Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 114284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
He shifted in his seat and broke eye contact, instead finding the Diet Coke interesting to stare at.
The wheels were turning now, weren’t they?
“I wanna make one thing clear,” I told him. “I fully respect your boundaries. I know you’re not interested in anythin’ beyond what we shared, so borrowin’ you next week will be fairly nonsexual. It would just help me a great deal to sort out my thoughts and have a sub to talk to. I’ll be talkin’ to Walker as well, to get more of his perspective as a Dom.”
He flicked me a sideways glance at that last part. “Speaking of—are you two really together now?”
I smiled a little. “We’ve started somethin’. Kinda like you and Macklin do your own thing, Walker and I wanna explore why we’re so damn drawn to each other.”
He nodded distractedly. “I see.”
I wasn’t sure he did, but I had a week to show him.
“You look a little lost,” I murmured.
“What? No, I…” He sat straighter and chuckled awkwardly. “Sorry, I’ve been a mess since we got back home, basically. Up until you showed up here tonight, I was trying to convince myself to withdraw from the community completely. Now it’s all…” He made a gesture around his head.
I furrowed my brow. Of course he’d been planning to bail. Macklin had said Lane was on his way out just hours ago, but to have it confirmed rattled me a bit. He wasn’t fucking going anywhere.
“You were planning on leavin’ because of the lie between us?” I asked to make sure.
“Well, yeah. Mostly anyway.” He pinched his bottom lip kinda like I did when I was mulling things over. “I couldn’t see myself finding the balls to come clean, and I didn’t wanna spend another second deceiving you, so I figured…”
He’d just remove himself from the equation.
Thank fuck I knew the truth now, then.
That said a lot about Lane’s self-image too. I already knew he viewed himself as too complicated. Or that the circumstances of his life would be too much for a significant other to deal with.
We’d see about that.
“Good thing I caught on before I had to chase you down,” I surmised. “You’ll make a good test subject next week, and you’re not allowed go back on your word.”
He flashed half a smile. “I won’t. It’s the least I can do. I’ll be feeling bad for a while, but I’m glad you know the truth—and you’re still willing to talk to me.”
I had to get his confidence back up. Lane wasn’t supposed to be all timid and unsure.
“So, um—a couple hours every day, you said,” he went on. “Got anything specific planned?”
Right, back on track. “I do.” I dug out my phone from my back pocket. “I’ll give you the details as we go along, but I have the proposed times here if you wanna map out your week.”
“I’d like that. The more I know beforehand…”
I remembered. He struggled with flexibility outside the organized chaos he wanted in primal play.
Lane grabbed his phone too.
“Monday,” I started by saying. “I get off work at five, so can you be at my place around seven? You’ll eat dinner there too.”
“Sure.” He nodded and jotted it down in his planner.
Yes, Sir.
We were definitely gonna discuss titles, and I was surprised I really wanted to. But there was something too haphazard about “sure.” Which I was 100% certain came from my years in the service. They’d drilled their way of communication into our brains until everything else was inadequate.
“On Tuesday, I’d like for you to come see me at work,” I said. I brought out a business card from my wallet and handed it to him.
He inspected it. “MadCo Sec. That’s the security business you run with Colt?”
I inclined my head. “And a buddy of ours from the Air Force, but Fischer is more of a silent partner. He throws money at us.”
Lane chuckled quietly. “Okay. What time do you want me to be there?”
“Does fifteen-hundred work? That’s when Colt starts to get cranky.”
He looked at me like I’d spouted another head.
Oh right. “Three PM. Work hazard—we still use military time around the office.”
“No, I got that. Military time is the same as Scandinavian time—but why should I come out there when Colt gets cranky?”
Oh. Did not know that about Scandinavia. Good country. Fuck, I meant region. Good region.
“Because you’ll be bringin’ us coffee and pastries, of course,” I replied. “We Air Force folk have very high standards for hot beverages and sweets, so you best get our order straight.” Half a joke. Or thirty percent joke. “I’ll text you the specifics on Tuesday mornin’, and here’s…” I fished out two fifty-dollar bills from my wallet. “Hundred bucks. Save the receipt for our numbers guy. There’re usually eight of us.”
“Okay, got it.”
Will do, Sir.
That’s what I got for telling Lane in Florida I didn’t care about titles and D/s jargon. Now I suddenly gave a fuck. Or several fucks, considering I’d gotten mildly jealous when he’d continued addressing the other Doms very politely, and I’d become the laid-back dude.