“He’s only been working for you a week anda half, but if I had to guess, he likes taking care of a sub the same way Shanedoes Tanner. Shane likes managing his life and knowing that Tanner is takencare of. I think Tristan is just some kind of super Shane and likes it evenmore.” Jonah leaned against his desk, watching me. “Am I wrong?”
“That’s basically what he said. Well, minusthe Shane specific stuff because he doesn’t know them that well yet.” Finallystanding still in the middle of the room, I thought about what he’d said. “Hisparents are authors and it sounds like he had fun managing them as a kid.Basically, it sounds like he was the only real adult in the house at times.”
Jonah grinned. “After working for you, Ihave a feeling that’s an understatement.”
I snorted and got ready to tell him whereto shove it, but he started talking before I could decide the best retort. “I’mserious. Stuff like that is formative. He knows he likes managing creativepeople and then you add the Dom stuff in and it just makes sense.”
Then he stopped and thought for a moment.“Do you think it will drive you crazy? I mean, I’ve always wanted a Dom who wasvery…involved in my life, you could say. You were always kind of vague aboutthat.”
I shrugged. “I couldn’t imagine a Dom whowould fit in with this part of my life.”
I looked around the room at the tallwindows and brick walls that made up the space and smiled. “I thought I’d haveto compartmentalize work life and sub life, but Tristan isn’t like that.”
“So you guys are serious?” Jonahstraightened and moved closer.
“Um, I don’t know. Define serious?” Iwasn’t sure if I was teasing or not. “He seems to be a great Dom. He balancespushing and backing off really well and he pays attention to my body languageand my signals. And I like being around him.”
He nodded but pressed again. “What aboutdates and that side of things?”
“I’m not sure we’re dating.” I shrugged.“We’ve talked around that kind of stuff. I don’t know him well enough to havefigured out that side of things yet.”
The closest we’d come to dating was a tripto the grocery store…and I was fairly certain that even in a BDSM relationshipthat didn’t count.
He grinned. “Only you could go from firstmeet to submitting without a single date in between.”
“It’s not like he’s a complete stranger.I’ve asked questions, we talk a lot, and Eddie did a background check on him.”I just hadn’t figured out how I felt about him as a prospective date.
Dating was hard.
Submitting was easier as long as the guywasn’t an asshole and was trustworthy. Tristan seemed steady and smart and thedominant side of his personality just felt like it was part of him. It wasn’t afront or a façade he put on…it was just him.
“So have you talked about dating?” Jonahwas back to studying me.
“Kind of.” I started pacing around the roomagain to avoid his stare. “I think I want to see how this side of things goesbefore I add any more layers.”
The sound of his laughter had me turningback to him. “I’d expect that from Austin, not you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Do not compare me tothat drama queen.”
“At least he and Silas had dinner first.”Jonah grinned. “They’re going to have lots of questions this weekend.”
I groaned. “Can’t I call in sick?”
Jonah snorted. “There’s no way we’reletting you get away with that. Austin will come drag you out himself if hethinks you’re going to ditch us.”
It was a constant battle to remind myselfthat I liked hanging out with them. It was just that the desire to be by myselfwas a lot stronger sometimes.
“Fine.” Then I remembered what else we weredoing on Saturday. “And we have to walk through the building, right?”
I wasn’t going to get any work done at all.
That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing,though. Everyone took days off and most people took the entire weekend off.There was nothing wrong with that.
“Is Tristan going to come with you?”
“Huh?” What?
Jonah chuckled. “Is Tristan coming with youto see the progress on the club? His background check was fine, so it shouldn’tbe a problem with anyone.”
