“No.” I shook my head and smiled. “I don’tmind. Take a few minutes and write down your ideas for the series and then youcan tell me about it.”
“But I’m not supposed to talk about work ondates.” He said it like that was the gospel of dating, so I had to assumeAustin or Tanner told him that.
“That rule is just for regular people. I’malready your Dom and I know what you need. Take the time and then you’re goingto tell me all about it.” I leaned forward across the table again and squeezedhis hand. “I’m curious, so don’t keep me waiting. Write.”
He grinned and tightened his fingers aroundmine before releasing them and hunching over the notebook like he was going topour the secrets of the universe onto the tiny pages.
I was going to need more of those.
Relaxing back in the seat, I took anothersip as he frantically made random notes and single words that I was guessingwere kinks or names. The words were too small to read across the table, but Iwas having fun trying to decide what he might be jotting down as the waitercame back with our meals, stomping just enough that I knew it was a warning.
If he was disappointed that we weren’tdoing something dirty, he didn’t show it. His gaze darted back and forthbetween us, but as he set our plates down, he didn’t ask any questions. Sincehe was so polite, I took pity on his curiosity. “He’s a writer.”
“Ah.” He nodded and smiled. “I hope hismuse doesn’t let the food get cold.”
I chuckled. “I’ll drag him away from it injust a minute.”
Then, taking a chance, I focused my smileon him. “I was telling him about a dating app I’d signed up for a few weeks agoand mentioned someone’s profile that had caught my eye. It gave him an idea, sohe’s making some notes.”
The waiter’s cheeks heated faintly. “Thosecan be…interesting.”
“Yes, especially when getting across whatyou want can be difficult. Words like ‘curious’ and ‘open-minded’ can mean somany things.” I gave him a pointed look that had his eyes widening slightly ashe nodded.
“Very true.” His gaze bounced between usagain. “Being a bit more…descriptive would probably be better in thosesituations.”
“Yes, words like ‘take-charge’ or ‘commanding’would be more descriptive, or even pointing out that someone is more deferentialwhen it comes to making decisions could be helpful.”
“Yes, I can see that.” He took a secondthen stepped back from the table smiling, his professional mask back in place.“Please let me know if there’s anything else I can get for you.”
Letting him change the subject, I nodded.“I think we’ll be good. Thank you.”
With another canned reply, he walked off,giving us privacy once more. As I watched Dakota still frantically scribbling,I couldn’t help but smile. Things could have been very different if I hadn’tresponded to the curious job offer, but I had a feeling fate would have steppedin either way because I knew that the sweetly curious man before me had alwaysbeen meant to be mine.
Chapter 15
Dakota
“Do you think we should have Eddie checkout the waiter?” I looked over to see Tristan smiling. “What?”
He chuckled, shrugging as we pulled up to alight. “I’m trying to decide if you want to ask him about his datingexperiences or invite him to join the club.”
Both.
“There’s nothing wrong with either answer.”It came out a bit primly which seemed to tickle him even more.
“So you want to interrogate him and ask himto join? Well, I think both are reasonable providing he’s curious enough.”Tristan’s gaze flicked back to the road as the light changed. “From the quickexchange we had he’s at least curious, but—now, I’m just bringing this up as aquestion—is asking Eddie to look into someone’s background before they’ve evensaid they were interested a bit…shady?”
I shrugged, but since I wasn’t sure if he couldsee that or not, I spoke. “I have no idea.”
He seemed to be holding back more laughter.“Okay, well, have you at least considered that?”
“Yes.” For a few seconds. “Honestly, Iworry more about Wade than I do about a stranger’s privacy. So yes, it’s probablywrong in the strictest moral sense, but I’m not going to do anything that putsany of the guys in danger.”
If that meant my moral compass was a littleoff then so be it. Besides, it was straighter than Austin’s, so I wasn’t goingto feel bad.
We pulled up in front of the house beforeTristan had a chance to reply. Nothing in his expression said I had anything toworry about, so I just waited. Parking, he turned to me as he turned off thecar. “I can understand that. But—and I want you to take this in the way it’sintended—I’m going to point things out when I see them…think of me as an extraconscience.”
I chuckled. “As long as you understand thatI might not see it the same way. I promise to do my best to stay on the rightside of things…no matter what we find in backgrounds, we won’t do anythingcrazy with it and we’ve even started looking for people like doctors andlawyers in the lifestyle to help people we run into.”
