He might end up being some kind of weirdstalker, but nothing from Eddie’s background check had come up with anythingodd.
I’d remembered to double-check that.
It’d taken a roundabout game of telephonetag to get to Eddie, but eventually, we’d talked and he’d made it clear thateverything Tristan had told me in the kitchen had been true. Eddie had evensaid that Tristan seemed to be well thought of by everyone he’d played with.
As my thoughts bounced around, Tristanstarted answering my question about the hours. “I’ve lived with writers.”Grinning, he continued. “Honestly, I know myself. I enjoy having someone to takecare of.”
The way he said it almost made me smile. Itwas like he was describing himself as a character and listing off what heneeded from the story I was going to write about him.
But I kept those odd thoughts to myself ashe continued. “I’m not saying you’re mine or pulling any crap like that. We’vejust met.”
He knew the caveman mentality could be funin specific situations, though, right?
“But I’m not worried about the hours I’mputting in.” Then he shrugged, and his teasing grin fell away. “If at somepoint I start driving you crazy, I’ll pull back. I have good self-control. Butuntil we get to that point, I would prefer to see what happens.”
“That sounds very…fluid.” I wasn’t sure Iliked fluid.
An understanding smile spread acrossTristan’s face. “Fluid? You mean it’s too changeable or you want more rules?”
I thought about it for a few seconds. “Idon’t know…the second one, though, probably…I think.”
I hated real life.
The world my characters lived in was alwaysbetter.
It didn’t matter if it was the mysteries orthe romance, it was always easier to explain what they were feeling than what Iwas.
Tristan nodded like I hadn’t soundedinsane. It was one of the things I was starting to appreciate most about him.Even as he started to talk, he responded like I was perfectly rational. “Thenas we go, we’ll start working on rules and boundaries. I’m not sure coming atthis from a more traditional perspective will help because we’re notnegotiating a specific scene, but we’ll iron out a few things, and then as wecontinue, we’ll make more rules.”
That sounded easier to deal with.
“Okay.” It still felt a bit surreal, but Iwas starting to think it was really happening. “Now what?”
We’d gone over the business stuff like he’dsaid we would, but we’d barely touched on everything else. “Do we listout…topics like we did the business side of…this?”
My characters would’ve said it smoother,but somehow, I just ended up stumbling over myself. Maybe I’d try to be one ofthem at some point. They were sexy and cute. I’d rather be cute than awkward.
Tristan nodded, sitting straighter.Something in his body language or the way he was looking at me changed becausehe suddenly went from being admin Tristan to Dom Tristan…some people changedthat effortlessly in my books, but I’d never seen anyone do it in real life.
Besides people like Russ and Shane, theonly people I’d met who’d come close to being a real Dom had been rough andalmost angry.
Tristan was nothing like that.
Maybe it was the stark contrast that madeit all feel so unreal.
“We’re going to start off by discussingsome basic limits and rules.” Even his voice had a subtle but commanding toneto it now. He wasn’t following anymore; something in him had made a seamlessswitch to leading without a thought.
That sounded like a logical plan andsomething I would have had my characters do. But before I could say that,Tristan already knew what he wanted. “Come here. You’re sexy behind that desk,but I want to talk to my submissive Dakota now, not my boss.”
Oh.
Standing was automatic, but it took amental push to make my feet move. For some reason they seemed glued to thefloor even though he was so temptingly close.
I had a real Dom in my house.
Not an asshole pretending to be one or aconfused guy that thought I needed mental help. This was a live Dom who wantedto…well, he wanted to do something with me.
It was almost like catching Bigfoot in mybackyard.
