And honestly, from the sweet, sexy textsJulian had sent me during the day, he seemed curious to see what would happentonight, not unreasonably jealous.
Or even reasonably so.
It might have helped that I’d been veryclear about how excited I’d been about our date this week and that I’d told himI’d already talked to my mother about him. She’d been delighted that I’ddecided to get to know Julian better, but it hadn’t stopped her from pushing meto meet other people.
She might have trusted him, but I had afeeling that she wanted me to be completely confident about my own feelingsbefore I got too close to him.
She was usually right, but in this case,since she considered him to be at least a casual friend, she was putting herfoot down.
I just couldn’t decide what would happen next.
“I like interesting.” Sitting up, I inchedforward on the seat and leaned closer to the sexy Dom.
Niall was so straitlaced that it was cute.He was buttoned up in a sexy suit that I knew he’d probably worn to workearlier, but there was a wicked gleam in his eyes that said he was thinkingwonderfully naughty things. I could see the similarities between both men that weredrawing me toward each of them, but where Julian seemed to dive right in likeme, Niall was much more logical.
It made me want to see what he’d do if I wasjust a bit of a brat and pushed him.
The boring part in the back of my headpointed out that Julian might not appreciate that, but then the wicked partspoke up and pointed out that as long as I was honest and didn’t disobey, he mightlike being able to punish me for being naughty.
I was back to not knowing if I owed mymother flowers or if I should be frustrated with her.
Niall’s lips quirked, and he seemed to betrying not to smile. Seeing my way in, I shifted until I was barely on thechair and our knees were touching. There was a warmth that seemed to radiatefrom him that felt steadier than the fiery sensations Julian gave me, but I wasstarting to appreciate both.
“Yes, I’d love to walk around with you.” Imanaged to wait until he’d stood and reached for my hand until I popped up, butI just hoped he appreciated my restraint. “Where should we go?”
I wasn’t sure I really had an opinion, Ijust wanted to spend more time with him, so I shrugged.
He chuckled. “Have you seen the privaterooms?”
As I shook my head, he smiled. “They’rethemed for different types of scenes. Let’s go see if they’re taken.”
“Do you think they’ll be free?” Julian hadtalked about us going to see them, but we’d gotten sidetracked and had ended upcurled up in the far corner of the lounge kissing and talking the rest of thenight.
Niall nodded. “I think so. It’s notterribly busy tonight.”
Both Ben and Julian had said that Sundaywas laid back and fairly quiet, which was one of the main reasons I’d picked itto get my second attempt at meeting a Dom out of the way. But it hadn’t turnedout like I’d expected.
Moving to stand beside me, he nodded towardthe bar. “They have the schedule.”
Since it didn’t seem like he was going totake my hand, I fixed the situation and threaded my fingers through his.
Much better.
It seemed like being a bit pushy was goingto be the only way to figure out if we had chemistry or if he was just fun totalk to. Why those things had to be completely different, I didn’t know, but itwas frustrating.
But the fact that there were so manydifferent kinds of chemistry and pulls was a constant source of inspiration, soI probably shouldn’t complain.
As we made our way over to the bar, we gota few odd looks from some of the Doms I remembered seeing before, but I wasn’tsure why. Did they know Niall? Was it about the drama with the idiot? Did theyremember me?
I was dressed very simply tonight comparedto before. I wasn’t even wearing my glasses or my favorite hat. Even Ben had lookedstartled when he’d realized it was me. I’d done my best to blend in tonight soI didn’t accidentally attract anyone’s attention, but that hadn’t gone asplanned thanks to the pushy Dom who hadn’t wanted to take no for an answer.
Niall talked to the gentleman behind thebar, giving me a chance to take in the room and people-watch. There were justso many different types of couples and lifestyles on display that it was liketaking a walk through all the various types of kinks.
Littles sat on the floor playing in onecorner and I had to smile as one snatched a toy while another wasn’t looking.As their Daddies intervened, my gaze shifted to a pup sitting beautifullydisplayed at his Master’s feet.
There were Doms and subs of all flavors andlooks, and I couldn’t help but wish I had my sketchbook, even though I knew Benwouldn’t let me take anyone’s likeness. Privacy and all. But it didn’t mean Icouldn’t wish for the ability to capture all the tender and curious moments.
Shifting my attention back to Niall, I wassurprised to see the studious-looking man focusing quietly on me. He smiled,squeezing my hand for a moment. “Are you ready?”
