He huffed. “But while I didn’t appreciatethe orders when we got in the car, it was…interesting.”
I didn’t even bother trying not to laugh.“Interesting, huh?”
Snorting, he waited, so I kept going.“Interesting in a good way or bad way?”
I saw another faint smile as I shifted backto see the light turn green. As I drove, I squeezed his leg hoping to give hima little push. It worked.
“I think a good way, but I’m just not…it’sbeen a very long time since…” His voice trailed off, so I stepped in.
“Submitting in a fantasy is a lot differentfrom submitting in reality.” I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye, so Icontinued. “And just because you want something doesn’t make it easy.”
He snorted. “Nothing about this has beeneasy.”
Somehow, I didn’t think he was exaggeratingthat.
“I’m not going to claim to be the Dom ofyour dreams.” I had to fight not to smile when he barked out a laugh. “But I’mjust going to say that it’s the hardest things that are worth it in the end.Even if we don’t work out, as long as you’re not a dick who makes my life aliving hell, I’ll make some introductions for you so you find more people inthe lifestyle. Between that and the club, you’ll find someone.”
Yeah, I wanted him for myself, but I wasn’tgoing to be an utter asshole and keep him from finding someone else if wedidn’t work out. Fuck. Even if I was that big of an asshole, if Shane found outhe’d drag my name through the family, and nothing would be worth that drama.
“So, what? I’d be a pet you’d rehome?”Bradley sighed dramatically when I started to laugh.
“Oh come on, that’s funny.” I was nearlygiggling as he gave me a dry look. “You’d be the cutest pup. I can just seewalking you up to a house and explaining I wasn’t the right Master to trainyou, but I had confidence your new Master would be a good fit.”
Bradley shook his head. “I’m starting toworry about you.”
Thankfully, we pulled up in front of thehouse, so as I stopped, I leaned over and rubbed his head like he was a puppy.“Who’s a good dog?”
Bradley tried to squirm away, groaning.“Stop that. For fuck’s sake do not do that around Austin.”
So pretending he was a pup was okay but notaround Austin?
The look on his face said that would be adiscussion for another time, so I grinned. “Deal.”
His expression was an odd mix offrustration and acceptance with, I thought, a bit of gratitude. But I wasn’tsure what thoughts went with which emotion. He was fascinating.
But pointing that out might not be in mybest interest because I wasn’t sure it would come out like I meant it.
“You ready to come inside?” I knew it was abig step for both of us. This wasn’t just about hanging out and watching TVover a drink and then trying to decide how far we wanted to go. There was somuch more than sex riding on this.
“Yes.” But then he paused, unbuckling hisseat belt as he sat forward. “But there’s one thing I want to talk aboutfirst.”
Chapter 11
Bradley
Simon stilled but nothing in his bodylanguage said he was worried; in fact, he reached up and stroked my cheek.“What is it?”
It was going to sound stupid, but I wasn’tgoing to let it go just because I would end up looking like a teenager on theirfirst date.
“Before our date changes and turns intosomething more…well, something not quite traditional first date material, Iwould like a kiss. We’ve done a lot but we haven’t kissed and that’s been on mymind.” I didn’t think there was anything sinister behind it.
He was too nice in general to see me assome kind of trick he was picking up, but there was something odd about it.
Simon nodded. “Yeah, as far as regularrelationships go we didn’t follow the traditional path, but to me, there’s adifference between romance and a scene. Maybe that makes me an asshole, but—”
I cut him off. “No. I understand.”
Sex and romance weren’t the same things nomatter how some people liked to pretend they were, so substituting “scene” for “sex”and coming up with the same idea made sense to me. “They’re not the samething.”
