“I agree,” Ben stated. “Which is the reason I wanted to clarify. If it comes down to whether or not she’s staying on, there’s no question. I’m ready to promote her to office manager, rather than merely a secretary.”
“I think that’s pretty much deduced,” Langston said, his tone now bored. “She’s far more than a secretary.”
“However,” Justin inserted, “I think she likes the title. It defines the job as she sees it, not necessarily how she handles it.”
“Seriously? Is that why we’re in here? To talk about her job title, because you can call her whatever the hell you want. Her position is still the same.”
Justin sighed. “No, that’s not why I called this meeting.”
“So, enlighten us,” Langston insisted.
“I saw the way you two were with her on the island.”
Yep, I knew where this was going.
Justin’s attention was fixed on Langston. “And I know you took her to TJ’s house for dinner before that. As your submissive.”
“I did.”
“And you spent the night with her.”
“Correct.” Langston appeared uninterested in the conversation. “I didn’t realize I needed to ask permission.”
“You don’t,” Ben stated, glancing between the two men.
“No, you don’t,” Justin continued. “However, it seems you’re looking for something more from her. And I thought we had all agreed to keep the others informed of our intentions.”
“We did.” Langston shrugged. “Where the hell are you going with this?” he grumbled.
I wanted to know that as well.
“It looks as though you’ve claimed her as your submissive.” Justin’s eyes darted over to me. “You, too.” He frowned. “And not just on the island.”
No one had officially claimed Luci, but Justin was right. Things were progressing and that was the path that I wanted to take. It was merely a matter of time.
“No one has claimed her,” Langston stated, his defenses coming up.
“Maybe not yet,” Justin snapped. “Goddammit, Langston. It’s not an option. We have an agreement and I refuse to let you derail this while we’re just getting to know her.”
Just getting to know her?
Luci had been working here for three months. We’d all gotten to know her well enough at this point. At least, I thought we had.
Shit. I should’ve expected it to come down to this. From the day Luci walked into our lives, we’d been somewhat at odds with one another. My brother and I against Justin and Ben. That was the way things worked around here. Everyone knew that Langston and I would eventually settle down with one submissive. That had always been our goal.
And since Justin and Ben’s relationship had been heating up, it was only safe to assume they would be following that path as well.
However…
As far as I was concerned, Luci belonged to me. No way was I going to step out of this completely and let them fight for her. She was mine. I’d known it from the beginning.
The only problem was, I knew Langston wasn’t on the same page. Not yet. There for about a minute, I thought we were making progress, but then my asshole brother did what he always did and retreated from what he truly wanted. It never failed.
“So, what are you suggesting?” It was clear Langston wasn’t happy about the topic.
“I’m suggesting that we continue on the path we were on. In the beginning,” Justin explained. “You’re more than welcome to spend time with her after hours, even have her spend the night, but not at the expense of the rest of us. You can’t monopolize her time.”
Langston didn’t respond immediately.
“Are you wanting something more?” Justin asked, his eyes locked on Langston.
Again, Langston didn’t say anything.
“Son of a bitch,” Justin groaned.
“I didn’t say I wanted more,” Langston clarified, his voice deep and full of emotion. “However, I’m not ruling it out. As of right now, I’m content with the way things are going. However, I do intend to get closer to her.” Langston looked at me. “My intention was for both of us to get closer to her.”
I wasn’t surprised by that statement. Not entirely. But my brother was still holding himself back. He seemed to want more, but he was unwilling to ask for it. I think it had a lot to do with how inexperienced Luci was. She was learning, but she still had a long way to go before she understood the true meaning of submission.
Perhaps it was her request for more vanilla that had thrown him off. Everyone knew my brother wasn’t comfortable with that. He wasn’t looking to wine and dine a woman, to spend the evening making love to her. He wanted to dominate her, and for whatever reason, he took the full-time D/s thing seriously. He didn’t seem to know any other way to do it.
“Trust me,” Langston clarified, “I’m not ready to move forward with her. I want to get to know her, but that’s all I want. For now.”
