I was. I most definitely was.
But right now, Everly scared me. She seemed brittle and the last thing I wanted was to hurt her.
Leaning down, I kissed the top of her head. “You’re safe with us.”
She pulled back, smiled up at me. “I know.”
The fact that she didn’t call me Sir pleased me. I hated that term. Master, too. They were overused, in my opinion. Sure, some Doms preferred them. To each his own and all that. I wanted a submissive to call me something that would connect us on a deeper level, something that meant something to both of us.
“None of that mushy stuff,” Heaven said. “Let’s eat.”
Releasing Everly, I allowed them to go into the dining room while my brother hung back, pulling out a couple of Guinness while I grabbed chilled mugs from the freezer.
“Everything all right?” I asked, setting the mugs on the island.
He nodded. “It will be. When we find this bastard.”
Yeah. I hadn’t been talking about that, but whatever. If that was where my brother’s head was at, I’d be shocked. But for some reason, he felt the need to remain on neutral ground.
So neutral ground we would remain on.
For now.
I grabbed a mug and followed my brother into the dining room. As I planted my ass in the cushioned chair, I took a moment to look at the table. We’d never sat at it before, tending to utilize the island as seating for the rare meals we ate here. It felt almost foreign.
Then again, having Everly in my house wasn’t normal for us, either.
Since I figured I could certainly get used to her presence, I figured I could do the same with the table.
Perhaps I could get more familiar with both.
At the same time.
The salacious thought made me smile.
Dante
“So, how’d you two meet?” Ian prompted when the five of us sat down at the dining room table.
His gaze darted toward me, his fork motioning toward Everly. Not sure which he was wanting to answer, I waited to see if she would respond. My stomach was growling, and Heaven had outdone herself with the meal. Beef tips and egg noodles had obviously been her intentional main dish, but since I was vegan, she knew I would never eat it. However, the salad she had piled together with more vegetables than I had in my own kitchen would definitely hit the spot.
“Since no one else wants to talk,” Heaven said with a smile in her voice, “I’ll be happy to give you the rundown.”
“Please,” Ian urged, his eyes skimming over her with apparent interest.
Initially, when we’d come into the house, Ian had regarded Heaven as though she was on the outside looking in. The puzzle piece that didn’t quite fit. However, their conversation in the kitchen had seemed to lighten his mood. I wasn’t quite sure what was happening, but I felt as though I was in some sort of alternate universe where strangers were pulled into an intimate setting and forced to interact. Then again, that was sort of what happened.
And now it was a matter of finding where all the pieces belonged on the board.
Isaac was the easiest to decipher being that he couldn’t take his eyes off Everly. Ian was shooting his own longing looks in her direction, but he also seemed rather intrigued by Heaven. Of course, there was the interested looks I’d received from both men. Those quick perusals meant to gauge and assess. Add to that the fact that Everly was here with me and it all seemed to come together to form everything I’d ever dreamed of. A smorgasbord of options specifically selected to meet my own unique needs.
Or the more likely case: it was happenstance.
“Dante and Everly met at the library,” Heaven said between bites.
“The grocery store,” Everly corrected.
“Right.” Heaven pointed her fork as though recalling the event. “Grocery store. They’d been in the bakery.”
“Produce section,” I mumbled.
Heaven laughed. “Why don’t I let them tell it?”
Isaac’s mesmerizing gaze met mine and I saw the curiosity there. As though he was inside my head, tossing the words directly into my mouth, I began rambling. “I met Everly at the grocery store. Produce section.” I glanced over at her, smiled. “She’d been looking for an eggplant, of all things.”
“Yeah?” Ian’s curiosity shone like a beacon. “Eggplant?”
“For the record,” Everly said, “turns out I hate eggplant.”
“Keep going,” Isaac urged, his eyes still locked on me.
“She asked about the shirt I was wearing,” I explained. “It was one I’d gotten from a club I belong to.”
“Inferno?” Ian asked.
I paused, a feeling of dread trickling through me, as though I’d been caught doing something I shouldn’t.
“Go on.”
I swallowed, nodded. “Everly asked about it. The shirt. Said she’d be interested in going. We started talking. Turned out, we had a lot in common.”
“Mostly submission,” Everly added. “And as the saying goes, the rest is history. I asked for his number so I could get more details about the club.” Her head lifted and she met Ian’s gaze, then Isaac’s. “For the record, I never went to Inferno. Dante said it wasn’t the right place for me.”
