endowed younger women in their early thirties,I’d say, and didn’t…react,if you will. I’d say gay. We also debatedthat he might be confused about his sexuality, because there are someindications of that, but it’s unclear.” She spoke like they were analyzingflowers or what to bake for the church bazaar, not what turned on some guy whogot naked for little old ladies.
Lord. Where thehell was Wyatt?
Carter wanted toknow when they’d dubbed him the kink expert, but he had a feeling he was only astand-in since Wyatt wasn’t there. He knew he should have sent them on theirway with a lecture about minding their own business. He couldn’t make himselfdo it.
“Invite Ben to artclass? Maybe get the naked guy to pick up something at the bakery?” It soundedlike a bad romance novel plot. They seemed to think so, too, because he got theyou’re-not-so-bright-are-you look again.
“We’ve consideredthose. We’re just not sure how much of a discussion we should have with theyoung man first. Would you recommend that? We’re torn and decided to get atiebreaker, if you will.” She smiled at him like he should be pleased they’dincluded him.
He wasn’t.
He’d never gottenpeer pressured into doing something stupid as a kid. He’d always been a littletoo different to get included in things like that. It looked like he was goingto get his chance to experience it. “Um, a little? Not cold turkey. That couldgo bad.”
Very bad if theguy turned out to be straight with a temper. Looking cute and sweet for littleold ladies wasn’t hard. He could be some kind of an ax murderer and theyprobably wouldn’t notice. He’d seen a few guys in bars and clubs lose it whenthey were assumed to be gay. You just never knew about people.
They looked at oneanother and seemed to be having a silent discussion before Mrs. Jenkins leanedclose. “How much is a little?”
“At least makesure the guy is gay first.” Carter shrugged helplessly. He tried to think backto his first awkward conversations with Wyatt. “Maybe hint that bakery guy is alittle interesting, not say kinky exactly, but talk around it.”
He received aninnocent smile from all the ladies and got a sinking feeling. The redheadsmiled the biggest. “How would you describe puppy play to someone new to thefetish community?”
He was going todie surrounded by crazy women.
