Page 53 of The Dom with the Clever Tongue

One with long black hair smiled broadly. “Dayam, girl. If you ever get tired of him, you send him my way.” The others jumped in and volunteered to be her back up.

Reece chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind. Especially if he gets too tame for me.”

When they wandered off, Mal fluttered his eyelashes. “Thank you for protecting my honor, Miss Reece. Those girls were going to eat me alive!”

“You can barely handle me and Scarlet, and you want to try four?”

“I’m sure the four of them would be a cakewalk compared to the two of you. I’d like to see you try to tame me, though. That would be...interesting.”

A few minutes later, as they walked to the garbage cans, another girl looked Malachi over and gave Reece a thumbs up. Scarlet’s stomach sank. The two of them together were stunning.

When they’d first gotten to the ice cream parlor, the girl at the counter had asked if their order was together, and Malachi had insisted on paying. It stung that she’d assumed Scarlet was alone. Of course people made heterosexual assumptions. Often enough, when she and Reece were out together, people asked if they were cousins or sisters, or whatever their minds came up with to explain the situation away. However, Malachi’s presence and the fact that he obviously liked Reece made the two of them pass for straight, while people assumed Scarlet was alone or an awkward third wheel. No one ever thought of a tricycle.

If they stayed with him, this was how it would be forever. She would be the perpetual third wheel in their life, in the eyes of society. Like the college roommate who couldn’t take a hint when her BFF met a guy and got married. Awkward.

Almost as awkward as always having to choose whether to explain to complete strangers that Reece was her girlfriend, or let them think they were just hetero friends. That would be Scarlet’s life, for the rest of her life – but things didn’t have to be like that for Reece. She was way more bi, and therefore had more options...like doing the comfortable thing and passing for straight with Mal instead of having everyone assume she was a lesbian because she was dating a girl. Some of their gay friends were just as bad, telling them they were lesbians because they were together – like it somehow negated their attraction to men.

But Malachi liked Reece, and Reece liked him, and that made Scarlet superfluous.

When they got to Reece’s car, Scarlet moved to get into the back.

Malachi caught her arm and led her to the front passenger door. “Where did you think you were going?”

“You two were chatting. And your legs are way longer than mine. You’re going to be all folded up in the back seat. Sit in the front.”

He looked down into her eyes then frowned with concern at what he saw there. “You were too quiet while we were eating. All of your emotions cross your face when they cross your mind. I’m not hanging around to try to replace you, Scarlet. I love hanging out with you two, but if I’m getting in the way of your relationship, you need to tell me.”

His eyes were so warm the tension drained from her. Was he using his Dom superpowers on her? Was that even allowed when a Dom spoke to another Dom?

“Come on.” He opened the passenger side door and urged her in beside Reece. “We’ll go back to your place and I’ll make you dinner, like I planned, then I’ll let you two have some time alone.”

Scarlet slid into the car and he closed the door while she buckled her seatbelt. “We just ate ice cream and you’re already thinking about dinner?” She snorted.

He hopped into the back seat. “You two eat like little birds. Look at me! I’m so skinny now people on the street have been trying to give me their spare change. Yesterday a little old lady force-fed me half of her sandwich. It was embarrassing.” He was lean and all muscle, but no one would ever call him skinny. “Two meals a day doesn’t work for a five-meal-a-day kind of guy.”

Reece pulled away from the curb and merged into traffic. “Poor thing. We’ll have to leave you snacks around the condo so you don’t get all scrawny on us.”

“Finally! Women who understand what I need. A sandwich in one hand and a crop in the other and I’m a happy man.”

“Your ex didn’t understand you?” Reece asked.

The silence in the car dragged out for a minute, making Scarlet wonder if he’d answer. Normally she would have scolded Reece for prying into someone’s personal business, but this was Malachi, and Scarlet was also more than a little curious.

“Well, Ivy is a sweet girl. I loved her. But my domming style and my personality weren’t a good fit for her. Being with me was frustrating. She needed a strict, serious Dom, not someone like me. I’m too distractible. Ivy would test me a lot and I’d often not notice her deliberate misbehavior. I guess I’m just not uber Dom material.” He chuckled to himself. “She might have done well with Cross, but they were never really into each other. That was a good thing though. I don’t know if I could have been that big a man, even though it would’ve been good for them.”

“It’s hard to give someone up if you’re in love with them,” Scarlet murmured.

Malachi sighed. “Yes, it is.”

***

Between the clatter and the mouth-watering smell, it was clear dinner was well underway. He’d shooed them from the kitchen when they’d started questioning him about what was on the menu.

So there they were, curled up on the couch in their own place, with a man cooking dinner for them. A few months ago the idea would have made theTwilight Zonetheme pop into Scarlet’s head. Now it felt normal. He was over so much it was almost like he lived there too – although he went home most nights. She thought that was more about giving them space than him wanting alone time.

It was getting to the point where it was weirdly quiet in the evening if he didn’t come by, at least for a while.

Scarlet had never had an easy time making friends. She wasn’t outgoing or gregarious like Reece. Girls usually didn’t like hanging out with her unless they were sexually attracted to her. Once, a well-meaning pseudo friend had told her it was hard to be around her because she didn’t know anything about “girl stuff” and because the girl’s boyfriend had kept trying to talk her into inviting Scarlet over for a threesome – like Scarlet was in the habit of fulfilling men’s sexual fantasies. A lot of her guy friends either wanted the chance to convert her, or have her convert their straight girlfriends. Even staying away from hetero people didn’t work. She wasn’t a real lesbian, so she didn’t really fit in with the lesbian community, either. Most of the bi people she knew were still in the closet on both sides. She’d come out because that closet was damned small, but Reece had only come out because of choosing Scarlet.

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