Page 72 of Beautiful Disaster

Mason takes my hand and forks our fingers together under the table. “That’s not how this works, Jinx. If we’re together, then we’re together. I’m going to do right by you. No hiding. I don’t owe these people any explanation.”

My cold fucking heart swells. I think that’s one of the nicest things anyone’s ever said to me.

“You say that now until people stop coming to your restaurant and you lose money.”

“I know you’re trying to be thoughtful, my pet, but don’t worry about me. Most of my money comes from tourism, anyway, not from the locals.”

“Talk is talk. I’ve quickly learned how small towns operate since living here.”

“I’m not hiding you. That’s final,” he says in a tone that tells me to drop it.

He’s done so much for me. Maybe I can’t be all sweet and shit, but I can definitely help protect him, as he protects me. I won’t let anyone hurt my Mason, my Dom. Screw them.

Chapter 20

Mason

I gently finger back Jinx’s bangs as he sleeps in my arms. Why do I love touching his hair so much? Who knows? We’re lying naked under a blanket on a pallet we made by the fire in a room at the ski lodge. I watch his eyes flutter in a dream, his lips parted, softly snoring. What do you dream about, Precious? It should only be good things.

My fingers move across his shoulder, dusted with faint freckles from the past summer.

Since we’ve been doing this, he’s only had one nightmare that I’m aware of. It was enough to wake him up. I held on tight to him the rest of the night.

Despite what I said to him at dinner, I am concerned about my business if they learn about Jinx and what we do. That they’ll react as my parents did. It’s one thing to date someone so much younger. Factor in our dynamic… people will never understand. But I also swore to myself that if I took on another sub, I’d never let anything get between him and me again. As a Dom, it’s my job to protect my subs. I absolutely failed in that with Jude. I won’t let anything happen to Jinx.

My restaurants are everything to me, but I’m not going to lose someone I care about again, and I care deeply for Jinx. Strong feelings that happen quickly aren’t unusual for a dynamic such as ours.

“I can feel you staring,” Jinx says sleepily.

“I’m sorry I woke you.”

“It’s fine. I didn’t mean to crash so early.”

“You were tired.”

He smirks crookedly with sleepy eyes. “Is that how sleep works?”

“Brat,” I chuckle. “But no spanking here. Who knows how thin these walls are?”

He sits up and lies on top of me. “So, I can be as bratty as I want?” He glances away, pretending to think about all the naughty things he wants to do. “Hmm, whatever shall I do?” he says in the most atrocious British accent I’ve ever heard, making me laugh.

“Be bratty. I’ll keep a tally and punish you when we get home.”

“When we get back, I’ll head home. Then you’ll have to wait until the weekend after Thanksgiving. By then, you’ll forget, old man.”

“Old?”

I sit up, taking Jinx with me, and flip him onto his back. I pin his arms over his head with one hand, hooking my fingers into his bracelets. I adore the sudden flush to his cheeks and him gnawing on his bottom lip. So fucking cute. He truly is precious, even when he’s being naughty. I definitely picked the right endearment for him.

“Are you ticklish, my pet?”

His eyes go wide, and he starts to struggle. “Don’t you dare!”

“There are other ways to punish you without spankings.”

I grin slyly and test his ticklishness under his arm. Jinx bucks and giggles. I love the sound. “No, stop, stop!”

I move down to his ribs and tickle him harder until he outright laughs with tears streaming down his face.