“Yeah.” I pointed out the window, gesturingfarther down the block. “The building is just out of sight. It’s small, but itworks.”
I didn’t love my apartment, but I didn’thate it.
“It’s more of a landing pad until I figuredout what I wanted to do. The job with you was my first choice, but I had a fewother options around here. The rest would’ve had me moving farther away, so Ihad to stick with one with a short lease.”
Dakota took a sip of his drink, which was notsurprisingly water after his long night. “Wanted to stay close to your familyor just don’t like the idea of moving?”
“A bit of both, probably.” Leaning back inmy seat, I thought about the answer. “I wanted some space from my family, but Ilike being in one place. Traveling around, yes, that would be great, butactually moving, no.”
A little grin peeked out. “I mentally addeda few years to your age when we first met, but Austin was happy to point outour age difference last night.”
I grinned in return. “I was wondering ifyou’d realized that, but honestly, you look younger than I do.”
He had a baby face that was sweet andinnocent when he aimed it at someone, but looks were incredibly deceiving.
Dakota sighed. “It made dating hard when Iwas a little younger, but thankfully, I look like a grown-up now.”
“You look like a sexy grown-up now.” Ileered dirtily at him. “It's one of the things I first noticed about you.”
Chuckling, he shook his head. “Stop that.We’re in public.”
Rolling my eyes, I gestured around thetable. “I made sure they put us in the back of the room. No one can see us.”
Leaning into the table, I gave him a dirtygrin. “I bet the waiter would do a good job of ignoring anything he caught usdoing. He looks like the wicked type.”
In fact, I was pretty sure I’d seen hisdating profile online a few weeks before I’d met Dakota at the party. If it wasthe same person I was remembering, he’d hinted at being more than a littleinteresting.
But I wasn’t sure of that enough to take achance.
Dakota’s eyes widened, but he took anotherdrink instead of commenting.
Interesting.
“You know, it might be fun to do fantasynights once in a while at the club.” When Dakota cocked his head, I continued.“Set up the lounge area as a dining room and have some members being thecouples and some being the waiters.”
As he licked his lips, I leered. “I thinkit would be fun. Single subs could be the waiters or maybe even some who have aDom who likes to watch them. I think Wade would have fun doing something likethat, and it’d give him a chance to sub without having to date if he wasn’tready for that.”
Dakota’s smile went back and forth betweensweet and sexy. “Thanks for not pushing him too much this morning…but yes, he’dlike that. He just hasn’t dated much and hasn’t submitted for anyone seriouslysince Matthew died. The thing at the pool was as close as he’s come tosubmitting for anyone else.”
That was sad on so many levels.
“So I didn’t go too far this morning? Iwasn’t sure what to do in that situation and you weren’t exactly in the mood toanswer questions last night.” I chuckled as he groaned.
“Don’t remind me. But no, it was perfect.”Shaking off his lingering embarrassment, he leaned forward, bracing his arms onthe table. “Casual and teasing and you didn’t seem uncomfortable at all.”
“Because I wasn’t.” I laughed quietly. “Iwas just standing there last night while you two were talking about where I’dsleep, and I quickly realized I should’ve asked more questions when you weresober.”
“Yeah, sorry about that.” He shrugged, notlooking too apologetic. “It wasn’t a problem when we didn’t have anyone tocall. I probably should have thought out a few what-if scenarios.”
Then he grinned. “But honestly it neveroccurred to sober me that drunk me would insist you sleep with Wade.”
Laughing, I nodded. “Me too. The entirenight was entertaining, but I have to say that my favorite part was Austin andSilas arguing about whether your disappearance was caused by magic or not.”
Dakota just kept grinning as I nodded.“Yep, it was a little confusing, but Austin wasn’t exactly clear about whereyou’d gone when Silas showed up, and Silas made some smart-ass comment that therest of the guys took entirely too seriously.”
He groaned. “I have a vague memory ofwanting privacy, so that must have been when I wanted to call you. Do I owe youan apology for ruining your evening?”
I snorted. “Absolutely not. I had a blast.You guys were hilarious.”
