“What the fuckdoes that mean?” I looked at Austin. “Punishments?”
Austin rolled his eyes. “He’s a Dom, duh.Now let’s go. I’ve got a thousand phone calls to make while you drive.”
It was going to be a long afternoon.
“I don’t know why he isn’t here yet, but ifyou ask me that question one more time, I’m going to bribe Silas into notspanking you for a month.” Tanner glared at Austin like he was just daring thedrama queen to say something.
Austin huffed as he paced across the room.“My Silas cannotbe bought.”
Silas snorted from the couch. “YourSilascan be bribed not to spank you. Tanner’s probably got gold-platedtrash cans hidden away in that monstrosity. You can hold off for a few weeks.”
Tanner laughed as Austin pouted, pouringhimself into his Master’s lap, probably determined to get dirty promises fromhis Master. But the sound of the driveway sensor going off had everyone lookingup, even Austin.
Austin bounced off Silas’s lap. “I’m notgoing to be subtle when I question him now.”
Wade barked out a laugh. “Who are youkidding? You weren’t subtle the other day.”
Austin scoffed and waved his hand like Wadewas being ridiculous as he went to the door. The rest of us stayed sitting,pretending to be relaxed as he dragged Simon into the living room. Simon shookhis head, then brushed off Austin’s hand as he looked around the room.“Punishment duty does not include lugging the beer in on my own.”
Laughter rolled through the room and Icould see even Shane starting to relax. He’d tried to play it cool, butlearning that his family was a lot more interesting than he’d ever expected wassomething he seemed to be still working through.
Russ and several of the guys got up to helpand soon the beer was packed away in the fridge and the brownies he broughtwere laid out on the counter.
“Now can we get in the pool?” Austinpouted, leaning into Silas. “I’ve been so patient.”
Silas laughed. “You don’t know the meaningof the word, Trouble.”
Giving Austin a quick kiss, Silas smackedhis ass and looked over at Graham and Russ. “You’re the hosts.”
Russ barked out a laugh. “We are definitelynot the ones in charge here.”
That had everyone rolling with laughter,especially Jonah who seemed to agree with him.
Of course Austin took that as permission todo whatever he wanted and he started dancing out toward the backyard, strippingoff his clothes as he went. Silas chuckled as everyone started to follow ourdirty Pied Piper.
I still hadn’t decided what I was going todo, so I hung back as everyone else wandered out toward the backyard, alreadyin various stages of undress. Well, almost everyone. I was so distracted byAustin, I didn’t realize Simon had stayed inside until he came up beside me.
“I’m not sure who I need to apologize to,but judging by the wording, I’m guessing you’re my new boss.” He raised oneeyebrow as I just stared forward. “Or am I wrong?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m the person you’vebeen emailing.”
When I kept my response short, he sighed.“I really didn’t know it was you until Austin and Wade came over. Theneverything fell into place. I’ve done sites like this before, but they’ve allbeen out of state or out of the country in one case. I wasn’t looking for it tobe local.”
Nodding, I felt some of the tension I’dbeen carrying around ease.
“I can understand that.” I looked outtoward the yard. “We’re just careful and realizing it was you was unexpected.”
He chuckled. “I bet.”
Still smiling, Simon glanced outside. “Youguys are really starting a BDSM club?”
I couldn’t decide what he meant and I feltmy shoulders stiffen. “Why do you sound skeptical?”
Simon shrugged. “Nothing, really. We’vejust never had anything like that around here, even with all the people in thelifestyle. It’s a big risk.”
“For big rewards.” I stepped closer towardthe door, hearing the laughter and teasing pouring inside. “Do you know howhard it is to find a way into the lifestyle around here? Even with all ourconnections and all Tanner’s and Austin’s money, we only scratched the surface.Assholes who just claimed to know what BDSM meant were the only people remotelyconnected to the lifestyle that we could find. It shouldn’t be that hard tofind someone to date, much less love.”
Simon was quiet for a few long seconds andI regretted being that honest. When he finally spoke, all I wanted to do wasstep away. “There’s a lot that can go wrong.”
