He might be our Master and so confident andcommanding that he made our knees weak, but some of the rougher men in theneighborhood would only see him as a walking target because of his size. “MaybeI can get off early on Friday so we can see some then too. Didn’t you say youpretty much had the entire day off on Friday?”
His hours were more sporadic than mine, soplanning around his schedule made the most sense. Dare smiled and nodded as heopened the door on the driver’s side. “Yeah, that would work out great. I haveto work in the morning on Friday and then a few hours Saturday night, so thatwould give us the most time to look at some new places for you.”
The relief on his face said he was glad Iwasn’t going to be stubborn about the move. It would have been different ifsomeone else had suggested the idea even a month ago, but now that I knew Scottwould be moving with me, there wasn’t anything holding us here.
Besides, safety aside, I knew that having abigger place would be more practical. Scott needed an office so he could workfrom home occasionally, and I wouldn’t mind having some privacy from ourneighbors.
Things had been quiet lately, butoccasionally, there were problems in some of the neighboring apartments, andthe screaming could go on for days as they argued incessantly. “If we can findsomething this weekend, then it won’t be long before we can actually move in.”
As I sat down in the passenger seat andclosed the door, Dare finished buckling his seat belt and turned on the car. “Ifyou were ready to meet my family and drown in all their chaos, then I’d invitethem over to help, but I’m not sure either of you are ready for that.” Hecocked his head and gave me a teasing grin.
Meeting his family? “Um…”
Dare laughed. “I’m not going to torture youyet.”
I probably should have said it wouldn’t betorture and that I’d love to meet them, but I just sagged back against theseat. “Good.”
That had him laughing again. “I’m nothiding you guys, but so far, my parents have agreed to keep it quiet. My familyis too curious and insane, so they won’t leave you alone for long once they knowhow serious we are. So fair warning, eventually they will descend en masse.”
The idea that his family would want to meetus was surprising. My family was understanding and good with me being gay, butI had no idea how they were going to take my dating not one guy but two.
“They know about us? I mean, that you’redating Scott and me?” He’d mentioned something about his family before, but we’dmostly talked about how many kids there were in his family and about hisparents, not about what they’d thought of us.
Dare nodded as he pulled out of the parkinglot. “Yes, my family’s a bit more open than most, so I knew my parents wouldn’thave an issue with it. My mother just kept lecturing me about not rushing youand being understanding. She’s going to love you guys.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that. “Um, shewantsto meet us?”
Dare flashed me a quick grin as he pulledout into traffic and headed toward the movie theater. “Wild horses won’t beable to keep her away once she knows you’re okay with it. Shedoesunderstandboundaries, however, so she’ll give us some space until I give her thego-ahead.”
Relief rushed through me. I knew that we’deventually meet his family if things kept going the way they were, but the ideathat they might just show up one day out of the blue was a little scary. “Butthey don’t know about the whole…”
I gestured with my hands between the two ofus and gave him what was probably a ridiculous look. “I mean—the domination?”
Dare shrugged. “The fact that I’m bossy andtake-charge would not surprise my mother, so she probably has an idea that I’mkinky, but I’ve never spelled it out for her.”
I couldn’t imagine havingthatconversation with my parents.
It had been awkward enough when I’d finallytold them I was gay, but anything beyond that just blew my mind. Before I couldrespond, he kept going. “But I’ve got a few siblings that know. Nobody in ourfamily keeps secrets very well, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she was justtrying to give me my privacy and already knew.”
He had siblings who knew?
Was that normal?
As an only child, I had vague ideas abouthow I would react with siblings, but my imagination didn’t stretch far enoughto picture telling someone I was related to that I wanted to be dominated inbed.
Dare must’ve seen the horror on my facebecause he started snickering. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell them about what wedo. I’m a little nuts but not completely insane.”
“I’m not ashamed of what we’re doing or howour relationship is organized, but telling people—”
Dare reached over and squeezed my thigh,interrupting my rambling. “I understand. There’s nothing wrong with wantingprivacy. I will always respect that, and I will make sure my family does too.”
I shifted my hand so it was resting on hisand laced my fingers through his. “But you know I’m not ashamed, right?”
It was important he understood that.
He nodded again, and as we came to a redlight, he leaned over and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Yes, I promise Iunderstand.”
The honesty in his voice had me relaxing,but he must’ve thought I was still worried because he continued. “We’ll figureout how we want to explain things and how we want to describe our relationshipwhen we’re ready. There’s no rush.”
