Page 66 of Bear’s House

Thankfully Dominic had already arrived — otherwise I would've been even more nervous, worrying he might not show. He was near Daddy and Jeffrey, chatting and scanning the room, an easy smile on his face, which I hoped meant he was in a good mood and open to doing a scene if Gustav approached him later. He was dressed low-key, almost costume-free — just a black shirt and leather vest, which honestly already looked like a costume of something scary, given the reputation he had among the littles.

I went over to him quickly, just to investigate.

"Dominic! Happy Halloween," I said, cheerful.

"JJ," he said, with that polite nod that was practically a whole greeting coming from him. "Happy Halloween."

"You in the mood to do anything tonight? A scene, I mean."

He looked at me for a second with that measured expression I already knew well.

"Maybe. Depends who's available."

"Cool," I said, trying to sound completely casual, which probably didn't work at all, because Jeffrey chuckled next to him.

"What are you up to, JJ?" Jeffrey asked, amused. He was dressed as Frankenstein's monster, complete with green makeup, which was pretty funny.

"Nothing!" I said too fast and walked off before anyone could ask more questions.

That was enough information for me anyway. I wasn't going to recruit Dominic myself. I'd promised Sawyer Gustav would handle that part if Max gave us the green light.

Max didn't take long to arrive, to my delight. He looked the most gorgeous I'd ever seen him — full makeup done, and I couldn't quite tell if he was wearing some kind of costume or just a pretty, sexy outfit. He wore a pink corset and tight pants that made his legs and hips look even better, and he seemed genuinely excited, smiling at us as soon as he saw us.

"Hey, guys," he said, coming closer, and we all greeted each other with hugs, the way we always did.

"You look so gorgeous," I told him. He blushed, because he was such a cutie.

"Thanks, buddy," he said. "You too."

"I'm dressed as Jack Sparrow. So I hope so, because he's very hot."

Everyone laughed.

"Where's Esteban?" I asked, looking around.

"He and Rick went to a vanilla family party tonight," Max said. "They promised to show up later. I was a little nervous coming alone, but..." He shrugged, with a small smile. "It's not as scary as it used to be."

That filled me with an enormous amount of pride. A few weeks ago, Max hadn't wanted to come back without Esteban or Rick. Now he'd walked through the doors alone.

"Max," I said, "do you actually want to do a scene tonight?"

I saw his smile dim a little. And this time I noticed.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I'm anxious."

"Nerves are okay," I said, forcing myself not to immediately tell him everything would be fine. Sawyer's voice was still in my head. "But you don't have to do anything just because we talked about it before. You can say no tonight."

His shoulders loosened slightly.

"I do want to," he said. "I think. I'm just scared."

"Okay. That's different." I put a hand on his shoulder. "I have a friend here tonight. Bella. She's a Domme, and she's really sweet. She's also a professional, but she knows The Hearth's rules, so she's here socially, not looking for clients. I told her you might be interested in a scene, but I didn't tell her your limits or decide anything for you. She wants to meet you and talk everything through herself."

His eyes went a little wide.

"A scene? Just like that, out of nowhere?"

"No. Not just like that," I said quickly. "You'd meet her first. Talk to her. Negotiate everything. If you don't like her, you don't do it. If you like her but don't feel ready, you don't do it. If you want to do something really small and stop after five minutes, that's fine too."