In all the time Isaac and I had lived here, the extra rooms had never been used. Strange how quickly things could shift and turn, flipping your normal world on its ear. This afternoon, when we’d ventured out for the evening, I hadn’t expected that by the time night fell, all the rooms in this house would have occupants.
But I wasn’t questioning what was happening here. That wasn’t my style. I was more the go-with-the-flow sort. Whatever was meant to happen would.
“Smells good.” I watched the pretty brunette as she put the finishing touches on her entrees.
“Thanks,” Heaven said in that chipper tone that I knew was a facade.
“I’ll set the table,” I offered.
“I’ve already done it, Sir.”
I glanced over at Dante. He was standing in the doorway that separated the formal dining room from the kitchen. He had taken a shower, pulled on black jeans and a black T-shirt. His blond hair was a shaggy mess that somehow looked good on him.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Sir.”
“I still don’t understand all the formality,” Heaven stated. “I mean, I get that it’s part of the whole BDSM thing, but it’s odd to hear so many sirs being passed around.”
I looked back at Dante, saw the only thing I needed to see. He preferred high protocol and that was all that mattered.
“To each his own,” I told her. “What works for one won’t necessarily work for you.”
“Don’t I know it,” she continued. “I’ve heard their stories.” Heaven shook her head. “So totally not my thing, but they seem pretty happy.”
“Then you know it’s not your place to judge.” I didn’t say the words with heat, it was merely an acknowledgement.
“No judging.” She smiled back at me as she headed to pull something out of the oven. “How old are you, anyway?”
Not quite sure what that had to do with anything, I answered anyway. “Thirty-one.”
I watched her work, admiring the way she all but pranced around the large space. She was cute. Small, brunette. Reminded me a lot of Everly, though she lacked the sweet innocence I saw in Everly, something that had attracted me to her from the beginning.
But Heaven had a vibrance about her. She was fun, carefree. Or so that was what she wanted me to see, anyway.
“Thirty-one,” she mused. “Not too old.” A mischievous grin formed on her cupid’s-bow lips. “Then again, not that young, either.”
I couldn’t help but smile.
She was something. Not at all what I usually encountered.
Probably due to my brother’s reputation, most submissives believed they had to follow high protocol when they were with us. Sir this, Master that. Formality, mostly. And while I tended to cater to the needs of submissives I interacted with, it was interesting to keep company with someone who wasn’t into the lifestyle. She had no clue the transgressions I would’ve pointed out if she had been a submissive.
Perhaps that was what I liked about her. She wasn’t a submissive. It meant she was safe for me. There would be no mistaking any chemistry for something more. As for why I was making that delineation, I wasn’t quite sure. Had it been any other day, any other encounter, I probably would’ve flirted with Heaven, talked her right out of her clothes. She was physically attractive, seemed to find me equally so, and sometimes that was all that mattered.
Only, there was someone else on my mind, had been since the moment she’d walked into Zeke’s house.
The object of my affections appeared in the kitchen and my full attention shifted to her.
Everly looked so young, so pure. I figured that was one of the things I liked most about her. I had the overwhelming urge to dirty her, to peel back all those innocent layers and free the sexy spitfire underneath. I’d spent plenty of time thinking about her, quite a bit interacting with her in the past six months or so. Craving her in a way I didn’t quite understand. It wasn’t like me.
However, I wasn’t the sort of man to question my desires. At my core, I was laid-back when it came to emotions. They passed freely through me without much consideration. I countered that with the hardcore dominance I pursued. It was a perfect balance.
For whatever reason, I felt the need to touch Everly, something I’d refrained from doing since she arrived at Zeke’s earlier in the day. Her eyes were focused on me as I approached, and when I pulled her in for a hug, she relaxed, her hands fisting in the back of my shirt as though she didn’t want me to let her go.
If I wasn’t mistaken, she had needed that. Needed me to acknowledge her.
I looked up when Isaac appeared. Immediately I saw the relief, recognized it even. He’d been waiting for me to connect, to show him that I was on the same page as he was when it came to her.
