Chapter 1
Landon
“Is Landon going on a date or helpingsomeone move? I can’t tell if he looks chic or homeless. The tattoos make it goeither way.” My mother meant well, she really did, but she wasn’t exactlyhelping my confidence any.
“Shh, he’s going to hear you. Be nice.”Laura shouldn’t have wasted her breath. Nice had never been my mother’s defaultsetting.
“I’m being honest, not mean.” That had beenmy mother’s mantra for so long she believed it.
I heard her moving around the kitchen.“Where did he say he was taking his date? Do you even know her name? He’s beingstubborn and won’t tell me.”
Because she was somewhere between abulldozer and an unhinged moose.
Walking louder up the basement stairs, Icalled out so they could stop the painful discussion. “All fixed.”
I’d gotten most of the wiring updated, butshe needed to stop running a thousand different appliances at the same timeuntil I got the rest done. But since we’d had the same conversation three timesin the last month, I didn’t waste my breath.
I was smarter than Laura.
“I’ll be back on Sunday to work on itmore.” Because, fingers crossed, I was hopefully going to be spending Saturdaymorning lounging around in bed with someone wonderful.
I just wished I knew what Mr. Wonderfulmight look like—because contrary to what my mother assumed, for the first timeI was going out to hopefully meet a guy.
Man.
Yeah, man.
That was really the only thing I knew. Iwanted an older guy with his shit together. My mother didn’t try to hide herwince as she looked me over. “You’re going home to change before your date,right?”
“I love you, Mom.” That was all I had tosay to that.
Turning to Laura, I rolled my eyes. “Walkme out?”
She laughed, nodding. “Don’t worry, bigbrother. I’ll save you from another interrogation.” Taking my arm, she usheredme toward the back door as Mom griped about the definition of the wordinterrogation.
When we were free of the house, and wefinally had privacy, she poked my arm. “Ignore her. You look fabulous.”
I wasn’t so sure about that, but thestrategically placed holes in the pants definitely highlighted my tattoos, andif I’d been looking for a woman, I’d have felt pretty self-assured.
Shrugging, I did my best to project aconfidence I didn’t feel. “I know.”
Laura laughed, her response saying shebelieved my bullshit. “Okay, I’m not here to boost your ego.”
As we got to the car, she looked aroundbefore focusing back on me. Squeezing my arm, she straightened and smiled.
Yeah, she wasn’t overly confident about mynight either.
“Remember, you are going there to exploreand have fun. They don’t expect you to know what you’re doing or what you want.Have fun and see what feels right.” She was more excited about this than I was.
“I’ll be happy as long as I don’t look likean idiot.” And since I was going there having no idea what I was doing or whatI wanted, that was a tall order.
She scoffed. “I’m sure people go all thetime when they don’t know exactly what they’re looking for.”
She said it with such certainty I wanted tobelieve her, but I was pretty sure most people going to a BDSM club at leastknew if they were a Dom or a sub.
Shrugging, I tried not to look worried as Igave her a relaxed, fuck ’em all smile. “At the very least, it’s something tocross off my bucket list.”
She laughed as she stepped away toward thehouse. “I’m pretty sure most people don’t have ‘visit a BDSM club’ on theirbucket list, but they probably should.”
